¹And it came to pass, after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' servant, and he said, ²“Moses my servant is dead. So now, arise, cross this Jordan, you and the whole of this people, to go into the land which I am giving to them – to the sons of Israel. ³Every place that the sole of your foot is going to step on, I have given to you, as I said to Moses. ⁴From the desert and this Lebanon as far as the great river – the River Euphrates – all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea in the west, shall be your territory. ⁵No man will be able to stand confronting you for all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I shall be with you: I will not desert you, and I will not forsake you. ⁶Be strong and take courage, for you will enable this people to inherit the land about which I swore to their fathers that I would give it to them. ⁷Just be strong and take great courage to ensure to do all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Do not deviate from it to the right or to the left, so that you act wisely in every place you go. ⁸This book of the law shall not recede from your mouth, and you will meditate on it day and night, so that you ensure to act according to everything written in it, for then you will cause your way to prosper, and then you will act wisely. ⁹Have I not commanded you? Be strong and take courage. Do not be terrified and do not be afraid, for the Lord your God is with you in every place you go.” ¹⁰Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people and said, ¹¹“Pass through the middle of the camp, and command the people, and say, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for in three days' time you will be crossing this Jordan to go and take possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving you, to take possession of it.’ ” ¹²And Joshua spoke to the Reubenites and the Gadites, and half of the tribe of Manasseh, and he said, ¹³“Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, when he said, ‘The Lord your God is giving you rest, and he has given you this land.’ ¹⁴Your women, your little ones and your cattle will remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan, but you will cross over armed before your brothers – all warriors in the army – and you will help them, ¹⁵until the Lord gives rest to your brothers, as to you, and they too take possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving them, and you return to the land of your possession, and you take possession of it, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on this side of the Jordan in the east.” ¹⁶And they answered Joshua and said, “Everything you have commanded us, we will do, and everywhere you send us, we will go. ¹⁷Just as we obeyed Moses in everything, so we will obey you, but let the Lord your God be with you, as he was with Moses. ¹⁸Any man who rebels against your pronouncement and does not hear your words in anything you command us will be put to death, but be strong and take courage.”

Reference(s) in Chapter 1: v.5 ↔ Hebrews 13:5.

¹And Joshua the son of Nun sent out two spies secretly from Shittim, and he said, “Go and look at the land, and Jericho.” And they departed and came to the house of a prostitute woman whose name was Rahab, and they lodged there. ²And it was reported to the king of Jericho, and they said, “Look, some men from the sons of Israel came here tonight, to investigate the land.” ³And the king of Jericho sent men to Rahab, who said, “Bring out the men who came to you – who came to your house – because they came to investigate all the land.” ⁴But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said this: “The men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. ⁵When the gate was about to close in the dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, because you will catch up with them.” ⁶Then she brought them up onto the roof and hid them with flax stalks which had been laid out by her on the roof. ⁷So the men pursued them on the road to the Jordan, at the fords, and the gate was closed after the pursuers had gone out after them. ⁸Then before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, ⁹and she said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that dread of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have become disheartened before you. ¹⁰For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea in front of you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were across the Jordan – to Sihon and to Og – whom you obliterated. ¹¹When we heard it, our hearts fainted and no man's spirit held up in him any more because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. ¹²So now, please swear to me by the Lord, since I have acted kindly to you, that you in turn will act kindly to the house of my father, and that you will give me a sign of truth, ¹³and that you will let my father and my mother live, and my brothers and my sister, and all that they have, and that you will save us from death.” ¹⁴And the men said to her, “May our life take the place of yours to die, providing you do not betray this affair of ours, and it will come to pass, when the Lord gives us the land, that we will act kindly and truly to you.” ¹⁵Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the wall of circumvallation, as she lived in the circumvallation. ¹⁶And she said to them, “Go to the mountain, so that those pursuing you do not come across you, and hide there for three days until the pursuers return, and afterwards you can go your way.” ¹⁷Then the men said to her, “We are in the clear with this oath of yours which you had us swear. ¹⁸Look, we are coming into the land. Bind this line of scarlet thread to the window by which you let us down and gather your father and your mother and your brothers, and the whole household of your father with you into the house. ¹⁹And it will be the case that anyone who comes out of the doors of your house to the outside will have his blood on his head, but we will be in the clear, but the blood of anyone who is with you indoors will be on our head if we lay a hand on him. ²⁰But if you inform about this matter of ours, we will be clear from your oath which you had us swear.” ²¹And she said, “As your words are, so shall it be.” And she sent them off, and they departed, and she bound the scarlet line to the window. ²²So they departed and came to the mountain, and they remained there for three days, until the pursuers had returned. And the pursuers searched on all the route, but they did not find them. ²³Then the two men returned and came down from the mountain, and they crossed over, and they came to Joshua the son of Nun, and they recounted to him all the things that had befallen them. ²⁴And they said to Joshua, “Because for his part the Lord has given us the whole land in our hand, so for their part all the inhabitants melted away at our presence.”

