SECOND SAMUEL

 

2 Samuel Chapter 5

1 ¶ Then all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron, saying, Look, we are your bone and your flesh.

2 In times past, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel in and out: and the LORD said to you, You shall feed my people Israel, and be a prince over them.

3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel.

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

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

6 ¶ And the king and his troops marched on Jerusalem against the Jebusites, who inhabited the land: and had said to David, You will never get in here, for even the blind and the lame can prevent you: thinking, David cannot come in here.

7 Nevertheless David captured the strong hold of Zion: which is now the city of David.

8 On that day David said, Let whoever would defeat the Jebusites, climb up the water shaft and strike down even the blind and lame, who the soul of David detests. That is why they say, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.

9 So David occupied the fortress, and called it the city of David. And David built the city around it from Millo inward.

10 And David grew more powerful, and the LORD God of hosts was with him.

11 ¶ And Hiram the king of Tyre sent envoys to David, along with cedar trees, carpenters, and stonemasons: and they built David a house.

12 And David realized that the LORD had made him the king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.

13 And David took more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron: and there were other sons and daughters born to him.

14 And these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem; Shammua, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon,

15 Ibhar also, and Elishua, and Nepheg, and Japhia,

16 And Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphalet.

17 ¶ But when the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they came up in force to attack him; but he learned of it, and went down to the stronghold.

18 The Philistines came and spread out in the valley of Rephaim.

19 And David inquired of the LORD, asking, Shall I go up against the Philistines? will you deliver them into my hand? And the LORD said to David, Go up: for I will surely deliver the Philistines into your hand.

20 And David came to Baalperazim, and David defeated them there, and said, The LORD has broken through my enemies before me, as waters bursting forth. Therefore he called the name of that place Baalperazim.

21 And the Philistines left their images, and David and his men burned them.

22 And the Philistines came up again, and spread out in the valley of Rephaim.

23 But when David inquired of the LORD, he said, You shall not go up; but go around behind them, and come in on them in front of the mulberry trees.

24 And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then act at once: for at that time the LORD will go out before you, to smite the army of the Philistines.

25 And David did as the LORD had commanded him; and struck down the Philistines from Geba to Gazer.