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## Shmuel Bet

### Chapter 1

1After the death of Sha'ul, when David had returned from the slaughter of the Amalekim, and David had stayed two days in Ziklag, 2on the third day, behold, a man came out of the camp from Sha'ul, with his clothes torn and earth on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the earth and showed respect. 3David said to him, “Where do you come from?” He said to him, “I have escaped out of the camp of Yisrael.” 4David said to him, “How did it go? Please tell me.” He answered, “The people have fled from the battle, and many of the people also have fallen and are dead. Sha'ul and Yonatan his son are dead also.” 5David said to the young man who told him, “How do you know that Sha'ul and Yonatan his son are dead?” 6The young man who told him said, “As I happened by chance on Har Gilboa, behold, Sha'ul was leaning on his spear; and behold, the chariots and the horsemen followed close behind him. 7When he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. I answered, ‘Here I am.’ 8He said to me, ‘Who are you?’ I answered him, ‘I am an Amaleki.’ 9He said to me, ‘Please stand beside me, and kill me, for anguish has taken hold of me because my life lingers in me.’ 10So I stood beside him and killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen. I took the crown that was on his head and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them here to my adonai.” 11Then David took hold on his clothes and tore them; and all the men who were with him did likewise. 12They mourned, wept, and fasted until evening for Sha'ul and for Yonatan his son, and for the people of YHWH, and for the house of Yisrael, because they had fallen by the sword. 13David said to the young man who told him, “Where are you from?” He answered, “I am the son of a foreigner, an Amaleki.” 14David said to him, “Why were you not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy YHWH’s anointed?” 15David called one of the young men and said, “Go near, and cut him down!” He struck him so that he died. 16David said to him, “Your blood be on your head, for your mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have slain YHWH’s anointed.’” 17David lamented with this lamentation over Sha'ul and over Yonatan his son 18(and he commanded them to teach the children of Yehudah the song of the bow; behold, it is written in the book of Yashar): 19“Your glory, Yisrael, was slain on your high places! How the mighty have fallen! 20Don’t tell it in Gat. Don’t publish it in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Pelishtim rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. 21You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain on you, and no fields of offerings; for there the shield of the mighty was defiled and cast away, the shield of Sha'ul was not anointed with oil. 22From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, Yonatan’s bow didn’t turn back. Sha'ul’s sword didn’t return empty. 23Sha'ul and Yonatan were lovely and pleasant in their lives. In their death, they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles. They were stronger than lions. 24You daughters of Yisrael, weep over Sha'ul, who clothed you delicately in scarlet, who put ornaments of gold on your clothing. 25How the mighty have fallen in the middle of the battle! Yonatan was slain on your high places. 26I am distressed for you, my brother Yonatan. You have been very pleasant to me. Your love to me was wonderful, surpassing the love of women. 27How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war have perished!”

### Chapter 2

1After this, David enquired of YHWH, saying, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Yehudah?” YHWH said to him, “Go up.” David said, “Where shall I go up?” He said, “To Hebron.” 2So David went up there with his two wives, Achino'am the Yizre'elit, and Avigayil the wife of Nabal the Karmeli. 3David brought up his men who were with him, every man with his household. They lived in the cities of Hebron. 4The men of Yehudah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Yehudah. They told David, “The men of Yavesh Gilead were those who buried Sha'ul.” 5David sent messengers to the men of Yavesh Gilead, and said to them, “Blessed are you by YHWH, that you have shown this kindness to your adonai, even to Sha'ul, and have buried him. 6Now may YHWH show chesed and truth to you. I also will reward you for this kindness, because you have done this thing. 7Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant; for Sha'ul your adonai is dead, and also the house of Yehudah have anointed me king over them.” 8Now Avner the son of Ner, captain of Sha'ul’s army, had taken Ish-Boshet the son of Sha'ul and brought him over to Machanayim. 9He made him king over Gilead, over the Ashurites, over Yizre'el, over Ephraim, over Binyamin, and over all Yisrael. 10Ish-Boshet, Sha'ul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Yisrael, and he reigned two years. But the house of Yehudah followed David. 11The time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Yehudah was seven years and six months. 12Avner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-Boshet the son of Sha'ul, went out from Machanayim to Giv'on. 13Yoav the son of Tzeruyah and David’s servants went out, and met them by the pool of Giv'on; and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool and the other on the other side of the pool. 14Avner said to Yoav, “Please let the young men arise and compete before us!” Yoav said, “Let them arise!” 15Then they arose and went over by number: twelve for Binyamin and for Ish-Boshet the son of Sha'ul, and twelve of David’s servants. 16They each caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his fellow’s side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place in Giv'on was called Chelkat Hazzurim. 17The battle was very severe that day; and Avner was beaten, and the men of Yisrael, before David’s servants. 18The three sons of Tzeruyah were there: Yoav, Avishai, and Asael. Asael was as light of foot as a wild gazelle. 19Asael pursued Avner. He didn’t turn to the right hand or to the left from following Avner. 20Then Avner looked behind him and said, “Is that you, Asael?” He answered, “It is.” 21Avner said to him, “Turn away to your right hand or to your left, and grab one of the young men, and take his armour.” But Asael would not turn away from following him. 22Avner said again to Asael, “Turn away from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I look Yoav your brother in the face?” 23However, he refused to turn away. Therefore Avner with the back end of the spear struck him in the body, so that the spear came out behind him; and he fell down there and died in the same place. As many as came to the place where Asael fell down and died stood still. 24But Yoav and Avishai pursued Avner. The sun went down when they had come to the hill of Ammah, that lies before Giah by the way of the wilderness of Giv'on. 25The children of Binyamin gathered themselves together after Avner and became one band, and stood on the top of a hill. 26Then Avner called to Yoav, and said, “Shall the sword devour forever? Don’t you know that it will be bitterness in the latter end? How long will it be then, before you ask the people to return from following their brothers?” 27Yoav said, “As Elohim lives, if you had not spoken, surely then in the morning the people would have gone away, and not each followed his brother.” 28So Yoav blew the trumpet; and all the people stood still and pursued Yisrael no more, and they fought no more. 29Avner and his men went all that night through the Arava; and they passed over the Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and came to Machanayim. 30Yoav returned from following Avner; and when he had gathered all the people together, nineteen men of David’s and Asael were missing. 31But David’s servants had struck Binyamin Avner’s men so that three hundred and sixty men died. 32They took up Asael and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was in Beit Lechem. Yoav and his men went all night, and the day broke on them at Hebron.

### Chapter 3

1Now there was long war between Sha'ul’s house and David’s house. David grew stronger and stronger, but Sha'ul’s house grew weaker and weaker. 2Sons were born to David in Hebron. His firstborn was Amnon, of Achino'am the Yizre'elit; 3and his second, Chileab, of Avigayil the wife of Nabal the Karmeli; and the third, Avshalom the son of Ma'akah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; 4and the fourth, Adoniyahu the son of Chagit; and the fifth, Shefatyah the son of Abital; 5and the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah, David’s wife. These were born to David in Hebron. 6While there was war between Sha'ul’s house and David’s house, Avner made himself strong in Sha'ul’s house. 7Now Sha'ul had a concubine, whose name was Ritzpah, the daughter of Ayah; and Ish-Boshet said to Avner, “Why have you gone in to my father’s concubine?” 8Then Avner was very angry about Ish-Boshet’s words, and said, “Am I a dog’s head that belongs to Yehudah? Today I show kindness to your father Sha'ul’s house, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not delivered you into the hand of David; and yet you charge me today with a fault concerning this woman! 9Elohim do so to Avner, and more also, if, as YHWH has sworn to David, I don’t do even so to him: 10to transfer the kingdom from Sha'ul’s house, and to set up David’s throne over Yisrael and over Yehudah, from Dan even to Be'er Sheva.” 11He could not answer Avner another word, because he was afraid of him. 12Avner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying, “Whose is the land?” and saying, “Make your alliance with me, and behold, my hand will be with you to bring all Yisrael around to you.” 13David said, “Good. I will make a treaty with you, but one thing I require of you. That is, you will not see my face unless you first bring Michal, Sha'ul’s daughter, when you come to see my face.” 14David sent messengers to Ish-Boshet, Sha'ul’s son, saying, “Deliver me my wife Michal, whom I was given to marry for one hundred foreskins of the Pelishtim.” 15Ish-Boshet sent and took her from her husband, Paltiel the son of Laish. 16Her husband went with her, weeping as he went, and followed her to Bachurim. Then Avner said to him, “Go! Return!” and he returned. 17Avner had communication with the elders of Yisrael, saying, “In times past, you sought for David to be king over you. 18Now then do it! For YHWH has spoken of David, saying, ‘By the hand of my servant David, I will save my people Yisrael out of the hand of the Pelishtim, and out of the hand of all their enemies.’” 19Avner also spoke in the ears of Binyamin; and Avner went also to speak in the ears of David in Hebron all that seemed good to Yisrael and to the whole house of Binyamin. 20So Avner came to David to Hebron, and twenty men with him. David made Avner and the men who were with him a feast. 21Avner said to David, “I will arise and go, and will gather all Yisrael to my adonai the king, that they may make a Brit with you, and that you may reign over all that your soul desires.” David sent Avner away; and he went in peace. 22Behold, David’s servants and Yoav came from a raid and brought in a great plunder with them; but Avner was not with David in Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace. 23When Yoav and all the army who was with him had come, they told Yoav, “Avner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has sent him away, and he has gone in peace.” 24Then Yoav came to the king and said, “What have you done? Behold, Avner came to you. Why is it that you have sent him away, and he is already gone? 25You know Avner the son of Ner. He came to deceive you, and to know your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you do.” 26When Yoav had come out from David, he sent messengers after Avner, and they brought him back from the well of Sirah; but David didn’t know it. 27When Avner had returned to Hebron, Yoav took him aside into the middle of the gate to speak with him quietly, and struck him there in the body, so that he died for the blood of Asael his brother. 28Afterward, when David heard it, he said, “I and my kingdom are guiltless before YHWH forever of the blood of Avner the son of Ner. 29Let it fall on the head of Yoav and on all his father’s house. Let there not fail from the house of Yoav one who has a discharge, or who is a leper, or who leans on a staff, or who falls by the sword, or who lacks bread.” 30So Yoav and Avishai his brother killed Avner, because he had killed their brother Asael at Giv'on in the battle. 31David said to Yoav and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes, and clothe yourselves with sackcloth, and mourn in front of Avner.” King David followed the bier. 32They buried Avner in Hebron; and the king lifted up his voice and wept at Avner’s grave; and all the people wept. 33The king lamented for Avner, and said, “Should Avner die as a fool dies? 34Your hands weren’t bound, and your feet weren’t put into fetters. As a man falls before the children of iniquity, so you fell.” All the people wept again over him. 35All the people came to urge David to eat bread while it was yet day; but David swore, saying, “Elohim do so to me, and more also, if I taste bread or anything else, until the sun goes down.” 36All the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as whatever the king did pleased all the people. 37So all the people and all Yisrael understood that day that it was not of the king to kill Avner the son of Ner. 38The king said to his servants, “Don’t you know that a prince and a great man has fallen today in Yisrael? 39I am weak today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Tzeruyah are too hard for me. May YHWH reward the evildoer according to his wickedness.”

