Septuagint (Greek Old Testament)

And it came to pass while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abenner was governing the house of Saul.

And Saul had a concubine, Respha, the daughter of Jol; and Jebosthe the son of Saul said to Abenner, Why hast thou gone in to my father's concubine?

And Abenner was very angry with Jebosthe for this saying; and Abenner said to him, Am I a dog's head? I have this day wrought kindness with the house of Saul thy father, and with his brethren and friends, and have not gone over to the house of David, and dost thou this day seek a charge against me concerning injury to a woman?

God do thus and more also to Abenner, if as the Lord swore to David, so do I not to him this day;

to take away the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to raise up the throne of David over Israel and over Juda from Dan to Bersabee.

And Jebosthe could not any longer answer Abenner a word, because he feared him.

And Abenner sent messengers to David to Thælam where he was, immediately, saying, Make thy covenant with me, and, behold, my hand [is] with thee to bring back to thee all the house of Israel.

And David said, With a good will I will make with thee a covenant: only I demand one condition of thee, saying, Thou shalt not see my face, unless thou bring Melchol the daughter of Saul, when thou comest to see my face.

And David sent messengers to Jebosthe the son of Saul, saying, Restore me my wife Melchol, whom I took for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.

And Jebosthe sent, and took her from her husband, [even] from Phaltiel the son of Selle.

And her husband went with her weeping behind her as far as Barakim. And Abenner said to him, Go, return; and he returned.

And Abenner spoke to the elders of Israel, saying, In former days ye sought David to reign over you;

and now perform [it]: for the Lord has spoken concerning David, saying, By the hand of my servant David I will save Israel out of the hand of all their enemies.

And Abenner spoke in the ears of Benjamin: and Abenner went to speak in the ears of David at Chebron, all that seemed good in the eyes of Israel and in the eyes of the house of Benjamin.

And Abenner came to David to Chebron, and with him twenty men: and David made for Abenner and his men with him a banquet of wine.

And Abenner said to David, I will arise now, and go, and gather to my lord the king all Israel; and I will make with him a covenant, and thou shalt reign over all whom thy soul desires. And David sent away Abenner, and he departed in peace.

And, behold, the servants of David and Joab arrived from their expedition, and they brought much spoil with them: and Abenner was not with David in Chebron, because he had sent him away, and he had departed in peace.

And Joab and all his army came, and it was reported to Joab, saying, Abenner the son of Ner is come to David, and David has let him go, and he has departed in peace.

And Joab went in to the king, and said, What [is] this [that] thou hast done? behold, Abenner came to thee; and why hast thou let him go, and he has departed in peace?

Knowest thou not the mischief of Abenner the son of Ner, that he came to deceive thee, and to know thy going out and thy coming in, and to know all things that thou doest?

And Joab returned from David, and sent messengers to Abenner after [him]; and they bring him back from the well of Seïram: but David knew [it] not.

And he brought back Abenner to Chebron, and Joab caused him to turn aside from the gate to speak to him, laying wait for him: and he smote him there in the loins, and he died for the blood of Asael the brother of Joab.

And David heard [of it] afterwards, and said, I and my kingdom are guiltless before the Lord even for ever of the blood of Abenner the son of Ner.

Let it fall upon the head of Joab, and upon all the house of his father; and let there not be wanting of the house of Joab one that has an issue, or a leper, or that leans on a staff, or that falls by the sword, or that wants bread.

For Joab and Abessa his brother laid wait continually for Abenner, because he slew Asael their brother at Gabaon in the battle.

And David said to Joab and to all the people with him, Rend your garments, and gird yourselves with sackcloth, and lament before Abenner. And king David followed the bier.

And they bury Abenner in Chebron: and the king lifted up his voice, and wept at his tomb, and all the people wept for Abenner.

And the king mourned over Abenner, and said, Shall Abenner die according to the death of Nabal?

Thy hands were not bound, and thy feet [were] not [put] in fetters: [one] brought [thee] not near as Nabal; thou didst fall before children of iniquity.

And all the people assembled to weep for him. And all the people came to cause David to eat bread while it was yet day: and David swore, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if I eat bread or any thing else before the sun goes down.

And all the people took notice, and all things that the king did before the people were pleasing in their sight.

