The battle was prolonged between the house of Saul and the house of David, but David was growing stronger and stronger while the house of Saul was becoming weaker and weaker. And sons were born to David in Hebron; his firstborn was Amnon by Ahinoam from Jezreel. His second was Kileab by Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; the third was Absalom the son of Maacah, who was the daughter of Talmai the king of Geshur. The fourth was Adonijah the son of Haggith; the fifth was Shephatiah the son of Abital. The sixth was Ithream by Eglah the wife of David. These were born to David in Hebron.

As the war between the house of Saul and the house of David was continuing, Abner was strengthening himself in the house of Saul. Saul had had a concubine, and her name was Rizpah the daughter of Aiah. Then Ish-Bosheth said to Abner, "Why did you have sex with my father’s concubine?" Abner became very angry at the words of Ish-Bosheth, and he said, "Am I the head of a dog which is for Judah today? Do I not continue to show loyal love with the house of Saul your father, to his brothers, and to his friends? I have not let you fall into the hands of David, yet you have accused me of sin with this woman today. Thus may God punish Abner, if I do not accomplish what Yahweh has sworn to David; specifically, to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and to establish the throne of David over Israel and over Judah from Dan to Beersheba!" And Ish-Bosheth was no longer able to answer Abner because he feared him.

Abner sent messengers to David where he was, saying, "To whom does the land belong? Make your covenant with me! Look, my hand is with you to bring all of Israel over to you!" He said, "Good. I will make a covenant with you. I am asking only one thing from you: You shall not see my face unless you bring Michal the daughter of Saul when you come to see me." Then David sent messengers to Ish-Bosheth the son of Saul, saying, "Give me my wife Michal whom I betrothed to myself for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines." So Ish-Bosheth sent and took her from her husband, from Paltiel the son of Laish. But her husband went with her, weeping all along after her as far as Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, "Go and return." So he returned.

The word of Abner came to the elders of Israel, saying, "For quite some time you were seeking David as king over you. So then, bring it about, because Yahweh had said to David, "Through the hand of David my servant I am about to save my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies." Abner also spoke privately to Benjamin. Abner also went to speak to David in Hebron, all that was good in the eyes of Israel and in the eyes of all the house of Benjamin.

Then Abner came to David in Hebron and with him were twenty men. David had prepared a feast for Abner and for the men who were with him. And Abner said to David, "Let me get up and go and gather all of Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you so you can reign over all which your soul desires." So David dismissed Abner, and he left in peace. And look, the servants of David and Joab came from the raid, and they brought much plunder with them. But Abner was not with David at Hebron, for he had dismissed him, and he had gone in peace. When Joab and all the army that was with him came, they told Joab, "Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he sent him away, and he left in peace."

Then Joab came to the king and said, "What have you done? Abner came here to you? Why have you dismissed him that he actually went away? You know that Abner the son of Ner came to deceive you. He came to learn about your going out and coming in and to know all which you are doing." Then Joab went out from David, and he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from Bor Hasirah, but David did not know it.

When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside to the middle of the gate to speak with him in private. Then he struck him in the stomach there and he died, for he had shed the blood of Asahel his brother. When David heard this afterwards, he said: "I and my kingdom are innocent before Yahweh forever for the blood of Abner the son of Ner. May the blood come down on the head of Joab and all the house of his father. May the house of Joab never lack one with a bodily discharge or one with leprosy or one who grasps the distaff or one who falls by the sword or one who is lacking food."

So Joab and Abishai, his brother, killed Abner because he had killed Asahel, their brother, at Gibeon in the battle. David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, "Tear your clothing and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner." Now King David was following after the bier. And they buried Abner at Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept. The king sang a lament for Abner and said, "Should Abner have died the death of a fool? Your hands were not tied and your feet were not in contact with bronze fetters. You have fallen as one who falls before sons of wickedness." Then all the people wept over him again. Then all the people came to give David food. Still on that day, David swore, "May God punish me if I taste food or anything before the sun goes down." All the people noticed, and it was good in their eyes, as everything that the king did was good in the eyes of all the people. Then all the people and all of Israel realized on that day that the king had not desired to kill Abner the son of Ner. Then the king said to his servants, "Did you not realize that a prince and a great man has fallen today in Israel? I am weak today even though anointed king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are crueler than I am. May Yahweh pay them back for doing wickedness according to their own wickedness."