### Chapter 4

1When Sha'ul’s son heard that Avner was dead in Hebron, his hands became feeble, and all the B'nei Yisrael were troubled. 2Sha'ul’s son had two men who were captains of raiding bands. The name of one was Ba'ana and the name of the other Rechav, the sons of Rimon the Beerothite, of the children of Binyamin (for Beeroth also is considered a part of Binyamin; 3and the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and have lived as foreigners there until today). 4Now Yonatan, Sha'ul’s son, had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the news came about Sha'ul and Yonatan out of Yizre'el; and his nurse picked him up and fled. As she hurried to flee, he fell and became lame. His name was Mefivoshet. 5The sons of Rimon the Beerothite, Rechav and Ba'ana, went out and came at about the heat of the day to the house of Ish-Boshet as he took his rest at noon. 6They came there into the middle of the house as though they would have fetched wheat, and they struck him in the body; and Rechav and Ba'ana his brother escaped. 7Now when they came into the house as he lay on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him, killed him, beheaded him, and took his head, and went by the way of the Arava all night. 8They brought the head of Ish-Boshet to David to Hebron, and said to the king, “Behold, the head of Ish-Boshet, the son of Sha'ul, your enemy, who sought your life! YHWH has avenged my adonai the king today of Sha'ul and of his offspring.” 9David answered Rechav and Ba'ana his brother, the sons of Rimon the Beerothite, and said to them, “As YHWH lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity, 10when someone told me, ‘Behold, Sha'ul is dead,’ thinking that he brought good news, I seized him and killed him in Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. 11How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house on his bed, should I not now require his blood from your hand, and rid the earth of you?” 12David commanded his young men, and they killed them, cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up beside the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-Boshet and buried it in Avner’s grave in Hebron.

### Chapter 5

1Then all the tribes of Yisrael came to David at Hebron and spoke, saying, “Behold, we are your bone and your flesh. 2In times past, when Sha'ul was king over us, it was you who led Yisrael out and in. YHWH said to you, ‘You will be shepherd of my people Yisrael, and you will be prince over Yisrael.’” 3So all the elders of Yisrael came to the king to Hebron, and King David made a Brit with them in Hebron before YHWH; and they anointed David king over Yisrael. 4David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. 5In Hebron he reigned over Yehudah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Yisrael and Yehudah. 6The king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Yevusim, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, “The blind and the lame will keep you out of here,” thinking, “David can’t come in here.” 7Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Tzion. This is David’s city. 8David said on that day, “Whoever strikes the Yevusim, let him go up to the watercourse and strike those lame and blind, who are hated by David’s soul.” Therefore they say, “The blind and the lame can’t come into the house.” 9David lived in the stronghold, and called it David’s city. David built around from Millo and inward. 10David grew greater and greater, for YHWH, the Elohim Tzeva'ot, was with him. 11Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, with cedar trees, carpenters, and masons; and they built David a house. 12David perceived that YHWH had established him king over Yisrael, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Yisrael’s sake. 13David took more concubines and wives for himself out of Jerusalem, after he had come from Hebron; and more sons and daughters were born to David. 14These are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shamu'a, Shovav, Natan, Shlomo, 15Ibhar, Elishu'a, Nepheg, Yafia, 16Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet. 17When the Pelishtim heard that they had anointed David king over Yisrael, all the Pelishtim went up to seek David, but David heard about it and went down to the stronghold. 18Now the Pelishtim had come and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 19David enquired of YHWH, saying, “Shall I go up against the Pelishtim? Will you deliver them into my hand?” YHWH said to David, “Go up; for I will certainly deliver the Pelishtim into your hand.” 20David came to Ba'al Perazim, and David struck them there. Then he said, “YHWH has broken my enemies before me, like the breach of waters.” Therefore he called the name of that place Ba'al Perazim. 21They left their images there, and David and his men took them away. 22The Pelishtim came up yet again and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 23When David enquired of YHWH, he said, “You shall not go up. Circle around behind them, and attack them in front of the mulberry trees. 24When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then stir yourself up; for then YHWH has gone out before you to strike the army of the Pelishtim.” 25David did so, as YHWH commanded him, and struck the Pelishtim all the way from Geva to Gezer.

### Chapter 6

1David again gathered together all the chosen men of Yisrael, thirty thousand. 2David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale Yehudah, to bring up from there Elohim’s ark, which is called by the Name, even the name of YHWH Tzeva'ot who sits above the cherubim. 3They set Elohim’s ark on a new cart, and brought it out of Avinadav’s house that was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Avinadav, drove the new cart. 4They brought it out of Avinadav’s house which was in the hill, with Elohim’s ark; and Ahio went before the ark. 5David and all the house of Yisrael played before YHWH with all kinds of instruments made of cypress wood, with harps, with stringed instruments, with tambourines, with castanets, and with cymbals. 6When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached for Elohim’s ark and took hold of it, for the cattle stumbled. 7YHWH’s anger burnt against Uzzah, and Elohim struck him there for his error; and he died there by Elohim’s ark. 8David was displeased because YHWH had broken out against Uzzah; and he called that place Peretz Uzzah to this day. 9David was afraid of YHWH that day; and he said, “How could YHWH’s ark come to me?” 10So David would not move YHWH’s ark to be with him in David’s city; but David carried it aside into Oved-Edom the Giti’s house. 11YHWH’s ark remained in Oved-Edom the Giti’s house three months; and YHWH blessed Oved-Edom and all his house. 12King David was told, “YHWH has blessed the house of Oved-Edom, and all that belongs to him, because of Elohim’s ark.” So David went and brought up Elohim’s ark from the house of Oved-Edom into David’s city with joy. 13When those who bore YHWH’s ark had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf. 14David danced before YHWH with all his might; and David was clothed in a linen ephod. 15So David and all the house of Yisrael brought up YHWH’s ark with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. 16As YHWH’s ark came into David’s city, Michal the daughter of Sha'ul looked out through the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before YHWH; and she despised him in her heart. 17They brought in YHWH’s ark, and set it in its place in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before YHWH. 18When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of YHWH Tzeva'ot. 19He gave to all the people, even amongst the whole multitude of Yisrael, both to men and women, to everyone a portion of bread, dates, and raisins. So all the people departed, each to his own house. 20Then David returned to bless his household. Michal the daughter of Sha'ul came out to meet David, and said, “How glorious the king of Yisrael was today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of his servants’ maids, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” 21David said to Michal, “It was before YHWH, who chose me above your father, and above all his house, to appoint me prince over the people of YHWH, over Yisrael. Therefore I will celebrate before YHWH. 22I will be yet more undignified than this, and will be worthless in my own sight. But the maids of whom you have spoken will honour me.” 23Michal the daughter of Sha'ul had no child to the day of her death.

