Bible (Literal Standard Version)/2 Samuel

For other versions of this work, see 2 Samuel (Bible).

Chapter 1

¹ And it comes to pass after the death of Saul, that David has returned from striking the Amalekite, and David dwells in Ziklag [for] two days, ² and it comes to pass, on the third day, that behold, a man has come in out of the camp from Saul, and his garments [are] torn, and earth [is] on his head; and it comes to pass in his coming to David, that he falls to the earth and pays respect. ³ And David says to him, "Where do you come from?" And he says to him, "I have escaped out of the camp of Israel." ⁴ And David says to him, "What has been the matter? Please declare [it] to me." And he says, "That the people have fled from the battle, and also a multitude of the people have fallen, and they die; and also Saul and his son Jonathan have died." ⁵ And David says to the youth who is declaring [it] to him, "How have you known that Saul and his son Jonathan [are] dead?" ⁶ And the youth who is declaring [it] to him says, "I happened to meet in Mount Gilboa, and behold, Saul is leaning on his spear; and behold, the chariots and those possessing horses have followed him; ⁷ and he turns behind him, and sees me, and calls to me, and I say, Here I [am]. ⁸ And he says to me, Who [are] you? And I say to him, I [am] an Amalekite. ⁹ And he says to me, Please stand over me and put me to death, for the arrow has seized me, for all my soul [is] still in me. ¹⁰ And I stand over him, and put him to death, for I knew that he does not live after his falling, and I take the crown which [is] on his head, and the bracelet which [is] on his arm, and bring them to my lord here." ¹¹ And David takes hold on his garments, and tears them, and also all the men who [are] with him, ¹² and they mourn, and weep, and fast until the evening, for Saul, and for his son Jonathan, and for the people of YHWH, and for the house of Israel, because they have fallen by the sword. ¹³ And David says to the youth who is declaring [it] to him, "Where [are] you from?" And he says, "I [am] the son of a sojourner, an Amalekite." ¹⁴ And David says to him, "How were you not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy the anointed of YHWH?" ¹⁵ And David calls to one of the youths and says, "Draw near—fall on him"; and he strikes him, and he dies; ¹⁶ and David says to him, "Your blood [is] on your own head, for your mouth has testified against you, saying, I put to death the anointed of YHWH." ¹⁷ And David laments with this lamentation over Saul, and over his son Jonathan; ¹⁸ and he says to teach the sons of Judah "The Bow"; behold, it is written on the Scroll of the Upright: ¹⁹ "The beauty of Israel || [Is] wounded on your high places; How the mighty have fallen! ²⁰ Do not declare [it] in Gath, || Do not proclaim the tidings in the streets of Ashkelon, || Lest they rejoice—The daughters of the Philistines, || Lest they exult—The daughters of the uncircumcised! ²¹ Mountains of Gilboa! No dew nor rain be on you, || And fields of raised-offerings! For there has become loathsome || The shield of the mighty, || The shield of Saul—without the anointed with oil. ²² From the blood of the wounded, || From the fat of the mighty, || The bow of Jonathan || Has not turned backward; And the sword of Saul does not return empty. ²³ Saul and Jonathan! They are loved and pleasant in their lives, || And in their death they have not been parted. They have been lighter than eagles, || They have been mightier than lions! ²⁴ Daughters of Israel! Weep for Saul, || Who is clothing you [in] scarlet with delights. Who is lifting up ornaments of gold on your clothing. ²⁵ How the mighty have fallen || In the midst of the battle! Jonathan [was] wounded on your high places! ²⁶ I am in distress for you, my brother Jonathan, || You were very pleasant to me; Your love was wonderful to me, || Above the love of women! ²⁷ How the mighty have fallen, || Indeed, the weapons of war perish!"

Chapter 2

¹ And it comes to pass afterward, that David inquires of YHWH, saying, "Do I go up into one of the cities of Judah?" And YHWH says to him, "Go up." And David says, "To where do I go up?" And He says, "To Hebron." ² And David goes up there, and also his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail wife of Nabal the Carmelite; ³ and David has brought up his men who [are] with him—a man and his household—and they dwell in the cities of Hebron. ⁴ And the men of Judah come, and anoint David there for king over the house of Judah; and they declare to David, saying, "The men of Jabesh-Gilead [are] they who buried Saul." ⁵ And David sends messengers to the men of Jabesh-Gilead and says to them, "Blessed [are] you of YHWH, in that you have done this kindness with your lord, with Saul, that you bury him. ⁶ And now YHWH does kindness and truth with you, and I also do this good with you because you have done this thing; ⁷ and now your hands are strong, and be for sons of valor, for your lord Saul [is] dead, and the house of Judah has also anointed me for king over them." ⁸ And Abner, son of Ner, head of the host which Saul has, has taken Ish-Bosheth, son of Saul, and causes him to pass over to Mahanaim, ⁹ and causes him to reign over Gilead, and over the Ashurite, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over Israel—all of it. ¹⁰ Ish-Bosheth son of Saul [is] a son of forty years in his reigning over Israel, and he has reigned [for] two years; only the house of Judah has been after David. ¹¹ And the number of the days that David has been king in Hebron, over the house of Judah, is seven years and six months. ¹² And Abner son of Ner goes out, and servants of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, from Mahanaim to Gibeon. ¹³ And Joab son of Zeruiah, and servants of David, have gone out, and they meet by the pool of Gibeon together, and sit down, these by the pool on this [side], and these by the pool on that [side]. ¹⁴ And Abner says to Joab, "Now let the youths rise and they play before us"; and Joab says, "Let them rise." ¹⁵ And they rise and pass over, in number twelve of Benjamin, even of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. ¹⁶ And they each lay hold on the head of his companion, and his sword [is] in the side of his companion, and they fall together, and [one] calls that place Helkath-Hazzurim, which [is] in Gibeon, ¹⁷ and the battle is very hard on that day, and Abner is struck, and the men of Israel, before the servants of David. ¹⁸ And there are three sons of Zeruiah there: Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel; and Asahel [is] light on his feet, as one of the roes which [are] in the field, ¹⁹ and Asahel pursues after Abner, and has not turned aside to go to the right or to the left, from after Abner. ²⁰ And Abner looks behind him and says, "Are you he—Asahel?" And he says, "I [am]." ²¹ And Abner says to him, "Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and seize one of the youths for yourself, and take his armor for yourself"; and Asahel has not been willing to turn aside from after him. ²² And Abner adds again, saying to Asahel, "Turn aside from after me, why do I strike you to the earth? And how do I lift up my face to your brother Joab?" ²³ And he refuses to turn aside, and Abner strikes him with the back part of the spear to the fifth [rib], and the spear comes out from behind him, and he falls there, and dies under it; and it comes to pass, everyone who has come to the place where Asahel has fallen and dies—they stand still. ²⁴ And Joab and Abishai pursue after Abner, and the sun has gone in, and they have come to the height of Ammah, which [is] on the front of Giah, the way of the wilderness of Gibeon. ²⁵ And the sons of Benjamin gather themselves together after Abner, and become one troop, and stand on the top of a certain height, ²⁶ and Abner calls to Joab and says, "Does the sword consume forever? Have you not known that it is bitterness in the latter end? And until when do you not say to the people to turn back from after their brothers?" ²⁷ And Joab says, "God lives! For unless you had spoken, surely then from the morning each of the people had gone up from after his brother." ²⁸ And Joab blows with a horn, and all the people stand still, and no longer pursue after Israel, nor have they added to fight anymore. ²⁹ And Abner and his men have gone through the plain all that night, and pass over the Jordan, and go on [through] all Bithron, and come to Mahanaim. ³⁰ And Joab has turned back from after Abner, and gathers all the people, and there are lacking of the servants of David nineteen men, and Asahel; ³¹ and the servants of David have struck of Benjamin, even among the men of Abner, three hundred and sixty men—they died. ³² And they lift up Asahel, and bury him in the burying-place of his father, which [is] in Beth-Lehem, and they go all the night—Joab and his men—and [dawn's light] shines on them in Hebron.

Chapter 3

¹ And the war is long between the house of Saul and the house of David, and David is going on and [is] strong, and the house of Saul is going on and [is] weak. ² And there are sons born to David in Hebron, and his firstborn is Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, ³ and his second [is] Chileab, of Abigail wife of Nabal the Carmelite, and the third [is] Absalom son of Maacah daughter of Talmai king of Geshur, ⁴ and the fourth [is] Adonijah son of Haggith, and the fifth [is] Shephatiah son of Abital, ⁵ and the sixth [is] Ithream, of Eglah wife of David; these have been born to David in Hebron. ⁶ And it comes to pass, in the war being between the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner has been strengthening himself in the house of Saul, ⁷ and Saul has a concubine, and her name [is] Rizpah daughter of Aiah, and [Ish-Bosheth] says to Abner, "Why have you gone in to the concubine of my father?" ⁸ And it is exceedingly displeasing to Abner, because of the words of Ish-Bosheth, and he says, "[Am] I the head of a dog—that in reference to Judah, today I do kindness with the house of your father Saul, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not delivered you into the hand of David—that you charge against me iniquity concerning the woman today? ⁹ Thus God does to Abner, and thus He adds to him, surely as YHWH has sworn to David—surely so I do to him: ¹⁰ to cause the kingdom to pass over from the house of Saul, and to raise up the throne of David over Israel, and over Judah, from Dan even to Beer-Sheba." ¹¹ And he is not able to return a word [to] Abner anymore, because of his fearing him. ¹² And Abner sends messengers to David for himself, saying, "Whose [is] the land?" [And] saying, "Make your covenant with me, and behold, my hand [is] with you, to bring around all Israel to you." ¹³ And [David] says, "Good—I make a covenant with you; only, one thing I am asking of you, that is, you do not see my face, except [that] you first bring in Michal daughter of Saul in your coming in to see my face." ¹⁴ And David sends messengers to Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, saying, "Give up my wife Michal, whom I betrothed to myself with one hundred foreskins of the Philistines." ¹⁵ And Ish-Bosheth sends, and takes her from a man, from Phaltiel son of Laish, ¹⁶ and her husband goes with her, going on and weeping behind her, to Bahurim, and Abner says to him, "Go, return"; and he turns back. ¹⁷ And the word of Abner was with [the] elderly of Israel, saying, "Thus far you have been seeking David for king over you, ¹⁸ and now, do [it], for YHWH has spoken of David saying, [It is] by the hand of my servant David to save My people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies." ¹⁹ And Abner also speaks in the ears of Benjamin, and Abner also goes to speak in the ears of David in Hebron all that [is] good in the eyes of Israel, and in the eyes of all the house of Benjamin, ²⁰ and Abner comes to David, to Hebron, and twenty men [are] with him, and David makes a banquet for Abner and for the men who [are] with him. ²¹ And Abner says to David, "I arise, and go, and gather the whole of Israel to my lord the king, and they make a covenant with you, and you have reigned over all that your soul desires"; and David sends Abner away, and he goes in peace. ²² And behold, the servants of David, and Joab, have come from the troop, and have brought much spoil with them, and Abner is not with David in Hebron, for he has sent him away, and he goes in peace; ²³ and Joab and all the host that [were] with him have come, and they declare to Joab, saying, "Abner son of Ner has come to the king, and he sends him away, and he goes in peace." ²⁴ And Joab comes to the king and says, "What have you done? Behold, Abner has come to you! Why [is] this—you have sent him away, and he is really gone? ²⁵ You have known Abner son of Ner, that he came to deceive you, and to know your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you are doing." ²⁶ And Joab goes out from David, and sends messengers after Abner, and they bring him back from the well of Sirah, and David did not know. ²⁷ And Abner turns back to Hebron, and Joab turns him aside to the midst of the gate to speak with him quietly, and strikes him there in the fifth [rib]—and he dies—for the blood of his brother Asahel. ²⁸ And David hears afterward and says, "My kingdom and I [are] acquitted by YHWH for all time, from the blood of Abner son of Ner; ²⁹ it stays on the head of Joab, and on all the house of his father, and there is not cut off from the house of Joab one who has discharging, and leprous, and laying hold on a staff, and falling by a sword, and lacking bread." ³⁰ And Joab and his brother Abishai slew Abner because that he put their brother Asahel to death in Gibeon, in battle. ³¹ And David says to Joab, and to all the people who [are] with him, "Tear your garments, and gird on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner"; and King David is going after the bier. ³² And they bury Abner in Hebron, and the king lifts up his voice, and weeps at the grave of Abner, and all the people weep; ³³ and the king laments for Abner and says, "Does Abner die as the death of a fool? ³⁴ Your hands not bound, || And your feet not brought near to chains! You have fallen as one falling before sons of evil!" And all the people add to weep over him. ³⁵ And all the people come to cause David to eat bread while yet day, and David swears, saying, "Thus God does to me, and thus He adds, for—before the going in of the sun, I taste no bread or any other thing." ³⁶ And all the people have discerned [it], and it is good in their eyes, as all that the king has done is good in the eyes of all the people; ³⁷ and all the people know, even all Israel, in that day, that it has not been from the king—to put Abner son of Ner to death. ³⁸ And the king says to his servants, "Do you not know that a prince and a great one has fallen this day in Israel? ³⁹ And today I [am] tender, and an anointed king: and these men, sons of Zeruiah, [are] too hard for me; YHWH repays to the doer of the evil according to his evil."

