2 Samuel 4

Ish-Bosheth’s Death

1 When Ish-Bosheth son of Saul heard that Abner had died at Hebron, he was shocked and all Israel became frightened.2 Two men who were captains in Saul’s army came to Ish-Bosheth. One was named Baanah, and the other was named Recab. They were the sons of Rimmon of Beeroth, who was a Benjaminite. (The town Beeroth belonged to the tribe of Benjamin.

3 The people of Beeroth ran away to Gittaim, and they still live there as foreigners today.)

4 (Saul’s son Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth, who was crippled in both feet. He was five years old when the news came from Jezreel that Saul and Jonathan were dead. Mephibosheth’s nurse had picked him up and run away. But as she hurried to leave, she dropped him, and now he was lame.)
5 Recab and Baanah, sons of Rimmon from Beeroth, went to Ish-Bosheth’s house in the afternoon while he was taking a nap.6-7 They went into the middle of the house as if to get some wheat. Ish-Bosheth was lying on his bed in his bedroom. Then Recab and Baanah stabbed him in the stomach, killed him, cut off his head, and took it with them. They escaped and traveled all night through the Jordan Valley.

8 When they arrived at Hebron, they gave his head to David and said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, your enemy. He tried to kill you! Today the Lord has paid back Saul and his family for what they did to you!”
9 David answered Recab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon of Beeroth, “As surely as the Lord lives, he has saved me from all trouble!10 Once a man thought he was bringing me good news. When he told me, ‘Saul is dead!’ I seized him and killed him at Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news!

11 So even more I must put you evil men to death because you have killed an innocent man on his own bed in his own house!”
12 So David commanded his men to kill Recab and Baanah. They cut off the hands and feet of Recab and Baanah and hung them over the pool of Hebron. Then they took Ish-Bosheth’s head and buried it in Abner’s tomb at Hebron.

2 Samuel 5

David Is Made King of Israel

1 Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said to him, “Look, we are your own family.

2 Even when Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel in battle. The Lord said to you, ‘You will be a shepherd for my people Israel. You will be their leader.’ ”

3 So all the elders of Israel came to King David at Hebron, and he made an agreement with them in Hebron in the presence of the Lord. Then they poured oil on David to make him king over Israel.
4 David was thirty years old when he became king, and he ruled forty years.

5 He was king over Judah in Hebron for seven years and six months, and he was king over all Israel and Judah in Jerusalem for thirty-three years.
6 When the king and his men went to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites who lived there, the Jebusites said to David, “You can’t get inside our city. Even the blind and the crippled can stop you.” They thought David could not enter their city.

7 But David did take the city of Jerusalem with its strong walls, and it became the City of David.

8 That day David said to his men, “To defeat the Jebusites you must go through the water tunnel. Then you can reach those ‘crippled’ and ‘blind’ enemies. This is why people say, ‘The blind and the crippled may not enter the palace.’ ”
9 So David lived in the strong, walled city and called it the City of David. David built more buildings around it, beginning where the land was filled in. He also built more buildings inside the city.

10 He became stronger and stronger, because the Lord God All-Powerful was with him.
11 Hiram king of the city of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs, carpenters, and stonecutters. They built a palace for David.

12 Then David knew that the Lord really had made him king of Israel and that the Lord had made his kingdom great because the Lord loved his people Israel.
13 After he came from Hebron, David took for himself more slave women and wives in Jerusalem. More sons and daughters were born to David.14 These are the names of the sons born to David in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,

16 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

David Defeats the Philistines

17 When the Philistines heard that David had been made king over Israel, all the Philistines went to look for him. But when David heard the news, he went down to the stronghold.18 The Philistines came and camped in the Valley of Rephaim.

19 David asked the Lord, “Should I attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?”
The Lord said to David, “Go! I will certainly hand them over to you.”
20 So David went to Baal Perazim and defeated the Philistines there. David said, “Like a flood of water, the Lord has broken through my enemies in front of me.” So David named the place Baal Perazim. 

21 The Philistines left their idols behind at Baal Perazim, so David and his men carried them away.
22 Once again the Philistines came and camped at the Valley of Rephaim.23 When David prayed to the Lord, he answered, “Don’t attack the Philistines from the front. Instead, go around and attack them in front of the balsam trees.24 When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, act quickly. I, the Lord, will have gone ahead of you to defeat the Philistine army.”25 So David did what the Lord commanded. He defeated the Philistines and chased them all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.

2 Samuel 6

The Ark Is Brought to Jerusalem

1 David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel—thirty thousand of them.2 Then he and all his people went to Baalah in Judah 3 They put the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of Abinadab’s house on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, led the new cart4 which had the Ark of God on it. Ahio was walking in front of it.

5 David and all the Israelites were celebrating in the presence of the Lord. They were playing wooden instruments: lyres, harps, tambourines, rattles, and cymbals.
6 When David’s men came to the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled. So Uzzah reached out to steady the Ark of God.7 The Lord was angry with Uzzah and killed him because of what he did. So Uzzah died there beside the Ark of God.

8 David was angry because the Lord had killed Uzzah. Now that place is called the Punishment of Uzzah.
9 David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, “How can the Ark of the Lord come to me now?”10 So David would not move the Ark of the Lord to be with him in Jerusalem. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom, a man from Gath.

11 The Ark of the Lord stayed in Obed-Edom’s house for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his family.
12 The people told David, “The Lord has blessed the family of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because the Ark of God is there.” So David went and brought it up from Obed-Edom’s house to Jerusalem with joy.13 When the men carrying the Ark of the Lord had walked six steps, David sacrificed a bull and a fat calf.14 Then David danced with all his might before the Lord. He had on a holy linen vest.

15 David and all the Israelites shouted with joy and blew the trumpets as they brought the Ark of the Lord to the city.

16 As the Ark of the Lord came into the city, Saul’s daughter Michal looked out the window. When she saw David jumping and dancing in the presence of the Lord, she hated him.
17 David put up a tent for the Ark of the Lord, and then the Israelites put it in its place inside the tent. David offered whole burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord.18 When David finished offering the whole burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord All-Powerful.

19 David gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins to every Israelite, both men and women. Then all the people went home.

20 David went back to bless the people in his home, but Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him. She said, “With what honor the king of Israel acted today! You took off your clothes in front of the servant girls of your officers like one who takes off his clothes without shame!”
21 Then David said to Michal, “I did it in the presence of the Lord. The Lord chose me, not your father or anyone from Saul’s family. The Lord appointed me to be over Israel. So I will celebrate in the presence of the Lord.

22 Maybe I will lose even more honor, and maybe I will be brought down in my own opinion, but the girls you talk about will honor me!”
23 And Saul’s daughter Michal had no children to the day she died.