### Chapter 7

1When the king lived in his house, and YHWH had given him rest from all his enemies all around, 2the king said to Natan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but Elohim’s ark dwells within curtains.” 3Natan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for YHWH is with you.” 4That same night, YHWH’s word came to Natan, saying, 5“Go and tell my servant David, ‘YHWH says, “Should you build me a house for me to dwell in? 6For I have not lived in a house since the day that I brought the children of Yisrael up out of Mitzrayim, even to this day, but have moved around in a tent and in a Mishkan. 7In all places in which I have walked with all the children of Yisrael, did I say a word to anyone from the tribes of Yisrael whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people Yisrael, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’”’ 8Now therefore tell my servant David this: ‘YHWH Tzeva'ot says, “I took you from the sheep pen, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people, over Yisrael. 9I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. I will make you a great name, like the name of the great ones who are in the earth. 10I will appoint a place for my people Yisrael, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be moved no more. The children of wickedness will not afflict them any more, as at the first, 11and as from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Yisrael. I will cause you to rest from all your enemies. Moreover YHWH tells you that YHWH will make you a house. 12When your days are fulfilled and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men; 15but my chesed will not depart from him, as I took it from Sha'ul, whom I put away before you. 16Your house and your kingdom will be made sure forever before you. Your throne will be established forever.”’” 17Natan spoke to David all these words, and according to all this vision. 18Then David the king went in and sat before YHWH; and he said, “Who am I, Adonai YHWH, and what is my house, that you have brought me this far? 19This was yet a small thing in your eyes, Adonai YHWH, but you have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come; and this amongst men, Adonai YHWH! 20What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, Adonai YHWH. 21For your word’s sake, and according to your own heart, you have worked all this greatness, to make your servant know it. 22Therefore you are great, YHWH Elohim. For there is no one like you, neither is there any Elohim besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 23What one nation in the earth is like your people, even like Yisrael, whom Elohim went to redeem to himself for a people, and to make himself a name, and to do great things for you, and awesome things for your land, before your people, whom you redeemed to yourself out of Mitzrayim, from the nations and their gods? 24You established for yourself your people Yisrael to be your people forever; and you, YHWH, became their Elohim. 25“Now, YHWH Elohim, the word that you have spoken concerning your servant, and concerning his house, confirm it forever, and do as you have spoken. 26Let your name be magnified forever, saying, ‘YHWH Tzeva'ot is Elohim over Yisrael; and the house of your servant David will be established before you.’ 27For you, YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, have revealed to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore your servant has found in his heart to pray this prayer to you. 28“Now, O Adonai YHWH, you are Elohim, and your words are truth, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. 29Now therefore, let it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you; for you, Adonai YHWH, have spoken it. Let the house of your servant be blessed forever with your blessing.”

### Chapter 8

1After this, David struck the Pelishtim and subdued them; and David took the bridle of the mother city out of the hand of the Pelishtim. 2He defeated Moab, and measured them with the line, making them to lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death, and one full line to keep alive. The Moavim became servants to David, and brought tribute. 3David also struck Hadadezer the son of Rechov, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his dominion at the River. 4David took from him one thousand and seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand footmen. David hamstrung the chariot horses, but reserved enough of them for one hundred chariots. 5When the Aramim of Dameshek came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck twenty two thousand men of the Aramim. 6Then David put garrisons in Aram of Dameshek; and the Aramim became servants to David, and brought tribute. YHWH gave victory to David wherever he went. 7David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. 8From Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took a great quantity of bronze. 9When Toi king of Chamat heard that David had struck all the army of Hadadezer, 10then Toi sent Yoram his son to King David to greet him and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and struck him; for Hadadezer had wars with Toi. Yoram brought with him vessels of silver, vessels of gold, and vessels of bronze. 11King David also dedicated these to YHWH, with the silver and gold that he dedicated of all the nations which he subdued— 12of Aram, of Moab, of the children of Ammon, of the Pelishtim, of Amalek, and of the plunder of Hadadezer, son of Rechov, king of Zobah. 13David earned a reputation when he returned from striking down eighteen thousand men of the Aramim in the Valley of Salt. 14He put garrisons in Edom. Throughout all Edom, he put garrisons, and all the Edomim became servants to David. YHWH gave victory to David wherever he went. 15David reigned over all Yisrael; and David executed justice and righteousness for all his people. 16Yoav the son of Tzeruyah was over the army, Yehoshafat the son of Achilud was recorder, 17Tzadok the son of Achituv and Achimelech the son of Evyatar were priests, Serayah was scribe, 18Benayahu the son of Yehoyada was over the Kereti and the Peleti; and David’s sons were chief ministers.

### Chapter 9

1David said, “Is there yet any who is left of Sha'ul’s house, that I may show him kindness for Yonatan’s sake?” 2There was of Sha'ul’s house a servant whose name was Tziva, and they called him to David; and the king said to him, “Are you Tziva?” He said, “I am your servant.” 3The king said, “Is there not yet any of Sha'ul’s house, that I may show the kindness of Elohim to him?” Tziva said to the king, “Yonatan still has a son, who is lame in his feet.” 4The king said to him, “Where is he?” Tziva said to the king, “Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ami'el, in Lo Debar.” 5Then King David sent and brought him out of the house of Machir the son of Ami'el, from Lo Debar. 6Mefivoshet, the son of Yonatan, the son of Sha'ul, came to David, fell on his face, and showed respect. David said, “Mefivoshet?” He answered, “Behold, your servant!” 7David said to him, “Don’t be afraid, for I will surely show you kindness for Yonatan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Sha'ul your father. You will eat bread at my table continually.” 8He bowed down, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look at such a dead dog as I am?” 9Then the king called to Tziva, Sha'ul’s servant, and said to him, “All that belonged to Sha'ul and to all his house I have given to your master’s son. 10Till the land for him—you, your sons, and your servants. Bring in the harvest, that your master’s son may have bread to eat; but Mefivoshet your master’s son will always eat bread at my table.” Now Tziva had fifteen sons and twenty servants. 11Then Tziva said to the king, “According to all that my adonai the king commands his servant, so your servant will do.” So Mefivoshet ate at the king’s table like one of the king’s sons. 12Mefivoshet had a young son, whose name was Mica. All who lived in Tziva’s house were servants to Mefivoshet. 13So Mefivoshet lived in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king’s table. He was lame in both his feet.

### Chapter 10

1After this, the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his place. 2David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nachash, as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent by his servants to comfort him concerning his father. David’s servants came into the land of the children of Ammon. 3But the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun their Adonai, “Do you think that David honours your father, in that he has sent comforters to you? Hasn’t David sent his servants to you to search the city, to spy it out, and to overthrow it?” 4So Hanun took David’s servants, shaved off one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. 5When they told David this, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. The king said, “Wait at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return.” 6When the children of Ammon saw that they had become odious to David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Aramim of Beit Rechov and the Aramim of Zobah, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Ma'akah with one thousand men, and the men of Tob twelve thousand men. 7When David heard of it, he sent Yoav and all the army of the mighty men. 8The children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entrance of the gate. The Aramim of Zobah and of Rechov and the men of Tob and Ma'akah were by themselves in the field. 9Now when Yoav saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Yisrael and put them in array against the Aramim. 10The rest of the people he committed into the hand of Avishai his brother; and he put them in array against the children of Ammon. 11He said, “If the Aramim are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the children of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come and help you. 12Be courageous, and let’s be strong for our people and for the cities of our Elohim; and may YHWH do what seems good to him.” 13So Yoav and the people who were with him came near to the battle against the Aramim, and they fled before him. 14When the children of Ammon saw that the Aramim had fled, they likewise fled before Avishai, and entered into the city. Then Yoav returned from the children of Ammon and came to Jerusalem. 15When the Aramim saw that they were defeated by Yisrael, they gathered themselves together. 16Hadadezer sent and brought out the Aramim who were beyond the River; and they came to Helam, with Shovakh the captain of the army of Hadadezer at their head. 17David was told that; and he gathered all Yisrael together, passed over the Jordan, and came to Helam. The Aramim set themselves in array against David and fought with him. 18The Aramim fled before Yisrael; and David killed seven hundred charioteers of the Aramim and forty thousand horsemen, and struck Shovakh the captain of their army, so that he died there. 19When all the kings who were servants to Hadadezer saw that they were defeated before Yisrael, they made peace with Yisrael and served them. So the Aramim were afraid to help the children of Ammon any more.

