16:1: When David was a little past the top [of the ascent], behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of donkeys saddled, and on them two hundred loaves of bread, and one hundred clusters of raisins, and one hundred summer fruits, and a bottle of wine.
16:2: The king said to Ziba, What do you mean by these? Ziba said, The donkeys are for the king's household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as are faint in the wilderness may drink.
16:3: The king said, Where is your master's son? Ziba said to the king, Behold, he abides at Jerusalem; for he said, Today will the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father.
16:4: Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, all that pertains to Mephibosheth is yours. Ziba said, I do obeisance; let me find favor in your sight, my lord, O king.
16:5: When king David came to Bahurim, behold, a man of the family of the house of Saul came out, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera. He came out, and cursed still as he came.
16:6: He cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David: and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left.
16:7: Thus said Shimei when he cursed, Be gone, be gone, you man of blood, and base fellow:
16:8: Yahweh has returned on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned; and Yahweh has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son; and, behold, you are [taken] in your own mischief, because you are a man of blood.
16:9: Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah to the king, "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please let me go over and take off his head."
16:10: The king said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? Because he curses, and because Yahweh has said to him, Curse David; who then shall say, Why have you done so?
16:11: David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, who came forth from my bowels, seeks my life: how much more [may] this Benjamite now [do it]? let him alone, and let him curse; for Yahweh has invited him.
16:12: It may be that Yahweh will look on the wrong done to me, and that Yahweh will requite me good for [his] cursing of me this day.
16:13: So David and his men went by the way; and Shimei went along on the hill-side over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust.
16:14: The king, and all the people who were with him, came weary; and he refreshed himself there.
16:15: Absalom, and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him.
16:16: It happened, when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, was come to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom, [Long] live the king, [Long] live the king.
16:17: Absalom said to Hushai, Is this your kindness to your friend? Why didn't you go with your friend?
16:18: Hushai said to Absalom, No; but whom Yahweh, and this people, and all the men of Israel have chosen, his will I be, and with him will I abide.
16:19: Again, whom should I serve? Shouldn't I serve in the presence of his son? as I have served in your father's presence, so will I be in your presence.
16:20: Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give your counsel what we shall do.
16:21: Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go in to your father's concubines, that he has left to keep the house; and all Israel will hear that you are abhorred of your father: then will the hands of all who are with you be strong.
16:22: So they spread Absalom a tent on the top of the house; and Absalom went in to his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel.
16:23: The counsel of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man inquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.

17:1: Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night:
17:2: and I will come on him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid; and all the people who are with him shall flee; and I will strike the king only;
17:3: and I will bring back all the people to you: the man whom you seek is as if all returned: [so] all the people shall be in peace.
17:4: The saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.
17:5: Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he says.
17:6: When Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spoke to him, saying, Ahithophel has spoken after this manner: shall we do [after] his saying? if not, speak up.
17:7: Hushai said to Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel has given this time is not good.
17:8: Hushai said moreover, You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are fierce in their minds, as a bear robbed of her cubs in the field; and your father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.
17:9: Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some [other] place: and it will happen, when some of them are fallen at the first, that whoever hears it will say, There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.
17:10: Even he who is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt; for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men.
17:11: But I counsel that all Israel be gathered together to you, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that you go to battle in your own person.
17:12: So shall we come on him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light on him as the dew falls on the ground; and of him and of all the men who are with him we will not leave so much as one.
17:13: Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there not be one small stone found there.
17:14: Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For Yahweh had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Yahweh might bring evil on Absalom.
17:15: Then said Hushai to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counseled.
17:16: Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Don't lodge this night at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people who are with him.
17:17: Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En Rogel; and a maid-servant used to go and tell them; and they went and told king David: for they might not be seen to come into the city.
17:18: But a boy saw them, and told Absalom: and they went both of them away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down there.
17:19: The woman took and spread the covering over the well's mouth, and strewed bruised grain thereon; and nothing was known.
17:20: Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house; and they said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? The woman said to them, They have gone over the brook of water. When they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.
