He said to the king, “Don’t think badly of me, my lord, and don’t recall the sin of your servant on the day when you, my lord the king, left Jerusalem! Please don’t call it to mind!

Now Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, had a spear that weighed three hundred bronze shekels, and he was armed with a new weapon. He had said that he would kill David.

Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David replied, “To buy from you the threshing floor so I can build an altar for the Lord, so that the plague may be removed from the people.”

for the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have remained there as resident foreigners until the present time.)

The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men picked them up.

That night the Lord told Nathan,

Then Joab sent a full battle report to David.

So Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal city.

After Absalom fled and went to Geshur, he remained there for three years.

You seem to love your enemies and hate your friends! For you have as much as declared today that leaders and servants don’t matter to you. I realize now that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, it would be all right with you.

He said: “The Lord is my high ridge, my stronghold, my deliverer.

The waves of death engulfed me; the currents of chaos overwhelmed me.

The ropes of Sheol tightened around me; the snares of death trapped me.

The Lord thundered from the sky; the sovereign One shouted loudly.

He shot arrows and scattered them, lightning and routed them.

and said, “O Lord, I will not do this! It is equivalent to the blood of the men who risked their lives by going.” So he refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three elite warriors.

The elders of his house stood over him and tried to lift him from the ground, but he was unwilling, and refused to eat food with them.

Then Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long robe she was wearing. She put her hands on her head and went on her way, wailing as she went.

The king replied, “Kimham will cross over with me, and I will do for him whatever I deem appropriate. And whatever you choose, I will do for you.”

Joab said to Amasa, “How are you, my brother?” With his right hand Joab took hold of Amasa’s beard as if to greet him with a kiss.