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for those in Hormah, Bor Ashan, Athach,

and Hebron; and for those in whatever other places David and his men had traveled.

They took the bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh; then they fasted for seven days.

After the death of Saul, when David had returned from defeating the Amalekites, he stayed at Ziklag for two days.

The young man who was telling him this 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.

O mountains of Gilboa, may there be no dew or rain on you, nor fields of grain offerings! For it was there that the shield of warriors was defiled; the shield of Saul lies neglected without oil.

Now be courageous and prove to be valiant warriors, for your lord Saul is dead. The people of Judah have anointed me as king over them."

David was king in Hebron over the people of Judah for seven and a half years.

Abner said to him, "Turn aside to your right or to your left. Capture one of the soldiers and take his equipment for yourself!" But Asahel was not willing to turn aside from following him.

God will severely judge Abner if I do not do for David exactly what the Lord has promised him,

David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth son of Saul with this demand: "Give me my wife Michal whom I acquired for a hundred Philistine foreskins."

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

When Abner, accompanied by twenty men, came to David in Hebron, David prepared a banquet for Abner and the men who were with him.

Now David's soldiers 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 had sent him away and he had left in peace.

The king chanted the following lament for Abner: "Should Abner have died like a fool?

Today I am weak, even though I am anointed as king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too much for me to bear! May the Lord punish appropriately the one who has done this evil thing!"

for the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have remained there as resident foreigners until the present time.)

David was thirty years old when he began to reign and he reigned for forty years.

In Hebron he reigned over Judah for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned for thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

David said on that day, "Whoever attacks the Jebusites must approach the ‘lame' and the ‘blind' who are David's enemies by going through the water tunnel." For this reason it is said, "The blind and the lame cannot enter the palace."