Holman Christian Standard Bible (94 page)

31
 David then ordered Joab and all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes, put on
•sackcloth
, and mourn over Abner.” And King David walked behind the funeral procession. 

32
 When they buried Abner in Hebron, the king wept aloud at Abner's tomb. All the people wept,
33
 and the king sang a lament for Abner: 

And all the people wept over him even more.

35
 Then they came to urge David to eat bread while it was still day, but David took an oath: “May God punish me and do so severely if I taste bread or anything else before sunset! ” 
36
 All the people took note of this, and it pleased them. In fact, everything the king did pleased them.
37
 On that day all the troops and all Israel were convinced that the king had no part in the killing of Abner son of Ner.

38
 Then the king said to his soldiers, “You must know that a great leader has fallen in Israel today.
39
 As for me, even though I am the anointed king, I have little power today. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too fierce for me. May the
Lord
repay the evildoer according to his evil! ” 

2 Samuel

The Assassination of Ish-bosheth

4
When Saul's son Ish-bosheth heard that Abner had died in Hebron, his courage failed, and all Israel was dismayed.
2
 Saul's son had two men who were leaders of raiding parties: one named Baanah and the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite of the Benjaminites. Beeroth is also considered part of Benjamin,
3
 and the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and still live there as foreigners to this very day.

4
 Saul's son Jonathan had a son whose feet were crippled. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. The one who had nursed him picked him up and fled, but as she was hurrying to flee, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth. 

5
 Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out and arrived at Ish-bosheth's house during the heat of the day while the king was taking his midday nap.
6
 They entered the interior of the house as if to get wheat and stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and his brother Baanah escaped.
7
 They had entered the house while Ish-bosheth was lying on his bed in his bedroom and stabbed and killed him. Then they beheaded him, took his head, and traveled by way of the
•Arabah
 all night.
8
 They brought Ish-bosheth's head to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Here's the head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who intended to take your life. Today the
Lord
has granted vengeance to my lord the king against Saul and his offspring.”

9
 But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As the
Lord
lives, the One who has redeemed my life from every distress, 
10
 when the person told me, ‘Look, Saul is dead,' he thought he was a bearer of good news, but I seized him and put him to death at Ziklag. That was my reward to him for his news!
11
 How much more when wicked men kill a righteous man in his own house on his own bed! So now, should I not require his blood from your hands and wipe you off the earth? ” 

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

David, King of Israel

5
All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood.
2
 Even while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led us out to battle and brought us back. The
Lord
also said to you, ‘You will shepherd My people Israel and be ruler over Israel.' ”

3
 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron. King David made a covenant with them at Hebron in the
Lord
's presence, and they anointed David king over Israel.

4
 David was 30 years old when he began his reign; he reigned 40 years.
5
 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned 33 years over all Israel and Judah.

6
 The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the land. The Jebusites had said to David: “You will never get in here. Even the blind and lame can repel you,” thinking, “David can't get in here.”

7
 Yet David did capture the stronghold of
•Zion
, that is, the city of David. 
8
 He said that day, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites must go through the water shaft to reach the lame and the blind who are despised by David.” For this reason it is said, “The blind and the lame will never enter the house.” 

9
 David took up residence in the stronghold, which he named the city of David. He built it up all the way around from the supporting terraces inward.
10
 David became more and more powerful, and the
Lord
God of
•Hosts
was with him. 
11
 King Hiram of Tyre sent envoys to David; he also sent cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David.
12
 Then David knew that the
Lord
had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.

13
 After he arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.
14
 These are the names of those born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
15
 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,
16
 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet. 

17
 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they all went in search of David, but he heard about it and went down to the stronghold. 
18
 So the Philistines came and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.

19
 Then David inquired of the
Lord
: “Should I go to war against the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me? ”

The
Lord
replied to David, “Go, for I will certainly hand the Philistines over to you.”

20
 So David went to Baal-perazim and defeated them there and said, “Like a bursting flood, the
Lord
has burst out against my enemies before me.” Therefore, he named that place the Lord Bursts Out. 
21
 The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men carried them off.

22
 The Philistines came up again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
23
 So David inquired of the
Lord
, and He answered, “Do not make a frontal assault. Circle around behind them and attack them opposite the balsam trees.
24
 When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, act decisively, for then the
Lord
will have marched out ahead of you to attack the camp of the Philistines.” 
25
 So David did exactly as the
Lord
commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Geba to Gezer.

