They took captive the women who were in it, from the youngest to the oldest, but they did not kill anyone. They simply carried them off and went on their way.

Asahel chased Abner, without turning to the right or to the left as he followed Abner.

Then Joab left David and sent messengers after Abner. They brought him back from the well of Sirah. (But David was not aware of it.)

All the people and all Israel realized on that day that the killing of Abner son of Ner was not done at the king’s instigation.

Then the king said to his servants, “Do you not realize that a great leader has fallen this day in Israel?

So David asked the Lord what he should do. This time the Lord said to him, “Don’t march straight up. Instead, circle around behind them and come against them opposite the trees.

So David was no longer willing to bring the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. David left it in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.

I have not lived in a house from the time I brought the Israelites up from Egypt to the present day. Instead, I was traveling with them and living in a tent.

So David sent someone to inquire about the woman. The messenger said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

But Uriah stayed at the door of the palace with all the servants of his lord. He did not go down to his house.

Then David summoned him. He ate and drank with him, and got him drunk. But in the evening he went out to sleep on his bed with the servants of his lord; he did not go down to his own house.

Because he committed this cold-hearted crime, he must pay for the lamb four times over!”

So now the sword will never depart from your house. For you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!’

Then David exclaimed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord!” Nathan replied to David, “Yes, and the Lord has forgiven your sin. You are not going to die.

But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Am I able to bring him back? I will go to him, but he cannot return to me!’”

But she said to him, “No, my brother! Don’t humiliate me! This just isn’t done in Israel! Don’t do this foolish thing!

But she said to him, “No I won’t, for sending me away now would be worse than what you did to me earlier!” But he refused to listen to her.

Then Absalom said, “If you will not go, then let my brother Amnon go with us.” The king replied to him, “Why should he go with you?”

While they were still on their way, the following report reached David: “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons; not one of them is left!”

Now two hundred men had gone with Absalom from Jerusalem. Since they were invited, they went naively and were unaware of what Absalom was planning.