GNT: The Good News Translation | GNB: The Good News Bible
[2:8] The commander of Saul's army, Abner son of Ner, had fled with Saul's son Ishbosheth across the Jordan to Mahanaim.
[2:9] There Abner made Ishbosheth king of the territories of Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin, and indeed over all Israel.
[2:10] He was forty years old when he was made king of Israel, and he ruled for two years. But the tribe of Judah was loyal to David,
[2:11] and he ruled in Hebron over Judah for seven and a half years.
[2:12] Abner and the officials of Ishbosheth went from Mahanaim to the city of Gibeon.
[2:13] Joab, whose mother was Zeruiah, and David's other officials met them at the pool, where they all sat down, one group on one side of the pool and the other group on the opposite side.
[2:14] Abner said to Joab, “Let's have some of the young men from each side fight an armed contest.” “All right,” Joab answered.
[2:15] So twelve men, representing Ishbosheth and the tribe of Benjamin, fought twelve of David's men.
[2:16] Each man caught his opponent by the head and plunged his sword into his opponent's side, so that all twenty-four of them fell down dead together. And so that place in Gibeon is called “Field of Swords.”
[2:17] Then a furious battle broke out, and Abner and the Israelites were defeated by David's men.
[2:18] The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel, who could run as fast as a wild deer,
[2:19] started chasing Abner, running straight for him.
[2:20] Abner looked back and said, “Is that you, Asahel?” “Yes,” he answered.
[2:21] “Stop chasing me!” Abner said. “Run after one of the soldiers and take what he has.” But Asahel kept on chasing him.
[2:22] Once more Abner said to him, “Stop chasing me! Why force me to kill you? How could I face your brother Joab?”
[2:23] But Asahel would not quit; so Abner, with a backward thrust of his spear, struck him through the stomach so that the spear came out at his back. Asahel dropped to the ground dead, and everyone who came to the place where he was lying stopped and stood there.
[2:24] But Joab and Abishai started out after Abner, and at sunset they came to the hill of Ammah, which is to the east of Giah on the road to the wilderness of Gibeon.
[2:25] The men from the tribe of Benjamin gathered around Abner again and took their stand on the top of a hill.
[2:26] Abner called out to Joab, “Do we have to go on fighting forever? Can't you see that in the end there will be nothing but bitterness? We are your relatives. How long will it be before you order your men to stop chasing us?”
[2:27] “I swear by the living God,” Joab answered, “that if you had not spoken, my men would have kept on chasing you until tomorrow morning.”
[2:28] Then Joab blew the trumpet as a signal for his men to stop pursuing the Israelites; and so the fighting stopped.
[2:29] Abner and his men marched through the Jordan Valley all that night; they crossed the Jordan River, and after marching all the next morning, they arrived back at Mahanaim.
[2:30] When Joab gave up the chase, he gathered all his men and found that nineteen of them were missing, in addition to Asahel.
[2:31] David's men had killed 360 of Abner's men from the tribe of Benjamin.
[2:32] Joab and his men took Asahel's body and buried it in the family tomb at Bethlehem. Then they marched all night and at dawn arrived back at Hebron.
[3:1] The fighting between the forces supporting Saul's family and those supporting David went on for a long time. As David became stronger and stronger, his opponents became weaker and weaker.
[3:2] The following six sons, in order of their birth, were born to David at Hebron: Amnon, whose mother was Ahinoam, from Jezreel;
[3:3] Chileab, whose mother was Abigail, Nabal's widow, from Carmel; Absalom, whose mother was Maacah, the daughter of King Talmai of Geshur;
[3:4] Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith; Shephatiah, whose mother was Abital;
[3:5] Ithream, whose mother was Eglah. All of these sons were born in Hebron.
[3:6] As the fighting continued between David's forces and the forces loyal to Saul's family, Abner became more and more powerful among Saul's followers.
[3:7] One day Ishbosheth son of Saul accused Abner of sleeping with Saul's concubine Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah.
[3:8] This made Abner furious. “Do you think that I would betray Saul? Do you really think I'm serving Judah?” he exclaimed. “From the very first I have been loyal to the cause of your father Saul, his brothers, and his friends, and I have kept you from being defeated by David; yet today you find fault with me about a woman!
[3:11] Ishbosheth was so afraid of Abner that he could not say a word.
[3:12] Abner sent messengers to David, who at that time was at Hebron, to say, “Who is going to rule this land? Make an agreement with me, and I will help you win all Israel over to your side.”
[3:13] “Good!” David answered. “I will make an agreement with you on one condition: you must bring Saul's daughter Michal to me when you come to see me.”
[3:14] And David also sent messengers to Ishbosheth to say, “Give me back my wife Michal. I paid a hundred Philistine foreskins in order to marry her.”
[3:15] So Ishbosheth had her taken from her husband Paltiel son of Laish.
[3:16] Paltiel followed her all the way to the town of Bahurim, crying as he went. But when Abner said, “Go back home,” he did.
[3:17] Abner went to the leaders of Israel and said to them, “For a long time you have wanted David to be your king.
