-
Samuel Anoints David
Now Adonai said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse the Beth-lehemite, for I have selected for Myself a king among his sons.”
-
So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. From that day on Ruach Adonai came mightily upon David. Then Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
-
David Soothes Saul’s Torment
Now the Ruach Adonai had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Adonai terrified him.
-
So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the flock.”
-
So Jesse took a donkey, loaded it with bread, a bottle of wine and a young goat, and sent them with his son David to Saul.
-
Then David came to Saul and became one of his attendants. Saul loved him greatly, so David became his armor-bearer.
-
Then Saul sent word to Jesse saying, “Let David now keep attending me, for he has found favor in my eyes.”
-
It came to pass, whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take the harp and play it with his hand. So Saul would find relief and feel better, as the evil spirit departed from him.
-
David Slays Goliath with Sling and Stone
Now the Philistines assembled their armies to battle. They were gathered at Socoh of Judah, and camped in Ephes-dammim, between Socoh and Azekah.
-
Now David was son of a certain Ephrathite man of Beth-lehem of Judah, whose name was Jesse. He had eight sons and during the days of Saul the man was old, advanced in years among men.
-
David was the youngest. So the three oldest followed Saul.
-
Now David would go back and forth from Saul to tending his father’s sheep by Beth-lehem.
-
Then Jesse said to his son David, “Take now, for your brothers, an ephah of this roasted grain and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers.
-
So David rose up early in the morning, left the flock with a keeper, took the provisions and went as Jesse had commanded him. When he reached the camp, the army was going out to the battle line shouting the war cry.
-
Then David left his baggage in the care of the baggage keeper, and ran to the battle line and entered to check out his brothers’ welfare.
-
But as he was talking with them, behold the champion, the Philistine from Gath named Goliath, was coming up from the ranks of the Philistines, and he spoke these same words; and David heard them.
-
Then David asked the men who were standing by him saying, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the ranks of the living God?”
-
Now when Eliab his oldest brother heard him speaking to the men, Eliab’s anger was kindled against David. “Why have you come down here?” he asked. “So with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart! For you’ve come down here to watch the battle.”
-
“What have I done now?” David said. “It was only a question!”
-
The words that David said were overheard and reported before Saul. So he was taken to him.
-
David said to Saul, “Let no one’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
-
Then Saul said to David, “You can’t go fight this Philistine—for you’re just a youth, and he’s been a warrior since his youth.”
-
But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb out of the flock,
-
Then David said, “Adonai, who has delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” “Go!” said Saul to David, “and may Adonai be with you.”
-
Then Saul clothed David with his own garb, put a bronze helmet on his head, and clothed him in armor.
-
David strapped his sword on his garment and tried to walk, but he was not used to it. So David said to Saul, “I cannot walk in these, for I am not used to them.” So David took them off.
-
Meanwhile, the Philistine drew nearer and approached David, with his shield-bearer in front of him.
-
Now when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was just a ruddy boy with a handsome appearance.
-
Then the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
-
The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, so I may give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.”
-
Then David said to the Philistine, “You are coming to me with a sword, a spear and a javelin, but I am coming to you in the Name of Adonai-Tzva’ot, God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
-
Then when the Philistine rose and began to advance, drawing near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.
-
David put his hand in his bag, took from it a stone and slung it, striking the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to the ground.
-
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, struck the Philistine down and killed him. Since there was no sword in David’s hand,
-
David ran, stood over the Philistine, picked up his sword, drew it from its sheath, slew him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
-
David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his own tent.
-
Now when Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he asked Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this boy?” Abner said, “As your soul lives, your majesty, I don’t know.”
-
So when David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
-
“Whose son are you, young man?” Saul said to him. David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Beth-lehemite.”
-
Jonathan’s Covenant Love for David
Now it came to pass, when David had finished speaking to Saul, Jonathan’s soul was knit to David’s soul, and Jonathan loved him as himself.
-
Then Jonathan cut a covenant with David, because he loved him as himself.
-
Jonathan stripped off the robe that was on him and gave it to David, along with his armor: his sword, bow and belt.
-
Saul’s Jealousy
So David went out wherever Saul sent him and had success, so Saul set him over the men of war. It was pleasing in the eyes of all the people as well as in the eyes of Saul’s courtiers.
-
Upon their coming back, upon David’s return from killing the Philistine, the women came out of all the towns of Israel, singing and dancing in circles to greet King Saul, with timbrels, with joy and with three-stringed instruments.
-
So the women sang one to another, as they were dancing saying, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands!”
-
Then Saul became very angry—this saying was evil in his eyes—and he commented, “They’ve ascribed to David ten thousands and to me they’ve ascribed thousands. Now what more does he lack but the kingdom?”
-
So Saul eyed David from that day on.
-
It came about the next day that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, so that he was raving within the palace. While David was playing music with his hand, as he did day by day, Saul had his spear in his hand,
-
and Saul hurled the spear, thinking, “I’ll pin David to the wall!” But David eluded him—twice.
-
Now Saul became afraid of David, because Adonai was with him but had departed from Saul.
-
Therefore Saul removed him from his entourage by appointing him as a captain of a thousand. So David went out and came in before the troops.
-
David had success in all his undertakings, since Adonai was with him.
-
But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.
-
Then Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab—I give her to you as a wife. Only continue to be my son of valor and fight Adonai’s battles.” For Saul thought, “My hand needn’t be against him—let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”
-
But David replied to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my life or my father’s family in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?”
-
But when it was time to give Saul’s daughter Merab to David in marriage, she was given as wife to Adriel the Meholathite instead.
-
Michal’s Love for David
Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David. When they told Saul, the matter pleased him.
-
Saul thought, “I will give her to him, so that she may become a snare to him—and the hand of the Philistines will be against him.” So Saul said to David, “You can still become my son-in-law, even today, with the second one.”
-
Then Saul commanded his courtiers, “Speak with David privately and say, ‘Behold, the king delights in you and all his courtiers love you. So now, become the king’s son-in-law!’”
-
So Saul’s courtiers whispered these words in David’s ears. But David said, “Is it a light thing to you becoming the king’s son-in-law, considering that I am a poor man and of little account?”
-
Saul’s courtiers reported back to him what David had said.
-
Then Saul said, “Thus you will say to David, ‘The king desires no bridal dowry except 100 foreskins of the Philistines—to take vengeance on the king’s enemies.’” So Saul schemed to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
-
When his courtiers told David these words, the word seemed right in David’s eyes to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the days were fulfilled,
-
David had risen, gone with his men and killed 200 Philistine men. Then David brought their foreskins and gave them in full number to the king—to become the king’s son-in-law. So Saul gave him Michal his daughter as a wife.
-
When Saul saw and realized that Adonai was with David and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him,
-
Saul grew even more afraid of David. Thus Saul became David’s enemy for all days.
-
When the chiefs of the Philistines marched out, as often as they came out, David proved more successful than all of Saul’s officers. So his name became highly esteemed.
