³ select the best and fittest of your master's sons and set him on his father's throne and fight for your master's house.”

³⁶ Jesus answered, ^(A)“My kingdom ^(B)is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, ^(C)my servants would have been fighting, that ^(D)I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

²⁰ And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David but ^(A)the tribe of Judah only.

^21 (B)When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

²⁴ And Nathan said, “My lord the king, have you said, ‘Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne’? ²⁵ For he has gone down this day and ^(A)has sacrificed oxen, fattened cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the king's sons, the commanders^[a] of the army, and Abiathar the priest. And behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and saying, ^(B)‘Long live King Adonijah!’

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 ^(A)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.

Ish-bosheth Made King of Israel

⁸ But ^(A)Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to ^(B)Mahanaim, ⁹ and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel.

¹⁵ So all the people went to ^(A)Gilgal, and there they made Saul king ^(B)before the Lord in Gilgal. There ^(C)they sacrificed peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

²⁴ And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him ^(A)whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, ^(B)“Long live the king!”

Laws Concerning Israel's Kings

¹⁴ “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ^(A)‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ ¹⁵ you may indeed set a king over you ^(B)whom the Lord your God will choose. One ^(C)from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.