3 And the war is long between the house of Saul and the house of David, and David is going on and [is] strong, and the house of Saul are going on and [are] weak.

² And there are born to David sons in Hebron, and his first-born is Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess,

³ and his second [is] Chileab, of Abigail wife of Nabal the Carmelite, and the third [is] Absalom son of Maacah daughter of Talmai king of Geshur,

⁴ and the fourth [is] Adonijah son of Haggith, and the fifth [is] Shephatiah son of Abital,

⁵ and the sixth [is] Ithream, of Eglah wife of David; these have been born to David in Hebron.

⁶ And it cometh to pass, in the war being between the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner hath been strengthening himself in the house of Saul,

⁷ and Saul hath a concubine, and her name [is] Rizpah daughter of Aiah, and [Ish-Bosheth] saith unto Abner, `Wherefore hast thou gone in unto the concubine of my father?'

⁸ And it is displeasing to Abner exceedingly, because of the words of Ish-Bosheth, and he saith, `The head of a dog [am] I -- that in reference to Judah to-day I do kindness with the house of Saul thy father, unto his brethren, and unto his friends, and have not delivered thee into the hand of David -- that thou chargest against me iniquity concerning the woman to-day?

⁹ thus doth God to Abner, and thus He doth add to him, surely as Jehovah hath sworn to David -- surely so I do to him:

¹⁰ to cause the kingdom to pass over from the house of Saul, and to raise up the throne of David over Israel, and over Judah, from Dan even unto Beer-Sheba.'

¹¹ And he is not able any more to turn back Abner a word, because of his fearing him.

¹² And Abner sendeth messengers unto David for himself, saying, `Whose [is] the land?' saying, `Make thy covenant with me, and lo, my hand [is] with thee, to bring round unto thee all Israel.'

¹³ And he saith, `Good -- I make with thee a covenant; only, one thing I am asking of thee, that is, Thou dost not see my face, except thou dost first bring in Michal, daughter of Saul in thy coming into see my face.'

¹⁴ And David sendeth messengers unto Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, saying, `Give up my wife Michal, whom I betrothed to myself with a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.'

¹⁵ And Ish-Bosheth sendeth, and taketh her from a man, from Phaltiel son of Laish,

¹⁶ and her husband goeth with her, going on and weeping behind her, unto Bahurim, and Abner saith unto him, `Go, turn back;' and he turneth back.

¹⁷ And the word of Abner was with the elders of Israel, saying, `Heretofore ye have been seeking David for king over you,

¹⁸ and now, do [it], for Jehovah hath spoken of David saying, By the hand of David my servant -- to save My people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies.'

¹⁹ And Abner speaketh also in the ears of Benjamin, and Abner goeth also to speak in the ears of David in Hebron all that [is] good in the eyes of Israel, and in the eyes of all the house of Benjamin,

²⁰ and Abner cometh in unto David, to Hebron, and with him twenty men, and David maketh for Abner, and for the men who [are] with him, a banquet.

²¹ And Abner saith unto David, `I arise, and go, and gather unto my lord the king the whole of Israel, and they make with thee a covenant, and thou hast reigned over all that thy soul desireth;' and David sendeth away Abner, and he goeth in peace.

²² And lo, the servants of David, and Joab, have come from the troop, and much spoil have brought with them, and Abner is not with David in Hebron, for he hath sent him away, and he goeth in peace;

²³ and Joab and all the host that [is] with him have come, and they declare to Joab, saying, `Abner son of Ner hath come unto the king, and he sendeth him away, and he goeth in peace.'

²⁴ And Joab cometh unto the king, and saith, `What hast thou done? lo, Abner hath come unto thee! why [is] this -- thou hast sent him away, and he is really gone?

²⁵ Thou hast known Abner son of Ner, that to deceive thee he came, and to know thy going out and thy coming in, and to know all that thou art doing.'

²⁶ And Joab goeth out from David, and sendeth messengers after Abner, and they bring him back from the well of Sirah, and David knew not.

²⁷ And Abner turneth back to Hebron, and Joab turneth him aside unto the midst of the gate to speak with him quietly, and smiteth him there in the fifth [rib] -- and he dieth -- for the blood of Asahel his brother.

²⁸ And David heareth afterwards and saith, `Acquitted [am] I, and my kingdom, by Jehovah, unto the age, from the blood of Abner son of Ner;

²⁹ it doth stay on the head of Joab, and on all the house of his father, and there is not cut off from the house of Joab one having an issue, and leprous, and laying hold on a staff, and falling by a sword, and lacking bread.'

³⁰ And Joab and Abishai his brother slew Abner because that he put to death Asahel their brother, in Gibeon, in battle.

³¹ And David saith unto Joab, and unto all the people who [are] with him, `Rend your garments, and gird on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner;' and king David is going after the bier.

³² And they bury Abner in Hebron, and the king lifteth up his voice, and weepeth at the grave of Abner, and all the people weep;

³³ and the king lamenteth for Abner, and saith: -- `As the death of a fool doth Abner die?

³⁴ Thy hands not bound, And thy feet to fetters not brought nigh! As one falling before sons of evil -- Thou hast fallen!' and all the people add to weep over him.

³⁵ And all the people come to cause David to eat bread while yet day, and David sweareth, saying, `Thus doth God to me, and thus He doth add, for -- before the going in of the sun, I taste no bread or any other thing.'

³⁶ And all the people have discerned [it], and it is good in their eyes, as all that the king hath done is good in the eyes of all the people;

³⁷ and all the people know, even all Israel, in that day, that it hath not been from the king -- to put to death Abner son of Ner.