-
Saul Tries to Kill David
Now Saul told his son Jonathan and all his courtiers to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan delighted much in David.
-
So Jonathan informed David saying, “My father Saul is seeking to kill you. So now, please be on guard in the morning, and stay in a secret place and hide yourself.
-
So Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said to him, “May the king not sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his deeds have been very beneficial for you;
-
For he put his life in his hand and killed the Philistine, and Adonai won a great victory for all Israel—you saw it and rejoiced. So why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David without a cause?”
-
So Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these things. Jonathan brought David to Saul and in his presence as before.
-
Once again war broke out, and David marched out and fought the Philistines, and inflicted a great slaughter on them and they fled before him.
-
Yet once again an evil spirit from Adonai came upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, as David was playing music with his hand.
-
Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul’s face, so that he drove the spear into the wall. That night David fled and got away.
-
Then Saul sent agents to David’s house to watch him, in order to kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal warned him saying, “If you don’t escape for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!”
-
So Michal lowered David down through the window, and thus he went, fled and escaped.
-
When Saul sent messengers to arrest David, she said, “He’s sick.”
-
So Saul sent the agents back to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed so I may put him to death.”
-
So David fled and escaped, went to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth.
-
Saul was told, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.”
-
So Saul sent agents to seize David, but they saw a band of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing and presiding over them. Then the Ruach of God came upon Saul’s agents and they too prophesied.
-
Then he himself went to Ramah, and when he arrived at the great cistern in Secu, he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” Someone answered, “Look, they are at Naioth at Ramah.”
-
Reaffirming Covenant Loyalty
Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah, came before Jonathan and said, “What have I done? What is my crime? What is my sin against your father that he should be seeking my life?”
-
Then David swore again saying, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes. So he must have thought, ‘Let’s not let Jonathan know about this, else he will be grieved.’ But truly as Adonai lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.”
-
Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you!”
-
So David said to Jonathan, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon, when I am supposed to sit down with the king to eat. Instead, let me go hide myself in the countryside until the third evening.
-
If your father misses me at all, then say: ‘David earnestly asked my permission to run to Beth-lehem, his town, for it is the annual sacrifice there for the whole family.’
-
Then David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”
-
Jonathan said to David, “Come, let’s go out to the field.” So they both went out to the field.
-
Then Jonathan said to David, “By Adonai, God of Israel, I will sound out my father about this time tomorrow or the day after. Look, if it is good toward David, wouldn’t I then send word to you and disclose it to you?
-
Yet also, don’t cut off your loyal love from my household ever—not even when Adonai cuts off all of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”
-
So Jonathan cut a covenant with the house of David, “So may Adonai requite David’s enemies.”
-
Jonathan made David swear again because of the love he had for him, for he loved him as he loved himself.
-
So David hid himself in the field, and when the New Moon came, the king sat down to eat a meal.
-
So the king sat on his seat—as usual, the seat by the wall—Jonathan stood up and Abner sat down by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty.
-
Yet it came to pass on the day following the New Moon, the second day, that David’s place was still empty. So Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why didn’t Jesse’s son come to the meal yesterday or today?”
-
Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Beth-lehem,
-
Then Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him down. So Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death.
-
So Jonathan rose up from the table in fierce anger, and did not eat food the second day of the new month, for he was grieved over David, because his father had dishonored him.
-
It came to pass in the morning that Jonathan went out to the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad was with him.
-
But the lad knew nothing; only Jonathan and David knew the arrangement.
-
As soon as the lad was gone, David emerged from the south side and fell on his face to the ground and bowed down three times. Then they kissed each other and wept together, though David wept more.
-
Then Jonathan said to David, “Go in the shalom that we both have sworn to each other in the Name of Adonai saying: ‘May Adonai be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring, forever.’”
-
Eating Consecrated Bread
Then David got up and left, while Jonathan returned to the town.
-
David went to Nob to Ahimelech the kohen. Ahimelech was afraid to meet David, so he said to him, “Why are you alone and no one with you?”
-
David said to Ahimelech the kohen, “The king has commissioned me with a matter, and told me: ‘Let no one know anything about the mission on which I am sending you, or with what I have commissioned you.’ So, I have directed the young men to such and such a place.
-
The kohen answered David saying, “There is no common bread on hand, but there is consecrated bread—so long as the young men have kept themselves from women.”
-
“Of course women have been kept from us, as on previous campaigns,” David answered the kohen. “So the young men’s vessels were holy, though it was an ordinary mission—how much more so will their vessels be holy today!”
-
Then David said to Ahimelech, “Isn’t there a spear or sword on hand? For I did not take my sword or my weapons with me, because the king’s mission was urgent.”
-
The kohen said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine whom you killed in the valley of Elah—it’s here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want to take it for yourself, take it. For there’s nothing else here.” “There’s nothing like it!” David said. “Give it to me.”
-
David Pretends Insanity
Then David got up and fled that day from Saul, and went to Achish, king of Gath.
-
But Achish’s courtiers said to him, “Isn’t this David king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances saying, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?’”
-
David took these words to heart, and he became so afraid of King Achish of Gath
-
Flight to a Cave and to Moab
So David walked from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and all his father’s house heard about it, they went down there to him.
-
Then David left from there to Mizpah of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, “Please, let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.”
-
Then he brought them to the king of Moab, and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.
-
But the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold; depart, and go to the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.
-
Then Saul heard that David and the men with him were located. Saul was in Gibeah, sitting under the tamarisk tree on the height, spear in his hand, and all his courtiers were attending him.
-
Then Ahimelech answered the king saying, “Who among all your servants is as trusted as David, the king’s son-in-law, a captain of the royal guard, and honored in your house?
-
Then the king ordered the guards attending him, “Turn around and kill the kohanim of Adonai, for they are in cahoots with David, for they knew that he was running away but did not inform me.” But the servants of the king were not willing to raise their hand to assault the kohanim of Adonai.
-
Yet one of the sons of Ahimelech son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled to David.
-
Abiathar told David that Saul had slain Adonai’s kohanim.
-
Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have brought about the death of all the people of your father’s house.
-
David Hides and Saul Seeks
Then they reported to David saying, “Look, the Philistines are raiding Keilah and they are plundering the threshing floors.”
-
So David inquired of Adonai saying, “Shall I go and attack those Philistines?” Adonai said to David, “Go, attack the Philistines and deliver Keilah.”
-
But David’s fellow men said to him, “Look, we’re afraid here in Judah; how much more so if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces?”
-
Once again David inquired of Adonai, and Adonai answered him saying, “Arise! Go to Keilah, for I am going to deliver the Philistines into your hand.”
-
So David and his fellow men went to Keilah and fought against the Philistines, drove off their livestock and inflicted a great slaughter on them. Thus David rescued the inhabitants of Keilah.
-
It came about, when Abiathar son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, he came down with an ephod in his hand.
