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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 or who leans on a crutch or who falls by the sword or who lacks food.”
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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.
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They buried Abner in Hebron, and the king wept aloud at Abner’s tomb. All the people wept also.
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Your hands were not bound, your feet were not fettered. You fell as one falls before the wicked.” And all the people wept over him again.
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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!”
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All the people took note and were pleased; indeed, everything the king did pleased them.
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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.
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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!”
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Ish-Bosheth Murdered
When Ish-Bosheth son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost courage, and all Israel became alarmed.
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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 traveled all night by way of the Arabah.
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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.
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David Becomes King Over Israel
All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “We are your own flesh and blood.
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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.
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In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.
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These are the names of the children born to him there: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
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so David inquired 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.”
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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.
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The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men carried them off.
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so David inquired of the Lord, and he answered, “Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the poplar trees.
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So David did as the Lord commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.
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The Ark Brought to Jerusalem
David again brought together all the able young men of Israel—thirty thousand.
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He and all his men went to Baalah in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark.
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David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.
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Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might,
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while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
