The king settled into his palace, ¹  for the Lord gave him relief ²  from all his enemies on all sides. ³ 

Look, I will be waiting at the fords of the desert until word from you ¹  reaches me.”

When the Ammonites realized that David was disgusted with them, ¹  they ²  sent and hired 20,000 foot soldiers from Aram Beth Rehob and Aram Zobah, ³  in addition to 1,000 men from the king of Maacah and 12,000 men from Ish-tob. ⁴ 

They replied to the king, “As for this man who exterminated us and who schemed against us so that we were destroyed and left without status throughout all the borders of Israel –

But he made a stand in the middle of that area. He defended ¹  it and defeated the Philistines; the Lord gave them a great victory.

So Joab and Abishai chased Abner. At sunset they came to the hill of Ammah near Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.

I will establish a place for my people Israel and settle ¹  them there; they will live there and not be disturbed ²  any more. Violent men ³  will not oppress them again, as they did in the beginning

Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you come with us? Go back and stay with the new ¹  king, for you are a foreigner and an exile from your own country. ² 

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 

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

is like the light of morning when the sun comes up, a morning in which there are no clouds. He is like the brightness after rain that produces grass from the earth.

Next in command ¹  was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines assembled at Lehi, ²  where there happened to be an area of a field that was full of lentils, the army retreated before the Philistines.

He defeated the Moabites. He made them lie on the ground and then used a rope to measure them off. He put two-thirds of them to death and spared the other third. ¹  The Moabites became David’s subjects and brought tribute. ² 

In the spring of the year, at the time when kings ¹  normally conduct wars, ²  David sent out Joab with his officers ³  and the entire Israelite army. ⁴  They defeated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem. ⁵ 

The king asked Ziba, “Why did you bring these things?” ¹  Ziba replied, “The donkeys are for the king’s family to ride on, the loaves of bread ²  and the summer fruit are for the attendants to eat, and the wine is for those who get exhausted in the desert.” ³