¹Then Joshua got up early in the morning, and they moved from Shittim, and they came to the Jordan – he and all the sons of Israel – and they lodged there before they crossed over. ²And it came to pass, after three days, that the officers passed through the camp. ³And they commanded the people and said, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levite priests bearing it, you will move from your place and follow it. ⁴But there will be a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and it. Do not approach it. Do this so that you know the route you are taking, for you have not crossed by this route in times past.” ⁵And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will perform wonders in your midst.” ⁶Then Joshua spoke to the priests and said, “Bear the ark of the covenant, and cross over ahead of the people.” So they bore the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people. ⁷Then the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I shall begin making you great in the eyes of the whole of Israel, so that they know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. ⁸And you will command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, and say, ‘When you arrive at the edge of the water of the Jordan, stand in the Jordan.’ ” ⁹And Joshua said to the sons of Israel, “Come near, this way, and hear the words of the Lord your God.” ¹⁰And Joshua said, “This is how you will know that the living God is in your midst, and that he will definitely dispossess the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Hivite and the Perizzite and the Girgashite and the Amorite and the Jebusite at your advance. ¹¹Behold the ark of the covenant. The Lord of the whole earth is crossing before you in the Jordan. ¹²And now, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel – one man for each tribe. ¹³And it will come to pass, when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord – the Lord of the whole earth – come to rest in the water of the Jordan, that the water of the Jordan will be cut off – the water coming down from upstream – and it will stand still as one mass.” ¹⁴And it came to pass, when the people moved from their tents to cross the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant ahead of the people, ¹⁵and when the bearers of the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water, while the Jordan was full up to all its banks – as it was all the days of the harvest-time – ¹⁶that the water which came down from upstream stood still. It rose as one mass, very far away in the city of Adam, which is beside Zarethan, and the water that descended into the Arid Sea – the Dead Sea – failed and was cut off. And the people crossed over opposite Jericho. ¹⁷Then the priests who were bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood still on the dry land in the middle of the Jordan, firmly, and all Israel crossed on dry land, until the whole of the people had completed crossing the Jordan.

¹And it came to pass, when all the people had finished crossing the Jordan, that the Lord spoke to Joshua and said, ²“Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe, ³and command them, and say, ‘Take for yourselves from here – from the middle of the Jordan, from the standing place of the priests' feet – twelve stones to set up. So take them across with you, and set them down in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.’ ” ⁴Then Joshua called for the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe, ⁵and Joshua said to them, “Cross in the presence of the ark of the Lord your God to the middle of the Jordan, and let each man lift up one stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, ⁶so that this will be a sign in your community, for your sons will ask about it in the future and say, ‘What is the significance of these stones to you?’ ⁷And you will say to them that the water of the Jordan was cut off ahead of the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the water of the Jordan was cut off, and these stones are a memorial to the sons of Israel, age-abidingly.” ⁸And the sons of Israel did so, as Joshua had commanded, and they took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, as the Lord had said to Joshua, corresponding to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, and they took them across with them to the lodging place, and they set them down there. ⁹And Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the standing place of the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant, and they have been there up to this day. ¹⁰And the priests who bore the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan until the whole event was finished which the Lord had commanded Joshua to say to the people, according to everything that Moses had commanded Joshua. And the people hastened and crossed over. ¹¹And it came to pass, when all the people had finished crossing, that the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed over in the presence of the people. ¹²And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed in the presence of the sons of Israel, as Moses had said to them. ¹³About forty thousand armed men in the army crossed over before the Lord, to war, to the arid tracts of Jericho. ¹⁴On that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the eyes of the whole of Israel, and they feared him as they feared Moses, all the days of his life. ¹⁵And the Lord spoke to Joshua, and he said, ¹⁶“Command the priests, who bear the ark of the testimony, that they are to come up out of the Jordan.” ¹⁷So Joshua commanded the priests, and he said, “Come up out of the Jordan.” ¹⁸And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up out of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet retired onto dry land, that the water of the Jordan returned to its place, and it ran as in times past on all its banks. ¹⁹And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped in Gilgal, at the eastern end of Jericho. ²⁰And Joshua set up in Gilgal those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan. ²¹And he spoke to the sons of Israel, and he said, “When your sons ask their fathers in the future, and they say, ‘What do those stones signify?’ – ²²you will inform your sons and say, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry land, ²³because the Lord your God dried up the water of the Jordan in front of you until you had crossed, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up before us until we had crossed, ²⁴so that all the various peoples of the world would know the power of the Lord, that it was strong, so that you might fear the Lord your God always.’ ”

