David Anointed King of Judah

2 After this David ^(A)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 ^(B)Hebron.” ² So David went up there, and ^(C)his two wives also, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. ³ And David brought up ^(D)his men who were with him, everyone with his household, and they lived in the towns of Hebron. ⁴ And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David ^(E)king over the house of Judah.

When they told David, ^(F)“It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul,” ⁵ David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, ^(G)“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 ^(H)the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

Ish-bosheth Made King of Israel

⁸ But ^(I)Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to ^(J)Mahanaim, ⁹ and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel. ¹⁰ Ish-bosheth, 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 (K)And the time that David was king in Hebron over ^(L)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-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. ¹³ And Joab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out and met them at ^(M)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 Joab, “Let the young men arise and compete before us.” And Joab said, “Let them arise.” ¹⁵ Then they arose and passed over by number, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth 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 Helkath-hazzurim,^[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 ^(N)three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was ^(O)as swift of foot as a wild gazelle. ¹⁹ And Asahel 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, Asahel?” 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 Asahel would not turn aside from following him. ²² And Abner said again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?” ²³ But he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him ^(P)in the stomach 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 Asahel had fallen and died, stood still.

²⁴ But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. And as the sun was going down they came to the hill of Ammah, which lies before Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. ²⁵ And the people of Benjamin gathered themselves together behind Abner and became one group and took their stand on the top of a hill. ²⁶ Then Abner called to Joab, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that the end will be bitter? How long will it be before you tell your people to turn from the pursuit of their brothers?” ²⁷ And Joab said, “As God lives, if ^(Q)you had not spoken, surely the men would not have given up the pursuit of their brothers until the morning.” ²⁸ So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the men stopped and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight anymore.

²⁹ And Abner and his men went all that night through ^(R)the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole morning, they came to ^(S)Mahanaim. ³⁰ Joab returned from the pursuit of Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing from David's servants nineteen men besides Asahel. ³¹ But the servants of David had struck down of Benjamin 360 of Abner's men. ³² And they took up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was at Bethlehem. And Joab and his men marched all night, and the day broke upon them at Hebron.

Abner Joins 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.

^2 (T)And sons were born to David at Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, of ^(U)Ahinoam of Jezreel; ³ and his second, Chileab, of ^(V)Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah ^(W)the daughter of Talmai king of ^(X)Geshur; ⁴ and the fourth, ^(Y)Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital; ⁵ and the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah, David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron.

Descendants of David

3 ^(A)These are the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn, Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelite; the second, ^(B)Daniel, by Abigail the Carmelite, ² the third, Absalom, whose mother was Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith; ³ the fifth, Shephatiah, by Abital; the sixth, Ithream, by his wife Eglah; ⁴ six were born to him in Hebron, ^(C)where he reigned for seven years and six months. ^(D)And he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

David's Mighty Men

^8 (A)These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: ^(B)Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite; he was chief of the three.^[a] He wielded his spear^[b] against eight hundred whom he killed at one time.

⁹ And next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar the son of ^(C)Dodo, son of ^(D)Ahohi. He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel withdrew. ¹⁰ He rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clung to the sword. And the Lord brought about a great victory that day, and the men returned after him only to strip the slain.

¹¹ And next to him was Shammah, the son of Agee the ^(E)Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi,^[c] where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the men fled from the Philistines. ¹² But he took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines, and the Lord worked a great victory.

¹³ And three of the thirty chief men went down and came about harvest time to David at the ^(F)cave of Adullam, when a band of Philistines was encamped ^(G)in the Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴ David was then ^(H)in the stronghold, and ^(I)the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. ¹⁵ And David said longingly, “Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” ¹⁶ Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and carried and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the Lord ¹⁷ and said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink ^(J)the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

David's Mighty Men

^10 (A)Now these are the chiefs of David's mighty men, who gave him strong support in his kingdom, together with all Israel, to make him king, ^(B)according to the word of the Lord concerning Israel. ¹¹ This is an account of David's mighty men: ^(C)Jashobeam, a ^(D)Hachmonite, was ^(E)chief of the three.^[a] He wielded his spear against 300 whom he killed at one time.

¹² And next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar the son of ^(F)Dodo, the Ahohite. ¹³ He was with David at Pas-dammim ^(G)when the Philistines were gathered there for battle. There was a plot of ground full of barley, and the men fled from the Philistines. ¹⁴ But he took his^[b] stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and killed the Philistines. And the Lord saved them by a great victory.

¹⁵ Three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David at the cave of Adullam, when the army of Philistines was encamped in the ^(H)Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁶ David was then in the stronghold, and the ^(I)garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. ¹⁷ And David said longingly, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” ¹⁸ Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and took it and brought it to David. But David would not drink it. He poured it out to the Lord ¹⁹ and said, “Far be it from me before my God that I should do this. Shall I drink the lifeblood of these men? For at the risk of their lives they brought it.” Therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.