2 Samuel

David Moves the Ark

6
David again assembled all the choice men in Israel, 30,000.
2
 He and all his troops set out to bring the ark of God from Baale-judah. The ark is called by the Name, the name of
•Yahweh
of
•Hosts
who dwells between the
•cherubim
. 
3
 They set the ark of God on a new cart and transported it from Abinadab's house, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart 
4
 and brought it with the ark of God from Abinadab's house on the hill. Ahio walked in front of the ark.
5
 David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating before the
Lord
with all kinds of fir wood instruments, lyres, harps, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals. 

6
 When they came to Nacon's threshing floor, Uzzah reached out to the ark of God and took hold of it because the oxen had stumbled.
7
 Then the
Lord
's anger burned against Uzzah, and God struck him dead on the spot for his irreverence, and he died there next to the ark of God.
8
 David was angry because of the
Lord
's outburst against Uzzah, so he named that place an Outburst Against Uzzah, as it is today.
9
 David feared the
Lord
that day and said, “How can the ark of the
Lord
ever come to me? ”
10
 So he was not willing to move the ark of the
Lord
to the city of David; instead, he took it to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
11
 The ark of the
Lord
remained in his house three months, and the
Lord
blessed Obed-edom and his whole family.

12
 It was reported to King David: “The
Lord
has blessed Obed-edom's family and all that belongs to him because of the ark of God.” So David went and had the ark of God brought up from Obed-edom's house to the city of David with rejoicing. 
13
 When those carrying the ark of the
Lord
advanced six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf. 
14
 David was dancing with all his might before the
Lord
wearing a linen
•ephod
. 
15
 He and the whole house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the
Lord
with shouts and the sound of the ram's horn.
16
 As the ark of the
Lord
was entering the city of David, Saul's daughter Michal looked down from the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the
Lord
, and she despised him in her heart.

17
 They brought the ark of the
Lord
and set it in its place inside the tent David had set up for it. Then David offered
•burnt
offerings and
•fellowship
offerings in the
Lord
's presence.
18
 When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh of Hosts.
19
 Then he distributed a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake to each one in the entire Israelite community, both men and women. Then all the people left, each to his own home.

20
 When David returned home to bless his household, Saul's daughter Michal came out to meet him. “How the king of Israel honored himself today! ” she said. “He exposed himself today in the sight of the slave girls of his subjects like a vulgar person would expose himself.”

21
 David replied to Michal, “I was dancing before the
Lord
who chose me over your father and his whole family to appoint me ruler over the
Lord
's people Israel. I will celebrate before the
Lord
,
22
 and I will humble myself even more and humiliate myself. I will be honored by the slave girls you spoke about.”
23
 And Saul's daughter Michal had no child to the day of her death.

2 Samuel

The
Lord
's Covenant with David

7
When the king had settled into his palace and the
Lord
had given him rest on every side from all his enemies,
2
 the king said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I am living in a cedar house while the ark of God sits inside tent curtains.” 

3
 So Nathan told the king, “Go and do all that is on your heart, for the
Lord
is with you.”

4
 But that night the word of the
Lord
came to Nathan:
5
 “Go to My servant David and say, ‘This is what the
Lord
says: Are you to build a house for Me to live in? 
6
 From the time I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until today I have not lived in a house; instead, I have been moving around with a tent as My dwelling. 
7
 In all My journeys with all the Israelites, have I ever asked anyone among the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel: Why haven't you built Me a house of cedar? '

8
 “Now this is what you are to say to My servant David: ‘This is what the
Lord
of
•Hosts
says: I took you from the pasture and from following the sheep to be ruler over My people Israel. 
9
 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. I will make a name for you like that of the greatest in the land. 
10
 I will establish a place for My people Israel and plant them, so that they may live there and not be disturbed again. Evildoers will not afflict them as they have done
11
 ever since the day I ordered judges to be over My people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies.

“ ‘The
Lord
declares to you: The
Lord
Himself will make a house for you.
12
 When your time comes and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 
13
 He will build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 
14
 I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to Me. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with a human rod and with blows from others.
15
 But My faithful love will never leave him as I removed it from Saul; I removed him from your way. 
16
 Your house and kingdom will endure before Me forever, and your throne will be established forever.' ”