Historical

Chapter 4

Death of Ishbaal. ¹ When Ishbaal, son of Saul, heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, he lost his resolve and all Israel was alarmed. ² Ishbaal, son of Saul, had two company leaders named Baanah and Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the tribe of Benjamin—Beeroth, too, was ascribed to Benjamin:^{(A) 3} the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, where they have been resident aliens to this day.^{(B) 4} (Jonathan, son of Saul, had a son with crippled feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel; his nurse took him and fled, but in their hasty flight, he fell and became lame. His name was Meribbaal.)^{[a](C) 5} The sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, came into the house of Ishbaal during the heat of the day, while he was lying on his bed in the afternoon. ⁶ The gatekeeper of the house had dozed off while sifting wheat, and was asleep. So Rechab and his brother Baanah slipped past her ⁷ and entered the house while Ishbaal was lying asleep in his bedroom. They struck and killed him, and cut off his head. Then, taking the head, they traveled on the Arabah road all night long.

The Murder Avenged. ⁸ They brought the head of Ishbaal to David in Hebron and said to the king: “This is the head of Ishbaal, son of your enemy Saul, who sought your life. Thus has the Lord this day avenged my lord the king on Saul and his posterity.” ⁹ But David replied to Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite: “As the Lord lives, who rescued me from every distress: ¹⁰ the man who reported to me, ‘Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, that man I seized and killed in Ziglag: that was the reward I gave him.^{(D) 11} How much more now, when wicked men have slain an innocent man in bed at home, must I require his blood from you and purge you from the land!” ¹² So at David’s command, the young men killed them and cut off their hands and feet, hanging them up near the pool in Hebron. But he took the head of Ishbaal and buried it in Abner’s grave in Hebron.^(E)

Chapter 5

David King of Israel. ^1 (F)All the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron, and they said: “Look! We are your bone and your flesh. ² In days past, when Saul was still our king, you were the one who led Israel out in all its battles and brought it back. And the Lord said to you: You shall shepherd my people Israel; you shall be ruler over Israel.”^{(G) 3} Then all the elders of Israel came to the king in Hebron, and at Hebron King David made a covenant with them in the presence of the Lord; and they anointed David king over Israel. ⁴ David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years: ⁵ in Hebron he was king over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he was king thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.^(H)

Capture of Zion.^{[b] 6 (I)}Then the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the land. They told David, “You shall not enter here: the blind and the lame will drive you away!” which was their way of saying, “David shall not enter here.”^{(J) 7} David nevertheless captured the fortress of Zion, which is the City of David. ⁸ On that day David said: “All who wish to strike at the Jebusites must attack through the water shaft. The lame and the blind shall be the personal enemies of David.” That is why it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not enter the palace.”^{(K) 9} David took up residence in the fortress which he called the City of David. David built up the city on all sides, from the Millo toward the center.^{(L) 10} David became ever more powerful, for the Lord of hosts was with him.^{(M) 11 (N)}Hiram, king of Tyre, sent envoys to David along with cedar wood, and carpenters and masons, who built a house for David.^{(O) 12} David now knew^[c] that the Lord had truly established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.

David’s Family in Jerusalem. ^13 (P)David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem after he had come from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to him. ¹⁴ These are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, ¹⁵ Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, ¹⁶ Elishama, Beeliada, and Eliphelet.

Rout of the Philistines. ¹⁷ When the Philistines had heard that David was anointed king over Israel, they marched out in force to come after him. When David heard this, he went down to the refuge.^{[d] 18} Meanwhile the Philistines had come and deployed themselves in the valley of Rephaim.^{[e] 19} David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I attack the Philistines, and will you deliver them into my power?” The Lord answered David: Attack, for I will surely deliver the Philistines into your power. ²⁰ So David went to Baal-perazim,^[f] and he defeated them there. He said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies before me just as water breaks through a dam.” Therefore that place was called Baal-perazim. ²¹ The Philistines abandoned their gods there, and David and his men carried them away. ²² Once again the Philistines came up and deployed themselves in the valley of Rephaim, ²³ and again David inquired of the Lord, who replied: Do not attack the front—circle behind them and come against them near the balsam trees. ²⁴ When you hear the sound of marching^[g] in the tops of the balsam trees, act decisively, for then the Lord has already gone before you to strike the army of the Philistines. ²⁵ David did as the Lord commanded him, and routed the Philistines from Gibeon as far as Gezer.

Chapter 6

The Ark Brought to Jerusalem. ^1 (Q)David again assembled all the picked men of Israel, thirty thousand in number. ² Then David and all the people who were with him set out for Baala of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which bears the name “the Lord of hosts enthroned above the cherubim.”^{(R) 3} They transported the ark of God on a new cart and took it away from the house of Abinadab on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart,^{(S) 4} with Ahio walking before it, ⁵ while David and all the house of Israel danced before the Lord with all their might, with singing, and with lyres, harps, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.^{(T) 6} As they reached the threshing floor of Nodan, Uzzah stretched out his hand to the ark of God and steadied it, for the oxen were tipping it. ⁷ Then the Lord became angry with Uzzah; God struck him on that spot, and he died there in God’s presence. ⁸ David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah. Therefore that place has been called Perez-uzzah^[h] even to this day. ⁹ David became frightened of the Lord that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” ¹⁰ So David was unwilling to take the ark of the Lord with him into the City of David. David deposited it instead at the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

¹¹ The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household.^{(U) 12 (V)}When it was reported to King David that the Lord had blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that he possessed because of the ark of God, David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the City of David with joy.^{(W) 13} As soon as the bearers of the ark of the Lord had advanced six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. ¹⁴ Then David came dancing before the Lord with abandon, girt with a linen ephod.^{[i](X) 15} David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and sound of horn. ¹⁶ As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal, daughter of Saul, looked down from her window, and when she saw King David jumping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart. ^17 (Y)They brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place within the tent which David had pitched for it. Then David sacrificed burnt offerings and communion offerings before the Lord. ¹⁸ When David had finished sacrificing burnt offerings and communion offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts, ¹⁹ and distributed among all the people, the entire multitude of Israel, to every man and every woman, one loaf of bread, one piece of meat, and one raisin cake. Then all the people returned to their homes.

^20 [j]When David went home to bless his own house,^(Z) Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet him and said, “How well the king of Israel has honored himself today, exposing himself to the view of the slave girls of his followers, as a commoner might expose himself!” ²¹ But David replied to Michal: “I was dancing before the Lord. As the Lord lives, who chose me over your father and all his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people, Israel, not only will I make merry before the Lord,^{(AA) 22} but I will demean myself even more. I will be lowly in your eyes, but in the eyes of the slave girls you spoke of I will be somebody.” ²³ Saul’s daughter Michal was childless to the day she died.