018:011 Joab said to the man who told him, Behold, you saw it,
and why didn't you strike him there to the ground? and I
would have given you ten [pieces of] silver, and a sash.
018:012 The man said to Joab, Though I should receive a thousand
[pieces of] silver in my hand, I still wouldn't put forth
my hand against the king's son; for in our hearing the king
charged you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware that none
touch the young man Absalom.
018:013 Otherwise if I had dealt falsely against his life (and there
is no matter hid from the king), then you yourself would
have set yourself against [me].
018:014 Then said Joab, I may not wait thus with you. He took three darts
in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom,
while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.
018:015 Ten young men who bore Joab's armor compassed about and
struck Absalom, and killed him.
018:016 Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing
after Israel; for Joab held back the people.
018:017 They took Absalom, and cast him into the great pit in the forest,
and raised over him a very great heap of stones:
and all Israel fled everyone to his tent.
018:018 Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up
for himself the pillar, which is in the king's dale;
for he said, I have no son to keep my name in memory:
and he called the pillar after his own name; and it is called
Absalom's monument, to this day.
018:019 Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, Let me now run, and bear
the king news, how that Yahweh has avenged him of his enemies.
018:020 Joab said to him, You shall not be the bearer of news this day,
but you shall bear news another day; but this day you shall
bear no news, because the king's son is dead.
018:021 Then said Joab to the Cushite, Go, tell the king what you have seen.
The Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran.
018:022 Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, But come
what may, Please let me also run after the Cushite.
Joab said, Why will you run, my son, seeing that you will
have no reward for the news?
018:023 But come what may, [said he], I will run. He said to him, Run.
Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Cushite.
018:024 Now David was sitting between the two gates: and the watchman
went up to the roof of the gate to the wall, and lifted up
his eyes, and looked, and, behold, a man running alone.
018:025 The watchman cried, and told the king. The king said,
If he be alone, there is news in his mouth. He came apace,
and drew near.
018:026 The watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called
to the porter, and said, Behold, [another] man running alone.
The king said, He also brings news.
018:027 The watchman said, I think the running of the foremost is
like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. The king said,
He is a good man, and comes with good news.
018:028 Ahimaaz called, and said to the king, All is well.
He bowed himself before the king with his face to the earth,
and said, Blessed be Yahweh your God, who has delivered up
the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king.
018:029 The king said, Is it well with the young man Absalom?
Ahimaaz answered, When Joab sent the king's servant,
even me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I don't know
what it was.
018:030 The king said, Turn aside, and stand here. He turned aside,
and stood still.
018:031 Behold, the Cushite came; and the Cushite said, News for my
lord the king; for Yahweh has avenged you this day of all
those who rose up against you.
018:032 The king said to the Cushite, Is it well with the young
man Absalom? The Cushite answered, The enemies of my lord
the king, and all who rise up against you to do you hurt,
be as that young man is.
018:033 The king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate,
and wept: and as he went, thus he said, my son Absalom,
my son, my son Absalom! would I had died for you, Absalom,
my son, my son!
019:001 It was told Joab, Behold, the king weeps and mourns for Absalom.
019:002 The victory that day was turned into mourning to all the people;
for the people heard say that day, The king grieves for his son.
019:003 The people got them by stealth that day into the city,
as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.
019:004 The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice,
my son Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son!
019:005 Joab came into the house to the king, and said, You have shamed
this day the faces of all your servants, who this day have saved
your life, and the lives of your sons and of your daughters,
and the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines;
019:006 in that you love those who hate you, and hate those who love you.
For you have declared this day, that princes and servants are
nothing to you: for this day I perceive that if Absalom had lived,
and all we had died this day, then it had pleased you well.
019:007 Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak comfortably
to your servants; for I swear by Yahweh, if you don't
go forth, there will not stay a man with you this night:
and that will be worse to you than all the evil that has
happened to you from your youth until now.
019:008 Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. They told to all
the people, saying, Behold, the king is sitting in the gate:
and all the people came before the king. Now Israel had fled
every man to his tent.
019:009 All the people were at strife throughout all the tribes
of Israel, saying, The king delivered us out of the hand of
our enemies, and he saved us out of the hand of the Philistines;
and now he is fled out of the land from Absalom.
019:010 Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle.
