Beginning

Two men kill Ish-Bosheth

4 Saul's son Ish-Bosheth heard the news that Abner had died in Hebron.^[a] Then he felt very frightened. All the people in Israel became afraid. ² Ish-Bosheth had two officers called Baanah and Recab. They were leaders of small groups of soldiers. Their father was Rimmon from Beeroth. He belonged to Benjamin's tribe. At that time, Beeroth was part of Benjamin's land. ³ The people from Beeroth had run away to Gittaim. So Beeroth's people still live there as strangers.

⁴ Saul's son Jonathan had a son called Mephibosheth. Since he was five years old he had not been able to walk. At that time someone had come from Jezreel to say that Saul and Jonathan had died. So Mephibosheth's nurse picked him up to escape with him. But as she ran in a hurry, he fell to the ground. It hurt his feet very badly.

⁵ Rimmon's sons, Recab and Baanah, left their home and they went to Ish-Bosheth's house. They arrived in the middle of the day when it was very hot. Ish-Bosheth was resting on his bed. ⁶ They went into the house as if they wanted to get some wheat. But they pushed knives into Ish-Bosheth's stomach. Then Recab and his brother Baanah escaped.

⁷ When they had gone into the house, Ish-Bosheth had been lying on his bed in his bedroom. After they had killed him, they cut off his head. They took it with them and they travelled all night through the Jordan Valley. ⁸ They brought Ish-Bosheth's head to David in Hebron. They said to the king, ‘Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth, Saul's son! Saul was your enemy who wanted to kill you. So today the Lord has punished him and his descendants. They have paid for the bad things that they did to you, our lord, the king.’

⁹ David answered Recab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon from Beeroth. He said to them, ‘The Lord has rescued me from all my troubles. So I tell you this, as surely as the Lord lives: ¹⁰ When someone told me in Ziklag, “Saul is dead”, he thought that he was bringing good news to me. But I took hold of him and I told my men to kill him. That was how I paid him for his good news!^{[b] 11} Now you wicked men have done a worse thing. You killed a good man in his own house while he was asleep! So I must surely punish you for his death. You must disappear from the earth!’

¹² So David commanded his young men to kill Recab and Baanah. After they had killed them, they cut off their hands and their feet. They hung the dead bodies by the pool in Hebron. But they took Ish-Bosheth's head and they buried it in Abner's grave in Hebron.

David becomes king over all Israel

5 All Israel's tribes came to David at Hebron. They said, ‘We all belong to the same family as you do. ² In the past, when Saul ruled over us as king, you were the leader of Israel's army in the wars. The Lord said to you, “You will take care of my people as a shepherd takes care of his sheep. You will rule over Israel.” ’

³ So King David made an agreement with the leaders of Israel when they came to him at Hebron. They made promises in the Lord's name. Then they anointed David to be king over Israel.

⁴ David was 30 years old when he became king. He ruled Israel as king for 40 years. ⁵ He ruled over Judah in Hebron for seven years and six months. And in Jerusalem he ruled over all Israel and Judah for 33 years.

David wins Jerusalem from the Jebusites

⁶ King David and his soldiers marched to Jerusalem. They went to attack the Jebusites who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, ‘You will never get into our city. Even blind men and those who are lame could keep you out.’

They thought, ‘David will never get in here.’

⁷ But David did get in and he took Zion, the city's strong place. It is now called ‘The City of David’.

⁸ On that day, David said to his men, ‘We must attack my enemies, the Jebusites. To do that, we must go into the city through the water tunnel.^[c] Then we will see if their blind and lame people can stop us! I hate them all.’

That is why people still say, ‘Anybody who is blind or lame must not go into the palace.’^[d]

David comes to live in Jerusalem

⁹ Then David went to live in the strong place of the city. He called it ‘The City of David’. He built more houses all around it, from the edge of the hill into the city. ¹⁰ David became more and more powerful because the Lord God Almighty was with him.

¹¹ Then Hiram, king of Tyre, sent some of his men to David. They brought wood from Lebanon's cedar trees. Men who could work with wood and stone also came. They built a palace for David. ¹² David knew that the Lord had made him strong as king over Israel. He knew that God had given honour to his kingdom, to help his people, the Israelites.^[e]

¹³ After David moved to Jerusalem from Hebron, he married more wives. He also took more slave wives to live with him. They gave birth to more sons and daughters for David. ¹⁴ These are the names of David's children who were born in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, ¹⁵ Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, ¹⁶ Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet.

