2 Samuel 2-5

New International Version - UK

David anointed king over Judah

2 In the course of time, David enquired of the Lord. ‘Shall I go up to one of the towns of Judah?’ he asked.

The Lord said, ‘Go up.’

David asked, ‘Where shall I go?’

‘To Hebron,’ the Lord answered.

² So David went up there with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. ³ David also took the men who were with him, each with his family, and they settled in Hebron and its towns. ⁴ Then the men of Judah came to Hebron, and there they anointed David king over the tribe of Judah.

When David was told that it was the men from Jabesh Gilead who had buried Saul, ⁵ he sent messengers to them to say to them, ‘The Lord bless you for showing this kindness to Saul your master by burying him. ⁶ May the Lord now show you kindness and faithfulness, and I too will show you the same favour because you have done this. ⁷ Now then, be strong and brave, for Saul your master is dead, and the people of Judah have anointed me king over them.’

War between the houses of David and Saul

⁸ Meanwhile, Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ish-Bosheth son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim. ⁹ He made him king over Gilead, Ashuri and Jezreel, and also over Ephraim, Benjamin and all Israel.

¹⁰ Ish-Bosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned two years. The tribe of Judah, however, remained loyal to David. ¹¹ The length of time David was king in Hebron over Judah was seven years and six months.

¹² Abner son of Ner, together with the men of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon. ¹³ Joab son of Zeruiah and David’s men went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. One group sat down on one side of the pool and one group on the other side.

¹⁴ Then Abner said to Joab, ‘Let’s have some of the young men get up and fight hand to hand in front of us.’

‘All right, let them do it,’ Joab said.

¹⁵ So they stood up and were counted – twelve men for Benjamin and Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve for David. ¹⁶ Then each man grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his dagger into his opponent’s side, and they fell down together. So that place in Gibeon was called Helkath Hazzurim.^[a]

¹⁷ The battle that day was very fierce, and Abner and the Israelites were defeated by David’s men.

¹⁸ The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai and Asahel. Now Asahel was as fleet-footed as a wild gazelle. ¹⁹ He chased Abner, turning neither to the right nor to the left as he pursued him. ²⁰ Abner looked behind him and asked, ‘Is that you, Asahel?’

‘It is,’ he answered.

²¹ Then Abner said to him, ‘Turn aside to the right or to the left; take on one of the young men and strip him of his weapons.’ But Asahel would not stop chasing him.

²² Again Abner warned Asahel, ‘Stop chasing me! Why should I strike you down? How could I look your brother Joab in the face?’

²³ But Asahel refused to give up the pursuit; so Abner thrust the butt of his spear into Asahel’s stomach, and the spear came out through his back. He fell there and died on the spot. And every man stopped when he came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died.

²⁴ But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner, and as the sun was setting, they came to the hill of Ammah, near Giah on the way to the wasteland of Gibeon. ²⁵ Then the men of Benjamin rallied behind Abner. They formed themselves into a group and took their stand on top of a hill.

²⁶ Abner called out to Joab, ‘Must the sword devour for ever? Don’t you realise that this will end in bitterness? How long before you order your men to stop pursuing their fellow Israelites?’

²⁷ Joab answered, ‘As surely as God lives, if you had not spoken, the men would have continued pursuing them until morning.’

²⁸ So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the troops came to a halt; they no longer pursued Israel, nor did they fight any more.

²⁹ All that night Abner and his men marched through the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, continued through the morning hours^[b] and came to Mahanaim.

³⁰ Then Joab stopped pursuing Abner and assembled the whole army. Besides Asahel, nineteen of David’s men were found missing. ³¹ But David’s men had killed 360 Benjaminites who were with Abner. ³² They took Asahel and buried him in his father’s tomb at Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men marched all night and arrived at Hebron by daybreak.

3 The war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time. David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.

Abner goes over to David

⁶ During the war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner had been strengthening his own position in the house of Saul. ⁷ Now Saul had had a concubine named Rizpah daughter of Aiah. And Ish-Bosheth said to Abner, ‘Why did you sleep with my father’s concubine?’

⁸ Abner was very angry because of what Ish-Bosheth said. So he answered, ‘Am I a dog’s head – on Judah’s side? This very day I am loyal to the house of your father Saul and to his family and friends. I haven’t handed you over to David. Yet now you accuse me of an offence involving this woman! ⁹ May God deal with Abner, be it ever so severely, if I do not do for David what the Lord promised him on oath ¹⁰ and transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish David’s throne over Israel and Judah from Dan to Beersheba.’ ¹¹ Ish-Bosheth did not dare to say another word to Abner, because he was afraid of him.

¹² Then Abner sent messengers on his behalf to say to David, ‘Whose land is it? Make an agreement with me, and I will help you bring all Israel over to you.’

¹³ ‘Good,’ said David. ‘I will make an agreement with you. But I demand one thing of you: do not come into my presence unless you bring Michal daughter of Saul when you come to see me.’ ¹⁴ Then David sent messengers to Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, demanding, ‘Give me my wife Michal, whom I betrothed to myself for the price of a hundred Philistine foreskins.’

¹⁵ So Ish-Bosheth gave orders and had her taken away from her husband Paltiel son of Laish. ¹⁶ Her husband, however, went with her, weeping behind her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, ‘Go back home!’ So he went back.

¹⁷ Abner conferred with the elders of Israel and said, ‘For some time you have wanted to make David your king. ¹⁸ Now do it! For the Lord promised David, “By my servant David I will rescue my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.”’