-
Now when Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand! For he shut himself in by entering a town with barred gates.”
-
So Saul summoned all the troops for battle, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his fellow men.
-
Now David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him, so he said to Abiathar the kohen, “Bring the ephod.”
-
Then David said, “Adonai, God of Israel, Your servant has heard for certain that Saul intends to come to Keilah to destroy the town because of me.
-
Then David asked, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my fellow men into the hand of Saul?” “They will surrender,” Adonai said.
-
Then David and his fellow men, about 600, got up and left Keilah, and went wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he stopped the pursuit.
-
So David stayed in the strongholds of the wilderness, remaining in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul searched for him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.
-
By now David was aware that Saul would come out to seek his life while David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Choresh.
-
Then Saul’s son Jonathan arose and went to David at Choresh and strengthened him in God.
-
Again they cut a covenant before Adonai. David remained at Choresh, but Jonathan went home.
-
Then some of the Ziphites went up to Saul in Gibeah, saying, “Isn’t David hiding with us in the strongholds at Choresh, in the hill of Hachilah which is south of Jeshimon?
-
Then they got up and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. But David and his men were then in the wilderness of Maon in the Arabah, to the south of Jeshimon.
-
So when Saul and his men began the search, David was informed. Then he went down to the rocky area and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. On hearing this, Saul pursued David in the wilderness of Maon.
-
Then, while Saul was advancing on one side of the mountain, David and his men were on the other side of the mountain. David was hurrying to elude Saul. Meanwhile Saul and his men were closing-in on David and his men to seize them.
-
So Saul had to return from chasing after David, and go to engage the Philistines. Therefore they called that place the Rock of Separation.
-
From there David went up and stayed in the strongholds of En-gedi.
-
David Spares Saul at En-gedi
Now when Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, they told him saying, “Look, David is in the wilderness of En-gedi.”
-
So Saul took 3,000 chosen men from all Israel and went to search for David and his men near the rocks of the mountain goats.
-
When he came across the sheepfolds along the way where there was a cave, Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were already sitting in the innermost parts of the cave.
-
So David’s men said to him, “Look, it’s the day Adonai spoke to you about, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, so you may do to him as seems good in your eyes.’” Then David crept and cut off the corner of Saul’s robe stealthily.
-
But afterward, David’s conscience bothered him for cutting off the edge of Saul’s robe.
-
So David persuaded his fellow men with these words and did not let them rise against Saul. Then Saul left the cave and went on his way.
-
David also rose afterward, went out of the cave, and called out after Saul saying, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth and prostrated himself.
-
Then David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to men’s words saying: ‘Look, David intends you harm’?
-
Now when David finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son, David?” Then Saul lifted up his voice and wept aloud.
-
Then he said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have done good to me, while I have done evil to you.
-
So David swore to Saul. Then Saul went to his home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.
-
Abigail and Foolish Nabal
Then Samuel died, and all Israel gathered and lamented him, and buried him at his house in Ramah. David then arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
-
While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
-
So David dispatched ten young men, and said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and when you reach Nabal, greet him in my name.
-
Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore, let the young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on a festive day. So please, give to your servants and to your son David, whatever you find at hand.’”
-
David’s young men went and told Nabal all those words in David’s name, and waited.
-
But Nabal answered David’s servants by saying, “Who is David? And who is Jesse’s son? Nowadays there are many slaves each running away from his master.
-
So David’s young men turned around and went back. When they came and reported to him all these words,
-
David said to his men, “Everyone buckle on your sword!” So each man buckled on his sword and David also buckled on his sword. About 400 men went up following David, while 200 stayed with the baggage.
-
But one of the young men told Nabal’s wife Abigail saying, “Look, David had sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he spurned them.
-
As she was riding on the donkey and going down by the hidden pass of the mountain, behold, David and his men were coming down towards her, so she met them.
-
Now David had been saying, “Surely in vain I’ve guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missing of all that belonged to him—yet he has returned me evil for good.
-
May God do so and even more to David’s enemies if by the morning I leave even one male of all who belong to him!”
-
When Abigail saw David, she quickly dismounted from her donkey, fell before David on her face and bowed down to the ground.
-
Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be Adonai God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this day!
-
So David received from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, “Go up in shalom to your house. Look, I have listened to your plea and have granted your request.”
-
When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be Adonai who took the case of my insult from the hand of Nabal, yet has restrained His servant from evil! Adonai has returned Nabal’s vileness on his own head.” Then David sent word and proposed to Abigail to take her as his wife.
-
When David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they told her, “David has sent us to you, to take you as his wife.”
-
Then Abigail rose quickly and mounted a donkey, with five of her maidens following her, following David’s messengers, and she became his wife.
-
David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and the two of them were his wives.
-
Meanwhile Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was of Gallim.
-
David Again Spares Saul
Now the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah saying, “Isn’t David hiding on the hill of Hachilah which faces Jeshimon?”
-
So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, 3,000 chosen men of Israel with him, to search for David in the wilderness of Ziph.
-
Saul camped in the hill of Hachilah which faces Jeshimon, by the road. But David was staying in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul had come after him into the wilderness.
-
So David sent out spies and realized that Saul had already arrived.
-
Then David got up and went to the place where Saul had camped. David detected the spot where Saul lay asleep, as well as Abner son of Ner his army commander. Saul was lying inside the barricade and the troops were camped around him.
-
Then David spoke and asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, saying, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” “I will go down with you,” Abishai answered.
-
So David and Abishai approached the troops by night. Behold, Saul was lying asleep within the barricade with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the troops were sleeping around him.
-
Then Abishai said to David, “God has delivered your enemy into your hand today. Now let me pin him to the ground with a single thrust of the spear. I will not have to strike him twice.”
-
But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! For who can lay his hand on Adonai’s anointed and be guiltless?”
-
David added, “As Adonai lives, either Adonai will strike him down, or his day will come to die, or he will go down to battle and be swept away.
-
So David took the spear and the water jar from beside Saul’s head. They got away—and no one saw it, or knew it, or woke up—for all were asleep, for a deep sleep from Adonai had fallen upon them.
-
Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on the top of a distant hill with a wide space between them.
-
David shouted to the troops and to Abner son of Ner saying, “Aren’t you going to answer, Abner?” Then Abner answered saying, “Who are you, who called out to the king?”
-
“Aren’t you a man?” David said to Abner. “Indeed, who is like you in Israel? So, why didn’t you guard your lord the king? For one of the troops came in to kill the king your lord.
-
Saul then recognized David’s voice and said, “Is this your voice, David my son?” “It is my voice, my lord the king,” David said,
-
Then Saul replied, “I have sinned! Return, David my son, for I will no longer do you harm, since my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I’ve played the fool and erred so seriously.”
-
David then answered and said, “There is the king’s spear! Let one of the young men cross over and take it.
-
Then Saul said to David, “Blessed are you, David my son! You will both do mightily and will surely prevail.” So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.
