Old/New Testament
3 There was a long war between the people who supported Saul’s family and those who supported David’s family. The supporters of David’s family became stronger and stronger. And the supporters of Saul’s family became weaker and weaker.
David’s Sons
2 Sons were born to David at Hebron. The first son was Amnon. Amnon’s mother was Ahinoam from Jezreel. 3 The second son was Kileab. Kileab’s mother was Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel. The third son was Absalom. Absalom’s mother was Maacah daughter of Talmai. Talmai was king of Geshur. 4 The fourth son was Adonijah. His mother was Haggith. The fifth son was Shephatiah. His mother was Abital. 5 The sixth son was Ithream. His mother was Eglah, David’s wife. These sons were born to David at Hebron.
Abner Joins David
6 Abner made himself a main leader among the supporters of Saul. He did this during the war between the supporters of Saul’s family and the supporters of David’s family.
7 Now Saul had once had a slave woman named Rizpah. She was the daughter of Aiah. Ish-Bosheth said to Abner, “Why did you have physical relations with my father’s slave woman?”
8 Abner was very angry because of what Ish-Bosheth said. Abner said, “I have been loyal to Saul and his family and friends! I didn’t hand you over to David. I am not a traitor working for Judah! But now you are saying I did something wrong with this woman! 9 May God punish me terribly if I don’t help David. I will make sure that what God promised does happen! 10 I will take the kingdom from the family of Saul. I will make David king of Israel and Judah! He will rule from Dan to Beersheba.”[a]
11 Ish-Bosheth couldn’t say anything to Abner. He was too afraid of Abner.
12 Then Abner sent messengers to David. Abner said, “Who is going to rule the land? Make an agreement with me, and I will help you become the king of all Israel.”
13 David answered, “Good! I will make an agreement with you. But I ask you one thing. I will not meet with you unless you bring Saul’s daughter Michal to me.” 14 Then David sent messengers to Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth. David said, “Give me my wife Michal. She was promised to me. I killed 100 Philistines to get her.”
15 So Ish-Bosheth sent men to take Michal from her husband. He was Paltiel son of Laish. 16 Michal’s husband went with her, crying as he followed her to Bahurim. But Abner said to Paltiel, “Go back home.” So he went home.
17 Abner sent a message to the elders of Israel. He said, “You have been wanting to make David your king. 18 Now do it! The Lord has spoken about David. The Lord said, ‘I will save my people the Israelites. I will save them from the Philistines and all their enemies. I will do this through my servant David.’”
19 Abner also said these things to the people of Benjamin. He then went to Hebron to tell David what the Benjaminites and Israel wanted to do. 20 Abner came with 20 men to David at Hebron. There David prepared a feast for them. 21 Then Abner said to David, “My master and king, I will go and bring all the Israelites to you. Then they will make an agreement with you. You will rule over all Israel as you wanted.” So David let Abner go, and he left in peace.
Abner’s Death
22 Just then Joab and David’s men came from a battle. They had many valuable things they had taken from the enemy. David had let Abner leave in peace. So he was not with David at Hebron. 23 Joab and all his army arrived at Hebron. The army said to Joab, “Abner son of Ner came to King David. And David let him leave in peace.”
24 Joab came to the king and said, “What have you done? Abner came to you. Why did you let him go? Now he’s gone. 25 You know Abner son of Ner! He came to trick you! He came to learn about everything you are doing!”
26 Then Joab left David and sent messengers after Abner. They brought Abner back from the well of Sirah. But David did not know this. 27 When Abner arrived at Hebron, Joab took him aside into the gateway. Joab acted as though he wanted to talk with him in private. But Joab stabbed Abner in the stomach, and Abner died. Abner had killed Joab’s brother Asahel. So Joab killed Abner to pay him back.
28 Later David heard the news. He said, “My kingdom and I are innocent forever. We did not kill Abner son of Ner. The Lord knows this. 29 Joab and his family are responsible for this. I hope many troubles will come to his family. May his family always have someone with sores or with a harmful skin disease. May they always have someone who must lean on a crutch. May some of his family be killed in war. May they always have someone without food to eat.”
30 (Joab and his brother Abishai had killed Abner, because he had killed their brother Asahel. This was in the battle at Gibeon.)
31 Then David spoke to Joab and to all the people with Joab. He said, “Tear your clothes and put on rough cloth to show how sad you are. Cry for Abner.” King David himself followed behind the body of Abner. 32 So they buried Abner in Hebron. David and all the people cried at Abner’s grave.
33 King David sang this funeral song for Abner.
“Did Abner die like a foolish man?
34 His hands were not tied.
His feet were not in chains.
He fell as a person falls before evil men.”
Then all the people cried again for Abner. 35 They came to encourage David to eat while it was still day. But he made a promise. He said, “May God punish me terribly if I eat bread or any other food before the sun sets!”
36 All the people saw what happened. They agreed with what the king was doing. 37 That day all the people of Judah and all the Israelites understood. They knew it was not David who had killed Abner son of Ner.
38 David said to his officers, “You know that a very important leader died today in Israel. 39 Even though I am the appointed king, I am weak today. These sons of Zeruiah are too strong for me. May the Lord give them the punishment they should have.”
Ish-Bosheth’s Death
4 Ish-Bosheth son of Saul heard that Abner had died at Hebron. Then Ish-Bosheth and all Israel became very frightened. 2 Two men who were captains in Saul’s army came to Ish-Bosheth. One man was named Baanah, and the other was named Recab. They were the sons of Rimmon of Beeroth, who was a Benjaminite. (The town Beeroth belonged to the tribe of Benjamin.) 3 The people of Beeroth ran away to Gittaim. And they still live there today.
