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.

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

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