-
David Settles in Ziklag
Then David said in his heart, “One day I’ll be swept away by the hand of Saul. There’s nothing better for me than to escape immediately to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me in all the territories of Israel, so I’ll escape from his hand.”
-
So David rose and crossed over, he and the 600 men that were with him, to Achish son of Maoch, king of Gath.
-
David stayed with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives—Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow.
-
So when Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.
-
Then David said to Achish, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, let me be given a place in one of the country towns, so I may live there. Why should your servant stay in the royal city with you?”
-
The number of days that David stayed in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.
-
Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Gizrites and the Amalekites, for those were inhabitants of the region from ancient times, as you go all the way from Shur and as far as the land of Egypt.
-
David attacked the region and was leaving not a man or woman alive, and took away sheep, oxen, donkeys, camels and clothing. When he returned and came to Achish,
-
Achish would ask, “Where have you raided today?” So David would reply, “Against the Negev of Judah, against the Negev of the Jerahmeelite and against the Negev of the Kenites.”
-
David left no man or woman alive to bring to Gath, thinking, “Unless they should tell about us, saying: ‘So did David.’” So was his practice all the time he stayed in the country of the Philistines.
-
Then Achish trusted David, saying, “He has certainly made himself abhorrent to his people Israel; therefore, he will be my vassal forever.”
-
Saul Consults a Medium
At that time, the Philistines gathered their armed forces to fight against Israel. Achish said to David, “You surely know that you and your men must march out with me in the army.”
-
David said to Achish, “Well then, you know what your servant will do.” “Well then, I appoint you my bodyguard for life,” Achish said to David.
-
Now Adonai has done for Himself just as He foretold through me—Adonai has torn the kingship out of your hand and has given it to another fellow, to David.
-
David Sent Back from Battle
Now the Philistines mustered all their armies at Aphek, while the Israelites were camping by the spring in Jezreel.
-
As the Philistine lords were proceeding ahead of their hundreds and thousands, David and his men were bringing up the rear with Achish.
-
Then the Philistine commanders said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” Achish said to the Philistine commanders, “No! That’s David, servant of Israel’s King Saul—he’s been with me today for over a year, and I’ve not found any fault in him since the day he defected to me until now.”
-
Isn’t this one David, about whom they were singing in dances saying: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?’”
-
So Achish called David and said to him, “As Adonai lives, you have been upright and your going out and your coming in with me, in the army are pleasing in my eyes. For I never found fault with you since the day of your coming to me up to this day. However, the other lords do not approve of you.
-
“But what have I done?” David said to Achish. “What have you found in your servant from the day I have been before you to this day, that I shouldn’t go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”
-
“I know,” Achish answered saying to David. “You are as pleasing in my eyes as an angel of God. Nevertheless, the Philistine commanders have said, ‘He must not go up with us to the battle.’
-
So David rose up early, he and his men, leaving in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. Meanwhile, the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
-
Raid on Amalek
Now it came to pass, when David and his men returned to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negev and on Ziklag, and had attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire;
-
So when David and his men came to the town, behold, it was burned with fire—and their wives, their sons and their daughters had been taken captives.
-
Then David and the troops with him lifted up their voice and wept until they there was no more strength in them to weep.
-
Even David’s two wives were taken captive—Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow.
-
So David was in a serious bind, for the troops were calling for his stoning, for all the troops were bitter of soul, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in Adonai his God.
-
Then David said to Abiathar the kohen son of Ahimelech, “Please bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.
-
David inquired of Adonai saying, “Should I pursue after this raiding band? Shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue! For you will surely overtake and you will surely rescue!”
-
So David went, he and the 600 men with him, and came to the Wadi Besor, where those left behind remained—
-
for 200 men stayed behind because they were too exhausted to cross Wadi Besor. Yet David pursued, he and the other 400 men.
-
Then they found an Egyptian in the open field and brought him to David, gave him bread to eat and water to drink,
-
Then David asked him, “To whom do you belong? Where are you from?” “I am a young Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite,” he said. “My master abandoned me three days ago because I fell sick.
-
Then David asked him, “Will you lead me to this raiding band?” “Swear to me by God that you won’t kill me or deliver me into my master’s hands,” he said, “and I will lead you to this marauding band.”
-
David attacked them from the twilight until the evening of the next day. None of them escaped, except 400 young men who rode on camels and fled.
-
So David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and rescued his two wives.
-
There was nothing of theirs missing, whether young or old, sons or daughters, spoils or anything else that had been carried off—David recovered everything.
-
David took all the flocks and the herd that they had driven ahead of the other cattle, so they said, “This is David’s spoil.”
-
When David reached the 200 men—who had been too exhausted to follow David and were left at Wadi Besor—they came out to meet David and to meet the men with him, so David approached these people and greeted them.
-
But all the wicked men and worthless fellows among those who accompanied David said, “Because they did not accompany us, we shouldn’t give them any of the spoil that we’ve recovered, except every man may take his wife and his children and leave.”
-
“You must not do so, my brothers with what Adonai has given us,” David said. “It is He who has protected us and gave into our hands the raiding band that attacked us.
-
When David arrived at Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, “Look, a blessing for you from the spoil of the enemies of Adonai,”
-
Hebron and to all the places where David and his men had roamed.
-
David Mourns Saul and Jonathan
Now it came to pass after the death of Saul—when David had returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites—that David stayed two days in Ziklag.
-
On the third day, behold, a man came from Saul’s camp, with his clothes torn and dust on his head. Now when he approached David, he fell to the ground and prostrated himself.
-
Then David asked him, “Where are you coming from?” “I’ve escaped from the camp of Israel,” he answered.
-
“How did things go?” David asked him. “Please, tell me.” He answered, “The troops fled the battlefield—also many of the troops fell and died. And even Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.”
-
David asked the young man informing him, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”
-
Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so did all the men that were with him,
-
Then David said to the young man who informed him, “Where are you from?” “I am a son of an Amalekite outsider,” he replied.
-
Then David said to him, “How is it that you were not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy Adonai’s anointed one?”
-
Then David called one of the young men and said, “Come and strike him down.” And he struck him down and he died.
-
David said to him, “Your blood is on your own head, for your mouth testified against you saying, ‘I killed Adonai’s anointed.’”
-
Then David chanted this lament over Saul and his son Jonathan,
-
Judah Anoints David King
Now it came to pass after this that David inquired of Adonai saying, “Should I go up to one of the towns of Judah?” Adonai said to him, “Go up.” “Where shall I go up?” David asked. “To Hebron,” He said.
-
So David went up there, along with his two wives—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.
-
David also brought up his men that were with him, each with his household, and they settled in the towns of Hebron.
-
Then the men of Judah came and there anointed David king over the house of Judah. Then they told David saying, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul.”
-
So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “Blessed are you of Adonai for showing this kindness to Saul your lord, by burying him.
