2 Samuel 5:3-13

3 So all the leaders of Israel came to King David at Hebron. He made a sacred alliance with them, they anointed him, and he became king of Israel.
4 David was thirty years old when he became king, and he ruled for forty years. 1
5 He ruled in Hebron over Judah for seven and a half years, and in Jerusalem over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years.
6 The time came when King David and his men set out to attack Jerusalem. The Jebusites, who lived there, thought that David would not be able to conquer the city, and so they said to him, "You will never get in here; even the blind and the crippled could keep you out." 2
7 (But David did capture their fortress of Zion, and it became known as "David's City.")
8 That day David said to his men, "Does anybody here hate the Jebusites as much as I do? Enough to kill them? Then go up through the water tunnel and attack those poor blind cripples." (That is why it is said, "The blind and the crippled cannot enter the Lord's house.")
9 After capturing the fortress, David lived in it and named it "David's City." He built the city around it, starting at the place where land was filled in on the east side of the hill.
10 He grew stronger all the time, because the Lord God Almighty was with him.
11 King Hiram of Tyre sent a trade mission to David; he provided him with cedar logs and with carpenters and stone masons to build a palace.
12 And so David realized that the Lord had established him as king of Israel and was making his kingdom prosperous for the sake of his people.
13 After moving from Hebron to Jerusalem, David took more concubines and wives, and had more sons and daughters.

2 Samuel 5:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 5

In this chapter we have an account of all the tribes of Israel coming to Hebron, and anointing David king over them, 2Sa 5:1-5; of his expedition against the Jebusites in Jerusalem, and taking from them the strong hold of Zion, 2Sa 5:6-10; of his building an house for himself, and of his building up his family, by taking more wives and concubines, and having more children, whose names are given, 2Sa 5:11-16; and of an invasion of the land by the Philistines, and David's victory over them, 2Sa 5:17-25.

Cross References 2

  • 1. 1.6-10 1 S 31.1-6;1 Chronicles 10.1-6.
  • 2. 5.4, 5 1 K 2.11;1 Chronicles 3.4; 29.27.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. [Verse 8 in Hebrew is unclear.]
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.