7K-Second Samuel

2 Samuel Chapter 1

2 Samuel 1:1 (NIV)

¹ After the death of Saul, David returned from defeating the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days.

2 Samuel 1:2 (NIV)

² On the third day a man arrived from Saul’s camp, with his clothes torn and with dust on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him honor.

2 Samuel 1:3 (NIV)

³ “Where have you come from?” David asked him. He answered, “I have escaped from the Israelite camp.”

2 Samuel 1:4 (NIV)

⁴ “What happened?” David asked. “Tell me.” He said, “The men fled from the battle. Many of them fell and died. And Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.”

2 Samuel 1:5 (NIV)

⁵ Then David said to the young man who brought him the report, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”

2 Samuel 1:6 (CJB)-M

⁶ The young man who had told him said, “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa when I saw Saul leaning on his spear. The chariots and cavalry were bearing down on him.

2 Samuel 1:7 (NIV)

⁷ When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I said, ‘What can I do?’

2 Samuel 1:8 (NIV)

⁸ “He asked me, ‘Who are you?’ “‘An Amalekite,’ I answered.

2 Samuel 1:9 (NASB)

⁹ “Then he said to me, ‘Please stand beside me and kill me, for agony has seized me because my life still lingers in me.’

2 Samuel 1:10 (NASB)

¹⁰ “So I stood beside him and killed him, because I knew that he could not live after he had fallen. And I took the crown which was on his head and the bracelet which was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.”

2 Samuel 1:11 (CJB)

¹¹ Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and likewise all the men who were with him.

2 Samuel 1:12 (NIV)

¹² They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the LORD and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

2 Samuel 1:13 (NIV)

¹³ David said to the young man who brought him the report, “Where are you from?” “I am the son of an alien, an Amalekite,” he answered.

2 Samuel 1:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ David asked him, “Why were you not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?”

2 Samuel 1:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Then David called one of his men and said, “Go, strike him down!” So he struck him down, and he died.

2 Samuel 1:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ For David had said to him, “Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.'”

2 Samuel 1:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan,

2 Samuel 1:18 (NLT2)

¹⁸ and he commanded that it be taught to the people of Judah. It is known as the Song of the Bow, and it is recorded in The Book of Jashar.

2 Samuel 1:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ “Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen!

2 Samuel 1:20 (NIV)

²⁰ “Tell it not in Gath, proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice.

2 Samuel 1:21 (NIV)

²¹ “O mountains of Gilboa, may you have neither dew nor rain, nor fields that yield offerings [of grain]. For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul–no longer rubbed with oil.

2 Samuel 1:22 (NIV)

²² From the blood of the slain, from the flesh of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan did not turn back, the sword of Saul did not return unsatisfied.

2 Samuel 1:23 (NIV)

²³ “Saul and Jonathan– in life they were loved and gracious, and in death they were not parted. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.

2 Samuel 1:24 (NIV)

²⁴ “O daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and finery, who adorned your garments with ornaments of gold.

2 Samuel 1:25 (NIV)

²⁵ “How the mighty have fallen in battle! Jonathan lies slain on your heights.

2 Samuel 1:26 (CJB)-M

²⁶ I grieve for you, my brother Jonathan, you meant so much to me! Your love for me was deeper than the love of women.

2 Samuel 1:27 (AMP)

²⁷ How have the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!

2 Samuel Chapter 2

2 Samuel 2:1 (NIV)

¹ In the course of time, David inquired 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 Samuel 2:2 (NIV)

² So David went up there with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.

2 Samuel 2:3 (NIV)

³ David also took the men who were with him, each with his family, and they settled in Hebron and its towns.

2 Samuel 2:4 (NIV)

⁴ Then the men of Judah came to Hebron and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. When David was told that it was the men of Jabesh Gilead who had buried Saul,

2 Samuel 2:5 (NIV)

⁵ he sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead to say to them, “The LORD bless you for showing this kindness to Saul your master by burying him.

2 Samuel 2:6 (NIV)

⁶ May the LORD now show you kindness and faithfulness, and I too will show you the same favor because you have done this.

2 Samuel 2:7 (NIV)

⁷ Now then, be strong and brave, for Saul your master is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

2 Samuel 2:8 (NIV)

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.

2 Samuel 2:9 (NIV)

⁹ He made him king over Gilead, Ashuri and Jezreel, and also over Ephraim, Benjamin and all Israel.

2 Samuel 2:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ Ish-Bosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned two years. The house of Judah, however, followed David.

2 Samuel 2:11 (NIV)

¹¹ The length of time David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

2 Samuel 2:12 (NIV)

¹² Abner son of Ner, together with the men of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon.

2 Samuel 2:13 (NIV)

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.

2 Samuel 2:14 (NIV)

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.

2 Samuel 2:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ So they stood up and were counted off–twelve men for Benjamin and Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve for David.

2 Samuel 2:16 (AMP)

¹⁶ And each caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword into his side; so they all fell together. Therefore that place was called the Field of Sharp Knives, which is at Gibeon.

2 Samuel 2:17 (NIV)

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

2 Samuel 2:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai and Asahel. Now Asahel was as fleet-footed as a wild gazelle.

2 Samuel 2:19 (NASB)

¹⁹ Asahel pursued Abner and did not turn to the right or to the left from following Abner.

2 Samuel 2:20 (NASB)

²⁰ Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Is that you, Asahel?” And he answered, “It is I.”

2 Samuel 2:21 (NKJV)

²¹ And Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and lay hold on one of the young men and take his armor for yourself.” But Asahel would not turn aside from following him.

2 Samuel 2:22 (NIV)

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

2 Samuel 2:23 (NASB)

²³ However, he refused to turn aside; therefore Abner struck him in the belly with the butt end of the spear, so that the spear came out at his back. And he fell there and died on the spot. And it came about that all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, stood still.

2 Samuel 2:24 (AMP)

²⁴ But Joab and Abishai [his brothers] pursued Abner; the sun was going down as they came to the hill of Ammah, before Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.

2 Samuel 2:25 (NIV)

²⁵ Then the men of Benjamin rallied behind Abner. They formed themselves into a group and took their stand on top of a hill.

2 Samuel 2:26 (NIV)

²⁶ Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize that this will end in bitterness? How long before you order your men to stop pursuing their brothers?”

2 Samuel 2:27 (NIV)

²⁷ Joab answered, “As surely as God lives, if you had not spoken, the men would have continued the pursuit of their brothers until morning.”

2 Samuel 2:28 (NIV)

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

2 Samuel 2:29 (NASB)

²⁹ Abner and his men then went through the Arabah all that night; so they crossed the Jordan, walked all morning, and came to Mahanaim.

2 Samuel 2:30 (NIV)

³⁰ Then Joab returned from pursuing Abner and assembled all his men. Besides Asahel, nineteen of David’s men were found missing.

2 Samuel 2:31 (NIV)

³¹ But David’s men had killed three hundred and sixty Benjamites who were with Abner.

2 Samuel 2:32 (NIV)

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.

2 Samuel Chapter 3

2 Samuel 3:1 (NIV)

¹ 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.

2 Samuel 3:2 (NIV)

² Sons were born to David in Hebron: His firstborn was Amnon the son of Ahinoam of Jezreel;

2 Samuel 3:3 (NIV)

³ his second, Kileab the son of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; the third, Absalom the son of Maacah daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;

2 Samuel 3:4 (NIV)

⁴ the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital;

2 Samuel 3:5 (NIV)

⁵ and the sixth, Ithream the son of David’s wife Eglah. These were born to David in Hebron.

2 Samuel 3:6 (NIV)

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.

2 Samuel 3:7 (NIV)

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?”

2 Samuel 3:8 (NIV)

⁸ Abner was very angry because of what Ish-Bosheth said and 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 offense involving this woman!

2 Samuel 3:9 (HCSB)

⁹ May God punish Abner and do so severely if I don’t do for David what the LORD swore to him:

2 Samuel 3:10 (HCSB)

¹⁰ to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish the throne of David over Israel and Judah from Dan to Beer-sheba.”

2 Samuel 3:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Ish-Bosheth did not dare to say another word to Abner, because he was afraid of him.

2 Samuel 3:12 (CJB)-M

¹² Abner immediately sent envoys to David with this message: “Who is going to control the land? If you make yourself my ally, I will use my power to bring all Israel over to you.”

2 Samuel 3:13 (NIV)

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.”

2 Samuel 3:14 (NIV)

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.”

2 Samuel 3:15 (AMP)

¹⁵ And Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her [second] husband, from Paltiel son of Laish [to whom Saul had given her].

2 Samuel 3:16 (NIV)

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.

2 Samuel 3:17 (HCSB)

¹⁷ Abner conferred with the elders of Israel: “In the past you wanted David to be king over you.

2 Samuel 3:18 (HCSB)

¹⁸ Now take action, because the LORD has spoken concerning David: ‘Through My servant David I will save My people Israel from the power of the Philistines and the power of all Israel’s enemies.’”

2 Samuel 3:19 (HCSB)

¹⁹ Abner also informed the Benjaminites and went to Hebron to inform David about all that was agreed on by Israel and the whole house of Benjamin.

2 Samuel 3:20 (NIV)

²⁰ When Abner, who had twenty men with him, came to David at Hebron, David prepared a feast for him and his men.

2 Samuel 3:21 (AMP)

²¹ Abner said to David, I will go and gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a league with you, and that you may reign over all that your heart desires. So David sent Abner away in peace.

2 Samuel 3:22 (NIV)

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.

2 Samuel 3:23 (NIV)

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.

2 Samuel 3:24 (NIV)

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!

2 Samuel 3:25 (NIV)

²⁵ You know Abner son of Ner; he came to deceive you and observe your movements and find out everything you are doing.”

2 Samuel 3:26 (NIV)

²⁶ Joab then left David and sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the well of Sirah. But David did not know it.

2 Samuel 3:27 (NIV)

²⁷ Now when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the gateway, as though to speak with him privately. And there, to avenge the blood of his brother Asahel, Joab stabbed him in the stomach, and he died.

2 Samuel 3:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Later, when David heard about this, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the LORD concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner.

2 Samuel 3:29 (NIV)

²⁹ May his blood fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father’s house! May Joab’s house 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.”

2 Samuel 3:30 (NIV)

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

2 Samuel 3:31 (NIV)

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.

2 Samuel 3:32 (NIV)

³² They buried Abner in Hebron, and the king wept aloud at Abner’s tomb. All the people wept also.

2 Samuel 3:33 (NKJV)

³³ And the king sang a lament over Abner and said: “Should Abner die as a fool dies?

2 Samuel 3:34 (NIV)

³⁴ Your hands were not bound, your feet were not fettered. You fell as one falls before wicked men.” And all the people wept over him again.

