David took the golden shields that belonged to Hadadezer’s servants and brought them to Jerusalem. ¹ 

The king’s servants replied to the king, “We will do whatever our lord the king decides.” ¹ 

Now the battle was very severe that day; Abner and the men of Israel were overcome by David’s soldiers. ¹ 

“Go, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord says: Do you really intend to build a house for me to live in?

So Hanun seized David’s servants and shaved off half of each one’s beard. He cut the lower part of their robes off so that their buttocks were exposed, ¹  and then sent them away.

But Uriah stayed at the door of the palace with all ¹  the servants of his lord. He did not go down to his house.

Then David summoned him. He ate and drank with him, and got him drunk. But in the evening he went out to sleep on his bed with the servants of his lord; he did not go down to his own house.

He threw stones at David and all of King David’s servants, as well as all the people and the soldiers who were on his right and on his left.

The army of Israel was defeated there by David’s men. ¹  The slaughter there was great that day – 20,000 soldiers were killed.

Act now! For the Lord has said to David, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save ¹  my people Israel from ²  the Philistines and from all their enemies.’”

Now David’s soldiers ¹  and Joab were coming back from a raid, bringing a great deal of plunder with them. Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, for David ²  had sent him away and he had left in peace.

David said, “I will express my loyalty ¹  to Hanun son of Nahash just as his father was loyal ²  to me.” So David sent his servants with a message expressing sympathy over his father’s death. ³  When David’s servants entered the land of the Ammonites,

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.

So he said to his servants, “Look, Joab has a portion of field adjacent to mine and he has some barley there. Go and set it on fire.” ¹  So Absalom’s servants set Joab’s ²  portion of the field on fire.

When the servants of Absalom approached the woman at her home, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman replied to them, “They crossed over the stream.” Absalom’s men ¹  searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem. ² 

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.

He replied, “My lord the king, my servant deceived me! I ¹  said, ‘Let me get my donkey saddled so that I can ride on it and go with the king,’ for I ²  am lame.

Then David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba son of Bicri will cause greater disaster for us than Absalom did! Take your lord’s servants and pursue him. Otherwise he will secure ¹  fortified cities for himself and get away from us.”

On the seventh day the child died. But the servants of David were afraid to inform him that the child had died, for they said, “While the child was still alive he would not listen to us ¹  when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself harm!” ²