17:21: It happened, after they had departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David; and they said to David, Arise you, and pass quickly over the water; for thus has Ahithophel counseled against you.
17:22: Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they passed over the Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them who had not gone over the Jordan.
17:23: When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, and arose, and got him home, to his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the tomb of his father.
17:24: Then David came to Mahanaim. Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.
17:25: Absalom set Amasa over the host instead of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man, whose name was Ithra the Israelite, who went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab's mother.
17:26: Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.
17:27: It happened, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,
17:28: brought beds, and basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and meal, and parched [grain], and beans, and lentils, and parched [pulse],
17:29: and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David, and for the people who were with him, to eat: for they said, The people are hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.

18:1: David numbered the people who were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them.
18:2: David sent forth the people, a third part under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the people, I will surely go forth with you myself also.
18:3: But the people said, You shall not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but you are worth ten thousand of us; therefore now it is better that you are ready to help us out of the city.
18:4: The king said to them, What seems you best I will do. The king stood by the gate-side, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands.
18:5: The king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom. All the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom.
18:6: So the people went out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim.
18:7: The people of Israel were struck there before the servants of David, and there was a great slaughter there that day of twenty thousand men.
18:8: For the battle was there spread over the surface of all the country; and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.
18:9: Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the sky and earth; and the mule that was under him went on.
18:10: A certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.
18:11: Joab said to the man who told him, Behold, you saw it, and why didn't you strike him there to the ground? and I would have given you ten [pieces of] silver, and a sash.
18:12: The man said to Joab, Though I should receive a thousand [pieces of] silver in my hand, I still wouldn't put forth my hand against the king's son; for in our hearing the king charged you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware that none touch the young man Absalom.
18:13: Otherwise if I had dealt falsely against his life (and there is no matter hid from the king), then you yourself would have set yourself against [me].
18:14: Then said Joab, I may not wait thus with you. He took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.
18:15: Ten young men who bore Joab's armor compassed about and struck Absalom, and killed him.
18:16: Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab held back the people.
18:17: They took Absalom, and cast him into the great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones: and all Israel fled everyone to his tent.
18:18: Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself the pillar, which is in the king's dale; for he said, I have no son to keep my name in memory: and he called the pillar after his own name; and it is called Absalom's monument, to this day.
18:19: Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, Let me now run, and bear the king news, how that Yahweh has avenged him of his enemies.
18:20: Joab said to him, You shall not be the bearer of news this day, but you shall bear news another day; but this day you shall bear no news, because the king's son is dead.
18:21: Then said Joab to the Cushite, Go, tell the king what you have seen. The Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran.
18:22: Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, But come what may, Please let me also run after the Cushite. Joab said, Why will you run, my son, seeing that you will have no reward for the news?
18:23: But come what may, [said he], I will run. He said to him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Cushite.
18:24: Now David was sitting between the two gates: and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate to the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, a man running alone.
18:25: The watchman cried, and told the king. The king said, If he be alone, there is news in his mouth. He came apace, and drew near.
18:26: The watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the porter, and said, Behold, [another] man running alone. The king said, He also brings news.
18:27: The watchman said, I think the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. The king said, He is a good man, and comes with good news.
18:28: Ahimaaz called, and said to the king, All is well. He bowed himself before the king with his face to the earth, and said, Blessed be Yahweh your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king.
18:29: The king said, Is it well with the young man Absalom? Ahimaaz answered, When Joab sent the king's servant, even me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I don't know what it was.
18:30: The king said, Turn aside, and stand here. He turned aside, and stood still.
18:31: Behold, the Cushite came; and the Cushite said, News for my lord the king; for Yahweh has avenged you this day of all those who rose up against you.
18:32: The king said to the Cushite, Is it well with the young man Absalom? The Cushite answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up against you to do you hurt, be as that young man is.
18:33: The king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would I had died for you, Absalom, my son, my son!

19:1: It was told Joab, Behold, the king weeps and mourns for Absalom.