Chapter 4

¹ And the son of Saul hears that Abner [is] dead in Hebron, and his hands are feeble, and all of Israel has been troubled. ² And two men, heads of troops, have been [to] the son of Saul, the name of the first [is] Baanah, and the name of the second Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin, for Beeroth is also reckoned to Benjamin, ³ and the Beerothites flee to Gittaim, and are sojourners there to this day. ⁴ And to Jonathan son of Saul [is] a son—lame; he was a son of five years at the coming in of the rumor of [the death of] Saul and Jonathan, out of Jezreel, and his nurse lifts him up, and flees, and it comes to pass in her hastening to flee, that he falls, and becomes lame, and his name [is] Mephibosheth. ⁵ And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, go, and come in at the heat of the day to the house of Ish-Bosheth, and he is lying down—the lying down of noon; ⁶ and they have come there, to the midst of the house, taking wheat, and they strike him to the fifth [rib], and Rechab and his brother Baanah have escaped; ⁷ indeed, they come into the house, and he is lying on his bed, in the inner part of his bed-chamber, and they strike him, and put him to death, and turn his head aside, and they take his head, and go the way of the plain all the night, ⁸ and bring in the head of Ish-Bosheth to David in Hebron, and say to the king, "Behold, the head of Ish-Bosheth, son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life; and YHWH gives vengeance to my lord the king this day, of Saul and of his seed." ⁹ And David answers Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and says to them, "YHWH lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity, ¹⁰ when one is declaring to me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, and he was as a bearer of tidings in his own eyes, then I take hold on him, and slay him in Ziklag, instead of my giving to him [for] the tidings. ¹¹ Also—when wicked men have slain the righteous man in his own house, on his bed; and now, do I not require his blood from your hand, and have taken you away from the earth?" ¹² And David commands the young men, and they slay them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hang [them] over the pool in Hebron, and they have taken the head of Ish-Bosheth, and bury [it] in the burying-place of Abner in Hebron.

Chapter 5

¹ And all the tribes of Israel come to David, to Hebron, and speak, saying, "Behold, we [are] your bone and your flesh; ² also thus far, in Saul's being king over us, you have been he who is bringing out and bringing in Israel, and YHWH says to you, You feed My people Israel, and you are for leader over Israel." ³ And all [the] elderly of Israel come to the king, to Hebron, and King David makes a covenant with them in Hebron before YHWH, and they anoint David for king over Israel. ⁴ A son of thirty years [is] David in his being king; he has reigned [for] forty years; ⁵ he reigned over Judah in Hebron [for] seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned [for] thirty-three years, over all Israel and Judah. ⁶ And the king goes, and his men, to Jerusalem, to the Jebusite, the inhabitant of the land, and they speak to David, saying, "You do not come in here, except [that] you turn aside the blind and the lame," saying, "David does not come in here." ⁷ And David captures the fortress of Zion, it [is] the City of David. ⁸ And on that day David says, "Anyone striking the Jebusite, let him go up by the watercourse (and the lame and the blind—the hated of David's soul)." Therefore they say, "The blind and lame—he does not come into the house." ⁹ And David dwells in the fortress, and calls it the City of David, and David builds all around, from Millo and inward, ¹⁰ and David goes, going on and becoming great, and YHWH, God of Hosts, [is] with him. ¹¹ And Hiram king of Tyre sends messengers to David, and cedar-trees, and craftsmen of wood, and craftsmen of stone, for walls, and they build a house for David, ¹² and David knows that YHWH has established him for king over Israel, and that He has lifted up his kingdom, because of His people Israel. ¹³ And again David takes concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after his coming from Hebron, and again there are born to David sons and daughters. ¹⁴ And these [are] the names of those born to him in Jerusalem: Shammuah, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, ¹⁵ and Ibhar, and Elishua, and Nepheg, and Japhia, ¹⁶ and Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphalet. ¹⁷ And the Philistines hear that they have anointed David for king over Israel, and all the Philistines come up to seek David, and David hears, and goes down to the fortress, ¹⁸ and the Philistines have come, and are spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁹ And David asks of YHWH, saying, "Do I go up to the Philistines? Do You give them into my hand?" And YHWH says to David, "Go up, for I certainly give the Philistines into your hand." ²⁰ And David comes to Ba'al-Perazim, and David strikes them there, and says, "YHWH has broken forth [on] my enemies before me, as the breaking forth of waters"; therefore he has called the name of that place Ba'al-Perazim. ²¹ And they forsake their idols there, and David and his men lift them up. ²² And the Philistines add again to come up, and are spread out in the Valley of Rephaim, ²³ and David asks of YHWH, and He says, "You do not go up, turn around to their rear, and you have come to them from the front [[or in front]] of the mulberries, ²⁴ and it comes to pass, in your hearing the sound of a stepping in the tops of the mulberries, then you move sharply, for then YHWH has gone out before you to strike in the camp of the Philistines." ²⁵ And David does so, as YHWH commanded him, and strikes the Philistines from Geba to your coming to Gazer.

Chapter 6

¹ And again David gathered every chosen one in Israel—thirty thousand, ² and David rises and goes, and all the people who [are] with him, from Ba'ale-Judah, to bring up the Ark of God from there, whose name has been called—the Name of YHWH of Hosts, inhabiting the cherubim—on it. ³ And they cause the Ark of God to ride on a new cart, and lift it up from the house of Abinadab, which [is] in the height, and Uzzah and Ahio sons of Abinadab are leading the new cart; ⁴ and they lift it up from the house of Abinadab, which [is] in the height, with the Ark of God, and Ahio is going before the Ark, ⁵ and David and all the house of Israel are playing before YHWH, with all kinds of [instruments] of fir-wood, even with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with horns, and with cymbals. ⁶ And they come to the threshing-floor of Nachon, and Uzzah puts forth [his hand] to the Ark of God, and lays hold on it, for they released the oxen; ⁷ and the anger of YHWH burns against Uzzah, and God strikes him there for the error, and he dies there by the Ark of God. ⁸ And it is displeasing to David, because that YHWH has broken forth a breach on Uzzah, and [one] calls that place Perez-Uzzah to this day; ⁹ and David fears YHWH on that day and says, "How does the Ark of YHWH come to me?" ¹⁰ And David has not been willing to turn aside the Ark of YHWH to himself, to the City of David, and David turns it aside to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite, ¹¹ and the Ark of YHWH inhabits the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite [for] three months, and YHWH blesses Obed-Edom and all his house. ¹² And it is declared to King David, saying, "YHWH has blessed the house of Obed-Edom, and all that he has, because of the Ark of God"; and David goes and brings up the Ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with joy. ¹³ And it comes to pass, when those carrying the Ark of YHWH have stepped six steps, that he sacrifices an ox and a fatling. ¹⁴ And David is dancing with all [his] strength before YHWH, and David is girded with a linen ephod, ¹⁵ and David and all the house of Israel are bringing up the Ark of YHWH with shouting, and with the voice of a horn, ¹⁶ and it has come to pass, the Ark of YHWH has come into the City of David, and Michal daughter of Saul has looked through the window and sees King David moving and dancing before YHWH, and she despises him in her heart. ¹⁷ And they bring in the Ark of YHWH, and set it up in its place, in the midst of the tent which David has spread out for it, and David causes burnt-offerings and peace-offerings to ascend before YHWH. ¹⁸ And David finishes from causing the burnt-offering and the peace-offerings to ascend, and blesses the people in the Name of YHWH of Hosts, ¹⁹ and he apportions to all the people, to all the multitude of Israel, from man and to woman, to each, one cake of bread, and one eshpar, and one ashisha, and all the people go, each to his house. ²⁰ And David turns back to bless his house, and Michal daughter of Saul goes out to meet David and says, "How honorable was the king of Israel today, who was uncovered today before the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain ones is openly uncovered!" ²¹ And David says to Michal, "Before YHWH, who fixed on me above your father, and above all his house, to appoint me leader over the people of YHWH, and over Israel—indeed, I played before YHWH; ²² and I have been more vile than this, and have been low in my eyes, and with the handmaids whom you have spoken of, I am honored with them." ²³ As for Michal daughter of Saul, she had no child until the day of her death.

Chapter 7

¹ And it comes to pass, when the king sat in his house, and YHWH has given rest to him all around, from all his enemies, ² that the king says to Nathan the prophet, "Now see, I am dwelling in a house of cedars, but the Ark of God is dwelling in the midst of the curtain." ³ And Nathan says to the king, "All that [is] in your heart—go, do, for YHWH [is] with you." ⁴ And it comes to pass in that night, that the word of YHWH is to Nathan, saying, ⁵ "Go, and you have said to My servant, to David, Thus said YHWH: Do you build for Me a house for My dwelling in? ⁶ For I have not dwelt in a house even from the day of My bringing up the sons of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, and am walking up and down in a tent and in a dwelling place. ⁷ During all [the time] that I have walked up and down among all the sons of Israel, have I spoken a word with one of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why have you not built a house of cedars for Me? ⁸ And now, thus you say to My servant, to David, Thus said YHWH of Hosts: I have taken you from the pasture, from after the flock, to be leader over My people, over Israel; ⁹ and I am with you wherever you have gone, and I cut off all your enemies from your presence, and have made a great name for you, as the name of the great ones who [are] in the earth, ¹⁰ and I have appointed a place for My people, for Israel, and have planted it, and it has dwelt in its place, and it is not troubled anymore, and the sons of perverseness do not add to afflict it anymore, as in the beginning, ¹¹ even from the day that I appointed judges over My people Israel; and I have given rest to you from all your enemies, and YHWH has declared to you that YHWH makes a house for you. ¹² When your days are full, and you have lain with your fathers, then I have raised up your seed after you which goes out from your bowels, and have established his kingdom; ¹³ he builds a house for My Name, and I have established the throne of his kingdom for all time. ¹⁴ I am to him for a father, and he is to Me for a son; whom in his dealing perversely I have even reproved with a rod of men, and with strokes of the sons of Adam, ¹⁵ and My kindness does not turn aside from him, as I turned it aside from Saul, whom I turned aside from before you, ¹⁶ and your house and your kingdom [are] steadfast before you for all time, your throne is established for all time." ¹⁷ According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so spoke Nathan to David. ¹⁸ And King David comes in and sits before YHWH, and says, "Who [am] I, Lord YHWH? And what [is] my house, that You have brought me here? ¹⁹ And yet this [is] little in Your eyes, Lord YHWH, and You also speak concerning the house of Your servant far off; and this [is] the law of the man, Lord YHWH. ²⁰ And what does David add more to speak to You? And You, You have known Your servant, Lord YHWH. ²¹ Because of Your word, and according to Your heart, You have done all this greatness, to cause Your servant to know [it]. ²² Therefore You have been great, YHWH God, for there is none like You, and there is no God except You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. ²³ And who [is] as Your people, as Israel—one nation in the earth, whom God has gone to redeem for a people for Himself, and to make for Himself a name—and to do for Yourself the greatness—even fearful things for Your land, at the presence of Your people, whom You have redeemed for Yourself out of Egypt—[among the] nations and their gods? ²⁴ Indeed, You establish Your people Israel for Yourself, for a people for Yourself for all time, and You, YHWH, have been to them for God. ²⁵ And now, YHWH God, the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant, and concerning his house, establish for all time, and do as You have spoken. ²⁶ And Your Name is great for all time, saying, YHWH of Hosts [is] God over Israel, and the house of Your servant David is established before You, ²⁷ for You, YHWH of Hosts, God of Israel, have uncovered the ear of Your servant, saying, I build a house for you, therefore Your servant has found his heart to pray this prayer to You. ²⁸ And now, Lord YHWH, You [are] God Himself, and Your words are truth, and You speak this goodness to Your servant, ²⁹ and now, begin and bless the house of Your servant, to be before You for all time, for You, Lord YHWH, have spoken, and by Your blessing the house of Your servant is blessed for all time."

