Now David’s soldiers ¹  and Joab were coming back from a raid, bringing a great deal of plunder with them. Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, for David ²  had sent him away and he had left in peace.

David instructed Joab and all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes! Put on sackcloth! Lament before Abner!” Now King David followed ¹  behind the funeral bier.

In the past, when Saul was our king, you were the real leader in Israel. ¹  The Lord said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel; you will rule over Israel.’”

As the ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked out the window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him. ¹ 

David replied to Michal, “It was before the Lord! I was celebrating before the Lord, who chose me over your father and his entire family ¹  and appointed me as leader over the Lord’s people Israel.

So they informed David, “Uriah has not gone down to his house.” So David said to Uriah, “Haven’t you just arrived from a journey? Why haven’t you gone down to your house?”

(Now she was wearing a long robe, ¹  for this is what the king’s virgin daughters used to wear.) So Amnon’s ²  attendant removed her and bolted the door ³  behind her.

So your servant said, ‘May the word of my lord the king be my security, for my lord the king is like the angel of God when it comes to deciding between right and wrong! May the Lord your God be with you!’”

But Ittai replied to the king, “As surely as the Lord lives and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king is, whether dead or alive, ¹  there I ²  will be as well!”

Now send word quickly to David and warn him, ¹  “Don’t spend the night at the fords of the desert ²  tonight. Instead, be sure you cross over, ³  or else the king and everyone who is with him may be overwhelmed.” ⁴ 

Absalom had made Amasa general in command of the army in place of Joab. (Now Amasa was the son of an Israelite man named Jether, who had married ¹  Abigail the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.)

honey, curds, flocks, and cheese. ¹  For they said, “The people are no doubt hungry, tired, and thirsty there in the desert.” ² 

Joab replied to the man who was telling him this, “What! You saw this? Why didn’t you strike him down right on the spot? ¹  I would have given you ten pieces of silver ²  and a commemorative belt!” ³ 

But Joab said to him, “You will not be a bearer of good news today. You will bear good news some other day, but not today, ¹  for the king’s son is dead.”

Then the Cushite arrived and said, ¹  “May my lord the king now receive the good news! The Lord has vindicated you today and delivered you from the hand of all who have rebelled against you!” ² 

Then all the men of Israel began coming to the king. They asked the king, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, sneak the king away and help the king and his household cross the Jordan – and not only him but all of David’s men as well?”

During David’s reign there was a famine for three consecutive years. So David inquired of the Lord. ¹  The Lord said, “It is because of Saul and his bloodstained family, ²  because he murdered the Gibeonites.”

let seven of his male descendants be turned over to us, and we will execute ¹  them before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, who was the Lord’s chosen one.” ²  The king replied, “I will turn them over.”

He turned them over to the Gibeonites, and they executed them on a hill before the Lord. The seven of them ¹  died ²  together; they were put to death during harvest time – during the first days of the beginning ³  of the barley harvest.

These are the names of David’s warriors: Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was head of the officers. ¹  He killed eight hundred men with his spear in one battle. ²