Day 21 of 90

¹Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was toward Absalom.

²Joab sent to Tekoa, and fetched there a wise woman, and said to her, "Please act like a mourner, and put on mourning clothing, please, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but be as a woman who has mourned a long time for the dead.

³Go in to the king, and speak like this to him." So Joab put the words in her mouth.

⁴When the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, showed respect, and said, "Help, O king!"

⁵The king said to her, "What ails you?" She answered, "Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead.

⁶Your handmaid had two sons, and they both fought together in the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one struck the other, and killed him.

⁷Behold, the whole family has risen against your handmaid, and they say, 'Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he killed, and so destroy the heir also.' Thus they would quench my coal which is left, and would leave to my husband neither name nor remainder on the surface of the earth."

⁸The king said to the woman, "Go to your house, and I will give a command concerning you."

⁹The woman of Tekoa said to the king, "My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father's house; and the king and his throne be guiltless."

¹⁰The king said, "Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall not touch you any more."

¹¹Then she said, "Please let the king remember the Lord your God, that the avenger of blood destroy not any more, lest they destroy my son." He said, "As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground."

¹²Then the woman said, "Please let your handmaid speak a word to my lord the king." He said, "Say on."

¹³The woman said, "Why then have you devised such a thing against the people of God? For in speaking this word the king is as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring home again his banished one.

¹⁴For we must die, and are as water split on the ground, which can't be gathered up again; neither does God take away life, but devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast from him.

¹⁵Now therefore seeing that I have come to speak this word to my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid: and your handmaid said, 'I will now speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his servant.'

¹⁶For the king will hear, to deliver his servant out of the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God.

¹⁷Then your handmaid said, 'Please let the word of my lord the king bring rest; for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad. May the Lord, your God, be with you.'"

¹⁸Then the king answered the woman, "Please do not hide anything from me that I ask you." The woman said, "Let my lord the king now speak."

¹⁹The king said, "Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?" The woman answered, "As your soul lives, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab, he urged me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your handmaid;

²⁰to change the face of the matter has your servant Joab done this thing. My lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth."

²¹The king said to Joab, "Behold now, I have done this thing. Go therefore, bring the young man Absalom back."

²²Joab fell to the ground on his face, showed respect, and blessed the king. Joab said, "Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord, king, in that the king has performed the request of his servant."

²³So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.

²⁴The king said, "Let him return to his own house, but let him not see my face." So Absalom returned to his own house, and did not see the king's face.

²⁵Now in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.

²⁶When he cut the hair of his head (now it was at every year's end that he cut it; because it was heavy on him, therefore he cut it); he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels, after the king's weight.

²⁷To Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar: she was a woman of a beautiful face.

²⁸Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem; and he did not see the king's face.

²⁹Then Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king; but he would not come to him: and he sent again a second time, but he would not come.

³⁰Therefore he said to his servants, "Behold, Joab's field is near mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire." Absalom's servants set the field on fire. [And the servants of Joab came to him with their clothes rent, and they said to him, "The servants of Absalom have set the field on fire."]

³¹Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom to his house, and said to him, "Why have your servants set my field on fire?"

³²Absalom answered Joab, "Behold, I sent to you, saying, 'Come here, that I may send you to the king, to say, "Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to be there still. Now therefore let me see the king's face; and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me."'"

³³So Joab came to the king, and told him; and when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king, and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king: and the king kissed Absalom.

¹It happened after this, that Absalom prepared him a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him.

²Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate. It was so, that when any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgment, then Absalom called to him, and said, "What city are you from?" He said, "Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel."

³Absalom said to him, "Behold, your matters are good and right; but there is no man deputized by the king to hear you."

⁴Absalom said moreover, "Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man who has any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice!"

⁵It was so, that when any man came near to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took hold of him, and kissed him.

⁶Absalom did this sort of thing to all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

⁷It happened at the end of forty years, that Absalom said to the king, "Please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to the Lord, in Hebron.

⁸For your servant vowed a vow while I stayed at Geshur in Syria, saying, 'If the Lord shall indeed bring me again to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord.'"

⁹The king said to him, "Go in peace." So he arose, and went to Hebron.