Now therefore why don't you speak a word of bringing
the king back?
019:011 King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying,
Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, Why are you the last
to bring the king back to his house? seeing the speech of all
Israel is come to the king, [to bring him] to his house.
019:012 You are my brothers, you are my bone and my flesh:
why then are you the last to bring back the king?
019:013 Say you to Amasa, Aren't you my bone and my flesh?
God do so to me, and more also, if you aren't captain
of the army before me continually in the room of Joab.
019:014 He bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as [the heart of]
one man; so that they sent to the king, [saying], Return you,
and all your servants.
019:015 So the king returned, and came to the Jordan. Judah came to Gilgal,
to go to meet the king, to bring the king over the Jordan.
019:016 Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, who was of Bahurim,
hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David.
019:017 There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba
the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his
twenty servants with him; and they went through the Jordan
in the presence of the king.
019:018 A ferry boat went to bring over the king's household,
and to do what he thought good. Shimei the son of Gera fell
down before the king, when he was come over the Jordan.
019:019 He said to the king, Don't let my lord impute iniquity to me,
neither do you remember that which your servant did perversely
the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem,
that the king should take it to his heart.
019:020 For your servant does know that I have sinned: therefore, behold,
I am come this day the first of all the house of Joseph to go
down to meet my lord the king.
019:021 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered, Shall Shimei not be
put to death for this, because he cursed Yahweh's anointed?
019:022 David said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah,
that you should this day be adversaries to me? shall there
any man be put to death this day in Israel? for don't I know
that I am this day king over Israel?
019:023 The king said to Shimei, You shall not die. The king
swore to him.
019:024 Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king;
and he had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard,
nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until
the day he came home in peace.
019:025 It happened, when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king,
that the king said to him, Why didn't you go with me, Mephibosheth?
019:026 He answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me:
for your servant said, I will saddle me a donkey, that I may
ride thereon, and go with the king; because your servant is lame.
019:027 He has slandered your servant to my lord the king; but my lord
the king is as an angel of God: do therefore what is good
in your eyes.
019:028 For all my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king;
yet you set your servant among those who ate at your own table.
What right therefore have I yet that I should cry any more
to the king?
019:029 The king said to him, Why speak you any more of your matters?
I say, You and Ziba divide the land.
019:030 Mephibosheth said to the king, yes, let him take all,
because my lord the king is come in peace to his own house.
019:031 Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim; and he went
over the Jordan with the king, to conduct him over the Jordan.
019:032 Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even eighty years old:
and he had provided the king with sustenance while he lay
at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man.
019:033 The king said to Barzillai, Come you over with me, and I
will sustain you with me in Jerusalem.
019:034 Barzillai said to the king, How many are the days of the years
of my life, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?
019:035 I am this day eighty years old: can I discern between good
and bad? can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink?
can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing
women? why then should your servant be yet a burden to my
lord the king?
019:036 Your servant would but just go over the Jordan with the king:
and why should the king recompense it me with such a reward?
019:037 Please let your servant turn back again, that I may die
in my own city, by the grave of my father and my mother.
But behold, your servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord
the king; and do to him what shall seem good to you.
019:038 The king answered, Chimham shall go over with me,
and I will do to him that which shall seem good to you:
and whatever you shall require of me, that will I do for you.
019:039 All the people went over the Jordan, and the king went over:
and the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; and he returned
to his own place.
019:040 So the king went over to Gilgal, and Chimham went over with him:
and all the people of Judah brought the king over, and also half
the people of Israel.
019:041 Behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said to the king,
Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen you away,
and brought the king, and his household, over the Jordan,
and all David's men with him?
019:042 All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king
is a close relative to us: why then are you angry for this
matter? have we eaten at all at the king's cost? or has
he given us any gift?
019:043 The men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said,
We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more [right]
in David than you: why then did you despise us, that our
advice should not be first had in bringing back our king?
The words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words
of the men of Israel.
020:001 There happened to be there a base fellow, whose name was Sheba,
the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew the trumpet,
and said, We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance
in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, Israel.
020:002 So all the men of Israel went up from following David,
and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah
joined with their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem.
020:003 David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten
women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house,
and put them in custody, and provided them with sustenance,
but didn't go in to them. So they were shut up to the day
of their death, living in widowhood.