-
Saul’s son Ish-bosheth was 40 years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned for two years. But the house of Judah followed David.
-
The time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
-
Meanwhile Joab son of Zeruiah and the troops of David went out—they met each other by the pool of Gibeon, so they sat down, one group on one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool.
-
Then they got up and came forward by number—12 for Benjamin and for Saul’s son Ish-bosheth and 12 from David’s servants.
-
The battle was very fierce that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated before David’s servants.
-
Joab returned from pursuing Abner, and when he had gathered all the troops, nineteen of David’s soldiers besides Asahel were missing.
-
But David’s soldiers had struck down many of Benjamin and Abner’s men, so that 360 men died.
-
Betrayal of Abner
Now the war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time. While David grew steadily stronger, the house of Saul grew steadily weaker.
-
Sons were born to David in Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon by Ahinoam of Jezreel;
-
and the sixth, Ithream, by David’s wife Eglah. These were born to David in Hebron.
-
During the war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner strengthened his position in the house of Saul.
-
But Abner became very angry over Ish-bosheth’s words and said, “Am I a dog’s head from Judah? To this day I’ve been loyal to the house of Saul your father, to his kinsmen, and to his friends, and I haven’t handed you over to David—yet today you are accusing me of wrongdoing with this woman.
-
May God do so to Abner and even more if, as Adonai has sworn to David, I don’t accomplish this for him—
-
to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish the throne of David over Israel and Judah, from Dan to Beersheba!”
-
Then Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf saying, “Whose is the land? Make your covenant with me, and see, my hand will be with you to bring all Israel over to you.”
-
“Good!” said David. “I will cut a covenant with you. But one thing I require of you: you will not see my face unless you first bring Saul’s daughter Michal when you come to see my face.”
-
Then David sent messengers to Saul’s son Ish-bosheth demanding, “Give me my wife Michal, whom I betrothed to myself for 100 Philistine foreskins.”
-
Now Abner had a word with the elders of Israel saying, “In times past you wanted David to be king over you.
-
So now do it! For Adonai has spoken of David saying, ‘By the hand of My servant David I will deliver My people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.’”
-
Abner also spoke in the hearing of Benjamin. Then Abner went to Hebron to speak in the hearing of David about all that was agreeable to Israel and to the whole house of Benjamin.
-
When Abner came to David in Hebron along with 20 other men, David held a banquet for Abner and the men with him.
-
Abner said to David, “Let me get up and go rally all Israel to my lord the king, so that they may cut a covenant with you, and you may reign over all that your soul desires.” So David sent Abner away, and he departed in shalom.
-
Just then, David’s soldiers and Joab came from a raid, bringing with them much spoil. By then Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he departed in shalom.
-
When Joab left David, he sent messengers after Abner, so they brought him back from the well of Sirah, though David knew nothing about it.
-
When David heard about it afterward, he said, “I and my kingdom are innocent before Adonai forever from the blood of Abner son of Ner.
-
Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “Rend your clothes, gird with sackcloth, and lament before Abner.” King David walked behind the platform.
-
Then all the people came to urge David to eat some food while it was still day, but David vowed saying, “May God do so to me and even more if I taste food or anything else before the sun sets.”
-
Then they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David in Hebron, and said to the king, “Here is the head of Saul’s son Ish-bosheth, your enemy, who sought your life. Today Adonai has avenged my lord the king of Saul and his offspring.”
-
Then David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, saying to them, “As Adonai lives, who redeemed my soul out of all distress,
-
Then David commanded the young men, and they slew them, cut off their hands and their legs, and hung them up beside the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the grave of Abner in Hebron.
-
All Israel Anoints David King
Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and spoke saying, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood.
-
So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David cut a covenant with them at Hebron before Adonai. Then they anointed David king over Israel.
-
David was 30 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 40 years.
-
Securing Jerusalem
Now the king and his soldiers marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the region. But they said to David, “You’ll never get in here! Even the blind and the lame could ward you off,” thinking, “David can’t get in here.”
-
Nevertheless, David did capture the stronghold of Zion (that is, the City of David).
-
On that day David said, “Whoever would conquer the Jebusites must strike through the water shaft to those ‘lame and blind’ whom David’s soul despises.” That is why they used to say, “The blind or lame couldn’t get into the house.”
-
So David occupied the stronghold and renamed it the City of David. Then David fortified it all round from the Millo inward.
-
David continued to grow stronger, for Adonai Elohim-Tzva’ot was with him.
-
Then King Hiram of Tyre sent envoys to David with cedar logs, carpenters and masons; and they built a palace for David.
-
David then realized that Adonai had established him as king over Israel, and that He had exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.
-
Then David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to David.
-
Master of Breakthroughs
Now when the Philistines heard that David was anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines marched up searching for David. When David heard about it, he went down to the stronghold.
-
Then David inquired of Adonai saying, “Should I go up against the Philistines? Will You give them over into my hand?” Adonai answered David, “Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines over into your hand.”
-
So David came to Baal-perazim and David struck them down there. So he said, “Adonai has broken through my enemies before me like the breakthrough of waters!” That is why he named that place Baal-perazim.
-
They abandoned their idols there, so David and his men removed them.
-
When David inquired of Adonai, He said, “Do not go up; instead circle around behind them and attack them in front of the balsam trees.
-
David did just as Adonai had commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer.
-
Ark Comes Into Jerusalem
Now David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, 30,000.
-
Then David and all the people who were with him arose and set out from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the very Name of Adonai-Tzva’ot who is enthroned between the cheruvim.
-
Meanwhile David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating before Adonai with all kinds of instruments made of cypress wood, with harps, lyres, tambourines, three-stringed instruments and cymbals.
-
David was upset because of Adonai’s outburst against Uzzah. That place is called Perez-uzzah to this day.
-
So David was frightened of Adonai that day. Then he said, “How can the ark of Adonai come to me?”
-
David was unwilling to move the ark of Adonai to him, to the City of David; instead, David diverted it to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
-
Then it was reported to King David saying, “Adonai has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought the ark of God up from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with joy.
-
Meanwhile, David was dancing before Adonai with all his might while he was wearing a linen ephod.
-
So David and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of Adonai with shouting and with the sound of the shofar.
-
But as the ark of Adonai entered the city of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before Adonai, so she despised him in her heart.
-
They brought in the ark of Adonai and set it in its place in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before Adonai.
-
When David had finished offering the burnt offering and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the Name of Adonai-Tzva’ot.
-
David returned to bless his own household. But Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel distinguished himself today, when he uncovered himself today in the eyes of the slave girls of his subjects, as any vulgar fellow would shamelessly uncover himself!”
-
“It was before Adonai,” David said to Michal, “who chose me instead of your father and all his household, appointing me ruler over the people of Adonai, over Israel! So I danced Before Adonai,
-
Adonai’s Promise to David
Now it came about when the king lived in his palace and Adonai had granted him rest from all his enemies around him,
-
“Go, tell My servant David: Thus says Adonai: Are you to build Me a house for Me to dwell in?
