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New Jerusalem Bible with Apocrypha
The Second Book of Samuel

David learns of Saul's death

¹Saul was dead and David, returning after his victory over the Amalekites, had been at Ziklag for two days. ²On the third day, a man arrived from Saul's camp with his clothes torn and earth on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the ground and prostrated himself. ³David asked him, *Where have you come from?* *I have escaped from the Israelite camp,* he said. ⁴David said, *What has happened? Tell me.* He replied, *The people fled from the battle, and many of them have fallen and are dead. Saul and his son Jonathan are dead too.* ⁵Then David asked the young man who brought the news, *How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?* ⁶The young man replied, *I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and the cavalry bearing down on him. ⁷Glancing behind him and seeing me, he shouted to me. I replied, *Here I am!* ⁸He said, *Who are you?* I replied, *I am an Amalekite.* ⁹He then said, *Come here and kill me. My head is swimming, although I still have all my strength.* ¹⁰So I went over to him and killed him, because I knew that once he fell he could not survive. I then took the crown which he had on his head and the bracelet on his arm, and have brought them here to my lord.* ¹¹David then took hold of his clothes and tore them, and all the men with him did the same. ¹²They mourned and wept and fasted until the evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, for the people of Yahweh and for the House of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. ¹³David said to the young man who had brought the news, *Where are you from?* He replied, *I am the son of a resident foreigner, an Amalekite.* ¹⁴David said, *How was it that you were not afraid to lift your hand to destroy Yahweh's anointed?* ¹⁵Then David called one of the young men. *Come here,* he said, 'strike him down.* The man struck him and he died. ¹⁶David said, *Your blood be on your own head. You convicted yourself out of your own mouth by saying, *I killed Yahweh's anointed.* *

David's elegy over Saul and Jonathan

¹⁷David sang the following lament over Saul and his son Jonathan ¹⁸(it is for teaching archery to the children of Judah; it is written in the Book of the Just): ^{* [ Poetry from this book is quoted elsewhere too in the Bible.] 19}Does the splendour of Israel lie dead on your heights? How did the heroes fall? ²⁰Do not speak of it in Gath, nor broadcast it in the streets of Ashkelon, for fear the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, for fear the daughters of the uncircumcised gloat. ²¹You mountains of Gilboa, no dew, no rain fall on you, O treacherous fields where the heroes* shield lies dishonoured! Not greased with oil, the shield of Saul, ²²but with the blood of wounded men, the fat of warriors! The bow of Jonathan never turned back, the sword of Saul never came home unsated! ²³Saul and Jonathan, beloved and handsome, were divided neither in life, nor in death. Swifter than eagles were they, stronger than lions. ²⁴O daughters of Israel, weep for Saul who gave you scarlet and fine linen to wear, who pinned golden jewellery on your dresses! ²⁵How did the heroes fall in the thick of the battle? Jonathan, by your dying I too am stricken, ²⁶I am desolate for you, Jonathan my brother. Very dear you were to me, your love more wonderful to me than the love of a woman. ²⁷How did the heroes fall and the weapons of war succumb!

I: DAVID

A: DAVID KING OF JUDAH

David consecrated king at Hebron

²After this David consulted Yahweh, asking, *Shall I go up to one of the towns of Judah?* Yahweh replied, *Go up!* *Which one shall I go to?* David asked. *To Hebron,* was the reply. ²So David went up, with his two wives Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail widow of Nabal of Carmel. ³In addition David brought up the men who were with him, each with his family, and they settled in the towns of Hebron. ⁴The men of Judah came, and there they anointed David as king of the House of Judah.

David's message to the people of Jabesh

They told David that the people of Jabesh in Gilead had given Saul burial, ⁵so David sent messengers to the people of Jabesh in Gilead. *May you be blessed by Yahweh,* he said, *for showing this faithful love to Saul your lord, and for burying him. ⁶And now may Yahweh show faithful love and constancy towards you! I too shall treat you well because you have done this. ⁷And now take courage and be men of valour. Saul your lord is dead, but the House of Judah has anointed me to be their king.*

Abner imposes Ishbaal as king of Israel

⁸Abner son of Ner, Saul's army commander, had taken Ishbaal son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim. ⁹He had made him king of Gilead, of the Asherites, of Jezreel, of Ephraim, of Benjamin and indeed of all Israel. ¹⁰Ishbaal son of Saul was forty years old when he became king of Israel, and he reigned for two years. Only the House of Judah supported David. ¹¹The length of David's reign over Judah in Hebron was seven years and six months.

War between Israel and Judah
The battle of Gibeon

¹²Abner son of Ner, with the retainers of Ishbaal son of Saul, marched out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. ¹³Joab son of Zeruiah, with David's retainers, also took the field, encountering them at the pool of Gibeon. There they halted, one party on one side of the pool, and the other opposite. ¹⁴Abner then said to Joab, *Let the men come forward and fight it out between us!* Joab replied, *Let them come forward.* ¹⁵So they came forward and were numbered off, twelve from Benjamin for Ishbaal son of Saul, and twelve of David's retainers. ¹⁶Each caught his opponent by the head and drove his sword into his side; and thus they all fell together. Hence the place was called the Field of Sides; it is at Gibeon. ¹⁷That day a very fierce battle took place, and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten by David's retainers. ¹⁸The three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel could run like a wild gazelle. ¹⁹Asahel chased Abner, not swerving to the right or left from pursuing him. ²⁰Abner turned and said, *Asahel, is that you?* He replied, *It is.* ²¹Abner said, *Turn to your right or your left, catch one of the men and take his spoil!* But Asahel would not break off the pursuit. ²²Again Abner spoke to Asahel, *Stop following me, unless you want me to strike you to the ground; and then how could I look your brother Joab in the face?* ²³But he refused to be diverted, so Abner struck him in the belly with the butt of his spear so that the shaft came out through his back; and he fell at his feet and died on the spot. On coming to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, everyone halted. ²⁴Joab and Abishai took up the pursuit of Abner and at sunset reached the Hill of Ammah, which is to the east of Giah on the road through the desert of Gibeon. ²⁵The Benjaminites gathered in close formation behind Abner and halted on the top of a hill. ²⁶Abner called out to Joab, *Is the sword to go on devouring for ever? Surely you see that this can only end in bitterness? How long will it be before you order those people to stop pursuing their brothers?* ²⁷Joab replied, *As Yahweh lives, if you had not spoken, these men would not have given up the pursuit of their brothers until morning.* ²⁸Joab then sounded the trumpet and all the troops halted; they pursued Israel no further and fought no more. ²⁹All that night Abner and his men made their way through the Arabah; they crossed the Jordan and, marching throughout the morning, came to Mahanaim. ³⁰Joab, having stopped pursuing Abner, mustered the whole contingent; David's retainers had lost nineteen men in addition to Asahel, ³¹but had killed three hundred and sixty of Benjamin, Abner's men. ³²They took up Asahel and buried him in his father's tomb, which is at Bethlehem. Joab and his men then marched throughout the night, reaching Hebron at daybreak.

³So the war dragged on between the House of Saul and the House of David, but David grew steadily stronger and the House of Saul steadily weaker.

The sons born to David at Hebron

²The sons born to David at Hebron were: his first*born Amnon, by Ahinoam of Jezreel; ³his second Chileab, by Abigail widow of Nabal of Carmel; the third Absalom son of Maacah, daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; ⁴the fourth Adonijah son of Haggith; the fifth Shephatiah son of Abital; ⁵the sixth Ithream, by David's wife, Eglah. These were born to David at Hebron.

The rift between Abner and Ishbaal

⁶This is what took place during the war between the House of Saul and the House of David. Abner took complete control in the House of Saul. ⁷Now, there was a concubine of Saul's called Rizpah daughter of Aiah, and Abner took her. Ishbaal said to Abner, *Why have you slept with my father's concubine?* ⁸At these words of Ishbaal, Abner flew into a rage. *Am I a dog's head?* he shouted. *Here am I, full of faithful love towards the House of Saul your father, his brothers and his friends, not leaving you to the hands of David, and now you find fault with me over a woman! ⁹May God bring unnameable ills on Abner, and worse ones, too, if I do not bring about what Yahweh has sworn to David: ¹⁰to take the sovereignty from the House of Saul, and establish David's throne over Israel as well as Judah, from Dan to Beersheba!* ¹¹Ishbaal dared not say a single word to Abner in reply, as he was afraid of him.

Abner negotiates with David

¹²Abner sent messengers on his own behalf to say to David, *. . . and furthermore, come to an agreement with me and I will give you my support to win all Israel over to you.* ¹³*Very well,* David said, *I will come to an agreement with you. I impose one condition however; you will not be admitted to my presence unless you bring me Michal, Saul's daughter, when you come to see me.* ¹⁴David then sent messengers to say to Ishbaal son of Saul, *Give me back my wife Michal, whom I acquired for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.* ¹⁵So Ishbaal sent for her to be taken from her husband Paltiel son of Laish. ¹⁶Her husband set off with her and followed her, weeping as he went, as far as Bahurim; but Abner said to him, *Go back!* and he went. ¹⁷Now Abner conferred with the elders of Israel. *For a long time now,* he said, *you have wanted David as your king. ¹⁸Now you must take action, since Yahweh has said of David, *By the hand of my servant David I shall deliver my people Israel from the clutches of the Philistines and all their enemies.* * ¹⁹Abner also spoke to the men of Benjamin and then went to Hebron to tell David everything that had been agreed by Israel and the House of Benjamin. ²⁰Abner, accompanied by twenty men, came to David at Hebron, and David held a feast for Abner and the men who were with him. ²¹Abner then said to David, *I must get up and go. I am going to rally all Israel to my lord the king, so that they will make an alliance with you, and you will reign over all that you desire.* So David allowed Abner to go, and he went unmolested.