¹⁰But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, "As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, 'Absalom is king in Hebron!'"

¹¹Two hundred men went with Absalom out of Jerusalem, who were invited, and went in their simplicity; and they did not know anything.

¹²Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. The conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom.

¹³A messenger came to David, saying, "The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom."

¹⁴David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, "Arise, and let us flee; for else none of us shall escape from Absalom. Make speed to depart, lest he overtake us quickly, and bring down evil on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword."

¹⁵The king's servants said to the king, "Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king chooses."

¹⁶The king went forth, and all his household after him. The king left ten women, who were concubines, to keep the house.

¹⁷The king went forth, and all the people after him; and they stayed in Beth Merhak.

¹⁸All his servants passed on beside him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came after him from Gath, passed on before the king.

¹⁹Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why do you also go with us? Return, and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner, and also an exile. Return to your own place.

²⁰Whereas you came but yesterday, should I this day make you go up and down with us, since I go where I may? Return, and take back your brothers. Mercy and truth be with you."

²¹Ittai answered the king, and said, "As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely in what place my lord the king shall is, whether for death or for life, even there also will your servant be."

²²David said to Ittai, "Go and pass over." Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones who were with him.

²³All the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness.

²⁴Behold, Zadok also came, and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God; and they set down the ark of God; and Abiathar went up, until all the people finished passing out of the city.

²⁵The king said to Zadok, "Carry back the ark of God into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and show me both it, and his habitation;

²⁶but if he say thus, 'I have no delight in you;' behold, here am I. Let him do to me as seems good to him."

²⁷The king said also to Zadok the priest, "Aren't you a seer? Return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.

²⁸Behold, I will stay at the fords of the wilderness, until word comes from you to inform me."

²⁹Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem; and they stayed there.

³⁰David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went barefoot: and all the people who were with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.

³¹Someone told David, saying, "Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom." David said, "Lord, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness."

³²It happened that when David had come to the top, where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn, and earth on his head.

³³David said to him, "If you pass on with me, then you will be a burden to me;

³⁴but if you return to the city, and tell Absalom, 'I will be your servant, O king. As I have been your father's servant in time past, so will I now be your servant; then will you defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel.'

³⁵Do you not have Zadok and Abiathar the priests there with you? Therefore it shall be, that whatever thing you shall hear out of the king's house, you shall tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests.

³⁶Behold, they have there with them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok's son, and Jonathan, Abiathar's son; and by them you shall send to me everything that you shall hear."

³⁷So Hushai, David's friend, came into the city; and Absalom came into Jerusalem.

¹When David was a little past the top, 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.

²The 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."

³The king said, "Where is your master's son?" Ziba said to the king, "Behold, he is staying in Jerusalem; for he said, 'Today the house of Israel will restore me the kingdom of my father.'"

⁴Then the king said 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."

⁵When 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.

⁶He 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.

⁷Shimei said when he cursed, "Be gone, be gone, you man of blood, and base fellow!

⁸The Lord has returned on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned! The Lord has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son! Behold, you are caught by your own mischief, because you are a man of blood!"

⁹Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please let me go over and take off his head."

¹⁰The king said, "What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? Because he curses, and because the Lord has said to him, 'Curse David;' who then shall say, 'Why have you done so?'"

¹¹David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, "Behold, my son, who came forth from my bowels, seeks my life. How much more this Benjamite, now? Leave him alone, and let him curse; for the Lord has invited him.

¹²It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me, and that the Lord will repay me good for the cursing of me today."

¹³So David and his men went by the way; and Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him, and cursed as he went, threw stones at him, and threw dust.

¹⁴The king, and all the people who were with him, came weary; and he refreshed himself there.

¹⁵Absalom, and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him.

¹⁶It happened, when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, had come to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom, "Long live the king! Long live the king!"

¹⁷Absalom said to Hushai, "Is this your kindness to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?"

¹⁸Hushai said to Absalom, "No; but whomever the Lord, and this people, and all the men of Israel have chosen, his will I be, and with him I will stay.

¹⁹Again, 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."

²⁰Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, "Give your counsel what we shall do."

