David’s oldest brother Eliab listened as he spoke to the men, and became angry with him. “Why did you come down here?” he asked. “Who did you leave those few sheep with in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and your evil heart—you came down to see the battle!”

Then Saul had his own military clothes put on David. He put a bronze helmet on David’s head and had him put on armor.

Then Saul replied, “Say this to David: ‘The king desires no other bride-price except 100 Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’” Actually, Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.

and he became even more afraid of David. As a result, Saul was David’s enemy from then on.

Saul sent agents to David’s house to watch for him and kill him in the morning. But his wife Michal warned David, “If you don’t escape tonight, you will be dead tomorrow!”

don’t ever withdraw your faithful love from my household—not even when the Lord cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”

Then Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord hold David’s enemies accountable.”

He sat at his usual place on the seat by the wall. Jonathan sat facing him and Abner took his place beside Saul, but David’s place was empty.

However, the day after the New Moon, the second day, David’s place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why didn’t Jesse’s son come to the meal either yesterday or today?”

David went to Ahimelech the priest at Nob. Ahimelech was afraid to meet David, so he said to him, “Why are you alone and no one is with you?”

So David left Gath and took refuge in the cave of Adullam. When David’s brothers and his father’s whole family heard, they went down and joined him there.

But David’s men said to him, “Look, we’re afraid here in Judah; how much more if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!”

Afterward, David’s conscience bothered him because he had cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.

David’s young men went and said all these things to Nabal on David’s behalf, and they waited.

David’s men retraced their steps. When they returned to him, they reported all these words.

When David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David sent us to bring you to him as a wife.”

Then Abigail got up quickly, and with her five female servants accompanying her, rode on the donkey following David’s messengers. And so she became his wife.

But Saul gave his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

Saul recognized David’s voice and asked, “Is that your voice, my son David?”

“It is my voice, my lord and king,” David said.

David did not let a man or woman live to be brought to Gath, for he said, “Or they will inform on us and say, ‘This is what David did.’” This was David’s custom during the whole time he stayed in the Philistine territory.

David’s two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had also been kidnapped.

He took all the sheep and cattle, which were driven ahead of the other livestock, and the people shouted, “This is David’s plunder!”

So Joab son of Zeruiah and David’s soldiers marched out and met them by the pool of Gibeon. The two groups took up positions on opposite sides of the pool.

So they got up and were counted off—12 for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth son of Saul, and 12 from David’s soldiers.

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

When Joab had turned back from pursuing Abner, he gathered all the troops. In addition to Asahel, 19 of David’s soldiers were missing,

the sixth was Ithream,
by David’s wife Eglah.

These were born to David in Hebron.

Just then David’s soldiers and Joab returned from a raid and brought a large amount of plundered goods with them. Abner was not with David in Hebron because David had dismissed him, and he had gone in peace.

He also defeated the Moabites, and after making them lie down on the ground, he measured them off with a cord. He measured every two cord lengths of those to be put to death and one length of those to be kept alive. So the Moabites became David’s subjects and brought tribute.

Then he placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became David’s subjects and brought tribute. The Lord made David victorious wherever he went.

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

Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do all my lord the king commands.”

So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table just like one of the king’s sons.

So Hanun took David’s emissaries, shaved off half their beards, cut their clothes in half at the hips, and sent them away.

Then the men of the city came out and attacked Joab, and some of the men from David’s soldiers fell in battle; Uriah the Hittite also died.

On the seventh day the baby died. But David’s servants were afraid to tell him the baby was dead. They said, “Look, while the baby was alive, we spoke to him, and he wouldn’t listen to us. So how can we tell him the baby is dead? He may do something desperate.”

He took the crown from the head of their king, and it was placed on David’s head. The crown weighed 75 pounds of gold, and it had a precious stone in it. In addition, David took away a large quantity of plunder from the city.

Some time passed. David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar, and David’s son Amnon was infatuated with her.

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

But Jonadab, son of David’s brother Shimeah, spoke up: “My lord must not think they have killed all the young men, the king’s sons, because only Amnon is dead. In fact, Absalom has planned this ever since the day Amnon disgraced his sister Tamar.

While he was offering the sacrifices, Absalom sent for David’s adviser Ahithophel the Gilonite, from his city of Giloh. So the conspiracy grew strong, and the people supporting Absalom continued to increase.

So Hushai, David’s personal adviser, entered Jerusalem just as Absalom was entering the city.

He threw stones at David and at all the royal servants, the people and the warriors on David’s right and left.

When David’s friend Hushai the Archite came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

Then David’s forces marched into the field to engage Israel in battle, which took place in the forest of Ephraim.

The people of Israel were defeated by David’s soldiers, and the slaughter there was vast that day—20,000 casualties.

Absalom was riding on his mule when he happened to meet David’s soldiers. When the mule went under the tangled branches of a large oak tree, Absalom’s head was caught fast in the tree. The mule under him kept going, so he was suspended in midair.

Suddenly, all the men of Israel came to the king. They asked him, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, take you away secretly and transport the king and his household across the Jordan, along with all of David’s men?”

and in addition, Ira the Jairite was David’s priest.

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.”

But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him: “You must never again go out with us to battle. You must not extinguish the lamp of Israel.”

When he taunted Israel, Jonathan, son of David’s brother Shimei, killed him.

