The young man who was telling him this ¹  said, “I just happened to be on Mount Gilboa and came across Saul leaning on his spear for support. The chariots and leaders of the horsemen were in hot pursuit of him.

But he said, ¹  “Whatever happens, I want to go!” So Joab ²  said to him, “Then go!” So Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Jordan plain, and he passed the Cushite.

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 

Messengers ¹  told David what had happened, ²  so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho ³  until your beards have grown again; then you may come back.”

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!”

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

If that happens even the bravest soldier – one who is lion-hearted – will virtually melt away. For all Israel knows that your father is a warrior and that those who are with him are brave.

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.

Then Absalom happened to come across David’s men. Now as Absalom was riding on his ¹  mule, it ²  went under the branches of a large oak tree. His head got caught in the oak and he was suspended in midair, ³  while the mule he had been riding kept going.

We will come against him wherever he happens to be found. We will descend on him like the dew falls on the ground. Neither he nor any of the men who are with him will be spared alive – not one of them!

Later the king of the Ammonites died and his son Hanun succeeded him. ¹ 

Jonadab said to the king, “Look! The king’s sons have come! It’s just as I said!”

One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace. ¹  From the roof he saw a woman bathing. Now this woman was very attractive. ² 

That night the Lord told Nathan, ¹ 

When David reached the summit, where he used to worship God, Hushai the Arkite met him with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.

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.

David inquired, “How were things going? ¹  Tell me!” He replied, “The people fled from the battle and many of them ²  fell dead. ³  Even Saul and his son Jonathan are dead!”

if the king becomes angry and asks you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you realize they would shoot from the wall?

In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.

Now King David heard about all these things and was very angry. ¹