4 (Now Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was crippled in both feet. His name was Mephibosheth. He was five years old when the news came from Jezreel that Saul and Jonathan were dead. Mephibosheth’s nurse picked him up and ran away. But as she hurried to leave, he fell and became crippled.)
5 Recab and Baanah, sons of Rimmon, were from Beeroth. They went to Ish-Bosheth’s house at noon. 6-7 They came into the middle of the house. Recab and Baanah came as if they were going to get some wheat. Ish-Bosheth was lying on his bed in his bedroom. Recab and Baanah stabbed him in the stomach. Then they cut off his head and took it with them. They traveled all night through the Jordan Valley. 8 When they arrived at Hebron, they gave his head to David. They said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul. He was your enemy. He tried to kill you! Today the Lord has paid back Saul and his family for what they did to you!”
9 David answered Recab and his brother Baanah sons of Rimmon of Beeroth. David said, “As surely as the Lord lives, he has saved me from all trouble! 10 Once a man thought he was bringing me good news. He told me, ‘Look! Saul is dead!’ But I took hold of him and killed him at Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news! 11 So even more I must require your death. This is because evil men have killed an innocent man. And he was on his own bed in his own house!”
12 So David commanded his men to kill Recab and Baanah. Then they cut off the hands and feet of Recab and Baanah. They hung their hands and feet over the pool of Hebron. Then they took Ish-Bosheth’s head and buried it in Abner’s tomb at Hebron.
David Is Made King of Israel
5 Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron. They said to him, “Look, we are your own family. 2 In the past Saul was king over us. But you were the one leading us in battle for Israel. The Lord said to you, ‘You will be like a shepherd for my people, the Israelites. You will become their ruler.’”
3 All the elders of Israel came to King David at Hebron. Then he made an agreement with them in Hebron in front of the Lord. Then they poured oil on David to make him king over Israel.
4 David was 30 years old when he became king. He ruled 40 years. 5 He was king over Judah in Hebron for 7 years and 6 months. And he was king over all Israel and Judah in Jerusalem for 33 years.
6 The king and his men went to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, “You can’t come into our city. Even our people who are blind and crippled can stop you.” They said this because they thought David could not enter their city. 7 But David did take the city of Jerusalem with its strong walls. It became the City of David.
8 That day David said to his men, “To defeat the Jebusites you must go through the water tunnel. Then you can reach those ‘crippled’ and ‘blind’ enemies. This is why people say, ‘The blind and the crippled cannot enter the palace.’”
9 So David lived in the city with its strong walls. He called it the City of David. David built more buildings around it. He began where the land was filled in on the east side of the city. He also built more buildings inside the city. 10 He became stronger and stronger, because the Lord of heaven’s armies was with him.
11 Hiram king of the city of Tyre sent messengers to David. He also sent cedar logs, carpenters and men to cut stone. They built a palace for David. 12 Then David knew the Lord really had made him king of Israel. And he knew the Lord had made his kingdom very important. This was because the Lord loved his people, the Israelites.
13 In Jerusalem David took for himself more slave women and wives. This was after he moved there from Hebron. More sons and daughters were born to David. 14 These are the names of the sons born to David in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 16 Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet.
David Defeats the Philistines
17 Now the Philistines heard that David had been made king over Israel. So all the Philistines went to look for him. But when David heard the news, he went down to a safe place. 18 So the Philistines came and camped in the Valley of Rephaim. David asked the Lord, “Should I attack the Philistines? Will you help me defeat them?”
19 The Lord said to David, “Go! I will certainly help you defeat them.”
20 So David went to Baal Perazim and defeated the Philistines there. David said, “Like a flood of water, the Lord has broken through my enemies.” So David named the place Baal Perazim.[b] 21 The Philistines left their idols behind at Baal Perazim. And David and his men carried these idols away.
22 Once again the Philistines came and camped at the Valley of Rephaim. 23 David prayed to the Lord. This time the Lord told David, “Don’t attack the Philistines from the front. Instead, go around them. Attack them opposite the balsam trees. 24 You will hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees. Then you must act quickly. I, the Lord, will have gone ahead of you and defeated the Philistine army.” 25 So David did what the Lord commanded. He defeated the Philistines and chased them all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.
You Must First Plan
25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus. He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me but loves his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, or sisters more than he loves me, then he cannot be my follower. A person must love me more than he loves himself! 27 If anyone is not willing to die on a cross when he follows me, then he cannot be my follower. 28 If you wanted to build a tower, you would first sit down and decide how much it would cost. You must see if you have enough money to finish the job. 29 If you don’t do that, you might begin the work, but you would not be able to finish. And if you could not finish it, then all who would see it would laugh at you. 30 They would say, ‘This man began to build but was not able to finish!’
31 “If a king is going to fight against another king, first he will sit down and plan. If the king has only 10,000 men, he will plan to see if he is able to defeat the other king who has 20,000 men. 32 If he cannot defeat the other king, then he will send some men to speak to the other king and ask for peace. 33 In the same way, you must give up everything you have to follow me. If you don’t, you cannot be my follower!
Don’t Lose Your Influence
34 “Salt is a good thing. But if the salt loses its salty taste, then it is worth nothing. You cannot make it salty again. 35 It is no good for the soil or for manure. People throw it away.
“Let those with ears use them and listen!”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.