You prove to be loyal ¹  to one who is faithful; ²  you prove to be trustworthy ³  to one who is innocent. ⁴ 

Your servant ¹  has two sons. When the two of them got into a fight in the field, there was no one present who could intervene. One of them struck the other and killed him.

The God of Israel spoke, the protector ¹  of Israel spoke to me. The one who rules fairly among men, the one who rules in the fear of God,

Absalom had ¹  three sons and one daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a very attractive woman. ² 

You prove to be reliable ¹  to one who is blameless, but you prove to be deceptive ²  to one who is perverse. ³ 

So the Lord sent Nathan ¹  to David. When he came to David, ²  Nathan ³  said, ⁴  “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.

Then David called one of the soldiers ¹  and said, “Come here and strike him down!” So he struck him down, and he died.

The Lord thundered ¹  from the sky; the sovereign One ²  shouted loudly. ³ 

The one true God ¹  is my mighty refuge; ²  he removes ³  the obstacles in my way. ⁴ 

The one true God completely vindicates me; ¹  he makes nations submit to me. ² 

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.

Joab son of Zeruiah and the servants of David also went out and confronted them at the pool of Gibeon. One group stationed themselves on one side of the pool, and the other group on the other side of the pool.

While they were still on their way, the following report reached David: “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons; not one of them is left!”

One of Joab’s soldiers who stood over Amasa said, “Whoever is for ¹  Joab and whoever is for David, follow Joab!”

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!”

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.

They cry out, ¹  but there is no one to help them; ²  they cry out to the Lord, ³  but he does not answer them.

Later there was another battle with the Philistines, this time in Gob. On that occasion Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the descendants of Rapha.

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.

So David and all the people who were with him got up and crossed the Jordan River. ¹  By dawn there was not one person left who had not crossed the Jordan.