2 Samuel 3:35 (CJB)

³⁵ All the people came to David and tried to make him eat some bread while it was still daytime; but David swore, “May God bring terrible curses on me and worse ones yet if I taste bread or anything else until the sun goes down.”

2 Samuel 3:36 (CJB)

³⁶ All the people took note of this, and it pleased them; whatever the king did pleased all the people.

2 Samuel 3:37 (NIV)

³⁷ So on that day all the people and all Israel knew that the king had no part in the murder of Abner son of Ner.

2 Samuel 3:38 (AMP)

³⁸ King David said to his servants, Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel?

2 Samuel 3:39 (CJB)

³⁹ Even though I have just been anointed king, I feel weak today; and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too brutal for me. May the Lord repay the criminal as his crime deserves!”

2 Samuel Chapter 4

2 Samuel 4:1 (HCSB)

¹ When Saul’s son ⌊Ish-bosheth⌋ heard that Abner had died in Hebron, his courage failed, and all Israel was dismayed.

2 Samuel 4:2 (NIV)

² Now Saul’s son had two men who were leaders of raiding bands. One was named Baanah and the other Recab; they were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite from the tribe of Benjamin–Beeroth is considered part of Benjamin,

2 Samuel 4:3 (NIV)

³ because the people of Beeroth fled to Gittaim and have lived there as aliens to this day.

2 Samuel 4:4 (NIV)

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 crippled. His name was Mephibosheth.)

2 Samuel 4:5 (NIV)

⁵ Now Recab 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.

2 Samuel 4:6 (NIV)

⁶ They went into the inner part of the house as if to get some wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Recab and his brother Baanah slipped away.

2 Samuel 4:7 (NIV)

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 traveled all night by way of the Arabah.

2 Samuel 4:8 (NASB)

⁸ Then they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Behold, the head of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life; thus the LORD has given my lord the king vengeance this day on Saul and his descendants.”

2 Samuel 4:9 (NASB)

⁹ David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, “As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress,

2 Samuel 4:10 (NASB)

¹⁰ when one told me, saying, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him in Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news.

2 Samuel 4:11 (CJB)

¹¹ How much more, when criminals have killed an innocent man in his own house on his own bed, shouldn’t I hold you responsible for his death and rid the earth of you?”

2 Samuel 4:12 (HCSB)

¹² So David gave orders to the young men, and they killed Rechab and Baanah. They cut off their hands and feet and hung ⌊their bodies⌋ by the pool in Hebron, but they took Ish-bosheth’s head and buried it in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.

2 Samuel Chapter 5

2 Samuel 5:1 (NKJV)

¹ Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and spoke, saying, “Indeed we are your bone and your flesh.

2 Samuel 5:2 (NIV)

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 will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.'”

2 Samuel 5:3 (NASB)

³ So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them before the LORD at Hebron; then they anointed David king over Israel.

2 Samuel 5:4 (NLT2)

⁴ David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in all.

2 Samuel 5:5 (NASB)

⁵ At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

2 Samuel 5:6 (CJB)-M

⁶ The king and his men went to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites, the inhabitants of that region. They taunted David, “You won’t get in here! Even the blind and the lame could fend you off!” — in other words, they were thinking, “David will never get in here.”

2 Samuel 5:7 (CJB)-M

⁷ Nevertheless, David captured the stronghold of Zion, also known [now] as the City of David.

2 Samuel 5:8 (CJB)

⁸ What David said on that day was, “In order to attack the Jebusites, you have to climb up [from the spring outside the city] through the water tunnel. Then you can do away with those [so-called] ‘lame and blind’” (whom David despises — hence the expression, “The ‘blind and lame’ keep him from entering the house”).

2 Samuel 5:9 (NIV)

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 supporting terraces inward.

2 Samuel 5:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ And he became more and more powerful, because the LORD God Almighty was with him.

2 Samuel 5:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Now Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David.

2 Samuel 5:12 (AMP)

¹² And David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel and that He had exalted his kingdom for His people Israel’s sake.

2 Samuel 5:13 (NIV)

¹³ After he left Hebron, David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.

2 Samuel 5:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ These are the names of the children born to him there: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,

2 Samuel 5:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,

2 Samuel 5:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet.

2 Samuel 5:17 (NIV)

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.

2 Samuel 5:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim;

2 Samuel 5:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ so David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?” The LORD answered him, “Go, for I will surely hand the Philistines over to you.”

2 Samuel 5:20 (CJB)-M

²⁰ So David went to Baal Perazim and defeated them there. He said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies for me like a river breaking through its banks.” This is why he called the place Baal Perazim [Lord of breaking through].

2 Samuel 5:21 (CJB)-M

²¹ The Philistines had abandoned their idols there, so David and his men took them away.

2 Samuel 5:22 (CJB)-M

²² The Philistines came up again and deployed in the Rephaim Valley.

2 Samuel 5:23 (NIV)

²³ 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 balsam trees.

2 Samuel 5:24 (NIV)

²⁴ As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the [trees], move quickly, because that will mean the LORD has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.”

2 Samuel 5:25 (NIV)

²⁵ So David did as the LORD commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.

2 Samuel Chapter 6

2 Samuel 6:1 (NIV)

¹ David again brought together out of Israel chosen men, thirty thousand in all.

2 Samuel 6:2 (NIV)

² He and all his men set out from Baalah of 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 that are on the ark.

2 Samuel 6:3 (NIV)

³ They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart

2 Samuel 6:4 (NASB)

⁴ So they brought it with the ark of God from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and Ahio was walking ahead of the ark.

2 Samuel 6:5 (NIV)

⁵ David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.

2 Samuel 6:6 (CJB)-M

⁶ When they arrived at Nacon’s threshing-floor, the oxen stumbled; and ‘Uzzah put out his hand to steady the ark of God.

2 Samuel 6:7 (NIV)

⁷ The LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.

2 Samuel 6:8 (NIV)

⁸ Then David was angry because the LORD’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.

2 Samuel 6:9 (NIV)

⁹ David was afraid of the LORD that day and said, “How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?”

2 Samuel 6:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ He was not willing to take the ark of the LORD to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.

2 Samuel 6:11 (NIV)

¹¹ The ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed him and his entire household.

2 Samuel 6:12 (NIV)

¹² Now King David was told, “The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing.

2 Samuel 6:13 (NIV)

¹³ When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf.

2 Samuel 6:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might,

2 Samuel 6:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

2 Samuel 6:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.

2 Samuel 6:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the LORD.

2 Samuel 6:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty.

2 Samuel 6:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.

2 Samuel 6:20 (NIV)

²⁰ When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”

2 Samuel 6:21 (NIV)

²¹ David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel–I will celebrate before the LORD.

2 Samuel 6:22 (NIV)

²² I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”

2 Samuel 6:23 (CJB)-M

²³ Michal the daughter of Saul remained childless until the day she died.

2 Samuel Chapter 7

2 Samuel 7:1 (NIV)

¹ After the king was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him,

2 Samuel 7:2 (CJB)

² the king said to Nathan the prophet, “Here, I’m living in a cedar-wood palace; but the ark of God is kept in a tent!”

2 Samuel 7:3 (NIV)

³ Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you.”

2 Samuel 7:4 (NASB)

⁴ But in the same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying,

2 Samuel 7:5 (CJB)-M

⁵ “Go and tell my servant David that this is what the Lord says: ‘You are going to build me a house to live in?

2 Samuel 7:6 (NIV)

⁶ I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling.

2 Samuel 7:7 (NIV)

⁷ Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”‘

2 Samuel 7:8 (NIV)

⁸ “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel.

2 Samuel 7:9 (NIV)

⁹ I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth.

2 Samuel 7:10 (CJB)-M

¹⁰ I will assign a place to my people Israel; I will plant them there, so that they can live in their own place without being disturbed any more. The wicked will no longer oppress them, as they did at the beginning,

2 Samuel 7:11 (NIV)

¹¹ and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies. “‘The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you:

2 Samuel 7:12 (NKJV)

¹² “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

2 Samuel 7:13 (HCSB)

¹³ He will build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

2 Samuel 7:14 (CJB)

¹⁴ I will be a father for him, and he will be a son for me. If he does something wrong, I will punish him with a rod and blows, just as everyone gets punished;

2 Samuel 7:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.

2 Samuel 7:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.'”

2 Samuel 7:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.

2 Samuel 7:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: “Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?

2 Samuel 7:19 (CJB)-M

¹⁹ Yet in your view, O Sovereign LORD, even this was too small a thing; so you have even said that your servant’s dynasty will continue on into the distant future. This is [indeed] a teaching for a man, O Sovereign LORD—

2 Samuel 7:20 (CJB)-M

²⁰ what more can David say to you? For you know your servant intimately, O Sovereign LORD.

2 Samuel 7:21 (CJB)

²¹ It is for the sake of your word and in accordance with your own heart that you have done all this greatness and revealed it to your servant.

2 Samuel 7:22 (CJB)-M

²² Therefore, you are great, O Sovereign LORD; for there is no one like you, and there is no God besides you— everything we have heard confirms that.

2 Samuel 7:23 (NIV)

²³ And who is like your people Israel–the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt?

2 Samuel 7:24 (NIV)

²⁴ You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, O LORD, have become their God.

2 Samuel 7:25 (CJB)-M

²⁵ So now, O Sovereign LORD, establish forever the word you have spoken to your servant and his house; do what you have promised.

2 Samuel 7:26 (NASB)

²⁶ that Your name may be magnified forever, by saying, ‘The LORD of hosts is God over Israel’; and may the house of Your servant David be established before You.

2 Samuel 7:27 (NASB)

²⁷ “For You, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have made a revelation to Your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house’; therefore Your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to You.

2 Samuel 7:28 (CJB)-M

²⁸ Now, O Sovereign LORD, you alone are God; your words are truth; and you have made this wonderful promise to your servant.

2 Samuel 7:29 (CJB)-M

²⁹ So may it please you to bless the family of your servant and thereby cause it to continue forever in your presence. For you, O Sovereign LORD, have said it. May your servant’s family be blessed forever by your blessing.”

2 Samuel Chapter 8

2 Samuel 8:1 (NLT2)

¹ After this, David defeated and subdued the Philistines by conquering Gath, their largest town.

2 Samuel 8:2 (CJB)

² He also defeated Moab; making them lie down on the ground, he measured them with a length of cord; for every two lengths to be put to death he designated one length to be kept alive. The people of Moab became subjects of David and paid tribute.

2 Samuel 8:3 (CJB)-M

³ David, on his way to establish his dominion as far as the Euphrates River, also defeated Hadadezer the son of Rehob king of Zobah.