These are the names of David’s warriors:

Josheb-basshebeth the Tahchemonite was chief of the officers. He wielded his spear against 800 men that he killed at one time.

David’s conscience troubled him after he had taken a census of the troops. He said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I’ve done. Now, Lord, because I’ve been very foolish, please take away Your servant’s guilt.”

When David got up in the morning, a revelation from the Lord had come to the prophet Gad, David’s seer:

but Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and David’s warriors did not side with Adonijah.

Then Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down, had Solomon ride on King David’s mule, and took him to Gihon.

The Lord will bring back his own blood on his head because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he, without my father David’s knowledge. With his sword, Joab murdered Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army.

but King Solomon will be blessed, and David’s throne will remain established before the Lord forever.”

“Lord my God, You have now made Your servant king in my father David’s place. Yet I am just a youth with no experience in leadership.

When Solomon was old, his wives seduced him to follow other gods. He was not completely devoted to Yahweh his God, as his father David had been.

I will humble David’s descendants, because of their unfaithfulness, but not forever.’”

The priest gave to the commanders of hundreds King David’s spears and shields that were in the Lord’s temple.

These were David’s sons who were born to him in Hebron:
Amnon was the firstborn, by Ahinoam of Jezreel;
Daniel was born second, by Abigail of Carmel;

Shephatiah, by Abital, was fifth;
and Ithream, by David’s wife Eglah, was sixth.

David’s other sons: Ibhar, Elishua, Eliphelet,

These were all David’s sons, with their sister Tamar, in addition to the sons by his concubines.

Tola’s sons: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel, the heads of their ancestral houses. During David’s reign, 22,600 descendants of Tola were recorded as warriors in their genealogies.

The following were the chiefs of David’s warriors who, together with all Israel, strongly supported him in his reign to make him king according to the Lord’s word about Israel.

This is the list of David’s warriors:

Jashobeam son of Hachmoni was chief of the Thirty; he wielded his spear against 300 and killed them at one time.

Then David’s fame spread throughout the lands, and the Lord caused all the nations to be terrified of him.

He also defeated the Moabites, and they became David’s subjects and brought tribute.

Then he placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became David’s subjects and brought tribute. The Lord made David victorious wherever he went.

Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over
the Cherethites and the Pelethites;
and David’s sons were the chief officials at the king’s side.

Then David said, “I’ll show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.”

So David sent messengers to console him concerning his father. However, when David’s emissaries arrived in the land of the Ammonites to console him,

So Hanun took David’s emissaries, shaved them, cut their clothes in half at the hips, and sent them away.

Then David took the crown from the head of their king, and it was placed on David’s head. He found that the crown weighed 75 pounds of gold, and there was a precious stone in it. In addition, David took away a large quantity of plunder from the city.

When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of David’s brother Shimei killed him.

Then the Lord instructed Gad, David’s seer,

From the Hebronites: Jerijah was the head of the Hebronites, according to the genealogical records of his ancestors. A search was made in the fortieth year of David’s reign and strong, capable men were found among them at Jazer in Gilead.

for Judah, Elihu, one of David’s brothers; for Issachar, Omri son of Michael;

Jaziz the Hagrite was in charge of the flocks.
All these were officials in charge of King David’s property.

David’s uncle Jonathan was a counselor; he was a man of understanding and a scribe. Jehiel son of Hachmoni attended the king’s sons.

They ate and drank with great joy in the Lord’s presence that day.

Then, for a second time, they made David’s son Solomon king; they anointed him as the Lord’s ruler, and Zadok as the priest.

All the leaders and the mighty men, and all of King David’s sons as well, pledged their allegiance to King Solomon.

As for the events of King David’s reign, from beginning to end, note that they are written in the Events of Samuel the Seer, the Events of Nathan the Prophet, and the Events of Gad the Seer,

Rehoboam married Mahalath, daughter of David’s son Jerimoth and of Abihail daughter of Jesse’s son Eliab.

“And now you are saying you can assert yourselves against the Lord’s kingdom, which is in the hand of one of David’s sons. You are a vast number and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made for you as gods.

Then the whole assembly made a covenant with the king in God’s temple. Jehoiada said to them, “Here is the king’s son! He must reign, just as the Lord promised concerning David’s sons.

Jehoiada the priest gave to the commanders of hundreds King David’s spears, shields, and quivers that were in God’s temple.

Hezekiah rested with his fathers and was buried on the ascent to the tombs of David’s descendants. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem paid him honor at his death. His son Manasseh became king in his place.

Gershom, from Phinehas’s descendants;
Daniel, from Ithamar’s descendants;
Hattush, from David’s descendants,

For if you conscientiously carry out this word, then kings sitting on David’s throne will enter through the gates of this palace riding on chariots and horses—they, their officers, and their people.

But this is what the Lord says concerning the king sitting on David’s throne and concerning all the people living in this city—that is, concerning your brothers who did not go with you into exile.

Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David’s throne, and his corpse will be thrown out to be exposed to the heat of day and the frost of night.

The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of David’s house and the glory of Jerusalem’s residents may not be greater than that of Judah.

The land will mourn, every family by itself: the family of David’s house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Nathan’s house by itself and their women by themselves;

“What do you think about the Messiah? Whose Son is He?”

“David’s,” they told Him.

Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Messiah comes from David’s offspring and from the town of Bethlehem, where David once lived?”

After these things I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
I will rebuild its ruins
and set it up again,

holding to the faithful message as taught, so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it.