2 Samuel 4-6

Christian Standard Bible

The Assassination of Ish-bosheth

4 When Saul’s son Ish-bosheth heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he gave up,^[a] and all Israel was dismayed. ² Saul’s son had two men who were leaders of raiding parties: one named Baanah and the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite of the Benjaminites. Beeroth is also considered part of Benjamin, ³ and the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and still reside there as aliens today.

⁴ Saul’s son Jonathan had a son whose feet were crippled. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nanny picked him up and fled, but as she was hurrying to flee, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.^(A)

⁵ Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out and arrived at Ish-bosheth’s house during the heat of the day while the king was taking his midday nap. ⁶ They entered the interior of the house as if to get wheat and stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and his brother Baanah escaped. ⁷ They had entered the house while Ish-bosheth was lying on his bed in his bedroom and stabbed and killed him. They removed his head, took it, and traveled by way of the Arabah^(B) all night. ⁸ They brought Ish-bosheth’s head to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Here’s the head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who intended to take your life. Today the Lord has granted vengeance to my lord the king against Saul and his offspring.”

⁹ But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As the Lord lives, the one who has redeemed my life from every distress,^{(C) 10} when the person told me, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ he thought he was a bearer of good news, but I seized him and put him to death at Ziklag.^(D) That was my reward to him for his news! ¹¹ How much more when wicked men kill a righteous man in his own house on his own bed! So now, should I not require his blood from you and purge you from the earth?” ^(E)

¹² So David gave orders to the young men, and they killed Rechab and Baanah. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies by the pool in Hebron, but they took Ish-bosheth’s head and buried it in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.^(F)

David, King of Israel

5 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron^(G) and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood.^{[b](H) 2} Even while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led us out to battle and brought us back.^(I) The Lord also said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will be ruler over Israel.’”

³ So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron. King David made a covenant with them^(J) at Hebron in the Lord’s presence, and they anointed David king over Israel.

⁴ David was thirty years old when he began his reign;^(K) he reigned forty years. ⁵ In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

⁶ The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites^(L) who inhabited the land. The Jebusites had said to David, “You will never get in here. Even the blind and lame can repel you” thinking, “David can’t get in here.”

⁷ Yet David did capture the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.^{(M) 8} He said that day, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites must go through the water shaft to reach the lame and the blind who are despised by David.”^[c] For this reason it is said, “The blind and the lame will never enter the house.”^[d]

⁹ David took up residence in the stronghold, which he named the city of David. He built it up all the way around from the supporting terraces inward. ¹⁰ David became more and more powerful,^(N) and the Lord God of Armies was with him.^{(O) 11} King Hiram of Tyre sent envoys to David; he also sent cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons,^(P) and they built a palace for David. ¹² Then David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.

¹³ After he arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him. ¹⁴ These are the names of those born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan,^(Q) Solomon, ¹⁵ Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, ¹⁶ Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.^(R)

¹⁷ When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel,^(S) they all went in search of David, but he heard about it and went down to the stronghold.^{(T) 18} So the Philistines came and spread out in Rephaim Valley.

¹⁹ Then David inquired of the Lord:^(U) “Should I attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?”

The Lord replied to David, “Attack, for I will certainly hand the Philistines over to you.”

²⁰ So David went to Baal-perazim and defeated them there and said, “Like a bursting flood, the Lord has burst out against my enemies before me.”^(V) Therefore, he named that place The Lord Bursts Out.^{[e] 21} The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men carried them off.

²² The Philistines came up again and spread out in Rephaim Valley. ²³ So David inquired of the Lord, and he answered, “Do not attack directly, but circle around behind them and come at them opposite the balsam trees. ²⁴ When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, act decisively, for then the Lord will have gone out ahead of you to strike down the army of the Philistines.”^{(W) 25} So David did exactly as the Lord commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Geba to Gezer.

David Moves the Ark

6 David again assembled all the fit young men in Israel:^(X) thirty thousand. ² He and all his troops set out^(Y) to bring the ark of God from Baale-judah.^[f] The ark bears the Name, the name of the Lord of Armies who is enthroned between the cherubim.^{(Z) 3} They set the ark of God on a new cart and transported it from Abinadab’s house, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio,^[g] sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart^{(AA) 4} and brought it with the ark of God from Abinadab’s house on the hill. Ahio walked in front of the ark. ⁵ David and the whole house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all kinds of fir wood instruments,^[h] lyres, harps, tambourines, sistrums,^[i] and cymbals.^(AB)

⁶ When they came to Nacon’s threshing floor, Uzzah reached out to the ark of God and took hold of it because the oxen had stumbled. ⁷ Then the Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah,^(AC) and God struck him dead on the spot for his irreverence,^(AD) and he died there next to the ark of God. ⁸ David was angry because of the Lord’s outburst against Uzzah, so he named that place Outburst Against Uzzah,^[j] as it is today. ⁹ David feared the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” ¹⁰ So he was not willing to bring the ark of the Lord to the city of David;^(AE) instead, he diverted it to the house of Obed-edom of Gath. ¹¹ The ark of the Lord remained in his house three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom^(AF) and his whole family.

¹² It was reported to King David, “The Lord has blessed Obed-edom’s family and all that belongs to him because of the ark of God.” So David went and had the ark of God brought up from Obed-edom’s house to the city of David with rejoicing.^{(AG) 13} When those carrying the ark of the Lord advanced six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.^{(AH) 14} David was dancing^[k] with all his might before the Lord wearing a linen ephod.^{(AI) 15} He and the whole house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of the ram’s horn. ¹⁶ As the ark of the Lord was entering the city of David,^(AJ) Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.

¹⁷ They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent David had pitched for it.^(AK) Then David offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings in the Lord’s presence. ¹⁸ When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of Armies. ¹⁹ Then he distributed a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake to each one in the entire Israelite community, both men and women.^(AL) Then all the people went home.

²⁰ When David returned home to bless his household,^(AM) Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him. “How the king of Israel honored himself today!” she said. “He exposed himself today in the sight of the slave girls of his subjects like a vulgar person would expose himself.”

²¹ David replied to Michal, “It was before the Lord who chose me over your father and his whole family to appoint me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel.^(AN) I will dance before the Lord, ²² and I will dishonor myself and humble myself even more.^[l][m] However, by the slave girls you spoke about, I will be honored.” ²³ And Saul’s daughter Michal had no child to the day of her death.