So all the people and all Israel perceived in that day, that it was not of the king to slay Abenner the son of Ner.

And the king said to his servants, Know ye not that a great prince is this day fallen in Israel?

And that I am this day a [mere] kinsman [of his], and [as it were] a subject; but these men the sons of Saruia are too hard for me: the Lord reward the evil-doer according to his wickedness.

And Jebosthe the son of Saul heard that Abenner the son of Ner had died in Chebron; and his hands were paralysed, and all the men of Israel grew faint.

And Jebosthe the son of Saul had two men that were captains of bands: the name of the one [was] Baana, and the name of the other Rechab, sons of Remmon the Berothite of the children of Benjamin; for Beroth was reckoned to the children of Benjamin.

And the Berothites ran away to Gethaim, and were sojourners there until this day.

And Jonathan Saul's son [had] a son lame of his feet, five years old, and he was [in the way] when the news of Saul and Jonathan his son came from Jezrael, and his nurse took him up, and fled; and it came to pass as he hasted and retreated, that he fell, and was lamed. And his name [was] Memphibosthe.

And Rechab and Baana the sons of Remmon the Berothite went, and they came in the heat of the day into the house of Jebosthe; and he was sleeping on a bed at noon.

And, behold, the porter of the house winnowed wheat, and he slumbered and slept: and the brothers Rechab and Baana went privily into the house:

and Jebosthe was sleeping on his bed in his chamber: and they smite him, and slay him, and take off his head: and they took his head, and went all the night by the western road.

And they brought the head of Jebosthe to David to Chebron, and they said to the king, Behold the head of Jebosthe the son of Saul thy enemy, who sought thy life; and the Lord has executed for my lord the king vengeance on his enemies, as [it is] this day: even on Saul thy enemy, and on his seed.

And David answered Rechab and Baana his brother, the sons of Remmon the Berothite, and said to them, [As] the Lord lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all affliction;

he that reported to me that Saul was dead, even he was as one bringing glad tidings before me: but I seized him and slew him in Sekelac, to whom I ought, [as he thought], to have given a reward for his tidings.

And now evil men have slain a righteous man in his house on his bed: now then I will require his blood of your hand, and I will destroy you from off the earth.

And David commanded his young men, and they slay them, and cut off their hands and their feet; and they hung them up at the fountain in Chebron: and they buried the head of Jebosthe in the tomb of Abenner the son of Ner.

And all the tribes of Israel come to David to Chebron, and they said to him, Behold, we [are] thy bone and thy flesh.

And heretofore Saul being king over us, thou wast he that didst lead out and bring in Israel: and the Lord said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be for a leader to my people Israel.

And all the elders of Israel come to the king to Chebron; and king David made a covenant with them in Chebron before the Lord; and they anoint David king over all Israel.

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

Seven years and six months he reigned in Chebron over Juda, and thirty-three years he reigned over all Israel and Juda in Jerusalem.

And David and his men departed to Jerusalem, to the Jebusite that inhabited the land: and it was said to David, Thou shalt not come in hither: for the blind and the lame withstood him, saying, David shall not come in hither.

And David took first the hold of Sion: this [is] the city of David.

And David said on that day, Every one that smites the Jebusite, let him attack with the dagger both the lame and the blind, and those that hate the soul of David. Therefore they say, The lame and the blind shall not enter into the house of the Lord.

And David dwelt in the hold, and it was called the city of David, and he built the city itself round about from the citadel, and [he built] his own house.

And David advanced and became great, and the Lord Almighty [was] with him.

And Chiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar wood, and carpenters, and stone-masons: and they built a house for David.

And David knew that the Lord had prepared him to be king over Israel, and that his kingdom was exalted for the sake of his people Israel.

And David took again wives and concubines out of Jerusalem, after he came from Chebron: and David had still more sons and daughters born to him.

And these [are] the names of those that were born to him in Jerusalem; Sammus, and Sobab, and Nathan, and Solomon.

And Ebear, and Elisue, and Naphec, and Jephies.

And Elisama, and Elidae, and Eliphalath,

And the Philistines heard that David was anointed king over Israel; and all the Philistines went up to seek David; and David heard of it, and went down to the strong hold.

And the Philistines came, and assembled in the valley of the giants.

