May his blood whirl over ¹  the head of Joab and the entire house of his father! ²  May the males of Joab’s house ³  never cease to have ⁴  someone with a running sore or a skin disease or one who works at the spindle ⁵  or one who falls by the sword or one who lacks food!”

Foreigners lose their courage; ¹  they shake with fear ²  as they leave ³  their strongholds. ⁴ 

But when she took the pan and set it before him, he refused to eat. Instead Amnon said, “Get everyone out of here!” ¹  So everyone left. ² 

Your servant Joab did this so as to change this situation. But my lord has wisdom like that of the angel of God, and knows everything that is happening in the land.” ¹ 

David was told, ¹  “The Lord has blessed the family of Obed-Edom and everything he owns because of the ark of God.” So David went and joyfully brought the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David.

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 

So get up now and go out and give some encouragement to ¹  your servants. For I swear by the Lord that if you don’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!”

Then King David sent a message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests saying, “Tell the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you delay any further in bringing the king back to his palace, ¹  when everything Israel is saying has come to the king’s attention. ² 

David also brought along the men who were with him, each with his family. They settled in the cities ¹  of Hebron.

Abner said to Joab, “Let the soldiers get up and fight ¹  before us.” Joab said, “So be it!” ² 

But Asahel ¹  refused to turn aside. So Abner struck him in the abdomen with the back end of his ²  spear. The spear came out his back; Asahel ³  collapsed on the spot and died there right before Abner. ⁴  Everyone who now comes to the place where Asahel fell dead pauses in respect. ⁵ 

Certainly we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground that cannot be gathered up again. But God does not take away life; instead he devises ways for the banished to be restored. ¹ 

As they grappled with one another, each one stabbed his opponent with his sword and they fell dead together. ¹  So that place is called the Field of Flints; ²  it is in Gibeon.

When Joab saw that the battle would be fought on two fronts, he chose some of Israel’s best men and deployed them against the Arameans. ¹ 

After Absalom fled and went to Geshur, he remained there for three years.

He shot ¹  arrows and scattered them, ²  lightning and routed them. ³ 

Joab replied, “As surely as God lives, if you had not said this, it would have been morning before the people would have abandoned pursuit ¹  of their brothers!”

The king replied, “Kimham will cross over with me, and I will do for him whatever I deem appropriate. And whatever you choose, I will do for you.”

God will severely judge Abner ¹  if I do not do for David exactly what the Lord has promised him, ² 

David was thirty years old when he began to reign and he reigned for forty years.