2 Samuel 4; 2 Samuel 5; 2 Samuel 6; 2 Samuel 7

2 Samuel 4

1 When Ish-Bosheth son of Saul heard that Abner had died at Hebron, he was shocked and all Israel became frightened.

2 Two men who were captains in Saul's army came to Ish-Bosheth. One was named Baanah, and the other was named Recab. They were the sons of Rimmon of Beeroth, who was a Benjaminite. (The town Beeroth belonged to the tribe of Benjamin.

3 The people of Beeroth ran away to Gittaim, and they still live there as foreigners today.)

4 (Saul's son Jonathan had a son named Mephibo- sheth, who was crippled in both feet. He was five years old when the news came from Jezreel that Saul and Jonathan were dead. Mephibosheth's nurse had picked him up and run away. But as she hurried to leave, she dropped him, and now he was lame.)

5 Recab and Baanah, sons of Rimmon from Beeroth, went to Ish-Bosheth's house in the afternoon while he was taking a nap.

6

7 They went into the middle of the house as if to get some wheat. Ish-Bosheth was lying on his bed in his bedroom. Then Recab and Baanah stabbed him in the stomach, killed him, cut off his head, and took it with them. They escaped and traveled all night through the Jordan Valley.

8 When they arrived at Hebron, they gave his head to David and said to the king, "Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, your enemy. He tried to kill you! Today the Lord has paid back Saul and his family for what they did to you!"

9 David answered Recab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon of Beeroth, "As surely as the Lord lives, he has saved me from all trouble!

10 Once a man thought he was bringing me good news. When he told me, 'Saul is dead!' I seized him and killed him at Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news!

11 So even more I must put you evil men to death because you have killed an innocent man on his own bed in his own house!"

12 So David commanded his men to kill Recab and Baanah. They cut off the hands and feet of Recab and Baanah and hung them over the pool of Hebron. Then they took Ish-Bosheth's head and buried it in Abner's tomb at Hebron.

2 Samuel 5

1 Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said to him, "Look, we are your own family.

2 Even when Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel in battle. The Lord said to you, 'You will be a shepherd for my people Israel. You will be their leader.'"

3 So all the older leaders of Israel came to King David at Hebron, and he made an agreement with them in Hebron in the presence of the Lord. Then they poured oil on David to make him king over Israel.

4 David was thirty years old when he became king, and he ruled forty years.

5 He was king over Judah in Hebron for seven years and six months, and he was king over all Israel and Judah in Jerusalem for thirty-three years.

6 When the king and his men went to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites who lived there, the Jebusites said to David, "You can't get inside our city. Even the blind and the crippled can stop you." They thought David could not enter their city.

7 But David did take the city of Jerusalem with its strong walls, and it became the City of David.

8 That day David said to his men, "To defeat the Jebusites you must go through the water tunnel. Then you can reach those 'crippled' and 'blind' enemies. This is why people say, 'The blind and the crippled may not enter the palace.'"

9 So David lived in the strong, walled city and called it the City of David. David built more buildings around it, beginning where the land was filled in. He also built more buildings inside the city.

10 He became stronger and stronger, because the Lord God All-Powerful was with him.

11 Hiram king of the city of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs, carpenters, and stonecutters. They built a palace for David.

12 Then David knew that the Lord really had made him king of Israel and that the Lord had made his kingdom great because the Lord loved his people Israel.

13 After he came from Hebron, David took for himself more slave women and wives in Jerusalem. More sons and daughters were born to David.

14 These are the names of the sons born to David in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,

15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,

16 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

17 When the Philistines heard that David had been made king over Israel, all the Philistines went to look for him. But when David heard the news, he went down to the stronghold.

18 The Philistines came and camped in the Valley of Rephaim.

19 David asked the Lord, "Should I attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?" The Lord said to David, "Go! I will certainly hand them over to you."

20 So David went to Baal Perazim and defeated the Philistines there. David said, "Like a flood of water, the Lord has broken through my enemies in front of me." So David named the place Baal Perazim.

21 The Philistines left their idols behind at Baal Perazim, so David and his men carried them away.

22 Once again the Philistines came and camped at the Valley of Rephaim.

23 When David prayed to the Lord, he answered, "Don't attack the Philistines from the front. Instead, go around and attack them in front of the balsam trees.

24 When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, act quickly. I, the Lord, will have gone ahead of you to defeat the Philistine army."

25 So David did what the Lord commanded. He defeated the Philistines and chased them all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.

2 Samuel 6

1 David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel -- thirty thousand of them.

2 Then he and all his people went to Baalah in Judahn to bring back the Ark of God. The Ark is called by the Name, the name of the Lord All-Powerful, whose throne is between the gold creatures with wings.

3 They put the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of Abinadab's house on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, led the new cart

4 which had the Ark of God on it. Ahio was walking in front of it.

5 David and all the Israelites were celebrating in the presence of the Lord. They were playing wooden instruments: lyres, harps, tambourines, rattles, and cymbals.