Chapter 8

¹ And it comes to pass afterward that David strikes the Philistines, and humbles them, and David takes the bridle of the metropolis out of the hand of the Philistines. ² And he strikes Moab, and measures them with a line, causing them to lie down on the earth, and he measures two lines to put to death, and the fullness of the line to keep alive, and the Moabites are for servants to David, bearers of a present. ³ And David strikes Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, in his going to bring back his power by the River [Euphrates]; ⁴ and David captures from him one thousand and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen, and David utterly destroys the whole of the charioteers; he leaves only one hundred of their charioteers. ⁵ And Aram of Damascus comes to give help to Hadadezer king of Zobah, and David strikes twenty-two thousand men of Aram; ⁶ and David puts garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and Aram is for a servant to David, carrying a present; and YHWH saves David wherever he has gone; ⁷ and David takes the shields of gold which were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brings them to Jerusalem; ⁸ and from Betah, and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David has taken very much bronze. ⁹ And Toi king of Hamath hears that David has struck all the force of Hadadezer, ¹⁰ and Toi sends his son Joram to King David to ask of him of welfare, and to bless him (because that he has fought against Hadadezer, and strikes him, for Hadadezer had been a man of wars [with] Toi), and in his hand have been vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of bronze, ¹¹ also King David sanctified them to YHWH, with the silver and the gold which he sanctified of all the nations which he subdued: ¹² of Aram, and of Moab, and of the sons of Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer son of Rehob king of Zobah. ¹³ And David makes a name in his turning back from his striking Aram in the Valley of Salt—eighteen thousand; ¹⁴ and he puts garrisons in Edom—he has put garrisons in all of Edom, and all Edom are servants to David; and YHWH saves David wherever he has gone. ¹⁵ And David reigns over all Israel, and David is doing judgment and righteousness to all his people, ¹⁶ and Joab son of Zeruiah [is] over the host, and Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud [is] remembrancer, ¹⁷ and Zadok son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech son of Abiathar, [are] priests, and Seraiah [is] scribe, ¹⁸ and Benaiah son of Jehoiada [is over] both the Cherethite and the Pelethite, and the sons of David have been ministers.

Chapter 9

¹ And David says, "Is there yet any left of the house of Saul, and I do with him kindness because of Jonathan?" ² And the house of Saul has a servant, and his name [is] Ziba, and they call for him to David; and the king says to him, "Are you Ziba?" And he says, "Your servant." ³ And the king says, "Is there not yet a man of the house of Saul, and I do with him the kindness of God?" And Ziba says to the king, "Jonathan has yet a son—lame." ⁴ And the king says to him, "Where [is] he?" And Ziba says to the king, "Behold, he [is] in the house of Machir, son of Ammiel, in Behold-Debar." ⁵ And King David sends, and takes him out of the house of Machir son of Ammiel, of Behold-Debar, ⁶ and Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, son of Saul, comes to David, and falls on his face, and pays respect, and David says, "Mephibosheth"; and he says, "Behold, your servant." ⁷ And David says to him, "Do not be afraid; for I certainly do with you kindness because of your father Jonathan, and have given back to you all the field of your father Saul, and you continually eat bread at my table." ⁸ And he bows himself and says, "What [is] your servant, that you have turned to the dead dog—such as I?" ⁹ And the king calls to Ziba servant of Saul and says to him, "All that was of Saul and of all his house, I have given to the son of your lord, ¹⁰ and you have served the land for him, you and your sons, and your servants, and have brought in, and there has been bread for the son of your lord, and he has eaten it; and Mephibosheth, son of your lord, continually eats bread at my table"; and Ziba has fifteen sons and twenty servants. ¹¹ And Ziba says to the king, "According to all that my lord the king commands his servant, so your servant does." "As for Mephibosheth," [says the king,] "he is eating at my table as one of the sons of the king." ¹² And Mephibosheth has a young son, and his name [is] Micha, and everyone dwelling in the house of Ziba [are] servants to Mephibosheth. ¹³ And Mephibosheth is dwelling in Jerusalem, for he is continually eating at the table of the king, and he [is] lame [in] his two feet.

Chapter 10

¹ And it comes to pass afterward, that the king of the sons of Ammon dies, and his son Hanun reigns in his stead, ² and David says, "I do kindness with Hanun son of Nahash, as his father did kindness with me"; and David sends to comfort him by the hand of his servants concerning his father, and the servants of David come into the land of the sons of Ammon. ³ And the heads of the sons of Ammon say to their lord Hanun, "Is David honoring your father in your eyes because he has sent comforters to you? For has David not sent his servants to you to search the city, and to spy it, and to overthrow it?" ⁴ And Hanun takes the servants of David, and shaves off the half of their beard, and cuts off their long robes in the midst—to their buttocks, and sends them away; ⁵ and they declare [it] to David, and he sends to meet them, for the men have been greatly ashamed, and the king says, "Abide in Jericho until your beard springs up—then you have returned." ⁶ And the sons of Ammon see that they have been abhorred by David, and the sons of Ammon send and hire Aram of Beth-Rehob, and Aram of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah [with] one thousand men, and Ish-Tob [with] twelve thousand men; ⁷ and David hears, and sends Joab, and all the host—the mighty men. ⁸ And the sons of Ammon come out, and set in array [for] battle, at the opening of the gate, and Aram of Zoba, and Rehob, and Ish-Tob, and Maacah, [are] by themselves in the field; ⁹ and Joab sees that the front of the battle has been to him before and behind, and he chooses [out] of all the chosen in Israel, and sets in array to meet Aram, ¹⁰ and he has given the rest of the people into the hand of his brother Abishai, and sets in array to meet the sons of Ammon. ¹¹ And he says, "If Aram is stronger than I, then you have been for salvation to me, and if the sons of Ammon are stronger than you, then I have come to give salvation to you; ¹² be strong and strengthen yourself for our people, and for the cities of our God, and YHWH does that which is good in His eyes." ¹³ And Joab draws near, and the people who [are] with him, to battle against Aram, and they flee from his presence; ¹⁴ and the sons of Ammon have seen that Aram has fled, and they flee from the presence of Abishai, and go into the city; and Joab turns back from the sons of Ammon, and comes to Jerusalem. ¹⁵ And Aram sees that it is struck before Israel, and they are gathered together; ¹⁶ and Hadadezer sends, and brings out Aram which [is] beyond the River, and they come to Helam, and Shobach, head of the host of Hadadezer, [is] before them. ¹⁷ And it is declared to David, and he gathers all Israel, and passes over the Jordan, and comes to Helam, and Aram sets itself in array to meet David, and they fight with him; ¹⁸ and Aram flees from the presence of Israel, and David slays seven hundred charioteers and forty thousand horsemen of Aram, and he has struck Shobach, [the] head of its host, and he dies there. ¹⁹ And all the kings—servants of Hadadezer—see that they have been struck before Israel, and make peace with Israel, and serve them; and Aram is afraid to help the sons of Ammon anymore.

Chapter 11

¹ And it comes to pass, at the revolution of the year—at the time of the going out of the messengers—that David sends Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel, and they destroy the sons of Ammon, and lay siege against Rabbah, but David is dwelling in Jerusalem. ² And it comes to pass, at evening-time, that David rises from off his bed, and walks up and down on the roof of the king's house, and sees a woman bathing from the roof, and the woman [is] of very good appearance, ³ and David sends and inquires about the woman, and [someone] says, "Is this not Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, wife of Uriah the Hittite?" ⁴ And David sends messengers, and takes her, and she comes to him, and he lies with her—and she is purifying herself from her uncleanness—and she turns back to her house; ⁵ and the woman conceives, and sends, and declares [it] to David, and says, "I [am] conceiving." ⁶ And David sends to Joab, [saying], "Send Uriah the Hittite to me," and Joab sends Uriah to David; ⁷ and Uriah comes to him, and David asks of the prosperity of Joab, and of the prosperity of the people, and of the prosperity of the war. ⁸ And David says to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet"; and Uriah goes out of the king's house, and there goes out a gift from the king after him, ⁹ and Uriah lies down at the opening of the king's house, with all the servants of his lord, and has not gone down to his house. ¹⁰ And they declare [it] to David, saying, "Uriah has not gone down to his house"; and David says to Uriah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why have you not gone down to your house?" ¹¹ And Uriah says to David, "The ark, and Israel, and Judah, are abiding in shelters, and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamping on the face of the field; and should I go to my house to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? [By] your life and the life of your soul—if I do this thing." ¹² And David says to Uriah, "Also abide in this [place] today, and tomorrow I send you away"; and Uriah abides in Jerusalem on that day and on the next day, ¹³ and David calls for him, and he eats before him, and drinks, and he causes him to drink, and he goes out in the evening to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, and he has not gone down to his house. ¹⁴ And it comes to pass in the morning that David writes a letter to Joab and sends [it] by the hand of Uriah; ¹⁵ and he writes in the letter, saying, "Place Uriah in front of the face of the most severe battle, and you have turned back from after him, and he has been struck, and has died." ¹⁶ And it comes to pass in Joab's watching of the city, that he appoints Uriah to the place where he knew that valiant men [were]; ¹⁷ and the men of the city go out and fight with Joab, and [some] of the people, from the servants of David, fall; and Uriah the Hittite also dies. ¹⁸ And Joab sends and declares to David all the matters of the war, ¹⁹ and commands the messenger, saying, "At your finishing all the matters of the war to speak to the king, ²⁰ then, it has been, if the king's fury ascends, and he has said to you, Why did you draw near to the city to fight? Did you not know that they shoot from off the wall? ²¹ Who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Did a woman not cast a piece of a rider from the wall on him, and he dies in Thebez? Why did you draw near to the wall? That you have said, Also—your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead." ²² And the messenger goes, and comes in, and declares to David all that with which Joab sent him, ²³ and the messenger says to David, "Surely the men have been mighty against us, and come out to us into the field, and we are on them to the opening of the gate, ²⁴ and those shooting shoot at your servants from off the wall, and [some] of the servants of the king are dead, and also, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead." ²⁵ And David says to the messenger, "Thus you say to Joab, Do not let this thing be evil in your eyes; for thus and thus the sword devours; strengthen your warfare against the city, and throw it down; so you strengthen him." ²⁶ And the wife of Uriah hears that her husband Uriah [is] dead, and laments for her lord; ²⁷ and the mourning passes by, and David sends and gathers her to his house, and she is to him for a wife, and bears a son to him; and the thing which David has done is evil in the eyes of YHWH.

