2 Samuel 5:17-25

New American Standard Bible 1995

War with the Philistines

¹⁷ When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, ^(A)all the Philistines went up to seek out David; and when David heard of it, he went down to the ^(B)stronghold. ¹⁸ Now the Philistines came and spread themselves out in ^(C)the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁹ Then ^(D)David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You give them into my hand?” And ^(E)the Lord said to David, “Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.” ²⁰ So David came to ^(F)Baal-perazim and ^[a]defeated them there; and he said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like the breakthrough of waters.” Therefore he named that place ^[b]Baal-perazim. ²¹ They abandoned their idols there, so ^(G)David and his men carried them away.

²² Now ^(H)the Philistines came up once again and spread themselves out in the valley of Rephaim. ²³ When ^(I)David inquired of the Lord, He said, “You shall not go directly up; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the ^[c]balsam trees. ²⁴ It shall be, when ^(J)you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the ^[d]balsam trees, then you shall act promptly, for then ^(K)the Lord will have gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines.” ²⁵ Then David did so, just as the Lord had commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from ^[e](L)Geba ^[f]as far as ^(M)Gezer.