The murder of Abner

²²David's retainers were just then coming back with Joab from a raid, bringing a great quantity of booty with them. Abner was no longer with David at Hebron, since David had allowed him to go, and he had gone unmolested. ²³When Joab and the whole company with him had arrived, Joab was told, *Abner son of Ner has been to the king, and the king has allowed Abner to go away unmolested.* ²⁴Joab then went to the king and said, *What have you done? Abner comes to you and you let him go away and now he has gone*why? ²⁵You know Abner son of Ner! He came to trick you, to discover your every move, to find out what you are doing.* ²⁶Joab left David's presence and sent messengers after Abner and these, unknown to David, brought him back from the storage*well at Sirah. ²⁷When Abner reached Hebron, Joab took him aside in the town*gate, as if to have a quiet word with him, and there struck him a mortal blow in the belly to avenge the blood of his brother Asahel. ²⁸Afterwards, when David heard of this, he said, *I and my kingdom are for ever innocent before Yahweh of the blood of Abner son of Ner; ²⁹may it fall on the head of Joab and on all his family! May the House of Joab never be free of men afflicted with haemorrhage or a virulent skin*disease, whose strength is in the distaff, who fall by the sword, who lack food.* ³⁰(Joab and his brother Abishai had murdered Abner because he killed their brother Asahel at the battle of Gibeon.) ³¹David then said to Joab and the whole company with him, *Tear your clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourn over Abner,* and King David walked behind the bier. ³²They buried Abner at Hebron, and the king wept aloud on his grave, and the people all wept too. ³³The king made this lament over Abner: Should Abner have died as a brute dies? ³⁴Your hands were not tied, your feet not chained; you fell as a man falls at the hands of criminals. And all the people wept for him louder than ever. ³⁵The people then all tried to persuade David to have some food while it was still daylight, but David swore this oath, *May God bring unnameable ills on me, and worse ills, too, if I taste bread or anything whatever until the sun is down!* ³⁶All the people took note of this and it pleased them; indeed, everything the king did pleased the people. ³⁷That day, all the people and all Israel understood that the king had had no part in the murder of Abner son of Ner. ³⁸The king said to his retainers, *Do you not realise that a prince, a great man, has fallen in Israel today? ³⁹I, though anointed king, am weak at present, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too strong for me. May Yahweh repay the criminal as his crime deserves!*

The murder of Ishbaal

⁴When Saul's son heard that Abner had died at Hebron, his heart failed him, and all Israel was alarmed. ²Now, Saul's son had two freebooting chieftains; one was called Baanah, the other Rechab. They were the sons of Rimmon of Beeroth, and Benjaminites*for Beeroth is regarded as belonging to Benjamin. ³The people of Beeroth had taken refuge in Gittaim, where they have remained to this day as resident foreigners. ⁴Jonathan son of Saul had a son with crippled feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled but, as she hurried away, he fell and was lamed. His name was Meribbaal. ⁵The sons of Rimmon of Beeroth, Rechab and Baanah, set out; they came to Ishbaal's house at the hottest part of the day when he was taking his midday rest. ⁶The woman who kept the door had been cleaning wheat and had drowsed off to sleep. ⁷Rechab and his brother Baanah stole past her and entered the house, where he was lying on his bed in his bedroom. They struck him and killed him, then cut off his head and, taking the head with them, travelled all night by way of the Arabah. ⁸They brought Ishbaal's head to David at Hebron. *Here*, they said to the king, *is the head of Ishbaal son of Saul, your enemy, who meant to take your life. Yahweh has avenged my lord the king today on Saul and on his offspring.* ⁹But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon, by saying, *As Yahweh lives, who has rescued me from every danger, ¹⁰when someone told me, *Saul is dead!* supposing himself to be bringing me good news, I seized and put him to death at Ziklag, and that was how I rewarded him for his news! ¹¹How much more when bandits have killed an upright man in his house, and on his bed! Am I not to demand an account of his blood from you, and rid the earth of you?* ¹²David then gave an order to the men, who put them to death, cut off their hands and feet, and hung them up beside the pool of Hebron. Ishbaal's head they took and buried in Abner's grave at Hebron.

B: DAVID KING OF JUDAH AND OF ISRAEL

David is anointed king of Israel

⁵All the tribes of Israel then came to David at Hebron and said, *Look, we are your own flesh and bone. ²In days past when Saul was our king, it was you who led Israel on its campaigns, and to you it was that Yahweh promised, *You are to shepherd my people Israel and be leader of Israel.* * ³So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a pact with them in Yahweh's presence at Hebron, and they anointed David as king of Israel. ⁴David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty years. ⁵In Hebron he reigned over Judah for seven years and six months; then he reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel and Judah for thirty*three years.

The capture of Jerusalem

⁶The king and his men then marched on Jerusalem, on the Jebusites living in the territory. These said to David, *You will not get in here. The blind and the lame will hold you off.* (That is to say: David will never get in here.) ⁷But David captured the citadel of Zion, that is, the City of David. ⁸That day, David said, *Whoever gets up the tunnel and kills a Jebusite . . .* ^{* [ The sentence breaks off. The tunnel, a secret passage from the spring to the interior of the city, still exists.]} As for the blind and the lame, David hated them with his whole being. (Hence the saying: the blind and the lame may not enter the Temple.) ⁹David went to live in the citadel and called it the City of David. David then built a wall round it, from the Millo inwards. ¹⁰David grew stronger and stronger, and Yahweh, God of Sabaoth, was with him. ¹¹Hiram king of Tyre sent envoys to David, with cedar wood, carpenters and stone*cutters, who built David a palace. ¹²David then knew that Yahweh had confirmed him as king of Israel and, for the sake of his people Israel, had extended his sovereignty.

The sons born to David in Jerusalem

¹³After coming from Hebron, David took other concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and sons and daughters were born to him. ¹⁴These are the names of those born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, ¹⁵Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, ¹⁶Elishama, Eliada, Eliphelet.

Victory over the Philistines

¹⁷When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed as king of Israel, they all went up to seek him out. On hearing this, David went down to the stronghold. ¹⁸When the Philistines arrived, they deployed in the Valley of the Rephaim. ¹⁹David consulted Yahweh and asked, *Shall I attack the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my power?* Yahweh replied to David, *Attack! I shall certainly deliver the Philistines into your power.* ²⁰Accordingly, David went to Baal*Perazim and there David defeated them. He said, *Yahweh has made a breach in my enemies for me, as though they had been breached by a flood.* This is why the place was given the name Baal*Perazim. ²¹They had left their gods behind them there, and David and his men carried them off. ²²Again the Philistines invaded and deployed in the Valley of the Rephaim. ²³David consulted Yahweh, who replied, *Do not attack them from the front; go round to their rear and engage them opposite the balsam trees. ²⁴When you hear the sound of footsteps in the tops of the balsam trees, advance, for that will be Yahweh going out ahead of you to defeat the Philistine army.* ²⁵David did as Yahweh had ordered and beat the Philistines from Gibeon to the Pass of Gezer.

The ark in Jerusalem

⁶David again mustered all the picked troops of Israel, thirty thousand men. ²Setting off with the whole force then with him, David went to Baalah of Judah, from there to bring up the ark of God, who bears the title *Yahweh Sabaoth, enthroned on the winged creatures*. ³They transported the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of Abinadab's house which is on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the cart, ⁴Uzzah walked alongside the ark of God and Ahio went in front. ⁵David and the whole House of Israel danced before Yahweh with all their might, singing to the accompaniment of harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals. ⁶When they came to Nacon's threshing*floor, Uzzah reached his hand out to the ark of God and steadied it, as the oxen were making it tilt. ⁷This roused Yahweh's anger against Uzzah, and for this crime God struck him down on the spot, and there he died beside the ark of God. ⁸David resented Yahweh's having broken out against Uzzah, and the place was given the name Perez*Uzzah, ^{* [ *Uzzah's Breach*, a popular explanation of the name.]} which it still has today. ⁹That day David felt afraid of Yahweh. *How can the ark of Yahweh come to be with me?* he said. ¹⁰So David decided not to take the ark of Yahweh with him into the city of David but diverted it to the house of Obed*Edom of Gath. ¹¹The ark of Yahweh remained in the house of Obed*Edom of Gath for three months, and Yahweh blessed Obed*Edom and his whole family. ¹²King David was informed that Yahweh had blessed Obed*Edom's family and everything belonging to him on account of the ark of God. David accordingly went and, amid great rejoicing, brought the ark of God up from Obed*Edom's house to the City of David. ¹³When the bearers of the ark of Yahweh had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fat sheep. ¹⁴And David danced whirling round before Yahweh with all his might, wearing a linen loincloth. ¹⁵Thus with war cries and blasts on the horn, David and the entire House of Israel brought up the ark of Yahweh. ¹⁶Now as the ark of Yahweh entered the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul was watching from the window and when she saw King David leaping and whirling round before Yahweh, the sight of him filled her with contempt. ¹⁷They brought the ark of Yahweh in and put it in position, inside the tent which David had erected for it; and David presented burnt offerings and communion sacrifices in Yahweh's presence. ¹⁸And when David had finished presenting burnt offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh Sabaoth. ¹⁹To all the people, to the whole multitude of Israelites, men and women, he then distributed to each a loaf of bread, a portion of dates and a raisin cake. Then the people all went back to their homes. ²⁰As David was coming back to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him. *Much honour the king of Israel has won today,* she said, *making an exhibition of himself under the eyes of his servant*maids, making an exhibition of himself like a buffoon!* ²¹David replied to Michal, *I was dancing for Yahweh, not for them. As Yahweh lives, who chose me in preference to your father and his whole family to make me leader of Israel, Yahweh's people, I shall dance before Yahweh and ²²lower myself even further than that. In your eyes I may be base, but by the maids you speak of, by them, I shall be held in honour!* ²³And to the day of her death, Michal, daughter of Saul, had no children.

Nathan's prophecy

⁷Once the king had settled into his palace and Yahweh had granted him rest from all the enemies surrounding him, ²the king said to the prophet Nathan, *Look, I am living in a cedar*wood palace, while the ark of God is under awnings.* ³Nathan said to the king, *Go and do whatever you have in mind, for Yahweh is with you.* ⁴But that very night, the word of Yahweh came to Nathan: ⁵*Go and tell my servant David, *Yahweh says this: Are you to build me a temple for me to live in? ⁶I have never lived in a house from the day when I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until today, but have kept travelling with a tent for shelter. ⁷In all my travels with all the Israelites, did I say to any of the judges of Israel, whom I had commanded to shepherd my people Israel: Why do you not build me a cedar*wood temple?* ⁸This is what you must say to my servant David, *Yahweh Sabaoth says this: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel; ⁹I have been with you wherever you went; I have got rid of all your enemies for you. I am going to make your fame as great as the fame of the greatest on earth. ¹⁰I am going to provide a place for my people Israel; I shall plant them there, and there they will live and never be disturbed again; nor will they be oppressed by the wicked any more, as they were in former times ¹¹ever since the time when I instituted judges to govern my people Israel; and I shall grant you rest from all your enemies. Yahweh furthermore tells you that he will make you a dynasty. ¹²And when your days are over and you fall asleep with your ancestors, I shall appoint your heir, your own son to succeed you (and I shall make his sovereignty secure. ¹³He will build a temple for my name) ^{* [ The words in brackets were probably added during Solomon's reign.]} and I shall make his royal throne secure for ever. ¹⁴I shall be a father to him and he a son to me; if he does wrong, I shall punish him with a rod such as men use, with blows such as mankind gives. ¹⁵But my faithful love will never be withdrawn from him as I withdrew it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. ¹⁶Your dynasty and your sovereignty will ever stand firm before me and your throne be for ever secure.* * ¹⁷Nathan related all these words and this whole revelation to David.

