Beginning

Ish-Bosheth is Assassinated

4 When the son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, his courage failed^[a] and all of Israel was horrified. ² Two of the men, commanders of the raiding bands, were for the son of Saul. The name of one was Baanah, and the name of the other was Recab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite from the descendants^[b] of Benjamin; also, Beeroth was regarded as belonging to Benjamin. ³ The Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and they are resident aliens there until this day. ⁴ (Now Jonathan the son of Saul had a son who was crippled in the feet. He was five years old when the message of Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse had picked him up and fled. It happened that as she was hurrying away to flee, he fell and became crippled. His name was Mephibosheth.) ⁵ When the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Recab and Baanah, set out, they came at the heat of the day to the house of Ish-Bosheth while he was taking a noontime rest.^{[c] 6} They came as far as the middle of the house as if takers of wheat, and they struck him in the stomach. Then Recab and Baanah his brother escaped. ⁷ When they had come into the house, he was lying on his couch in his bedchamber,^[d] and they attacked him and killed him. Then they beheaded him,^[e] and they took his head and went on the way of the Arabah all night. ⁸ They brought the head of Ish-Bosheth to David at Hebron, and they said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth, the son of Saul your enemy, who sought your life. Yahweh has given to my lord the king vengeance this day on Saul and on his offspring.” ⁹ Then David answered Recab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and he said to them, “As Yahweh lives,^[f] who redeemed my soul from all trouble, ¹⁰ when the one who told me, “Look, Saul is dead,” thought that he was bringing good news,^[g] I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which was as my giving the news back to him. ¹¹ How much more^[h] when wicked men kill a righteous man in his house, on his bed! So then, shall I not seek his lifeblood from your hand, so that I may destroy you from the earth?” ¹² Then David commanded the young men, and they killed them, and they cut off their hands and their feet, and they hung them at the pool at Hebron, but the head of Ish-Bosheth they took and buried in the grave of Abner at Hebron.

David Anointed as King over All of Israel

5 So all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and they said, “Here we are, we are your flesh and blood.^{[i] 2} For some time,^[j] when Saul was king over us, you were leading Israel in and out.^[k] Yahweh had said to you, ‘You shall be the shepherd of my people Israel, and you will be the leader over Israel.’” ³ All the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant^[l] with them at Hebron in the presence of Yahweh; then they anointed David as king over Israel. ⁴ David was thirty years old when he began to reign; he reigned forty years. ⁵ He reigned over Judah at Hebron for seven years and six months; and he reigned over all Israel and Judah at Jerusalem for thirty-three years.

The Capture and Growth of Jerusalem

⁶ The king and his men went to Jerusalem, to the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land. They said to David, “You will not come here, for even the blind and the lame can turn you back, saying, ‘David cannot come here.’” ⁷ David captured the fortress of Zion, the city of David. ⁸ David had said, “On that day when we attack the Jebusites,^[m] one must attack the lame and the blind, those who hate the soul of David, by means of the water supply.” For thus the blind and the lame would say, “He cannot come into the house.” ⁹ David occupied the fortress and called it the city of David. And David built all around it from the Millo and inward.^[n]

¹⁰ David continued growing stronger and stronger,^[o] and Yahweh the God of hosts was with him. ¹¹ So Hiram, the king of Tyre, sent messengers to David, along with cedar trees and craftsmen skilled in wood and in stone masonry,^[p] and they built a house for David. ¹² David realized that Yahweh had established him as king over Israel and that he had exalted his kingdom because of his people Israel. ¹³ David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to him. ¹⁴ These are the names of the ones born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua and Shobab and Nathan and Solomon; ¹⁵ Ibhar and Elishua and Nepheg and Japhia; ¹⁶ Elishama and Eliada and Eliphelet.

War with the Philistines

¹⁷ When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David as king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David, but David heard and went down to the stronghold.^{[q] 18} Now the Philistines had come, and they spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁹ And David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go up to the Philistines? Will you give them into my hands?” Yahweh said to David, “Go up, for I will certainly give^[r] the Philistines into your hand.” ²⁰ So David came to Baal Perazim and defeated them there; and David said, “Yahweh has burst through my enemies before me like the bursting of water.” Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim.^{[s] 21} They had left their idols there, so David and his men carried them away.

²² Once again^[t] the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. ²³ So David inquired of Yahweh, but he said, “You shall not go up. Rather, go around to their rear and come to them from opposite the balsam trees. ²⁴ And it shall be^[u] that when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then pay attention, for then Yahweh has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.” ²⁵ So David did thus, just as Yahweh had commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines from Geba all the way^[v] to Gezer.

David Brings the Ark of Yahweh to Jerusalem

6 David again gathered all the chosen men in Israel, thirty thousand. ² David got up and went and all the people who were with him, from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God which is called the name, the name of Yahweh of hosts, upon which the cherubim sit.^{[w] 3} They loaded the ark of God on a new utility cart, and they carried it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Now Uzza and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new utility cart along. ⁴ So they brought it out from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill with the ark of God, and Ahio was going before the ark. ⁵ Now David and all the house of Israel were dancing before Yahweh, with all kinds of musical instruments made from ash trees, and with zithers, harps, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals. ⁶ When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzza reached out to the ark of God and took hold of it, because the oxen had stumbled. ⁷ Then the anger of Yahweh was kindled^[x] against Uzza, and God struck him down there because of the indiscretion,^[y] and he died there beside the ark of God. ⁸ David was angry^[z] because Yahweh had burst out against Uzza, and he called that place Perez-Uzza until this day. ⁹ But David feared Yahweh on that day and said, “How can the ark of Yahweh come to me?” ¹⁰ However, David was not willing to bring the ark of Yahweh to himself, to the city of David, so David caused it to turn to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. ¹¹ So the ark of Yahweh remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and Yahweh blessed Obed-Edom and all his household.