2 Samuel 8:4 (CJB)

⁴ David captured 1,700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers. He reserved enough horses for 100 chariots and disabled the rest.

2 Samuel 8:5 (NIV)

⁵ When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand of them.

2 Samuel 8:6 (NIV)

⁶ He put garrisons in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to him and brought tribute. The LORD gave David victory wherever he went.

2 Samuel 8:7 (NASB)

⁷ David took the shields of gold which were carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 8:8 (AMP)

⁸ And from Betah and Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David exacted an immense amount of bronze.

2 Samuel 8:9 (AMP)

⁹ When Toi king of Hamath heard about David’s defeat of all the forces of Hadadezer,

2 Samuel 8:10 (NASB)

¹⁰ Toi sent Joram his son to King David to greet him and bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him; for Hadadezer had been at war with Toi. And Joram brought with him articles of silver, of gold and of bronze.

2 Samuel 8:11 (NIV)

¹¹ King David dedicated these articles to the LORD, as he had done with the silver and gold from all the nations he had subdued:

2 Samuel 8:12 (NIV)

¹² Edom and Moab, the Ammonites and the Philistines, and Amalek. He also dedicated the plunder taken from Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

2 Samuel 8:13 (NASB)

¹³ So David made a name for himself when he returned from killing 18,000 Arameans in the Valley of Salt.

2 Samuel 8:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ He put garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites became subject to David. The LORD gave David victory wherever he went.

2 Samuel 8:15 (HCSB)

¹⁵ So David reigned over all Israel, administering justice and righteousness for all his people.

2 Samuel 8:16 (CJB)-M

¹⁶ Joab the son of Zeruiah was commander of the army, Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was chief adviser,

2 Samuel 8:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was secretary;

2 Samuel 8:18 (HCSB)

¹⁸ Benaiah son of Jehoiada ⌊was over⌋ the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief officials.

2 Samuel Chapter 9

2 Samuel 9:1 (NIV)

¹ David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”

2 Samuel 9:2 (NKJV)

² And there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba. So when they had called him to David, the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “At your service!”

2 Samuel 9:3 (NKJV)

³ Then the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of God?” And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet.”

2 Samuel 9:4 (NKJV)

⁴ So the king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “Indeed he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo Debar.”

2 Samuel 9:5 (NASB)

⁵ Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar.

2 Samuel 9:6 (NASB)

⁶ Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and prostrated himself. And David said, “Mephibosheth.” And he said, “Here is your servant!”

2 Samuel 9:7 (NIV)

⁷ “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”

2 Samuel 9:8 (NASB)

⁸ Again he prostrated himself and said, “What is your servant, that you should regard a dead dog like me?”

2 Samuel 9:9 (NIV)

⁹ Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family.

2 Samuel 9:10 (NASB)

¹⁰ “You and your sons and your servants shall cultivate the land for him, and you shall bring in the produce so that your master’s grandson may have food; nevertheless Mephibosheth your master’s grandson shall eat at my table regularly.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.

2 Samuel 9:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons.

2 Samuel 9:12 (NASB)

¹² Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. And all who lived in the house of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth.

2 Samuel 9:13 (NKJV)

¹³ So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king’s table. And he was lame in both his feet.

2 Samuel Chapter 10

2 Samuel 10:1 (NIV)

¹ In the course of time, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun succeeded him as king.

2 Samuel 10:2 (NIV)

² David thought, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father. When David’s men came to the land of the Ammonites,

2 Samuel 10:3 (NIV)

³ the Ammonite nobles said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think David is honoring your father by sending men to you to express sympathy? Hasn’t David sent them to you to explore the city and spy it out and overthrow it?”

2 Samuel 10:4 (NIV)

⁴ So Hanun seized David’s men, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their garments in the middle at the buttocks, and sent them away.

2 Samuel 10:5 (NIV)

⁵ When David was told about this, he sent messengers to meet the men, for they were greatly humiliated. The king said, “Stay at Jericho till your beards have grown, and then come back.”

2 Samuel 10:6 (HCSB)

⁶ When the Ammonites realized they had become repulsive to David, they hired 20,000 foot soldiers from the Arameans of Beth-rehob and Zobah, 1,000 men from the king of Maacah, and 12,000 men from Tob.

2 Samuel 10:7 (HCSB)

⁷ David heard about it and sent Joab and all the fighting men.

2 Samuel 10:8 (NIV)

⁸ The Ammonites came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance to their city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the open country.

2 Samuel 10:9 (NIV)

⁹ Joab saw that there were battle lines in front of him and behind him; so he selected some of the best troops in Israel and deployed them against the Arameans.

2 Samuel 10:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ He put the rest of the men under the command of Abishai his brother and deployed them against the Ammonites.

2 Samuel 10:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Joab said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to come to my rescue; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to rescue you.

2 Samuel 10:12 (NIV)

¹² Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The LORD will do what is good in his sight.”

2 Samuel 10:13 (NIV)

¹³ Then Joab and the troops with him advanced to fight the Arameans, and they fled before him.

2 Samuel 10:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans were fleeing, they fled before Abishai and went inside the city. So Joab returned from fighting the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 10:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ After the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they regrouped.

2 Samuel 10:16 (CJB)-M

¹⁶ Hadadezer sent and brought out the people of Aram who lived beyond the [Euphrates] River. They came to Helam with Shobach the commander of Hadadezer’s army at their head.

2 Samuel 10:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ When David was told of this, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan and went to Helam. The Arameans formed their battle lines to meet David and fought against him.

2 Samuel 10:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobach the commander of their army, and he died there.

2 Samuel 10:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ When all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with the Israelites and became subject to them. So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.

2 Samuel Chapter 11

2 Samuel 11:1 (HCSB)

¹ In the spring when kings march out ⌊to war⌋, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 11:2 (NIV)

² One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,

2 Samuel 11:3 (CJB)-M

3 David made inquiries about the woman and was told that she was Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.

2 Samuel 11:4 (CJB)

⁴ David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he went to bed with her (for she had been purified from her uncleanness). Then she returned to her house.

2 Samuel 11:5 (CJB)

⁵ The woman conceived; and she sent a message to David, “I am pregnant.”

2 Samuel 11:6 (NIV)

⁶ So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David.

2 Samuel 11:7 (NIV)

⁷ When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going.

2 Samuel 11:8 (NKJV)

⁸ And David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah departed from the king’s house, and a gift of food from the king followed him.

2 Samuel 11:9 (NIV)

⁹ But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.

2 Samuel 11:10 (NASB)

¹⁰ Now when they told David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”

2 Samuel 11:11 (CJB)

¹¹ Uriah answered David, “The ark, Israel and Judah stay in tents; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the countryside. So, should I go into my house to eat and drink and go to bed with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”

2 Samuel 11:12 (NIV)

¹² Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.

2 Samuel 11:13 (NIV)

¹³ At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.

2 Samuel 11:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.

2 Samuel 11:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ In it he wrote, “Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”

2 Samuel 11:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were.

2 Samuel 11:17 (NKJV)

¹⁷ Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell; and Uriah the Hittite died also.

2 Samuel 11:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Joab sent David a full account of the battle.

2 Samuel 11:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle,

2 Samuel 11:20 (NIV)

²⁰ the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall?

2 Samuel 11:21 (NIV)

²¹ Who killed Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ‘Also, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.'”

2 Samuel 11:22 (NIV)

²² The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say.

2 Samuel 11:23 (NIV)

²³ The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance to the city gate.

2 Samuel 11:24 (NIV)

²⁴ Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”

2 Samuel 11:25 (NIV)

²⁵ David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.”

2 Samuel 11:26 (NIV)

²⁶ When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.

2 Samuel 11:27 (NIV)

²⁷ After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.

2 Samuel Chapter 12

2 Samuel 12:1 (NIV)

¹ The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.

2 Samuel 12:2 (NKJV)

² The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds.

2 Samuel 12:3 (NIV)

³ but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

2 Samuel 12:4 (NIV)

⁴ “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

2 Samuel 12:5 (NIV)

⁵ David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!

2 Samuel 12:6 (NIV)

⁶ He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

2 Samuel 12:7 (NIV)

⁷ Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.

2 Samuel 12:8 (NIV)

⁸ I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.

2 Samuel 12:9 (NIV)

⁹ Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

2 Samuel 12:10 (CJB)-M

¹⁰ Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house — because you have shown contempt for me and taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own wife.’

2 Samuel 12:11 (NIV)

¹¹ “This is what the LORD says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight.

2 Samuel 12:12 (NIV)

¹² You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.'”

2 Samuel 12:13 (NIV)

¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.

2 Samuel 12:14 (NASB)

¹⁴ “However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die.”

2 Samuel 12:15 (NASB)

¹⁵ So Nathan went to his house. Then the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s widow bore to David, so that he was very sick.

2 Samuel 12:16 (CJB)

¹⁶ David prayed to God on behalf of the child; David fasted, then came and lay all night on the ground.

2 Samuel 12:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.

2 Samuel 12:18 (CJB)

¹⁸ On the seventh day, the child died. The servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, because they said, “While the child was still alive, we spoke to him, and he didn’t listen to us; if we tell him now that the child is dead, he may do himself some harm.”

2 Samuel 12:19 (CJB)

¹⁹ But when David saw his servants whispering to each other, he suspected that the child was dead. David asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” and they answered, “He is dead.”

2 Samuel 12:20 (CJB)-M

²⁰ Then David got up off the ground, washed, anointed himself and changed his clothes. He went into the house of the Lord and worshiped; then he went to his own palace; and when he asked for food, they served it to him; and he ate.

2 Samuel 12:21 (NIV)

²¹ His servants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!”

2 Samuel 12:22 (NIV)

²² He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.’

2 Samuel 12:23 (NIV)

²³ But now that 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.”

2 Samuel 12:24 (NIV)

²⁴ Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The LORD loved him;

2 Samuel 12:25 (NIV)

²⁵ and because the LORD loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.

2 Samuel 12:26 (NIV)

²⁶ Meanwhile Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal citadel.

2 Samuel 12:27 (NIV)

²⁷ Joab then sent messengers to David, saying, “I have fought against Rabbah and taken its water supply.

2 Samuel 12:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Now muster the rest of the troops and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise I will take the city, and it will be named after me.”

2 Samuel 12:29 (NIV)

²⁹ So David mustered the entire army and went to Rabbah, and attacked and captured it.

2 Samuel 12:30 (NIV)

³⁰ He took the crown from the head of their king–its weight was a talent of gold, and it was set with precious stones–and it was placed on David’s head. He took a great quantity of plunder from the city

2 Samuel 12:31 (NIV)

³¹ and brought out the people who were there, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes, and he made them work at brickmaking. He did this to all the Ammonite towns. Then David and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.