David fights against the Philistines

¹⁷ The Philistines heard the news that David had now become king over Israel. So their whole army went to look for him to catch him. When David heard about this, he went out of the city to a strong, safe place.

¹⁸ The Philistine soldiers arrived at Rephaim valley. They covered all the ground there. ¹⁹ So David asked the Lord, ‘Should I go and attack the Philistines? Will you put them under my power?’

The Lord answered him, ‘Yes, go and attack the Philistines. I will certainly help you to win against them.’

²⁰ So David went to Baal Perazim. He won the fight against the Philistines in that place. He said, ‘The Lord has swept away my enemy like a flood of water.’ So they called that place ‘Baal Perazim’.^[f]

²¹ When the Philistines ran away from there, they did not take their idols with them. So David and his men took them away.

²² Once again, the Philistine soldiers came and they covered the ground in Rephaim valley. ²³ So David again asked the Lord what he should do. This time the Lord said, ‘Do not march straight towards them. Instead, go round behind them. Then attack them from the other side, where the poplar trees are. ²⁴ When you hear a noise in the tops of the trees like marching men, go quickly to attack them. Then you will know that the Lord has gone in front of you. He will knock down the Philistine army for you.’

²⁵ So David did as the Lord had commanded him to do. His men chased the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.

David brings the Covenant Box to Jerusalem

6 David chose 30,000 of the best soldiers in Israel. ² He took them with him to Baalah, a town in Judah. He wanted to bring God's Covenant Box from there to Jerusalem. The Israelites called it by the name of the Lord Almighty. He sits as King between the two cherubs that are on the top of the Covenant Box. ³ They put the Covenant Box on a new cart. They took it out of Abinadab's house which was on the hill. Abinadab's sons, Uzzah and Ahio, were leading the new cart ⁴ which had the Covenant Box on it. Ahio walked in front of the Covenant Box. ⁵ David and all Israel's people were singing and dancing with all their strength to praise the Lord. They made music with harps, lyres, tambourines, shakers and cymbals.^[g]

⁶ They reached the place of Nacon's threshing floor. There the oxen that were pulling the cart almost fell. So Uzzah reached out to hold God's Covenant Box to stop it falling. ⁷ The Lord was very angry with Uzzah because he did not respect God's rules.^[h] He immediately knocked Uzzah down to the ground. Uzzah died there, beside the Covenant Box.

⁸ David was angry because the Lord had punished Uzzah. So he called that place ‘Perez Uzzah’. That is still its name today.^[i]

⁹ So David now became afraid of the Lord. He said, ‘The Lord's Covenant Box is too holy to come with me!’ ¹⁰ He no longer wanted to take the Lord's Covenant Box to the City of David to be with him there. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom, who came from Gath. ¹¹ The Lord's Covenant Box stayed in Obed-Edom's house for three months. During that time, the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all the people in his house.

¹² People told King David, ‘The Lord has blessed Obed-Edom's family and everything that belongs to him, because of the Covenant Box.’

So David went back to Obed-Edom's house. He was now happy to bring the Covenant Box from there to the City of David. ¹³ The men who were carrying it walked six steps and they stopped. Then David offered a bull and a fat calf as sacrifices to God. ¹⁴ David was wearing a linen ephod.^[j] He danced with all his strength to worship the Lord. ¹⁵ He and all the Israelites brought the Lord's Covenant Box to Jerusalem. They shouted and they made a loud noise with trumpets.

¹⁶ While they were bringing the Lord's Covenant Box into the City of David, Saul's daughter Michal looked out through a window. She saw what King David was doing. He was jumping and dancing to worship the Lord. Michal felt ashamed of him.

¹⁷ David had put up a special tent for the Covenant Box, so they took it there. They put it in its place inside the tent. Then David offered burnt offerings and friendship offerings to the Lord.

¹⁸ After David had offered those sacrifices, he prayed that the Lord Almighty would bless the people. ¹⁹ Then he gave a gift to every man and woman in the crowd of Israelite people. Each person received a loaf of bread, some dates and some raisins. Then all the people went to their homes.

²⁰ David returned to his home to bless his own family. As he arrived, Saul's daughter Michal came out to meet him. She said, ‘The king of Israel has brought honour to himself today, has he? No, he has brought shame on himself! Even your officers' slave girls have seen how stupid you are. You have made your body bare like a useless fool!’