6 When David's men came to the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled. So Uzzah reached out to steady the Ark of God.

7 The Lord was angry with Uzzah and killed him because of what he did. So Uzzah died there beside the Ark of God.

8 David was angry because the Lord had killed Uzzah. Now that place is called the Punishment of Uzzah.

9 David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, "How can the Ark of the Lord come to me now?"

10 So David would not move the Ark of the Lord to be with him in Jerusalem. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom, a man from Gath.

11 The Ark of the Lord stayed in Obed-Edom's house for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his family.

12 The people told David, "The Lord has blessed the family of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because the Ark of God is there." So David went and brought it up from Obed-Edom's house to Jerusalem with joy.

13 When the men carrying the Ark of the Lord had walked six steps, David sacrificed a bull and a fat calf.

14 Then David danced with all his might before the Lord. He had on a holy linen vest.

15 David and all the Israelites shouted with joy and blew the trumpets as they brought the Ark of the Lord to the city.

16 As the Ark of the Lord came into the city, Saul's daughter Michal looked out the window. When she saw David jumping and dancing in the presence of the Lord, she hated him.

17 David put up a tent for the Ark of the Lord, and then the Israelites put it in its place inside the tent. David offered whole burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord.

18 When David finished offering the whole burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord All-Powerful.

19 David gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins to every Israelite, both men and women. Then all the people went home.

20 David went back to bless the people in his home, but Saul's daughter Michal came out to meet him. She said, "With what honor the king of Israel acted today! You took off your clothes in front of the servant girls of your officers like one who takes off his clothes without shame!"

21 Then David said to Michal, "I did it in the presence of the Lord. The Lord chose me, not your father or anyone from Saul's family. The Lord appointed me to be over Israel. So I will celebrate in the presence of the Lord.

22 Maybe I will lose even more honor, and maybe I will be brought down in my own opinion, but the girls you talk about will honor me!"

23 And Saul's daughter Michal had no children to the day she died.

2 Samuel 7

1 King David was living in his palace, and the Lord had given him peace from all his enemies around him.

2 Then David said to Nathan the prophet, "Look, I am living in a palace made of cedar wood, but the Ark of God is in a tent!"

3 Nathan said to the king, "Go and do what you really want to do, because the Lord is with you."

4 But that night the Lord spoke his word to Nathan,

5 "Go and tell my servant David, 'This is what the Lord says: Will you build a house for me to live in?

6 From the time I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until now I have not lived in a house. I have been moving around all this time with a tent as my home.

7 As I have moved with the Israelites, I have never said to the tribes, whom I commanded to take care of my people Israel, "Why haven't you built me a house of cedar?"'

8 "You must tell my servant David, 'This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: I took you from the pasture and from tending the sheep and made you leader of my people Israel.

9 I have been with you everywhere you have gone and have defeated your enemies for you. I will make you as famous as any of the great people on the earth.

10 Also I will choose a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them so they can live in their own homes. They will not be bothered anymore. Wicked people will no longer bother them as they have in the past

11 when I chose judges for my people Israel. But I will give you peace from all your enemies. I also tell you that I will make your descendants kings of Israel after you.

12 "'When you die and join your ancestors, I will make one of your sons the next king, and I will set up his kingdom.

13 He will build a house for me, and I will let his kingdom rule always.

14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he sins, I will use other people to punish him. They will be my whips.

15 I took away my love from Saul, whom I removed before you, but I will never stop loving your son.

16 But your family and your kingdom will continue always before me. Your throne will last forever.'"

17 Nathan told David everything God had said in this vision.

18 Then King David went in and sat in front of the Lord. David said, "Lord God, who am I? What is my family? Why did you bring me to this point?

19 But even this is not enough for you, Lord God. You have also made promises about my future family. This is not normal, Lord God.

20 "What more can I say to you, Lord God, since you know me, your servant, so well!

21 You have done this great thing because you said you would and because you wanted to, and you have let me know about it.

22 This is why you are great, Lord God! There is no one like you. There is no God except you. We have heard all this ourselves!

23 There is no nation like your people Israel. They are the only people on earth that God chose to be his own. You made your name well known. You did great and wonderful miracles for them. You went ahead of them and forced other nations and their gods out of the land. You freed your people from slavery in Egypt.

24 You made the people of Israel your very own people forever, and, Lord, you are their God.

25 "Now, Lord God, keep the promise forever that you made about my family and me, your servant. Do what you have said.

26 Then you will be honored always, and people will say, 'The Lord All-Powerful is God over Israel!' And the family of your servant David will continue before you.

27 "Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, you have said to me, 'I will make your family great.' So I, your servant, am brave enough to pray to you.

28 Lord God, you are God, and your words are true. And you have promised these good things to me, your servant.

29 Please, bless my family. Let it continue before you always. Lord God, you have said so. With your blessing let my family always be blessed."