-
So now, thus you shall say to My servant David: Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over Israel.
-
Just so Nathan spoke all these words and all this vision to David.
-
Then King David went in and sat before Adonai and said, “Who am I, my Lord Adonai, and what is my family, that You have brought me this far?
-
What more can David add in speaking to You? For You already know Your servant, my Lord Adonai.
-
Let Your Name be magnified forever by saying, ‘Adonai-Tzva’ot is God over Israel!’ May the house of Your servant David be established before You.
-
David’s Kingdom Expands
Now afterward David attacked the Philistines and subdued them, and took Metheg-ammah from the hand of the Philistines.
-
He also defeated Moab. He made them lie down on the ground and measured them with a cord. Every two measures of them were put to death, and the third measure was kept alive. So the Moabites became vassals to David, bringing tribute.
-
David also defeated King Hadadezer son of Rehob of Zobah, as he went to restore his dominion along the River.
-
David captured from him 1700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers, and David hamstrung all the chariot horses, while reserving 100 of them for chariots.
-
When the Arameans of Damascus came to the aid of King Hadadezer of Zobah, David struck down 22,000 Aramean men.
-
Then David stationed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became vassals to David, bringing tribute. So Adonai gave victory to David wherever he went
-
David also took the golden shields of Hadadezer’s officers and brought them to Jerusalem.
-
From Betah and Berothai, towns of Hadadezer, King David took a vast amount of bronze.
-
Now when King Toi of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer,
-
Toi sent his son Joram to King David to greet him and congratulate him on his victory in battle over Hadadezer—for Hadadezer had been at war with Toi. Joram brought with him articles of silver, gold and bronze.
-
These too King David consecrated to Adonai, along with the silver and gold that he had consecrated from all the nations that he had subdued:
-
Then David made a name for himself when he returned from striking 18,000 down from Edom in the Valley of Salt.
-
Then he stationed garrisons in Edom. Throughout all Edom he stationed garrisons, so that all the Edomites became vassals to David. So Adonai gave victory to David wherever he went.
-
David reigned over all Israel, and David executed justice and righteousness for all his people.
-
Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and David’s sons were chief ministers.
-
Covenant Loyalty to Mephibosheth
Then David inquired, “Is there anyone still left from the house of Saul, so that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”
-
Now there was a servant from Saul’s house whose name was Ziba, so they summoned him to David. The king asked him, “Are you Ziba?” “Your servant,” he said.
-
So King David sent word and brought him from the house of Machir son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar.
-
Then Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan son of Saul, came to David, fell on his face and prostrated himself. “Mephibosheth!” David said. “Behold your servant!” he answered. “Don’t be afraid,”
-
David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat bread at my table.”
-
Then David thought, “Let me show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent word by the hand of his servants to comfort him concerning his father. But when David’s servants arrived at the land of the children of Ammon,
-
the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think that David is really honoring your father because he has sent consolers to you? Has not David sent his servants to you in order to explore the city, to spy it out, and to overthrow it?”
-
So Hanun seized David’s servants, shaved off one side of their beards, cut off their garments in the middle at their buttocks, and sent them away.
-
When they informed David, he sent word to meet them, for the men were greatly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow, then return.”
-
Now when the children of Ammon saw that they had become a stench to David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Arameans of Beth-Rehob and the Arameans of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers, and the king of Maacah with 1,000 men, plus 12,000 men from Tob.
-
When David heard about it, he sent Joab and the whole army—the mighty warriors.
-
When David was told, he gathered all Israel together, crossed the Jordan and went to Helam. The Arameans arrayed their lines against David and fought him.
-
But the Arameans fled before Israel—David killed 700 charioteers of the Arameans and 40,000 horsemen, and struck down Shobach the commander of their army, so he died there.
-
David Commits Adultery and Murder
Now it came to pass at the turn of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his officials with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed in Jerusalem.
-
One evening David rose from his bed and strolled on the roof of the royal palace. Then from the roof he saw a woman washing—a very beautiful woman.
-
So David sent someone to inquire about the woman, and he reported, “Isn’t this Bath-sheba, daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
-
Then David sent messengers and took her when she came to him, and he lay with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness). Then she returned to her house.
-
The woman conceived and sent word to David saying, “I’m pregnant.”
-
So David sent a message to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David.
-
When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the troops fared, and how the war was going.
-
Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” When Uriah left the royal palace, a present from the king followed him.
-
When they informed David saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Haven’t you come from a journey? Why didn’t you go down to your house?”
-
But Uriah answered David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my lord Joab and the officers of my lord are camping in the open field. Should I then go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As you live and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”
-
Then David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will send you off.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day. The next day,
-
David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk. But in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with his master’s servants, but did not go down to his house.
-
So in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah’s hand.
-
Then the men of the city came out and attacked Joab, and some of the troops of David’s officers fell; and Uriah the Hittite also died.
-
When Joab sent and reported to David all the events of the war,
-
So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to report.
-
The messenger said to David, “The men prevailed against us and came out against us in the open field, but we drove them back as far as the entrance of the gate.
-
Then David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab, ‘Don’t let this matter upset you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Press your attack against the city and overthrow it!’ So tell him, chazak!”
-
When the time of mourning was over, David sent someone who brought her to his palace. So she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done was evil in Adonai’s eyes.
-
Nathan Confronts David
Then Adonai sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said to him, “There were two men in the same city—one was rich and the other poor.
-
Then David’s anger blazed hot against the man and he said to Nathan, “As Adonai lives, the man that did this deserves to die!
-
Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says Adonai, God of Israel: It is I who anointed you king over Israel, and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul.
-
Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Adonai.” Nathan replied to David, “Adonai also has made your sin pass away—you will not die.
-
Then Nathan went to his house. Then Adonai struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David and he became very sick.
-
David therefore sought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in and lay all night on the floor.
-
Then it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died. But David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “Behold, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him and he didn’t listen to our voice. So how can we tell him that the child is dead? He might do something terrible!”
-
But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead. So David asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” “He is dead,” they said.
-
Then David got up from the floor, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes. Then he went to the House of Adonai and worshipped. When he came back to his own palace, he asked for food, so they set food before him and he ate.
-
Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and lay with her, and she bore a son and called his name Solomon. Adonai loved him,
-
So Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have attacked Rabbah and captured the city’s water supply.
-
So David gathered all the troops, went to Rabbah, attacked it and captured it.
-
Then he took the crown of their king from off his head—its weight was a talent of gold and in it was a precious stone—and then it was placed on David’s head. He also brought a vast amount of spoils out of the city.
-
Then he brought out the people who were there and put them to work under saws, iron threshing boards and iron axes, and assigned them to brick making; and thus he did to all the cities of the children of Ammon. Then David and all the troops returned to Jerusalem.
