Old/New Testament
3 ¶ Now there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David, but David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker.
2 And sons were born unto David in Hebron; and his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam, the Jezreelitess;
3 and his second, Chileab, of Abigail who had been the wife of Nabal of Carmel; and the third, Absalom, the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur;
4 and the fourth, Adonijah, the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah, the son of Abital;
5 and the sixth, Ithream, by Eglah, David’s wife. These were born to David in Hebron.
6 And it came to pass while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner made himself strong for the house of Saul.
7 ¶ And Saul had a concubine, whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. And Ishbosheth said to Abner, Why hast thou gone in unto my father’s concubine?
8 Then Abner was very angry for the words of Ishbosheth and said, Am I a dog’s head in regard to Judah? I have shown mercy this day unto the house of Saul, thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends and have not delivered thee into the hand of David that thou dost charge me today with iniquity concerning this woman?
9 Let God do to Abner and more also unless, as the LORD has sworn to David, so do I unto him,
10 to translate the kingdom from the house of Saul and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah from Dan even to Beersheba.
11 And he could not answer Abner a word again because he feared him.
12 And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying, Whose is the land? And that they should also say, Make thy covenant with me, and, behold, my hand shall be with thee, to bring about all Israel unto thee.
13 And he said, Good; I will make a covenant with thee, but one thing I require of thee, that is, Thou shalt not see my face except thou first bring Michal, Saul’s daughter, when thou comest to see my face.
14 After this, David sent messengers to Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, saying, Deliver me my wife Michal, which I espoused to me for one hundred foreskins of the Philistines.
15 So Ishbosheth sent and took her from her husband, even from Phaltiel, the son of Laish.
16 And her husband went with her along weeping behind her to Bahurim. Then Abner said unto him, Go, return. And he returned.
17 And Abner had communication with the elders of Israel, saying, Ye sought for David in times past to be king over you;
18 now then do it, for the LORD has spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my slave David I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines and out of the hand of all their enemies.
19 And Abner also spoke in the ears of Benjamin, and Abner went also to speak in the ears of David in Hebron all that seemed good to Israel and that seemed good to the whole house of Benjamin.
20 So Abner came to David to Hebron and twenty men with him. And David made a banquet for Abner and the men that were with him.
21 And Abner said unto David, I will arise and go and will gather all Israel unto my lord the king that they may make a covenant with thee and that thou may reign over all that thy heart desires. And David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.
22 ¶ And, behold, the slaves of David and Joab came from pursuing a troop and brought in a great spoil with them. But Abner was not with David in Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he was gone in peace.
23 When Joab and all the host that was with him were come, they told Joab, saying, Abner, the son of Ner, came to the king, and he has sent him away, and he is gone in peace.
24 Then Joab came to the king and said, What hast thou done? Behold, Abner came unto thee; why is it that thou hast let him go?
25 Dost thou not know that Abner, the son of Ner, came to deceive thee, and to know thy going out and thy coming in and to know all that thou doest?
26 And when Joab was come out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, who caused him to return from the well of Sirah, but David did not know it.
27 And when Abner had returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly and smote him there under the fifth rib that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.
28 And afterward when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are guiltless before the LORD for ever from the blood of Abner, the son of Ner.
29 Let it rest on the head of Joab and on all his father’s house and let there not fail from the house of Joab one that has an issue or that is a leper or that leans on a staff or that dies by the sword or that lacks bread.
30 So Joab and Abishai his brother slew Abner because he had slain their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle.
31 Then David said to Joab and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes and gird yourselves with sackcloth and mourn before Abner. And King David himself followed the bier.
32 And they buried Abner in Hebron, and the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept.
33 And the king lamented over Abner and said, Abner died the death of a fool!
34 Thy hands were not bound nor thy feet put into fetters. Thou didst fall as a man falls before wicked men. And all the people wept again over him.
35 And when all the people came to cause David to eat food while it was yet day, David swore, saying, So do God to me, and more also if I taste bread or anything else until the sun is down.
