2 Samuel 4-6

Common English Bible

Ishbosheth murdered

4 When Ishbosheth,^[a] Saul’s son, heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost his courage,^[b] and all Israel was alarmed. ² Saul’s son had two men who led the raiding parties—one was named Baanah and the other Rechab. Both were sons of Rimmon, a Benjaminite from Beeroth. (Beeroth was considered part of Benjamin. ³ The people of Beeroth had fled to Gittaim and even now live there as immigrants.)

⁴ Now Saul’s son Jonathan had a boy whose feet were crippled. He was only 5 years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and so his nurse snatched him up and fled. But as she hurried to get away, he fell and was injured. His name was Mephibosheth.^[c]

⁵ Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon from Beeroth, set out and reached Ishbosheth’s house at the heat of the day, right when he was lying down, taking an afternoon rest. ⁶ They went straight into his house, as if getting wheat,^[d] and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and his brother Baanah escaped. ⁷ They had entered the house while Ishbosheth was lying on the bed in his bedroom. After they stabbed him and killed him, they cut off his head, took it, and traveled all night through the wilderness.

⁸ They brought Ishbosheth’s head to David at Hebron. “Here is the head of Ishbosheth,” they told the king, “the son of Saul your enemy, who wanted you dead. Today the Lord has avenged our master^[e] the king on Saul and his descendants.”

⁹ David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon from Beeroth, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has rescued me^[f] from all kinds of trouble,” he told them, ¹⁰ “when someone told me Saul was dead back in Ziklag, thinking he was bringing good news, I grabbed him and killed him. That was the reward I gave him for his news! ¹¹ What do you think I’ll do when evil people kill a righteous person in his own house on his own bed? Why shouldn’t I demand his blood from your hands and rid the earth of you both?”

¹² So David gave the order to his servants, and they killed Rechab and Baanah, cutting off their hands and feet and hanging them up by the pool at Hebron. But they took Ishbosheth’s head and buried it in the grave of Abner at Hebron.

David becomes king of Israel and Judah

5 All the Israelite tribes came to David at Hebron and said, “Listen: We are your very own flesh and bone. ² In the past, when Saul ruled over us, you were the one who led Israel out to war and back. What’s more, the Lord told you, You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will be Israel’s leader.

³ So all the Israelite elders came to the king at Hebron. King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.

⁴ David was 30 years old when he became king, and he ruled for forty years. ⁵ He ruled over Judah for seven and a half years in Hebron. He ruled thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is captured

⁶ The king and his troops marched on Jerusalem against the Jebusites, who inhabited the territory. The Jebusites said to David, “You’ll never get us in here! Even the blind and the lame will beat you back!” “David will never enter here,” they said to each other.^{[g] 7} But David did capture the fortress of Zion—which became David’s City. ⁸ “On that day,” David said, “whoever attacks the Jebusites should strike the windpipe because David hates the lame and the blind.”^[h] That is why people say, “The blind and the lame will not enter the temple.”^{[i] 9} David occupied the fortress, so it was renamed David’s City. David built a city around it from the earthen terraces^[j] inward.^{[k] 10} David grew increasingly powerful, and the Lord of heavenly forces was with him.

¹¹ Tyre’s King Hiram sent messengers to David with cedar logs, bricklayers, and carpenters to build David a palace. ¹² Then David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel, and that his kingship was held in great honor for the sake of his people Israel. ¹³ After he left Hebron, David married more secondary wives in Jerusalem and fathered more sons and daughters. ¹⁴ The names of his children in Jerusalem were as follows: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, ¹⁵ Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, ¹⁶ Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

David defeats the Philistines

¹⁷ When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they all marched up to find him, but David heard of it and went down to the fortress. ¹⁸ The Philistines arrived and spread out over the Rephaim Valley. ¹⁹ David asked the Lord, “Should I attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?”

“Attack them,” the Lord replied, “because I will definitely hand the Philistines over to you.”

²⁰ So David arrived at Baal-perazim and defeated the Philistines there. He said, “The Lord has burst out against my enemies, the way water bursts out!” That is why that place is called Baal-perazim.^{[l] 21} The Philistines left their divine images behind, and David and his men carried them off.

²² Once again the Philistines came up and spread out across the Rephaim Valley. ²³ When David asked the Lord, God replied, “Don’t attack them directly. Circle around behind them and come at them from in front of the balsam trees. ²⁴ As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the trees, then attack, for God has attacked in front of you to defeat the Philistine army.” ²⁵ David followed God’s orders exactly, and they defeated the Philistine army from Gibeon all the way to Gezer.

God’s chest is brought to Jerusalem

6 Once again David assembled the select warriors of Israel, thirty thousand strong. ² David and all the troops who were with him set out for Baalah, which is Kiriath-jearim of Judah,^[m] to bring God’s chest up from there—the chest that is called by the name^[n] of the Lord of heavenly forces, who sits enthroned on the winged creatures. ³ They loaded God’s chest on a new cart and carried it from Abinadab’s house, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, Abinadab’s sons, were driving the new cart. ^4 [o] Uzzah was beside God’s chest while Ahio was walking in front of it. ⁵ Meanwhile, David and the entire house of Israel celebrated in the Lord’s presence with all their strength, with songs,^[p] zithers, harps, tambourines, rattles, and cymbals.

⁶ When they approached Nacon’s threshing floor, Uzzah reached out to God’s chest and grabbed it because the oxen had stumbled.^{[q] 7} The Lord became angry at Uzzah, and God struck him there because of his mistake,^[r] and he died there next to God’s chest. ⁸ Then David got angry because the Lord’s anger lashed out against Uzzah, and so that place is called Perez-uzzah today.^[s]

⁹ David was frightened by the Lord that day. “How will I ever bring the Lord’s chest to me?” he asked. ¹⁰ So David didn’t take the chest away with him to David’s City. Instead, he had it put in the house of Obed-edom, who was from Gath. ¹¹ The Lord’s chest stayed with Obed-edom’s household in Gath for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom’s household and all that he had.

¹² King David was told, “The Lord has blessed Obed-edom’s family and everything he has because of God’s chest being there.”^[t] So David went and brought God’s chest up from Obed-edom’s house to David’s City with celebration. ¹³ Whenever those bearing the chest advanced six steps, David sacrificed an ox and a fatling calf. ¹⁴ David, dressed in a linen priestly vest,^[u] danced with all his strength before the Lord. ¹⁵ This is how David and the entire house of Israel brought up the Lord’s chest with shouts and trumpet blasts.

¹⁶ As the Lord’s chest entered David’s City, Saul’s daughter Michal was watching from a window. She saw King David jumping and dancing before the Lord, and she lost all respect for him.^[v]

¹⁷ The Lord’s chest was brought in and put in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered entirely burned offerings in the Lord’s presence in addition to well-being sacrifices. ¹⁸ When David finished offering the entirely burned offerings and the well-being sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of heavenly forces. ¹⁹ He distributed food among all the people of Israel—to the whole crowd, male and female—each receiving a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake. Then all the people went back to their homes.

²⁰ David went home to bless his household, but Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him. “How did Israel’s king honor himself today?” she said. “By exposing himself in plain view of the female servants of his subjects like any indecent person would!”

²¹ David replied to Michal, “I was celebrating before the Lord, who chose me over your father and his entire family, and who appointed me leader over the Lord’s people, over Israel—and I will celebrate before the Lord again! ²² I may humiliate myself even more, and I may be humbled in my own eyes, but I will be honored by the female servants you are talking about!”

²³ Michal, Saul’s daughter, had no children to the day she died.