They lamented and wept and fasted until evening because Saul, his son Jonathan, the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s people, and the house of Israel had fallen by the sword.p>

<p class="poetry">O mountains of Gilboa,p> <p class="poetry">may there be no dew or rain on you, nor fields of grain offerings!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">For it was there that the shield of warriors was defiled;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the shield of Saul lies neglected without oil.<n id="3" />p>

The men of Judah came and there they anointed David as king over the people<n id="1" /> of Judah.p> <p class="bodytext">David was told,<n id="2" /> &#8220;The people<n id="3" /> of Jabesh Gilead are the ones who buried Saul.&#8221;

So David sent messengers to the people of Jabesh Gilead and told them, &#8220;May you be blessed by the <sc>Lordsc> because you have shown this kindness<n id="1" /> to your lord Saul by burying him.

Ish-bosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he began to rule over Israel. He ruled two years. However, the people<n id="1" /> of Judah followed David.

So David said, &#8220;Good! I will make an agreement with you. I ask only one thing from you. You will not see my face unless you bring Saul&#8217;s daughter Michal when you come to visit me.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth son of Saul with this demand:<n id="1" /> &#8220;Give me my wife Michal whom I acquired<n id="2" /> for a hundred Philistine foreskins.&#8221;

Now Saul&#8217;s son<n id="1" /> had two men who were in charge of raiding units; one was named Baanah and the other Recab. They were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, who was a Benjaminite. (Beeroth is regarded as belonging to Benjamin,

when someone told me that Saul was dead &#8211; even though he thought he was bringing good news<n id="1" /> &#8211; I seized him and killed him in Ziklag. That was the good news I gave to him!

In the past, when Saul was our king, you were the real leader in Israel.<n id="1" /> The <sc>Lordsc> said to you, &#8216;You will shepherd my people Israel; you will rule over Israel.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">As the ark of the <sc>Lordsc> entered the City of David, Saul&#8217;s daughter Michal looked out the window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the <sc>Lordsc>, she despised him.<n id="1" />

When David went home to pronounce a blessing on his own house,<n id="1" /> Michal, Saul&#8217;s daughter, came out to meet him.<n id="2" /> She said, &#8220;How the king of Israel has distinguished<n id="3" /> himself this day! He has exposed himself today before his servants&#8217; slave girls the way a vulgar fool<n id="4" /> might do!&#8221;p>

The king asked, &#8220;Is there not someone left from Saul&#8217;s family,<n id="1" /> that I may extend God&#8217;s kindness to him?&#8221; Ziba said to the king, &#8220;One of Jonathan&#8217;s sons is left; both of his feet are crippled.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">David said to him, &#8220;Don&#8217;t be afraid, because I will certainly extend kindness to you for the sake of Jonathan your father. You will be a regular guest at my table.&#8221;<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">Nathan said to David, &#8220;You are that man! This is what the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel says: &#8216;I chose<n id="1" /> you to be king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Then King David reached<n id="1" /> Bahurim. There a man from Saul&#8217;s extended family named Shimei son of Gera came out, yelling curses as he approached.<n id="2" />

The <sc>Lordsc> has punished you for<n id="1" /> all the spilled blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you rule. Now the <sc>Lordsc> has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. Disaster has overtaken you, for you are a man of bloodshed!&#8221;p>

There were a thousand men from Benjamin with him, along with Ziba the servant<n id="1" /> of Saul&#8217;s household, and with him his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They hurriedly crossed<n id="2" /> the Jordan within sight of the king.

<p class="bodytext">Now Mephibosheth, Saul&#8217;s grandson,<n id="1" /> came down to meet the king. From the day the king had left until the day he safely<n id="2" /> returned, Mephibosheth<n id="3" /> had not cared for his feet<n id="4" /> nor trimmed<n id="5" /> his mustache nor washed his clothes.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>