Day 97 of 365

¹When Saul's son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands became feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.

²Saul's son had two men who were captains of bands: the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin (for Beeroth also is reckoned to Benjamin:

³and the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and have lived as foreigners there until this day).

⁴Now Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son who was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the news came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel; and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it happened, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.

⁵The sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, as he took his rest at noon.

⁶They came there into the midst of the house, as though they would have fetched wheat; and they struck him in the body: and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.

⁷Now when they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him, and killed him, and beheaded him, and took his head, and went by the way of the Arabah all night.

⁸They brought the head of Ishbosheth to David to Hebron, and said to the king, "Behold, the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life! The Lord has avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed."

⁹David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, "As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity,

¹⁰when someone told me, 'Behold, Saul is dead,' thinking to have brought good news, I took hold of him, and killed him in Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news.

¹¹How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?"

¹²David commanded his young men, and they killed them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up beside the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth, and buried it in the grave of Abner in Hebron.

¹Then came all the tribes of Israel to David to Hebron, and spoke, saying, "Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.

²In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. The Lord said to you, 'You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.'"

³So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the Lord; and they anointed David king over Israel.

⁴David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.

⁵In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

⁶The king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, "Unless you take away the blind and the lame, you shall not come in here"; thinking, "David can't come in here."

⁷Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David.

⁸David said on that day, "Whoever strikes the Jebusites, let him get up to the watercourse, and strike the lame and the blind, who are hated by David's soul." Therefore they say, "The blind and the lame can't come into the house."

⁹David lived in the stronghold, and called it the city of David. David built around from Millo and inward.

¹⁰David grew greater and greater; for the Lord, the God of Hosts, was with him.

¹¹Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons; and they built David a house.

¹²David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake.

¹³David took him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he had come from Hebron; and there were yet sons and daughters born to David.

¹⁴These are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon,

¹⁵and Ibhar, and Elishua, and Nepheg, and Japhia,

¹⁶and Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphelet.

¹⁷When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David; and David heard of it, and went down to the stronghold.

¹⁸Now the Philistines had come and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.

¹⁹David inquired of the Lord, saying, "Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hand?" The Lord said to David, "Go up; for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into your hand."

²⁰David came to Baal Perazim, and David struck them there; and he said, "The Lord has broken my enemies before me, like the breach of waters." Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim.

²¹They left their images there; and David and his men took them away.

²²The Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.

²³When David inquired of the Lord, he said, "You shall not go up. Circle around behind them, and attack them over against the mulberry trees.

²⁴It shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then you shall stir yourself up; for then the Lord has gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines."

²⁵David did so, as the Lord commanded him, and struck the Philistines from Geba until you come to Gezer.

¹David again gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.

²David arose, and went with all the people who were with him, from Baale Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, even the name of the Lord of hosts who sits above the cherubim.

³They set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in the hill: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart.

⁴They brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was in the hill, with the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark.

⁵David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord with all kinds of instruments made of fir wood, and with harps, and with stringed instruments, and with tambourines, and with castanets, and with cymbals.

⁶When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached for the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the cattle stumbled.

⁷The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God struck him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.

⁸David was displeased, because the Lord had broken forth on Uzzah; and he called that place Perez Uzzah, to this day.

⁹David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, "How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?"

¹⁰So David would not move the ark of the Lord to be with him in the city of David; but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.

¹¹The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months: and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom, and all his house.

¹²It was told king David, saying, "The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom, and all that pertains to him, because of the ark of God." David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of David with joy.

¹³It was so, that, when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.

¹⁴David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was clothed in a linen ephod.

¹⁵So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.

¹⁶It was so, as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.

¹⁷They brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place, in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

¹⁸When David had made an end of offering the burnt offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts.

¹⁹He gave to all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, both to men and women, to everyone a portion of bread, dates, and raisins. So all the people departed everyone to his house.

²⁰Then David returned to bless his household. Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, "How glorious the king of Israel was today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!"

²¹David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father, and above all his house, to appoint me prince over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore will I celebrate before the Lord.

²²I will be yet more vile than this, and will be base in my own sight. But of the handmaids of whom you have spoken, they shall honor me."

²³Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

¹It happened, when the king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies all around,

²that the king said to Nathan the prophet, "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within curtains."

³Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that is in your heart; for the Lord is with you."

⁴It happened the same night, that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying,

⁵"Go and tell my servant David, 'Thus says the Lord, "Shall you build me a house for me to dwell in?

⁶For I have not lived in a house since the day that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have moved around in a tent and in a tabernacle.

⁷In all places in which I have walked with all the children of Israel, did I say a word to any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people Israel, saying, 'Why have you not built me a house of cedar?'"'

⁸Now therefore you shall tell my servant David this, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, "I took you from the sheep pen, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people, over Israel.

⁹I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. I will make you a great name, like the name of the great ones who are in the earth.

¹⁰I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as at the first,

¹¹and as from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. I will cause you to rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord tells you that the Lord will make you a house.

¹²When your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.

¹³He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

¹⁴I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men;

¹⁵but my loving kindness shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you.

¹⁶Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever."'"

¹⁷According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

¹⁸Then David the king went in, and sat before the Lord; and he said, "Who am I, Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?

¹⁹This was yet a small thing in your eyes, Lord God; but you have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come; and this after the way of men, Lord God!

²⁰What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, Lord God.

²¹For your word's sake, and according to your own heart, you have worked all this greatness, to make your servant know it.

²²Therefore you are great, Lord God. For there is none like you, neither is there any God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

²³What one nation in the earth is like your people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem to himself for a people, and to make himself a name, and to do great things for you, and awesome things for your land, before your people, whom you redeem to yourself out of Egypt, from the nations and their gods?

²⁴You established for yourself your people Israel to be a people to you forever; and you, Lord, became their God.

²⁵Now, Lord God, the word that you have spoken concerning your servant, and concerning his house, confirm it forever, and do as you have spoken.

²⁶Let your name be magnified forever, saying, 'The Lord of hosts is God over Israel; and the house of your servant David shall be established before you.'

²⁷For you, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have revealed to your servant, saying, 'I will build you a house.' Therefore your servant has found in his heart to pray this prayer to you.

²⁸"Now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are truth, and you have promised this good thing to your servant.

²⁹Now therefore let it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you; for you, Lord God, have spoken it. Let the house of your servant be blessed forever with your blessing."