### Chapter 11

1At the return of the year, at the time when kings go out, David sent Yoav and his servants with him, and all Yisrael; and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. 2At evening, David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to look at. 3David sent and enquired after the woman. One said, “Isn’t this Bat-Sheva, the daughter of Eliam, Uriyah the Chitti’s wife?” 4David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her (for she was purified from her uncleanness); and she returned to her house. 5The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.” 6David sent to Yoav, “Send me Uriyah the Chitti.” Yoav sent Uriyah to David. 7When Uriyah had come to him, David asked him how Yoav did, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered. 8David said to Uriyah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” Uriyah departed out of the king’s house, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9But Uriyah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his Adonai, and didn’t go down to his house. 10When they had told David, saying, “Uriyah didn’t go down to his house,” David said to Uriyah, “Haven’t you come from a journey? Why didn’t you go down to your house?” 11Uriyah said to David, “The ark, Yisrael, and Yehudah, are staying in tents; and my adonai Yoav and the servants of my adonai are encamped in the open field. Shall I then go into my house to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing!” 12David said to Uriyah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart.” So Uriyah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next day. 13When David had called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. At evening, he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his Adonai, but didn’t go down to his house. 14In the morning, David wrote a letter to Yoav and sent it by the hand of Uriyah. 15He wrote in the letter, saying, “Send Uriyah to the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck and die.” 16When Yoav kept watch on the city, he assigned Uriyah to the place where he knew that valiant men were. 17The men of the city went out and fought with Yoav. Some of the people fell, even of David’s servants; and Uriyah the Chitti died also. 18Then Yoav sent and told David all the things concerning the war; 19and he commanded the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling all the things concerning the war to the king, 20it shall be that, if the king’s wrath arise, and he asks you, ‘Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Didn’t you know that they would shoot from the wall? 21Who struck Avimelech the son of Yerub-Boshet? Didn’t a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Tevetz? Why did you go so near the wall?’ then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriyah the Chitti is also dead.’” 22So the messenger went, and came and showed David all that Yoav had sent him for. 23The messenger said to David, “The men prevailed against us, and came out to us into the field; and we were on them even to the entrance of the gate. 24The shooters shot at your servants from off the wall; and some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriyah the Chitti is also dead.” 25Then David said to the messenger, “Tell Yoav, ‘Don’t let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Make your battle stronger against the city, and overthrow it.’ Encourage him.” 26When Uriyah’s wife heard that Uriyah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. 27When the mourning was past, David sent and took her home to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased YHWH.

### Chapter 12

1YHWH sent Natan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in one city: the one rich, and the other poor. 2The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 3but the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food, drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him. 4A traveller came to the rich man, and he didn’t want to take of his own flock and of his own herd to prepare for the wayfaring man who had come to him, but took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” 5David’s anger burnt hot against the man, and he said to Natan, “As YHWH lives, the man who has done this deserves to die! 6He must restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and because he had no pity!” 7Natan said to David, “You are the man! This is what YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: ‘I anointed you king over Yisrael, and I delivered you out of the hand of Sha'ul. 8I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Yisrael and of Yehudah; and if that would have been too little, I would have added to you many more such things. 9Why have you despised YHWH’s word, to do that which is evil in his sight? You have struck Uriyah the Chitti with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 10Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken Uriyah the Chitti’s wife to be your wife.’ 11“This is what YHWH says: ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbour, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12For you did this secretly, but I will do this thing before all Yisrael, and before the sun.’” 13David said to Natan, “I have sinned against YHWH.” Natan said to David, “YHWH also has put away your sin. You will not die. 14However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to YHWH’s enemies to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you will surely die.” 15Then Natan departed to his house. YHWH struck the child that Uriyah’s wife bore to David, and he was very sick. 16David therefore begged Elohim for the child; and David fasted, and went in and lay all night on the ground. 17The elders of his house arose beside him, to raise him up from the earth; but he would not, and he didn’t eat bread with them. 18On the seventh day, the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him and he didn’t listen to our voice. How will he then harm himself if we tell him that the child is dead?” 19But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; and David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.” 20Then David arose from the earth, and washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothing; and he came into YHWH’s house, and worshipped. Then he came to his own house; and when he requested, they set bread before him and he ate. 21Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child was dead, you rose up and ate bread.” 22He said, “While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows whether YHWH will not be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” 24David comforted Bat-Sheva his wife, and went in to her, and lay with her. She bore a son, and he called his name Shlomo. YHWH loved him; 25and he sent by the hand of Natan the prophet, and he named him Yedidyah, for YHWH’s sake. 26Now Yoav fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city. 27Yoav sent messengers to David, and said, “I have fought against Rabbah. Yes, I have taken the city of waters. 28Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city and take it; lest I take the city, and it be called by my name.” 29David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah, and fought against it and took it. 30He took the crown of their king from off his head; and its weight was a talent of gold, and in it were precious stones; and it was set on David’s head. He brought a great quantity of plunder out of the city. 31He brought out the people who were in it, and put them to work under saws, under iron picks, under axes of iron, and made them go to the brick kiln; and he did so to all the cities of the children of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

### Chapter 13

1After this, Avshalom the son of David had a beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her. 2Amnon was so troubled that he became sick because of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed hard to Amnon to do anything to her. 3But Amnon had a friend whose name was Yehonadav the son of Shim'ah, David’s brother; and Yehonadav was a very subtle man. 4He said to him, “Why, son of the king, are you so sad from day to day? Won’t you tell me?” Amnon said to him, “I love Tamar, my brother Avshalom’s sister.” 5Yehonadav said to him, “Lay down on your bed and pretend to be sick. When your father comes to see you, tell him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me bread to eat, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’” 6So Amnon lay down and faked being sick. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand.” 7Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, “Go now to your brother Amnon’s house, and prepare food for him.” 8So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house; and he was lying down. She took dough, kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked the cakes. 9She took the pan and poured them out before him, but he refused to eat. Amnon said, “Have all men leave me.” Then every man went out from him. 10Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the room, that I may eat from your hand.” Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and brought them into the room to Amnon her brother. 11When she had brought them near to him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, “Come, lie with me, my sister!” 12She answered him, “No, my brother, do not force me! For no such thing ought to be done in Yisrael. Don’t you do this folly! 13As for me, where would I carry my shame? And as for you, you will be as one of the fools in Yisrael. Now therefore, please speak to the king; for he will not withhold me from you.” 14However, he would not listen to her voice; but being stronger than she, he forced her and lay with her. 15Then Amnon hated her with exceedingly great hatred; for the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. Amnon said to her, “Arise, be gone!” 16She said to him, “Not so, because this great wrong in sending me away is worse than the other that you did to me!” But he would not listen to her. 17Then he called his servant who ministered to him, and said, “Now put this woman out from me, and bolt the door after her.” 18She had a garment of various colours on her, for the king’s daughters who were virgins dressed in such robes. Then his servant brought her out and bolted the door after her. 19Tamar put ashes on her head, and tore her garment of various colours that was on her; and she laid her hand on her head and went her way, crying aloud as she went. 20Avshalom her brother said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? But now hold your peace, my sister. He is your brother. Don’t take this thing to heart.” So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Avshalom’s house. 21But when King David heard of all these things, he was very angry. 22Avshalom spoke to Amnon neither good nor bad; for Avshalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar. 23After two full years, Avshalom had sheep shearers in Ba'al Chatzor, which is beside Ephraim; and Avshalom invited all the king’s sons. 24Avshalom came to the king and said, “See now, your servant has sheep shearers. Please let the king and his servants go with your servant.” 25The king said to Avshalom, “No, my son, let’s not all go, lest we be burdensome to you.” He pressed him; however he would not go, but blessed him. 26Then Avshalom said, “If not, please let my brother Amnon go with us.” The king said to him, “Why should he go with you?” 27But Avshalom pressed him, and he let Amnon and all the king’s sons go with him. 28Avshalom commanded his servants, saying, “Mark now, when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Haven’t I commanded you? Be courageous, and be valiant!” 29The servants of Avshalom did to Amnon as Avshalom had commanded. Then all the king’s sons arose, and every man got up on his mule and fled. 30While they were on the way, the news came to David, saying, “Avshalom has slain all the king’s sons, and there is not one of them left!” 31Then the king arose, and tore his garments, and lay on the earth; and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn. 32Yehonadav the son of Shim'ah, David’s brother, answered, “Don’t let my adonai suppose that they have killed all the young men, the king’s sons, for Amnon only is dead; for by the appointment of Avshalom this has been determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar. 33Now therefore don’t let my adonai the king take the thing to his heart, to think that all the king’s sons are dead; for only Amnon is dead.” 34But Avshalom fled. The young man who kept the watch lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, many people were coming by way of the hillside behind him. 35Yehonadav said to the king, “Behold, the king’s sons are coming! It is as your servant said.” 36As soon as he had finished speaking, behold, the king’s sons came, and lifted up their voices and wept. The king also and all his servants wept bitterly. 37But Avshalom fled and went to Talmai the son of Ammihur, king of Geshur. David mourned for his son every day. 38So Avshalom fled and went to Geshur, and was there three years. 39King David longed to go out to Avshalom, for he was comforted concerning Amnon, since he was dead.