¹⁹ Abner also spoke to the Benjaminites in person. Then he went to Hebron to tell David everything that Israel and the whole tribe of Benjamin wanted to do. ²⁰ When Abner, who had twenty men with him, came to David at Hebron, David prepared a feast for him and his men. ²¹ Then Abner said to David, ‘Let me go at once and assemble all Israel for my lord the king, so that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may rule over all that your heart desires.’ So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.

Joab murders Abner

²² Just then David’s men and Joab returned from a raid and brought with them a great deal of plunder. But Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, because David had sent him away, and he had gone in peace. ²³ When Joab and all the soldiers with him arrived, he was told that Abner son of Ner had come to the king and that the king had sent him away and that he had gone in peace.

²⁴ So Joab went to the king and said, ‘What have you done? Look, Abner came to you. Why did you let him go? Now he is gone! ²⁵ You know Abner son of Ner; he came to deceive you and observe your movements and find out everything you are doing.’

²⁶ Joab then left David and sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern at Sirah. But David did not know it. ²⁷ Now when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into an inner chamber, as if to speak with him privately. And there, to avenge the blood of his brother Asahel, Joab stabbed him in the stomach, and he died.

²⁸ Later, when David heard about this, he said, ‘I and my kingdom are for ever innocent before the Lord concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner. ²⁹ May his blood fall on the head of Joab and on his whole family! May Joab’s family never be without someone who has a running sore or leprosy^[c] or who leans on a crutch or who falls by the sword or who lacks food.’

³⁰ (Joab and his brother Abishai murdered Abner because he had killed their brother Asahel in the battle of Gibeon.)

³¹ Then David said to Joab and all the people with him, ‘Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and walk in mourning in front of Abner.’ King David himself walked behind the bier. ³² They buried Abner in Hebron, and the king wept aloud at Abner’s tomb. All the people wept also.

³³ The king sang this lament for Abner:

And all the people wept over him again.

³⁵ Then they all came and urged David to eat something while it was still day; but David took an oath, saying, ‘May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if I taste bread or anything else before the sun sets!’

³⁶ All the people took note and were pleased; indeed, everything the king did pleased them. ³⁷ So on that day all the people there and all Israel knew that the king had no part in the murder of Abner son of Ner.

³⁸ Then the king said to his men, ‘Do you not realise that a commander and a great man has fallen in Israel this day? ³⁹ And today, though I am the anointed king, I am weak, and these sons of Zeruiah are too strong for me. May the Lord repay the evildoer according to his evil deeds!’

Ish-Bosheth murdered

4 When Ish-Bosheth son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost courage, and all Israel became alarmed. ² Now Saul’s son had two men who were leaders of raiding bands. One was named Baanah and the other Rekab; they were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite from the tribe of Benjamin – Beeroth is considered part of Benjamin, ³ because the people of Beeroth fled to Gittaim and have resided there as foreigners to this day.

⁴ (Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became disabled. His name was Mephibosheth.)

⁵ Now Rekab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out for the house of Ish-Bosheth, and they arrived there in the heat of the day while he was taking his noonday rest. ⁶ They went into the inner part of the house as if to get some wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rekab and his brother Baanah slipped away.

⁷ They had gone into the house while he was lying on the bed in his bedroom. After they stabbed and killed him, they cut off his head. Taking it with them, they travelled all night by way of the Arabah. ⁸ They brought the head of Ish-Bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, ‘Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, your enemy, who tried to kill you. This day the Lord has avenged my lord the king against Saul and his offspring.’

⁹ David answered Rekab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, ¹⁰ when someone told me, “Saul is dead,” and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and put him to death in Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news! ¹¹ How much more – when wicked men have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed – should I not now demand his blood from your hand and rid the earth of you!’

¹² So David gave an order to his men, and they killed them. They cut off their hands and feet and hung the bodies by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-Bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb at Hebron.

David becomes king over Israel

5 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, ‘We are your own flesh and blood. ² In the past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the Lord said to you, “You shall shepherd my people Israel, and you shall become their ruler.”’

³ When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, the king made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.

⁴ David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty years. ⁵ In Hebron he reigned over Judah for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years.

David conquers Jerusalem

⁶ The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites, who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, ‘You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.’ They thought, ‘David cannot get in here.’ ⁷ Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion – which is the City of David.

⁸ On that day David had said, ‘Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft to reach those “lame and blind” who are David’s enemies.’^[d] That is why they say, ‘The “blind and lame” will not enter the palace.’

⁹ David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built up the area around it, from the terraces^[e] inwards. ¹⁰ And he became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty was with him.

¹¹ Now Hiram king of Tyre sent envoys to David, along with cedar logs and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David. ¹² Then David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.

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

David defeats the Philistines

¹⁷ When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they went up in full force to search for him, but David heard about it and went down to the stronghold. ¹⁸ Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim; ¹⁹ so David enquired of the Lord, ‘Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hands?’

The Lord answered him, ‘Go, for I will surely deliver the Philistines into your hands.’

²⁰ So David went to Baal Perazim, and there he defeated them. He said, ‘As waters break out, the Lord has broken out against my enemies before me.’ So that place was called Baal Perazim.^{[f] 21} The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men carried them off.

²² Once more the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim; ²³ so David enquired of the Lord, and he answered, ‘Do not go straight up, but circle round behind them and attack them in front of the poplar trees. ²⁴ As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the poplar trees, move quickly, because that will mean the Lord has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.’ ²⁵ So David did as the Lord commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon^[g] to Gezer.