2 After this, David consulted Adonai; he asked, “Should I go up into any of the cities of Y’hudah?” Adonai said to him, “Go up.” David asked, “Where should I go up?” He said, “To Hevron.” ² So David went up there with his two wives Achino‘am from Yizre‘el and Avigayil the widow of Naval from Karmel. ³ David brought the men up with him, each with his household; and they lived in the cities of Hevron.

⁴ Then the men of Y’hudah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Y’hudah. They informed David that the men of Yavesh-Gil‘ad were the ones who had buried Sha’ul. ⁵ So David sent messengers to the men of Yavesh-Gil‘ad with this message: “May you be blessed by Adonai, because you showed this kindness to your lord, Sha’ul, and buried him. ⁶ Now may Adonai show kindness and truth to you; and I too will show you favor because you have done this. ⁷ Be strong, and be brave. Sha’ul your lord is dead, but the house of Y’hudah have anointed me king over them.”

⁸ Avner the son of Ner, commander of Sha’ul’s army, had taken Ish-Boshet the son of Sha’ul, brought him over to Machanayim, ⁹ and made him king over Gil‘ad, the Ashuri, Yizre‘el, Efrayim, Binyamin and all Isra’el. ¹⁰ Ish-Boshet the son of Sha’ul was forty years old when he began to rule over Isra’el, and he ruled for two years. But the house of Y’hudah followed David. ¹¹ David was king in Hevron over the house of Y’hudah for seven years and six months.

¹² Avner the son of Ner and the servants of Ish-Boshet the son of Sha’ul went out from Machanayim to Giv‘on; ¹³ while Yo’av the son of Tz’ruyah and David’s servants also went out; and they met together by the pool at Giv‘on. One group sat down on one side of the pool and the other on the other side. ¹⁴ Avner said to Yo’av, “If it’s all right with you, let’s have the young men get up and fight it out between themselves, while we watch.” Yo’av said, “Yes, let them.” ¹⁵ So they got up and paired off, twelve for Binyamin and Ish-Boshet the son of Sha’ul, and twelve of David’s servants. ¹⁶ Each one grabbed his partner by the head and drove his sword into his side, so that they fell down together. For this reason that place was named Helkat-Hatzurim [field of blades]; it is in Giv‘on. ¹⁷ The battle that day was very fierce; Avner and the men of Isra’el were beaten by David’s servants.

¹⁸ The three sons of Tz’ruyah were there, Yo’av, Avishai and ‘Asah’el. ‘Asah’el was as fleet-footed as a gazelle in an open field. ¹⁹ ‘Asah’el chased Avner, going straight for him, veering neither right nor left. ²⁰ Avner looked behind him and asked, “Is that you, ‘Asah’el?” “Yes, it is,” he answered. ²¹ Avner said to him, “Turn off to your right or your left, catch one of the young men and take his armor.” But ‘Asah’el wouldn’t turn aside and kept following him. ²² Avner said again to ‘Asah’el, “Turn aside and stop following me! Why should I kill you? If I did, how could I look your brother Yo’av in the eye?” ²³ But he still refused to turn aside; so Avner stabbed him in the groin with the back end of the spear, so that the shaft protruded behind him. He fell down and died on the spot. Everyone who came to the place where ‘Asah’el lay dead stopped there.

²⁴ Yo’av and Avishai continued in pursuit of Avner; the sun went down when they arrived at Amah Hill, across from Giach along the Giv‘on Desert road. ²⁵ The people of Binyamin gathered themselves together into a phalanx behind Avner and stood on top of a hill. ²⁶ Then Avner called out to Yo’av, “Must the sword go on devouring forever? Don’t you know that in the end it can produce only bitterness? How long will it be, then, before you tell the people to quit pursuing their brothers?” ²⁷ Yo’av said, “As God lives, if you hadn’t said something, there is no doubt that the people would have kept following their brothers all night long.” ²⁸ Then Yo’av sounded the shofar, and with that the people halted. They stopped pursuing Isra’el, and they stopped fighting.

²⁹ Avner and his men went through the ‘Aravah all that night; they crossed the Yarden, went through all of Bitron and arrived at Machanayim. ³⁰ Yo’av returned from following Avner. When he brought the troops together for review, nineteen of David’s servants were missing, along with ‘Asah’el. ³¹ But David’s servants had killed 360 of Avner’s men of Binyamin. ³² They took ‘Asah’el and buried him in his father’s tomb in Beit-Lechem. Then Yo’av and his men marched all night, so that they reached Hevron at daybreak.

11 Then all Isra’el gathered themselves to David in Hevron and said, “Here, we are your own flesh and bone. ² In the past, even when Sha’ul was king, it was you who led Isra’el’s military campaigns; and Adonai your God said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Isra’el, and you will be chief over my people Isra’el.’” ³ So all the leaders of Isra’el came to the king in Hevron; and David made a covenant with them in Hevron in the presence of Adonai. Then they anointed David king over Isra’el, as Adonai had said through Sh’mu’el.

⁴ David and all Isra’el went to Yerushalayim, also known as Y’vus; and the Y’vusi, the inhabitants of that region, were there. ⁵ The inhabitants of Y’vus taunted David by saying, “You won’t get in here!” Nevertheless, David captured the stronghold of Tziyon, also known now as the City of David. ⁶ David said, “Whoever attacks the Y’vusi first will be commander-in-chief.” Yo’av the son of Tz’ruyah attacked first and was made commander.

⁷ David lived in the stronghold; therefore they called it the City of David. ⁸ David built up the city around it, starting at the Millo [earth rampart] and going on around; while Yo’av repaired the rest of the city. ⁹ David grew greater and greater, because Adonai-Tzva’ot was with him.