²¹Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Go in to your father's concubines, that he has left to keep the house. Then all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong."

²²So 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.

²³The 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.

¹Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Let me now choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David tonight.

²I will come on him while he is weary and exhausted, and will make him afraid. All the people who are with him shall flee. I will strike the king only;

³and I will bring back all the people to you. The man whom you seek is as if all returned. All the people shall be in peace."

⁴The saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.

⁵Then Absalom said, "Now call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he says."

⁶When Hushai had come to Absalom, Absalom spoke to him, saying, "Ahithophel has spoken like this. Shall we do what he says? If not, speak up."

⁷Hushai said to Absalom, "The counsel that Ahithophel has given this time is not good."

⁸Hushai said moreover, "You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are fierce in their minds, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Your father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.

⁹Behold, he is now hidden in some pit, or in some other place. It will happen, when some of them have fallen at the first, that whoever hears it will say, 'There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom!'

¹⁰Even 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.

¹¹But 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.

¹²So 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.

¹³Moreover, if he be gone into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there isn't one small stone found there."

¹⁴Absalom and all the men of Israel said, "The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel." For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil on Absalom.

¹⁵Then Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, "Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel that way; and I have counseled this way.

¹⁶Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, 'Do not 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.'"

¹⁷Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En Rogel; and a female 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.

¹⁸But a boy saw them, and told Absalom. Then they both went away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down there.

¹⁹The woman took and spread the covering over the well's mouth, and spread out bruised grain on it; and nothing was known.

²⁰Absalom'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.

²¹It 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 and pass quickly over the water; for thus has Ahithophel counseled against you."

²²Then 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.

²³When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, and arose, and went 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.

²⁴Then David came to Mahanaim. Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.

²⁵Absalom set Amasa over the army 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.

²⁶Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

²⁷It happened, when David had 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,

²⁸brought beds, basins, earthen vessels, wheat, barley, meal, parched grain, beans, lentils, roasted grain,

²⁹honey, butter, 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."

¹David numbered the people who were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them.

²David 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."

³But 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."

⁴The king said to them, "I will do what seems best to you." The king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands.

⁵The 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 commanded all the captains concerning Absalom.

⁶So the people went out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim.

⁷The people of Israel were struck there before the servants of David, and there was a great slaughter there that day of twenty thousand men.

⁸For the battle was there spread over the surface of all the country; and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

⁹Absalom 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.

¹⁰A certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, "Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak."

¹¹Joab said to the man who told him, "Behold, you saw it, and why did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have given you ten pieces of silver, and a sash."

¹²The 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 commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, 'Beware that none touch the young man Absalom.'

¹³Otherwise if I had dealt falsely against his life (and there is no matter hidden from the king), then you yourself would have set yourself against me."

¹⁴Then Joab said, "I'm not going to wait like this 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.

¹⁵Ten young men who bore Joab's armor surrounded and struck Absalom, and killed him.

¹⁶Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab held back the people.

¹⁷They took Absalom, and cast him into the great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones. Then all Israel fled everyone to his tent.

¹⁸Now 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." He called the pillar after his own name; and it is called Absalom's monument, to this day.

¹⁹Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, "Let me now run, and bear the king news, how that the Lord has avenged him of his enemies."

²⁰Joab said to him, "You shall not be the bearer of news this day, but you shall bear news another day. But today you shall bear no news, because the king's son is dead."

²¹Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen!" The Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran.

²²Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said yet again to Joab, "But come what may, please let me also run after the Cushite." Joab said, "Why do you want to run, my son, since that you will have no reward for the news?"

²³"But come what may," he said, "I will run." He said to him, "Run!" Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Cushite.

²⁴Now 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.

²⁵The watchman cried, and told the king. The king said, "If he is alone, there is news in his mouth." He came closer and closer.

²⁶The watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the porter, and said, "Behold, a man running alone!" The king said, "He also brings news."

²⁷The watchman said, "I think the running of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok." The king said, "He is a good man, and comes with good news."

²⁸Ahimaaz called, and said to the king, "All is well." He bowed himself before the king with his face to the earth, and said, "Blessed is the Lord your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king!"