19:2: The victory that day was turned into mourning to all the people; for the people heard say that day, The king grieves for his son.
19:3: The people got them by stealth that day into the city, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.
19:4: The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, my son Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son!
19:5: Joab came into the house to the king, and said, You have shamed this day the faces of all your servants, who this day have saved your life, and the lives of your sons and of your daughters, and the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines;
19:6: in that you love those who hate you, and hate those who love you. For you have declared this day, that princes and servants are nothing to you: for this day I perceive that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased you well.
19:7: Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak comfortably to your servants; for I swear by Yahweh, if you don't go forth, there will not stay a man with you this night: and that will be worse to you than all the evil that has happened to you from your youth until now.
19:8: Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. They told to all the people, saying, Behold, the king is sitting in the gate: and all the people came before the king. Now Israel had fled every man to his tent.
19:9: All the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, and he saved us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he is fled out of the land from Absalom.
19:10: Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why don't you speak a word of bringing the king back?
19:11: King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house? seeing the speech of all Israel is come to the king, [to bring him] to his house.
19:12: You are my brothers, you are my bone and my flesh: why then are you the last to bring back the king?
19:13: Say you to Amasa, Aren't you my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if you aren't captain of the host before me continually in the room of Joab.
19:14: He bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as [the heart of] one man; so that they sent to the king, [saying], Return you, and all your servants.
19:15: So the king returned, and came to the Jordan. Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king over the Jordan.
19:16: Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, who was of Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David.
19:17: There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went through the Jordan in the presence of the king.
19:18: There went over a ferry-boat to bring over the king's household, and to do what he thought good. Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, when he was come over the Jordan.
19:19: He said to the king, Don't let my lord impute iniquity to me, neither do you remember that which your servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.
19:20: For your servant does know that I have sinned: therefore, behold, I am come this day the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.
19:21: But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered, Shall Shimei not be put to death for this, because he cursed Yahweh's anointed?
19:22: David said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be adversaries to me? shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? for don't I know that I am this day king over Israel?
19:23: The king said to Shimei, You shall not die. The king swore to him.
19:24: Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king; and he had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came home in peace.
19:25: It happened, when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said to him, Why didn't you go with me, Mephibosheth?
19:26: He answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me: for your servant said, I will saddle me a donkey, that I may ride thereon, and go with the king; because your servant is lame.
19:27: He has slandered your servant to my lord the king; but my lord the king is as an angel of God: do therefore what is good in your eyes.
19:28: For all my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king; yet you set your servant among those who ate at your own table. What right therefore have I yet that I should cry any more to the king?
19:29: The king said to him, Why speak you any more of your matters? I say, You and Ziba divide the land.
19:30: Mephibosheth said to the king, yes, let him take all, because my lord the king is come in peace to his own house.
19:31: Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim; and he went over the Jordan with the king, to conduct him over the Jordan.
19:32: Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even eighty years old: and he had provided the king with sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man.
19:33: The king said to Barzillai, Come you over with me, and I will sustain you with me in Jerusalem.
19:34: Barzillai said to the king, How many are the days of the years of my life, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?
19:35: I am this day eighty years old: can I discern between good and bad? can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? why then should your servant be yet a burden to my lord the king?
19:36: Your servant would but just go over the Jordan with the king: and why should the king recompense it me with such a reward?
19:37: Please let your servant turn back again, that I may die in my own city, by the grave of my father and my mother. But behold, your servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king; and do to him what shall seem good to you.
19:38: The king answered, Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good to you: and whatever you shall require of me, that will I do for you.
19:39: All the people went over the Jordan, and the king went over: and the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; and he returned to his own place.
19:40: So the king went over to Gilgal, and Chimham went over with him: and all the people of Judah brought the king over, and also half the people of Israel.
19:41: Behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said to the king, Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen you away, and brought the king, and his household, over the Jordan, and all David's men with him?
19:42: All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is a close relative to us: why then are you angry for this matter? have we eaten at all at the king's cost? or has he given us any gift?