2 Samuel Chapter 13

2 Samuel 13:1 (NIV)

¹ In the course of time, Amnon son of David fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom son of David.

2 Samuel 13:2 (CJB)

² Amnon became so obsessed with his sister Tamar that he became ill, for she was a virgin, and Amnon thought it would be impossible to approach her.

2 Samuel 13:3 (HCSB)

³ Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, a son of David’s brother Shimeah. Jonadab was a very shrewd man,

2 Samuel 13:4 (NIV)

⁴ He asked Amnon, “Why do you, the king’s son, look so haggard morning after morning? Won’t you tell me?” Amnon said to him, “I’m in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.”

2 Samuel 13:5 (HCSB)

⁵ Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend you’re sick. When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me ⌊something⌋ to eat. Let her prepare food in my presence so I can watch and eat from her hand.’”

2 Samuel 13:6 (HCSB)

⁶ So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to him, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my presence so I can eat from her hand.”

2 Samuel 13:7 (NIV)

⁷ David sent word to Tamar at the palace: “Go to the house of your brother Amnon and prepare some food for him.”

2 Samuel 13:8 (NIV)

⁸ So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was lying down. She took some dough, kneaded it, made the bread in his sight and baked it.

2 Samuel 13:9 (CJB)

⁹ Then she took the pan and turned them out in front of him, but he refused to eat. Amnon said, “Have everyone leave me”; and everyone left him.

2 Samuel 13:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food here into my bedroom so I may eat from your hand.” And Tamar took the bread she had prepared and brought it to her brother Amnon in his bedroom.

2 Samuel 13:11 (NIV)

¹¹ But when she took it to him to eat, he grabbed her and said, “Come to bed with me, my sister.”

2 Samuel 13:12 (NIV)

¹² “Don’t, my brother!” she said to him. “Don’t force me. Such a thing should not be done in Israel! Don’t do this wicked thing.

2 Samuel 13:13 (NIV)

¹³ What about me? Where could I get rid of my disgrace? And what about you? You would be like one of the wicked fools in Israel. Please speak to the king; he will not keep me from being married to you.”

2 Samuel 13:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ But he refused to listen to her, and since he was stronger than she, he raped her.

2 Samuel 13:15 (CJB)

¹⁵ But then he was filled with utter revulsion for her — his hatred of her was even greater than the love he had had for her before. Amnon said to her, “Get up, and get out of here!”

2 Samuel 13:16 (CJB)

¹⁶ “No,” she objected, “because throwing me out like this is an even worse thing than what you’ve already done to me!” But he wouldn’t listen to her;

2 Samuel 13:17 (CJB)

¹⁷ he called his personal servant and said, “Get rid of this woman for me! Throw her out, and lock the door after her!”

2 Samuel 13:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ So his servant put her out and bolted the door after her. She was wearing a richly ornamented robe, for this was the kind of garment the virgin daughters of the king wore.

2 Samuel 13:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the ornamented robe she was wearing. She put her hand on her head and went away, weeping aloud as she went.

2 Samuel 13:20 (NIV)

²⁰ Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has that Amnon, your brother, been with you? Be quiet now, my sister; he is your brother. Don’t take this thing to heart.” And Tamar lived in her brother Absalom’s house, a desolate woman.

2 Samuel 13:21 (NIV)

²¹ When King David heard all this, he was furious.

2 Samuel 13:22 (NASB)

²² But Absalom did not speak to Amnon either good or bad; for Absalom hated Amnon because he had violated his sister Tamar.

2 Samuel 13:23 (NIV)

²³ Two years later, when Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal Hazor near the border of Ephraim, he invited all the king’s sons to come there.

2 Samuel 13:24 (CJB)-M

²⁴ Absalom went to the king and said, “Your servant has sheep-shearers; please let the king and his servants come along with your servant.”

2 Samuel 13:25 (NIV)

²⁵ “No, my son,” the king replied. “All of us should not go; we would only be a burden to you.” Although Absalom urged him, he still refused to go, but gave him his blessing.

2 Samuel 13:26 (NIV)

²⁶ Then Absalom said, “If not, please let my brother Amnon come with us.” The king asked him, “Why should he go with you?”

2 Samuel 13:27 (AMP)

²⁷ But Absalom urged him, and he let Amnon and all the king’s sons go with him.

2 Samuel 13:28 (CJB)-M

²⁸ Absalom ordered his servants, “Pay close attention: when Amnon is in high spirits from drinking wine, and I say to you, ‘Kill Amnon,’ then strike him down. Don’t be afraid — I’m the one ordering you to do it — but take courage, and be bold.”

2 Samuel 13:29 (AMP)

²⁹ And the servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king’s sons arose and every man mounted his mule and fled.

2 Samuel 13:30 (HCSB)

³⁰ While they were on the way, a report reached David: “Absalom struck down all the king’s sons; not even one of them survived!”

2 Samuel 13:31 (AMP)

³¹ Then the king arose and tore his garments and lay on the floor; and all his servants standing by tore their clothes.

2 Samuel 13:32 (NIV)

³² But Jonadab son of Shimeah, David’s brother, said, “My lord should not think that they killed all the princes; only Amnon is dead. This has been Absalom’s expressed intention ever since the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar.

2 Samuel 13:33 (NIV)

³³ My lord the king should not be concerned about the report that all the king’s sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead.”

2 Samuel 13:34 (NASB)

³⁴ Now Absalom had fled. And the young man who was the watchman raised his eyes and looked, and behold, many people were coming from the road behind him by the side of the mountain.

2 Samuel 13:35 (NIV)

³⁵ Jonadab said to the king, “See, the king’s sons are here; it has happened just as your servant said.”

2 Samuel 13:36 (NIV)

³⁶ As he finished speaking, the king’s sons came in, wailing loudly. The king, too, and all his servants wept very bitterly.

2 Samuel 13:37 (AMP)

³⁷ But Absalom fled and went to [his mother’s father] Talmai son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son [Amnon] every day.

2 Samuel 13:38 (AMP)

³⁸ So Absalom fled to Geshur and was there three years.

2 Samuel 13:39 (CJB)-M

³⁹ But as King David became reconciled to the death of his son Amnon, he was increasingly filled with longing to see Absalom.

2 Samuel Chapter 14

2 Samuel 14:1 (CJB)-M

¹ Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king missed Absalom;

2 Samuel 14:2 (CJB)-M

² so Joab sent to Tekoa, brought from there a clever woman and said to her, “Please, pretend you’re a mourner. Put on mourning clothes, and don’t anoint yourself with oil, but appear to be a woman who has mourned for the dead a long time.

2 Samuel 14:3 (CJB)-M

³ Go in to the king and speak to him in this fashion —” and then Joab told her just what to say.

2 Samuel 14:4 (NIV)

⁴ When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell with her face to the ground to pay him honor, and she said, “Help me, O king!”

2 Samuel 14:5 (NIV)

⁵ The king asked her, “What is troubling you?” She said, “I am indeed a widow; my husband is dead.

2 Samuel 14:6 (NIV)

⁶ I your servant had two sons. They got into a fight with each other in the field, and no one was there to separate them. One struck the other and killed him.

2 Samuel 14:7 (AMP)

⁷ And behold, our whole family has risen against your handmaid, and they say, Deliver him who slew his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he slew; and so they would destroy the heir also. And so quenching my coal which is left, they would leave to my husband neither name nor remnant upon the earth.

2 Samuel 14:8 (NIV)

⁸ The king said to the woman, “Go home, and I will issue an order in your behalf.”

2 Samuel 14:9 (NIV)

⁹ But the woman from Tekoa said to him, “My lord the king, let the blame rest on me and on my father’s family, and let the king and his throne be without guilt.”

2 Samuel 14:10 (CJB)

¹⁰ The king answered, “If anyone says anything to you, bring him to me; and he won’t bother you any more.”

2 Samuel 14:11 (NIV)

¹¹ She said, “Then let the king invoke the LORD his God to prevent the avenger of blood from adding to the destruction, so that my son will not be destroyed.” “As surely as the LORD lives,” he said, “not one hair of your son’s head will fall to the ground.”

2 Samuel 14:12 (CJB)

¹² Then the woman said, “Please allow your servant to say something else to my lord the king.” “Go on,” he replied.

2 Samuel 14:13 (CJB)

¹³ The woman said, “Why is it, then, that you have produced a situation exactly like this against God’s people? By saying what you have said, the king has virtually incriminated himself— in that the king does not bring home again the son he banished.

2 Samuel 14:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.

2 Samuel 14:15 (NASB)

¹⁵ “Now the reason I have come to speak this word to my lord the king is that the people have made me afraid; so your maidservant said, ‘Let me now speak to the king, perhaps the king will perform the request of his maidservant.

2 Samuel 14:16 (AMP)

¹⁶ For the king will hear to deliver his handmaid from the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together from [Israel] the inheritance of God.

2 Samuel 14:17 (AMP)

¹⁷ And the woman said, The word of my lord the king will now give me rest and security, for as an angel of God is my lord the king to hear and discern good and evil. May the Lord your God be with you!

2 Samuel 14:18 (CJB)

¹⁸ The king then answered the woman: “I’m going to ask you a question, and please don’t hide anything from me.” The woman said, “Let my lord the king now speak.”

2 Samuel 14:19 (CJB)-M

¹⁹ The king asked, “Did Joab put you up to this?” The woman answered, “As you live, my lord the king, when my lord the king speaks, no one can avoid the issue by turning either right or left. Yes, it was your servant Joab who had me do this, and he put in my mouth every word you have heard your servant say.

2 Samuel 14:20 (CJB)-M

²⁰ Your servant Joab did this in order to bring about some change in the situation. But my lord is wise, he has the wisdom of an angel of God when it comes to understanding anything going on in the land.”

2 Samuel 14:21 (CJB)-M

²¹ The king said to Joab, “All right, I am granting this request. Go, and bring back young Absalom.”

2 Samuel 14:22 (NIV)

²² Joab fell with his face to the ground to pay him honor, and he blessed the king. Joab said, “Today your servant knows that he has found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, because the king has granted his servant’s request.”

2 Samuel 14:23 (NIV)

²³ Then Joab went to Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 14:24 (NIV)

²⁴ But the king said, “He must go to his own house; he must not see my face.” So Absalom went to his own house and did not see the face of the king.

2 Samuel 14:25 (NIV)

²⁵ In all Israel there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the top of his head to the sole of his foot there was no blemish in him.

2 Samuel 14:26 (NIV)

²⁶ Whenever he cut the hair of his head–he used to cut his hair from time to time when it became too heavy for him–he would weigh it, and its weight was two hundred shekels by the royal standard.