Chapter 12

¹ And YHWH sends Nathan to David, and he comes to him, and says to him: "Two men have been in one city, one rich and one poor. ² The rich has very many flocks and herds, ³ but the poor one has nothing, except one little ewe-lamb which he has bought and keeps alive. And it grows up together with him and with his sons. It eats of his morsel, and it drinks from his cup, and it lies in his bosom, and it is as a daughter to him. ⁴ And a traveler comes to the rich man, and he spares to take from his own flock, and from his own herd, to prepare for the traveling [man] who has come to him; and he takes the ewe-lamb of the poor man and prepares it for the man who has come to him." ⁵ And the anger of David burns against the man exceedingly, and he says to Nathan, "YHWH lives, surely the man who is doing this [is] a son of death, ⁶ and [for] the ewe-lamb he repays fourfold, because that he has done this thing, and because that he had no pity." ⁷ And Nathan says to David, "You [are] the man! Thus said YHWH, God of Israel: I anointed you for king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul; ⁸ and I give to you the house of your lord, and the wives of your lord, into your bosom, and I give the house of Israel and Judah to you; and if [that is] too little, then I add such and such [things] to you. ⁹ Why have you despised the word of YHWH, to do evil in His eyes? You have struck Uriah the Hittite by the sword, and you have taken his wife for a wife for yourself, and you have slain him by the sword of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁰ And now, the sword does not turn aside from your house for all time, because you have despised Me, and take the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be for a wife for yourself; ¹¹ thus said YHWH: Behold, I am raising up calamity against you, out of your [own] house, and have taken your wives before your eyes, and given [them] to your neighbor, and he has lain with your wives before the eyes of this sun; ¹² for you have done [it] in secret, and I do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun." ¹³ And David says to Nathan, "I have sinned against YHWH." And Nathan says to David, "Also—YHWH has caused your sin to pass away; you do not die; ¹⁴ only, because you have caused the enemies of YHWH to greatly despise by this thing, also—the son who is born to you surely dies." ¹⁵ And Nathan goes to his house, and YHWH strikes the boy, whom the wife of Uriah has borne to David, and it is incurable; ¹⁶ and David seeks God for the youth, and David keeps a fast, and has gone in and lodged, and lain on the earth. ¹⁷ And [the] elderly of his house rise against him, to raise him up from the earth, and he has not been willing, nor has he eaten bread with them; ¹⁸ and it comes to pass on the seventh day, that the boy dies, and the servants of David fear to declare to him that the boy is dead, for they said, "Behold, in the boy being alive we spoke to him, and he did not listen to our voice; and how do we say to him, The boy is dead? Then he has done evil." ¹⁹ And David sees that his servants are whispering, and David understands that the boy is dead, and David says to his servants, "Is the boy dead?" And they say, "Dead." ²⁰ And David rises from the earth, and bathes and anoints [himself], and changes his raiment, and comes into the house of YHWH, and bows himself, and comes to his house, and asks and they place bread for him, and he eats. ²¹ And his servants say to him, "What [is] this thing you have done? Because of the living boy you have fasted and you weep, and when the boy is dead you have risen and eat bread." ²² And he says, "While the boy is alive I have fasted and I weep, for I said, Who knows [if] YHWH pities me and the boy has lived? ²³ And now, he has died, why [is] this—I fast? Am I able to bring him back again? I am going to him, and he does not return to me." ²⁴ And David comforts his wife Bathsheba, and goes in to her, and lies with her, and she bears a son, and he calls his name Solomon; and YHWH has loved him, ²⁵ and sends by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and calls his name Jedidiah, because of YHWH. ²⁶ And Joab fights against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and captures the royal city, ²⁷ and Joab sends messengers to David and says, "I have fought against Rabbah—I have also captured the city of waters; ²⁸ and now, gather the rest of the people, and encamp against the city, and capture it, lest I capture the city, and my name has been called on it." ²⁹ And David gathers all the people, and goes to Rabbah, and fights against it, and captures it; ³⁰ and he takes the crown of their king from off his head, and its weight [is] a talent of gold, and precious stones, and it is on the head of David; and he has brought out the spoil of the city—very much; ³¹ and he has brought out the people who [are] in it, and sets [them] to the saw, and to cutting instruments of iron, and to axes of iron, and has caused them to pass over into the brick-kiln; and so he does to all the cities of the sons of Ammon; and David turns back, and all the people, to Jerusalem.

Chapter 13

¹ And it comes to pass afterward that Absalom son of David has a beautiful sister, and her name [is] Tamar, and Amnon son of David loves her. ² And Amnon has distress—even to become sick, because of his sister Tamar, for she [is] a virgin, and it is hard in the eyes of Amnon to do anything to her. ³ And Amnon has a friend, and his name [is] Jonadab, son of Shimeah, David's brother, and Jonadab [is] a very wise man, ⁴ and says to him, "Why [are] you thus lean, O king's son, morning by morning? Do you not declare [it] to me?" And Amnon says to him, "Tamar—sister of my brother Absalom—I am loving." ⁵ And Jonadab says to him, "Lie down on your bed, and feign yourself sick, and your father has come in to see you, and you have said to him: Please let my sister Tamar come in and give me bread to eat; and she has made the food before my eyes so that I see [it], and have eaten from her hand." ⁶ And Amnon lies down, and feigns himself sick, and the king comes in to see him, and Amnon says to the king, "Please let my sister Tamar come, and she makes two cakes before my eyes, and I eat from her hand." ⁷ And David sends to Tamar, to the house, saying, "Now go to the house of your brother Amnon and make food for him." ⁸ And Tamar goes to the house of her brother Amnon, and he is lying down, and she takes the dough, and kneads, and makes cakes before his eyes, and cooks the cakes, ⁹ and takes the frying-pan, and pours out before him, and he refuses to eat, and Amnon says, "Have everyone go out from me"; and everyone goes out from him. ¹⁰ And Amnon says to Tamar, "Bring the food into the inner chamber, and I eat from your hand"; and Tamar takes the cakes that she has made and brings [them] to her brother Amnon [in] the inner chamber, ¹¹ and she brings [them] near to him to eat, and he lays hold on her, and says to her, "Come, lie with me, my sister." ¹² And she says to him, "No, my brother, do not humble me, for it is not done so in Israel; do not do this folly. ¹³ And I—to where do I cause my reproach to go? And you are as one of the fools in Israel; and now, please speak to the king; for he does not withhold me from you." ¹⁴ And he has not been willing to listen to her voice, and is stronger than she, and humbles her, and lies with her. ¹⁵ And Amnon hates her—a very great hatred—that greater [is] the hatred with which he has hated her than the love with which he loved her, and Amnon says to her, "Rise, go." ¹⁶ And she says to him, "Because of the circumstances this evil is greater than the other that you have done with me—to send me away"; and he has not been willing to listen to her, ¹⁷ and calls his young man, his servant, and says, "Now send this one away from me outside, and bolt the door after her." ¹⁸ And a long coat [is] on her, for such upper robes daughters of the king who [are] virgins put on—and his servant takes her outside, and has bolted the door after her. ¹⁹ And Tamar takes ashes for her head, and has torn the long coat that [is] on her, and puts her hand on her head, and goes, going on and crying; ²⁰ and her brother Absalom says to her, "Has your brother Amnon been with you? And now, my sister, keep silent, he [is] your brother; do not set your heart to this thing"; and Tamar dwells—but desolate—in the house of her brother Absalom. ²¹ And King David has heard all these things, and it is very displeasing to him; ²² and Absalom has not spoken with Amnon either evil or good, for Absalom is hating Amnon, because that he humbled his sister Tamar. ²³ And it comes to pass, after two years of days, that Absalom has shearers in Ba'al-Hazor, which [is] near Ephraim, and Absalom calls for all the sons of the king. ²⁴ And Absalom comes to the king and says, "Now behold, your servant has shearers, please let the king go—and his servants—with your servant." ²⁵ And the king says to Absalom, "No, my son, please let us not all go, and we are not too heavy on you"; and he presses on him, and he has not been willing to go, and he blesses him. ²⁶ And Absalom says, "If not, please let my brother Amnon go with us"; and the king says to him, "Why does he go with you?" ²⁷ And Absalom urges for him, and he sends Amnon and all the sons of the king with him. ²⁸ And Absalom commands his young men, saying, "Now see, when the heart of Amnon [is] glad with wine, and I have said to you, Strike Amnon, that you have put him to death; do not fear; is it not because I have commanded you? Be strong, indeed, become sons of valor." ²⁹ And the young men of Absalom do to Amnon as Absalom commanded, and all the sons of the king rise, and they ride, each on his mule, and flee. ³⁰ And it comes to pass—they [are] in the way—and the report has come to David, saying, "Absalom has struck all the sons of the king, and there is not left [even] one of them"; ³¹ and the king rises, and tears his garments, and lies on the earth, and all his servants are standing by [with] torn garments. ³² And Jonadab son of Shimeah, David's brother, answers and says, "Do not let my lord say, The whole of the young men, the sons of the king, they have put to death; for Amnon alone [is] dead, for it has been appointed by the command of Absalom from the day of his humbling his sister Tamar; ³³ and now, do not let my lord the king lay the word to his heart, saying, All the sons of the king have died, for Amnon alone [is] dead." ³⁴ And Absalom flees, and the young man who is watching lifts up his eyes and looks, and behold, many people are coming by the way behind him, on the side of the hill. ³⁵ And Jonadab says to the king, "Behold, the sons of the king have come; as the word of your servant, so it has been." ³⁶ And it comes to pass at his finishing to speak, that behold, the sons of the king have come, and they lift up their voice, and weep, and also the king and all his servants have wept—a very great weeping. ³⁷ And Absalom has fled, and goes to Talmai, son of Ammihud, king of Geshur, and [David] mourns for his son all the days. ³⁸ And Absalom has fled, and goes to Geshur, and is there [for] three years; ³⁹ and King David determines to go out to Absalom, for he has been comforted for Amnon, for [he is] dead.

