<p class="bodytext">Joab said to Amasa, &#8220;How are you, my brother?&#8221; With his right hand Joab took hold of Amasa&#8217;s beard as if to greet him with a kiss.

<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" />

But Joab said to him, &#8220;You will not be a bearer of good news today. You will bear good news some other day, but not today,<n id="1" /> for the king&#8217;s son is dead.&#8221;p>

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.<n id="1" /> The Moabites became David&#8217;s subjects and brought tribute.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">The man replied to Joab, &#8220;Even if<n id="1" /> I were receiving<n id="2" /> a thousand pieces of silver,<n id="3" /> I would not strike<n id="4" /> the king&#8217;s son! In our very presence<n id="5" /> the king gave this order to you and Abishai and Ittai, &#8216;Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.&#8217;<n id="6" />

<p class="bodytext">Prior to this<n id="1" /> Absalom had set up a monument<n id="2" /> and dedicated it to himself in the King&#8217;s Valley, reasoning &#8220;I have no son who will carry on my name.&#8221; He named the monument after himself, and to this day it is known as Absalom&#8217;s Memorial.p>

That&#8217;s not the way things are. There is a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Sheba son of Bicri. He has rebelled<n id="1" /> against King David. Give me just this one man, and I will leave the city.&#8221; The woman said to Joab, &#8220;This very minute<n id="2" /> his head will be thrown over the wall to you!&#8221;p>

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>

<p class="bodytext">After the men had left, Ahimaaz and Jonathan<n id="1" /> climbed out of the well. Then they left and informed King David. They advised David, &#8220;Get up and cross the stream<n id="2" /> quickly, for Ahithophel has devised a plan to catch you.&#8221;<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">My dynasty is approved by God,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">for he has made a perpetual covenant with me,p> <p class="poetry">arranged in all its particulars and secured.p> <p class="poetry">He always delivers me,p> <p class="poetry">and brings all I desire to fruition.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. When the king came in to see him, Amnon said to the king, &#8220;Please let my sister Tamar come in so she can make a couple of cakes in my sight. Then I will eat from her hand.&#8221;p>

So get up now and go out and give some encouragement to<n id="1" /> your servants. For I swear by the <sc>Lordsc> that if you don&#8217;t go out there, not a single man will stay here with you tonight! This disaster will be worse for you than any disaster that has overtaken you from your youth right to the present time!&#8221;p>

I am presently eighty years old. Am I able to discern good and bad? Can I<n id="1" /> taste what I eat and drink? Am I still able to hear the voices of male and female singers? Why should I<n id="2" /> continue to be a burden to my lord the king?

<p class="bodytext">These words of Ish-bosheth really angered Abner and he said, &#8220;Am I the head of a dog that belongs to Judah? This very day I am demonstrating<n id="1" /> loyalty to the house of Saul your father and to his relatives<n id="2" /> and his friends! I have not betrayed you into the hand of David. Yet you have accused me of sinning with this woman today!<n id="3" />

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,

<p class="bodytext">Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain fell on them,<n id="1" /> she did not allow the birds of the air to feed<n id="2" /> on them by day, nor the wild animals<n id="3" /> by night.

Ahimaaz the son of Zadok again spoke to Joab, &#8220;Whatever happens, let me go after the Cushite.&#8221; But Joab said, &#8220;Why is it that you want to go, my son? You have no good news that will bring you a reward.&#8221;

David said, &#8220;I will express my loyalty<n id="1" /> to Hanun son of Nahash just as his father was loyal<n id="2" /> to me.&#8221; So David sent his servants with a message expressing sympathy over his father&#8217;s death.<n id="3" /> When David&#8217;s servants entered the land of the Ammonites,

She replied, &#8220;In that case,<n id="1" /> let the king invoke the name of<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> your God so that the avenger of blood may not kill! Then they will not destroy my son!&#8221; He replied, &#8220;As surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives, not a single hair of your son&#8217;s head<n id="3" /> will fall to the ground.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Ziba said to the king, &#8220;Your servant will do everything that my lord the king has instructed his servant to do.&#8221; So Mephibosheth was a regular guest<n id="1" /> at David&#8217;s table,<n id="2" /> just as though he were one of the king&#8217;s sons.p>