2 Samuel 14:27 (NIV)

²⁷ Three sons and a daughter were born to Absalom. The daughter’s name was Tamar, and she became a beautiful woman.

2 Samuel 14:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Absalom lived two years in Jerusalem without seeing the king’s face.

2 Samuel 14:29 (NIV)

²⁹ Then Absalom sent for Joab in order to send him to the king, but Joab refused to come to him. So he sent a second time, but he refused to come.

2 Samuel 14:30 (NIV)

³⁰ Then he said to his servants, “Look, Joab’s field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire.” So Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.

2 Samuel 14:31 (NIV)

³¹ Then Joab did go to Absalom’s house and he said to him, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?”

2 Samuel 14:32 (NIV)

³² Absalom said to Joab, “Look, I sent word to you and said, ‘Come here so I can send you to the king to ask, “Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there!”‘ Now then, I want to see the king’s face, and if I am guilty of anything, let him put me to death.”

2 Samuel 14:33 (NIV)

³³ So Joab went to the king and told him this. Then the king summoned Absalom, and he came in and bowed down with his face to the ground before the king. And the king kissed Absalom.

2 Samuel Chapter 15

2 Samuel 15:1 (NIV)

¹ In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him.

2 Samuel 15:2 (NIV)

² He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, “What town are you from?” He would answer, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.”

2 Samuel 15:3 (NIV)

³ Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you.”

2 Samuel 15:4 (NIV)

⁴ And Absalom would add, “If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice.”

2 Samuel 15:5 (NIV)

⁵ Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him.

2 Samuel 15:6 (NIV)

⁶ Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

2 Samuel 15:7 (NIV)

⁷ At the end of four years, Absalom said to the king, “Let me go to Hebron and fulfill a vow I made to the LORD.

2 Samuel 15:8 (NIV)

⁸ While your servant was living at Geshur in Aram, I made this vow: ‘If the LORD takes me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the LORD in Hebron.'”

2 Samuel 15:9 (NIV)

⁹ The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he went to Hebron.

2 Samuel 15:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ Then Absalom sent secret messengers throughout the tribes of Israel to say, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpets, then say, ‘Absalom is king in Hebron.'”

2 Samuel 15:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Two hundred men from Jerusalem had accompanied Absalom. They had been invited as guests and went quite innocently, knowing nothing about the matter.

2 Samuel 15:12 (NIV)

¹² While Absalom was offering sacrifices, he also sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, to come from Giloh, his hometown. And so the conspiracy gained strength, and Absalom’s following kept on increasing.

2 Samuel 15:13 (NIV)

¹³ A messenger came and told David, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.”

2 Samuel 15:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Then David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, “Come! We must flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom. We must leave immediately, or he will move quickly to overtake us and bring ruin upon us and put the city to the sword.”

2 Samuel 15:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ The king’s officials answered him, “Your servants are ready to do whatever our lord the king chooses.”

2 Samuel 15:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ The king set out, with his entire household following him; but he left ten concubines to take care of the palace.

2 Samuel 15:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ So the king set out, with all the people following him, and they halted at a place some distance away.

2 Samuel 15:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ All his men marched past him, along with all the Kerethites and Pelethites; and all the six hundred Gittites who had accompanied him from Gath marched before the king.

2 Samuel 15:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ The king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you come along with us? Go back and stay with King Absalom. You are a foreigner, an exile from your homeland.

2 Samuel 15:20 (NIV)

²⁰ You came only yesterday. And today shall I make you wander about with us, when I do not know where I am going? Go back, and take your countrymen. May kindness and faithfulness be with you.”

2 Samuel 15:21 (CJB)-M

²¹ But Ittai answered the king, “As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life, your servant will be there too.”

2 Samuel 15:22 (NIV)

²² David said to Ittai, “Go ahead, march on.” So Ittai the Gittite marched on with all his men and the families that were with him.

2 Samuel 15:23 (NIV)

²³ The whole countryside wept aloud as all the people passed by. The king also crossed the Kidron Valley, and all the people moved on toward the desert.

2 Samuel 15:24 (NIV)

²⁴ Zadok was there, too, and all the Levites who were with him were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had finished leaving the city.

2 Samuel 15:25 (NIV)

²⁵ Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the LORD’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again.

2 Samuel 15:26 (NASB)

²⁶ “But if He should say thus, ‘I have no delight in you,’ behold, here I am, let Him do to me as seems good to Him.”

2 Samuel 15:27 (NIV)

²⁷ The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Aren’t you a seer? Go back to the city in peace, with your son Ahimaaz and Jonathan son of Abiathar. You and Abiathar take your two sons with you.

2 Samuel 15:28 (AMP)

²⁸ See, I will wait at the fords [at the Jordan] of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.

2 Samuel 15:29 (NIV)

²⁹ So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and stayed there.

2 Samuel 15:30 (NIV)

³⁰ But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up.

2 Samuel 15:31 (NIV)

³¹ Now David had been told, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David prayed, “O LORD, turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness.”

2 Samuel 15:32 (NIV)

³² When David arrived at the summit, where people used to worship God, Hushai the Arkite was there to meet him, his robe torn and dust on his head.

2 Samuel 15:33 (NIV)

³³ David said to him, “If you go with me, you will be a burden to me.

2 Samuel 15:34 (NIV)

³⁴ But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king; I was your father’s servant in the past, but now I will be your servant,’ then you can help me by frustrating Ahithophel’s advice.

2 Samuel 15:35 (NIV)

³⁵ Won’t the priests Zadok and Abiathar be there with you? Tell them anything you hear in the king’s palace.

2 Samuel 15:36 (NIV)

³⁶ Their two sons, Ahimaaz son of Zadok and Jonathan son of Abiathar, are there with them. Send them to me with anything you hear.”

2 Samuel 15:37 (NIV)

³⁷ So David’s friend Hushai arrived at Jerusalem as Absalom was entering the city.

2 Samuel Chapter 16

2 Samuel 16:1 (NIV)

¹ When David had gone a short distance beyond the summit, there was Ziba, the steward of Mephibosheth, waiting to meet him. He had a string of donkeys saddled and loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred cakes of raisins, a hundred cakes of figs and a skin of wine.

2 Samuel 16:2 (NIV)

² The king asked Ziba, “Why have you brought these?” Ziba answered, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on, the bread and fruit are for the men to eat, and the wine is to refresh those who become exhausted in the desert.”

2 Samuel 16:3 (NIV)

³ The king then asked, “Where is your master’s grandson?” Ziba said to him, “He is staying in Jerusalem, because he thinks, ‘Today the house of Israel will give me back my grandfather’s kingdom.'”

2 Samuel 16:4 (NIV)

⁴ Then the king said to Ziba, “All that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours.” “I humbly bow,” Ziba said. “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord the king.”

2 Samuel 16:5 (NIV)

⁵ As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul’s family came out from there. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he cursed as he came out.

2 Samuel 16:6 (NIV)

⁶ He pelted David and all the king’s officials with stones, though all the troops and the special guard were on David’s right and left.

2 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)

⁷ As he cursed, Shimei said, “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you scoundrel!

2 Samuel 16:8 (NIV)

⁸ The LORD has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. The LORD has handed the kingdom over to your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a man of blood!”

2 Samuel 16:9 (NIV)

⁹ Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head.”

2 Samuel 16:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ But the king said, “What do you and I have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the LORD said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why do you do this?'”

2 Samuel 16:11 (NIV)

¹¹ David then said to Abishai and all his officials, “My son, who is of my own flesh, is trying to take my life. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone; let him curse, for the LORD has told him to.

2 Samuel 16:12 (NIV)

¹² It may be that the LORD will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today.”

2 Samuel 16:13 (NIV)

¹³ So David and his men continued along the road while Shimei was going along the hillside opposite him, cursing as he went and throwing stones at him and showering him with dirt.

2 Samuel 16:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ The king and all the people with him arrived at their destination exhausted. And there he refreshed himself.

2 Samuel 16:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Meanwhile, Absalom and all the men of Israel came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with him.

2 Samuel 16:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Then Hushai the Arkite, David’s friend, went to Absalom and said to him, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

2 Samuel 16:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Absalom asked Hushai, “Is this the love you show your friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend?”

2 Samuel 16:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Hushai said to Absalom, “No, the one chosen by the LORD, by these people, and by all the men of Israel–his I will be, and I will remain with him.

2 Samuel 16:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Furthermore, whom should I serve? Should I not serve the son? Just as I served your father, so I will serve you.”

2 Samuel 16:20 (NIV)

²⁰ Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give us your advice. What should we do?”

2 Samuel 16:21 (NIV)

²¹ Ahithophel answered, “Lie with your father’s concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself a stench in your father’s nostrils, and the hands of everyone with you will be strengthened.”

2 Samuel 16:22 (NIV)

²² So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he lay with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

2 Samuel 16:23 (BBE)

²³ In those days the opinions of Ahithophel were valued as highly as if through him a man might get direction from God; so were they valued by David as much as by Absalom.

2 Samuel Chapter 17

2 Samuel 17:1 (NIV)

¹ Ahithophel said to Absalom, “I would choose twelve thousand men and set out tonight in pursuit of David.

2 Samuel 17:2 (NIV)

² I would attack him while he is weary and weak. I would strike him with terror, and then all the people with him will flee. I would strike down only the king

2 Samuel 17:3 (NIV)

³ and bring all the people back to you. The death of the man you seek will mean the return of all; all the people will be unharmed.”

2 Samuel 17:4 (NIV)

⁴ This plan seemed good to Absalom and to all the elders of Israel.

2 Samuel 17:5 (NIV)

⁵ But Absalom said, “Summon also Hushai the Arkite, so we can hear what he has to say.”

2 Samuel 17:6 (NIV)

⁶ When Hushai came to him, Absalom said, “Ahithophel has given this advice. Should we do what he says? If not, give us your opinion.”

2 Samuel 17:7 (NIV)

⁷ Hushai replied to Absalom, “The advice Ahithophel has given is not good this time.

2 Samuel 17:8 (NASB)

⁸ Moreover, Hushai said, “You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men and they are fierce, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. And your father is an expert in warfare, and will not spend the night with the people.

2 Samuel 17:9 (NIV)

⁹ Even now, he is hidden in a cave or some other place. If he should attack your troops first, whoever hears about it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the troops who follow Absalom.’

2 Samuel 17:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ Then even the bravest soldier, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will melt with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a fighter and that those with him are brave.

2 Samuel 17:11 (NIV)

¹¹ “So I advise you: Let all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba–as numerous as the sand on the seashore–be gathered to you, with you yourself leading them into battle.

