Book Five

Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So

David Anointed King of Judah

2 After this David ^(A)inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up.” David said, “To which shall I go up?” And he said, “To ^(B)Hebron.” ² So David went up there, and ^(C)his two wives also, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. ³ And David brought up ^(D)his men who were with him, everyone with his household, and they lived in the towns of Hebron. ⁴ And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David ^(E)king over the house of Judah.

When they told David, ^(F)“It was 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 by the Lord, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord and buried him. ⁶ Now may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. And I will do good to you because you have done this thing. ⁷ Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant, for Saul your lord is dead, and ^(H)the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

Ish-bosheth Made King of Israel

⁸ But ^(I)Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to ^(J)Mahanaim, ⁹ and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel. ¹⁰ Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. ^11 (K)And the time that David was king in Hebron over ^(L)the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

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 ^(M)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.

¹⁸ And the ^(N)three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was ^(O)as swift of foot as a wild gazelle. ¹⁹ And Asahel pursued Abner, and as he went, he turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. ²⁰ Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Is it you, Asahel?” And he answered, “It is I.” ²¹ Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and seize one of the young men and take his spoil.” But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. ²² And Abner said again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?” ²³ But he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him ^(P)in the stomach with the butt of his spear, so that the spear came out at his back. And he fell there and died where he was. And all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, stood still.

²⁴ But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. And as the sun was going down they came to the hill of Ammah, which lies before Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. ²⁵ And the people of Benjamin gathered themselves together behind Abner and became one group and took their stand on the top of a hill. ²⁶ Then Abner called to Joab, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that the end will be bitter? How long will it be before you tell your people to turn from the pursuit of their brothers?” ²⁷ And Joab said, “As God lives, if ^(Q)you had not spoken, surely the men would not have given up the pursuit of their brothers until the morning.” ²⁸ So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the men stopped and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight anymore.

²⁹ And Abner and his men went all that night through ^(R)the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole morning, they came to ^(S)Mahanaim. ³⁰ Joab returned from the pursuit of Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing from David's servants nineteen men besides Asahel. ³¹ But the servants of David had struck down of Benjamin 360 of Abner's men. ³² And they took up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was at Bethlehem. And Joab and his men marched all night, and the day broke upon them at Hebron.

Do Not Pass Judgment on One Another

14 As for ^(A)the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. ^2 (B)One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. ³ Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and ^(C)let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. ^4 (D)Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master^[a] that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

^5 (E)One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. ^(F)Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶ The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since ^(G)he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷ For ^(H)none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. ⁸ For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, ^(I)whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. ⁹ For to this end Christ ^(J)died and lived again, that he might be Lord both ^(K)of the dead and of the living.

¹⁰ Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For ^(L)we will all stand before ^(M)the judgment seat of God; ¹¹ for it is written,

¹² So then ^(O)each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Do Not Cause Another to Stumble

^13 (P)Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide ^(Q)never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. ¹⁴ I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus ^(R)that nothing is unclean in itself, ^(S)but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. ¹⁵ For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, ^(T)you are no longer walking in love. ^(U)By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. ^16 (V)So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. ^17 (W)For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but ^(X)of righteousness and ^(Y)peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ Whoever thus serves Christ is ^(Z)acceptable to God and approved by men. ¹⁹ So then let us ^(AA)pursue what makes for peace and for ^(AB)mutual upbuilding.

^20 (AC)Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. ^(AD)Everything is indeed clean, but ^(AE)it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. ^21 (AF)It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.^{[c] 22} The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. ^(AG)Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. ²³ But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.^[d]