The Murder of Ishbosheth

4 When Ishbosheth,^[a] Saul’s son, heard about Abner’s death at Hebron, he lost all courage, and all Israel became paralyzed with fear. ² Now there were two brothers, Baanah and Recab, who were captains of Ishbosheth’s raiding parties. They were sons of Rimmon, a member of the tribe of Benjamin who lived in Beeroth. The town of Beeroth is now part of Benjamin’s territory ³ because the original people of Beeroth fled to Gittaim, where they still live as foreigners.

⁴ (Saul’s son Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth,^[b] who was crippled as a child. He was five years old when the report came from Jezreel that Saul and Jonathan had been killed in battle. When the child’s nurse heard the news, she picked him up and fled. But as she hurried away, she dropped him, and he became crippled.)

⁵ One day Recab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon from Beeroth, went to Ishbosheth’s house around noon as he was taking his midday rest. ⁶ The doorkeeper, who had been sifting wheat, became drowsy and fell asleep. So Recab and Baanah slipped past her.^{[c] 7} They went into the house and found Ishbosheth sleeping on his bed. They struck and killed him and cut off his head. Then, taking his head with them, they fled across the Jordan Valley^[d] through the night. ⁸ When they arrived at Hebron, they presented Ishbosheth’s head to David. “Look!” they exclaimed to the king. “Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of your enemy Saul who tried to kill you. Today the Lord has given my lord the king revenge on Saul and his entire family!”

⁹ But David said to Recab and Baanah, “The Lord, who saves me from all my enemies, is my witness. ¹⁰ Someone once told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ thinking he was bringing me good news. But I seized him and killed him at Ziklag. That’s the reward I gave him for his news! ¹¹ How much more should I reward evil men who have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed? Shouldn’t I hold you responsible for his blood and rid the earth of you?”

¹² So David ordered his young men to kill them, and they did. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies beside the pool in Hebron. Then they took Ishbosheth’s head and buried it in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.

David Becomes King of All Israel

5 Then all the tribes of Israel went to David at Hebron and told him, “We are your own flesh and blood. ² In the past,^[e] when Saul was our king, you were the one who really led the forces of Israel. And the Lord told you, ‘You will be the shepherd of my people Israel. You will be Israel’s leader.’”

³ So there at Hebron, King David made a covenant before the Lord with all the elders of Israel. And they anointed him king of Israel.

⁴ David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in all. ⁵ He had reigned over Judah from Hebron for seven years and six months, and from Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years.

David Captures Jerusalem

⁶ David then led his men to Jerusalem to fight against the Jebusites, the original inhabitants of the land who were living there. The Jebusites taunted David, saying, “You’ll never get in here! Even the blind and lame could keep you out!” For the Jebusites thought they were safe. ⁷ But David captured the fortress of Zion, which is now called the City of David.

⁸ On the day of the attack, David said to his troops, “I hate those ‘lame’ and ‘blind’ Jebusites.^[f] Whoever attacks them should strike by going into the city through the water tunnel.^[g]” That is the origin of the saying, “The blind and the lame may not enter the house.”^[h]

⁹ So David made the fortress his home, and he called it the City of David. He extended the city, starting at the supporting terraces^[i] and working inward. ¹⁰ And David became more and more powerful, because the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies was with him.

¹¹ Then King Hiram of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar timber and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built David a palace. ¹² And David realized that the Lord had confirmed him as king over Israel and had blessed his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.

¹³ After moving from Hebron to Jerusalem, David married more concubines and wives, and they had more sons and daughters. ¹⁴ These are the names of David’s sons who were born in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, ¹⁵ Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, ¹⁶ Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

David Conquers the Philistines

¹⁷ When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king of Israel, they mobilized all their forces to capture him. But David was told they were coming, so he went into the stronghold. ¹⁸ The Philistines arrived and spread out across the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁹ So David asked the Lord, “Should I go out to fight the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?”

The Lord replied to David, “Yes, go ahead. I will certainly hand them over to you.”

²⁰ So David went to Baal-perazim and defeated the Philistines there. “The Lord did it!” David exclaimed. “He burst through my enemies like a raging flood!” So he named that place Baal-perazim (which means “the Lord who bursts through”). ²¹ The Philistines had abandoned their idols there, so David and his men confiscated them.

²² But after a while the Philistines returned and again spread out across the valley of Rephaim. ²³ And again David asked the Lord what to do. “Do not attack them straight on,” the Lord replied. “Instead, circle around behind and attack them near the poplar^[j] trees. ²⁴ When you hear a sound like marching feet in the tops of the poplar trees, be on the alert! That will be the signal that the Lord is moving ahead of you to strike down the Philistine army.” ²⁵ So David did what the Lord commanded, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon^[k] to Gezer.