2 Samuel 17:12 (NIV)

¹² Then we will attack him wherever he may be found, and we will fall on him as dew settles on the ground. Neither he nor any of his men will be left alive.

2 Samuel 17:13 (NIV)

¹³ If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it down to the valley until not even a piece of it can be found.”

2 Samuel 17:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite is better than that of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had determined to frustrate the good advice of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom.

2 Samuel 17:15 (NASB)

¹⁵ Then Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, “This is what Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel, and this is what I have counseled.

2 Samuel 17:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Now send a message immediately and tell David, ‘Do not spend the night at the fords in the desert; cross over without fail, or the king and all the people with him will be swallowed up.'”

2 Samuel 17:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En Rogel. A servant girl was to go and inform them, and they were to go and tell King David, for they could not risk being seen entering the city.

2 Samuel 17:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So the two of them left quickly and went to the house of a man in Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it.

2 Samuel 17:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ His wife took a covering and spread it out over the opening of the well and scattered grain over it. No one knew anything about it.

2 Samuel 17:20 (NIV)

²⁰ When Absalom’s men came to the woman at the house, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman answered them, “They crossed over the brook.” The men searched but found no one, so they returned to Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 17:21 (NIV)

²¹ After the men had gone, the two climbed out of the well and went to inform King David. They said to him, “Set out and cross the river at once; Ahithophel has advised such and such against you.”

2 Samuel 17:22 (NIV)

²² So David and all the people with him set out and crossed the Jordan. By daybreak, no one was left who had not crossed the Jordan.

2 Samuel 17:23 (NIV)

²³ When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his house in order and then hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.

2 Samuel 17:24 (NIV)

²⁴ David went to Mahanaim, and Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel.

2 Samuel 17:25 (NIV)

²⁵ Absalom had appointed Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Jether, an Israelite who had married Abigail, the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah the mother of Joab.

2 Samuel 17:26 (NIV)

²⁶ The Israelites and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.

2 Samuel 17:27 (NIV)

²⁷ When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, and Makir son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim

2 Samuel 17:28 (NIV)

²⁸ brought bedding and bowls and articles of pottery. They also brought wheat and barley, flour and roasted grain, beans and lentils,

2 Samuel 17:29 (NIV)

²⁹ honey and curds, sheep, and cheese from cows’ milk for David and his people to eat. For they said, “The people have become hungry and tired and thirsty in the desert.”

2 Samuel Chapter 18

2 Samuel 18:1 (NIV)

¹ David mustered the men who were with him and appointed over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds.

2 Samuel 18:2 (NIV)

² David sent the troops out–a third under the command of Joab, a third under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under Ittai the Gittite. The king told the troops, “I myself will surely march out with you.”

2 Samuel 18:3 (NIV)

³ But the men said, “You must not go out; if we are forced to flee, they won’t care about us. Even if half of us die, they won’t care; but you are worth ten thousand of us. It would be better now for you to give us support from the city.”

2 Samuel 18:4 (NIV)

⁴ The king answered, “I will do whatever seems best to you.” So the king stood beside the gate while all the men marched out in units of hundreds and of thousands.

2 Samuel 18:5 (NIV)

⁵ The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.” And all the troops heard the king giving orders concerning Absalom to each of the commanders.

2 Samuel 18:6 (NIV)

⁶ The army marched into the field to fight Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim.

2 Samuel 18:7 (NIV)

⁷ There the army of Israel was defeated by David’s men, and the casualties that day were great–twenty thousand men.

2 Samuel 18:8 (NIV)

⁸ The battle spread out over the whole countryside, and the forest claimed more lives that day than the sword.

2 Samuel 18:9 (NIV)

⁹ Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s head got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going.

2 Samuel 18:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ When one of the men saw this, he told Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.”

2 Samuel 18:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Joab said to the man who had told him this, “What! You saw him? Why didn’t you strike him to the ground right there? Then I would have had to give you ten shekels of silver and a warrior’s belt.”

2 Samuel 18:12 (NIV)

¹² But the man replied, “Even if a thousand shekels were weighed out into my hands, I would not lift my hand against the king’s son. In our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’

2 Samuel 18:13 (CJB)

¹³ Or, if I had pretended that I didn’t know, the king would have known otherwise anyway; and you wouldn’t have interceded for me either.”

2 Samuel 18:14 (NASB)

¹⁴ Then Joab said, “I will not waste time here with you.” So he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.

2 Samuel 18:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him.

2 Samuel 18:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and the troops stopped pursuing Israel, for Joab halted them.

2 Samuel 18:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ They took Absalom, threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled up a large heap of rocks over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled to their homes.

2 Samuel 18:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ During his lifetime Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the King’s Valley as a monument to himself, for he thought, “I have no son to carry on the memory of my name.” He named the pillar after himself, and it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day.

2 Samuel 18:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Now Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, “Let me run and take the news to the king that the LORD has delivered him from the hand of his enemies.”

2 Samuel 18:20 (NIV)

²⁰ “You are not the one to take the news today,” Joab told him. “You may take the news another time, but you must not do so today, because the king’s son is dead.”

2 Samuel 18:21 (NIV)

²¹ Then Joab said to a Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed down before Joab and ran off.

2 Samuel 18:22 (NIV)

²² Ahimaaz son of Zadok again said to Joab, “Come what may, please let me run behind the Cushite.” But Joab replied, “My son, why do you want to go? You don’t have any news that will bring you a reward.”

2 Samuel 18:23 (NIV)

²³ He said, “Come what may, I want to run.” So Joab said, “Run!” Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite.

2 Samuel 18:24 (NIV)

²⁴ While David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, the watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall. As he looked out, he saw a man running alone.

2 Samuel 18:25 (NIV)

²⁵ The watchman called out to the king and reported it. The king said, “If he is alone, he must have good news.” And the man came closer and closer.

2 Samuel 18:26 (NIV)

²⁶ Then the watchman saw another man running, and he called down to the gatekeeper, “Look, another man running alone!” The king said, “He must be bringing good news, too.”

2 Samuel 18:27 (NIV)

²⁷ The watchman said, “It seems to me that the first one runs like Ahimaaz son of Zadok.” “He’s a good man,” the king said. “He comes with good news.”

2 Samuel 18:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Then Ahimaaz called out to the king, “All is well!” He bowed down before the king with his face to the ground and said, “Praise be to the LORD your God! He has delivered up the men who lifted their hands against my lord the king.”

2 Samuel 18:29 (NIV)

²⁹ The king asked, “Is the young man Absalom safe?” Ahimaaz answered, “I saw great confusion just as Joab was about to send the king’s servant and me, your servant, but I don’t know what it was.”

2 Samuel 18:30 (NIV)

³⁰ The king said, “Stand aside and wait here.” So he stepped aside and stood there.

2 Samuel 18:31 (NIV)

³¹ Then the Cushite arrived and said, “My lord the king, hear the good news! The LORD has delivered you today from all who rose up against you.”

2 Samuel 18:32 (NIV)

³² The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom safe?” The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to harm you be like that young man.”

2 Samuel 18:33 (NIV)

³³ The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you–O Absalom, my son, my son!”

2 Samuel Chapter 19

2 Samuel 19:1 (NIV)

¹ Joab was told, “The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.”

2 Samuel 19:2 (NIV)

² And for the whole army the victory that day was turned into mourning, because on that day the troops heard it said, “The king is grieving for his son.”

2 Samuel 19:3 (NIV)

³ The men stole into the city that day as men steal in who are ashamed when they flee from battle.

2 Samuel 19:4 (NIV)

⁴ The king covered his face and cried aloud, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!”

2 Samuel 19:5 (NIV)

⁵ Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, “Today you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines.

2 Samuel 19:6 (NIV)

⁶ You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead.

2 Samuel 19:7 (NIV)

⁷ Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the LORD that if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come upon you from your youth till now.”

2 Samuel 19:8 (NIV)

⁸ So the king got up and took his seat in the gateway. When the men were told, “The king is sitting in the gateway,” they all came before him. Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled to their homes.

2 Samuel 19:9 (NIV)

⁹ Throughout the tribes of Israel, the people were all arguing with each other, saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies; he is the one who rescued us from the hand of the Philistines. But now he has fled the country because of Absalom;

2 Samuel 19:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ and Absalom, whom we anointed to rule over us, has died in battle. So why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?”

2 Samuel 19:11 (NIV)

¹¹ King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests: “Ask the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace, since what is being said throughout Israel has reached the king at his quarters?

2 Samuel 19:12 (NIV)

¹² You are my brothers, my own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to bring back the king?’

2 Samuel 19:13 (NIV)

¹³ And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my own flesh and blood? May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if from now on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab.'”

2 Samuel 19:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ He won over the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man. They sent word to the king, “Return, you and all your men.”

2 Samuel 19:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Then the king returned and went as far as the Jordan. Now the men of Judah had come to Gilgal to go out and meet the king and bring him across the Jordan.

2 Samuel 19:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David.

2 Samuel 19:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ With him were a thousand Benjamites, along with Ziba, the steward of Saul’s household, and his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They rushed to the Jordan, where the king was.

2 Samuel 19:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ They crossed at the ford to take the king’s household over and to do whatever he wished. When Shimei son of Gera crossed the Jordan, he fell prostrate before the king

2 Samuel 19:19 (AMP)

¹⁹ And said to the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity to me and hold me guilty, nor remember what your servant did the day my lord went out of Jerusalem [when Shimei grossly insulted David]; may the king not take it to heart.

2 Samuel 19:20 (NIV)

²⁰ For I your servant know that I have sinned, but today I have come here as the first of the whole house of Joseph to come down and meet my lord the king.”

2 Samuel 19:21 (NASB)

²¹ But Abishai the son of Zeruiah said, “Should not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD’S anointed?”

2 Samuel 19:22 (NIV)

²² David replied, “What do you and I have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? This day you have become my adversaries! Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Do I not know that today I am king over Israel?”

2 Samuel 19:23 (AMP)

²³ Therefore the king said to Shimei, You shall not die [at my hand]. And the king gave him his oath.

2 Samuel 19:24 (NIV)

²⁴ Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, also went down to meet the king. He had not taken care of his feet or trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he returned safely.

2 Samuel 19:25 (NIV)

²⁵ When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, “Why didn’t you go with me, Mephibosheth?”

2 Samuel 19:26 (AMP)

²⁶ He said, My lord O king, my servant [Ziba] deceived me; for I said, Saddle me the donkey that I may ride on it and go to the king, for your servant is lame [but he took the donkey and left without me].

2 Samuel 19:27 (CJB)

²⁷ But he slandered me your servant to my lord the king. However, my lord the king is like an angel of God; so do whatever seems right to you.