### Chapter 14

1Now Yoav the son of Tzeruyah perceived that the king’s heart was towards Avshalom. 2Yoav sent to Tekoa and brought a wise woman from there, and said to her, “Please act like a mourner, and put on mourning clothing, please, and don’t anoint yourself with oil; but be as a woman who has mourned a long time for the dead. 3Go in to the king and speak like this to him.” So Yoav put the words in her mouth. 4When the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, showed respect, and said, “Help, O king!” 5The king said to her, “What ails you?” She answered, “Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead. 6Your servant had two sons; and they both fought together in the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one struck the other and killed him. 7Behold, the whole family has risen against your servant, and they say, ‘Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he killed, and so destroy the heir also.’ Thus they would quench my coal which is left, and would leave to my husband neither name nor remainder on the surface of the earth.” 8The king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give a command concerning you.” 9The woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My Adonai, O king, may the iniquity be on me, and on my father’s house; and may the king and his throne be guiltless.” 10The king said, “Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he will not bother you any more.” 11Then she said, “Please let the king remember YHWH your Elohim, that the avenger of blood destroy not any more, lest they destroy my son.” He said, “As YHWH lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the earth.” 12Then the woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my adonai the king.” He said, “Say on.” 13The woman said, “Why then have you devised such a thing against the people of Elohim? For in speaking this word the king is as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring home again his banished one. 14For we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground, which can’t be gathered up again; neither does Elohim take away life, but devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast from him. 15Now therefore, seeing that I have come to speak this word to my adonai the king, it is because the people have made me afraid. Your servant said, ‘I will now speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his servant.’ 16For the king will hear, to deliver his servant out of the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of Elohim. 17Then your servant said, ‘Please let the word of my adonai the king bring rest; for as an malak of Elohim, so is my adonai the king to discern good and bad. May YHWH, your Elohim, be with you.’” 18Then the king answered the woman, “Please don’t hide anything from me that I ask you.” The woman said, “Let my adonai the king now speak.” 19The king said, “Is the hand of Yoav with you in all this?” The woman answered, “As your soul lives, my adonai the king, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my adonai the king has spoken; for your servant Yoav urged me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your servant. 20Your servant Yoav has done this thing to change the face of the matter. My Adonai is wise, according to the wisdom of an malak of Elohim, to know all things that are in the earth.” 21The king said to Yoav, “Behold now, I have granted this thing. Go therefore, and bring the young man Avshalom back.” 22Yoav fell to the ground on his face, showed respect, and blessed the king. Yoav said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favour in your sight, my adonai, O king, in that the king has performed the request of his servant.” 23So Yoav arose and went to Geshur, and brought Avshalom to Jerusalem. 24The king said, “Let him return to his own house, but let him not see my face.” So Avshalom returned to his own house, and didn’t see the king’s face. 25Now in all Yisrael there was no one to be so much praised as Avshalom for his beauty. From the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no defect in him. 26When he cut the hair of his head (now it was at every year’s end that he cut it; because it was heavy on him, therefore he cut it), he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels, after the king’s weight. 27Three sons were born to Avshalom, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a woman with a beautiful face. 28Avshalom lived two full years in Jerusalem, and he didn’t see the king’s face. 29Then Avshalom sent for Yoav, to send him to the king, but he would not come to him. Then he sent again a second time, but he would not come. 30Therefore he said to his servants, “Behold, Yoav’s field is near mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire.” So Avshalom’s servants set the field on fire. 31Then Yoav arose and came to Avshalom to his house, and said to him, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?” 32Avshalom answered Yoav, “Behold, I sent to you, saying, ‘Come here, that I may send you to the king, to say, “Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to be there still. Now therefore, let me see the king’s face; and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me.”’” 33So Yoav came to the king and told him; and when he had called for Avshalom, he came to the king and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king; and the king kissed Avshalom.

### Chapter 15

1After this, Avshalom prepared a chariot and horses for himself, and fifty men to run before him. 2Avshalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate. When any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgement, then Avshalom called to him, and said, “What city are you from?” He said, “Your servant is of one of the tribes of Yisrael.” 3Avshalom said to him, “Behold, your matters are good and right; but there is no man deputized by the king to hear you.” 4Avshalom said moreover, “Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man who has any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice!” 5It was so, that when any man came near to bow down to him, he stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and kissed him. 6Avshalom did this sort of thing to all Yisrael who came to the king for judgement. So Avshalom stole the hearts of the men of Yisrael. 7At the end of forty years, Avshalom said to the king, “Please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to YHWH, in Hebron. 8For your servant vowed a vow while I stayed at Geshur in Aram, saying, ‘If YHWH shall indeed bring me again to Jerusalem, then I will serve YHWH.’” 9The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he arose and went to Hebron. 10But Avshalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Yisrael, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, ‘Avshalom is king in Hebron!’” 11Two hundred men went with Avshalom out of Jerusalem, who were invited, and went in their simplicity; and they didn’t know anything. 12Avshalom sent for Achitofel the Giloni, David’s counsellor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. The conspiracy was strong, for the people increased continually with Avshalom. 13A messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Yisrael are after Avshalom.” 14David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise! Let’s flee, or else none of us will escape from Avshalom. Hurry to depart, lest he overtake us quickly and bring down evil on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword.” 15The king’s servants said to the king, “Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my adonai the king chooses.” 16The king went out, and all his household after him. The king left ten women, who were concubines, to keep the house. 17The king went out, and all the people after him; and they stayed in Beit Merchak. 18All his servants passed on beside him; and all the Kereti, and all the Peleti, and all the Gitim, six hundred men who came after him from Gat, passed on before the king. 19Then the king said to Ittai the Giti, “Why do you also go with us? Return, and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner and also an exile. Return to your own place. 20Whereas you came but yesterday, should I today make you go up and down with us, since I go where I may? Return, and take back your brothers. Chesed and truth be with you.” 21Ittai answered the king and said, “As YHWH lives, and as my adonai the king lives, surely in what place my adonai the king is, whether for death or for life, your servant will be there also.” 22David said to Ittai, “Go and pass over.” Ittai the Giti passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones who were with him. 23All the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over. The king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over towards the way of the wilderness. 24Behold, Tzadok also came, and all the Levi'im with him, bearing the Aron HaBrit of Elohim; and they set down Elohim’s ark; and Evyatar went up until all the people finished passing out of the city. 25The king said to Tzadok, “Carry Elohim’s ark back into the city. If I find favour in YHWH’s eyes, he will bring me again, and show me both it and his habitation; 26but if he says, ‘I have no delight in you,’ behold, here I am. Let him do to me as seems good to him.” 27The king said also to Tzadok the priest, “Aren’t you a seer? Return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Achima'atz your son and Yonatan the son of Evyatar. 28Behold, I will stay at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.” 29Tzadok therefore and Evyatar carried Elohim’s ark to Jerusalem again; and they stayed there. 30David went up by the ascent of the Har HaZeitim, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered and went barefoot. All the people who were with him each covered his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up. 31Someone told David, saying, “Achitofel is amongst the conspirators with Avshalom.” David said, “YHWH, please turn the counsel of Achitofel into foolishness.” 32When David had come to the top, where Elohim was worshipped, behold, Chushai the Arki came to meet him with his tunic torn and earth on his head. 33David said to him, “If you pass on with me, then you will be a burden to me; 34but if you return to the city, and tell Avshalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king. As I have been your father’s servant in time past, so I will now be your servant; then you will defeat for me the counsel of Achitofel.’ 35Don’t you have Tzadok and Evyatar the priests there with you? Therefore whatever you hear out of the king’s house, tell it to Tzadok and Evyatar the priests. 36Behold, they have there with them their two sons, Achima'atz, Tzadok’s son, and Yonatan, Evyatar’s son. Send to me everything that you shall hear by them.” 37So Chushai, David’s friend, came into the city; and Avshalom came into Jerusalem.

### Chapter 16

1When David was a little past the top, behold, Tziva the servant of Mefivoshet met him with a couple of donkeys saddled, and on them two hundred loaves of bread, and one hundred clusters of raisins, and one hundred summer fruits, and a container of wine. 2The king said to Tziva, “What do you mean by these?” Tziva said, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that those who are faint in the wilderness may drink.” 3The king said, “Where is your master’s son?” Tziva said to the king, “Behold, he is staying in Jerusalem; for he said, ‘Today the house of Yisrael will restore me the kingdom of my father.’” 4Then the king said to Tziva, “Behold, all that belongs to Mefivoshet is yours.” Tziva said, “I bow down. Let me find favour in your sight, my adonai, O king.” 5When King David came to Bachurim, behold, a man of the family of Sha'ul’s house came out, whose name was Shim'i, the son of Gera. He came out and cursed as he came. 6He cast stones at David and at all the servants of King David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. 7Shim'i said when he cursed, “Be gone, be gone, you man of blood, and wicked fellow! 8YHWH has returned on you all the blood of Sha'ul’s house, in whose place you have reigned! YHWH has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Avshalom your son! Behold, you are caught by your own mischief, because you are a man of blood!” 9Then Avishai the son of Tzeruyah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my adonai the king? Please let me go over and take off his head.” 10The king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Tzeruyah? Because he curses, and because YHWH has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” 11David said to Avishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my son, who came out of my bowels, seeks my life. How much more this Binyamini, now? Leave him alone, and let him curse; for YHWH has invited him. 12It may be that YHWH will look on the wrong done to me, and that YHWH will repay me good for the cursing of me today.” 13So David and his men went by the way; and Shim'i went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went, threw stones at him, and threw dust. 14The king and all the people who were with him arrived weary; and he refreshed himself there. 15Avshalom and all the people, the men of Yisrael, came to Jerusalem, and Achitofel with him. 16When Chushai the Arki, David’s friend, had come to Avshalom, Chushai said to Avshalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!” 17Avshalom said to Chushai, “Is this your kindness to your friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend?” 18Chushai said to Avshalom, “No; but whomever YHWH and this people and all the men of Yisrael have chosen, I will be his, and I will stay with him. 19Again, whom should I serve? Shouldn’t I serve in the presence of his son? As I have served in your father’s presence, so I will be in your presence.” 20Then Avshalom said to Achitofel, “Give your counsel what we shall do.” 21Achitofel said to Avshalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines that he has left to keep the house. Then all Yisrael will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.” 22So they spread a tent for Avshalom on the top of the house, and Avshalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Yisrael. 23The counsel of Achitofel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man enquired at the inner Beit HaMikdash of Elohim. All the counsel of Achitofel was like this both with David and with Avshalom.