Chapter 14

¹ And Joab son of Zeruial knows that the heart of the king [is] on Absalom, ² and Joab sends to Tekoah, and takes a wise woman from there, and says to her, "Please feign yourself a mourner, and now put on garments of mourning, and do not anoint yourself with oil, and you have been as a woman mourning for the dead [for] these many days, ³ and you have gone to the king, and spoken to him, according to this word"; and Joab puts the words into her mouth. ⁴ And the woman of Tekoah speaks to the king, and falls on her face to the earth, and pays respect, and says, "Save, O king." ⁵ And the king says to her, "What do you [want]?" And she says, "I [am] truly a widow woman, and my husband dies, ⁶ and your maidservant has two sons; and both of them strive in a field, and there is no deliverer between them, and one strikes the other, and puts him to death; ⁷ and behold, the whole family has risen against your maidservant, and say, Give up him who strikes his brother, and we put him to death for the life of his brother whom he has slain, and we also destroy the heir; and they have quenched my coal which is left—so as not to set a name and remnant on the face of the ground for my husband." ⁸ And the king says to the woman, "Go to your house, and I give charge concerning you." ⁹ And the woman of Tekoah says to the king, "On me, my lord, O king, [is] the iniquity, and on the house of my father; and the king and his throne [are] innocent." ¹⁰ And the king says, "He who speaks to you, and you have brought him to me, then he does not add to come against you anymore." ¹¹ And she says, "Please let the king remember by your God YHWH, that the redeemer of blood does not add to destroy, and they do not destroy my son"; and he says, "YHWH lives; if there falls [even one] hair of your son to the earth." ¹² And the woman says, "Please let your maidservant speak a word to my lord the king"; and he says, "Speak." ¹³ And the woman says, "And why have you thought thus concerning the people of God? Indeed, the king is speaking this thing as a guilty one, in that the king has not brought back his outcast; ¹⁴ for we surely die, and [are] as water which is running down to the earth, which is not gathered, and God does not accept a person, and has devised plans in that the outcast is not outcast by Him. ¹⁵ And now that I have come to speak this word to my lord the king, [it is] because the people made me afraid, and your maidservant says, Please let me speak to the king; it may be the king does the word of his handmaid, ¹⁶ for the king listens to deliver his handmaid out of the paw of the man [seeking] to destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God, ¹⁷ and your maidservant says, Please let the word of my lord the king be for ease; for as a messenger of God so [is] my lord the king, to understand the good and the evil; and your God YHWH is with you." ¹⁸ And the king answers and says to the woman, "Please do not hide from me the thing that I am asking you"; and the woman says, "Please let my lord the king speak." ¹⁹ And the king says, "Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?" And the woman answers and says, "Your soul lives, my lord, O king, none [turn] to the right or to the left from all that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab commanded me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your maidservant. ²⁰ Your servant Joab has done this thing in order to bring around the appearance of the thing, and my lord [is] wise, according to the wisdom of a messenger of God, to know all that [is] in the land." ²¹ And the king says to Joab, "Now behold, you have done this thing; and go, bring back the young man Absalom." ²² And Joab falls on his face to the earth, and pays respect, and blesses the king, and Joab says, "Today your servant has known that I have found grace in your eyes, my lord, O king, in that the king has done the word of his servant." ²³ And Joab rises and goes to Geshur, and brings in Absalom to Jerusalem, ²⁴ and the king says, "Let him turn around to his house, and he does not see my face." And Absalom turns around to his house, and he has not seen the face of the king. ²⁵ And there was no man [so] beautiful in all Israel like Absalom, to praise greatly; from the sole of his foot even to his crown there was no blemish in him; ²⁶ and in his shaving his head—and it has been at the end of year by year that he shaves [it], for it [is] heavy on him, and he has shaved it—he has even weighed out the hair of his head—two hundred shekels by the king's weight. ²⁷ And there are born to Absalom three sons and one daughter, and her name [is] Tamar; she was a woman of beautiful appearance. ²⁸ And Absalom dwells in Jerusalem [for] two years of days, and he has not seen the face of the king; ²⁹ and Absalom sends to Joab, to send him to the king, and he has not been willing to come to him; and he sends again a second time, and he has not been willing to come. ³⁰ And he says to his servants, "See, the portion of Joab [is] by the side of mine, and he has barley there; go and burn it with fire"; and the servants of Absalom burn the portion with fire. ³¹ And Joab rises and comes to Absalom in the house, and says to him, "Why have your servants burned the portion that I have with fire?" ³² And Absalom says to Joab, "Behold, I sent to you, saying, Come here, and I send you to the king to say, Why have I come in from Geshur? [It was] good for me while I [was] there—and now, let me see the king's face, and if there is iniquity in me then you have put me to death." ³³ And Joab comes to the king, and declares [it] to him, and he calls to Absalom, and he comes to the king, and bows himself to him, on his face, to the earth, before the king, and the king gives a kiss to Absalom.

Chapter 15

¹ And it comes to pass afterward that Absalom prepares a chariot and horses for himself, and fifty men are running before him; ² and Absalom has risen early, and stood by the side of the way of the gate, and it comes to pass, every man who has a pleading to come to the king for judgment, that Absalom calls to him and says, "Of what city [are] you?" And he says, "Your servant [is] of one of the tribes of Israel." ³ And Absalom says to him, "See, your matters [are] good and straightforward—and there is none listening to you from the king." ⁴ And Absalom says, "Who makes me judge in the land, that every man who has a plea and judgment comes to me? Then I have declared him righteous." ⁵ And it has come to pass, in the drawing near of anyone to bow himself to him, that he has put forth his hand, and laid hold on him, and given a kiss to him; ⁶ and Absalom does according to this thing to all Israel who come in for judgment to the king, and Absalom steals the heart of the men of Israel. ⁷ And it comes to pass, at the end of forty years, that Absalom says to the king, "Please let me go, and I complete my vow that I vowed to YHWH in Hebron, ⁸ for your servant has vowed a vow in my dwelling in Geshur, in Aram, saying, If YHWH certainly brings me back to Jerusalem, then I have served YHWH." ⁹ And the king says to him, "Go in peace"; and he rises and goes to Hebron, ¹⁰ and Absalom sends spies through all the tribes of Israel, saying, "At your hearing the voice of the horn, then you have said, Absalom has reigned in Hebron." ¹¹ And two hundred men have gone with Absalom out of Jerusalem, invited ones, and they are going in their simplicity, and have not known anything; ¹² and Absalom sends Ahithophel the Gilonite, a counselor of David, out of his city, out of Gilo, in his sacrificing sacrifices; and the conspiracy is strong, and the people are going and increasing with Absalom. ¹³ And he who is declaring tidings comes to David, saying, "The heart of the men of Israel has been after Absalom." ¹⁴ And David says to all his servants who [are] with him in Jerusalem, "Rise, and we flee, for we have no escape from the face of Absalom; hurry to go, lest he hurries, and has overtaken us, and forced evil on us, and struck the city by the mouth of the sword." ¹⁵ And the servants of the king say to the king, "According to all that my lord the king chooses—behold, your servants do." ¹⁶ And the king goes out, and all his household at his feet, and the king leaves ten women—concubines—to keep the house. ¹⁷ And the king goes out, and all the people at his feet, and they stand still at the farthest off house. ¹⁸ And all his servants are passing on at his side, and all the Cherethite, and all the Pelethite, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came at his feet from Gath, are passing on at the front of the king. ¹⁹ And the king says to Ittai the Gittite, "Why do you go—you also—with us? Return and abide with the king, for you [are] a stranger, and also an exile, you—to your place. ²⁰ Your coming in [was only] yesterday, and should I move you to go with us today, since I am going over [to] where [I do not know where] I am going? Return, and take your brothers back. Kindness and truth [be] with you." ²¹ And Ittai answers the king and says, "YHWH lives, and my lord the king lives, surely in the place where my lord the king is—if for death, if for life, surely your servant is there." ²² And David says to Ittai, "Go and pass over"; and Ittai the Gittite passes over, and all his men, and all the infants who [are] with him. ²³ And all the land is weeping [with] a great voice, and all the people are passing over; and the king is passing over through the Brook of Kidron, and all the people are passing over on the front of the way of the wilderness; ²⁴ and behold, also Zadok, and all the Levites with him, are carrying the Ark of the Covenant of God, and they make the Ark of God firm, and Abiathar goes up, until the completion of all the people to pass over out of the city. ²⁵ And the king says to Zadok, "Take back the Ark of God to the city; if I find grace in the eyes of YHWH, then He has brought me back, and shown me it and His habitation; ²⁶ and if thus He says, I have not delighted in you; here I [am], He does to me as [is] good in His eyes." ²⁷ And the king says to Zadok the priest, "Are you a seer? Return to the city in peace, and your son Ahimaaz, and Jonathan son of Abiathar, your two sons with you; ²⁸ see, I am lingering in the plains of the wilderness until the coming in of a word from you to declare to me." ²⁹ And Zadok takes back—and Abiathar—the Ark of God to Jerusalem, and they abide there. ³⁰ And David is going up in the ascent of the [Mount of] Olives, going up and weeping, and he has the head covered, and he is going barefooted, and all the people who [are] with him have each covered his head, and have gone up, going up and weeping; ³¹ and David declared, saying, "Ahithophel [is] among the conspirators with Absalom"; and David says, "Please make the counsel of Ahithophel foolish, O YHWH." ³² And it comes to pass, David has come to the top, where he bows himself to God, and behold, Hushai the Archite [is there] to meet him, [with] his coat torn, and earth on his head; ³³ and David says to him, "If you have passed on with me then you have been for a burden on me, ³⁴ and if you return to the city and have said to Absalom, I am your servant, O king; I [am] also servant of your father until now, and presently, I [am] also your servant; then you have made void the counsel of Ahithophel for me; ³⁵ and are Zadok and Abiathar the priests not with you there? And it has been, the whole of the matter that you hear from the house of the king you declare to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests. ³⁶ Behold, their two sons [are] there with them: Ahimaaz to Zadok, and Jonathan to Abiathar, and you have sent to me by their hand anything that you hear." ³⁷ And Hushai, David's friend, comes to the city, and Absalom comes to Jerusalem.

Chapter 16

¹ And David has passed on a little from the top, and behold, Ziba, servant of Mephibosheth, [is there] to meet him, and a couple of donkeys [are] saddled, and on them [are] two hundred loaves, and one hundred bunches of raisins, and one hundred of summer-fruit, and a bottle of wine. ² And the king says to Ziba, "What [are] these to you?" And Ziba says, "The donkeys for the household of the king to ride on, and the bread and the summer-fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine for the wearied to drink in the wilderness." ³ And the king says, "And where [is] the son of your lord?" And Ziba says to the king, "Behold, he is abiding in Jerusalem, for he said, Today the house of Israel gives back the kingdom of my father to me." ⁴ And the king says to Ziba, "Behold, all that Mephibosheth has [is] for you"; and Ziba says, "I have bowed myself—I find grace in your eyes, my lord, O king." ⁵ And King David has come to Bahurim, and behold, a man there is coming out, of the family of the house of Saul, and his name [is] Shimei, son of Gera, he comes out, coming out and reviling; ⁶ and he stones David with stones, and all the servants of King David, and all the people, and all the mighty men on his right and on his left. ⁷ And thus said Shimei in his reviling: "Go out, go out, O man of blood, and man of worthlessness! ⁸ YHWH has turned back on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead you have reigned, and YHWH gives the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom; and behold, you [are] in your evil, for you [are] a man of blood." ⁹ And Abishai son of Zeruiah says to the king, "Why does this dead dog revile my lord the king? Please let me pass over and I turn aside his head." ¹⁰ And the king says, "And what do I [have to do] with you, O sons of Zeruiah? For let him revile; even because YHWH has said to him, Revile David; and who says, Why have You done so?" ¹¹ And David says to Abishai, and to all his servants, "Behold, my son who came out of my bowels is seeking my life, and also surely now the Benjamite; leave him alone, and let him revile, for YHWH has commanded [so] to him; ¹² it may be YHWH looks on my affliction, and YHWH has turned back good to me for his reviling this day." ¹³ And David goes with his men in the way, and Shimei is going at the side of the hill opposite him, going on, and he reviles, and stones with stones close by him, and has dusted with dust. ¹⁴ And the king comes in, and all the people who [are] with him, wearied, and they are refreshed there. ¹⁵ And Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, have come to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him, ¹⁶ and it comes to pass, when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, has come to Absalom, that Hushai says to Absalom, "Let the king live! Let the king live!" ¹⁷ And Absalom says to Hushai, "[Is] this your kindness with your friend? Why have you not gone with your friend?" ¹⁸ And Hushai says to Absalom, "No, for he whom YHWH has chosen, and this people, even all the men of Israel, I am his, and I abide with him; ¹⁹ and secondly, for whom do I labor? Is it not before his son? As I served before your father, so I am before you." ²⁰ And Absalom says to Ahithophel, "Give counsel for yourself [for] what we do." ²¹ And Ahithophel says to Absalom, "Go in to the concubines of your father, whom he left to keep the house, and all Israel has heard that you have been abhorred by your father, and the hands of all who [are] with you have been strong." ²² And they spread out the tent for Absalom on the roof, and Absalom goes in to the concubines of his father before the eyes of all Israel. ²³ And the counsel of Ahithophel which he counseled in those days [is] as [when] one inquires at the word of God; so [is] all the counsel of Ahithophel both to David and to Absalom.