2 Samuel 19:28 (NIV)

²⁸ All my grandfather’s descendants deserved nothing but death from my lord the king, but you gave your servant a place among those who sat at your table. So what right do I have to make any more appeals to the king?”

2 Samuel 19:29 (AMP)

²⁹ The king said to him, Why speak any more of your affairs? I say, You and Ziba divide the land.

2 Samuel 19:30 (CJB)-M

³⁰ Mephibosheth said to the king, “Indeed, let him take it all; for me it’s enough that my lord the king has come home in peace.”

2 Samuel 19:31 (AMP)

³¹ Now Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim and went on to the Jordan with the king to conduct him over the Jordan.

2 Samuel 19:32 (NIV)

³² Now Barzillai was a very old man, eighty years of age. He had provided for the king during his stay in Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man.

2 Samuel 19:33 (NIV)

³³ The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me and stay with me in Jerusalem, and I will provide for you.”

2 Samuel 19:34 (NIV)

³⁴ But Barzillai answered the king, “How many more years will I live, that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king?

2 Samuel 19:35 (NIV)

³⁵ I am now eighty years old. Can I tell the difference between what is good and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats and drinks? Can I still hear the voices of men and women singers? Why should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?

2 Samuel 19:36 (NIV)

³⁶ Your servant will cross over the Jordan with the king for a short distance, but why should the king reward me in this way?

2 Samuel 19:37 (NIV)

³⁷ Let your servant return, that I may die in my own town near the tomb of my father and mother. But here is your servant Kimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king. Do for him whatever pleases you.”

2 Samuel 19:38 (NIV)

³⁸ The king said, “Kimham shall cross over with me, and I will do for him whatever pleases you. And anything you desire from me I will do for you.”

2 Samuel 19:39 (NIV)

³⁹ So all the people crossed the Jordan, and then the king crossed over. The king kissed Barzillai and gave him his blessing, and Barzillai returned to his home.

2 Samuel 19:40 (CJB)-M

⁴⁰ The king crossed over to Gilgal, and Kimham crossed with him. All the people of Judah brought the king across, as did half the people of Israel.

2 Samuel 19:41 (NIV)

⁴¹ Soon all the men of Israel were coming to the king and saying to him, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, steal the king away and bring him and his household across the Jordan, together with all his men?”

2 Samuel 19:42 (NIV)

⁴² All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “We did this because the king is closely related to us. Why are you angry about it? Have we eaten any of the king’s provisions? Have we taken anything for ourselves?”

2 Samuel 19:43 (NIV)

⁴³ Then the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king; and besides, we have a greater claim on David than you have. So why do you treat us with contempt? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king?” But the men of Judah responded even more harshly than the men of Israel.

2 Samuel Chapter 20

2 Samuel 20:1 (AMP)

¹ There happened to be there a base and contemptible fellow named Sheba son of Bichri, a Benjamite. He blew a trumpet and said, We have no portion in David and no inheritance in the son of Jesse! Every man to his tents, O Israel!

2 Samuel 20:2 (NIV)

² So all the men of Israel deserted David to follow Sheba son of Bicri. But the men of Judah stayed by their king all the way from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 20:3 (CJB)-M

³ When David arrived at his palace in Jerusalem, the king took the ten women who were his concubines, whom he had left to care for the palace, and put them under guard. He provided for their needs but never slept with them again. They were kept in confinement until the day of their death, living like widows with their husband still alive.

2 Samuel 20:4 (NKJV)

⁴ And the king said to Amasa, “Assemble the men of Judah for me within three days, and be present here yourself.”

2 Samuel 20:5 (NKJV)

⁵ So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah. But he delayed longer than the set time which David had appointed him.

2 Samuel 20:6 (CJB)-M

⁶ David said to Abishai, “Sheba the son of Bicri is going to do us more harm than Absalom. Take your lord’s servants and pursue him, so that he won’t take over fortified cities and escape us.”

2 Samuel 20:7 (AMP)

⁷ And there went after him Joab’s men and [David’s bodyguards] the Cherethites and Pelethites and all the mighty men; they went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba son of Bichri.

2 Samuel 20:8 (NLT)

⁸ As they arrived at the great stone in Gibeon, Amasa met them. Joab was wearing his military tunic with a dagger strapped to his belt. As he stepped forward to greet Amasa, he slipped the dagger from its sheath.

2 Samuel 20:9 (NLT2)

⁹ “How are you, my cousin?” Joab said and took him by the beard with his right hand as though to kiss him.

2 Samuel 20:10 (NLT)

¹⁰ Amasa didn’t notice the dagger in his left hand, and Joab stabbed him in the stomach with it so that his insides gushed out onto the ground. Joab did not need to strike again, and Amasa soon died. Joab and his brother Abishai left him lying there and continued after Sheba.

2 Samuel 20:11 (NIV)

¹¹ One of Joab’s men stood beside Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab!”

2 Samuel 20:12 (NLT)-M

¹² But Amasa lay in his blood in the middle of the road, and when Joab saw that everyone was stopping to stare at him, he pulled him off the road into a field and threw a cloak over him.

2 Samuel 20:13 (HCSB)

¹³ When he was removed from the highway, all the men passed by and followed Joab to pursue Sheba son of Bichri.

2 Samuel 20:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel Beth Maacah and through the entire region of the Berites, who gathered together and followed him.

2 Samuel 20:15 (HCSB)

¹⁵ Joab’s troops came and besieged Sheba in Abel of Beth-maacah. They built an assault ramp against the outer wall of the city. While all the troops with Joab were battering the wall to make it collapse,

2 Samuel 20:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ a wise woman called from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab to come here so I can speak to him.”

2 Samuel 20:17 (HCSB)

¹⁷ When he had come near her, the woman asked, “Are you Joab?” “I am,” he replied. “Listen to the words of your servant,” she said to him. He answered, “I’m listening.”

2 Samuel 20:18 (HCSB)

¹⁸ She said, “In the past they used to say, ‘Seek counsel in Abel,’ and that’s how they settled ⌊disputes⌋.

2 Samuel 20:19 (AMP)

¹⁹ I am one of the peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city which is a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the inheritance of the Lord?

2 Samuel 20:20 (NIV)

²⁰ “Far be it from me!” Joab replied, “Far be it from me to swallow up or destroy!

2 Samuel 20:21 (NIV)

²¹ That is not the case. A man named Sheba son of Bicri, from the hill country of Ephraim, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David. Hand over this one man, and I’ll withdraw from the city.” The woman said to Joab, “His head will be thrown to you from the wall.”

2 Samuel 20:22 (NIV)

²² Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bicri and threw it to Joab. So he sounded the trumpet, and his men dispersed from the city, each returning to his home. And Joab went back to the king in Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 20:23 (NIV)

²³ Joab was over Israel’s entire army; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites;

2 Samuel 20:24 (NIV)

²⁴ Adoniram was in charge of forced labor; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder;

2 Samuel 20:25 (NIV)

²⁵ Sheva was secretary; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

2 Samuel 20:26 (NKJV)

²⁶ and Ira the Jairite was a chief minister under David.

2 Samuel Chapter 21

2 Samuel 21:1 (HCSB)

¹ During David’s reign there was a famine for three successive years, so David inquired of the LORD. The LORD answered, “It is because of the blood shed by Saul and his family when he killed the Gibeonites.”

2 Samuel 21:2 (NIV)

² The king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not a part of Israel but were survivors of the Amorites; the Israelites had sworn to [spare] them, but Saul in his zeal for Israel and Judah had tried to annihilate them.)

2 Samuel 21:3 (HCSB)

³ He asked the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? How can I make atonement so that you will bring a blessing on the LORD’s inheritance?”

2 Samuel 21:4 (CJB)

⁴ The Gibeonites said to him, “Our dispute with Saul can’t be resolved with silver or gold; and we don’t have the right to put anyone in Israel to death.” He said, “So, what do you say that I should do for you?”

2 Samuel 21:5 (NASB)

⁵ So they said to the king, “The man who consumed us and who planned to exterminate us from remaining within any border of Israel,

2 Samuel 21:6 (CJB)-M

⁶ have seven of his male descendants handed over to us, and we will put them to death by hanging before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord chose.” The king said, “I will hand them over.”

2 Samuel 21:7 (AMP)

⁷ But the king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the Lord’s oath that was between David and Jonathan son of Saul.

2 Samuel 21:8 (HCSB)

⁸ But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, who were the two sons whom Rizpah daughter of Aiah had borne to Saul, and the five sons whom Merab daughter of Saul had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite

2 Samuel 21:9 (NIV)

⁹ He handed them over to the Gibeonites, who killed and exposed them on a hill before the LORD. All seven of them fell together; they were put to death during the first days of the harvest, just as the barley harvest was beginning.

2 Samuel 21:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest till the rain poured down from the heavens on the bodies, she did not let the birds of the air touch them by day or the wild animals by night.

2 Samuel 21:11 (NIV)

¹¹ When David was told what Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, Saul’s concubine, had done,

2 Samuel 21:12 (NIV)

¹² he went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh Gilead. (They had taken them secretly from the public square at Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hung them after they struck Saul down on Gilboa.)

2 Samuel 21:13 (NLT)

¹³ So David obtained the bones of Saul and Jonathan, as well as the bones of the men the Gibeonites had executed.

2 Samuel 21:14 (NLT)

¹⁴ Then the king ordered that they bury the bones in the tomb of Kish, Saul’s father, at the town of Zela in the land of Benjamin. After that, God ended the famine in the land.

2 Samuel 21:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Once again there was a battle between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his men to fight against the Philistines, and he became exhausted.

2 Samuel 21:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ And Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, whose bronze spearhead weighed three hundred shekels and who was armed with a new [sword], said he would kill David.

2 Samuel 21:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue; he struck the Philistine down and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, saying, “Never again will you go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel will not be extinguished.”

2 Samuel 21:18 (NASB)

¹⁸ Now it came about after this that there was war again with the Philistines at Gob; then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was among the descendants of the giant.

2 Samuel 21:19 (NKJV)

¹⁹ Again there was war at Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

2 Samuel 21:20 (HCSB)

²⁰ At Gath there was still another battle. A huge man was there with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—24 in all. He, too, was descended from the giant.

2 Samuel 21:21 (NKJV)

²¹ So when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him.

2 Samuel 21:22 (HCSB)

²² These four were descended from the giant in Gath and were killed by David and his soldiers.

2 Samuel Chapter 22

2 Samuel 22:1 (NIV)

¹ David sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

2 Samuel 22:2 (NIV)

² He said: “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

2 Samuel 22:3 (NIV)

³ my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior– from violent men you save me.

2 Samuel 22:4 (NIV)

⁴ I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.