### Chapter 17

1Moreover Achitofel said to Avshalom, “Let me now choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David tonight. 2I will come on him while he is weary and exhausted, and will make him afraid. All the people who are with him will flee. I will strike the king only, 3and I will bring back all the people to you. The man whom you seek is as if all returned. All the people shall be in peace.” 4The saying pleased Avshalom well, and all the elders of Yisrael. 5Then Avshalom said, “Now call Chushai the Arki also, and let’s hear likewise what he says.” 6When Chushai had come to Avshalom, Avshalom spoke to him, saying, “Achitofel has spoken like this. Shall we do what he says? If not, speak up.” 7Chushai said to Avshalom, “The counsel that Achitofel has given this time is not good.” 8Chushai said moreover, “You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are fierce in their minds, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Your father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people. 9Behold, he is now hidden in some pit, or in some other place. It will happen, when some of them have fallen at the first, that whoever hears it will say, ‘There is a slaughter amongst the people who follow Avshalom!’ 10Even he who is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt; for all Yisrael knows that your father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men. 11But I counsel that all Yisrael be gathered together to you, from Dan even to Be'er Sheva, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that you go to battle in your own person. 12So we will come on him in some place where he will be found, and we will light on him as the dew falls on the ground, then we will not leave so much as one of him and of all the men who are with him. 13Moreover, if he has gone into a city, then all Yisrael will bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there isn’t one small stone found there.” 14Avshalom and all the men of Yisrael said, “The counsel of Chushai the Arki is better than the counsel of Achitofel.” For YHWH had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Achitofel, to the intent that YHWH might bring evil on Avshalom. 15Then Chushai said to Tzadok and to Evyatar the priests, “Achitofel counselled Avshalom and the elders of Yisrael that way; and I have counselled this way. 16Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, ‘Don’t lodge tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people who are with him.’” 17Now Yonatan and Achima'atz were staying by En Rogel; and a female servant used to go and report to them, and they went and told King David; for they couldn’t risk being seen coming into the city. 18But a boy saw them, and told Avshalom. Then they both went away quickly and came to the house of a man in Bachurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down there. 19The woman took and spread the covering over the well’s mouth, and spread out crushed grain on it; and nothing was known. 20Avshalom’s servants came to the woman to the house; and they said, “Where are Achima'atz and Yonatan?” The woman said to them, “They have gone over the brook of water.” When they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. 21After they had departed, they came up out of the well and went and told King David; and they said to David, “Arise and pass quickly over the water; for thus has Achitofel counselled against you.” 22Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they passed over the Jordan. By the morning light there lacked not one of them who had not gone over the Jordan. 23When Achitofel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, arose, and went home to his city, set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the tomb of his father. 24Then David came to Machanayim. Avshalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Yisrael with him. 25Avshalom set Amasa over the army instead of Yoav. Now Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Ithra the Yisra'eli, who went in to Avigayil the daughter of Nachash, sister to Tzeruyah, Yoav’s mother. 26Yisrael and Avshalom encamped in the land of Gilead. 27When David had come to Machanayim, Shovi the son of Nachash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ami'el of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gil'adi of Rogelim, 28brought beds, basins, earthen vessels, wheat, barley, meal, parched grain, beans, lentils, roasted grain, 29honey, butter, sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David and for the people who were with him to eat; for they said, “The people are hungry, weary, and thirsty in the wilderness.”

### Chapter 18

1David counted the people who were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. 2David sent the people out, a third part under the hand of Yoav, and a third part under the hand of Avishai the son of Tzeruyah, Yoav’s brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Giti. The king said to the people, “I will also surely go out with you myself.” 3But the people said, “You shall not go out, for if we flee away, they will not care for us, neither if half of us die, will they care for us. But you are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore now it is better that you are ready to help us out of the city.” 4The king said to them, “I will do what seems best to you.” The king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands. 5The king commanded Yoav and Avishai and Ittai, saying, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Avshalom.” All the people heard when the king commanded all the captains concerning Avshalom. 6So the people went out into the field against Yisrael; and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim. 7The people of Yisrael were struck there before David’s servants, and there was a great slaughter there that day of twenty thousand men. 8For the battle was there spread over the surface of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. 9Avshalom happened to meet David’s servants. Avshalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak; and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was hanging between the sky and earth; and the mule that was under him went on. 10A certain man saw it, and told Yoav, and said, “Behold, I saw Avshalom hanging in an oak.” 11Yoav said to the man who told him, “Behold, you saw it, and why didn’t you strike him there to the ground? I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a sash.” 12The man said to Yoav, “Though I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I still wouldn’t stretch out my hand against the king’s son; for in our hearing the king commanded you and Avishai and Ittai, saying, ‘Beware that no one touch the young man Avshalom.’ 13Otherwise, if I had dealt falsely against his life (and there is no matter hidden from the king), then you yourself would have set yourself against me.” 14Then Yoav said, “I’m not going to wait like this with you.” He took three darts in his hand and thrust them through Avshalom’s heart while he was still alive in the middle of the oak. 15Ten young men who bore Yoav’s armour surrounded and struck Avshalom, and killed him. 16Yoav blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Yisrael; for Yoav held the people back. 17They took Avshalom and cast him into a great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones. Then all Yisrael fled, each to his own tent. 18Now Avshalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself the pillar which is in the king’s valley, for he said, “I have no son to keep my name in memory.” He called the pillar after his own name. It is called Avshalom’s monument, to this day. 19Then Achima'atz the son of Tzadok said, “Let me now run and carry the king news, how YHWH has avenged him of his enemies.” 20Yoav said to him, “You must not be the bearer of news today, but you must carry news another day. But today you must carry no news, because the king’s son is dead.” 21Then Yoav said to the Kushi, “Go, tell the king what you have seen!” The Kushi bowed himself to Yoav, and ran. 22Then Achima'atz the son of Tzadok said yet again to Yoav, “But come what may, please let me also run after the Kushi.” Yoav said, “Why do you want to run, my son, since you will have no reward for the news?” 23“But come what may,” he said, “I will run.” He said to him, “Run!” Then Achima'atz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Kushi. 24Now David was sitting between the two gates; and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate to the wall, and lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, a man running alone. 25The watchman shouted and told the king. The king said, “If he is alone, there is news in his mouth.” He came closer and closer. 26The watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, “Behold, a man running alone!” The king said, “He also brings news.” 27The watchman said, “I think the running of the first one is like the running of Achima'atz the son of Tzadok.” The king said, “He is a good man, and comes with good news.” 28Achima'atz called, and said to the king, “All is well.” He bowed himself before the king with his face to the earth, and said, “Blessed is YHWH your Elohim, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my adonai the king!” 29The king said, “Is it well with the young man Avshalom?” Achima'atz answered, “When Yoav sent the king’s servant, even me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I don’t know what it was.” 30The king said, “Come and stand here.” He came and stood still. 31Behold, the Kushi came. The Kushi said, “Good news for my adonai the king, for YHWH has avenged you today of all those who rose up against you.” 32The king said to the Kushi, “Is it well with the young man Avshalom?” The Kushi answered, “May the enemies of my adonai the king, and all who rise up against you to do you harm, be as that young man is.” 33The king was much moved, and went up to the room over the gate and wept. As he went, he said, “My son Avshalom! My son, my son Avshalom! I wish I had died instead of you, Avshalom, my son, my son!”