¹⁰ These are David’s chief warriors, who, under his rulership, joined forces with him and with all Isra’el to make him king, as Adonai had said concerning Isra’el; ¹¹ here is the list of David’s warrior-heroes:

Yashov‘am son of a Hakhmoni, the chief officer; he is the one who raised his spear against 300 men and killed them in a single encounter.

¹² After him was El‘azar the son of Dodo the Achochi, one of the three warriors. ¹³ He was with David at Pas-Damim, where the P’lishtim had assembled for battle. There was a plot of ground full of barley; and when the people fled from the P’lishtim, ¹⁴ they stood in the middle of the plot and defended it, killing the P’lishtim; and Adonai saved them with a great victory.

¹⁵ Three of the thirty leaders went down to the rock and came to David during harvest season at the cave of ‘Adulam when the army of the P’lishtim had set up camp in the Refa’im Valley. ¹⁶ At that time David was in the fortress, and the garrison of the P’lishtim was in Beit-Lechem. ¹⁷ David had a craving and said, “I wish someone could give me water to drink from the well by the gate of Beit-Lechem!” ¹⁸ The three broke through the army of the P’lishtim, drew water from the well by the gate of Beit-Lechem, took it and brought it to David. But David would not drink it; instead, he poured it out to Adonai ¹⁹ and said, “My God forbid that I should do such a thing! Am I to drink the blood of these men who went and put their lives in jeopardy? They risked their lives to bring it!” — and he would not consent to drink it. These are the things the three warrior-heroes did.

²⁰ Avishai the brother of Yo’av was chief of these three. He raised his spear against 300 men and killed them; thus he had a reputation even among the three. ²¹ Of the three in the second rank he had the most honor and was therefore made their leader; however, he did not achieve the status of the first three.

²² B’nayah the son of Y’hoyada, the son of a valiant man of Kavtze’el, was a man of many exploits. He struck down two lion-hearted men of Mo’av. One day when it was snowing, he went down into a pit and killed a lion. ²³ Here is how he killed an Egyptian, a man who was very tall, seven-and-a-half feet: the Egyptian had a spear in his hand the size of a weaver’s beam; he went down to him with only a stick, seized the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. ²⁴ These are things that B’nayah the son of Y’hoyada did that earned him a name among the three warrior-heroes. ²⁵ He had more honor than the thirty, but he did not achieve the status of the first three. David put him in command of his personal guard.

²⁶ There were also these warrior-heroes:

14 Around that time, Herod, the regional governor, heard of the fame of Yeshua ² and said to his attendants, “This must be Yochanan the Immerser. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”

³ For Herod had arrested Yochanan, put him in chains and thrown him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip; ⁴ since Yochanan had told Herod, “It violates the Torah for you to have her as your wife.” ⁵ Herod had wanted to put Yochanan to death; but he was afraid of the people, in whose eyes Yochanan was a prophet. ⁶ However, at Herod’s birthday celebration, Herodias’ daughter danced before the company and pleased Herod so much ⁷ that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. ⁸ Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of Yochanan the Immerser.” ⁹ The king became deeply upset; but out of regard for the oaths he had sworn before his dinner guests, he ordered that her wish be granted, ¹⁰ and sent and had Yochanan beheaded in prison. ¹¹ The head was brought on a platter to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. ¹² Yochanan’s talmidim came, took the body and buried it; then they went and told Yeshua.

¹³ On hearing about this, Yeshua left in a boat to be by himself in the wilderness. But the people learned of it and followed him from the towns by land. ¹⁴ So when he came ashore, he saw a huge crowd; and, filled with compassion for them, he healed those of them who were sick.

¹⁵ As evening approached, the talmidim came to him and said, “This is a remote place and it’s getting late. Send the crowds away, so that they can go and buy food for themselves in the villages.” ¹⁶ But Yeshua replied, “They don’t need to go away. Give them something to eat, yourselves!” ¹⁷ “All we have with us,” they said, “is five loaves of bread and two fish.” ¹⁸ He said, “Bring them here to me.” ¹⁹ After instructing the crowds to sit down on the grass, he took the five loaves and the two fish and, looking up toward heaven, made a b’rakhah. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the talmidim, who gave them to the crowds. ²⁰ They all ate as much as they wanted, and they took up twelve baskets full of the pieces left over. ²¹ Those eating numbered about five thousand men, plus women and children.

²² Immediately he had the talmidim get in the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he sent the crowds away. ²³ After he had sent the crowds away, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night came on, and he was there alone. ²⁴ But by this time, the boat was several miles from shore, battling a rough sea and a headwind. ²⁵ Around four o’clock in the morning, he came toward them, walking on the lake! ²⁶ When the talmidim saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said and screamed with fear. ²⁷ But at once Yeshua spoke to them. “Courage,” he said, “it is I. Stop being afraid.” ²⁸ Then Kefa called to him, “Lord, if it is really you, tell me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹ “Come!” he said. So Kefa got out of the boat and walked on the water toward Yeshua. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he became afraid; and as he began to sink, he yelled, “Lord! Save me!” ³¹ Yeshua immediately stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, “Such little trust! Why did you doubt?” ³² As they went up into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³ The men in the boat fell down before him and exclaimed, “You really are God’s son!”

³⁴ Having made the crossing, they landed at Ginosar. ³⁵ When the people of the place recognized him, they sent word throughout the neighborhood and brought him everyone who was ill. ³⁶ They begged him that the sick people might only touch the tzitzit on his robe, and all who touched it were completely healed.