David Made King over Judah

2 Then it came about afterwards that ^(A)David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up to one of the cities of Judah?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up.” So David said, “Where shall I go up?” And He said, “^(B)To Hebron.” ² So David went up there, and ^(C)his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the ^[a]widow of Nabal the Carmelite. ³ And ^(D)David brought up his men who were with him, each with his household; and they lived in the cities of Hebron. ⁴ Then the men of Judah came and there ^(E)anointed David king over the house of Judah.

And they told David, saying, “It was ^(F)the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul.” ⁵ David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said to them, “^(G)May you be blessed of the Lord because you have ^[b]shown this kindness to Saul your lord, and have buried him. ⁶ Now ^(H)may the Lord ^[c]show lovingkindness and truth to you; and I also will ^[d]show this goodness to you, because you have done this thing. ⁷ Now therefore, let your hands be strong and be ^[e]valiant; for Saul your lord is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

Ish-bosheth Made King over Israel

⁸ But ^(I)Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, had taken ^[f]Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to ^(J)Mahanaim. ⁹ He made him king over ^(K)Gilead, over the ^(L)Ashurites, over ^(M)Jezreel, over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, even over all Israel. ¹⁰ Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he was king for two years. The house of Judah, however, followed David. ^11 (N)The ^[g]time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

Civil War

¹² Now Abner the son of Ner, went out from Mahanaim to ^(O)Gibeon with the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul. ¹³ And ^(P)Joab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out and met ^[h]them by the pool of Gibeon; and they sat down, ^[i]one on the one side of the pool and ^[j]the other on the other side of the pool. ¹⁴ Then Abner said to Joab, “Now let the young men arise and ^[k](Q)hold a contest before us.” And Joab said, “Let them arise.” ¹⁵ So they arose and went over by count, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. ¹⁶ Each one of them seized his ^[l]opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his ^[m]opponent’s side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called ^[n]Helkath-hazzurim, which is in Gibeon. ¹⁷ That day the battle was very severe, and ^(R)Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.

¹⁸ Now ^(S)the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab and Abishai and Asahel; and Asahel was ^(T)as ^[o]swift-footed as one of the gazelles which is in the field. ¹⁹ Asahel pursued Abner and did not ^[p]turn to the right or to the left from following Abner. ²⁰ Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Is that you, Asahel?” And he answered, “It is I.” ²¹ So Abner said to him, “^[q]Turn to your right or to your left, and take hold of one of the young men for yourself, and take for yourself his spoil.” But Asahel was not willing to turn aside from following him. ²² Abner repeated again to Asahel, “Turn ^[r]aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? ^(U)How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?” ²³ However, he refused to turn aside; therefore Abner struck him in the belly with the butt end of the spear, so that the spear came out at his back. And he fell there and died on the spot. And it came about that all who came to the place where ^(V)Asahel had fallen and died, stood still.

²⁴ But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner, and when the sun was going down, they came to the hill of Ammah, which is in front of Giah by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon. ²⁵ The sons of Benjamin gathered together behind Abner and became one band, and they stood on the top of a certain hill. ²⁶ Then Abner called to Joab and said, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it will be bitter in the end? How long will you ^[s]refrain from telling the people to turn back from following their brothers?” ²⁷ Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely then the people would have gone away in the morning, each from following his brother.” ²⁸ So Joab blew the trumpet; and all the people halted and pursued Israel no longer, ^(W)nor did they continue to fight anymore. ²⁹ Abner and his men then went through the Arabah all that night; so they crossed the Jordan, walked all morning, and came to ^(X)Mahanaim.

³⁰ Then Joab returned from following Abner; when he had gathered all the people together, ^[t]nineteen of David’s servants besides Asahel were missing. ³¹ But the servants of David had struck down many of Benjamin and Abner’s men, so that three hundred and sixty men died. ³² And they took up Asahel and buried him ^(Y)in his father’s tomb which was in Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men went all night until the day ^[u]dawned at Hebron.

Similitudes, Instructions

25 These also are ^(A)proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, transcribed.

Salutation

1 Paul, ^(A)a bond-servant of God and an ^(B)apostle of Jesus Christ, ^[a]for the faith of those ^(C)chosen of God and ^(D)the knowledge of the truth which is ^(E)according to godliness, ² in ^(F)the hope of eternal life, which God, ^(G)who cannot lie, ^(H)promised ^[b](I)long ages ago, ³ but ^(J)at the proper time manifested, even His word, in ^(K)the proclamation ^(L)with which I was entrusted ^(M)according to the commandment of ^(N)God our Savior,

⁴ To ^(O)Titus, ^(P)my true child ^[c]in a ^(Q)common faith: ^(R)Grace and peace from God the Father and ^(S)Christ Jesus our Savior.

Qualifications of Elders

⁵ For this reason I left you in ^(T)Crete, that you would set in order what remains and ^(U)appoint ^(V)elders in every city as I directed you, ⁶ namely, ^(W)if any man is above reproach, the ^(X)husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of ^(Y)dissipation or ^(Z)rebellion. ⁷ For the ^[d](AA)overseer must be above reproach as ^(AB)God’s steward, not ^(AC)self-willed, not quick-tempered, not ^(AD)addicted to wine, not pugnacious, ^(AE)not fond of sordid gain, ⁸ but ^(AF)hospitable, ^(AG)loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, ^9 (AH)holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in ^(AI)sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.

^10 (AJ)For there are many ^(AK)rebellious men, ^(AL)empty talkers and deceivers, especially ^(AM)those of the circumcision, ¹¹ who must be silenced because they are upsetting ^(AN)whole families, teaching ^(AO)things they should not teach ^(AP)for the sake of sordid gain. ¹² One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “^(AQ)Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” ¹³ This testimony is true. For this reason ^(AR)reprove them ^(AS)severely so that they may be ^(AT)sound in the faith, ¹⁴ not paying attention to Jewish ^(AU)myths and ^(AV)commandments of men who ^(AW)turn away from the truth. ^15 (AX)To the pure, all things are pure; but ^(AY)to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their ^(AZ)mind and their conscience are defiled. ^16 (BA)They profess to know God, but by their deeds they ^(BB)deny Him, being ^(BC)detestable and ^(BD)disobedient and ^(BE)worthless ^(BF)for any good deed.