36 And all the people understood, and it pleased them, for whatever the king did pleased all the people.
37 For all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to slay Abner, the son of Ner.
38 Then the king said unto his slaves, Do ye not know that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?
39 And I am this day a tender anointed king, and these men the sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me; the LORD shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness.
4 ¶ And when Saul’s son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands were feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.
2 And Saul’s son had two men that were captains of companies; the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon, a Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin (for Beeroth also was reckoned to Benjamin;
3 and the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and were sojourners there until this day).
4 And Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled, and it came to pass as she made haste to flee that he fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.
5 And the sons of Rimmon, the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, who lay on a bed at noon.
6 And they came there into the midst of the house as though they were wheat merchants, and they smote him under the fifth rib; and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.
7 For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed in his bedchamber, and they smote him, and slew him and beheaded him and took his head and walked all night through the plain.
8 And they brought the head of Ishbosheth unto David to Hebron and said to the king, Behold the head of Ishbosheth the son of Saul thy enemy, who sought thy life, and the LORD has avenged my lord the king this day of Saul and of his seed.
9 ¶ And David answered Rechab and Baanah, his brother, the sons of Rimmon, the Beerothite, and said unto them, As the LORD lives, who has ransomed my soul out of all adversity,
10 when one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good tidings, I took hold of him and slew him in Ziklag as a reward for his tidings.
11 How much more unto wicked men who have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? Shall I not, therefore, now require his blood of your hand and remove you from the earth?
12 Then David commanded his young men, and they slew them and cut off their hands and their feet and hung them up over the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth and buried it in the sepulchre of Abner in Hebron.
5 ¶ Then all the tribes of Israel came unto David in Hebron and spoke, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh.
2 And even yesterday and the day before yesterday, when Saul was king over us, it was thou that didst lead out and bring in Israel; and the LORD said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be prince over Israel.
3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king in Hebron; and King David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD; and they anointed David king over Israel.
4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.
6 ¶ Then the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, who dwelt in the land, who spoke unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in here, thinking, David cannot come in here.
7 Nevertheless, David took the fortress of Zion; the same is the city of David.
8 And David said on that day, Who shall go up the waterspout and smite the Jebusites and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David’s soul? Therefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.
9 So David dwelt in the fortress and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward.
10 And David went on and grew great, and the LORD God of the hosts was with him.
11 ¶ And Hiram, king of Tyre, also sent messengers to David, and cedar trees and carpenters and masons, and they built David a house.
12 And David understood that the LORD had confirmed him as king over Israel and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake.
13 And David took more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem after he had come from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born unto David.
14 And these were the names of those that were born unto him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,
16 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphalet.
17 ¶ But when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines came up to seek David, and David heard of it and went down to the fortress.
18 The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. {Heb. of the giants}
19 Then David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? Wilt thou deliver them into my hand? And the LORD said unto David, Go up, for I without a doubt will deliver the Philistines into thy hand.
20 And David came to Baalperazim, and David smote them there and said, The LORD has broken forth upon my enemies before me as the breach of waters. Therefore, he called the name of that place Baalperazim.
21 And they left their images there, and David and his men burned them.
22 And the Philistines came up yet again and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.
23 And when David enquired of the LORD, he said, Thou shalt not go up, but go around behind them and come upon them over against the mulberry trees,
24 and when thou hearest thunder going through the tops of the mulberry trees, then thou shalt move, for then the LORD shall go out before thee to smite the host of the Philistines.
25 And David did so as the LORD had commanded him and smote the Philistines from Geba unto Gazer.
25 ¶ And great multitudes went with him, and he turned and said unto them,
26 If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, and even his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
27 And whosoever does not bear his cross {Gr. stauros – stake} and come after me cannot be my disciple.
28 For which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has sufficient to finish it?
29 Lest perhaps after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
30 saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
31 Or what king going to make war against another king does not sit down first and consult whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him that comes against him with twenty thousand?
32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy and desires conditions of peace.
33 So likewise, any one of you that does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple.
34 Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its savour, with what shall it be seasoned?
35 It is neither good for the land, nor for the dunghill; it is cast out. He that has ears to hear, let him hear.
Copyright © 2013, 2020 by Ransom Press International