19:43: The men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more [right] in David than you: why then did you despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king? The words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

20:1: There happened to be there a base fellow, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew the trumpet, and said, We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, Israel.
20:2: So all the men of Israel went up from following David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah joined with their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem.
20:3: David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in custody, and provided them with sustenance, but didn't go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood.
20:4: Then said the king to Amasa, Call me the men of Judah together within three days, and be here present.
20:5: So Amasa went to call [the men of] Judah together; but he stayed longer than the set time which he had appointed him.
20:6: David said to Abishai, Now will Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom: take your lord's servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fortified cities, and escape out of our sight.
20:7: There went out after him Joab's men, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men; and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.
20:8: When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab was girded with his apparel of war that he had put on, and thereon was a sash with a sword fastened on his loins in the sheath of it; and as he went forth it fell out.
20:9: Joab said to Amasa, Is it well with you, my brother? Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.
20:10: But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand: so he struck him therewith in the body, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and didn't strike him again; and he died. Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri.
20:11: There stood by him one of Joab's young men, and said, He who favors Joab, and he who is for David, let him follow Joab.
20:12: Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the midst of the highway. When the man saw that all the people stood still, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a garment over him, when he saw that everyone who came by him stood still.
20:13: When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.
20:14: He went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and to Beth Maacah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him.
20:15: They came and besieged him in Abel of Beth Maacah, and they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart; and all the people who were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down.
20:16: Then cried a wise woman out of the city, "Hear, hear! Please say to Joab, 'Come near here, that I may speak with you.'"
20:17: He came near to her; and the woman said, Are you Joab? He answered, I am. Then she said to him, Hear the words of your handmaid. He answered, I do hear.
20:18: Then she spoke, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask [counsel] at Abel: and so they ended [the matter].
20:19: I am of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel: you seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why will you swallow up the inheritance of Yahweh?
20:20: Joab answered, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.
20:21: The matter is not so: but a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against the king, even against David; deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. The woman said to Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall.
20:22: Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. They cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. He blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.
20:23: Now Joab was over all the host of Israel; and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites;
20:24: and Adoram was over the men subject to forced labor; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder;
20:25: and Sheva was scribe; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;
20:26: and also Ira the Jairite was chief minister to David.

21:1: There was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Yahweh. Yahweh said, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put to death the Gibeonites.
21:2: The king called the Gibeonites, and said to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn to them: and Saul sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah);
21:3: and David said to the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of Yahweh?
21:4: The Gibeonites said to him, It is no matter of silver or gold between us and Saul, or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel. He said, What you shall say, that will I do for you.
21:5: They said to the king, The man who consumed us, and who devised against us, [that] we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the borders of Israel,
21:6: let seven men of his sons be delivered to us, and we will hang them up to Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of Yahweh. The king said, I will give them.
21:7: But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of Yahweh's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
21:8: But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:
21:9: He delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before Yahweh, and they fell [all] seven together. They were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest.
21:10: Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water was poured on them from the sky; and she allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day, nor the animals of the field by night.
21:11: It was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.
21:12: David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh Gilead, who had stolen them from the street of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, in the day that the Philistines killed Saul in Gilboa;
21:13: and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son: and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged.
21:14: They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. After that God was entreated for the land.
21:15: The Philistines had war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. David grew faint;
21:16: and Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred [shekels] of brass in weight, he being girded with a new [sword], thought to have slain David.
21:17: But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, You shall go no more out with us to battle, that you don't quench the lamp of Israel.
21:18: It came to pass after this, that there was again war with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was of the sons of the giant.
21:19: There was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite's brother, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.
21:20: There was again war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, who had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.
21:21: When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David's brother, killed him.
21:22: These four were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

22:1: David spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:
22:2: and he said, Yahweh is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine;
22:3: God, my rock, in him will I take refuge; My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge; My savior, you save me from violence.
22:4: I will call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I be saved from my enemies.
