2 Samuel 5

¹Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. ²In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was thou that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be prince over Israel. ³So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel. ⁴David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. ⁵In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six mouths: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah. ⁶And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither. ⁷Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion; the same is the city of David. ⁸And David said on that day, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites, let him get up to the watercourse, and smitethe lame and the blind, that are hated of David’s soul. Wherefore they say, There are the blind and the lame; he cannot come into the house. ⁹And David dwelt in the strong hold, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward. ¹⁰And David waxed greater and greater; for the LORD, the God of hosts, was with him. ¹¹And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons: and they built David an house. ¹²And David perceived that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake. ¹³And David took him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron: and there were yet sons and daughters born to David. ¹⁴And these be the names of those that were born unto him in Jerusalem; Shammua, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, ¹⁵and Ibhar, and Elishua; and Nepheg, and Japhia; ¹⁶and Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphelet. ¹⁷And when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David; and David heard of it, and went down to the hold. ¹⁸Now the Philistines had come and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁹And David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the LORD said unto David, Go up: for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into thine hand. ²⁰And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there; and he said, The LORD hath broken mine enemies before me, like the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim. ²¹And they left their images there, and David and his men took them away. ²²And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. ²³And when David inquired of the LORD, he said, Thou shalt not go up: make a circuit behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. ²⁴And it shall be, when thou hearest the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then is the LORD gone out before thee to smite the host of the Philistines. ²⁵And David did so, as the LORD commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gezer.