³⁸ And the king saith unto his servants, `Do ye not know that a prince and a great one hath fallen this day in Israel?

³⁹ and I to-day [am] tender, and an anointed king: and these men, sons of Zeruiah, [are] too hard for me; Jehovah doth recompense to the doer of the evil according to his evil.'

4 And the son of Saul heareth that Abner [is] dead in Hebron, and his hands are feeble, and all Israel have been troubled.

² And two men, heads of troops, have been [to] the son of Saul, the name of the one [is] Baanah, and the name of the second Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin, for also Beeroth is reckoned to Benjamin,

³ and the Beerothites flee to Gittaim, and are there sojourners unto this day.

⁴ And to Jonathan son of Saul [is] a son -- lame; he was a son of five years at the coming in of the rumour of [the death of] Saul and Jonathan, out of Jezreel, and his nurse lifteth him up, and fleeth, and it cometh to pass in her hasting to flee, that he falleth, and becometh lame, and his name [is] Mephibosheth.

⁵ And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, go, and come in at the heat of the day unto the house of Ish-Bosheth, and he is lying down -- the lying down of noon;

⁶ and thither they have come, unto the midst of the house, taking wheat, and they smite him unto the fifth [rib], and Rechab and Baanah his brother have escaped;

⁷ yea, they come in to the house, and he is lying on his bed, in the inner part of his bed-chamber, and they smite him, and put him to death, and turn aside his head, and they take his head, and go the way of the plain all the night,

⁸ and bring in the head of Ish-Bosheth unto David in Hebron, and say unto the king, `Lo, the head of Ish-Bosheth, son of Saul, thine enemy, who sought thy life; and Jehovah doth give to my lord the king vengeance this day, of Saul and of his seed.'

⁹ And David answereth Rechab and Baanah his brother, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and saith to them, `Jehovah liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity,

¹⁰ when one is declaring to me, saying, Lo, Saul is dead, and he was as a bearer of tidings in his own eyes, then I take hold on him, and slay him in Ziklag, instead of my giving to him [for] the tidings.

¹¹ Also -- when wicked men have slain the righteous man in his own house, on his bed; and now, do not I require his blood of your hand, and have taken you away from the earth?'

¹² And David commandeth the young men, and they slay them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hang [them] over the pool in Hebron, and the head of Ish-Bosheth they have taken, and bury [it] in the burying-place of Abner in Hebron.

5 And all the tribes of Israel come unto David, to Hebron, and speak, saying, `Lo, we [are] thy bone and thy flesh;

² also heretofore, in Saul's being king over us, thou hast been he who is bringing out and bringing in Israel, and Jehovah saith to thee, Thou dost feed My people Israel, and thou art for leader over Israel.'

³ And all the elders of Israel come unto the king, to Hebron, and king David maketh with them a covenant in Hebron before Jehovah, and they anoint David for king over Israel.

⁴ A son of thirty years [is] David in his being king; forty years he hath reigned;

⁵ in Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years, over all Israel and Judah.

⁶ And the king goeth, and his men, to Jerusalem, unto the Jebusite, the inhabitant of the land, and they speak to David, saying, `Thou dost not come in hither, except thou turn aside the blind and the lame;' saying, `David doth not come in hither.'

⁷ And David captureth the fortress of Zion, it [is] the city of David.

⁸ And David saith on that day, `Any one smiting the Jebusite, (let him go up by the watercourse), and the lame and the blind -- the hated of David's soul,' -- because the blind and lame say, `He doth not come into the house.'

⁹ And David dwelleth in the fortress, and calleth it -- City of David, and David buildeth round about, from Millo and inward,

¹⁰ and David goeth, going on and becoming great, and Jehovah, God of Hosts, [is] with him.

¹¹ And Hiram king of Tyre sendeth messengers unto David, and cedar-trees, and artificers of wood, and artificers of stone, for walls, and they build a house for David,

¹² and David knoweth that Jehovah hath established him for king over Israel, and that He hath lifted up his kingdom, because of His people Israel.

¹³ And David taketh again concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after his coming from Hebron, and there are born again to David sons and daughters.

¹⁴ And these [are] the names of those born to him in Jerusalem: Shammuah, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon,

¹⁵ and Ibhar, and Elishua, and Nepheg, and Japhia,

¹⁶ and Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphalet.

¹⁷ And the Philistines hear that they have anointed David for king over Israel, and all the Philistines come up to seek David, and David heareth, and goeth down unto the fortress,

¹⁸ and the Philistines have come, and are spread out in the valley of Rephaim.

¹⁹ And David asketh of Jehovah, saying, `Do I go up unto the Philistines? dost Thou give them into my hand?' And Jehovah saith unto David, `Go up, for I certainly give the Philistines into thy hand.'

²⁰ And David cometh in to Baal-Perazim, and David smiteth them there, and saith, `Jehovah hath broken forth [on] mine enemies before me, as the breaking forth of waters;' therefore he hath called the name of that place Baal-Perazim.

²¹ And they forsake there their idols, and David and his men lift them up.

²² And the Philistines add again to come up, and are spread out in the valley of Rephaim,

²³ and David asketh of Jehovah, and He saith, `Thou dost not go up, turn round unto their rear, and thou hast come to them over-against the mulberries,

²⁴ and it cometh to pass, in thy hearing the sound of a stepping in the tops of the mulberries, then thou dost move sharply, for then hath Jehovah gone out before thee to smite in the camp of the Philistines.'

²⁵ And David doth so, as Jehovah commanded him, and smiteth the Philistines from Geba unto thy coming to Gazer.