-
Amnon Attacks Tamar and Absalom’s Wrath
It came to pass after this that Absalom son of David had a beautiful sister named Tamar, so Amnon, son of David, fell in love with her.
-
However, Amnon had a friend named Jonadab son of Shimeah, David’s brother, and Jonadab was a very shrewd man.
-
Then David sent someone to the house for Tamar saying, “Go now to your brother Amnon’s house and prepare bread for him.”
-
When King David heard about all these things, he was very angry.
-
While they were on the way, a report came to David saying, “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons and not one of them is left!”
-
But Jonadab son of David’s brother Shimeah said in response, “My lord must not think that they have killed all the young men, the king’s sons! For only Amnon has died. For from Absalom’s mouth this has been determined since the day he raped his sister Tamar.
-
But Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. David mourned for his son every day.
-
Then King David’s soul longed to go out to Absalom; for he was comforted about Amnon, since he was dead.
-
Also Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor from his town Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. So the conspiracy gained momentum for the people following Absalom continued to increase.
-
Then a messenger came to David saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel are following Absalom.”
-
David’s Exodus from Jerusalem
Then David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee, or else none of us will escape from Absalom. Leave in haste or else he will overtake us quickly and bring disaster down on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”
-
So David said to Ittai, “Go on and cross over.” So Ittai the Gittite passed on, with all his men and all the little children who were with him.
-
Then David continued to go up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he ascended. He had his head covered and was walking barefoot. So all the people with him each covered his head as they went up, weeping as they ascended.
-
Then someone told David saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David prayed, “Adonai, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”
-
Then David went on until he reached the summit—where God was worshiped—and behold, Hushai the Archite met him with his coat rent and dust on his head.
-
David said to him, “If you pass on with me then you will be a burden to me,
-
So David’s friend Hushai reached the city just as Absalom was entering Jerusalem.
-
Now when David had passed a little beyond the summit, there was Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth to meet him with a pair of saddled donkeys, and on them 200 loaves of bread, 100 clusters of raisins, 100 fig cakes and a bottle of wine.
-
When King David arrived at Bahurim, behold, just coming out from there was a man of the family of the house of Saul—his name was Shimei son of Gera. As he came out, he kept on cursing
-
and flinging stones at David and at all King David’s servants, while all the people and all the mighty men were at his right hand and on his left.
-
But the king said, “What have I to do with you, sons of Zeruiah? If he curses, it’s because Adonai has said to him, ‘Curse David!’ So who should say, ‘Why did you do so?’”
-
Then David said to Abishai and to all his officials, “Look, my son who came from my own body is seeking my life—how much more this Benjamite? Leave him alone and let him curse, since Adonai has told him.
-
So David and his men continued on the way, while Shimei kept walking alongside the hill parallel with him, cursing as he walked, casting stones at him and throwing dirt.
-
Now when David’s friend Hushai the Archite came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”
-
Now in those days the counsel that Ahithophel gave was like inquiring for the word of God—so was all of Ahithophel’s counsel both with David and with Absalom.
-
Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me now choose 12,000 men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight.
-
Now therefore send word quickly and tell David saying, ‘Don’t spend the night at the fords in the wilderness but by all means, cross over or else the king and all the people with him may be swallowed up.’”
-
Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En-rogel, and a maidservant used to go and pass information along to them. Then they would go and inform King David for they could not be seen entering the city.
-
After they had departed, they came up from the well, then went and informed King David, telling David, “Get up and cross over the water immediately, for thus has Ahithophel counseled against you.”
-
Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they crossed over the Jordan. By morning light, not even one of them was left who had not crossed the Jordan.
-
David had reached Mahanaim by the time Absalom crossed the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.
-
Now when David reached Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, Machir son of Ammiel of Lo-debar and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim
-
honey, curd, sheep and cheese from the herd for David and for the people who were with him to eat. For they said, “The people must be hungry, weary and thirsty in the wilderness.”
-
Absalom’s Demise
Then David mustered the people who were with him and set commanders of thousands and captains of hundreds over them.
-
Then David sent out the troops, one third under the command of Joab, one third under the command of Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and one third under the command of Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the troops, “I must certainly go out with you also.”
-
The people of Israel were defeated there before the followers of David, and the slaughter that day was great—20,000 men.
-
Now Absalom encountered some of David’s servants. When Absalom was riding on his mule, the mule went under the thick branches of the great oak, and his head got caught in the oak, so that he was left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on.
-
Now David was sitting between the two gates. When the watchman on the roof over the gate walked over to the wall, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and all of a sudden, he saw a man running alone.
-
David Weeps Over Absalom
The king was shaken. So he went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. As he walked he cried, “My son Absalom! O my son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you! Absalom, my son, my son!”
-
So the king arose and sat in the gate. When they told all the troops saying, “See, the king is sitting at the gate,” all the troops presented themselves before the king.
David’s Restoration and Grace
Meanwhile, Israel had fled each man to his tent.
-
Then King David sent word to Zadok and Abiathar the kohanim saying, “Speak to the elders of Judah saying, ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace? The talk of all Israel had reached the king at his residence.
-
Then Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite who was from Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David
-
But David said, “What have I to do with you sons of Zeruiah that you should be my adversary today? Should any man be put to death in Israel this day? Don’t I know that today I am king over Israel?”
-
Then all the men of Israel came to the king and said to him, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, steal you away by escorting the king and his household over the Jordan, along with all David’s men that were with him?”
-
Then the men of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, “We have ten shares in the king, so in David we have even more than you. Why then did you despise us? Weren’t we the first to speak of restoring our king?” Yet the words of the men of Judah were harsher than the words of the men of Israel.
-
Joab the Terminator
Now a worthless fellow happened to be there, a Benjamite named Sheba son of Bichri. He blew the shofar and said, “We have no portion in David, no inheritance in the son of Jesse! Every man to his tents, O Israel!”
-
So all the men of Israel withdrew from following David and followed Sheba son of Bichri, but the men of Judah kept close to their king from the Jordan to Jerusalem.
-
Now when David arrived at his palace in Jerusalem, the king took the ten women, the concubines whom he had left to take care of the palace, and put them in a guarded house. He provided for them but he did not cohabit with them. So they were confined until the day they died, living in widowhood.
-
Then David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. So take your lord’s servants and pursue him lest he find for himself fortified cities and escape from our sight.”
-
Meanwhile, one of Joab’s young men stood over Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab!”
-
The matter is not so; but a fellow from the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba son of Bichri his name, has lifted up his hand against King David. Give him up alone and I will withdraw from the city.” So the woman replied to Joab, “Look here, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.”
-
and Ira the Jairite also was a kohen to David.
-
Justice for the Gibeonites
Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year, so David sought the face of Adonai. Adonai replied, “It is because of Saul and his bloody house, for he put the Gibeonites to death.”
-
David asked the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? How may I make atonement so that you would bless the inheritance of Adonai?”