### Chapter 19

1Yoav was told, “Behold, the king weeps and mourns for Avshalom.” 2The victory that day was turned into mourning amongst all the people, for the people heard it said that day, “The king grieves for his son.” 3The people sneaked into the city that day, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle. 4The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, “My son Avshalom, Avshalom, my son, my son!” 5Yoav came into the house to the king, and said, “Today you have shamed the faces of all your servants who today have saved your life, and the lives of your sons and of your daughters, and the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines; 6in that you love those who hate you and hate those who love you. For you have declared today that princes and servants are nothing to you. For today I perceive that if Avshalom had lived and we had all died today, then it would have pleased you well. 7Now therefore arise, go out and speak to comfort your servants; for I swear by YHWH, if you don’t go out, not a man will stay with you this night. That would be worse to you than all the evil that has happened to you from your youth until now.” 8Then the king arose and sat in the gate. The people were all told, “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate.” All the people came before the king. Now Yisrael had fled every man to his tent. 9All the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Yisrael, saying, “The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, and he saved us out of the hand of the Pelishtim; and now he has fled out of the land from Avshalom. 10Avshalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why don’t you speak a word of bringing the king back?” 11King David sent to Tzadok and to Evyatar the priests, saying, “Speak to the elders of Yehudah, saying, ‘Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house, since the speech of all Yisrael has come to the king, to return him to his house? 12You are my brothers. You are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the last to bring back the king?’ 13Say to Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my bone and my flesh? Elohim do so to me, and more also, if you aren’t captain of the army before me continually instead of Yoav.’” 14He bowed the heart of all the men of Yehudah, even as one man, so that they sent to the king, saying, “Return, you and all your servants.” 15So the king returned, and came to the Jordan. Yehudah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king over the Jordan. 16Shim'i the son of Gera, the Binyamini, who was of Bachurim, hurried and came down with the men of Yehudah to meet King David. 17There were a thousand men of Binyamin with him, and Tziva the servant of Sha'ul’s house, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went through the Jordan in the presence of the king. 18A ferry boat went to bring over the king’s household, and to do what he thought good. Shim'i the son of Gera fell down before the king when he had come over the Jordan. 19He said to the king, “Don’t let my adonai impute iniquity to me, or remember that which your servant did perversely the day that my adonai the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. 20For your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore behold, I have come today as the first of all the house of Yosef to go down to meet my adonai the king.” 21But Avishai the son of Tzeruyah answered, “Shouldn’t Shim'i be put to death for this, because he cursed YHWH’s anointed?” 22David said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Tzeruyah, that you should be adversaries to me today? Shall any man be put to death today in Yisrael? For don’t I know that I am king over Yisrael today?” 23The king said to Shim'i, “You will not die.” The king swore to him. 24Mefivoshet the son of Sha'ul came down to meet the king; and he had neither groomed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came home in peace. 25When he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, “Why didn’t you go with me, Mefivoshet?” 26He answered, “My Adonai, O king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, ‘I will saddle a donkey for myself, that I may ride on it and go with the king,’ because your servant is lame. 27He has slandered your servant to my adonai the king, but my adonai the king is as an malak of Elohim. Therefore do what is good in your eyes. 28For all my father’s house were but dead men before my adonai the king; yet you set your servant amongst those who ate at your own table. What right therefore have I yet that I should appeal any more to the king?” 29The king said to him, “Why do you speak any more of your matters? I say, you and Tziva divide the land.” 30Mefivoshet said to the king, “Yes, let him take all, because my adonai the king has come in peace to his own house.” 31Barzillai the Gil'adi came down from Rogelim; and he went over the Jordan with the king to conduct him over the Jordan. 32Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even eighty years old. He had provided the king with sustenance while he stayed at Machanayim, for he was a very great man. 33The king said to Barzillai, “Come over with me, and I will sustain you with me in Jerusalem.” 34Barzillai said to the king, “How many are the days of the years of my life, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? 35I am eighty years old, today. Can I discern between good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear the voice of singing men and singing women any more? Why then should your servant be a burden to my adonai the king? 36Your servant will just go over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king repay me with such a reward? 37Please let your servant turn back again, that I may die in my own city, by the grave of my father and my mother. But behold, your servant Khimham; let him go over with my adonai the king; and do to him what shall seem good to you.” 38The king answered, “Khimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good to you. Whatever you request of me, that I will do for you.” 39All the people went over the Jordan, and the king went over. Then the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him; and he returned to his own place. 40So the king went over to Gilgal, and Khimham went over with him. All the people of Yehudah brought the king over, and also half the people of Yisrael. 41Behold, all the men of Yisrael came to the king, and said to the king, “Why have our brothers the men of Yehudah stolen you away, and brought the king and his household, over the Jordan, and all David’s men with him?” 42All the men of Yehudah answered the men of Yisrael, “Because the king is a close relative to us. Why then are you angry about this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king’s cost? Or has he given us any gift?” 43The men of Yisrael answered the men of Yehudah, and said, “We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more claim to David than you. Why then did you despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king?” The words of the men of Yehudah were fiercer than the words of the men of Yisrael.

### Chapter 20

1There happened to be there a wicked fellow, whose name was Sheva the son of Bichri, a Binyamini; and he blew the trumpet, and said, “We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Yishai. Every man to his tents, Yisrael!” 2So all the men of Yisrael went up from following David, and followed Sheva the son of Bichri; but the men of Yehudah joined with their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem. 3David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in custody and provided them with sustenance, but didn’t go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood. 4Then the king said to Amasa, “Call me the men of Yehudah together within three days, and be here present.” 5So Amasa went to call the men of Yehudah together, but he stayed longer than the set time which had been appointed to him. 6David said to Avishai, “Now Sheva the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Avshalom did. Take your adonai’s servants and pursue after him, lest he get himself fortified cities, and escape out of our sight.” 7Yoav’s men went out after him with the Kereti, the Peleti, and all the mighty men; and they went out of Jerusalem to pursue Sheva the son of Bichri. 8When they were at the great stone which is in Giv'on, Amasa came to meet them. Yoav was clothed in his apparel of war that he had put on, and on it was a sash with a sword fastened on his waist in its sheath; and as he went along it fell out. 9Yoav said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” Yoav took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. 10But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Yoav’s hand. So he struck him with it in the body and shed out his bowels to the ground, and didn’t strike him again; and he died. Yoav and Avishai his brother pursued Sheva the son of Bichri. 11One of Yoav’s young men stood by him, and said, “He who favours Yoav, and he who is for David, let him follow Yoav!” 12Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway. When the man saw that all the people stood still, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a garment over him when he saw that everyone who came by him stood still. 13When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Yoav to pursue Sheva the son of Bichri. 14He went through all the tribes of Yisrael to Avel, to Beit Ma'akah, and all the Berites. They were gathered together, and went also after him. 15They came and besieged him in Avel of Beit Ma'akah, and they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart; and all the people who were with Yoav battered the wall to throw it down. 16Then a wise woman cried out of the city, “Hear, hear! Please say to Yoav, ‘Come near here, that I may speak with you.’” 17He came near to her; and the woman said, “Are you Yoav?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Hear the words of your servant.” He answered, “I’m listening.” 18Then she spoke, saying, “They used to say in old times, ‘They shall surely ask counsel at Avel,’ and so they settled a matter. 19I am amongst those who are peaceable and faithful in Yisrael. You seek to destroy a city and a mother in Yisrael. Why will you swallow up YHWH’s inheritance?” 20Yoav answered, “Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy. 21The matter is not so. But a man of the hill country of Ephraim, Sheva the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against the king, even against David. Just deliver him, and I will depart from the city.” The woman said to Yoav, “Behold, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.” 22Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. They cut off the head of Sheva the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Yoav. He blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. Then Yoav returned to Jerusalem to the king. 23Now Yoav was over all the army of Yisrael, Benayahu the son of Yehoyada was over the Kereti and over the Peleti, 24Adoram was over the men subject to forced labour, Yehoshafat the son of Achilud was the recorder, 25Sheva was scribe, Tzadok and Evyatar were priests, 26and Ira the Ya'iri was chief minister to David.

### Chapter 21

1There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of YHWH. YHWH said, “It is for Sha'ul, and for his bloody house, because he put the Giv'onim to death.” 2The king called the Giv'onim and said to them (now the Giv'onim were not of the children of Yisrael, but of the remnant of the Emorim, and the children of Yisrael had sworn to them; and Sha'ul sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Yisrael and Yehudah); 3and David said to the Giv'onim, “What should I do for you? And with what should I make atonement, that you may bless YHWH’s inheritance?” 4The Giv'onim said to him, “It is no matter of silver or gold between us and Sha'ul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Yisrael.” He said, “I will do for you whatever you say.” 5They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and who plotted against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the borders of Yisrael, 6let seven men of his sons be delivered to us, and we will hang them up to YHWH in Giv'ah of Sha'ul, the chosen of YHWH.” The king said, “I will give them.” 7But the king spared Mefivoshet the son of Yonatan the son of Sha'ul, because of YHWH’s oath that was between them, between David and Yonatan the son of Sha'ul. 8But the king took the two sons of Ritzpah the daughter of Ayah, whom she bore to Sha'ul, Armoni and Mefivoshet; and the five sons of Merav the daughter of Sha'ul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Mecholati. 9He delivered them into the hands of the Giv'onim; and they hanged them on the mountain before YHWH, and all seven of them fell together. They were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest. 10Ritzpah the daughter of Ayah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water poured on them from the sky. She allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day, nor the animals of the field by night. 11David was told what Ritzpah the daughter of Ayah, the concubine of Sha'ul, had done. 12So David went and took the bones of Sha'ul and the bones of Yonatan his son from the men of Yavesh Gilead, who had stolen them from the street of Beit She'an, where the Pelishtim had hanged them in the day that the Pelishtim killed Sha'ul in Gilboa; 13and he brought up from there the bones of Sha'ul and the bones of Yonatan his son. They also gathered the bones of those who were hanged. 14They buried the bones of Sha'ul and Yonatan his son in the country of Binyamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father; and they performed all that the king commanded. After that, Elohim answered prayer for the land. 15The Pelishtim had war again with Yisrael; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Pelishtim. David grew faint; 16and Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of bronze in weight, he being armed with a new sword, thought he would kill David. 17But Avishai the son of Tzeruyah helped him, and struck the Pelishti and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “Don’t go out with us to battle any more, so that you don’t quench the lamp of Yisrael.” 18After this, there was again war with the Pelishtim at Gob. Then Sibchai the Chushati killed Saph, who was of the sons of the giant. 19There was again war with the Pelishtim at Gob, and Elchanan the son of Ya'arei-Oregim the Beit Lechemi killed Golyat the Giti’s brother, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 20There was again war at Gat, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on every hand and six toes on every foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was born to the giant. 21When he defied Yisrael, Yonatan the son of Shim'i, David’s brother, killed him. 22These four were born to the giant in Gat; and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