David's prayer

¹⁸King David then went in, sat down in Yahweh's presence and said: *Who am I, Lord Yahweh, and what is my lineage, for you to have led me as far as this? ¹⁹Yet, to you, Lord Yahweh, this seemed too little, and now you extend your promises for your servant's family into the distant future. Such is human destiny, Lord Yahweh. ²⁰What more can David say to you, since you, Lord Yahweh, know all about your servant? ²¹Because of your promise and since you were so inclined, you have had the generosity to reveal this to your servant. ²²That is why you are great, Lord Yahweh; there is no one like you, no God but you alone, as everything that we have heard confirms. ²³Is there another people on earth like your people, like Israel, whom a god proceeded to redeem, to make them his people and to make a name for himself by performing great and terrible things on their behalf, by driving out nations and their gods before his people?* ²⁴for you constituted your people Israel your own people for ever and you, Yahweh, became their God. ²⁵*Now, Yahweh God, may the promise which you have made for your servant and for his family stand firm forever as you have said, ²⁶so that your name will be exalted for ever and people will say, *Israel's God is Yahweh Sabaoth.* Your servant David's dynasty will be secure before you, ²⁷since you, Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, have disclosed to your servant, *I am going to build you a dynasty.* Hence, your servant has ventured to offer this prayer to you. ²⁸Yes, Lord Yahweh, you are God indeed, your words are true and you have made this generous promise to your servant. ²⁹What is more, you have deigned to bless your servant's dynasty, so that it may remain for ever before you; for you, Lord Yahweh, have spoken; and may your servant's dynasty be blessed with your blessing for ever.*

David's wars

⁸After this, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. From the grip of the Philistines he wrested . . . ²He also defeated the Moabites and, making them lie on the ground, measured them off by the line; he measured out two lines to be put to death and one full line to have their lives spared. The Moabites became David's subjects and paid him tribute. ³David defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when the latter mounted an expedition to extend his power over the River. ⁴David captured one thousand seven hundred charioteers and twenty thousand foot soldiers from him; David hamstrung all the chariot teams, keeping only a hundred of them. ⁵The Aramaeans of Damascus came to the help of Hadadezer king of Zobah, but David killed twenty*two thousand of the Aramaeans. ⁶David then imposed governors on Aram of Damascus, and the Aramaeans became David's subjects and paid him tribute. Wherever David went, Yahweh gave him victory. ⁷David took the golden shields carried by Hadadezer's guards and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸From Betah and Berothai, towns belonging to Hadadezer, King David captured a great quantity of bronze. ⁹When Tou king of Hamath heard that David had defeated Hadadezer's entire army, ¹⁰he sent his son Hadoram to King David to greet him and to congratulate him on having made war on Hadadezer and on having defeated him, since Hadadezer was at war with Tou. Hadoram brought with him objects made of silver, gold and bronze, ¹¹which King David also consecrated to Yahweh, as he had already consecrated the silver and gold taken from all the nations which he had subjugated* ¹²from Aram, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines and Amalek; and from the spoil of Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah. ¹³David became famous when he came home from defeating the Edomites in the Valley of Salt*eighteen thousand of them. ¹⁴He imposed governors on Edom and all the Edomites became David's subjects. Wherever David went, Yahweh gave him victory.

The administration of the kingdom ^{* [ :23 *26.]}

¹⁵David ruled over all Israel, administering law and justice to all his people. ¹⁶Joab son of Zeruiah was in command of the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was herald; ¹⁷Zadok and Abiathar son of Ahimelech, son of Ahitub, were priests; Seraiah was secretary; ¹⁸Benaiah son of Jehoiada was in command of the Cherethites and Pelethites; David's sons were priests.

C: DAVID*S FAMILY AND THE INTRIGUES OVER THE SUCCESSION

1: MERIBBAAL

David's kindness to Jonathan's son

⁹David asked, *Is there anyone belonging to Saul's family left, to whom I might show faithful love for Jonathan's sake?* ²Now Saul's family had a servant whose name was Ziba. When he had been summoned to David, the king said, *Are you Ziba?* *At your service,* he replied. ³The king said, *Is there no one left, belonging to Saul's family, for me to treat with God's own faithful love?* Ziba said to the king, *There is still one of Jonathan's sons. He has crippled feet.* ⁴The king asked *Where is he?* Ziba replied, *He is living in the household of Machir son of Ammiel, at Lo*Debar.* ⁵So King David sent for him to be fetched from the house of Machir son of Ammiel at Lo*Debar. ⁶On entering David's presence, Meribbaal son of Jonathan, son of Saul, fell on his face and prostrated himself. David said, *Meribbaal!* He replied, *Here I am, at your service.* ⁷David then said, *Do not be afraid; I will indeed treat you with faithful love for your father Jonathan's sake. I shall restore all your grandfather Saul's estates to you, and you will always eat at my table.* ⁸Meribbaal prostrated himself and said, *Who is your servant, for you to show favour to a dead dog like me?* ⁹The king then summoned Saul's servant Ziba and said, *Everything belonging to Saul and his family, I give to your master's son. ¹⁰You must work the land for him, you and your sons and your slaves; you must harvest the produce to provide food for your master's family to eat. But Meribbaal, your master's son, will always take his own meals at my table.* Now, Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty slaves. ¹¹Ziba said to the king, *Your servant will do everything my lord the king has ordered his servant.* So Meribbaal ate at David's table like one of the king's sons. ¹²Meribbaal had a young son whose name was Micha. All the people living in Ziba's household entered Meribbaal's service. ¹³Meribbaal lived in Jerusalem, since he always ate at the king's table. He was crippled in both feet.

2: THE AMMONITE WAR*BIRTH OF SOLOMON

David's ambassadors are insulted

¹⁰After this, when the king of the Ammonites died and his son Hanun succeeded him, ²David thought, *I shall show Hanun son of Nahash the same faithful love as his father showed me.* And David sent his representatives to offer him condolences over his father. But, when David's representatives reached the Ammonites* country, ³the Ammonite princes said to Hanun their master, *Do you really think David means to honour your father when he sends you messengers with sympathy? On the contrary, the reason why David has sent his representatives to you is to explore the city, to reconnoitre and so overthrow it.* ⁴Whereupon Hanun seized David's representatives, shaved off half their beards, cut their clothes off halfway up, at their buttocks, and sent them away. ⁵When David was told, he sent someone to meet them, since the men were overcome with shame. *Stay in Jericho*, the king said, *until your beards have grown again, and come back then.*

The first Ammonite campaign

⁶When the Ammonites realised that they had antagonised David, they sent agents to hire twenty thousand foot soldiers from the Aramaeans of Beth*Rehob and the Aramaeans of Zobah, one thousand men from the king of Maacah and twelve thousand men from the prince of Tob. ⁷When David heard this, he sent Joab with the whole army, the champions. ⁸The Ammonites marched out and drew up their line of battle at the city gate, while the Aramaeans of Zobah and of Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah kept their distance in the open country. ⁹Joab, seeing that he had to fight on two fronts, to his front and to his rear, chose the best of Israel's picked men and drew them up in line facing the Aramaeans. ¹⁰He entrusted the rest of the army to his brother Abishai, and drew them up in line facing the Ammonites. ¹¹*If the Aramaeans prove too strong for me,* he said, *you must come to my help; if the Ammonites prove too strong for you, I shall come to yours. ¹²Be brave! Let us acquit ourselves like men for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God. And let Yahweh do as he thinks right!* ¹³Joab and the force with him joined battle with the Aramaeans, who fled at his onslaught. ¹⁴When the Ammonites saw that the Aramaeans had fled, they too fled from Abishai and withdrew into the city. Hence, Joab broke off his campaign against the Ammonites and returned to Jerusalem.

Victory over the Aramaeans

¹⁵The Aramaeans, realising that Israel had got the better of them, concentrated their forces. ¹⁶Hadadezer sent messengers and mobilised the Aramaeans living on the other side of the river; and these arrived at Helam, with Shobach the commander of Hadadezer's army, at their head. ¹⁷David, being informed of this, mustered all Israel, crossed the Jordan and arrived at Helam. The Aramaeans drew up in line facing David and engaged him. ¹⁸But the Aramaeans fled from Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their chariot teams and forty thousand men; he also cut down Shobach the commander of their army, who died there. ¹⁹When all Hadadezer's vassal kings saw that Israel had got the better of them, they made peace with the Israelites and became their subjects. The Aramaeans were afraid to give any more help to the Ammonites.

The second Ammonite campaign
David's sin

¹¹At the turn of the year, at the time when kings go campaigning, David sent Joab and with him his guards and all Israel. They massacred the Ammonites and laid siege to Rabbah*of*the*Ammonites. David, however, remained in Jerusalem. ²It happened towards evening when David had got up from resting and was strolling on the palace roof, that from the roof he saw a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. ³David made enquiries about this woman and was told, *Why, that is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite.* ⁴David then sent messengers to fetch her. She came to him, and he lay with her, just after she had purified herself from her period. She then went home again. ⁵The woman conceived and sent word to David, *I am pregnant.* ⁶David then sent word to Joab, *Send me Uriah the Hittite,* whereupon Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷When Uriah reached him, David asked how Joab was and how the army was and how the war was going. ⁸David then said to Uriah, *Go down to your house and wash your feet.* Uriah left the palace and was followed by a present from the king's table. ⁹Uriah, however, slept at the palace gate with all his master's bodyguard and did not go down to his house. ¹⁰This was reported to David; *Uriah*, they said *has not gone down to his house.* So David asked Uriah, *Haven*t you just arrived from the journey? Why didn*t you go down to your house?* ¹¹To which Uriah replied, *The ark, Israel and Judah are lodged in huts; my master Joab and my lord's guards are camping in the open. Am I to go to my house, then, and eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As Yahweh lives, and as you yourself live, I shall do no such thing!* ¹²David then said to Uriah, *Stay on here today; tomorrow I shall send you off.* So Uriah stayed that day in Jerusalem. ¹³The next day, David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk. In the evening, Uriah went out and bedded down with his master's bodyguard, but did not go down to his house. ¹⁴Next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah. ¹⁵In the letter he wrote, *Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest and then fall back, so that he gets wounded and killed.* ¹⁶Joab, then besieging the city, stationed Uriah at a point where he knew that there would be tough fighters. ¹⁷The people of the city sallied out and engaged Joab; there were casualties in the army, among David's guards, and Uriah the Hittite was killed as well. ¹⁸Joab sent David a full account of the battle. ¹⁹To the messenger he gave this order: *When you have finished telling the king all about the battle, ²⁰if the king's anger is aroused and he says, *Why did you go near the town to give battle? Didn*t you know that they would shoot from the ramparts? ²¹Who killed Abimelech son of Jerubbaal? Wasn*t it a woman who dropped a millstone on him from the ramparts, causing his death at Thebez? Why did you go near the ramparts?* you are to say, *Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too.* * ²²So the messenger set off and, on his arrival, told David everything that Joab had instructed him to say. David flew into a rage with Joab and said to the messenger, *Why did you go near the ramparts? Who killed Abimelech son of Jerubbaal? Wasn*t it a woman who dropped a millstone on him from the ramparts, causing his death at Thebez? Why did you go near the ramparts?* ²³The messenger replied to David, *Their men had won an initial advantage and then came out to engage us in the open. We then drove them back into the gateway, ²⁴but the archers shot at your retainers from the ramparts; some of the king's retainers lost their lives, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too.* ²⁵David then said to the messenger, *Say this to Joab, *Do not take the matter to heart; the sword devours now one and now another. Attack the town in greater force and destroy it.* That will encourage him.* ²⁶When Uriah's wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for her husband. ²⁷When the period of mourning was over, David sent to have her brought to his house; she became his wife and bore him a son. But what David had done displeased Yahweh.