²⁹The 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 do not know what it was."

³⁰The king said, "Turn aside, and stand here." He turned aside, and stood still.

³¹Behold, the Cushite came. The Cushite said, "News for my lord the king; for the Lord has avenged you this day of all those who rose up against you."

³²The king said to the Cushite, "Is it well with the young man Absalom?" The Cushite answered, "May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up against you to do you harm, be as that young man is."

³³The king was much moved, and went up to the room over the gate, and wept. As he went, he said, "My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! I wish I had died for you, Absalom, my son, my son!"

¹It was told Joab, "Behold, the king weeps and mourns for Absalom."

²The victory that day was turned into mourning to all the people; for the people heard it said that day, "The king grieves for his son."

³The people sneaked into the city that day, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.

⁴The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, "My son Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son!"

⁵Joab 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;

⁶in 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 today I perceive that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it would have pleased you well.

⁷Now therefore arise, go out, and speak to comfort your servants; for I swear by the Lord, if you do not go out, not a man will stay with you this night. That would be worse to you than all the evil that has happened to you from your youth until now."

⁸Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. They told to all the people, saying, "Behold, the king is sitting in the gate." All the people came before the king. Now Israel had fled every man to his tent.

⁹All 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 has fled out of the land from Absalom.

¹⁰Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why do you not speak a word of bringing the king back?"

¹¹King 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? Since the speech of all Israel has come to the king, to return him to his house.

¹²You are my brothers, you are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the last to bring back the king?'

¹³Say 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 army before me continually in the room of Joab.'"

¹⁴He bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as one man; so that they sent to the king, saying, "Return, you and all your servants."

¹⁵So 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.

¹⁶Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, who was of Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David.

¹⁷There 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.

¹⁸A ferry boat went 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 had come over the Jordan.

¹⁹He said to the king, "Do not let my lord impute iniquity to me, nor 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.

²⁰For your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore behold, I have come this day the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king."

²¹But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered, "Shall Shimei not be put to death for this, because he cursed the Lord's anointed?"

²²David 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 do not I know that I am this day king over Israel?"

²³The king said to Shimei, "You shall not die." The king swore to him.

²⁴Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king; and he had neither groomed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came home in peace.

²⁵It happened, when he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said to him, "Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?"

²⁶He 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.

²⁷He 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.

²⁸For 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?"

²⁹The king said to him, "Why do you speak any more of your matters? I say, you and Ziba divide the land."

³⁰Mephibosheth said to the king, "Yes, let him take all, because my lord the king has come in peace to his own house."

³¹Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim; and he went over the Jordan with the king, to conduct him over the Jordan.

³²Now 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.

³³The king said to Barzillai, "Come over with me, and I will sustain you with me in Jerusalem."

³⁴Barzillai 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?

³⁵I 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?

³⁶Your servant would but just go over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king repay me with such a reward?

³⁷Please 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."

³⁸The king answered, "Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good to you. Whatever you require of me, that I will do for you."

³⁹All the people went over the Jordan, and the king went over. Then the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; and he returned to his own place.

⁴⁰So the king went over to Gilgal, and Chimham went over with him. All the people of Judah brought the king over, and also half the people of Israel.

⁴¹Behold, 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?"

⁴²All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, "Because the king is a close relative to us. Why then are you angry about this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king's cost? Or has he given us any gift?"

⁴³The men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, "We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more claim to 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.

¹There 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!"

²So 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.

³David 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 did not go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood.

⁴Then the king said to Amasa, "Call me the men of Judah together within three days, and be here present."

⁵So Amasa went to call the men of Judah together; but he stayed longer than the set time which he had appointed him.

⁶David said to Abishai, "Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom did. Take your lord's servants, and pursue after him, lest he get himself fortified cities, and escape out of our sight."

⁷There 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.

⁸When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab was clothed in his apparel of war that he had put on, and on it was a sash with a sword fastened on his waist in its sheath; and as he went forth it fell out.

⁹Joab said to Amasa, "Is it well with you, my brother?" Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.

¹⁰But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand. So he struck him with it in the body, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and did not strike him again; and he died. Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri.

¹¹There 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!"

¹²Amasa 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.