22:5: For the waves of death compassed me; The floods of ungodliness made me afraid:
22:6: The cords of Sheol were round about me; The snares of death came on me.
22:7: In my distress I called on Yahweh; Yes, I called to my God: He heard my voice out of his temple, My cry [came] into his ears.
22:8: Then the earth shook and trembled, The foundations of heaven quaked Were shaken, because he was angry.
22:9: There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, Fire out of his mouth devoured: Coals were kindled by it.
22:10: He bowed the heavens also, and came down; Thick darkness was under his feet.
22:11: He rode on a cherub, and did fly; Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind.
22:12: He made darkness pavilions round about him, Gathering of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
22:13: At the brightness before him Coals of fire were kindled.
22:14: Yahweh thundered from heaven, The Most High uttered his voice.
22:15: He sent out arrows, and scattered them; Lightning, and confused them.
22:16: Then the channels of the sea appeared, The foundations of the world were laid bare, By the rebuke of Yahweh, At the blast of the breath of his nostrils.
22:17: He sent from on high, he took me; He drew me out of many waters;
22:18: He delivered me from my strong enemy, From those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.
22:19: They came on me in the day of my calamity; But Yahweh was my stay.
22:20: He brought me forth also into a large place; He delivered me, because he delighted in me.
22:21: Yahweh rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me.
22:22: For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, And have not wickedly departed from my God.
22:23: For all his ordinances were before me; As for his statutes, I did not depart from them.
22:24: I was also perfect toward him; I kept myself from my iniquity.
22:25: Therefore has Yahweh recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in his eyesight.
22:26: With the merciful you will show yourself merciful; With the perfect man you will show yourself perfect;
22:27: With the pure you will show yourself pure; With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd.
22:28: The afflicted people you will save; But your eyes are on the haughty, that you may bring them down.
22:29: For you are my lamp, Yahweh; Yahweh will lighten my darkness.
22:30: For by you I run on a troop; By my God do I leap over a wall.
22:31: As for God, his way is perfect: The word of Yahweh is tried; He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.
22:32: For who is God, save Yahweh? Who is a rock, save our God?
22:33: God is my strong fortress; He guides the perfect in his way.
22:34: He makes his feet like hinds' [feet], Sets me on my high places.
22:35: He teaches my hands to war, So that my arms do bend a bow of brass.
22:36: You have also given me the shield of your salvation; Your gentleness has made me great.
22:37: You have enlarged my steps under me; My feet have not slipped.
22:38: I have pursued my enemies, and destroyed them; Neither did I turn again until they were consumed.
22:39: I have consumed them, and struck them through, so that they can't arise: Yes, they are fallen under my feet.
22:40: For you have girded me with strength to the battle; You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.
22:41: You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, That I might cut off those who hate me.
22:42: They looked, but there was none to save; Even to Yahweh, but he didn't answer them.
22:43: Then did I beat them small as the dust of the earth, I did crush them as the mire of the streets, and did spread them abroad.
22:44: You also have delivered me from the strivings of my people; You have kept me to be the head of the nations: A people whom I have not known shall serve me.
22:45: The foreigners shall submit themselves to me: As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me.
22:46: The foreigners shall fade away, Shall come trembling out of their close places.
22:47: Yahweh lives; Blessed be my rock; Exalted be God, the rock of my salvation,
22:48: Even the God who executes vengeance for me, Who brings down peoples under me,
22:49: Who brings me forth from my enemies: Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me; You deliver me from the violent man.
22:50: Therefore I will give thanks to you, Yahweh, among the nations, Will sing praises to your name.
22:51: Great deliverance gives he to his king, Shows loving kindness to his anointed, To David and to his seed, forevermore.

23:1: Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse says, The man who was raised on high says, The anointed of the God of Jacob, The sweet psalmist of Israel:
23:2: The Spirit of Yahweh spoke by me, His word was on my tongue.
23:3: The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: One who rules over men righteously, Who rules in the fear of God,
23:4: [He shall be] as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, A morning without clouds, [When] the tender grass [springs] out of the earth, Through clear shining after rain.
