2 Samuel 4–5

Ish-Bosheth is Assassinated

4When the son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, his courage failed^a and all of Israel was horrified. ²Two of the men, commanders of the raiding bands, were for the son of Saul. The name of one was Baanah, and the name of the other was Recab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite from the descendants^b of Benjamin; also, Beeroth was regarded as belonging to Benjamin. ³The Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and they are resident aliens there until this day. ⁴(Now Jonathan the son of Saul had a son who was crippled in the feet. He was five years old^c when the message of Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse had picked him up and fled. It happened that as she was hurrying away to flee, he fell and became crippled. His name was Mephibosheth.) ⁵When the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Recab and Baanah, set out, they came at the heat of the day to the house of Ish-Bosheth while he was taking a noontime rest.^{d 6}They came as far as the middle of the house as if takers of wheat, and they struck him in the stomach. Then Recab and Baanah his brother escaped. ⁷When they had come into the house, he was lying on his couch in his bedchamber,^e and they attacked him and killed him. Then they beheaded him,^f and they took his head and went on the way of the Arabah all night. ⁸They brought the head of Ish-Bosheth to David at Hebron, and they said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth, the son of Saul your enemy, who sought your life. Yahweh has given to my lord the king vengeance this day on Saul and on his offspring.” ⁹Then David answered Recab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and he said to them, “As Yahweh lives,^g who redeemed my soul from all trouble, ¹⁰when the one who told me, “Look, Saul is dead,” thought that he was bringing good news,^h I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which was as my giving the news back to him. ¹¹How much moreⁱ when wicked men kill a righteous man in his house, on his bed! So then, shall I not seek his lifeblood from your hand, so that I may destroy you from the earth?” ¹²Then David commanded the young men, and they killed them, and they cut off their hands and their feet, and they hung them at the pool at Hebron, but the head of Ish-Bosheth they took and buried in the grave of Abner at Hebron.

David Anointed as King over All of Israel

5So all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and they said, “Here we are, we are your flesh and blood.^{a 2}For some time,^b when Saul was king over us, you were leading Israel in and out.^c Yahweh had said to you, ‘You shall be the shepherd of my people Israel, and you will be the leader over Israel.’ ” ³All the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant^d with them at Hebron in the presence of Yahweh; then they anointed David as king over Israel. ⁴David was thirty years old^e when he began to reign; he reigned forty years. ⁵He reigned over Judah at Hebron for seven years and six months; and he reigned over all Israel and Judah at Jerusalem for thirty-three years.

The Capture and Growth of Jerusalem

⁶The king and his men went to Jerusalem, to the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land. They said to David, “You will not come here, for even the blind and the lame can turn you back, saying, ‘David cannot come here.’ ” ⁷David captured the fortress of Zion, the city of David. ⁸David had said, “On that day when we attack the Jebusites,^f one must attack the lame and the blind, those who hate the soul of David, by means of the water supply.” For thus the blind and the lame would say, “He cannot come into the house.” ⁹David occupied the fortress and called it the city of David. And David built all around it from the Millo and inward.^g

¹⁰David continued growing stronger and stronger,^h and Yahweh the God of hosts was with him. ¹¹So Hiram, the king of Tyre, sent messengers to David, along with cedar trees and craftsmen skilled in wood and in stone masonry,ⁱ and they built a house for David. ¹²David realized that Yahweh had established him as king over Israel and that he had exalted his kingdom because of his people Israel. ¹³David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to him. ¹⁴These are the names of the ones born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua and Shobab and Nathan and Solomon; ¹⁵Ibhar and Elishua and Nepheg and Japhia; ¹⁶Elishama and Eliada and Eliphelet.

War with the Philistines

¹⁷When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David as king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David, but David heard and went down to the stronghold.^{j 18}Now the Philistines had come, and they spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁹And David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go up to the Philistines? Will you give them into my hands?” Yahweh said to David, “Go up, for I will certainly give^k the Philistines into your hand.” ²⁰So David came to Baal Perazim and defeated them there; and David said, “Yahweh has burst through my enemies before me like the bursting of water.” Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim.^{l 21}They had left their idols there, so David and his men carried them away.

²²Once again^m the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. ²³So David inquired of Yahweh, but he said, “You shall not go up. Rather, go around to their rear and come to them from opposite the balsam trees. ²⁴And it shall beⁿ that when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then pay attention, for then Yahweh has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.” ²⁵So David did thus, just as Yahweh had commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines from Geba all the way^o to Gezer.