¹³When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.

¹⁴He 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.

¹⁵They 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.

¹⁶Then a wise woman cried out of the city, "Hear, hear! Please say to Joab, 'Come near here, that I may speak with you.'"

¹⁷He 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."

¹⁸Then she spoke, saying, "They were used to say in old times, 'They shall surely ask counsel at Abel;' and so they settled it.

¹⁹I am among 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 the Lord?"

²⁰Joab answered, "Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.

²¹The 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."

²²Then 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.

²³Now Joab was over all the army of Israel; and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites;

²⁴and Adoram was over the men subject to forced labor; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder;

²⁵and Sheva was scribe; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

²⁶and also Ira the Jairite was chief minister to David.

¹There was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David sought the face of the Lord. The Lord said, "It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put to death the Gibeonites."

²The 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);

³and 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 the Lord?"

⁴The 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, "Whatever you say, that will I do for you."

⁵They 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,

⁶let seven men of his sons be delivered to us, and we will hang them up to the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord." The king said, "I will give them."

⁷But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the Lord's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

⁸But 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.

⁹He delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before the Lord, and all seven of them fell together. They were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest.

¹⁰Rizpah 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. She allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day, nor the animals of the field by night.

¹¹It was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.

¹²David 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;

¹³and 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.

¹⁴They 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.

¹⁵The Philistines had war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. David grew faint;

¹⁶and Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being armed with a new sword, thought to have slain David.

¹⁷But 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 do not quench the lamp of Israel."

¹⁸It 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.

¹⁹There 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.

²⁰There was again war at Gath, where there 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.

²¹When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David's brother, killed him.

²²These four were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

¹David spoke to the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:

²and he said, "The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine;

³God, my rock, in him I will take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge. My savior, you save me from violence.

⁴I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I be saved from my enemies.

⁵For the waves of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

⁶The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death caught me.

⁷In my distress I called on the Lord. Yes, I called to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry came into his ears.

⁸Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.

⁹Smoke went up out of his nostrils. Fire out of his mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it.

¹⁰He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.

¹¹He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind.

¹²He made darkness pavilions around himself: gathering of waters, and thick clouds of the skies.

¹³At the brightness before him, coals of fire were kindled.

¹⁴The Lord thundered from heaven. The Most High uttered his voice.

¹⁵He sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and confused them.

¹⁶Then the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare by the rebuke of the Lord, At the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

¹⁷He sent from on high and he took me. He drew me out of many waters.

¹⁸He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.

¹⁹They came on me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support.

²⁰He also brought me out into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

²¹The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness. He rewarded me according to the cleanness of my hands.

²²For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

²³For all his ordinances were before me. As for his statutes, I did not depart from them.

²⁴I was also perfect toward him. I kept myself from my iniquity.

²⁵Therefore the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in his eyesight.

²⁶With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man you will show yourself perfect.

²⁷With the pure you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd.

²⁸You will save the afflicted people, But your eyes are on the proud, that you may bring them down.

²⁹For you are my lamp, Lord. The Lord will light up my darkness.

³⁰For by you, I run against a troop. By my God, I leap over a wall.

³¹As for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tested. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.

³²For who is God, besides the Lord? Who is a rock, besides our God?

³³God is my strong fortress. He makes my way perfect.

³⁴He makes his feet like hinds' feet, and sets me on my high places.

³⁵He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of brass.

³⁶You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your gentleness has made me great.

³⁷You have enlarged my steps under me. My feet have not slipped.

³⁸I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them. I did not turn again until they were consumed.

³⁹I have consumed them, and struck them through, so that they can't arise. Yes, they have fallen under my feet.

⁴⁰For you have armed me with strength for the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

⁴¹You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me.

⁴²They looked, but there was none to save; even to the Lord, but he did not answer them.

⁴³Then I beat them as small as the dust of the earth. I crushed them as the mire of the streets, and spread them abroad.

⁴⁴You 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 will serve me.

⁴⁵The foreigners will submit themselves to me. As soon as they hear of me, they will obey me.

⁴⁶The foreigners will fade away, and will come trembling out of their close places.

