David Is Made King of Judah

¹After this, David asked the Lord, “Shall I go and take control of one of the towns of Judah?” “Yes,” the Lord answered. “Which one?” David asked. “Hebron,” the Lord said.

²So David went to Hebron, taking with him his two wives: Ahinoam, who was from Jezreel, and Abigail, Nabal's widow, who was from Carmel.

³He also took his men and their families, and they settled in the towns around Hebron.

⁴Then the men of Judah came to Hebron and anointed David as king of Judah. When David heard that the people of Jabesh in Gilead had buried Saul,

⁵he sent some men there with the message: “May the Lord bless you for showing your loyalty to your king by burying him.

⁶And now may the Lord be kind and faithful to you. I too will treat you well because of what you have done.

⁷Be strong and brave! Saul your king is dead, and the people of Judah have anointed me as their king.”

Ishbosheth Is Made King of Israel

⁸The commander of Saul's army, Abner son of Ner, had fled with Saul's son Ishbosheth across the Jordan to Mahanaim.

⁹There Abner made Ishbosheth king of the territories of Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin, and indeed over all Israel.

¹⁰He 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,

¹¹and he ruled in Hebron over Judah for seven and a half years.

War between Israel and Judah

¹²Abner and the officials of Ishbosheth went from Mahanaim to the city of Gibeon.

¹³Joab, 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.

¹⁴Abner said to Joab, “Let's have some of the young men from each side fight an armed contest.” “All right,” Joab answered.

¹⁵So twelve men, representing Ishbosheth and the tribe of Benjamin, fought twelve of David's men.

¹⁶Each 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.”

¹⁷Then a furious battle broke out, and Abner and the Israelites were defeated by David's men.

¹⁸The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel, who could run as fast as a wild deer,

¹⁹started chasing Abner, running straight for him.

²⁰Abner looked back and said, “Is that you, Asahel?” “Yes,” he answered.

²¹“Stop chasing me!” Abner said. “Run after one of the soldiers and take what he has.” But Asahel kept on chasing him.

²²Once more Abner said to him, “Stop chasing me! Why force me to kill you? How could I face your brother Joab?”

²³But 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.

²⁴But 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.

²⁵The men from the tribe of Benjamin gathered around Abner again and took their stand on the top of a hill.

²⁶Abner 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?”

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.”

²⁸Then Joab blew the trumpet as a signal for his men to stop pursuing the Israelites; and so the fighting stopped.

²⁹Abner 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.

³⁰When Joab gave up the chase, he gathered all his men and found that nineteen of them were missing, in addition to Asahel.

³¹David's men had killed 360 of Abner's men from the tribe of Benjamin.

³²Joab 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.

The Descendants of Judah

¹Jacob had twelve sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun,

²Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

³Judah had five sons in all. By his wife Bathshua, a Canaanite, he had three sons: Er, Onan, and Shelah. His oldest son, Er, was so evil that the Lord killed him.

⁴By his daughter-in-law Tamar, Judah had two more sons, Perez and Zerah.

⁵Perez had two sons, Hezron and Hamul.

⁶His brother Zerah had five sons: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Darda.

⁷Achan son of Carmi, one of Zerah's descendants, brought disaster on the people of Israel by keeping loot that had been devoted to God.

⁸Ethan had one son, Azariah.

The Family Tree of King David

⁹Hezron had three sons: Jerahmeel, Ram, and Caleb.

¹⁰The family line from Ram to Jesse is as follows: Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon (a prominent man of the tribe of Judah),

¹¹Salmon, Boaz,

¹²Obed, and Jesse.

¹³Jesse had seven sons. In order of age they were: Eliab, Abinadab, Shammah,

¹⁴Nethanel, Raddai,

¹⁵Ozem, and David.

¹⁶He also had two daughters, Zeruiah and Abigail. Jesse's daughter Zeruiah had three sons: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel.

¹⁷His other daughter Abigail married Jether, a descendant of Ishmael, and they had a son named Amasa.

The Descendants of Hezron

¹⁸Hezron's son Caleb married Azubah and had a daughter named Jerioth. She had three sons: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon.

¹⁹After the death of Azubah, Caleb married Ephrath, and they had a son named Hur.

²⁰Hur's son was Uri, and his grandson was Bezalel.

²¹When Hezron was sixty years old, he married Machir's daughter, the sister of Gilead. They had a son named Segub,

²²and Segub had a son named Jair. Jair ruled twenty-three cities in the territory of Gilead.