David is rebuked by Nathan
His repentance

¹²Yahweh sent the prophet Nathan to David. He came to him and said: In the same town were two men, one rich, the other poor. ²The rich man had flocks and herds in great abundance; ³the poor man had nothing but a ewe lamb, only a single little one which he had bought. He fostered it and it grew up with him and his children, eating his bread, drinking from his cup, sleeping in his arms; it was like a daughter to him. ⁴When a traveller came to stay, the rich man would not take anything from his own flock or herd to provide for the wayfarer who had come to him. Instead, he stole the poor man's lamb and prepared that for his guest. ⁵David flew into a great rage with the man. *As Yahweh lives,* he said to Nathan *the man who did this deserves to die. ⁶For doing such a thing and for having shown no pity, he shall make fourfold restitution for the lamb.* ⁷Nathan then said to David, *You are the man! Yahweh, God of Israel, says this, *I anointed you king of Israel, I saved you from Saul's clutches, ⁸I gave you your master's household and your master's wives into your arms, I gave you the House of Israel and the House of Judah; and, if this is still too little, I shall give you other things as well. ⁹Why did you show contempt for Yahweh, by doing what displeases him? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword, you took his wife to be your wife, causing his death by the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰For this, your household will never be free of the sword, since you showed contempt for me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite, to make her your wife.* ¹¹*Yahweh says this, *Out of your own household I shall raise misfortune for you. Before your very eyes I shall take your wives and give them to your neighbour, who will lie with your wives in broad daylight. ¹²You have worked in secret, but I shall work this for all Israel to see, in broad daylight.* * ¹³David said to Nathan, *I have sinned against Yahweh.* Nathan then said to David, *Yahweh, for his part, forgives your sin; you are not to die. ¹⁴But, since you have outraged Yahweh by doing this, the child born to you will die.* ¹⁵And Nathan went home.

Death of Bathsheba's child
Birth of Solomon

Yahweh struck the child which Uriah's wife had borne to David and it fell gravely ill. ¹⁶David pleaded with Yahweh for the child; he kept a strict fast and went home and spent the night lying on the ground, covered with sacking. ¹⁷The officials of his household stood round him, intending to get him off the ground, but he refused, nor would he take food with them. ¹⁸On the seventh day the child died. David's retinue were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. *Even when the child was alive*, they thought, *we reasoned with him and he would not listen to us. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do something desperate.* ¹⁹David, however, noticed that his retinue were whispering among themselves, and realised that the child was dead. *Is the child dead?* he asked the officers. They replied, *He is dead.* ²⁰David got off the ground, bathed and anointed himself and put on fresh clothes. Then he went into Yahweh's sanctuary and prostrated himself. On returning to his house, he asked to be served with food and ate it. ²¹His retinue said, *Why are you acting like this? When the child was alive, you fasted and wept; now that the child is dead, you get up and take food!* ²²*When the child was alive*, he replied, *I fasted and wept because I kept thinking, *Who knows? Perhaps Yahweh will take pity on me and the child will live.* ²³But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him but he cannot come back to me.* ²⁴David consoled his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and slept with her. She conceived and gave birth to a son, whom she called Solomon. Yahweh loved him ²⁵and made this known by means of the prophet Nathan, who named him Jedidiah, as Yahweh had instructed.

Capture of Rabbah

²⁶Joab assaulted Rabbah*of*the*Ammonites and captured the royal town. ²⁷He then sent messengers to tell David, *I have assaulted Rabbah and captured the water supply. ²⁸So now muster the rest of the army, lay siege to the town and take it, or I will take it and the town will be called after me!* ²⁹So David mustered the whole army and marched on Rabbah; he assaulted the town and captured it. ³⁰He took the crown off Milcom's head; it weighed one talent of gold, and in it was set a precious stone which went on David's head instead. He carried off great quantities of booty from the town.* ³¹And he expelled its inhabitants, setting them to work with saws, iron picks and iron axes, employing them at brickmaking. He treated all the Ammonite towns in the same way. David and the whole army returned to Jerusalem.

3: ABSALOM

Amnon violates his sister Tamar

¹³After this, the following events took place. Absalom son of David had a beautiful sister whose name was Tamar; Amnon son of David fell in love with her. ²Amnon was so obsessed with his sister Tamar that it made him ill, since she was a virgin and Amnon thought it impossible to do anything to her. ³But Amnon had a friend called Jonadab son of Shimeah, David's brother, and Jonadab was a very shrewd man. ⁴*Son of the king,* he said, *tell me why, morning after morning, you look so worn? Won*t you tell me?* Amnon replied, *I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.* ⁵Then Jonadab said, *Take to your bed, pretend to be ill and, when your father comes to visit you, say, *Please let my sister Tamar come and give me something to eat; let her prepare the food where I can see. What she gives me I shall eat.* * ⁶So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. The king then came to visit him and Amnon said to the king, *Please let my sister Tamar come and make a cake or two where I can watch. What she gives me, I shall eat.* ⁷David then sent word to Tamar at the palace, *Go to your brother Amnon's house and prepare some food for him.* ⁸Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon who was lying there in bed. She took dough and kneaded it, and she made some cakes while he watched, and baked the cakes. ⁹She then took the pan and dished them up in front of him, but he refused to eat. Amnon said, *Let everyone leave me!* So everyone withdrew. ¹⁰Amnon then said to Tamar, *Bring the food to the inner room, so that I can eat what you give me.* So Tamar took the cakes which she had made and brought them to her brother Amnon in the inner room. ¹¹And as she was offering the food to him, he caught hold of her and said, *Come to bed with me, sister!* ¹²She replied, *No, brother! Do not force me! This is no way to behave in Israel. Do not do anything so disgraceful! ¹³Wherever should I go? I should be marked with this shame, while you would become disgraced in Israel. Why not go and speak to the king? He will not refuse to give me to you.* ¹⁴But he would not listen to her; he overpowered her and raped her. ¹⁵Amnon was then seized with extreme hatred for her; the hatred he now felt for her was greater than his earlier love. *Get up and go!* he said. ¹⁶She said, *No, brother! To send me away would be worse than the other wrong you have done me!* But he would not listen to her. ¹⁷He called his personal servant. *Rid me of this woman!* he said. *Throw her out and bolt the door behind her!* ¹⁸(She was wearing a magnificent dress, for this was what the king's unmarried daughters wore in days gone by.) So the servant put her out and bolted the door behind her. ¹⁹Tamar put dust on her head, tore the magnificent dress which she was wearing, laid her hand on her head, and went away, crying aloud as she went. ²⁰Her brother Absalom said to her, *Has Amnon your brother been with you? Sister, be quiet; he is your brother; do not take the matter to heart!* Tamar, however, went back to her brother Absalom's house inconsolable. ²¹When King David heard the whole story, he was very angry; but he had no wish to harm his son Amnon, whom he loved because he was his first*born. ²²Absalom, however, would not so much as speak to Amnon, since he hated Amnon for having raped his sister Tamar.

Absalom kills Amnon and flees

²³Two years later, when Absalom had the sheep'shearers at Baal*Hazor, which is near Ephraim, he invited all the king's sons. ²⁴Absalom went to the king and said, *Now sir, your servant has the sheep'shearers. Will the king and his retinue be pleased to come with your servant?* ²⁵*No, my son,* the king replied, *we must not all come and be a burden to you.* And though Absalom was insistent, he would not go but dismissed him. ²⁶Absalom persisted, *Then at least let my brother Amnon come with us.* The king said, *Why should he go with you?* ²⁷On Absalom's insistence, however, he let Amnon and all the king's sons to go with him. Absalom prepared a royal banquet ²⁸and then gave this order to the servants, *Listen carefully; when Amnon's heart is merry with wine and I say, *Strike Amnon down*, then kill him. Don*t be afraid. Have I not myself given you the order? Use your strength and show your mettle!* ²⁹Absalom's servants treated Amnon as Absalom had ordered. The king's sons all leapt to their feet, mounted their mules and fled. ³⁰While they were on the road, word reached David, *Absalom has killed all the king's sons; not one of them is left.* ³¹The king stood up, tore his clothes and threw himself on the ground. All his officers tore their clothes too. ³²Jonadab son of Shimeah, David's brother, then spoke up and said, *Do not let my lord take to heart the report that all the young men, the king's sons, have been killed, since only Amnon is dead: for Absalom has been promising himself to do this since the day when Amnon raped his sister Tamar. ³³So my lord the king must not imagine that all the king's sons are dead; only Amnon is dead ³⁴and Absalom has fled.* The man on sentry duty looked up and saw a large troop coming along the road from Bahurim. The sentry came to tell the king, *I have seen some people coming down the Bahurim road on the mountainside.* ³⁵Jonadab then said to the king, *These are the king's sons arriving: what your servant said is exactly what happened.* ³⁶He had scarcely finished speaking when the king's sons arrived and wept aloud; the king and all his retinue wept aloud too. ³⁷Absalom had gone to Talmai son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. The king mourned for his son every day.

Joab negotiates Absalom's return

³⁸When Absalom had gone to Geshur, he stayed there for three years. ³⁹Once the king was consoled over Amnon's death, his anger against Absalom subsided.