⁴⁷The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be God, the rock of my salvation,

⁴⁸even the God who executes vengeance for me, who brings down peoples under me,

⁴⁹who brings me away from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man.

⁵⁰Therefore I will give thanks to you, Lord, among the nations. Will sing praises to your name.

⁵¹He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his seed, forevermore."

¹Now 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:

²"The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me. His word was on my tongue.

³The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, 'One who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God,

⁴shall 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.'

⁵Most certainly 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.

⁶But all of the ungodly shall be as thorns to be thrust away, because they can't be taken with the hand,

⁷But 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."

⁸These 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.

⁹After 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.

¹⁰He arose, and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand froze to the sword; and the Lord worked a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to take spoil.

¹¹After him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite. The Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the people fled from the Philistines.

¹²But he stood in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and killed the Philistines; and the Lord worked a great victory.

¹³Three 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.

¹⁴David was then in the stronghold; and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.

¹⁵David longed, and said, "Oh that one would give me water to drink of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!"

¹⁶The three mighty men broke through the army 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 the Lord.

¹⁷He said, "Be it far from me, Lord, that I should do this! Isn't it the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?" Therefore he would not drink it. The three mighty men did these things.

¹⁸Abishai, 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.

¹⁹Wasn't he most honorable of the three? Therefore he was made their captain: however he did not attain to the three.

²⁰Benaiah 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.

²¹He 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.

²²Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did these things, and had a name among the three mighty men.

²³He was more honorable than the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. David set him over his guard.

²⁴Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,

²⁵Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite,

²⁶Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite,

²⁷Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite,

²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite,

²⁹Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin,

³⁰Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash.

³¹Abialbon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite,

³²Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan,

³³Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite,

³⁴Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maacathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,

³⁵Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite,

³⁶Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite,

³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, armor bearers to Joab the son of Zeruiah,

³⁸Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,

³⁹Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.

¹Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, "Go, number Israel and Judah."

²The king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with him, "Now go back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the sum of the people."

³Joab said to the king, "Now may the Lord 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?"

⁴Notwithstanding, the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the army. Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.

⁵They 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:

⁶then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; and they came to Dan Jaan, and around to Sidon,

⁷and 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.

⁸So when they had gone back and forth through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

⁹Joab 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.

¹⁰David's heart struck him after that he had numbered the people. David said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. But now, Lord, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly."

¹¹When David rose up in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,

¹²"Go and speak to David, 'Thus says the Lord, "I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you."'"

¹³So 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 answer, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me."

¹⁴David said to Gad, "I am in distress. Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are great. Let me not fall into the hand of man."

¹⁵So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the appointed time; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.

¹⁶When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, "It is enough. Now stay your hand." The angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁷David spoke to the Lord 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."

¹⁸Gad came that day to David, and said to him, "Go up, build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."

¹⁹David went up according to the saying of Gad, as the Lord commanded.

²⁰Araunah looked out, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. Then Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.

²¹Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy your threshing floor, to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people."

²²Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, the cattle for the burnt offering, and the threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood:

²³all this, king, does Araunah give to the king." Araunah said to the king, "May the Lord your God accept you."

²⁴The king said to Araunah, "No; but I will most certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

²⁵David built an altar to the Lord there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

¹Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he couldn't keep warm.

²Therefore his servants said to him, "Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin. Let her stand before the king, and cherish him; and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may keep warm."

³So they sought for a beautiful young lady throughout all the borders of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

⁴The young lady was very beautiful; and she cherished the king, and ministered to him; but the king did not know her intimately.

⁵Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, "I will be king." Then he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.

⁶His father had not displeased him at any time in saying, "Why have you done so?" and he was also a very handsome man; and he was born after Absalom.

⁷He conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest: and they following Adonijah helped him.

⁸But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah.

⁹Adonijah killed sheep and cattle and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En Rogel; and he called all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the men of Judah, the king's servants:

¹⁰but Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he did not call.

¹¹Then Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, "Haven't you heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith reigns, and David our lord doesn't know it?

¹²Now therefore come, please let me give you counsel, that you may save your own life, and the life of your son Solomon.

