David Made King over Judah

2 Then it came about afterwards that ^(A)David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up to one of the cities of Judah?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up.” So David said, “Where shall I go up?” And He said, “^(B)To Hebron.” ² So David went up there, and ^(C)his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the ^[a]widow of Nabal the Carmelite. ³ And ^(D)David brought up his men who were with him, each with his household; and they lived in the cities of Hebron. ⁴ Then the men of Judah came and there ^(E)anointed David king over the house of Judah.

And they told David, saying, “It was ^(F)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 of the Lord because you have ^[b]shown this kindness to Saul your lord, and have buried him. ⁶ Now ^(H)may the Lord ^[c]show lovingkindness and truth to you; and I also will ^[d]show this goodness to you, because you have done this thing. ⁷ Now therefore, let your hands be strong and be ^[e]valiant; for Saul your lord is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

Ish-bosheth Made King over Israel

⁸ But ^(I)Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, had taken ^[f]Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to ^(J)Mahanaim. ⁹ He made him king over ^(K)Gilead, over the ^(L)Ashurites, over ^(M)Jezreel, over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, even over all Israel. ¹⁰ Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he was king for two years. The house of Judah, however, followed David. ^11 (N)The ^[g]time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

Civil War

¹² Now Abner the son of Ner, went out from Mahanaim to ^(O)Gibeon with the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul. ¹³ And ^(P)Joab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out and met ^[h]them by the pool of Gibeon; and they sat down, ^[i]one on the one side of the pool and ^[j]the other on the other side of the pool. ¹⁴ Then Abner said to Joab, “Now let the young men arise and ^[k](Q)hold a contest before us.” And Joab said, “Let them arise.” ¹⁵ So they arose and went over by count, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. ¹⁶ Each one of them seized his ^[l]opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his ^[m]opponent’s side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called ^[n]Helkath-hazzurim, which is in Gibeon. ¹⁷ That day the battle was very severe, and ^(R)Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.

¹⁸ Now ^(S)the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab and Abishai and Asahel; and Asahel was ^(T)as ^[o]swift-footed as one of the gazelles which is in the field. ¹⁹ Asahel pursued Abner and did not ^[p]turn to the right or to the left from following Abner. ²⁰ Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Is that you, Asahel?” And he answered, “It is I.” ²¹ So Abner said to him, “^[q]Turn to your right or to your left, and take hold of one of the young men for yourself, and take for yourself his spoil.” But Asahel was not willing to turn aside from following him. ²² Abner repeated again to Asahel, “Turn ^[r]aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? ^(U)How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?” ²³ However, he refused to turn aside; therefore Abner struck him in the belly with the butt end of the spear, so that the spear came out at his back. And he fell there and died on the spot. And it came about that all who came to the place where ^(V)Asahel had fallen and died, stood still.

²⁴ But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner, and when the sun was going down, they came to the hill of Ammah, which is in front of Giah by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon. ²⁵ The sons of Benjamin gathered together behind Abner and became one band, and they stood on the top of a certain hill. ²⁶ Then Abner called to Joab and said, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it will be bitter in the end? How long will you ^[s]refrain from telling the people to turn back from following their brothers?” ²⁷ Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely then the people would have gone away in the morning, each from following his brother.” ²⁸ So Joab blew the trumpet; and all the people halted and pursued Israel no longer, ^(W)nor did they continue to fight anymore. ²⁹ Abner and his men then went through the Arabah all that night; so they crossed the Jordan, walked all morning, and came to ^(X)Mahanaim.

³⁰ Then Joab returned from following Abner; when he had gathered all the people together, ^[t]nineteen of David’s servants besides Asahel were missing. ³¹ But the servants of David had struck down many of Benjamin and Abner’s men, so that three hundred and sixty men died. ³² And they took up Asahel and buried him ^(Y)in his father’s tomb which was in Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men went all night until the day ^[u]dawned at Hebron.

The House of David Strengthened

3 Now ^(A)there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David; and David grew steadily stronger, but the house of Saul grew weaker continually.

^2 (B)Sons were born to David at Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, by ^(C)Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; ³ and his second, Chileab, by Abigail the ^[a]widow of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom the son of ^(D)Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of ^(E)Geshur; ⁴ and the fourth, ^(F)Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital; ⁵ and the sixth, Ithream, by David’s wife Eglah. These were born to David at Hebron.

Family of David

3 ^(A)Now these were the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; the second was Daniel, by Abigail the Carmelitess; ² the third was Absalom the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; the fourth was Adonijah the son of Haggith; ³ the fifth was Shephatiah, by Abital; the sixth was Ithream, by his wife Eglah. ⁴ Six were born to him in Hebron, and ^(B)there he reigned seven years and six months. And in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years.

His Mighty Men

^8 (A)These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the ^[a]captains, he was called Adino the Eznite, because of eight hundred slain by him at one time; ⁹ and after him was Eleazar the son of ^(B)Dodo the ^(C)Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they ^[b]defied the Philistines who were gathered there to battle and the men of Israel had ^[c]withdrawn. ^10 (D)He arose and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary and ^[d]clung to the sword, and ^(E)the Lord brought about a great ^[e]victory that day; and the people returned after him only to strip the slain.

¹¹ Now after him was Shammah the son of Agee a ^(F)Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered ^[f]into a troop where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines. ¹² But he took his stand in the midst of the plot, defended it and struck the Philistines; and ^(G)the Lord brought about a great ^[g]victory.

¹³ Then three of the thirty chief men went down and came to David in the harvest time to the ^(H)cave of Adullam, while the troop of the Philistines was camping in ^(I)the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴ David was then ^(J)in the stronghold, while the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. ^15 (K)David had a craving and said, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate!” ^16 (L)So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but ^(M)poured it out to the Lord; ¹⁷ and he said, “Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this. ^(N)Shall I drink the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.