¹⁴Now, Joab son of Zeruiah observed that the king was favourably inclined to Absalom. ²Joab therefore sent to Tekoa for a wise woman. *Pretend to be in mourning,* he said. *Dress yourself in mourning, do not perfume yourself; act like a woman who has long been mourning for the dead. ³Then go to the king and say this to him.* And Joab put the words into her mouth which she was to say. ⁴So the woman of Tekoa went to the king and, falling on her face to the ground, prostrated herself. *Help, my lord king!* she said. ⁵The king said, *What is the matter?* *As you see,* she replied, *I am a widow; my husband is dead. ⁶Your servant had two sons and out in the fields, where there was no one to intervene, they had a quarrel. And one of them struck the other one and killed him. ⁷And now the whole clan has risen against your servant. *Give up the man who killed his brother,* they say, 'so that we can put him to death, to atone for the life of the brother whom he has murdered; and thus we shall destroy the heir as well.* By this means, they will extinguish the ember still left to me, leaving my husband neither name nor survivor on the face of the earth.* ⁸Then the king said to the woman, *Go home; I myself shall give orders about your case.* ⁹The woman of Tekoa said to the king, *My lord king! May the guilt be on me and on my family; the king and his throne are innocent of it.* ¹⁰*Bring me the man who threatened you,* the king replied, *and he shall never hurt you again.* ¹¹She then said, *Let the king be pleased to pronounce the name of Yahweh your God, so that the avenger of blood may not do greater harm and destroy my son.* *As Yahweh lives,* he said, *not one of your son's hairs shall fall to the ground!* ¹²Then the woman said, *Permit your servant to say something else to my lord the king.* *Go on,* he said. ¹³The woman said, *Why then has the king, who by giving this verdict has condemned himself, conceived the idea, against God's people's interests, of not bringing home the son whom he has banished? ¹⁴We are all mortal; we are like water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again, nor does God raise up a corpse; let the king therefore make plans for his banished son not to remain far away from him in exile. ¹⁵*Now, the reason why I came to speak about this to my lord the king is that I was being intimidated, and your servant thought, *I shall speak to the king; perhaps the king will do what his servant asks. ¹⁶Surely the king will consent to save his servant from the clutches of the man who is trying to cut both me and my son off from God's heritage. ¹⁷Let a word from my lord the king, restore the peace!* your servant thought, *for my lord the king is like the Angel of God in understanding good and evil.* May Yahweh your God be with you!* ¹⁸Replying to the woman, the king said, *Now do not evade the question which I am going to ask you.* The woman said, *Let my lord the king ask his question.* ¹⁹*Is not Joab's hand behind you in all this?* the king asked. The woman replied, *As you live, my lord king, I cannot escape what my lord the king says, either to right or to left. Yes, it was your servant Joab who gave me my orders; he put all these words into your servant's mouth. ²⁰Your servant Joab did this to approach the matter indirectly, but my lord has the wisdom of the Angel of God; he knows everything that happens on earth!* ²¹The king then said to Joab, *Very well, the suit is granted. Go and bring the young man Absalom back.* ²²Joab fell on his face to the ground, prostrated himself and blessed the king. *My lord king,* Joab said, *today your servant knows that he has won your favour, since the king has done what his servant asked.* ²³Joab then set off, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem. ²⁴The king, however, said, *Let him retire to his own house; he is not to appear in my presence.* So Absalom retired to his own house and was not received by the king.

Some details about Absalom

²⁵In all Israel there was no one more praised for his beauty than Absalom; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head, he could not be faulted. ²⁶When he cut his hair*he shaved it once a year because his hair got too heavy*he would weigh the hair: two hundred shekels, king's weight. ²⁷To Absalom were born three sons and one daughter called Tamar; she was a beautiful woman.

Absalom obtains his pardon

²⁸Absalom lived in Jerusalem for two years without being received by the king. ²⁹Absalom then summoned Joab, intending to send him to the king, but Joab would not come to him. He sent for him a second time, but still he would not come. ³⁰At this, Absalom said to his retainers, *Look, Joab's field is next to mine and he has barley in it; go and set it on fire.* Absalom's retainers set fire to the field. ³¹Joab then stirred himself, went to Absalom in his house and asked, *Why have your retainers set my field on fire?* ³²Absalom replied to Joab, *Look, I sent word to you: Come here, so that I can send you to the king to say, *Why come back from Geshur? Better for me to have been there still!* Now I want to be received by the king, and if I am guilty, let him put me to death!* ³³Joab went to the king and told him this. He then summoned Absalom, who prostrated himself with his face to the ground before the king. And the king kissed Absalom.

Absalom's intrigues

¹⁵After this, Absalom procured a chariot and horses, with fifty men to run ahead of him. ²He would get up early and stand beside the road leading to the city gate; and whenever a man with some lawsuit had to come before the king's tribunal, Absalom would call out to him and ask, *Which town are you from?* If he answered, *Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel,* ³then Absalom would say, *Look, your case is sound and just, but not one of the king's deputies will listen to you.* ⁴Absalom would say, *Oh, who will appoint me judge in the land? Then anyone with a lawsuit or a plea could come to me and I should see he had justice!* ⁵And whenever anyone came up to him to prostrate himself, he would stretch out his hand, draw him to him and kiss him. ⁶Absalom acted like this with every Israelite who appealed to the king's tribunal, and so Absalom won the Israelites* hearts.

Absalom's rebellion

⁷When four years had gone by, Absalom said to the king, *Allow me to go to Hebron and fulfil the vow which I have made to Yahweh; ⁸for, when I was in Geshur, in Aram, your servant made this vow, *If Yahweh brings me back to Jerusalem, I shall pay my devotions to Yahweh in Hebron.* * ⁹The king said to him, *Go in peace.* So he set off and went to Hebron. ¹⁰Absalom sent couriers throughout the tribes of Israel to say, *When you hear the trumpet sound, you are to say, *Absalom is king at Hebron!* * ¹¹With Absalom went two hundred men from Jerusalem; they had been invited and had gone in all innocence, unaware of what was going on. ¹²Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counsellor, from Giloh his town, and had him with him while offering the sacrifices. The conspiracy grew in strength, since Absalom's supporters grew in number.

David's flight

¹³A messenger came and told David, *The men of Israel have shifted their allegiance to Absalom.* ¹⁴David said to all his retinue then with him in Jerusalem, *Up, let us flee, or we shall not escape from Absalom! Leave as quickly as you can, in case he mounts a sudden attack, overcomes us and puts the city to the sword.* ¹⁵The king's retinue replied, *Whatever my lord the king decides, we are at your service.* ¹⁶The king set out on foot with his whole household, leaving ten concubines to look after the palace. ¹⁷The king set out on foot with everyone following, and they halted at the last house. ¹⁸All his officers stood at his side. All the Cherethites and all the Pelethites, with Ittai and all the six hundred Gittites who had come in his retinue from Gath, marched past the king. ¹⁹The king said to Ittai the Gittite, *You, why are you coming with us? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner, indeed an exile from your homeland. ²⁰You arrived only yesterday; should I take you wandering with us today, when I do not know myself where I am going? Go back, take your fellow countrymen with you, and may Yahweh show you mercy and faithful love!* ²¹Ittai replied to the king, *As Yahweh lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, for death or life, your servant will be there too.* ²²David then said to Ittai, *Go ahead, march past!* And Ittai of Gath marched past with all his men and with all his children too. ²³The entire population was weeping aloud as the king stood in the bed of the Kidron and everyone marched past him, making for the desert.

The ark is left in Jerusalem

²⁴Zadok was there too, and all the Levites with him, carrying the ark of God. They set the ark of God down beside Abiathar until everyone had finished marching out of the town. ²⁵The king then said to Zadok, *Take the ark of God back into the city. Should I win Yahweh's favour, he will bring me back and allow me to see it and its tent once more. ²⁶But should he say, *You displease me,* here I am: let him treat me as he sees fit.* ²⁷The king said to Zadok the priest, *Look, you and Abiathar go back quietly into the city, with your two sons, your own son Ahimaaz and Jonathan son of Abiathar. ²⁸You see, I shall wait in the passes of the desert plain until word comes from you bringing me news.* ²⁹So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and stayed there.

Hushai is briefed to work for David

³⁰David then made his way up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, his head covered and his feet bare. And all the people with him had their heads covered and made their way up, weeping as they went. ³¹David was then informed that Ahithophel was among the conspirators with Absalom. David said, *I beg you, Yahweh, turn Ahithophel's advice to folly.* ³²As David reached the summit, where God is worshipped, he saw Hushai the Archite, his friend, coming to meet him with his tunic torn and with earth on his head. ³³David said, *If you go along with me, you will be a burden to me. ³⁴But if you go back to the city and say to Absalom, *I am at your service, my lord king; once I was in your father's service, but now I shall serve you,* you will be able to thwart Ahithophel's advice for me. ³⁵Surely the priests Zadok and Abiathar will be with you? Anything you hear from the palace you must report to the priests Zadok and Abiathar. ³⁶You see, their two sons are there with them, Zadok's son Ahimaaz, and Abiathar's son Jonathan; through these, you will send me word of everything you hear.* ³⁷Hushai, David's friend, entered the city just as Absalom was reaching Jerusalem.

David and Ziba

¹⁶When David had passed a little beyond the summit, Meribbaal's retainer, Ziba, met him with a pair of donkeys, saddled and laden with two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred bunches of raisins, a hundred of the season's fruits, and a skin of wine. ²The king said to Ziba, *What are you going to do with that?* *The donkeys*, Ziba replied, *are for the king's family to ride, the bread and the fruit for the soldiers to eat, the wine is for drinking by those who get exhausted in the desert.* ³The king asked *And where is your master's son?* Ziba replied to the king, *Why, he has stayed in Jerusalem because, he says, *Today, the House of Israel will give me back my father's kingdom.* * ⁴Then the king said to Ziba, *Everything owned by Meribbaal is yours.* Ziba said, *I prostrate myself! May I be worthy of your favour, my lord king!*

Shimei curses David

⁵As David was reaching Bahurim, out came a man of the same clan as Saul's family. His name was Shimei son of Gera and, as he came, he uttered curse after curse ⁶and threw stones at David and at all King David's retinue, even though the whole army and all the champions formed an escort round the king on either side. ⁷The words of his curse were these, *Off with you, off with you, man of blood, scoundrel! ⁸Yahweh has paid you back for all the spilt blood of the House of Saul whose sovereignty you have usurped; and Yahweh has transferred the sovereign power to Absalom your son. Now your wickedness has overtaken you, man of blood that you are.* ⁹Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, *Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut his head off.* ¹⁰But the king replied, *What concern is my business to you, sons of Zeruiah? Let him curse! If Yahweh has said to him, *Curse David!* what right has anyone to say, *Why have you done so?* * ¹¹David said to Abishai and all his retinue, *Why, the son sprung from my own body is now seeking my life; all the more reason for this Benjaminite to do so! Let him curse on, if Yahweh has told him to! ¹²Perhaps Yahweh will look on my wretchedness and will repay me with good for his curses today.* ¹³So David and his men went on their way, and Shimei kept pace with him along the opposite mountainside, cursing as he went, throwing stones and flinging dust. ¹⁴The king and all the people who were with him arrived exhausted at . . . ^{* [ A place*name is missing.]} . . . and there they drew breath.