Chapter 17

¹ And Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Please let me choose twelve thousand men, and I arise and pursue after David tonight, ² and come on him, and he [will be] weary and feeble-handed, and I have caused him to tremble, and all the people who [are] with him have fled, and I have struck the king by himself, ³ and I bring back all the people to you—as the turning back of the whole [except] the man whom you are seeking—[then] all the people are [at] peace." ⁴ And the word is right in the eyes of Absalom, and in the eyes of all [the] elderly of Israel. ⁵ And Absalom says, "Now call for Hushai the Archite also, and we hear what [is] in his mouth—even he." ⁶ And Hushai comes to Absalom, and Absalom speaks to him, saying, "According to this word Ahithophel has spoken; do we do his word? If not, you—speak." ⁷ And Hushai says to Absalom, "The counsel that Ahithophel has counseled [is] not good at this time." ⁸ And Hushai says, "You have known your father and his men, that they [are] heroes, and they are bitter in soul as a bereaved bear in a field, and your father [is] a man of war, and does not lodge with the people; ⁹ behold, now, he is hidden in one of the pits, or in one of the places, and it has been at the falling among them at the commencement, that the hearer has heard and said, There has been a slaughter among the people who [are] after Absalom; ¹⁰ and he also, the son of valor, whose heart [is] as the heart of the lion, utterly melts, for all Israel knows that your father is a hero, and those with him [are] sons of valor. ¹¹ So that I have counseled: let all Israel be diligently gathered to you, from Dan even to Beer-Sheba, as the sand that [is] by the sea for multitude, and you yourself are going in the midst; ¹² and we have come to him in one of the places where he is found, and we [are] on him as the dew falls on the ground, and there has not been left of him and of all the men who [are] with him even one. ¹³ And if he is gathered to a city, then they have caused all Israel to carry ropes to that city, and we have drawn it to the brook until there has not even been found a stone there." ¹⁴ And Absalom says—and all the men of Israel, "The counsel of Hushai the Archite [is] better than the counsel of Ahithophel"; and YHWH willed to make void the good counsel of Ahithophel for the sake of YHWH's bringing the calamity to Absalom. ¹⁵ And Hushai says to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, "Thus and thus Ahithophel has counseled Absalom and the elderly of Israel, and thus and thus I have counseled; ¹⁶ and now, send quickly, and declare [it] to David, saying, Do not lodge in the plains of the wilderness tonight, and also, certainly pass over, lest there is a swallowing up of the king and of all the people who are with him." ¹⁷ And Jonathan and Ahimaaz are standing at En-Rogel, and the maidservant has gone and declared [it] to them—and they go and have declared [it] to King David—for they are not able to be seen to go into the city. ¹⁸ And a youth sees them, and declares [it] to Absalom; and both of them go on quickly, and come to the house of a man in Bahurim, and he has a well in his court, and they go down there, ¹⁹ and the woman takes and spreads the covering over the face of the well, and spreads the ground grain on it, and the thing has not been known. ²⁰ And the servants of Absalom come to the woman at the house, and say, "Where [are] Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" And the woman says to them, "They passed over the brook of water"; and they seek, and have not found, and return to Jerusalem. ²¹ And it comes to pass, after their going on, that they come up out of the well, and go and declare [it] to King David, and say to David, "Rise, and pass over the waters quickly, for thus has Ahithophel counseled against you." ²² And David rises, and all the people who [are] with him, and they pass over the Jordan, until the morning light, until not one has been lacking who has not passed over the Jordan. ²³ And Ahithophel has seen that his counsel was not done, and he saddles the donkey, and rises and goes to his house, to his city, and gives charge to his household, and strangles himself, and dies, and he is buried in the burying-place of his father. ²⁴ And David came to Mahanaim, and Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him; ²⁵ and Absalom has set Amasa over the host instead of Joab, and Amasa [is] a man's son whose name is Ithra the Israeli who has gone in to Abigail, daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, mother of Joab; ²⁶ and Israel encamps with Absalom [in] the land of Gilead. ²⁷ And it comes to pass at the coming in of David to Mahanaim, that Shobi son of Nahash, from Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and Machir son of Ammiel, from Behold-Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite, from Rogelim, ²⁸ [have brought] bed, and basin, and earthen vessel, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and roasted [grain], and beans, and lentiles, and roasted [pulse], ²⁹ and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of cows; they have brought [these] near for David, and for the people who [are] with him to eat, for they said, "Your people [are] hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness."

Chapter 18

¹ And David inspects the people who [are] with him, and sets over them heads of thousands and heads of hundreds, ² and David sends the third of the people by the hand of Joab, and the third by the hand of Abishai, son of Zeruiah, brother of Joab, and the third by the hand of Ittai the Gittite, and the king says to the people, "I certainly go out—I also—with you." ³ And the people say, "You do not go out, for if we utterly flee, they do not set [their] heart on us; and if half of us die, they do not set [their] heart to us—for [you are] now like ten thousand of us; and now, [it is] better that you are for a helper to us from the city." ⁴ And the king says to them, "That which is good in your eyes I do"; and the king stands at the side of the gate, and all the people have gone out by hundreds and by thousands, ⁵ and the king charges Joab, and Abishai, and Ittai, saying, "[Deal] gently—for me, for the youth, for Absalom"; and all the people heard in the king's charging all the heads concerning Absalom. ⁶ And the people go out into the field to meet Israel, and the battle is in a forest of Ephraim; ⁷ and the people of Israel are struck there before the servants of David, and the striking there is great on that day—twenty thousand; ⁸ and the battle there is scattered over the face of all the land, and the forest multiplies to devour among the people more than those whom the sword has devoured in that day. ⁹ And Absalom meets before the servants of David, and Absalom is riding on the mule, and the mule comes in under an entangled bough of the great oak, and his head takes hold on the oak, and he is placed between the heavens and the earth, and the mule that [is] under him has passed on. ¹⁰ And one man sees, and declares [it] to Joab, and says, "Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak." ¹¹ And Joab says to the man who is declaring [it] to him, "And behold, you have seen—and why did you not strike him there to the earth—and [it would be] on me to give to you ten pieces of silver and one girdle?" ¹² And the man says to Joab, "Indeed, though I am weighing on my hand one thousand pieces of silver, I do not put forth my hand to the son of the king; for in our ears the king has charged you, and Abishai, and Ittai, saying, Observe who [is] against the youth—against Absalom; ¹³ or I had done a vain thing against my soul, and no matter is hid from the king, and you would station yourself opposite from [me]." ¹⁴ And Joab says, "[It is] not right [that] I linger before you"; and he takes three darts in his hand, and strikes them into the heart of Absalom, while he [is] alive, in the midst of the oak. ¹⁵ And they go around—ten youths carrying weapons of Joab—and strike Absalom, and put him to death. ¹⁶ And Joab blows with a horn, and the people turn back from pursuing after Israel, for Joab has kept back the people; ¹⁷ and they take Absalom and cast him into the great pit in the forest, and set up a very great heap of stones over him, and all Israel has fled—each to his tent. ¹⁸ And Absalom has taken, and sets up for himself in his life, the standing-pillar that [is] in the king's valley, for he said, "I have no son to cause my name to be remembered"; and he calls the standing-pillar by his own name, and it is called "The Monument of Absalom" to this day. ¹⁹ And Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, "Please let me run, and I bear the king tidings, for YHWH has delivered him out of the hand of his enemies"; ²⁰ and Joab says to him, "You are not a man of tidings this day, but you have borne tidings on another day, and this day you do not bear tidings, because the king's son [is] dead." ²¹ And Joab says to Cushi, "Go, declare to the king that which you have seen"; and Cushi bows himself to Joab, and runs. ²² And Ahimaaz son of Zadok adds again and says to Joab, "And whatever it is, please let me run, I also, after the Cushite." And Joab says, "Why [is] this—you are running, my son, and [there are] no tidings found from you?" ²³ "And whatever happens," he said, "let me run." And he says to him, "Run"; and Ahimaaz runs the way of the circuit, and passes by the Cushite. ²⁴ And David is sitting between the two gates, and the watchman goes to the roof of the gate, to the wall, and lifts up his eyes, and looks, and behold, a man running by himself. ²⁵ And the watchman calls, and declares [it] to the king, and the king says, "If [he is] by himself, tidings [are] in his mouth"; and he comes, coming on and drawing near. ²⁶ And the watchman sees another man running, and the watchman calls to the gatekeeper, and says, "Behold, a man running by himself"; and the king says, "This one is also bearing tidings." ²⁷ And the watchman says, "I see the running of the first as the running of Ahimaaz son of Zadok." And the king says, "This [is] a good man, and he comes with good tidings." ²⁸ And Ahimaaz calls and says to the king, "Peace"; and he bows himself to the king, on his face, to the earth, and says, "Blessed [is] your God YHWH who has shut up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king." ²⁹ And the king says, "Peace to the youth—for Absalom?" And Ahimaaz says, "I saw the great multitude, at the sending away of the servant of the king, even your servant [by] Joab, and I have not known what [it is]." ³⁰ And the king says, "Turn around, station yourself here"; and he turns around and stands still. ³¹ And behold, the Cushite has come, and the Cushite says, "Let tidings be proclaimed, my lord, O king; for today YHWH has delivered you out of the hand of all those rising up against you." ³² And the king says to the Cushite, "Peace to the youth—for Absalom?" And the Cushite says, "Let them be—as the youth—the enemies of my lord the king, and all who have risen up against you for evil." ³³ And the king trembles, and goes up on the upper chamber of the gate, and weeps, and thus he has said in his going, "My son Absalom! My son! My son Absalom! Oh that I had died for you, Absalom, my son, my son!"