When the son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, his courage failed and all of Israel was horrified. Two of the men, commanders of the raiding bands, were for the son of Saul. The name of one was Baanah, and the name of the other was Recab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite from the descendants of Benjamin; also, Beeroth was regarded as belonging to Benjamin. The Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and they are resident aliens there until this day. (Now Jonathan the son of Saul had a son who was crippled in the feet. He was five years old when the message of Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse had picked him up and fled. It happened that as she was hurrying away to flee, he fell and became crippled. His name was Mephibosheth.) When the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Recab and Baanah, set out, they came at the heat of the day to the house of Ish-Bosheth while he was taking a noontime rest. They came as far as the middle of the house as if takers of wheat, and they struck him in the stomach. Then Recab and Baanah his brother escaped. When they had come into the house, he was lying on his couch in his bedchamber, and they attacked him and killed him. Then they beheaded him, and they took his head and went on the way of the Arabah all night. They brought the head of Ish-Bosheth to David at Hebron, and they said to the king, "Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth, the son of Saul your enemy, who sought your life. Yahweh has given to my lord the king vengeance this day on Saul and on his offspring." Then David answered Recab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and he said to them, "As Yahweh lives, who redeemed my soul from all trouble, when the one who told me, "Look, Saul is dead," thought that he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which was as my giving the news back to him. How much more when wicked men kill a righteous man in his house, on his bed! So then, shall I not seek his lifeblood from your hand, so that I may destroy you from the earth?" Then David commanded the young men, and they killed them, and they cut off their hands and their feet, and they hung them at the pool at Hebron, but the head of Ish-Bosheth they took and buried in the grave of Abner at Hebron.

So all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and they said, "Here we are, we are your flesh and blood. For some time, when Saul was king over us, you were leading Israel in and out. Yahweh had said to you, ‘You shall be the shepherd of my people Israel, and you will be the leader over Israel.’" All the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron in the presence of Yahweh; then they anointed David as king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he began to reign; he reigned forty years. He reigned over Judah at Hebron for seven years and six months; and he reigned over all Israel and Judah at Jerusalem for thirty-three years.

The king and his men went to Jerusalem, to the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land. They said to David, "You will not come here, for even the blind and the lame can turn you back, saying, ‘David cannot come here.’" David captured the fortress of Zion, the city of David. David had said, "On that day when we attack the Jebusites, one must attack the lame and the blind, those who hate the soul of David, by means of the water supply." For thus the blind and the lame would say, "He cannot come into the house." David occupied the fortress and called it the city of David. And David built all around it from the Millo and inward.

David continued growing stronger and stronger, and Yahweh the God of hosts was with him. So Hiram, the king of Tyre, sent messengers to David, along with cedar trees and craftsmen skilled in wood and in stone masonry, and they built a house for David. David realized that Yahweh had established him as king over Israel and that he had exalted his kingdom because of his people Israel. David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to him. These are the names of the ones born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua and Shobab and Nathan and Solomon; Ibhar and Elishua and Nepheg and Japhia; Elishama and Eliada and Eliphelet.

When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David as king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David, but David heard and went down to the stronghold. Now the Philistines had come, and they spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of Yahweh, saying, "Shall I go up to the Philistines? Will you give them into my hands?" Yahweh said to David, "Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand." So David came to Baal Perazim and defeated them there; and David said, "Yahweh has burst through my enemies before me like the bursting of water." Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim. They had left their idols there, so David and his men carried them away.

Once again the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. So David inquired of Yahweh, but he said, "You shall not go up. Rather, go around to their rear and come to them from opposite the balsam trees. And it shall be that when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then pay attention, for then Yahweh has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines." So David did thus, just as Yahweh had commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines from Geba all the way to Gezer.

Now these are the ones who came to David at Ziklag while he was still shut up because of Saul, the son of Kish. And they were the mighty warriors helping with the war. They were armed with the bow, able to shoot right-handed or left-handed, slinging stones or shooting arrows with the bow; they were kinsmen of Saul from Benjamin. The leader was Ahiezer, then Jehoash, sons of Shemaah the Gibeonite; Jeiel and Pelet, sons of Azmaveth; Beracah; Jehu the Anathothite; Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty warrior among the thirty who was over the thirty; Jeremiah; Jahaziel; Johanan; Jozabad the Gederathite; Eluzai; Jerimoth; Bealiah; Shemariah; Shephatiah the Hariphite; Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, and Jashobeam the Korahites; Joelah and Zebadiah, sons of Jeroham from the Gedor.

And from the Gadites, valiant mighty warriors, soldiers fit for war, expert with shield and spear, defected to David at the fortress toward the wilderness. And they had faces like lions and were swift as gazelles upon the mountains. Ezer the chief, Obadiah second, Eliab third, Mishmannah fourth, Jeremiah fifth, Attai sixth, Eliel seventh, Jehonan eighth, Elzabad ninth, Jeremiah tenth, Macbannai eleventh. These were the sons of Gad, leaders of the army. The smallest one was as a hundred, and the greatest as a thousand. These were they who crossed the Jordan in the first month, when it was filled over its banks. And they put to flight all who were in the valley to the east and to the west.

