¹⁶ When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard.

¹⁵ They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam^(A) son of Bezer,^[a] who loved the wages of wickedness.

³² Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death,^(A) they not only continue to do these very things but also approve^(B) of those who practice them.

¹⁵ David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!” ¹⁶ So the three mighty warriors broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured^(A) it out before the Lord. ¹⁷ “Far be it from me, Lord, to do this!” he said. “Is it not the blood^(B) of men who went at the risk of their lives?” And David would not drink it.

Such were the exploits of the three mighty warriors.

²⁵ David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.”

²⁶ When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. ²⁷ After the time of mourning^(A) was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased^(B) the Lord.

⁹ David answered Rekab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered^(A) me out of every trouble, ¹⁰ when someone told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and put him to death in Ziklag.^(B) That was the reward I gave him for his news! ¹¹ How much more—when wicked men have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed—should I not now demand his blood^(C) from your hand and rid the earth of you!”

¹² So David gave an order to his men, and they killed them.^(D) They cut off their hands and feet and hung the bodies by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-Bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb at Hebron.