Chapter 19

¹ And it is declared to Joab, "Behold, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom"; ² and the salvation on that day becomes mourning to all the people, for the people have heard on that day, saying, "The king has been grieved for his son." ³ And the people steals away, on that day, to go into the city, as the people steal away, who are ashamed, in their fleeing in battle; ⁴ and the king has covered his face, indeed, the king cries [with] a loud voice, "My son Absalom! Absalom, my son, my son!" ⁵ And Joab comes into the house to the king and says, "Today you have put to shame the faces of all your servants, those delivering your life today, and the life of your sons, and of your daughters, and the life of your wives, and the life of your concubines, ⁶ to love your enemies, and to hate those loving you, for today you have declared that you have no princes and servants, for today I have known that if Absalom [were] alive, and all of us dead today, that then it were right in your eyes. ⁷ And now, rise, go out and speak to the heart of your servants, for I have sworn by YHWH, that [if] you are not going out—there does not lodge a man with you tonight; and this [is] worse for you than all the evil that has come on you from your youth until now." ⁸ And the king rises, and sits in the gate, and they have declared to all the people, saying, "Behold, the king is sitting in the gate"; and all the people come in before the king, and Israel has fled, each to his tents. ⁹ And it comes to pass, all the people are contending through all the tribes of Israel, saying, "The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, indeed, he himself delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines, and now he has fled out of the land because of Absalom, ¹⁰ and Absalom whom we anointed over us [is] dead in battle, and now, why are you silent—to bring back the king?" ¹¹ And King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, "Speak to [the] elderly of Judah, saying, Why are you last to bring back the king to his house, since the word of all Israel has come to the king, to his house; ¹² you [are] my brothers, you [are] my bone and my flesh, and why are you last to bring back the king? ¹³ And say to Amasa, Are you not my bone and my flesh? Thus God does to me, and thus He adds, if you are not head of the host before me instead of Joab [for] all the days." ¹⁴ And he inclines the heart of all the men of Judah as one man, and they send to the king, "Return, you and all your servants." ¹⁵ And the king turns back, and comes to the Jordan, and Judah has come to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king over the Jordan, ¹⁶ and Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite, who [is] from Bahurim, hurries, and comes down with the men of Judah, to meet King David, ¹⁷ and one thousand men [are] with him from Benjamin, and Ziba servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him, and they have gone prosperously over the Jordan before the king. ¹⁸ And the ferry-boat has passed over to carry over the household of the king, and to do that which [is] good in his eyes, and Shimei son of Gera has fallen before the king in his passing over into the Jordan, ¹⁹ and he says to the king, "Do not let my lord impute iniquity to me; neither remember that which your servant did perversely in the day that my lord the king went out from Jerusalem—for the king to set [it] to his heart; ²⁰ for your servant has known that I have sinned; and behold, I have come today, first of all the house of Joseph, to go down to meet my lord the king." ²¹ And Abishai son of Zeruiah answers and says, "Is Shimei not put to death for this—because he reviled the anointed of YHWH?" ²² And David says, "And what do I [have to do] with you, O sons of Zeruiah, that today you are for an adversary to me? Is any man put to death in Israel today? For have I not known that today I [am] king over Israel?" ²³ And the king says to Shimei, "You do not die"; and the king swears to him. ²⁴ And Mephibosheth son of Saul has come down to meet the king—and he did not prepare his feet, nor did he prepare his upper lip, indeed, he did not wash his garments, even from the day of the going away of the king, until the day that he came in peace— ²⁵ and it comes to pass, when he has come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king says to him, "Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?" ²⁶ And he says, "My lord, O king, my servant deceived me, for your servant said, I saddle the donkey for myself, and ride on it, and go with the king, for your servant [is] lame; ²⁷ and he utters slander against your servant to my lord the king, and my lord the king [is] as a messenger of God; and do that which is good in your eyes, ²⁸ for all the house of my father have been nothing except men of death before my lord the king, and you set your servant among those eating at your table, and what right do I have anymore—even to cry anymore to the king?" ²⁹ And the king says to him, "Why do you speak anymore of your matters? I have said, You and Ziba—share the field." ³⁰ And Mephibosheth says to the king, "Indeed, let him take the whole, after that my lord the king has come in peace to his house." ³¹ And Barzillai the Gileadite has gone down from Rogelim, and passes over the Jordan with the king, to send him away over the Jordan; ³² and Barzillai [is] very aged, a son of eighty years, and he has sustained the king in his abiding in Mahanaim, for he [is] a very great man; ³³ and the king says to Barzillai, "Pass over with me, and I have sustained you in Jerusalem with me." ³⁴ And Barzillai says to the king, "How many [are] the days of the years of my life, that I go up with the king to Jerusalem? ³⁵ I [am] a son of eighty years today; do I know between good and evil? Does your servant taste that which I am eating, and that which I drink? Do I listen anymore to the voice of male and female singers? And why is your servant for a burden to my lord the king anymore? ³⁶ As a little thing, your servant passes over the Jordan with the king, and why does the king repay me this repayment? ³⁷ Please let your servant turn back again, and I die in my own city, near the burying-place of my father and of my mother—and behold, your servant Chimham, let him pass over with my lord the king, and do to him that which [is] good in your eyes." ³⁸ And the king says, "Chimham goes over with me, and I do to him that which [is] good in your eyes, indeed, all that you fix on me I do to you." ³⁹ And all the people pass over the Jordan, and the king has passed over, and the king gives a kiss to Barzillai, and blesses him, and he turns back to his place. ⁴⁰ And the king passes over to Gilgal, and Chimham has passed over with him, and all the people of Judah, and they bring over the king, and also the half of the people of Israel. ⁴¹ And behold, all the men of Israel are coming to the king, and they say to the king, "Why have our brothers, the men of Judah, stolen you—and they bring the king and his household over the Jordan, and all the men of David with him?" ⁴² And all the men of Judah answer against the men of Israel, "Because the king [is] near to us, and why [is] this [that] you are displeased about this matter? Have we eaten of the king's [substance] at all? Has he lifted up a gift to us?" ⁴³ And the men of Israel answer the men of Judah, and say, "We have ten parts in the king, and also more than you in David; and why have you lightly esteemed us, that our word has not been first to bring back our king?" And the word of the men of Judah is sharper than the word of the men of Israel.

Chapter 20

¹ And there happened to be a man of worthlessness there, and his name [is] Sheba, son of Bichri, a Benjamite, and he blows with a horn and says, "We have no portion in David, and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; each [goes] to his tents, O Israel." ² And every man of Israel goes up from after David, after Sheba son of Bichri, and the men of Judah have cleaved to their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem. ³ And David comes to his house at Jerusalem. And the king takes the ten women-concubines whom he had left to keep the house, and puts them in a house of ward and sustains them, and he has not gone in to them, and they are shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood. ⁴ And the king says to Amasa, "Call the men of Judah for me [within] three days, and you, stand here," ⁵ and Amasa goes to call Judah, and tarries beyond the appointed time that he had appointed him; ⁶ and David says to Abishai, "Now Sheba son of Bichri does evil to us more than Absalom; you, take the servants of your lord, and pursue after him, lest he has found fortified cities for himself, and delivered himself [from] our eye." ⁷ And the men of Joab go out after him, and the Cherethite, and the Pelethite, and all the mighty men, and they go out from Jerusalem to pursue after Sheba son of Bichri; ⁸ they [are] near the great stone that [is] in Gibeon, and Amasa has gone before them, and Joab [is] girded; he has put his long robe on him, and on it a girdle—a sword [is] fastened on his loins in its sheath; and he has gone out, and it falls. ⁹ And Joab says to Amasa, "Are you [in] peace, my brother?" And the right hand of Joab lays hold on the beard of Amasa to give a kiss to him; ¹⁰ and Amasa has not been watchful of the sword that [is] in the hand of Joab, and he strikes him with it to the fifth [rib], and sheds out his bowels to the earth, and he has not repeated [it] to him, and he dies; and Joab and his brother Abishai have pursued after Sheba son of Bichri. ¹¹ And a man has stood by him, of the young men of Joab, and says, "He who has delight in Joab, and he who [is] for David—after Joab!" ¹² And Amasa is rolling himself in blood, in the midst of the highway, and the man sees that all the people have stood still, and he brings around Amasa out of the highway to the field, and casts a garment over him when he has seen that everyone who has come by him has stood still. ¹³ When he has been removed out of the highway, every man has passed on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba son of Bichri. ¹⁴ And he passes over through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and to Beth-Maachah, and to all the Berites, and they are assembled, and also go in after him, ¹⁵ and they go in and lay siege against him, in Abel of Beth-Maachah, and cast up a mound against the city, and it stands in a trench, and all the people who are [are] with Joab are destroying, to cause the wall to fall. ¹⁶ And a wise woman calls out of the city, "Hear! Hear! Please say to Joab, Come near here, and I speak to you." ¹⁷ And he comes near to her, and the woman says, "Are you Joab?" And he says, "I [am]." And she says to him, "Hear the words of your handmaid"; and he says, "I am hearing." ¹⁸ And she speaks, saying, "They spoke often in former times, saying, Let them diligently inquire at Abel, and so they finished. ¹⁹ I [am] of the peaceable, faithful ones of Israel; you are seeking to destroy a city and mother in Israel; why do you swallow up the inheritance of YHWH?" ²⁰ And Joab answers and says, "Far be it—far be it from me; I do not swallow up nor destroy. ²¹ The matter [is] not so; for a man of the hill-country of Ephraim—Sheba son of Bichri [is] his name—has lifted up his hand against the king, against David; give him up by himself, and I go away from the city." And the woman says to Joab, "Behold, his head is cast to you over the wall." ²² And the woman comes to all the people in her wisdom, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri, and cast [it] to Joab, and he blows with a horn, and they are scattered from the city, each [goes] to his tents, and Joab has turned back to Jerusalem to the king. ²³ And Joab [is] over all the host of Israel, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada [is] over the Cherethite, and over the Pelethite, ²⁴ and Adoram [is] over the tribute, and Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud [is] the remembrancer, ²⁵ and Sheva [is] scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar [are] priests, ²⁶ and also, Ira the Jairite has been minister to David.

Chapter 21

¹ And there is a famine in the days of David [for] three years, year after year, and David seeks the face of YHWH, and YHWH says, "[This is] for Saul and for the bloody house, because that he put the Gibeonites to death." ² And the king calls for the Gibeonites and says to them—as for the Gibeonites, they [are] not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorite, and the sons of Israel had sworn to them, and Saul seeks to strike them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah— ³ indeed, David says to the Gibeonites, "What do I do for you? And with what do I make atonement? And bless the inheritance of YHWH." ⁴ And the Gibeonites say to him, "We have no silver and gold by Saul and by his house, and we have no man to put to death in Israel"; and he says, "What you are saying I do to you." ⁵ And they say to the king, "The man who consumed us, and who devised against us—we have been destroyed from stationing ourselves in all the border of Israel— ⁶ let there be given to us seven men of his sons, and we have hanged them before YHWH, in the height of Saul, the chosen of YHWH." And the king says, "I give"; ⁷ and the king has pity on Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, son of Saul, because of the oath of YHWH that [is] between them, between David and Jonathan son of Saul; ⁸ and the king takes the two sons of Rizpah daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michal daughter of Saul whom she bore to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite, ⁹ and gives them into the hand of the Gibeonites, and they hang them in the hill before YHWH; and the seven fall together, and they have been put to death in the days of harvest, in the first [days], the commencement of barley-harvest. ¹⁰ And Rizpah daughter of Aiah takes the sackcloth, and stretches it out for herself on the rock, from the commencement of harvest until water has been poured out on them from the heavens, and has not permitted a bird of the heavens to rest on them by day, or the beast of the field by night. ¹¹ And it is declared to David that which Rizpah daughter of Aiah, concubine of Saul, has done, ¹² and David goes and takes the bones of Saul, and the bones of his son Jonathan, from the possessors of Jabesh-Gilead, who had stolen them from the broad place of Beth-Shan, where the Philistines hanged them, in the day of the Philistines striking Saul in Gilboa; ¹³ and he brings up there the bones of Saul, and the bones of his son Jonathan, and they gather the bones of those hanged, ¹⁴ and bury the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin, in Zelah, in the burying-place of his father Kish, and do all that the king commanded, and God accepts the plea for the land afterward. ¹⁵ And again the Philistines have war with Israel, and David goes down, and his servants with him, and they fight with the Philistines; and David is weary, ¹⁶ and Ishbi-Benob, who [is] among the children of the giant—the weight of his spear [is] three hundred [shekels in] weight of bronze, and he is girded with a new one—speaks of striking David, ¹⁷ and Abishai son of Zeruiah gives help to him, and strikes the Philistine, and puts him to death; then the men of David swear to him, saying, "You do not go out with us to battle again, nor quench the lamp of Israel." ¹⁸ And it comes to pass afterward that the battle is again in Gob with the Philistines. Then Sibbechai the Hushathite has struck Saph, who [is] among the children of the giant. ¹⁹ And the battle is again in Gob with the Philistines, and Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim, the Beth-Lehemite, strikes [a brother of] Goliath the Gittite, and the wood of his spear [is] like a weavers' beam. ²⁰ And the battle is again in Gath, and there is a man of [great] stature, and the fingers of his hands [are] six, and the toes of his feet [are] six—twenty-four in number, and he has also been born to the giant, ²¹ and he reproaches Israel, and Jonathan son of Shimeah, David's brother, strikes him; ²² these four have been born to the giant in Gath, and they fall by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