²³But the kingdoms of Geshur and Aram conquered sixty towns there, including the villages of Jair and Kenath, and the towns nearby. All the people who lived there were descendants of Machir, the father of Gilead.

²⁴After Hezron died, his son Caleb married Ephrath, his father's widow. They had a son named Ashhur, who founded the town of Tekoa.

The Descendants of Jerahmeel

²⁵Jerahmeel, the oldest son of Hezron, had five sons: Ram, the oldest, Bunah, Oren, Ozem, and Ahijah.

^26-27Ram had three sons: Maaz, Jamin, and Eker. Jerahmeel had another wife, a woman named Atarah, and they had a son, Onam.

²⁸Onam had two sons, Shammai and Jada, and Shammai also had two sons, Nadab and Abishur.

²⁹Abishur married a woman named Abihail, and they had two sons, Ahban and Molid.

³⁰Abishur's brother Nadab had two sons, Seled and Appaim, but Seled died without having any sons.

³¹Appaim was the father of Ishi, Ishi was the father of Sheshan, and Sheshan the father of Ahlai.

³²Jada, the brother of Shammai, had two sons, Jether and Jonathan, but Jether died without having any sons.

³³Jonathan had two sons, Peleth and Zaza. All these were descendants of Jerahmeel.

³⁴Sheshan had no sons, only daughters. He had an Egyptian servant named Jarha,

³⁵to whom he gave one of his daughters in marriage. They had a son named Attai.

³⁶The family line from Attai to Elishama is as follows: Attai, Nathan, Zabad,

³⁷Ephlal, Obed,

³⁸Jehu, Azariah,

³⁹Helez, Eleasah,

⁴⁰Sismai, Shallum,

⁴¹Jekamiah, and Elishama.

Other Descendants of Caleb

⁴²The oldest son of Caleb, Jerahmeel's brother, was named Mesha. Mesha was the father of Ziph, who was the father of Mareshah, who was the father of Hebron.

⁴³Hebron had four sons: Korah, Tappuah, Rekem, and Shema.

⁴⁴Shema was the father of Raham and the grandfather of Jorkeam. Rekem, Shema's brother, was the father of Shammai,

⁴⁵who was the father of Maon, who was the father of Bethzur.

⁴⁶Caleb had a concubine named Ephah, and by her he had three more sons: Haran, Moza, and Gazez. Haran also had a son named Gazez.

⁴⁷(A man named Jahdai had six sons: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah, and Shaaph.)

⁴⁸Caleb had another concubine, Maacah, who bore him two sons, Sheber and Tirhanah.

⁴⁹Later she had two more sons: Shaaph, who founded the town of Madmannah; and Shevah, who founded the towns of Machbenah and Gibea. In addition, Caleb had a daughter named Achsah.

⁵⁰The following are also descendants of Caleb. Hur was the oldest son of Caleb and his wife Ephrath. Hur's son Shobal founded Kiriath Jearim,

⁵¹his second son Salma founded Bethlehem, and his third son Hareph founded Bethgader.

⁵²Shobal, the founder of Kiriath Jearim, was the ancestor of the people of Haroeh, of half the inhabitants of Menuhoth,

⁵³and of the following clans that lived in Kiriath Jearim: the Ithrites, Puthites, Shumathites, and Mishraites. (The people of the cities of Zorah and Eshtaol were members of these clans.)

⁵⁴Salma, the founder of Bethlehem, was the ancestor of the people of Netophath, of Atroth Beth Joab, and of the Zorites, who were one of the two clans in Manahath.

⁵⁵(The following clans of experts in writing and copying documents lived in the town of Jabez: the Tirathites, Shimeathites, and Sucathites. They were Kenites who had intermarried with the Rechabites.)

The Great King

¹The world and all that is in it belong to the Lord; the earth and all who live on it are his.

²He built it on the deep waters beneath the earth and laid its foundations in the ocean depths.

³Who has the right to go up the Lord's hill? Who may enter his holy Temple?

⁴Those who are pure in act and in thought, who do not worship idols or make false promises.

⁵The Lord will bless them and save them; God will declare them innocent.

⁶Such are the people who come to God, who come into the presence of the God of Jacob.

⁷Fling wide the gates, open the ancient doors, and the great king will come in.

⁸Who is this great king? He is the Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, victorious in battle.

⁹Fling wide the gates, open the ancient doors, and the great king will come in.

¹⁰Who is this great king? The triumphant Lord—he is the great king!