Absalom Plans Rebellion

¹After this, Absalom provided a chariot and horses for himself, and an escort of fifty men.

²He would get up early and go and stand by the road at the city gate. Whenever someone came there with a dispute that he wanted the king to settle, Absalom would call him over and ask him where he was from. And after the man had told him what tribe he was from,

³Absalom would say, “Look, the law is on your side, but there is no representative of the king to hear your case.”

⁴And he would add, “How I wish I were a judge! Then anyone who had a dispute or a claim could come to me, and I would give him justice.”

⁵When the man would approach Absalom to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out, take hold of him, and kiss him.

⁶Absalom did this with every Israelite who came to the king for judgment, and so he won their loyalty.

⁷After four years Absalom said to King David, “Sir, let me go to Hebron and keep a promise I made to the Lord.

⁸While I was living in Geshur in Syria, I promised the Lord that if he would take me back to Jerusalem, I would worship him in Hebron.”

⁹“Go in peace,” the king said. So Absalom went to Hebron.

¹⁰But he sent messengers to all the tribes of Israel to say, “When you hear the sound of trumpets, shout, ‘Absalom has become king at Hebron!’”

¹¹There were two hundred men who at Absalom's invitation had gone from Jerusalem with him; they knew nothing of the plot and went in all good faith.

¹²And while he was offering sacrifices, Absalom also sent to the town of Gilo for Ahithophel, who was one of King David's advisers. The plot against the king gained strength, and Absalom's followers grew in number.

David Flees from Jerusalem

¹³A messenger reported to David, “The Israelites are pledging their loyalty to Absalom.”

¹⁴So David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, “We must get away at once if we want to escape from Absalom! Hurry! Or else he will soon be here and defeat us and kill everyone in the city!”

¹⁵“Yes, Your Majesty,” they answered. “We are ready to do whatever you say.”

¹⁶So the king left, accompanied by all his family and officials, except for ten concubines, whom he left behind to take care of the palace.

¹⁷As the king and all his men were leaving the city, they stopped at the last house.

¹⁸All his officials stood next to him as the royal bodyguards passed by in front of him. The six hundred soldiers who had followed him from Gath also passed by,

¹⁹and the king said to Ittai, their leader, “Why are you going with us? Go back and stay with the new king. You are a foreigner, a refugee away from your own country.

²⁰You have lived here only a short time, so why should I make you wander around with me? I don't even know where I'm going. Go back and take all your people with you—and may the Lord be kind and faithful to you.”

²¹But Ittai answered, “Your Majesty, I swear to you in the Lord's name that I will always go with you wherever you go, even if it means death.”

²²“Fine!” David answered. “March on!” So Ittai went on with all his men and their dependents.

²³The people cried loudly as David's followers left. The king crossed Kidron Brook, followed by his men, and together they went out toward the wilderness.

²⁴Zadok the priest was there, and with him were the Levites, carrying the sacred Covenant Box. They set it down and didn't pick it up again until all the people had left the city. The priest Abiathar was there too.

²⁵Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the Covenant Box back to the city. If the Lord is pleased with me, some day he will let me come back to see it and the place where it stays.

²⁶But if he isn't pleased with me—well, then, let him do to me what he wishes.”

²⁷And he went on to say to Zadok, “Look, take your son Ahimaaz and Abiathar's son Jonathan and go back to the city in peace.

²⁸Meanwhile, I will wait at the river crossings in the wilderness until I receive news from you.”

²⁹So Zadok and Abiathar took the Covenant Box back into Jerusalem and stayed there.

³⁰David went on up the Mount of Olives crying; he was barefoot and had his head covered as a sign of grief. All who followed him covered their heads and cried also.

³¹When David was told that Ahithophel had joined Absalom's rebellion, he prayed, “Please, Lord, turn Ahithophel's advice into nonsense!”

³²When David reached the top of the hill, where there was a place of worship, his trusted friend Hushai the Archite met him with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head.

³³David said to him, “You will be of no help to me if you come with me,

³⁴but you can help me by returning to the city and telling Absalom that you will now serve him as faithfully as you served his father. And do all you can to oppose any advice that Ahithophel gives.

³⁵The priests Zadok and Abiathar will be there; tell them everything you hear in the king's palace.

³⁶They have their sons Ahimaaz and Jonathan with them, and you can send them to me with all the information you gather.”