Hushai ingratiates himself with Absalom

¹⁵Absalom entered Jerusalem with all the men of Israel; with him was Ahithophel. ¹⁶When Hushai the Archite, David's friend, reached Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, *Long live the king! Long live the king!* ¹⁷Absalom said to Hushai, *Is this your faithful love for your friend? Why didn*t you go away with your friend?* ¹⁸Hushai replied to Absalom, *No, the man whom Yahweh and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, he is the man for me, and with him will I stay! ¹⁹Besides, whom should I serve, if not his son? As I served your father, so shall I serve you.*

Absalom and David's concubines

²⁰Absalom said to Ahithophel, *Think carefully. What shall we do?* ²¹Ahithophel replied to Absalom, *Go to your father's concubines whom he left to look after the palace; then all Israel will hear that you have thoroughly antagonised your father, and the resolution of all your supporters will be strengthened.* ²²So a tent was pitched for Absalom on the flat roof and, with all Israel watching, Absalom went to his father's concubines. ²³At the time, whatever advice Ahithophel gave was treated like a decision obtained from God; as by David, so by Absalom, was all Ahithophel's advice regarded.

Hushai thwarts Ahithophel's plans

¹⁷Ahithophel said to Absalom, *Let me choose twelve thousand men and set off this very night in pursuit of David. ²I shall fall on him while he is tired and dispirited; I shall strike terror into him, and all the people who are with him will run away. I shall kill only the king, ³and I shall then bring all the people back to you, like a bride returning to her husband. You seek the life of one individual only; the people as a whole will have peace.* ⁴The suggestion seemed a good one to Absalom and all the elders of Israel. ⁵Then Absalom said, *Now call Hushai the Archite, for us to hear what he too has to say.* ⁶When Hushai had come to Absalom, Absalom said, *This is what Ahithophel says. Are we to do as he suggests? If not, suggest something yourself.* ⁷Hushai said to Absalom, *On this occasion the advice given by Ahithophel is not good. ⁸You know*, Hushai went on, *that your father and his men are great fighters and that they are now as angry as a wild bear robbed of her cubs. Your father is a man of war: he will not let the army rest during the night. ⁹At this moment he is concealed in some hollow or other place. If at the outset there are casualties among our troops, word will go round that the army supporting Absalom has met with disaster. ¹⁰And then even the valiant, the truly lion*hearted, will be demoralised; for all Israel knows that your father is a champion and that the men with him are valiant. ¹¹For my part, I offer this advice: Summon all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, to rally to you, as numerous as the sand on the seashore, and you take the field in person with them. ¹²We shall reach him wherever he is to be found; we shall fall on him as the dew falls on the ground, and not leave him or any one of the men with him. ¹³Should he retire into a town, all Israel will bring ropes to that town, and we shall drag it into the river*bed until not a pebble of it is to be found.* ¹⁴Then Absalom and all the people of Israel said, *Hushai the Arkite's advice is better than Ahithophel's,* Yahweh having resolved to thwart Ahithophel's shrewd advice and so bring disaster on Absalom. ¹⁵Hushai then told the priests Zadok and Abiathar, *Ahithophel gave such and such advice to Absalom and the elders of Israel, but I advised so and so. ¹⁶Send with all speed to David and say, *Do not camp in the desert passes tonight, but get through them as fast as you can, or the king and his whole army may be annihilated.* *

David is warned and crosses the Jordan

¹⁷Jonathan and Ahimaaz were posted at the Fuller's Spring; a servant*girl was to go and warn them and they in turn were to warn King David, since they could not give themselves away by coming into the city themselves. ¹⁸A young man saw them nonetheless and told Absalom. The pair of them, however, made off quickly, reaching the house of a man in Bahurim. In his courtyard was a storage*well and they got down into it. ¹⁹The woman took a piece of canvas and, spreading it over the mouth of the storage*well, scattered crushed grain on it so that nothing showed. ²⁰When Absalom's servants reached the woman at the house, they said, *Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?* The woman said, *They have gone further on, towards the water.* They searched but, having found nothing, went back to Jerusalem. ²¹When they had gone, the men climbed out of the storage*well and went to warn King David. *Set out!* they told David. *Cross the water quickly, for Ahithophel has given such and such advice against you!* ²²So David and all the troops with him set off and crossed the Jordan. By dawn no one was left, all had crossed the Jordan. ²³When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set off and went home to his own town. Then, having set his house in order, he hanged himself. He was buried in his father's tomb.

Absalom crosses the Jordan
David at Mahanaim

²⁴David had reached Mahanaim by the time that Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel. ²⁵Absalom had put Amasa in command of the army in place of Joab. This Amasa was the son of a man called Ithra the Ishmaelite, who had married Abigail, daughter of Jesse and sister of Zeruiah, mother of Joab. ²⁶Israel and Absalom pitched their camp in the territory of Gilead. ²⁷When David reached Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah*of*the*Ammonites, Machir son of Ammiel from Lo*Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim ²⁸brought bedding, rugs, bowls and crockery; and wheat, barley, meal, roasted grain, beans, lentils, ²⁹honey, curds and cows* cheese and sheep's cheese, which they presented to David and the people with him for them to eat. *The army*, they said, *must have been hungry, tired and thirsty in the desert.*

Defeat of Absalom's party

¹⁸David reviewed the troops who were with him and appointed commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds to lead them. ²David divided the army into three groups, one under the command of Joab, another under the command of Abishai son of Zeruiah and brother of Joab, and the third under the command of Ittai the Gittite. David then said to the troops, *I shall take the field in person with you.* ³But the troops replied, *You are not to take the field. No one will bother about us if we run away, they will not even bother about us if half of us are killed, but you are ten thousand times more valuable. So it is better if you stay inside the town, in case we need reinforcements.* ⁴David said, *I will do what you think best.* And the king stood beside the gate as the troops marched out by their hundreds and their thousands. ⁵The king gave orders to Joab, Abishai and Ittai, *For my sake, treat young Absalom gently!* And the troops all heard the king give all the commanders these orders about Absalom. ⁶So the troops marched out into the open to engage Israel, and the battle took place in the Forest of Ephraim. ⁷There, the army of Israel was beaten by David's retainers; it was a great defeat that day, with twenty thousand casualties. ⁸The fighting spread throughout the region and that day the forest claimed more victims than the sword.

Death of Absalom

⁹Absalom happened to run into some of David's guards. Absalom was riding his mule and the mule passed under the thick branches of a great oak. Absalom's head got caught in the oak and he was left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule he was riding went on. ¹⁰Someone saw this and reported to Joab, *I have just seen Absalom hanging from an oak.* ¹¹Joab said to the man who had informed him, *If you saw him, why did you not strike him to the ground then and there? I would have made it my business to give you ten silver shekels and a belt!* ¹²The man replied to Joab, *Even if I could feel the weight of a thousand silver shekels in my hand, I would not lift my hand against the king's son. In our own hearing, the king gave you and Abishai and Ittai these orders, *For my sake, spare young Absalom.* ¹³Even if I had deceived myself, nothing stays hidden from the king and you would have dissociated yourself from me.* ¹⁴Joab then said, *I cannot waste time arguing with you!* And, taking three darts in his hand, he planted them in Absalom's heart, while he was still alive, deep in the oak*tree. ¹⁵Ten soldiers, Joab's armour*bearers, then came in close, struck Absalom and killed him. ¹⁶Joab then had the trumpet sounded, and the troops left off pursuing Israel, since Joab held the troops back. ¹⁷They took Absalom, flung him into a deep pit in the forest and raised a huge cairn over him. All the Israelites had fled, dispersing to their homes. ¹⁸Now, during his lifetime, Absalom had made and erected a pillar to himself, which is in the Valley of the King. *I have no son*, he said, *to preserve the memory of my name.* He gave his own name to the pillar, and today it is still called Absalom's Monument.

The news is brought to David

¹⁹Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, *Let me run and tell the king the good news that Yahweh has vindicated his cause by ridding him of his enemies.* ²⁰But Joab said, *Today you would be no bearer of good news, some other day you may be; but today you would not be bringing good news, since the king's son is dead.* ²¹Joab then said to the Cushite, *Go and tell the king what you have seen.* The Cushite prostrated himself to Joab and ran off. ²²But Ahimaaz son of Zadok persisted. *Come what may,* he said to Joab, *please let me run after the Cushite.* *My son,* Joab said, *why run? You will get no reward for your news.* ²³But he replied, *Come what may, let me run!* and Joab said *Run, then!* So Ahimaaz ran off along the road through the Plain, outrunning the Cushite. ²⁴David was sitting between the two gates. The sentry, having gone up to the roof of the gate, looked out from the ramparts and saw a man running alone. ²⁵The sentry called down to the king and told him. The king said, *If he is alone, he is bringing good news.* ²⁶As the man drew steadily nearer, the lookout man saw another man running, and the sentry above the gate shouted, *Here comes another man, running alone!* David said, *He too is a bearer of good news.* ²⁷The sentry said, *I recognise the way the first man runs; Ahimaaz son of Zadok runs like that.* *He is a good man*, said the king, *and comes with good news.* ²⁸Ahimaaz went up to the king. *All hail!* he said, prostrating himself on the ground before the king. *Blessed be Yahweh your God*, he said, *who has handed over the men who rebelled against my lord the king!* ²⁹*Is all well with young Absalom?* the king asked. Ahimaaz replied, *I saw a great commotion when Joab, the king's servant, sent your servant off, but I do not know what it was.* ³⁰The king said, *Go and stand over there.* He stood to one side and waited. ³¹Then the Cushite arrived. *Good news for my lord the king!* the Cushite shouted. *Today Yahweh has vindicated your cause, by ridding you of all who had risen up against you.* ³²*Is all well with young Absalom?* the king asked the Cushite. *May the enemies of my lord the king*, the Cushite answered, *and all who rise up to harm you, share the fate of that young man!*

David mourns for Absalom

¹⁹The king shuddered. He went up to the room over the gate and burst into tears; and, as he wept, he kept saying, *Oh, my son Absalom! My son! My son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you! Oh, Absalom my son, my son!* ²Word was brought to Joab, *The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.* ³And for the entire army that day, victory was turned to mourning, the troops having learnt that the king was grieving for his son. ⁴And that day the troops came furtively back into town, like troops creeping shamefacedly away when deserting in battle. ⁵The king had covered his face and kept crying aloud, *My son Absalom! Oh, Absalom my son, my son!* ⁶Joab went inside to the king and said, *Today you have made all your servants feel ashamed*today, when they have saved your life, the lives of your sons and daughters, the lives of your wives and the lives of your concubines!*because you love those who hate you and hate those who love you. ⁷Today you have made it plain that commanders and soldiers mean nothing to you*for today I can see that you would be content if we were all dead, provided that Absalom was alive! ⁸Now get up, come out and reassure your soldiers; for if you do not come out, I swear by Yahweh, not one man will stay with you tonight; and this will be a worse misfortune for you than anything that has happened to you from your youth until now!* ⁹The king got up and took his seat at the gate. An announcement was made to the whole army: *The king is sitting at the gate.* And the whole army assembled in front of the king.