-
Now the king spared Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan son of Saul, because of Adonai’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan son of Saul.
-
David was told what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.
-
So David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the open square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them on the day that the Philistines killed Saul in Gilboa.
-
Once again the Philistines made war with Israel, so David went down with his servants and fought against the Philistines. But David became weary.
-
So Ishbi-benob—who was a descendant of the Raphah, whose spear weighed 300 shekels of bronze, who was girded with new armor—thought to kill David.
-
But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “You must not go out with us to battle anymore. You must not quench the lamp of Israel!”
-
When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of David’s brother Shimea killed him.
-
These four were born to the Rapha in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
-
David’s Songs of Valor and Last Words
David spoke to Adonai the words of this song in the day that Adonai delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.
-
He is a tower of salvation to His king, He shows loyal love to His anointed— to David and to his seed, forever.
-
Now these are the last words of David, the utterance of David son of Jesse, the utterance of the man raised on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet singer of Israel:
-
David’s Mighty Men
These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains—he wielded his spear against 800 and slew them in one encounter.
-
Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodo son of an Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there to battle. The men of Israel retreated,
-
Once the three of the thirty chiefs went down and came to David at the cave of Adullam during the harvest, while a troop of Philistines was camping in the Valley of Rephaim.
-
David was then in the stronghold, while the garrison of the Philistines was in Bethlehem.
-
David said longingly, ‘ “Who would get me water to drink from the well which is by the gate in Bethlehem?” ’
-
So the three mighty men broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem by the gate, took it and brought it to David. However, he would not drink it but poured it out to Adonai
-
He was most honorable among the Thirty, but he attained not to the first Three. So David set him over his guard.
-
David’s Unauthorized Census
Now the anger of Adonai again flared up against Israel, so He incited David against them saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”
-
But David’s heart troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David prayed to Adonai, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done! But now, Adonai, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”
-
When David rose up in the morning, the word of Adonai came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying:
-
“Go and speak to David, thus says Adonai: ‘Three things I am proposing to you—choose one of them and I will bring it upon you.’”
-
So Gad came to David and told him, saying to him, “Shall seven years of famine come on you in your land? Or will you flee from your adversary for three months while he is pursuing you? Or shall there be three days of pestilence in your land? Now consider and see what answer I should return to Him who sent me.”
-
Then David said to Gad, “I am in a great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of Adonai, for His mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hand of man.”
-
When David saw the angel that was striking down the people, he spoke to Adonai saying, “Behold, it is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done wrong! But these sheep, what have they done? Please, let Your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”
-
On that day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up, set up an altar to Adonai on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
-
So David went up according to the word of Gad, as Adonai had commanded.
-
Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you in order to build an altar to Adonai, so that the plague may be held back from the people.”
-
Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good in his eyes. Look here, the oxen for the burnt offering, as well as the threshing sledges and the ox yokes for the wood.
-
But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you at a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to Adonai my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver.
-
Then David built there an altar to Adonai, and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. So Adonai was moved by prayer of entreaty for the land, and restrained the plague from Israel.
-
Rivalry for the Throne
Now King David was old, advanced in years. Though they covered him with clothes, he could not keep warm.
-
But Zadok the kohen, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei and David’s mighty men, were not on Adonijah’s side.
-
But Nathan spoke to Bath-sheba, Solomon’s mother, saying: “Haven’t you heard that Adonijah son of Haggith has assumed the kingship—and our lord David doesn’t know it?
-
Go at once to King David, and say to him: ‘My lord the king, haven’t you sworn to your handmaid, saying: “Surely your son Solomon will become king after me, and he will sit on my throne”? Then why does Adonijah reign?’
-
Then King David answered and said: “Summon Bath-sheba to me.” So she came into the king’s presence, and stood before the king.
-
Then Bath-sheba bowed with her face to the ground and prostrated herself before the king, and said: “Let my lord King David live forever!”
-
Then King David said: “Summon to me Zadok the kohen, Nathan the prophet and Benaiah son of Jehoiada.” When they came before the king,
-
As Adonai has been with my lord the king, so will He be with Solomon and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David!”
-
So Zadok the kohen, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites and the Pelethites went down, and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon.
-
But Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah: “No, for our lord King David has made Solomon king.
-
Moreover, the king’s courtiers came to bless our lord King David, saying: ‘May God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and his throne greater than your throne!’ Then the king bowed down on the bed.
-
David’s Last Instructions
Now when the time of David drew near to die, he charged his son Solomon, saying:
-
Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.
-
The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years—seven years he reigned in Hebron and 33 years he reigned in Jerusalem.
-
Then Solomon sat upon the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was established firmly.
-
Now therefore, as Adonai lives who has established me and set me on the throne of my father David, and who has made me a house as He promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death this day.”
-
Also to Abiathar the kohen the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your own fields, for you deserve death, but I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of Adonai Elohim before my father David, and because you were afflicted in everything with which my father was afflicted.”
-
Thus Adonai will return his blood on his own head, because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he—Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah—and killed them with the sword, without my father David’s knowledge.
-
May the guilt of their blood return upon the head of Joab and upon the head of his offspring forever, but to David and his seed and his house, and his throne, may there be shalom forever from Adonai.”
-
The king added to Shimei: “You know all the evil, which your heart should acknowledge, that you did to my father David. Therefore Adonai will return your evil on your own head.
-
But King Solomon shall be blessed and the throne of David established before Adonai forever.”
-
Solomon Asks for Wisdom
Then Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marriage, taking Pharaoh’s daughter, and bringing her to the city of David, until he finished building his own house, the House of Adonai, and the wall around Jerusalem.
-
Now Solomon loved Adonai, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he kept sacrificing and burning incense on the high places.
-
Solomon said: “You have shown my father Your servant David great lovingkindness, as he walked before You in truth, righteousness and uprightness of heart toward You. Indeed, You have kept this great lovingkindness for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.
-
So now, Adonai my God, You have made Your servant king in my father David’s place. I am but a youth. I don’t know how to go out or come in.
-
Furthermore, if you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”
-
Hiram Offers Materials
Then King Hiram of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram was always a friend of David.
-
“You know how my father David could not build a House for the Name of Adonai his God because of the wars around him on every side, until Adonai put them under the soles of my feet.
-
So behold, I intend to build a House for the Name of Adonai my God, as Adonai spoke to my father David saying: ‘Your son, whom I will set upon your throne in your place, he will build the House for My Name.’
-
When Hiram heard Solomon’s words, he rejoiced greatly and said: “Blessed be Adonai today, who has given to David a wise son over this great people.”
-
“As for this House which you are building, if you will walk in My statutes, execute My ordinances and keep all My mitzvot by walking in them, then I will establish My word with you, which I spoke to your father David,
-
When all the work that King Solomon did in Adonai’s House was finished, Solomon brought in the things that his father David had dedicated—the silver, the gold and the vessels—and put them in the treasuries of the House of Adonai.