[3:18] Now here is your chance. Remember that the Lord has said, ‘I will use my servant David to rescue my people Israel from the Philistines and from all their other enemies.’”
[3:19] Abner spoke also to the people of the tribe of Benjamin and then went to Hebron to tell David what the people of Benjamin and of Israel had agreed to do.
[3:20] When Abner came to David at Hebron with twenty men, David gave a feast for them.
[3:21] Abner told David, “I will go now and win all Israel over to Your Majesty. They will accept you as king, and then you will get what you have wanted and will rule over the whole land.” David gave Abner a guarantee of safety and sent him on his way.
[3:22] Later on Joab and David's other officials returned from a raid, bringing a large amount of loot with them. Abner, however, was no longer there at Hebron with David, because David had sent him away with a guarantee of safety.
[3:23] When Joab and his men arrived, he was told that Abner had come to King David and had been sent away with a guarantee of safety.
[3:24] So Joab went to the king and said to him, “What have you done? Abner came to you—why did you let him go like that?
[3:25] He came here to deceive you and to find out everything you do and everywhere you go. Surely you know that!”
[3:26] After leaving David, Joab sent messengers to get Abner, and they brought him back from Sirah Well; but David knew nothing about it.
[3:27] When Abner arrived in Hebron, Joab took him aside at the gate, as though he wanted to speak privately with him, and there he stabbed him in the stomach. And so Abner was murdered because he had killed Joab's brother Asahel.
[3:28] When David heard the news, he said, “The Lord knows that my subjects and I are completely innocent of the murder of Abner.
[3:29] May the punishment for it fall on Joab and all his family! In every generation may there be some man in his family who has gonorrhea or a dreaded skin disease or is fit only to do a woman's work or is killed in battle or doesn't have enough to eat!”
[3:30] So Joab and his brother Abishai took revenge on Abner for killing their brother Asahel in the battle at Gibeon.
[3:31] Then David ordered Joab and his men to tear their clothes, wear sackcloth, and mourn for Abner. And at the funeral King David himself walked behind the coffin.
[3:32] Abner was buried at Hebron, and the king wept aloud at the grave, and so did all the people.
[3:33] David sang this lament for Abner: “Why did Abner have to die like a fool?
[3:34] His hands were not tied, And his feet were not bound; He died like someone killed by criminals!” And the people wept for him again.
[3:35] All day long the people tried to get David to eat something, but he made a solemn promise, “May God strike me dead if I eat anything before the day is over!”
[3:36] They took note of this and were pleased. Indeed, everything the king did pleased the people.
[3:37] All of David's people and all the people in Israel understood that the king had no part in the murder of Abner.
[3:38] The king said to his officials, “Don't you realize that this day a great leader in Israel has died?
[3:39] Even though I am the king chosen by God, I feel weak today. These sons of Zeruiah are too violent for me. May the Lord punish these criminals as they deserve!”
[4:1] When Saul's son Ishbosheth heard that Abner had been killed in Hebron, he was afraid, and all the people of Israel were alarmed.
[4:2] Ishbosheth had two officers who were leaders of raiding parties, Baanah and Rechab, sons of Rimmon, from Beeroth in the tribe of Benjamin. (Beeroth is counted as part of Benjamin.
[4:3] Its original inhabitants had fled to Gittaim, where they have lived ever since.)
[4:4] Another descendant of Saul was Jonathan's son Mephibosheth, who was five years old when Saul and Jonathan were killed. When the news about their death came from the city of Jezreel, his nurse picked him up and fled; but she was in such a hurry that she dropped him, and he became crippled.
[4:5] Rechab and Baanah set out for Ishbosheth's house and arrived there about noon, while he was taking his midday rest.
[4:6] The woman at the door had become drowsy while she was sifting wheat and had fallen asleep, so Rechab and Baanah slipped in.
[4:7] Once inside, they went to Ishbosheth's bedroom, where he was sound asleep, and killed him. Then they cut off his head, took it with them, and walked all night through the Jordan Valley.
[4:8] They presented the head to King David at Hebron and said to him, “Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of your enemy Saul, who tried to kill you. Today the Lord has allowed Your Majesty to take revenge on Saul and his descendants.”
[4:9] David answered them, “I take a vow by the living Lord, who has saved me from all dangers!
[4:10] The messenger who came to me at Ziklag and told me of Saul's death thought he was bringing good news. I seized him and had him put to death. That was the reward I gave him for his good news!
[4:11] How much worse it will be for evil men who murder an innocent man asleep in his own house! I will now take revenge on you for murdering him and will wipe you off the face of the earth!”
[4:12] David gave the order, and his soldiers killed Rechab and Baanah and cut off their hands and feet, which they hung up near the pool in Hebron. They took Ishbosheth's head and buried it in Abner's tomb there at Hebron.
[5:1] Then all the tribes of Israel went to David at Hebron and said to him, “We are your own flesh and blood.
[5:2] In the past, even when Saul was still our king, you led the people of Israel in battle, and the Lord promised you that you would lead his people and be their ruler.”
[5:3] So all the leaders of Israel came to King David at Hebron. He made a sacred alliance with them, they anointed him, and he became king of Israel.