### Chapter 22

1David spoke to YHWH the words of this song in the day that YHWH delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Sha'ul, 2and he said: “YHWH is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine; 3Elohim is my rock in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge. My Saviour, you save me from violence. 4I call on YHWH, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies. 5For the waves of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid. 6The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death caught me. 7In my distress, I called on YHWH. Yes, I called to my Elohim. He heard my voice out of his Beit HaMikdash. My cry came into his ears. 8Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, because he was angry. 9Smoke went up out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it. 10He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet. 11He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind. 12He made darkness a shelter around himself, gathering of waters, and thick clouds of the skies. 13At the brightness before him, coals of fire were kindled. 14YHWH thundered from heaven. The Elyon uttered his voice. 15He sent out arrows and scattered them, lightning and confused them. 16Then the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare by YHWH’s rebuke, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. 17He sent from on high and he took me. He drew me out of many waters. 18He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. 19They came on me in the day of my calamity, but YHWH was my support. 20He also brought me out into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me. 21YHWH rewarded me according to my righteousness. He rewarded me according to the cleanness of my hands. 22For I have kept YHWH’s ways, and have not wickedly departed from my Elohim. 23For all his ordinances were before me. As for his statutes, I didn’t depart from them. 24I was also perfect towards him. I kept myself from my iniquity. 25Therefore YHWH has rewarded me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in his eyesight. 26With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man you will show yourself perfect. 27With the pure you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd. 28You will save the afflicted people, but your eyes are on the arrogant, that you may bring them down. 29For you are my lamp, YHWH. YHWH will light up my darkness. 30For by you, I run against a troop. By my Elohim, I leap over a wall. 31As for Elohim, his way is perfect. YHWH’s word is tested. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him. 32For who is Elohim, besides YHWH? Who is a rock, besides our Elohim? 33Elohim is my strong fortress. He makes my way perfect. 34He makes his feet like hinds’ feet, and sets me on my high places. 35He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of bronze. 36You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your gentleness has made me great. 37You have enlarged my steps under me. My feet have not slipped. 38I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them. I didn’t turn again until they were consumed. 39I have consumed them, and struck them through, so that they can’t arise. Yes, they have fallen under my feet. 40For you have armed me with strength for the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me. 41You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me. 42They looked, but there was no one to save; even to YHWH, but he didn’t answer them. 43Then I beat them as small as the dust of the earth. I crushed them as the mire of the streets, and spread them abroad. 44You also have delivered me from the strivings of my people. You have kept me to be the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known will serve me. 45The foreigners will submit themselves to me. As soon as they hear of me, they will obey me. 46The foreigners will fade away, and will come trembling out of their close places. 47YHWH lives! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be Elohim, the rock of my salvation, 48even the Elohim who executes vengeance for me, who brings down peoples under me, 49who brings me away from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man. 50Therefore I will give thanks to you, YHWH, amongst the nations, and will sing praises to your name. 51He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows chesed to his anointed, to David and to his offspring, forever more.”

### Chapter 23

1Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Yishai says, the man who was raised on high says, the anointed of the Elohim of Yaakov, the sweet psalmist of Yisrael: 2“YHWH’s Ruach spoke by me. His word was on my tongue. 3The Elohim of Yisrael said, the Rock of Yisrael spoke to me, ‘One who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of Elohim, 4shall be as the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, when the tender grass springs out of the earth, through clear shining after rain.’ 5Isn’t my house so with Elohim? Yet he has made with me an everlasting Brit, ordered in all things, and sure, for it is all my salvation and all my desire. Won’t he make it grow? 6But all the ungodly will be as thorns to be thrust away, because they can’t be taken with the hand. 7The man who touches them must be armed with iron and the staff of a spear. They will be utterly burnt with fire in their place.” 8These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Yoshev Basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains; he was called Adino the Eznite, who killed eight hundred at one time. 9After him was El'azar the son of Dodai the son of an Achochi, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Pelishtim who were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Yisrael had gone away. 10He arose and struck the Pelishtim until his hand was weary, and his hand froze to the sword; and YHWH worked a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to take plunder. 11After him was Shamah the son of Agee a Harari. The Pelishtim had gathered together into a troop where there was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the people fled from the Pelishtim. 12But he stood in the middle of the plot and defended it, and killed the Pelishtim; and YHWH worked a great victory. 13Three of the thirty chief men went down, and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam; and the troop of the Pelishtim was encamped in the valley of Rephaim. 14David was then in the stronghold; and the garrison of the Pelishtim was then in Beit Lechem. 15David said longingly, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Beit Lechem, which is by the gate!” 16The three mighty men broke through the army of the Pelishtim, and drew water out of the well of Beit Lechem that was by the gate and took it and brought it to David; but he would not drink of it, but poured it out to YHWH. 17He said, “Be it far from me, YHWH, that I should do this! Isn’t this the blood of the men who risked their lives to go?” Therefore he would not drink it. The three mighty men did these things. 18Avishai, the brother of Yoav, the son of Tzeruyah, was chief of the three. He lifted up his spear against three hundred and killed them, and had a name amongst the three. 19Wasn’t he most honourable of the three? Therefore he was made their captain. However he wasn’t included as one of the three. 20Benayahu the son of Yehoyada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit in a time of snow. 21He killed a huge Mitzri, and the Mitzri had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff and plucked the spear out of the Mitzri’s hand, and killed him with his own spear. 22Benayahu the son of Yehoyada did these things, and had a name amongst the three mighty men. 23He was more honourable than the thirty, but he didn’t attain to the three. David set him over his guard. 24Asael the brother of Yoav was one of the thirty: Elchanan the son of Dodo of Beit Lechem, 25Shamah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, 26Cheletz the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Teko'i, 27Avi'ezer the Anatoti, Mebunnai the Chushati, 28Zalmon the Achochi, Maharai the Netofati, 29Heleb the son of Ba'ana the Netofati, Ittai the son of Ribai of Giv'ah of the children of Binyamin, 30Benayahu a Pir'atoni, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash. 31Abialbon the Arvati, Azmavet the Barhumite, 32Eliahba the Sha'alvoni, the sons of Yashen, Yonatan, 33Shamah the Harari, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite, 34Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maacathite, Eliam the son of Achitofel the Giloni, 35Hezro the Karmeli, Paarai the Arbite, 36Yig'al the son of Natan of Zobah, Bani the Gadi, 37Zelek the Amoni, Naharai the Beerothite, armour bearers to Yoav the son of Tzeruyah, 38Ira the Yitri, Garev the Yitri, 39and Uriyah the Chitti: thirty-seven in all.

### Chapter 24

1Again YHWH’s anger burnt against Yisrael, and he moved David against them, saying, “Go, count Yisrael and Yehudah.” 2The king said to Yoav the captain of the army, who was with him, “Now go back and forth through all the tribes of Yisrael, from Dan even to Be'er Sheva, and count the people, that I may know the sum of the people.” 3Yoav said to the king, “Now may YHWH your Elohim add to the people, however many they may be, one hundred times; and may the eyes of my adonai the king see it. But why does my adonai the king delight in this thing?” 4Notwithstanding, the king’s word prevailed against Yoav and against the captains of the army. Yoav and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king to count the people of Yisrael. 5They passed over the Jordan and encamped in Aro'er, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Yazer; 6then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; and they came to Dan Ya'an and around to Tzidon, 7and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Chivim and of the Kna'anim; and they went out to the south of Yehudah, at Be'er Sheva. 8So when they had gone back and forth through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9Yoav gave up the sum of the counting of the people to the king; and there were in Yisrael eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Yehudah were five hundred thousand men. 10David’s heart struck him after he had counted the people. David said to YHWH, “I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. But now, YHWH, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.” 11When David rose up in the morning, YHWH’s word came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12“Go and speak to David, ‘YHWH says, “I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.”’” 13So Gad came to David, and told him, saying, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now answer, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” 14David said to Gad, “I am in distress. Let us fall now into YHWH’s hand, for his mercies are great. Let me not fall into man’s hand.” 15So YHWH sent a pestilence on Yisrael from the morning even to the appointed time; and seventy thousand men died of the people from Dan even to Be'er Sheva. 16When the malak stretched out his hand towards Jerusalem to destroy it, YHWH relented of the disaster, and said to the malak who destroyed the people, “It is enough. Now withdraw your hand.” YHWH’s malak was by the threshing floor of Aravnah the Yevusi. 17David spoke to YHWH when he saw the malak who struck the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me, and against my father’s house.” 18Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, build an altar to YHWH on the threshing floor of Aravnah the Yevusi.” 19David went up according to the saying of Gad, as YHWH commanded. 20Aravnah looked out, and saw the king and his servants coming on towards him. Then Aravnah went out and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. 21Aravnah said, “Why has my adonai the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy your threshing floor, to build an altar to YHWH, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people.” 22Aravnah said to David, “Let my adonai the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, the cattle for the burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23All this, O king, does Aravnah give to the king.” Aravnah said to the king, “May YHWH your Elohim accept you.” 24The king said to Aravnah, “No, but I will most certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to YHWH my Elohim which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25David built an altar to YHWH there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So YHWH was entreated for the land, and the plague was removed from Yisrael.

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