Preparations for David's return

¹⁰Israel had fled, dispersing to their homes. Throughout the tribes of Israel all was dissension and people began saying, *The king, having freed us from the clutches of our enemies, having saved us from the clutches of the Philistines, has himself had to flee the country to escape from Absalom; ¹¹and now Absalom, whom we had anointed to reign over us, has died in battle. Why does no one suggest that the king should be brought back?* ^12bWhat was being said throughout Israel reached the king. ^12aKing David then sent word to the priests Zadok and Abiathar, *Say to the elders of Judah, *Why should you be the last to bring the king home? ¹³You are my brothers, you are my own flesh and bone: why should you be the last to bring the king back?* ¹⁴And say to Amasa, *Are you not my own flesh and bone? May God bring unnameable ills on me and worse ills, too, if you do not become my permanent army commander instead of Joab!* * ¹⁵Thus he rallied the hearts of the men of Judah to a man and, as a result, they sent word to the king, *Come back, you and all who serve you.*

Episodes connected with David's return: Shimei

¹⁶So the king started home and reached the Jordan. Judah, coming to meet the king to escort him across the Jordan, had arrived at Gilgal. ¹⁷Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite of Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David. ¹⁸With him were a thousand men from Benjamin. Ziba, servant of the House of Saul, with his fifteen sons and twenty servants, arrived at the Jordan before the king ¹⁹and worked manfully ferrying the king's family across and doing whatever he required. While the king was crossing the Jordan, Shimei son of Gera fell at the king's feet ²⁰and said to the king, *I hope my lord does not regard me as guilty of a crime! Forget about the wrong your servant did on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. Let my lord not hold my guilt against me. ²¹For your servant is aware of having sinned, and that is why I have come today*the first member of the whole House of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.* ²²At this, Abishai son of Zeruiah spoke up and said, *Does Shimei not deserve death for having cursed Yahweh's anointed?* ²³To which David replied, *What concern is my business to you, sons of Zeruiah, that you should oppose my wishes today? Could anyone be put to death in Israel today? Today I know for sure that I am king of Israel?* ²⁴*Your life is spared,* the king said. And the king gave him his oath.

Meribbaal

²⁵Meribbaal son of Saul also went down to meet the king. He had not cared for his feet or hands, he had not trimmed his moustache or washed his clothes from the day of the king's departure till the day of his peaceful return. ²⁶When he arrived from Jerusalem to greet the king, the king asked him, *Why did you not come with me, Meribbaal?* ²⁷*My lord king,* he replied, *my retainer deceived me. Your servant said to him, *Saddle the donkey for me to ride, so that I can go with the king,* your servant being lame. ²⁸He has slandered your servant to my lord the king. My lord the king, however, is like the Angel of God, so do as you think right. ²⁹My father's entire family deserved no better than death from my lord the king, and yet you admitted your servant to the ranks of those who eat at your table. What right have I to make any further appeal to the king?* ³⁰The king said, *You need say no more. I rule that you and Ziba divide the property between you.* ³¹*Let him take it all,* Meribbaal said to the king, 'since my lord the king has come back home in peace!*

Barzillai

³²Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim and accompanied the king towards the Jordan, intending to take leave of him at the Jordan. ³³Barzillai was a man of great age; he was eighty years old. He had kept the king in provisions during his stay at Mahanaim, being a very wealthy man. ³⁴*Come with me*, the king said to Barzillai, *and I will provide for you at my side in Jerusalem.* ³⁵Barzillai replied to the king, *How many years have I left to live, for me to go up to Jerusalem with the king? ³⁶I am now eighty years old; can I tell the good from the bad? Has your servant any taste for his food and drink? Can I still hear the voices of men and women singers? Why should your servant be a further burden to my lord the king? ³⁷Your servant will go a little way across the Jordan with the king; but why should the king reward me so generously for that? ³⁸Please allow your servant to go home again, so that I can die in my own town near the grave of my father and mother. But here is your servant Chimham; let him go with my lord the king; treat him as you think right.* ³⁹The king said, *Let Chimham come along with me then; I shall do whatever you wish for him, and anything you request I shall do for your sake.* ⁴⁰The people then all crossed the Jordan, and the king, having crossed, kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and the latter went home.

Judah and Israel dispute over the king

⁴¹The king went on to Gilgal and Chimham went with him. All the people of Judah accompanied the king, and also half the people of Israel. ⁴²All the men of Israel then came to the king. *Why*, they asked the king, *have our brothers, the men of Judah, carried you off and brought the king and his family across the Jordan, and all David's men with him?* ⁴³All the men of Judah retorted to the men of Israel, *Because the king is more closely related to us. Why do you take offence at this? Have we been eating at the king's expense? Have we taken any position for ourselves?* ⁴⁴The men of Israel replied to the men of Judah, *We have ten shares in the king and, what is more, we are your elder brothers, so why have you slighted us? Were we not the first to suggest bringing back our king?* The men of Judah's words were even more intemperate than those of the men of Israel.

Sheba's revolt

²⁰Now there happened to be a scoundrel there called Sheba son of Bichri, a Benjaminite, who sounded the trumpet and shouted: We have no share in David, we have no heritage in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tents, O Israel! ²At this all the men of Israel deserted David and followed Sheba son of Bichri. But the men of Judah stuck close to their king, from the Jordan all the way to Jerusalem. ³David returned to his palace in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines, whom he had left to look after the palace, and put them under guard. He provided for their upkeep but never went near them again; they were shut away until the day they died, widows, as it were, of a living man.

Assassination of Amasa

⁴The king said to Amasa, *Summon me the men of Judah and be here yourself within three days.* ⁵Amasa went off to summon Judah, but he took longer than the time fixed by David. ⁶David then said to Abishai, *Sheba son of Bichri is now in a position to do us more damage even than Absalom. Take your master's retainers and be after him, before he can reach any fortified towns and elude us.* ⁷Joab, the Cherethites, the Pelethites and all the champions took the field under Abishai, setting off from Jerusalem in pursuit of Sheba son of Bichri. ⁸They were near the great stone at Gibeon when Amasa met them, coming the other way. Joab was wearing his uniform, over which he had buckled on a sword hanging from his waist in its scabbard; the sword came out and fell. ⁹Joab said to Amasa, *Are you well, brother?* and, with his right hand, took Amasa by the beard to kiss him. ¹⁰Amasa paid no attention to the sword, which Joab had now picked up, and Joab struck him with it in the belly, spilling his entrails all over the ground. He did not need to strike a second blow; and Amasa died, while Joab and Abishai hurried on in pursuit of Sheba son of Bichri. ¹¹One of Joab's men stood on guard beside Amasa, shouting, *Whoever is on Joab's side, whoever is for David, follow Joab!* ¹²Amasa meanwhile lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the road. Seeing that everyone was stopping, the man dragged Amasa off the road into the field and threw a cloak over him, having realised that everyone passing would stop. ¹³Once Amasa had been taken off the road, the men all carried on, following Joab in pursuit of Sheba son of Bichri.

End of the revolt

¹⁴Sheba crossed all the tribes of Israel as far as Abel Beth*Maacah, and the Bichrites all . . . They formed up and followed him. ¹⁵Laying siege to him in Abel Beth*Maacah, they threw up a ramp against the outer wall of the town, ¹⁶while the whole army accompanying Joab undermined the wall to bring it down. A quick*witted woman shouted from the town, *Listen! ¹⁷Listen! Say to Joab, *Come here, I want to speak to you.* * He came forward, and the woman said, *Are you Joab?* *I am*, he replied. She said, *Listen to what your servant says.* *I am listening,* he replied. ¹⁸She then spoke as follows, *In olden days people used to say, *Abel and Dan are where you should enquire ¹⁹whether a tradition established by the faithful of Israel has finally died out.* And yet you are trying to destroy a town, a metropolis of Israel. Why do you want to devour Yahweh's heritage?* ²⁰*The last thing I want to do*, said Joab, *is either to devour or to destroy. ²¹This is not the issue; a man from the highlands of Ephraim, called Sheba son of Bichri, has revolted against the king, against David. Hand that one man over and I will raise the siege of the town.* *Very well,* the woman said to Joab, *his head will be thrown over the wall to you.* ²²The woman went and spoke to all the people as her wisdom dictated. They cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it down to Joab. He had the trumpet sounded and they withdrew from the town and all went home, while Joab himself went back to the king in Jerusalem.

David's principal officials ^{* [ =8:16*18.]}

²³Joab commanded the whole army; Benaiah son of Jehoiada commanded the Cherethites and Pelethites; ²⁴Adoram was in charge of forced labour; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was herald; ²⁵Shiya was secretary; Zadok and Abiathar were priests; ²⁶also: Ira the Jairite was David's priest.