²¹ David said to Michal, ‘I was worshipping the Lord with joy! It was the Lord who chose me to be the ruler of his people, Israel. He chose me instead of your father or any of his family. ²² I am ready to bring even more shame on myself. Even I will be ashamed of myself! But the slave girls that you spoke about will still give me honour!’

²³ Saul's daughter Michal gave birth to no children all her life.

God gives promises to David

7 The king was living in his palace. The Lord kept him safe from all his enemies everywhere. ² One day, the king said to Nathan the prophet, ‘I am living in a beautiful palace that is made of cedar wood. But God's Covenant Box still has a tent for its home!’

³ Nathan replied to the king, ‘Do what you think is right. The Lord will help you.’

⁴ But that night the Lord said to Nathan, ⁵ ‘Go and tell my servant David,

“The Lord says this: Do not think that you are the right man to build a house for me to live in. ⁶ From the time that I brought Israel's people out of Egypt until now, I have never lived in a house. While my people moved from place to place, I travelled with them. I lived in a tent as my home. ⁷ I have moved about to many different places with the Israelite people. I chose leaders to take care of Israel's tribes, like shepherds for them. But in all that time, I never said to any of the leaders, ‘You should have built a beautiful house of cedar wood for me.’

⁸ So tell my servant David that the Lord Almighty says this: I took you from the fields where you were taking care of sheep. I took you from there to become the ruler of my people Israel. ⁹ I have been with you everywhere that you have gone. I destroyed all your enemies that were attacking you. Now I will make you famous. Your name will be as great as the names of the earth's greatest men.

¹⁰ I have chosen a place where my people Israel will live. I have put them in that place, where they can be safe. They will not be afraid of trouble from any enemy. Wicked people will not hurt them any more. That happened in the past, ¹¹ from the time that I chose leaders to rule my people Israel. But now I will keep you safe from all your enemies.

I, the Lord, say to you, David: I will give you descendants who will rule as kings after you. That will be the royal house that I build for you! ¹² When you die, people will bury you in the grave of your ancestors. Then I will choose your descendant, one of your own sons, to become king. I will make his kingdom strong. ¹³ He is the man who will build a house for me. People will give honour to my name there. I will cause his descendants to rule as kings for ever. ¹⁴ I will be his father and he will be my son. When he does something wrong, I will punish him, so that he learns to do what is right. I will punish him in the way that human fathers punish their sons. ¹⁵ I removed my faithful love from Saul, and I removed him as king before you. But I will always continue to faithfully love your son. ¹⁶ The kingdom that your descendants rule will continue for ever. Someone from your family will always be king.” ’

¹⁷ Nathan told David the whole message that God had shown to him.

David prays

¹⁸ Then King David went into the Lord's tent.^[k] He sat down and he prayed to the Lord.

He said, ‘Almighty Lord, I am not a special person and my family is not special. You have helped me very much and I do not deserve it. ¹⁹ You have also made a promise about the descendants in my family, Almighty Lord. You have promised to help them in the future, as well as me. I am only a man but you have shown this to me, Almighty Lord.

²⁰ I am your servant, Almighty Lord, and you know me completely. There is nothing more that I can say. ²¹ Because of your covenant you have chosen to do all these great things. You have told me, your servant, what you promise to do. ²² Almighty Lord, you are very great. There is nobody like you. You alone are God. What we have heard about you is true! ²³ There is no other nation on earth like your people, Israel. We are the only nation that you have rescued so that we would belong to you. You did that to show that your name is great. You did great miracles to rescue your people from Egypt where they were slaves. Then you chased out other nations and their gods from the land that you were giving to your people. ²⁴ You chose Israel to be your own people for all time. You, Lord, became our God.

²⁵ Lord God, please do the things that you have promised to do for me, your servant, and for my family. Continue to do for ever what you have promised to do. ²⁶ Then people will always give honour to your great name. They will say, “The Lord Almighty is the God who rules over Israel!” And David's descendants will continue to serve you as kings.

²⁷ Lord Almighty, Israel's God, you have made this promise to me, your servant. You have said to me, “You will always have descendants who will rule. That is the house that I will build for you.” That is why I am not afraid to pray to you like this.

²⁸ Almighty Lord, you are the true God. We trust your promises. You have promised these good things to me, your servant. ²⁹ I pray that you will be pleased to bless my family and my descendants. Then we will serve you faithfully for ever. Almighty Lord, you have promised to do this. So I know that you will continue to bless my descendants for ever.’