<p class="bodytext">Abner advised<n id="1" /> the elders of Israel, &#8220;Previously you were wanting David to be your king.<n id="2" />

Then David prayed to<n id="1" /> God for the child and fasted.<n id="2" /> He would even<n id="3" /> go and spend the night lying on the ground.

and will bring the entire army back to you. In exchange for the life of the man you are seeking, you will get back everyone.<n id="1" /> The entire army will return unharmed.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

I represent the peaceful and the faithful in Israel. You are attempting to destroy an important city<n id="1" /> in Israel. Why should you swallow up the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s inheritance?&#8221;p>

Surely when wicked men have killed an innocent man as he slept<n id="1" /> in his own house, should I not now require his blood from your hands and remove<n id="2" /> you from the earth?&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">When the Philistines heard that David had been designated<n id="1" /> king over Israel, they all<n id="2" /> went up to search for David. When David heard about it, he went down to the fortress.

Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, &#8220;My own son, my very own flesh and blood,<n id="1" /> is trying to take my life. So also now this Benjaminite! Leave him alone so that he can curse, for the <sc>Lordsc> has spoken to him.

<p class="bodytext">When the servants of Absalom approached the woman at her home, they asked, &#8220;Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?&#8221; The woman replied to them, &#8220;They crossed over the stream.&#8221; Absalom&#8217;s men<n id="1" /> searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">During David&#8217;s reign there was a famine for three consecutive years. So David inquired of the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="1" /> The <sc>Lordsc> said, &#8220;It is because of Saul and his bloodstained family,<n id="2" /> because he murdered the Gibeonites.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them. (Now the Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel; they were a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had made a promise to<n id="1" /> them, but Saul tried to kill them because of his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)

They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David in Hebron, saying to the king, &#8220;Look! The head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life! The <sc>Lordsc> has granted vengeance to my lord the king this day against<n id="1" /> Saul and his descendants!&#8221;p>