The army of Israel ¹  and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.

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 

When all the kings who were subject to Hadadezer ¹  saw they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subjects of Israel. ²  The Arameans were no longer willing to help the Ammonites.

When Abner, accompanied by twenty men, came to David in Hebron, David prepared a banquet for Abner and the men who were with him.

Those who carried the ark of the Lord took six steps and then David ¹  sacrificed an ox and a fatling calf.

Then all the people came and encouraged David to eat food while it was still day. But David took an oath saying, “God will punish me severely ¹  if I taste bread or anything whatsoever before the sun sets!”

When all the leaders ¹  of Israel came to the king at Hebron, King David made an agreement with them ²  in Hebron before the Lord. They designated ³  David as king over Israel.

Now in all Israel everyone acknowledged that there was no man as handsome as Absalom. ¹  From the sole of his feet to the top of his head he was perfect in appearance. ² 

In those days Ahithophel’s advice was considered as valuable as a prophetic revelation. ¹  Both David and Absalom highly regarded the advice of Ahithophel. ² 

Say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my flesh and blood? ¹  God will punish me severely, ²  if from this time on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!’”

Amasa did not protect himself from the knife in Joab’s other hand, and Joab ¹  stabbed him in the abdomen, causing Amasa’s ²  intestines to spill out on the ground. There was no need to stab him again; the first blow was fatal. ³  Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bicri.

Zadok and Abiathar the priests will be there with you. ¹  Everything you hear in the king’s palace ²  you must tell Zadok and Abiathar the priests.

Then David went to his palace ¹  in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace and placed them under confinement. ²  Though he provided for their needs, he did not have sexual relations with them. ³  They remained in confinement until the day they died, living out the rest of their lives as widows.

Gad went to David and told him, “Shall seven ¹  years of famine come upon your land? Or shall you flee for three months from your enemy with him in hot pursuit? Or shall there be three days of plague in your land? Now decide ²  what I should tell the one who sent me.”

When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside at the gate as if to speak privately with him. Joab then stabbed him ¹  in the abdomen and killed him, avenging the shed blood of his brother Asahel. ² 

My dynasty is approved by God, ¹  for he has made a perpetual covenant with me, arranged in all its particulars and secured. He always delivers me, and brings all I desire to fruition. ² 

Then David built an altar for the Lord there and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. And the Lord accepted prayers for the land, and the plague was removed from Israel.

The Philistines ¹  abandoned their idols ²  there, and David and his men picked them up.

Your hands ¹  were not bound, and your feet were not put into irons. You fell the way one falls before criminals.” All the people ²  wept over him again.

and sent word through Nathan the prophet that he should be named Jedidiah ¹  for the Lord’s sake.