23:5: Most assuredly my house is not so with God; Yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, Ordered in all things, and sure: For it is all my salvation, and all [my] desire, Although he doesn't make it grow.
23:6: But the ungodly shall be all of them as thorns to be thrust away, Because they can't be taken with the hand
23:7: But the man who touches them Must be armed with iron and the staff of a spear: They shall be utterly burned with fire in [their] place
23:8: These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb Basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite, against eight hundred slain at one time.
23:9: After him was Eleazar the son of Dodai the son of an Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines who were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away.
23:10: He arose, and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand froze to the sword; and Yahweh worked a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to take spoil.
23:11: After him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite. The Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the people fled from the Philistines.
23:12: But he stood in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and killed the Philistines; and Yahweh worked a great victory.
23:13: Three of the thirty chief men went down, and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam; and the troop of the Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim.
23:14: David was then in the stronghold; and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.
23:15: David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me water to drink of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!
23:16: The three mighty men broke through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but he would not drink of it, but poured it out to Yahweh.
23:17: He said, Be it far from me, Yahweh, that I should do this: [shall I drink] the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.
23:18: Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the three. He lifted up his spear against three hundred and killed them, and had a name among the three.
23:19: Wasn't he most honorable of the three? therefore he was made their captain: however he didn't attain to the [first] three.
23:20: Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, he killed the two [sons of] Ariel of Moab: he went down also and killed a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow.
23:21: He killed an Egyptian, a goodly man: and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and killed him with his own spear.
23:22: These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had a name among the three mighty men.
23:23: He was more honorable than the thirty, but he didn't attain to the [first] three. David set him over his guard.
23:24: Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,
23:25: Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite,
23:26: Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite,
23:27: Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite,
23:28: Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite,
23:29: Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin,
23:30: Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash.
23:31: Abialbon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite,
23:32: Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan,
23:33: Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite,
23:34: Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maacathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,
23:35: Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite,
23:36: Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite,
23:37: Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, armor bearers to Joab the son of Zeruiah,
23:38: Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,
23:39: Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.

24:1: Again the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah.
24:2: The king said to Joab the captain of the host, who was with him, Go now back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number you the people, that I may know the sum of the people.
24:3: Joab said to the king, Now Yahweh your God add to the people, however many they may be, one hundred times; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it: but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?
24:4: Notwithstanding, the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.
24:5: They passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Jazer:
24:6: then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; and they came to Dan Jaan, and round about to Sidon,
24:7: and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of Judah, at Beersheba.
24:8: So when they had gone back and forth through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.
24:9: Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
24:10: David's heart struck him after that he had numbered the people. David said to Yahweh, I have sinned greatly in that which I have done: but now, Yahweh, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.
24:11: When David rose up in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,
24:12: Go and speak to David, Thus says Yahweh, I offer you three things: choose you one of them, that I may do it to you.
24:13: So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? now advise you, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.
24:14: David said to Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of Yahweh; for his mercies are great; and let me not fall into the hand of man.
24:15: So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the time appointed; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.
24:16: When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh repented him of the evil, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, It is enough; now stay your hand. The angel of Yahweh was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
24:17: David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who struck the people, and said, Behold, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me, and against my father's house.
24:18: Gad came that day to David, and said to him, Go up, rear an altar to Yahweh in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
24:19: David went up according to the saying of Gad, as Yahweh commanded.
24:20: Araunah looked forth, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.
24:21: Araunah said, Why is my lord the king come to his servant? David said, To buy the threshing floor of you, to build an altar to Yahweh, that the plague may be stayed from the people.
24:22: Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him: behold, the oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood:
24:23: all this, king, does Araunah give to the king. Araunah said to the king, Yahweh your God accept you.
24:24: The king said to Araunah, No; but I will most assuredly buy it of you at a price. Neither will I offer burnt-offerings to Yahweh my God which cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
24:25: David built there an altar to Yahweh, and offered burnt offerings and peace-offerings. So Yahweh was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.