¹³Go in to king David, and tell him, 'Did you not, my lord, king, swear to your handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne? Why then does Adonijah reign?'

¹⁴Behold, while you yet talk there with the king, I also will come in after you, and confirm your words."

¹⁵Bathsheba went in to the king into the room. The king was very old; and Abishag the Shunammite was ministering to the king.

¹⁶Bathsheba bowed, and showed respect to the king. The king said, "What would you like?"

¹⁷She said to him, "My lord, you swore by the Lord your God to your handmaid, 'Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne.'

¹⁸Now, behold, Adonijah reigns; and you, my lord the king, do not know it.

¹⁹He has slain cattle and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the army; but he hasn't called Solomon your servant.

²⁰You, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, that you should tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.

²¹Otherwise it will happen, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders."

²²Behold, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet came in.

²³They told the king, saying, "Behold, Nathan the prophet!" When he had come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.

²⁴Nathan said, "My lord, king, have you said, 'Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne?'

²⁵For he is gone down this day, and has slain cattle and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has called all the king's sons, and the captains of the army, and Abiathar the priest. Behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and say, 'Long live king Adonijah!'

²⁶But he hasn't called me, even me your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon.

²⁷Is this thing done by my lord the king, and you haven't shown to your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?"

²⁸Then king David answered, "Call to me Bathsheba." She came into the king's presence, and stood before the king.

²⁹The king swore, and said, "As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity,

³⁰most certainly as I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, saying, 'Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place;' most certainly so will I do this day."

³¹Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and showed respect to the king, and said, "Let my lord king David live forever!"

³²King David said, "Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada." They came before the king.

³³The king said to them, "Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon.

³⁴Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel. Blow the trumpet, and say, 'Long live king Solomon!'

³⁵Then you shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne; for he shall be king in my place. I have appointed him to be prince over Israel and over Judah."

³⁶Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, "Amen. May the Lord, the God of my lord the king, say so.

³⁷As the Lord has been with my lord the king, even so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David."

³⁸So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride on king David's mule, and brought him to Gihon.

³⁹Zadok the priest took the horn of oil out of the Tent, and anointed Solomon. They blew the trumpet; and all the people said, "Long live king Solomon!"

⁴⁰All the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth shook with their sound.

⁴¹Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, "Why is this noise of the city being in an uproar?"

⁴²While he yet spoke, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came: and Adonijah said, "Come in; for you are a worthy man, and bring good news."

⁴³Jonathan answered Adonijah, "Most certainly our lord king David has made Solomon king.

⁴⁴The king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and they have caused him to ride on the king's mule.

⁴⁵Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon. They have come up from there rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that you have heard.

⁴⁶Also, Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom.

⁴⁷Moreover the king's servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, 'May your God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne;' and the king bowed himself on the bed.

⁴⁸Also thus said the king, 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne this day, my eyes even seeing it.'"

⁴⁹All the guests of Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and each man went his way.

⁵⁰Adonijah feared because of Solomon; and he arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

⁵¹It was told Solomon, saying, "Behold, Adonijah fears king Solomon; for, behold, he has laid hold on the horns of the altar, saying, 'Let king Solomon swear to me first that he will not kill his servant with the sword.'"

⁵²Solomon said, "If he shows himself a worthy man, not a hair of him shall fall to the earth; but if wickedness be found in him, he shall die."

⁵³So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. He came and bowed down to king Solomon; and Solomon said to him, "Go to your house."

¹Now the days of David drew near that he should die; and he commanded Solomon his son, saying,

²"I am going the way of all the earth. You be strong therefore, and show yourself a man;

³and keep the instruction of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself.

⁴That the Lord may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, 'If your children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you,' he said, 'a man on the throne of Israel.'

⁵"Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his sash that was about his waist, and in his shoes that were on his feet.

⁶Do therefore according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.

⁷But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those who eat at your table; for so they came to me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

⁸"Behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord, saying, 'I will not put you to death with the sword.'

⁹Now therefore do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood."

¹⁰David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

¹¹The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

¹²Solomon sat on the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was firmly established.

¹³Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. She said, "Do you come peaceably?" He said, "Peaceably.

