War with the Philistines

¹⁷ Now when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, ^(A)all the Philistines went up to seek out David; and when David heard about it, he went down to the ^(B)stronghold. ¹⁸ Now the Philistines came and overran ^(C)the Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁹ So ^(D)David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You hand them over to me?” And ^(E)the Lord said to David, “Go up, for I will certainly hand the Philistines over to you.” ²⁰ Then David came to ^(F)Baal-perazim and ^[a]defeated them there; and he said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like the breakthrough of waters.” Therefore he named that place ^[b]Baal-perazim. ²¹ And the Philistines abandoned their idols there, so ^(G)David and his men carried them away.

²² Now ^(H)the Philistines came up once again and overran the Valley of Rephaim. ²³ So ^(I)David inquired of the Lord, but He said, “You shall not go directly up; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the baka-shrubs. ²⁴ And it shall be, when ^(J)you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the baka-shrubs, then you shall ^[c]act promptly, for then ^(K)the Lord will have gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines.” ²⁵ Then David did so, just as the Lord had commanded him; he struck and killed the Philistines from ^[d](L)Geba ^[e]as far as ^(M)Gezer.