020:004 Then said the king to Amasa, Call me the men of Judah together
within three days, and be here present.
020:005 So Amasa went to call [the men of] Judah together; but he stayed
longer than the set time which he had appointed him.
020:006 David said to Abishai, Now will Sheba the son of Bichri do us
more harm than did Absalom: take your lord's servants,
and pursue after him, lest he get him fortified cities,
and escape out of our sight.
020:007 There went out after him Joab's men, and the Cherethites
and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men; and they went
out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.
020:008 When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came
to meet them. Joab was girded with his apparel of war that
he had put on, and thereon was a sash with a sword fastened
on his waist in its sheath; and as he went forth it fell out.
020:009 Joab said to Amasa, Is it well with you, my brother?
Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.
020:010 But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand:
so he struck him therewith in the body, and shed out his bowels
to the ground, and didn't strike him again; and he died.
Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri.
020:011 There stood by him one of Joab's young men, and said, He who
favors Joab, and he who is for David, let him follow Joab.
020:012 Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the midst of the highway.
When the man saw that all the people stood still, he carried Amasa
out of the highway into the field, and cast a garment over him,
when he saw that everyone who came by him stood still.
020:013 When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went
on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.
020:014 He went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and to Beth Maacah,
and all the Berites: and they were gathered together,
and went also after him.
020:015 They came and besieged him in Abel of Beth Maacah, and they cast
up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart;
and all the people who were with Joab battered the wall,
to throw it down.
020:016 Then cried a wise woman out of the city, "Hear, hear!
Please say to Joab, 'Come near here, that I may speak with you.'"
020:017 He came near to her; and the woman said, Are you Joab? He answered,
I am. Then she said to him, Hear the words of your handmaid.
He answered, I do hear.
020:018 Then she spoke, saying, They were wont to speak in
old time, saying, They shall surely ask [counsel] at Abel:
and so they ended [the matter].
020:019 I am of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel:
you seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel:
why will you swallow up the inheritance of Yahweh?
020:020 Joab answered, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should
swallow up or destroy.
020:021 The matter is not so: but a man of the hill country
of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted
up his hand against the king, even against David;
deliver him only, and I will depart from the city.
The woman said to Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown
to you over the wall.
020:022 Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom.
They cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri,
and threw it out to Joab. He blew the trumpet, and they
were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent.
Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.
020:023 Now Joab was over all the army of Israel; and Benaiah the son
of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites;
020:024 and Adoram was over the men subject to forced labor;
and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder;
020:025 and Sheva was scribe; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;
020:026 and also Ira the Jairite was chief minister to David.
021:001 There was a famine in the days of David three years,
year after year; and David sought the face of Yahweh.
Yahweh said, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house,
because he put to death the Gibeonites.
021:002 The king called the Gibeonites, and said to them (now the Gibeonites
were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of
the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn to them:
and Saul sought to kill them in his zeal for the children
of Israel and Judah);
021:003 and David said to the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you?
And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless
the inheritance of Yahweh?
021:004 The Gibeonites said to him, It is no matter of silver or gold
between us and Saul, or his house; neither is it for us to put
any man to death in Israel. He said, What you shall say,
that will I do for you.
021:005 They said to the king, The man who consumed us, and who devised
against us, [that] we should be destroyed from remaining
in any of the borders of Israel,
021:006 let seven men of his sons be delivered to us, and we will hang
them up to Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of Yahweh.
The king said, I will give them.
021:007 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son
of Saul, because of Yahweh's oath that was between them,
between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
021:008 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah,
whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five
sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel
the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:
021:009 He delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they
hanged them in the mountain before Yahweh, and they fell [all]
seven together. They were put to death in the days of harvest,
in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest.
021:010 Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it
for her on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water
was poured on them from the sky; and she allowed neither
the birds of the sky to rest on them by day, nor the animals
of the field by night.
021:011 It was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine
of Saul, had done.
021:012 David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan
his son from the men of Jabesh Gilead, who had stolen them from
the street of Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hanged them,
in the day that the Philistines killed Saul in Gilboa;
021:013 and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones
of Jonathan his son: and they gathered the bones of those
who were hanged.
021:014 They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country
of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father:
and they performed all that the king commanded.
After that God was entreated for the land.
