“Go, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord says: “You must not build me a house in which to live.

“Go, tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I am offering you three forms of judgment from which to choose. Pick one of them.”’”

But David could not go before it to seek God’s will, for he was afraid of the sword of the Lord’s messenger.

So the Lord’s messenger told Gad to instruct David to go up and build an altar for the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the trees, then attack. For at that moment the Lord is going before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.”

David told Joab and the leaders of the army, “Go, count the number of warriors from Beer Sheba to Dan. Then bring back a report to me so I may know how many we have.”

David asked God, “Should I march up against the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?” The Lord said to him, “March up! I will hand them over to you!”

So David again asked God what he should do. This time God told him, “Don’t march up after them; circle around them and come against them in front of the trees.

All these were the sons of Jediael. Listed in their genealogical records were 17,200 family leaders and warriors who were capable of marching out to battle.

When the time comes for you to die, I will raise up your descendant, one of your own sons, to succeed you, and I will establish his kingdom.

In the spring, at the time when kings normally conduct wars, Joab led the army into battle and devastated the land of the Ammonites. He went and besieged Rabbah, while David stayed in Jerusalem. Joab defeated Rabbah and tore it down.

From Asher there were 40,000 warriors prepared for battle.

Some men from Manasseh joined David when he went with the Philistines to fight against Saul. (But in the end they did not help the Philistines because, after taking counsel, the Philistine lords sent David away, saying: “It would be disastrous for us if he deserts to his master Saul.”)

They lived in Gilead, in Bashan and its surrounding settlements, and in the pasturelands of Sharon to their very borders.

They were allotted as cities of refuge Shechem and its pasturelands (in the hill country of Ephraim), Gezer and its pasturelands,

The battle was thick around Saul; the archers spotted him and wounded him.

David’s power steadily grew, for the Lord who commands armies was with him.

Let’s move the ark of our God back here, for we did not seek his will throughout Saul’s reign.”

Nathan said to David, “You should do whatever you have in mind, for God is with you.”

David defeated King Hadadezer of Zobah as far as Hamath, when he went to extend his authority to the Euphrates River.