Chapter 22

¹ And David speaks the words of this song to YHWH in the day YHWH has delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul, ² and he says: "YHWH [is] my rock, || And my bulwark, and a deliverer to me, ³ My God [is] my rock—I take refuge in Him; My shield, and the horn of my salvation, || My high tower, and my refuge! My Savior, You save me from violence! ⁴ I call on YHWH, [who is worthy] to be praised: And I am saved from my enemies. ⁵ When the breakers of death surrounded me, || The streams of the worthless terrify me, ⁶ The cords of Sheol have surrounded me, || The snares of death have been before me. ⁷ In my adversity I call on YHWH, || And I call to my God, || And He hears my voice from His temple, || And my cry [is] in His ears, ⁸ And the earth shakes and trembles, || Foundations of the heavens are troubled, || And are shaken, for He has wrath! ⁹ Smoke has gone up by His nostrils, || And fire devours from His mouth; Brands have been kindled by it. ¹⁰ And He inclines the heavens and comes down, || And thick darkness [is] under His feet. ¹¹ And He rides on a cherub and flies, || And is seen on the wings of the wind. ¹² And He sets darkness around Him [for His] dwelling places, || Darkness of waters [and] thick clouds of the skies. ¹³ From the brightness before Him || Brands of fire were kindled! ¹⁴ YHWH thunders from the heavens, || And the Most High gives forth His voice. ¹⁵ And He sends forth arrows, and scatters them; Lightning, and troubles them; ¹⁶ And the streams of the sea are seen, || [The] foundations of the world are revealed, || By the rebuke of YHWH, || From the breath of the spirit of His anger. ¹⁷ He sends from above—He takes me, || He draws me out of many waters. ¹⁸ He delivers me from my strong enemy, || From those hating me, || For they were stronger than me. ¹⁹ They are before me in a day of my calamity, || And YHWH is my support, ²⁰ And He brings me out to a large place, || He draws me out for He delighted in me. ²¹ YHWH repays me, || According to my righteousness, || According to the cleanness of my hands, He returns to me. ²² For I have kept the ways of YHWH, || And have not done wickedly against my God. ²³ For all His judgments [are] before me, || As for His statutes, I do not turn from them. ²⁴ And I am perfect before Him, || And I keep myself from my iniquity. ²⁵ And YHWH returns to me, || According to my righteousness, || According to my cleanness before His eyes. ²⁶ With the kind You show Yourself kind, || With the perfect man You show Yourself perfect, ²⁷ With the pure You show Yourself pure, || And with the perverse You show Yourself a wrestler. ²⁸ And You save the poor people, || But Your eyes on the high cause [them] to fall. ²⁹ For You [are] my lamp, O YHWH, || And YHWH lightens my darkness. ³⁰ For by You I run [against] a troop, || By my God I leap a wall. ³¹ God—His way [is] perfect, || The saying of YHWH is tried, || He [is] a shield to all those trusting in Him. ³² For who is God except YHWH? And who [is the] Rock except our God? ³³ God—my bulwark, [my] strength, || And He makes my way perfect; ³⁴ Making my feet like does, || And causes me to stand on my high places, ³⁵ Teaching my hands for battle, || And a bow of bronze was brought down by my arms, ³⁶ And You give the shield of Your salvation to me, || And Your lowliness makes me great. ³⁷ You enlarge my step under me, || And my ankles have not slipped. ³⁸ I pursue my enemies and destroy them, || And I do not turn until they are consumed. ³⁹ And I consume them, and strike them, || And they do not rise, and fall under my feet. ⁴⁰ And You gird me [with] strength for battle, || You cause my withstanders to bow under me. ⁴¹ And my enemies—You give to me the neck, || Those hating me—and I cut them off. ⁴² They look, and there is no savior; To YHWH, and He has not answered them. ⁴³ And I beat them as dust of the earth, || As mire of the streets I beat them small—I spread them out! ⁴⁴ And You deliver me || From the strivings of my people, || You place me for a head of nations; A people I have not known serve me. ⁴⁵ Sons of a stranger feign obedience to me, || At the hearing of the ear they listen to me. ⁴⁶ Sons of a stranger fade away, || And gird themselves by their close places. ⁴⁷ YHWH lives, and blessed [is] my Rock, || And exalted is my God—The Rock of my salvation. ⁴⁸ God—who is giving vengeance to me, || And bringing down peoples under me, ⁴⁹ And bringing me forth from my enemies, || Indeed, You raise me up above my withstanders. You deliver me from a man of violence. ⁵⁰ Therefore I confess You, O YHWH, among nations, || And I sing praise to Your Name. ⁵¹ Magnifying the salvations of His king, || And doing loving-kindness to His anointed, || To David, and to his seed—for all time!"

Chapter 23

¹ And these [are] the last words of David: "A declaration of David son of Jesse, || And a declaration of the man raised up—Concerning the anointed of the God of Jacob, || And the sweetness of the songs of Israel: ² The Spirit of YHWH has spoken by me, || And His word [is] on my tongue. ³ He said—the God of Israel—to me, || He spoke—the Rock of Israel: He who is ruling over man [is] righteous, || He is ruling in the fear of God. ⁴ And he rises as the light of morning, || A morning sun [with] no clouds! By the shining, by the rain, || Tender grass of the earth! ⁵ For though my house [is] not so with God; So He made a perpetual covenant with me, || Arranged in all things, and kept; For all my salvation, and all desire, || For He has not caused [it] to spring up. ⁶ As for the worthless—All of them [are] driven away as a thorn, || For they are not taken away by hand; ⁷ And the man who comes against them || Is filled with iron and the staff of a spear, || And they are utterly burned with fire || In the cessation." ⁸ These [are] the names of the mighty ones whom David has: sitting in the seat [is] the Tachmonite, head of the captains—he [is] Adino, who hardened himself against eight hundred—wounded at one time. ⁹ And after him [is] Eleazar son of Dodo, son of Ahohi, of the three mighty men with David; in their exposing themselves among the Philistines—they have been gathered there to battle, and the men of Israel go up— ¹⁰ he has arisen, and strikes among the Philistines until his hand has been weary, and his hand cleaves to the sword, and YHWH works a great salvation on that day, and the people turn back after him only to strip off. ¹¹ And after him [is] Shammah son of Agee the Hararite, and the Philistines are gathered into a company, and there is a portion of the field full of lentils there, and the people have fled from the presence of the Philistines, ¹² and he stations himself in the midst of the portion, and delivers it, and strikes the Philistines, and YHWH works a great salvation. ¹³ And three of the thirty heads go down and come to the harvest, to David, to the cave of Adullam, and the company of the Philistines are encamping in the Valley of Rephaim, ¹⁴ and David [is] then in a fortress, and the station of the Philistines [is] then in Beth-Lehem, ¹⁵ and David longs and says, "Who gives me a drink of the water of the well of Beth-Lehem, which [is] by the gate?" ¹⁶ And the three mighty ones cleave through the camp of the Philistines, and draw water out of the well of Beth-Lehem, which [is] by the gate, and take [it] up, and bring [it] to David; and he was not willing to drink it, and pours it out to YHWH, ¹⁷ and says, "Far be it from me, O YHWH, to do this; is it the blood of the men who are going with their lives?" And he was not willing to drink it; the three mighty ones did these [things]. ¹⁸ And Abishai brother of Joab, son of Zeruiah, he [is] head of three, and he is lifting up his spear against three hundred—wounded, and he has a name among three. ¹⁹ Is he not the honored of the three? And he becomes their head; and he has not come to the [first] three. ²⁰ And Benaiah son of Jehoiada (son of a man of valor, great in deeds from Kabzeel), has struck two lion-like men of Moab, and he has gone down and struck the lion in the midst of the pit in a day of snow. ²¹ And he has struck the Egyptian man, a man of appearance, and a spear [is] in the hand of the Egyptian, and he goes down to him with a rod, and takes the spear violently away out of the hand of the Egyptian, and slays him with his own spear. ²² Benaiah son of Jehoiada has done these [things], and has a name among the three mighty ones. ²³ He is honored more than the thirty, but he did not come to the three; and David sets him over his guard. ²⁴ Asahel brother of Joab [is] of the thirty; Elhanan son of Dodo of Beth-Lehem, ²⁵ Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, ²⁶ Helez the Paltite, Ira son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, ²⁷ Abiezer the Annethothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, ²⁸ Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, ²⁹ Heleb son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai son of Ribai from Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin, ³⁰ Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash, ³¹ Abi-Albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, ³² Eliahba the Shaalbonite, of the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, ³³ Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam son of Sharar the Hararite, ³⁴ Eliphelet son of Ahasbai, son of the Maachathite, Eliam son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, ³⁵ Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, ³⁶ Igal son of Nathan from Zobah, Bani the Gadite, ³⁷ Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, bearer of the weapons of Joab son of Zeruiah, ³⁸ Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ³⁹ Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.

Chapter 24

¹ And the anger of YHWH adds to burn against Israel, and [an adversary] moves David about them, saying, "Go, number Israel and Judah." ² And the king says to Joab, head of the host that [is] with him, "Now go to and fro through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-Sheba, and inspect the people; then I have known the number of the people." ³ And Joab says to the king, "Indeed, your God YHWH adds to the people, as they are, one hundred times, and the eyes of my lord the king are seeing; and my lord the king, why is he desirous of this thing?" ⁴ And the word of the king is severe toward Joab, and against the heads of the force, and Joab goes out, and the heads of the force, [from] before the king to inspect the people, even Israel; ⁵ and they pass over the Jordan, and encamp in Aroer, on the right of the city that [is] in the midst of the Brook of Gad, and to Jazer, ⁶ and they come to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-Hodshi, and they come to Dan-Jaan, and around to Sidon, ⁷ and they come to the fortress of Tyre, and all the cities of the Hivite, and of the Canaanite, and go out to the south of Judah, to Beer-Sheba. ⁸ And they go to and fro through all the land, and come in to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days, ⁹ and Joab gives the account of the inspection of the people to the king, and Israel is eight hundred thousand men of valor, drawing sword, and the men of Judah five hundred thousand men. ¹⁰ And the heart of David strikes him, after that he has numbered the people, and David says to YHWH, "I have greatly sinned in that which I have done, and now, O YHWH, please cause the iniquity of Your servant to pass away, for I have acted very foolishly." ¹¹ And David rises in the morning, and the word of YHWH has been to Gad the prophet, seer of David, saying, ¹² "Go, and you have spoken to David, Thus said YHWH: I am lifting up three [choices] for you, choose one of them, and I do [it] to you." ¹³ And Gad comes to David, and declares [it] to him, and says to him, "Does seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or are you fleeing before your adversary [for] three months—and he is pursuing you? Or is there pestilence [for] three days in your land? Now, know and see what word I take back to Him sending me." ¹⁴ And David says to Gad, "I have great distress; please let us fall into the hand of YHWH, for His mercies [are] many, but do not let me fall into the hand of man." ¹⁵ And YHWH gives a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the time appointed, and there dies of the people, from Dan even to Beer-Sheba, seventy thousand men, ¹⁶ and the messenger puts forth his hand to Jerusalem to destroy it, and YHWH sighs concerning the calamity, and says to the messenger who is destroying among the people, "Enough, now, cease your hand"; and the messenger of YHWH was near the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷ And David speaks to YHWH when he sees the messenger who is striking among the people, and says, "Behold, I have sinned, indeed, I have done perversely; and these—the flock—what have they done? Please let Your hand be on me and on the house of my father." ¹⁸ And Gad comes to David on that day and says to him, "Go up, raise an altar to YHWH in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite"; ¹⁹ and David goes up, according to the word of Gad, as YHWH commanded. ²⁰ And Araunah looks, and sees the king and his servants passing over to him, and Araunah goes out and bows himself to the king [with] his face to the earth. ²¹ And Araunah says, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" And David says, "To buy the threshing-floor from you, to build an altar to YHWH, and the plague is restrained from the people." ²² And Araunah says to David, "Let my lord the king take [it] and cause that which is good in his eyes to ascend; see, [here are] the oxen for a burnt-offering, and the threshing instruments, and the instruments of the oxen, for wood"; ²³ Araunah has given the whole [as] a king to a king; and Araunah says to the king, "Your God YHWH accepts you." ²⁴ And the king says to Araunah, "No, for I surely buy from you for a price, and I do not cause burnt-offerings to ascend to my God YHWH for nothing"; and David buys the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver, ²⁵ and David builds an altar to YHWH there, and causes burnt-offerings and peace-offerings to ascend, and YHWH accepts the plea for the land, and the plague is restrained from Israel.

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