David Anointed King of Judah

2 After this David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up.” David said, “To which shall I go up?” And he said, “To Hebron.” ² So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahin′o-am of Jezreel, and Ab′igail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. ³ And David brought up his men who were with him, every one with his household; and they dwelt in the towns of Hebron. ⁴ And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.

When they told David, “It was the men of Ja′besh-gil′ead who buried Saul,” ⁵ David sent messengers to the men of Ja′besh-gil′ead, and said to them, “May you be blessed by the Lord, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord, and buried him! ⁶ Now may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you! And I will do good to you because you have done this thing. ⁷ Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant; for Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

Ishbaal King of Israel

⁸ Now Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ish-bo′sheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahana′im; ⁹ and he made him king over Gilead and the Ash′urites and Jezreel and E′phraim and Benjamin and all Israel. ¹⁰ Ish-bo′sheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. ¹¹ And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

The Battle of Gibeon

¹² Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bo′sheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahana′im to Gibeon. ¹³ And Jo′ab the son of Zeru′iah, and the servants of David, went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon; and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. ¹⁴ And Abner said to Jo′ab, “Let the young men arise and play before us.” And Jo′ab said, “Let them arise.” ¹⁵ Then they arose and passed over by number, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bo′sheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. ¹⁶ And each caught his opponent by the head, and thrust his sword in his opponent’s side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Hel′kath-hazzu′rim,^[a] which is at Gibeon. ¹⁷ And the battle was very fierce that day; and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.

¹⁸ And the three sons of Zeru′iah were there, Jo′ab, Abi′shai, and As′ahel. Now As′ahel was as swift of foot as a wild gazelle; ¹⁹ and As′ahel pursued Abner, and as he went he turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. ²⁰ Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Is it you, As′ahel?” And he answered, “It is I.” ²¹ Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and seize one of the young men, and take his spoil.” But As′ahel would not turn aside from following him. ²² And Abner said again to As′ahel, “Turn aside from following me; why should I smite you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Jo′ab?” ²³ But he refused to turn aside; therefore Abner smote him in the belly with the butt of his spear, so that the spear came out at his back; and he fell there, and died where he was. And all who came to the place where As′ahel had fallen and died, stood still.

²⁴ But Jo′ab and Abi′shai pursued Abner; and as the sun was going down they came to the hill of Ammah, which lies before Gi′ah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. ²⁵ And the Benjaminites gathered themselves together behind Abner, and became one band, and took their stand on the top of a hill. ²⁶ Then Abner called to Jo′ab, “Shall the sword devour for ever? Do you not know that the end will be bitter? How long will it be before you bid your people turn from the pursuit of their brethren?” ²⁷ And Jo′ab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely the men would have given up the pursuit of their brethren in the morning.” ²⁸ So Jo′ab blew the trumpet; and all the men stopped, and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight any more.

²⁹ And Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah; they crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole forenoon they came to Mahana′im. ³⁰ Jo′ab returned from the pursuit of Abner; and when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing of David’s servants nineteen men besides As′ahel. ³¹ But the servants of David had slain of Benjamin three hundred and sixty of Abner’s men. ³² And they took up As′ahel, and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was at Bethlehem. And Jo′ab and his men marched all night, and the day broke upon them at Hebron.

Abner Defects to David

3 There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David; and David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker.

On Divisions in the Corinthian Church

3 But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men of the flesh, as babes in Christ. ² I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready for it; and even yet you are not ready, ³ for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving like ordinary men? ⁴ For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apol′los,” are you not merely men?

⁵ What then is Apol′los? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. ⁶ I planted, Apol′los watered, but God gave the growth. ⁷ So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸ He who plants and he who waters are equal, and each shall receive his wages according to his labor. ⁹ For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

¹⁰ According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it. ¹¹ For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— ¹³ each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. ¹⁴ If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

¹⁶ Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? ¹⁷ If any one destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and that temple you are.

¹⁸ Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. ¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” ²⁰ and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” ²¹ So let no one boast of men. For all things are yours, ²² whether Paul or Apol′los or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours; ²³ and you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

¹⁷ And Abner conferred with the elders of Israel, saying, “For some time past you have been seeking David as king over you. ¹⁸ Now then bring it about; for the Lord has promised David, saying, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines, and from the hand of all their enemies.’” ¹⁹ Abner also spoke to Benjamin; and then Abner went to tell David at Hebron all that Israel and the whole house of Benjamin thought good to do.

²⁰ When Abner came with twenty men to David at Hebron, David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him. ²¹ And Abner said to David, “I will arise and go, and will gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your heart desires.” So David sent Abner away; and he went in peace.

Abner Is Killed by Joab

²² Just then the servants of David arrived with Jo′ab from a raid, bringing much spoil with them. But Abner was not with David at Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace. ²³ When Jo′ab and all the army that was with him came, it was told Jo′ab, “Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has let him go, and he has gone in peace.” ²⁴ Then Jo′ab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you; why is it that you have sent him away, so that he is gone? ²⁵ You know that Abner the son of Ner came to deceive you, and to know your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you are doing.”

²⁶ When Jo′ab came out from David’s presence, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah; but David did not know about it. ²⁷ And when Abner returned to Hebron, Jo′ab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he smote him in the belly, so that he died, for the blood of As′ahel his brother. ²⁸ Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, “I and my kingdom are for ever guiltless before the Lord for the blood of Abner the son of Ner. ²⁹ May it fall upon the head of Jo′ab, and upon all his father’s house; and may the house of Jo′ab never be without one who has a discharge, or who is leprous, or who holds a spindle, or who is slain by the sword, or who lacks bread!” ³⁰ So Jo′ab and Abi′shai his brother slew Abner, because he had killed their brother As′ahel in the battle at Gibeon.

³¹ Then David said to Jo′ab and to all the people who were with him, “Rend your clothes, and gird on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner.” And King David followed the bier. ³² They buried Abner at Hebron; and the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner; and all the people wept. ³³ And the king lamented for Abner, saying,

And all the people wept again over him. ³⁵ Then all the people came to persuade David to eat bread while it was yet day; but David swore, saying, “God do so to me and more also, if I taste bread or anything else till the sun goes down!” ³⁶ And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them; as everything that the king did pleased all the people. ³⁷ So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king’s will to slay Abner the son of Ner. ³⁸ And the king said to his servants, “Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel? ³⁹ And I am this day weak, though anointed king; these men the sons of Zeru′iah are too hard for me. The Lord requite the evildoer according to his wickedness!”

A Samaritan Village Refuses to Receive Jesus

⁵¹ When the days drew near for him to be received up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. ⁵² And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him; ⁵³ but the people would not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?”^{[a] 55} But he turned and rebuked them.^{[b] 56} And they went on to another village.

Would-Be Followers of Jesus

⁵⁷ As they were going along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” ⁵⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” ⁵⁹ To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” ⁶⁰ But he said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” ⁶¹ Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” ⁶² Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”