And David enquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? and wilt thou deliver them into my hands? and the Lord said to David, Go up, for I will surely deliver the Philistines into thine hands.

And David came from Upper Breaches, and smote the Philistines there: and David said, The Lord has destroyed the hostile Philistines before me, as water is dispersed; therefore the name of that place was called Over Breaches.

And they leave there their gods, and David and his men with him took them.

And the Philistines came up yet again, and assembled in the valley of Giants.

And David enquired of the Lord: and the Lord said, Thou shalt not go up to meet them: turn from them, and thou shalt meet them near the place of weeping.

And it shall come to pass when thou hearest the sound of a clashing together from the grove of weeping, then thou shalt go down to them, for then the Lord shall go forth before thee to make havoc in the battle with the Philistines.

And David did as the Lord commanded him, and smote the Philistines from Gabaon as far as the land of Gazera.

And David again gathered all the young men of Israel, about seventy thousand.

And David arose, and went, he and all the people that were with him, and some of the rulers of Juda, on an expedition [to a distant place], to bring back thence the ark of God, on which the name of the Lord of Hosts who dwells between the cherubs upon it is called.

And they put the ark of the Lord on a new waggon, and took it out of the house of Aminadab who lived on the hill: and Oza and his brethren the sons of Aminadab drove the waggon with the ark.

And his brethren went before the ark.

And David and the children of Israel [were] playing before the Lord on well-tuned instruments mightily, and with songs, and with harps, and with lutes, and with drums, and with cymbals, and with pipes.

And they come as far as the threshing floor of Nachor: and Oza reached forth his hand to the ark of God to keep it steady, and took hold of it; for the ox shook it out of its place.

And the Lord was very angry with Oza; and God smote him there: and he died there by the ark of the Lord before God.

And David was dispirited because the Lord made a breach upon Oza; and that place was called the breach of Oza until this day.

And David feared the Lord in that day, saying, How shall the ark of the Lord come in to me?

And David would not bring in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to himself into the city of David: and David turned it aside into the house of Abeddara the Gethite.

And the ark of the Lord lodged in the house of Abeddara the Gethite three months, and the Lord blessed all the house of Abeddara, and all his possessions.

And it was reported to king David, saying, The Lord has blessed the house of Abeddara, and all that he has, because of the ark of the Lord. And David went, and brought up the ark of the Lord from the house of Abeddara to the city of David with gladness.

And there were with him bearing the ark seven bands, and for a sacrifice a calf and lambs.

And David sounded with well-tuned instruments before the Lord, and David [was] clothed with a fine long robe.

And David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of a trumpet.

And it came to pass as the ark arrived at the city of David, that Melchol the daughter of Saul looked through the window, and saw king David dancing and playing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.

And they bring the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place in the midst of the tabernacle which David pitched for it: and David offered whole-burnt-offerings before the Lord, [and] peace-offerings.

And David made an end of offering the whole-burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and blessed the people in the name of the Lord of Hosts.

And he distributed to all the people, even to all the host of Israel from Dan to Bersabee, both men and women, to every one a cake of bread, and a joint of meat, and a cake from the frying-pan: and all the people departed every one to his home.

And David returned to bless his house. And Melchol the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and saluted him, and said, How was the king of Israel glorified to-day, who was to-day uncovered in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the dancers wantonly uncovers himself!

And David said to Melchol, I will dance before the Lord. Blessed [be] the Lord who chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to make me head over his people, even over Israel: therefore I will play, and dance before the Lord.

And I will again uncover myself thus, and I will be vile in thine eyes, and with the maid-servants by whom thou saidst that I was not had in honour.

And Melchol the daughter of Saul had no child till the day of her death.

And it came to pass when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him an inheritance on every side [free] from all his enemies round about him;

that the king said to Nathan the prophet, Behold now, I live in a house of cedar, and the ark of the Lord dwells in the midst of a tent.

And Nathan said to the king, Go and do all that [is] in thine heart, for the Lord [is] with thee.

And it came to pass in that night, that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying,

Go, and say to my servant David, Thus says the Lord, Thou shalt not build me a house for me to dwell in.

For I have not dwelt in a house from the day that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt to this day, but I have been walking in a lodge and in a tent,