II: SUPPLEMENTS ^{* [ Chh. 21*24 interrupt the succession narrative with 6 appendices in balancing pairs: famine and plague (21:1*14; 24), military exploits (21:15*22; 23:8*39), hymns of David (22; 23:1*7).]}

The great famine and the execution of Saul's descendants

²¹In the days of David there was a famine which lasted for three years on end. David consulted Yahweh, and Yahweh said, *Saul and his family have incurred blood*guilt, by putting the Gibeonites to death.* ²Then the king summoned the Gibeonites and said*now, the Gibeonites were not Israelites, but were a remnant of the Amorites, to whom the Israelites had bound themselves by oath; Saul, however, in his zeal for the Israelites and for Judah, had done his best to exterminate them*hence David said to the Gibeonites, ³*What can I do for you? How can I make amends, so that you will call a blessing down on Yahweh's heritage?* ⁴The Gibeonites replied, *Our quarrel with Saul and his family cannot be settled for silver or gold, nor by putting to death one man in Israel.* David said, *Say what you want and I will do it for you.* ⁵Then they replied to the king, *The man who dismembered us and planned to annihilate us, so that we should not exist anywhere in Israelite territory* ⁶we want seven of his descendants handed over to us; and we shall dismember them before Yahweh at Gibeon on Yahweh's hill.* *I shall hand them over,* said the king. ⁷The king, however, spared Meribbaal son of Jonathan, son of Saul, on account of the oath by Yahweh binding them together, binding David and Jonathan son of Saul. ⁸The king took the two sons born to Saul by Rizpah daughter of Aiah: Armoni and Meribbaal; and the five sons borne by Merab daughter of Saul to Adriel son of Barzillai, of Meholah. ⁹He handed these over to the Gibeonites who dismembered them before Yahweh on the hill. The seven of them perished together; they were put to death in the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest. ¹⁰Rizpah daughter of Aiah, wearing sacking and spreading some out for herself on the rock, from the beginning of the barley harvest until the rain fell on them from heaven, kept the birds of the sky away from them in the daytime, and the wild animals away at night. ¹¹David was told of what Saul's concubine, Rizpah daughter of Aiah, had done. ¹²David went and recovered the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the notables of Jabesh in Gilead. The latter had stolen them from the square in Beth*Shean, where the Philistines had hung them, when the Philistines had defeated Saul at Gilboa. ¹³David fetched the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan. The bones of the men who had been dismembered were collected ¹⁴and these, with the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan, were buried in the territory of Benjamin, at Zela, in the tomb of Saul's father, Kish. The king's orders were carried out to the letter and after that, God took pity on the country.

Various exploits against the Philistines

¹⁵Once again the Philistines made war on Israel. David went down with his retainers; they fought the Philistines and David began to tire. ¹⁶There was a champion, one of the sons of Rapha. His spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze; he was wearing a new sword and was confident of killing David. ¹⁷Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his rescue, however, attacking the Philistine and killing him. Then it was that David's men swore the following oath to him, *You are never to go into battle with us again, in case you should extinguish the lamp of Israel!* ¹⁸After this, war with the Philistines broke out again at Gob. This was when Sibbecai of Hushah killed Saph, one of the sons of Rapha. ¹⁹Again, war with the Philistines broke out at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jair, of Bethlehem, killed Goliath of Gath, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. ²⁰There was further warfare at Gath, where there was a man of huge stature with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty*four in all. He too was a son of Rapha. ²¹When he defied Israel, Jonathan son of Shimea, brother of David cut him down. ²²These four were sons of Rapha in Gath and fell at the hands of David and his retainers.

A hymn of victory ^{* [ =Ps 18.]}

²²David addressed the words of this song to Yahweh, when Yahweh had delivered him from the clutches of all his enemies and from the clutches of Saul. ²He said: Yahweh is my rock and my fortress, ³my deliverer is my God. I take refuge in him, my rock, my shield, my saving strength, my stronghold, my place of refuge. My Saviour, you have saved me from violence; ⁴I call to Yahweh, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my foes. ⁵With Death's breakers closing in on me, Belial's torrents ready to swallow me, ⁶Sheol's snares on every side of me, Death's traps lying ahead of me, ⁷I called to Yahweh in my anguish, I cried for help to my God, from his Temple he heard my voice, my cry came to his ears! ⁸Then the earth quaked and rocked, the heavens* foundations shuddered, they quaked at his blazing anger. ⁹Smoke rose from his nostrils, from his mouth devouring fire (coals were kindled at it). ¹⁰He parted the heavens and came down, a storm*cloud underneath his feet; ¹¹riding one of the winged creatures, he flew, soaring on the wings of the wind. ¹²He wrapped himself in darkness, his pavilion dark waters and dense cloud. ¹³A brightness lit up before him, hail and blazing fire. ¹⁴Yahweh thundered from the heavens, the Most High made his voice heard. ¹⁵He shot his arrows and scattered them, his lightning flashed and routed them. ¹⁶The very springs of ocean were exposed, the world's foundations were laid bare, at the roaring of Yahweh, at the blast of breath from his nostrils! ¹⁷He reached down from on high, snatched me up, pulled me from the watery depths, ¹⁸rescued me from my mighty foe, from my enemies who were stronger than I. ¹⁹They assailed me on my day of disaster, but Yahweh was there to support me, ²⁰he freed me, set me at large, he rescued me, because he loves me. ²¹Yahweh rewards me for my uprightness, as my hands are pure so he repays me, ²²since I have kept the ways of Yahweh, and not fallen away from my God. ²³His judgements are all before me, his statutes I have not put away from me; ²⁴I am blameless before him, I keep myself clear of evil. ²⁵Hence Yahweh repaid me for acting uprightly because he could see I was pure. ²⁶Faithful you are to the faithful, blameless with the blameless, ²⁷sincere to the sincere but cunning to the crafty, ²⁸you save a people that is humble and humiliate those with haughty looks. ²⁹Yahweh, you yourself are my lamp, my God lights up my darkness; ³⁰with you I storm the rampart with my God I can scale any wall. ³¹This God, his way is blameless; the word of Yahweh is refined in the furnace, for he alone is the shield of all who take refuge in him. ³²For who is God but Yahweh, who is a rock but our God: ³³this God who girds me with strength, who makes my way free from blame, ³⁴who makes me as swift as a deer and sets me firmly on the heights, ³⁵who trains my hands for battle my arms to bend a bow of bronze. ³⁶You give me your invincible shield, you never cease to listen to me, ³⁷you give me the strides of a giant, give me ankles that never weaken* ³⁸I pursue my enemies and exterminate them, not turning back till they are annihilated; ³⁹I strike them down, and they cannot rise, they fall, they are under my feet. ⁴⁰You have girded me with strength for the fight, bent down my assailants beneath me, ⁴¹made my enemies retreat before me; and those who hate me I destroy. ⁴²They cry out, there is no one to save, to Yahweh, but no answer comes. ⁴³I crumble them like the dust of the squares, trample them like the mud of the streets. ⁴⁴You free me from the quarrels of my people, you place me at the head of the nations, a people I did not know are now my servants, ⁴⁵foreigners come wooing my favour, no sooner do they hear than they obey me, ⁴⁶foreigners grow faint of heart, they come trembling out of their fastnesses. ⁴⁷Life to Yahweh! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be the God of my salvation, ⁴⁸the God who gives me vengeance and crushes the peoples under me, ⁴⁹who takes me away from my enemies. You lift me high above those who attack me, you deliver me from the man of violence. ⁵⁰For this I will praise you, Yahweh, among the nations, and sing praise to your name. ⁵¹He saves his king, time after time, displays faithful love for his anointed, for David and his heirs for ever.

Last words of David

²³These are the last words of David: Thus speaks David son of Jesse, thus speaks the man raised to eminence, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the singer of the songs of Israel: ²The spirit of Yahweh speaks through me, his word is on my tongue; ³the God of Jacob has spoken, the Rock of Israel has said to me: He whose rule is upright on earth, who rules in the fear of God, ⁴is like the morning light at sunrise (on a cloudless morning) making the grass of the earth sparkle after rain. ⁵Yes, my House stands firm with God: he has made an eternal covenant with me, all in order, well assured; does he not bring to fruition my every victory and desire? ⁶But men of Belial he rejects like thorns, for these are never taken up in the hand: ⁷no one touches them except with a pitchfork or spear'shaft, and then only to burn them to nothing!

David's champions

⁸These are the names of David's champions: Ishbaal the Hachmonite leader of the Three; it was he who brandished his spear over eight hundred men whom he had killed at one time. ⁹Next, there was Eleazar son of Dodo, the Ahohite, one of the three champions. He was with David at Pas*Dammim when the Philistines mustered for battle there and the men of Israel had disbanded. ¹⁰But he stood his ground and cut down the Philistines until his hand was so stiff that he could not let go of the sword. Yahweh brought about a great victory that day, and the people rallied behind him, although only to plunder. ¹¹Next, there was Shamma son of Elah, the Hararite. The Philistines had mustered at Lehi. There was a field full of lentils there; the people fled from the Philistines, ¹²but he took his stand in the middle of the field, held it, and cut down the Philistines; and Yahweh brought about a great victory. ¹³Three members of the Thirty went down at the beginning of the harvest and came to David at the Cave of Adullam while a company of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of the Rephaim. ¹⁴David was then in the stronghold, and there was a Philistine garrison in Bethlehem. ¹⁵Longingly David said, *If only someone would fetch me a drink of water from the well that stands by the gate at Bethlehem!* ¹⁶At this, the three champions, forcing their way through the Philistine camp, drew water from the well that stands by the gate of Bethlehem and, taking it away, presented it to David. He, however, would not drink any of it, but poured it out as a libation to Yahweh. ¹⁷*Yahweh preserve me*, he said, *from doing such a thing! This is the blood of men who went at risk of their lives.* That was why he would not drink. Such were the deeds of these three champions. ¹⁸Abishai, brother of Joab and son of Zeruiah, was leader of the Thirty. It was he who brandished his spear over three hundred men whom he had killed, winning himself a name among the Thirty. ¹⁹He was a most illustrious member of the Thirty and became their captain, but he was not equal to the Three. ²⁰Benaiah of Kabzeel was the son of Jehoiada and hero of many exploits. He it was who slaughtered two formidable Moabites and, one snowy day, climbed down and slaughtered the lion in the storage*well. ²¹He also slaughtered an Egyptian of great stature. The Egyptian was armed with a spear, but he took him on with a staff, tore the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed the man with it. ²²Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada, winning him a name among the thirty champions. ²³He was a most illustrious member of the Thirty, but he was not equal to the Three. David put him in command of his bodyguard. ²⁴Asahel brother of Joab was one of the Thirty; Elhanan son of Dodo, of Bethlehem; ²⁵Shammah of Harod; Elika of Harod; ²⁶Helez of Beth*Pelet; Ira son of Ikkesh, of Tekoa; ²⁷Abiezer of Anathoth; Sibbecai of Hushah; ²⁸Zalmon of Ahoh; Maharai of Netophah; ²⁹Heled son of Baanah, of Netophah; Ittai son of Ribai, of Gibeah in Benjamin; ³⁰Benaiah of Pirathon; Hiddai of the Torrents of Gaash; ³¹Abibaal of Beth*ha*Arabah; Azmaveth of Bahurim; ³²Eliahba of Shaalbon; Jashen of Gimzo; Jonathan ³³son of Shammah, of Harar; Ahiam son of Sharar, of Harar; ³⁴Eliphelet son of Ahasbai, of Beth*Maacah; Eliam son of Ahithophel, of G