5 Then all the tribes of Isra’el came to David in Hevron and said, “Here, we are your own flesh and bone. ² In the past, when Sha’ul was king over us, it was you who led Isra’el’s military campaigns; and Adonai said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Isra’el, and you will be chief over Isra’el.’” ³ So all the leaders of Isra’el came to the king in Hevron, and King David made a covenant with them in Hevron in the presence of Adonai. Then they anointed David king over Isra’el. ⁴ David was thirty years old when he began his rule, and he ruled forty years. ⁵ In Hevron he ruled over Y’hudah seven years and six months; then in Yerushalayim he ruled thirty-three years over all Isra’el and Y’hudah.

⁶ The king and his men went to Yerushalayim to attack the Y’vusi, the inhabitants of that region. They taunted David, “You won’t get in here! Even the blind and the lame could fend you off!” — in other words, they were thinking, “David will never get in here.” ⁷ Nevertheless, David captured the stronghold of Tziyon, also known [now] as the City of David. ⁸ What David said on that day was, “In order to attack the Y’vusi, you have to climb up [from the spring outside the city] through the water tunnel. Then you can do away with those [so-called] ‘lame and blind’” (whom David despises — hence the expression, “The ‘blind and lame’ keep him from entering the house”).

⁹ David lived in the stronghold and called it the City of David. Then David built up the city around it, starting at the Millo [earth rampart] and working inward. ¹⁰ David grew greater and greater, because Adonai the God of Armies was with him.