¹² It was told to King David, “Yahweh has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and all that is his because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with jubilation. ¹³ It happened that when the carriers of the ark of Yahweh had marched six steps that he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. ¹⁴ Now David was dancing with all his might before Yahweh, and David was wearing^[aa] a linen ephod. ¹⁵ So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of Yahweh with shouts of joyful acclaim and with the sound of the trumpet. ¹⁶ It happened that when the ark of Yahweh came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked down through the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before Yahweh, and she despised him in her heart.

¹⁷ They brought the ark of Yahweh and set it in its place in the middle of the tent which David had pitched for it. Then David offered up burnt offerings and fellowship offerings in the presence of Yahweh. ¹⁸ When David had finished from the sacrificing of the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh of hosts. ¹⁹ Then he distributed to all the people, to all the multitude of Israel, from man to woman, to each: one ring-shaped piece of bread, one cake of dates, and one cake of raisins; and all the people went each to his house.

²⁰ When David returned to bless his household, Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David. She said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today by uncovering himself^[ab] before the eyes of the maids of his servants, as the total exposure of a worthless one.”^{[ac] 21} So David said to Michal, “In the presence of Yahweh who chose me over^[ad] your father and over^[ae] his household, to appoint me as leader over the people of Yahweh, over Israel, I have celebrated before Yahweh. ²² I will demean myself again more than this, and I will be abased in my eyes, but with the maids whom you mentioned, with them I will be honored.” ²³ So for Michal the daughter of Saul, she had no child until the day of her death.

Yahweh Makes a Covenant with David

7 It happened that the king settled in his house. (Now Yahweh had given rest to him from all his enemies all around.) ² And the king said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, please, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God is staying in the middle of the tent.” ³ Nathan said to the king, “Go and do all that is in your heart, for Yahweh is with you.” ⁴ But it happened that night,^[af] the word of Yahweh came^[ag] to Nathan, saying, ⁵ “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says Yahweh: “Are you the one to build for me a house for my dwelling? ⁶ For I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought up the Israelites^[ah] from Egypt until this day; rather, I was going about in a tent and in a tabernacle. ⁷ In all of my going about among all the Israelites,^[ai] did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, ‘Why did you not build me a cedar house?’”’ ⁸ So then, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “I took you from the pasture from following^[aj] the sheep to be a leader over my people, over Israel, ⁹ and I have been with you everywhere you went.^[ak] I have cut off all of your enemies from in front of you, and I will make a great name for you, as the name of the great ones who are on the earth. ¹⁰ I will make a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them^[al] so that they^[am] can dwell in their own place.^[an] They will not tremble any longer, and the children of wickedness will not afflict them again, as in the former days. ¹¹ In the manner that^[ao] I appointed judges over my people Israel, I will give you rest from all your enemies. And Yahweh declares to you that Yahweh will build a house for you. ¹² When your days are full and you lie down with your ancestors,^[ap] I will raise up your offspring after you who will go out from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be a father to him, and he will be a son for me, whom I will punish when he does wrong, with a rod of men and with blows of the human beings.^{[aq] 15} But my loyal love shall not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. ¹⁶ Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before you; your throne shall be established forever.”’”

David Responds to Yahweh’s Covenant

¹⁷ According to all these words and according to all this vision, this Nathan spoke to David. ¹⁸ Then King David went and sat before Yahweh and said, “Who am I, my lord Yahweh, and what is my house that you have brought me up to this place?^{[ar] 19} Still, this was insignificant^[as] in your eyes, my lord Yahweh, and also you have spoken about the house of your servant from afar, and this may be the teaching of humans, my lord Yahweh. ²⁰ What more can David say to you?^[at] You know your servant, my lord Yahweh. ²¹ Because of your word and according to your heart, you have done all of this great thing, in order to let your servant know. ²² Therefore you are great, my lord Yahweh, for there is no one like you, and there is no god except you, in all that we have heard with our ears. ²³ Who is like your people, like Israel? Israel is the one nation on earth whose God led them,^[au] in order to redeem a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to do for you^[av] the great and awesome things for your land in the presence of your people whom he redeemed for himself from Egypt, from the nations and their gods. ²⁴ You have established your people Israel for yourself as a people forever, and you, O Yahweh, have become their God. ²⁵ So then, Yahweh God, the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, confirm it forever, and do just as you have promised. ²⁶ Your name shall be great forever, and they will say,^[aw] ‘Yahweh of hosts is God over Israel’; and the house of your servant David shall be established before you. ²⁷ For you, O Yahweh of hosts, are God of Israel! You have revealed to the ear of your servant, ‘I will build a house for you’; therefore your servant has found courage^[ax] to pray this prayer to you. ²⁸ Now, my Lord Yahweh, you alone are God, and your words are^[ay] true. You have promised this good to your servant. ²⁹ So then, be content and bless the house of your servant to be forever in your presence, for you, my Lord Yahweh, have spoken, and because of your blessing, may the house of your servant be blessed forever.”