[5:4] David was thirty years old when he became king, and he ruled for forty years.
[5:5] He ruled in Hebron over Judah for seven and a half years, and in Jerusalem over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years.
[5:6] The time came when King David and his men set out to attack Jerusalem. The Jebusites, who lived there, thought that David would not be able to conquer the city, and so they said to him, “You will never get in here; even the blind and the crippled could keep you out.” (
[5:7] But David did capture their fortress of Zion, and it became known as “David's City.”)
[5:8] That day David said to his men, “Does anybody here hate the Jebusites as much as I do? Enough to kill them? Then go up through the water tunnel and attack those poor blind cripples.” (That is why it is said, “The blind and the crippled cannot enter the Lord's house.”)
[5:9] After capturing the fortress, David lived in it and named it “David's City.” He built the city around it, starting at the place where land was filled in on the east side of the hill.
[5:10] He grew stronger all the time, because the Lord God Almighty was with him.
[5:11] King Hiram of Tyre sent a trade mission to David; he provided him with cedar logs and with carpenters and stone masons to build a palace.
[5:12] And so David realized that the Lord had established him as king of Israel and was making his kingdom prosperous for the sake of his people.
[5:13] After moving from Hebron to Jerusalem, David took more concubines and wives, and had more sons and daughters.
[5:14] The following children were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
[5:15] Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,
[5:16] Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
[5:17] The Philistines were told that David had been made king of Israel, so their army set out to capture him. When David heard of it, he went down to a fortified place.
[5:18] The Philistines arrived at Rephaim Valley and occupied it.
[5:19] David asked the Lord, “Shall I attack the Philistines? Will you give me the victory?” “Yes, attack!” the Lord answered. “I will give you the victory!”
[5:20] So David went to Baal Perazim and there he defeated the Philistines. He said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies like a flood.” And so that place is called Baal Perazim.
[5:21] When the Philistines fled, they left their idols behind, and David and his men carried them away.
[5:22] Then the Philistines went back to Rephaim Valley and occupied it again.
[5:23] Once more David consulted the Lord, who answered, “Don't attack them from here, but go around and get ready to attack them from the other side, near the balsam trees.
[5:24] When you hear the sound of marching in the treetops, then attack because I will be marching ahead of you to defeat the Philistine army.”
[5:25] David did what the Lord had commanded, and was able to drive the Philistines back from Geba all the way to Gezer.
[6:1] Once more David called together the best soldiers in Israel, a total of thirty thousand men,
[6:2] and led them to Baalah in Judah, in order to bring from there God's Covenant Box, bearing the name of the Lord Almighty, whose throne is above the winged creatures.
[6:3] They took it from Abinadab's home on the hill and placed it on a new cart. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart,
[6:4] with Ahio walking in front.
[6:5] David and all the Israelites were dancing and singing with all their might to honor the Lord. They were playing harps, lyres, drums, rattles, and cymbals.
[6:6] As they came to the threshing place of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out and took hold of the Covenant Box.
[6:7] At once the Lord God became angry with Uzzah and killed him because of his irreverence. Uzzah died there beside the Covenant Box,
[6:8] and so that place has been called Perez Uzzah ever since. David was furious because the Lord had punished Uzzah in anger.
[6:9] Then David was afraid of the Lord and said, “How can I take the Covenant Box with me now?”
[6:10] So he decided not to take it with him to Jerusalem; instead, he turned off the road and took it to the house of Obed Edom, a native of the city of Gath.
[6:11] It stayed there three months, and the Lord blessed Obed Edom and his family.
[6:12] King David heard that because of the Covenant Box the Lord had blessed Obed Edom's family and all that he had; so he got the Covenant Box from Obed's house to take it to Jerusalem with a great celebration.
[6:13] After the men carrying the Covenant Box had gone six steps, David had them stop while he offered the Lord a sacrifice of a bull and a fattened calf.
[6:14] David, wearing only a linen cloth around his waist, danced with all his might to honor the Lord.
[6:15] And so he and all the Israelites took the Covenant Box up to Jerusalem with shouts of joy and the sound of trumpets.
[6:16] As the Box was being brought into the city, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked out of the window and saw King David dancing and jumping around in the sacred dance, and she was disgusted with him.
[6:17] They brought the Box and put it in its place in the Tent that David had set up for it. Then he offered sacrifices and fellowship offerings to the Lord.
[6:18] When he had finished offering the sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty
[6:19] and distributed food to them all. He gave each man and woman in Israel a loaf of bread, a piece of roasted meat, and some raisins. Then everyone went home.
[6:20] Afterward, when David went home to greet his family, Michal came out to meet him. “The king of Israel made a big name for himself today!” she said. “He exposed himself like a fool in the sight of the servant women of his officials!”
[6:21] David answered, “I was dancing to honor the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and his family to make me the leader of his people Israel. And I will go on dancing to honor the Lord,
[6:22] and will disgrace myself even more. You may think I am nothing, but those women will think highly of me!”
[6:23] Michal, Saul's daughter, never had any children.