2 Samuel 22:5 (NIV)

⁵ “The waves of death swirled about me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

2 Samuel 22:6 (NIV)

⁶ The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.

2 Samuel 22:7 (NIV)

⁷ In my distress I called to the LORD; I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears.

2 Samuel 22:8 (NIV)

⁸ “The earth trembled and quaked, the foundations of the heavens shook; they trembled because he was angry.

2 Samuel 22:9 (NIV)

⁹ Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.

2 Samuel 22:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.

2 Samuel 22:11 (NIV)

¹¹ He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.

2 Samuel 22:12 (NIV)

¹² He made darkness his canopy around him– the dark rain clouds of the sky.

2 Samuel 22:13 (NIV)

¹³ Out of the brightness of his presence bolts of lightning blazed forth.

2 Samuel 22:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.

2 Samuel 22:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ He shot arrows and scattered [the enemies], bolts of lightning and routed them.

2 Samuel 22:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of breath from his nostrils.

2 Samuel 22:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.

2 Samuel 22:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.

2 Samuel 22:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support.

2 Samuel 22:20 (NIV)

²⁰ He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.

2 Samuel 22:21 (NIV)

²¹ “The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.

2 Samuel 22:22 (NIV)

²² For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I have not done evil by turning from my God.

2 Samuel 22:23 (NIV)

²³ All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees.

2 Samuel 22:24 (NIV)

²⁴ I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin.

2 Samuel 22:25 (NIV)

²⁵ The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight.

2 Samuel 22:26 (NIV)

²⁶ “To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless,

2 Samuel 22:27 (NIV)

²⁷ to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.

2 Samuel 22:28 (NIV)

²⁸ You save the humble, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low.

2 Samuel 22:29 (NIV)

²⁹ You are my lamp, O LORD; the LORD turns my darkness into light.

2 Samuel 22:30 (NIV)

³⁰ With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.

2 Samuel 22:31 (NIV)

³¹ “As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

2 Samuel 22:32 (NIV)

³² For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?

2 Samuel 22:33 (NIV)

³³ It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.

2 Samuel 22:34 (NIV)

³⁴ He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.

2 Samuel 22:35 (NIV)

³⁵ He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

2 Samuel 22:36 (NIV)

³⁶ You give me your shield of victory; you stoop down to make me great.

2 Samuel 22:37 (NIV)

³⁷ You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.

2 Samuel 22:38 (NIV)

³⁸ “I pursued my enemies and crushed them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed.

2 Samuel 22:39 (NIV)

³⁹ I crushed them completely, and they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet.

2 Samuel 22:40 (NIV)

⁴⁰ You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet.

2 Samuel 22:41 (NIV)

⁴¹ You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes.

2 Samuel 22:42 (NIV)

⁴² They cried for help, but there was no one to save them– to the LORD, but he did not answer.

2 Samuel 22:43 (NIV)

⁴³ I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth; I pounded and trampled them like mud in the streets.

2 Samuel 22:44 (NIV)

⁴⁴ “You have delivered me from the attacks of my people; you have preserved me as the head of nations. People I did not know are subject to me,

2 Samuel 22:45 (NIV)

⁴⁵ and foreigners come cringing to me; as soon as they hear me, they obey me.

2 Samuel 22:46 (NIV)

⁴⁶ They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds.

2 Samuel 22:47 (NIV)

⁴⁷ “The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God, the Rock, my Savior!

2 Samuel 22:48 (NIV)

⁴⁸ He is the God who avenges me, who puts the nations under me,

2 Samuel 22:49 (NIV)

⁴⁹ who sets me free from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from violent men you rescued me.

2 Samuel 22:50 (NIV)

⁵⁰ Therefore I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing praises to your name.

2 Samuel 22:51 (NIV)

⁵¹ He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.”

2 Samuel Chapter 23

2 Samuel 23:1 (NIV)

¹ These are the last words of David: “The oracle of David son of Jesse, the oracle of the man exalted by the Most High, the man anointed by the God of Jacob, Israel’s singer of songs:

2 Samuel 23:2 (NIV)

² “The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me; his word was on my tongue.

2 Samuel 23:3 (NIV)

³ The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: ‘When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God,

2 Samuel 23:4 (NIV)

⁴ he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth.’

2 Samuel 23:5 (NIV)

⁵ “Is not my house right with God? Has he not made with me an everlasting covenant, arranged and secured in every part? Will he not bring to fruition my salvation and grant me my every desire?

2 Samuel 23:6 (NIV)

⁶ But evil men are all to be cast aside like thorns, which are not gathered with the hand.

2 Samuel 23:7 (NIV)

⁷ Whoever touches thorns uses a tool of iron or the shaft of a spear; they are burned up where they lie.”

2 Samuel 23:8 (NIV)

⁸ These are the names of David’s mighty men: Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was chief of the Three; he raised his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter.

2 Samuel 23:10 (CJB)

¹⁰ He stood firm and attacked the Philistines until his hand went into spasm, so that he couldn’t let go of his sword. The Lord accomplished a great victory that day; but the people didn’t return until he had finished, and then only to plunder the bodies of the dead.

2 Samuel 23:11 (AMP)

¹¹ Next to [Eleazar] was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines were gathered at Lehi on a piece of ground full of lentils; and the [Israelites] fled from the Philistines.

2 Samuel 23:12 (AMP)

¹² But he stood in the midst of the ground and defended it and slew the Philistines; and the Lord wrought a great victory.

2 Samuel 23:13 (NIV)

¹³ During harvest time, three of the thirty chief men came down to David at the cave of Adullam, while a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.

2 Samuel 23:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ At that time David was in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem.

2 Samuel 23:15 (AMP)

¹⁵ And David said longingly, Oh, that someone would give me a drink of water from the well of Bethlehem by the gate!

2 Samuel 23:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ So the three mighty men broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the LORD.

2 Samuel 23:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ “Far be it from me, O LORD, to do this!” he said. “Is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives?” And David would not drink it. Such were the exploits of the three mighty men.

2 Samuel 23:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Abishai the brother of Joab son of Zeruiah was chief of the Three. He raised his spear against three hundred men, whom he killed, and so he became as famous as the Three.

2 Samuel 23:19 (CJB)

¹⁹ He had the most honor of these three and was therefore made their leader; however, he did not achieve the status of the first three.

2 Samuel 23:20 (NIV)

²⁰ Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, who performed great exploits. He struck down two of Moab’s best men. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.

2 Samuel 23:21 (NIV)

²¹ And he struck down a huge Egyptian. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

2 Samuel 23:22 (NIV)

²² Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he too was as famous as the three mighty men.

2 Samuel 23:23 (NIV)

²³ He was held in greater honor than any of the Thirty, but he was not included among the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

2 Samuel 23:24 (NIV)

²⁴ Among the Thirty were: Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem,

2 Samuel 23:25 (NIV)

²⁵ Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite,

2 Samuel 23:26 (NIV)

²⁶ Helez the Paltite, Ira son of Ikkesh from Tekoa,

2 Samuel 23:27 (NIV)

²⁷ Abiezer from Anathoth, Mebunnai the Hushathite,

2 Samuel 23:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite,

2 Samuel 23:29 (NIV)

²⁹ Heled son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ithai son of Ribai from Gibeah in Benjamin,

2 Samuel 23:30 (NIV)

³⁰ Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai from the ravines of Gaash,

2 Samuel 23:31 (NIV)

³¹ Abi-Albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite,

2 Samuel 23:32 (NIV)

³² Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan

2 Samuel 23:33 (NIV)

³³ son of Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam son of Sharar the Hararite,

2 Samuel 23:34 (NIV)

³⁴ Eliphelet son of Ahasbai the Maacathite, Eliam son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,

2 Samuel 23:35 (NIV)

³⁵ Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite,

2 Samuel 23:36 (NIV)

³⁶ Igal son of Nathan from Zobah, the son of Hagri,

2 Samuel 23:37 (NIV)

³⁷ Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, the armor-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah,

2 Samuel 23:38 (NIV)

³⁸ Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite

2 Samuel 23:39 (NIV)

³⁹ and Uriah the Hittite. There were thirty-seven in all.

2 Samuel Chapter 24

2 Samuel 24:1 (HCSB)

¹ The LORD’s anger burned against Israel again, and He stirred up David against them to say: “Go, count ⌊the people of⌋ Israel and Judah.”

2 Samuel 24:2 (NIV)

² So the king said to Joab and the army commanders with him, “Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and enroll the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are.”

2 Samuel 24:3 (NIV)

³ But Joab replied to the king, “May the LORD your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?”

2 Samuel 24:4 (NIV)

⁴ The king’s word, however, overruled Joab and the army commanders; so they left the presence of the king to enroll the fighting men of Israel.

2 Samuel 24:5 (NIV)

⁵ After crossing the Jordan, they camped near Aroer, south of the town in the gorge, and then went through Gad and on to Jazer.

2 Samuel 24:6 (NIV)

⁶ They went to Gilead and the region of Tahtim Hodshi, and on to Dan Jaan and around toward Sidon.

2 Samuel 24:7 (NIV)

⁷ Then they went toward the fortress of Tyre and all the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went on to Beersheba in the Negev of Judah.

2 Samuel 24:8 (NIV)

⁸ After they had gone through the entire land, they came back to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

2 Samuel 24:9 (NIV)

⁹ Joab reported the number of the fighting men to the king: In Israel there were eight hundred thousand able-bodied men who could handle a sword, and in Judah five hundred thousand.

2 Samuel 24:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.”

2 Samuel 24:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Before David got up the next morning, the word of the LORD had come to Gad the prophet, David’s seer:

2 Samuel 24:12 (NIV)

¹² “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.'”

2 Samuel 24:13 (NIV)

¹³ So Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come upon you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”

2 Samuel 24:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.”

2 Samuel 24:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ So the LORD sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.

2 Samuel 24:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

2 Samuel 24:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the LORD, “I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall upon me and my family.”

2 Samuel 24:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ On that day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

2 Samuel 24:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ So David went up, as the LORD had commanded through Gad.

2 Samuel 24:20 (NIV)

²⁰ When Araunah looked and saw the king and his men coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.

2 Samuel 24:21 (NIV)

²¹ Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” “To buy your threshing floor,” David answered, “so I can build an altar to the LORD, that the plague on the people may be stopped.”

2 Samuel 24:22 (NIV)

²² Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take whatever pleases him and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood.

2 Samuel 24:23 (NIV)

²³ O king, Araunah gives all this to the king.” Araunah also said to him, “May the LORD your God accept you.”

2 Samuel 24:24 (NIV)

²⁴ But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them.

2 Samuel 24:25 (NIV)

²⁵ David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the LORD answered prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.

7k-Bible Old Testament List

7K-Bible New Testament List