021:015 The Philistines had war again with Israel; and David went down,
and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines.
David grew faint;
021:016 and Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight
of whose spear was three hundred [shekels] of brass in weight,
he being girded with a new [sword], thought to have slain David.
021:017 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck
the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David swore
to him, saying, You shall go no more out with us to battle,
that you don't quench the lamp of Israel.
021:018 It came to pass after this, that there was again war with the
Philistines at Gob: then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph,
who was of the sons of the giant.
021:019 There was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan
the son of Jaareoregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath
the Gittite's brother, the staff of whose spear was like
a weaver's beam.
021:020 There was again war at Gath, where was a man of great stature,
who had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes,
four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.
021:021 When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David's brother,
killed him.
021:022 These four were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell
by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
022:001 David spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day
that Yahweh delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies,
and out of the hand of Saul:
022:002 and he said, Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
even mine;
022:003 God, my rock, in him I will take refuge; my shield,
and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge.
My savior, you save me from violence.
022:004 I will call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised:
So shall I be saved from my enemies.
022:005 For the waves of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness
made me afraid.
022:006 The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death caught me.
022:007 In my distress I called on Yahweh. Yes, I called to my God.
He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry [came] into his ears.
022:008 Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven
quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.
022:009 Smoke went up out of his nostrils. Fire out of his mouth devoured.
Coals were kindled by it.
022:010 He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness
was under his feet.
022:011 He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he was seen on the wings
of the wind.
022:012 He made darkness pavilions around himself: gathering of waters,
and thick clouds of the skies.
022:013 At the brightness before him, coals of fire were kindled.
022:014 Yahweh thundered from heaven. The Most High uttered his voice.
022:015 He sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and confused them.
022:016 Then the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of
the world were laid bare by the rebuke of Yahweh, At the blast
of the breath of his nostrils.
022:017 He sent from on high and he took me. He drew me out
of many waters.
022:018 He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me,
for they were too mighty for me.
022:019 They came on me in the day of my calamity, but Yahweh
was my support.
022:020 He also brought me out into a large place. He delivered me,
because he delighted in me.
022:021 Yahweh rewarded me according to my righteousness.
He rewarded me according to the cleanness of my hands.
022:022 For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, and have not wickedly
departed from my God.
022:023 For all his ordinances were before me. As for his statutes,
I did not depart from them.
022:024 I was also perfect toward him. I kept myself from my iniquity.
022:025 Therefore Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
According to my cleanness in his eyesight.
022:026 With the merciful you will show yourself merciful.
With the perfect man you will show yourself perfect.
022:027 With the pure you will show yourself pure. With the crooked
you will show yourself shrewd.
022:028 You will save the afflicted people, But your eyes are on
the haughty, that you may bring them down.
022:029 For you are my lamp, Yahweh. Yahweh will light up my darkness.
022:030 For by you, I run against a troop. By my God, I leap over a wall.
022:031 As for God, his way is perfect. The word of Yahweh is tested.
He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.
022:032 For who is God, besides Yahweh? Who is a rock, besides our God?
022:033 God is my strong fortress. He makes my way perfect.
022:034 He makes his feet like hinds' [feet], and sets me on
my high places.
022:035 He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of brass.
022:036 You have also given me the shield of your salvation.
Your gentleness has made me great.
022:037 You have enlarged my steps under me. My feet have not slipped.
022:038 I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them. I didn't turn
again until they were consumed.
022:039 I have consumed them, and struck them through, so that they
can't arise. Yes, they have fallen under my feet.
022:040 For you have armed me with strength for the battle.
You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.
022:041 You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I
might cut off those who hate me.
022:042 They looked, but there was none to save; even to Yahweh,
but he didn't answer them.
022:043 Then I beat them as small as the dust of the earth.
I crushed them as the mire of the streets, and spread them abroad.
022:044 You also have delivered me from the strivings of my people.
You have kept me to be the head of the nations.
A people whom I have not known will serve me.
022:045 The foreigners will submit themselves to me. As soon as they
hear of me, they will obey me.
022:046 The foreigners will fade away, and will come trembling out
of their close places.
022:047 Yahweh lives! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be God, the rock
of my salvation,
022:048 even the God who executes vengeance for me, who brings down