The Philistines stayed right on the heels of ¹  Saul and his sons. They ²  struck down Saul’s ³  sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua.

Next in command ¹  was Eleazar son of Dodo the Ahohite. He was one of the three elite warriors.

But they were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors ¹  and worshiped instead ²  the gods of the native peoples ³  whom God had destroyed before them.

Later King Nahash of the Ammonites died and his son succeeded him.

Ahithophel was succeeded by Jehoiada son of Benaiah and by Abiathar. Joab was the commanding general of the king’s army.

Later ¹  Hezron had sexual relations with ²  the daughter of Makir, the father of Gilead. (He had married ³  her when he was sixty years old.) She bore him Segub.

After Hezron’s death, Caleb had sexual relations with Ephrath, his father Hezron’s widow, and she bore to him Ashhur the father of Tekoa. ¹ 

So David again asked God what he should do. ¹  This time ²  God told him, “Don’t march up after them; circle around them and come against them in front of the trees. ³ 

When the time comes for you to die, ¹  I will raise up your descendant, ²  one of your own sons, to succeed you, and I will establish his kingdom.

Later David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. He took Gath and its surrounding towns ¹  away from the Philistines. ² 

Later there was a battle ¹  with the Philistines in Gezer. ²  At that time Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Sippai, ³  one of the descendants of the Rephaim, and the Philistines ⁴  were subdued.

The fourth, assigned the fourth month, was Asahel, brother of Joab; his son Zebadiah succeeded him. ¹  His division consisted of 24,000 men.

“So now, say this to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord who commands armies ¹  says: “I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd ²  to make you a leader of my people Israel.

So now, in the sight of all Israel, the Lord’s assembly, and in the hearing of our God, I say this: ¹  Carefully observe ²  all the commands of the Lord your God, so that you may possess this good land and may leave it as a permanent inheritance for your children after you.