Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me run and give the king the good news that the Lord has vindicated him before his enemies.” ¹ 

David said to the young man who told this to him, “Where are you from?” He replied, “I am an Amalekite, the son of a resident foreigner.” ¹ 

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

When David later heard about this, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the Lord of the shed blood of Abner son of Ner!

All the people and all Israel realized on that day that the killing of Abner son of Ner was not done at the king’s instigation. ¹ 

David replied to Recab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered my life from all adversity,

Just as he finished speaking, the king’s sons arrived, wailing and weeping. ¹  The king and all his servants wept loudly ²  as well.

Moreover, whom should I serve? Should it not be his son? Just as I served your father, so I will serve you.” ¹ 

So Joab’s men, accompanied by the Kerethites, the Pelethites, and all the warriors, left Jerusalem to pursue Sheba son of Bicri.

David ¹  brought the bones of Saul and of Jonathan his son from there; they also gathered up the bones of those who had been executed.

Now Saul’s son 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,

Now Saul’s son Jonathan had a son who was crippled in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan arrived from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but in her haste to get away, he fell and was injured. ¹  Mephibosheth was his name.

Now a wicked man ¹  named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, ²  happened to be there. He blew the trumpet ³  and said, “We have no share in David; we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse! Every man go home, ⁴  O Israel!”

Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, said, “My lord should not say, ‘They have killed all the young men who are the king’s sons.’ For only Amnon is dead. This is what Absalom has talked about ¹  from the day that Amnon ²  humiliated his sister Tamar.

So they got up and crossed over by number: twelve belonging to Benjamin and to Ish-bosheth son of Saul, and twelve from the servants of David.

They lamented and wept and fasted until evening because Saul, his son Jonathan, the Lord’s people, and the house of Israel had fallen by the sword.

Then King David reached ¹  Bahurim. There a man from Saul’s extended family named Shimei son of Gera came out, yelling curses as he approached. ² 

Abishai son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, was head of the three. ¹  He killed three hundred men with his spear and gained fame among the three. ² 

I will become his father and he will become my son. When he sins, I will correct him with the rod of men and with wounds inflicted by human beings.

So David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and had marital relations with her. ¹  She gave birth to a son, and David ²  named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved the child ³