And some of the sons of Benjamin and from Judah came to the fortress, to David. And David went out to meet them and answered and said to them, "If you come in peace to me, to help me, my heart will be joined with you, but if you come to betray me to my adversaries, although there is no wrong on my hands, may the God of our fathers see and pass judgment." Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the thirty who said:

So David appointed them as heads of the troops.

And some Manassites deserted to David when he came with the Philistines to the battle against Saul, but he did not help them, for the rulers of the Philistines sent him away upon counsel, saying, "He will desert to his master Saul at the cost of our heads." When he went to Ziklag some Manassites deserted to him: Adnah, Jehozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, heads of the thousands that were for Manasseh. And they themselves helped David against the troops, for all of them were mighty men of strength and were commanders in the army. Day in and day out they came to David to help him until there was a great army, like the army of God.

And these are the numbers of the chiefs of those prepared for the army who came to David at Hebron to turn the kingdom of Saul over to him according to the word of Yahweh. The sons of Judah bearing shield and spear: six thousand eight hundred armed troops. From the men of Simeon, mighty warriors of strength for war: seven thousand one hundred. From the Levites: four thousand six hundred. Jehoiada the chief officer of the house of Aaron, and with him, three thousand seven hundred. And Zadok, a young man, a mighty warrior of strength, and the house of his father: twenty-two commanders. From the men of Benjamin, kinsmen of Saul, three thousand, and even still the majority of them remained loyal to the house of Saul. And from the men of Ephraim: twenty thousand eight hundred mighty warriors of strength, famous men in the house of their fathers. And from the half-tribe of Manasseh: eighteen thousand who were designated by name to come to make David king. And from the men of Issachar: men who were skilled in understanding the times to know what Israel should do. Their chiefs were two hundred, and all their kinsmen were under their command. From Zebulun, those who went out armed, equipped for battle with all the weapons of war: fifty thousand to help David with singleness of purpose. From Naphtali: one thousand commanders; and those with them with shield and spear: thirty-seven thousand. From the Danites, those equipped for battle: twenty-eight thousand six hundred. And from Asher, those who went out armed and prepared for battle: forty thousand. And from beyond the Jordan, from the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, with all their weapons of war for battle: one hundred and twenty thousand. All these were men of war arrayed in battle line with a whole heart. They came to Hebron to make David king over all Israel. Likewise, all the rest of Israel had one heart to make David king. And they were there with David three days, eating and drinking, for their kinsmen were prepared for them. And also their relatives, as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought food on donkeys, on camels, on mules, and on oxen—provisions of flour, cakes of figs, raisin cakes, wine and oil, cattle and sheep in abundance, for there was great joy in Israel.

A song of ascents. Of David.

"Men—brothers and fathers—listen to my defense to you now!" And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Aramaic language, they became even more silent. And he said, "I am a Jewish man born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated according to the exactness of the law received from our fathers, being zealous for God, just as all of you are today. I persecuted this Way to the death, tying up and delivering to prison both men and women, as indeed the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me, from whom also I received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and was traveling there to lead away those who were there also tied up to Jerusalem so that they could be punished.

"And it happened that as I was traveling and approaching Damascus around noon, suddenly a very bright light from heaven flashed around me, and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene whom you are persecuting.’ (Now those who were with me saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.) So I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and proceed to Damascus, and there it will be told to you about all the things that have been appointed for you to do.’ And as I could not see as a result of the brightness of that light, I arrived in Damascus led by the hand of those who were with me. And a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who live there, came to me and stood by me and said to me, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight!’ And at that same time I looked up at him and saw him. And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth, because you will be a witness for him to all people of what you have seen and heard. And now why are you delaying? Get up, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name!’

"And it happened that when I returned to Jerusalem and I was praying in the temple courts, I was in a trance, and saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry and depart quickly from Jerusalem, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that from synagogue to synagogue I was imprisoning and beating those who believed in you. And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I myself also was standing near and was approving, and was guarding the cloaks of those who were killing him.’ And he said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles!’"

Now they were listening to him until this word, and they raised their voices, saying, "Away with such a man from the earth! For it is not fitting for him to live!" And while they were screaming and throwing off their cloaks and throwing dust into the air, the military tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying he was to be examined with a lash so that he could find out for what reason they were crying out against him in this way. But when they had stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing there, "Is it permitted for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?" And when the centurion heard this, he went to the military tribune and reported it, saying, "What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen!" So the military tribune came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" And he said, "Yes." And the military tribune replied, "I acquired this citizenship for a large sum of money." And Paul said, "But I indeed was born a citizen. Then immediately those who were about to examine him kept away from him, and the military tribune also was afraid when he realized that he was a Roman citizen and that he had tied him up. But on the next day, because he wanted to know the true reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin to assemble, and he brought down Paul and had him stand before them.