The House of David Strengthened

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

⁹ And it happened that all the people were disputing throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “^(A)The king delivered us from the ^[a]hand of our enemies and ^(B)provided us escape from the ^[b]hand of the Philistines, but now ^(C)he has fled out of the land from Absalom.

¹⁴ Thus he inclined the hearts of all the men of Judah ^(A)as one man, so they sent word to the king, saying, “Return, you and all your servants.”