¹⁴He said moreover, I have something to tell you." She said, "Say on."

¹⁵He said, "You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign. However the kingdom is turned around, and has become my brother's; for it was his from the Lord.

¹⁶Now I ask one petition of you. Do not deny me." She said to him, "Say on."

¹⁷He said, "Please speak to Solomon the king (for he will not tell you 'no'), that he give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife."

¹⁸Bathsheba said, "Alright. I will speak for you to the king."

¹⁹Bathsheba therefore went to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself to her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand.

²⁰Then she said, "I ask one small petition of you; do not deny me." The king said to her, "Ask on, my mother; for I will not deny you."

²¹She said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife."

²²King Solomon answered his mother, "Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah."

²³Then king Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, "God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life.

²⁴Now therefore as the Lord lives, who has established me, and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death this day."

²⁵King Solomon sent by Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell on him, so that he died.

²⁶To Abiathar the priest the king said, "Go to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted."

²⁷So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, that he might fulfill the word of the Lord, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

²⁸The news came to Joab; for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he did not turn after Absalom. Joab fled to the Tent of the Lord, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

²⁹It was told king Solomon, "Joab has fled to the Tent of the Lord, and behold, he is by the altar." Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go, fall on him."

³⁰Benaiah came to the Tent of the Lord, and said to him, "Thus says the king, 'Come forth!'" He said, "No; but I will die here." Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, "Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me."

³¹The king said to him, "Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him; that you may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father's house.

³²The Lord will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David did not know it: Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah.

³³So shall their blood return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his seed forever. But to David, and to his seed, and to his house, and to his throne, there shall be peace forever from the Lord."

³⁴Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell on him, and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

³⁵The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army; and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.

³⁶The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere.

³⁷For on the day you go out, and pass over the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall surely die: your blood shall be on your own head."

³⁸Shimei said to the king, "The saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so will your servant do." Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

³⁹It happened at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, "Behold, your servants are in Gath."

⁴⁰Shimei arose, and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to seek his servants; and Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath.

⁴¹It was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had come again.

⁴²The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, "Did I not adjure you by the Lord, and warn you, saying, 'Know for certain, that on the day you go out, and walk abroad any where, you shall surely die?' You said to me, 'The saying that I have heard is good.'

⁴³Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord, and the commandment that I have instructed you with?"

⁴⁴The king said moreover to Shimei, "You know all the wickedness which your heart is privy to, that you did to David my father. Therefore the Lord shall return your wickedness on your own head.

⁴⁵But king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever."

⁴⁶So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out, and fell on him, so that he died. The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

¹Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem all around.

²Only the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days.

³Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

⁴The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

⁵In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, "Ask what I shall give you."

⁶Solomon said, "You have shown to your servant David my father great loving kindness, according as he walked before you in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.

⁷Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king instead of David my father. I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in.

⁸Your servant is in the midst of your people which you have chosen, a great people, that can't be numbered nor counted for multitude.

⁹Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this your great people?"

¹⁰The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.

¹¹God said to him, "Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, neither have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice;

¹²behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart; so that there has been none like you before you, neither after you shall any arise like you.

¹³I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like you, all your days.

¹⁴If you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days."

¹⁵Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

¹⁶Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king, and stood before him.

¹⁷The one woman said, "Oh, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house. I delivered a child with her in the house.

¹⁸It happened the third day after I delivered, that this woman delivered also. We were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, just us two in the house.

¹⁹This woman's child died in the night, because she lay on it.

²⁰She arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

²¹When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, it was dead; but when I had looked at it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, whom I bore."

²²The other woman said, "No; but the living is my son, and the dead is your son." This said, "No; but the dead is your son, and the living is my son." Thus they spoke before the king.

²³Then the king said, "The one says, 'This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead;' and the other says, 'No; but your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.'"

²⁴The king said, "Get me a sword." They brought a sword before the king.

²⁵The king said, "Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other."

²⁶Then the woman whose the living child was spoke to the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, "Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no way kill it!" But the other said, "It shall be neither mine nor yours. Divide it."

²⁷Then the king answered, "Give her the living child, and in no way kill it. She is its mother."

²⁸All Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do justice.