³⁷So Hushai, David's friend, returned to the city just as Absalom was arriving.

David Defeats the Ammonites and the Syrians

¹Some time later King Nahash of Ammon died, and his son Hanun became king.

²King David said, “I must show loyal friendship to Hanun, as his father Nahash did to me.” So David sent messengers to express his sympathy. When they arrived in Ammon and called on King Hanun,

³the Ammonite leaders said to the king, “Do you think that it is in your father's honor that David has sent these men to express sympathy to you? Of course not! He has sent them here as spies to explore the land, so that he can conquer it!”

⁴Hanun seized David's messengers, shaved off their beards, cut off their clothes at the hips, and sent them away.

⁵They were too ashamed to return home. When David heard what had happened, he sent word for them to stay in Jericho and not return until their beards had grown again.

⁶King Hanun and the Ammonites realized that they had made David their enemy, so they paid nearly forty tons of silver to hire chariots and charioteers from Upper Mesopotamia and from the Syrian states of Maacah and Zobah.

⁷The thirty-two thousand chariots they hired and the army of the king of Maacah came and camped near Medeba. The Ammonites too came out from all their cities and got ready to fight.

⁸When David heard what was happening, he sent out Joab and the whole army.

⁹The Ammonites marched out and took up their position at the entrance to Rabbah, their capital city, and the kings who had come to help took up their position in the open countryside.

¹⁰Joab saw that the enemy troops would attack him in front and from the rear, so he chose the best of Israel's soldiers and put them in position facing the Syrians.

¹¹He placed the rest of his troops under the command of his brother Abishai, who put them in position facing the Ammonites.

¹²Joab said to him, “If you see that the Syrians are defeating me, come and help me, and if the Ammonites are defeating you, I will go and help you.

¹³Be strong and courageous! Let's fight hard for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the Lord's will be done.”

¹⁴Joab and his men advanced to attack, and the Syrians fled.

¹⁵When the Ammonites saw the Syrians running away, they fled from Abishai and retreated into the city. Then Joab went back to Jerusalem.

¹⁶The Syrians realized that they had been defeated by the Israelites, so they brought troops from the Syrian states on the east side of the Euphrates River and placed them under the command of Shobach, commander of the army of King Hadadezer of Zobah.

¹⁷When David heard of it, he gathered the Israelite troops, crossed the Jordan River, and put them in position facing the Syrians. The fighting began,

¹⁸and the Israelites drove the Syrian army back. David and his men killed seven thousand Syrian chariot drivers and forty thousand foot soldiers. They also killed the Syrian commander, Shobach.

¹⁹When the kings who were subject to Hadadezer realized that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became his subjects. The Syrians were never again willing to help the Ammonites.

David Captures Rabbah

¹The following spring, at the time of the year when kings usually go to war, Joab led out the army and invaded the land of Ammon; King David, however, stayed in Jerusalem. They besieged the city of Rabbah, attacked it, and destroyed it.

²The Ammonite idol Molech had a gold crown which weighed about seventy-five pounds. In it there was a jewel, which David took and put in his own crown. He also took a large amount of loot from the city.

³He took the people of the city and put them to work with saws, iron hoes, and axes. He did the same to the people of all the other towns of Ammon. Then he and his men returned to Jerusalem.

Battles against Philistine Giants

⁴Later on, war broke out again with the Philistines at Gezer. This was when Sibbecai from Hushah killed a giant named Sippai, and the Philistines were defeated.

⁵There was another battle with the Philistines, and Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath from Gath, whose spear had a shaft as thick as the bar on a weaver's loom.

⁶Another battle took place at Gath, where there was a giant with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. He was a descendant of the ancient giants.

⁷He defied the Israelites, and Jonathan, the son of David's brother Shammah, killed him.

⁸These three, who were killed by David and his men, were descendants of the giants at Gath.

Morning Prayer for Help

¹I have so many enemies, Lord, so many who turn against me!

²They talk about me and say, “God will not help him.”

³But you, O Lord, are always my shield from danger; you give me victory and restore my courage.

⁴I call to the Lord for help, and from his sacred hill he answers me.

⁵I lie down and sleep, and all night long the Lord protects me.

⁶I am not afraid of the thousands of enemies who surround me on every side.

⁷Come, Lord! Save me, my God! You punish all my enemies and leave them powerless to harm me.

⁸Victory comes from the Lord— may he bless his people.