¹And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the western side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were beside the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the water of the Jordan in the presence of the sons of Israel until we had crossed, that their hearts melted away, and they no longer had any inward mettle in them in the face of the sons of Israel. ²At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make yourselves knives of rock, and circumcise again the sons of Israel – a second round.” ³So Joshua made himself knives of rock, and he circumcised the sons of Israel at the Hill of Foreskins. ⁴And this is the circumstance of Joshua circumcising: all the people who came out of Egypt, the males, all the men of war, had died in the desert on the way when they had come out of Egypt, ⁵because all the people who came out had been circumcised, but they had not circumcised any of the people born in the desert on the way when they had come out of Egypt. ⁶For the sons of Israel went for forty years in the desert until all the people – the men of war who came out of Egypt, who did not obey the voice of the Lord – were finished off, those to whom the Lord swore that he would not show them the land about which the Lord had sworn to their fathers that he would give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. ⁷And he raised up their sons in their place, and it was they whom Joshua circumcised, because they were uncircumcised, because they did not circumcise them on the way. ⁸And it came to pass, when all the people had finished being circumcised, that they remained in their place in the camp until they had recovered. ⁹And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I rolled the reproach of Egypt away from you.” And he called that place Gilgal, as it is called up to this day. ¹⁰And the sons of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and they held the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, in the arid tracts of Jericho. ¹¹And they ate, from the past produce of the land, on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and roasted corn, on this very day. ¹²And the manna ceased on the day after when they ate from the past produce of the land, and the sons of Israel had no more manna, and they ate from the produce of the land of Canaan in that year. ¹³And when Joshua was in Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and what he saw was a man standing opposite him, with his sword unsheathed in his hand. And Joshua went up to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” ¹⁴And he said, “Not the latter, because I have come now as the commander of the army of the Lord.” Then Joshua fell with his face to the ground and worshipped, and he said to him, “What does my Lord say to his servant?” ¹⁵And the commander of the army of the Lord said to Joshua, “Take your shoe off your foot, for the place which you are standing on is holy.” And Joshua did so.

¹Now Jericho was shut and closed up because of the sons of Israel. No-one came out and no-one went in. ²And the Lord said to Joshua, “Look, I have delivered Jericho, and its king, into your hand, valiant warriors though they be. ³And you will circle round the city – all the men of war. Go around the city once, and so you will do for six days. ⁴And seven priests will bear seven far-sounding ramshorns before the ark, and on the seventh day you will circle round the city seven times, and the priests will blow the ramshorns. ⁵And it will come to pass, when you draw out a far-reaching sound on the horn, when you hear the sound of the ramshorn, that all the people will utter a great shout, and the wall of the city will collapse, and the people will go up, each man forwards.” ⁶Then Joshua the son of Nun called for the priests, and he said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests take up seven far-sounding ramshorns before the ark of the Lord.” ⁷And they said to the people, “Cross over and encircle the city, and let every armed man cross over before the ark of the Lord.” ⁸And it came to pass, as Joshua spoke to the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven far-sounding ramshorns, before the Lord, crossed over and sounded the ramshorns, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. ⁹And he who was armed went before the priests who sounded the ramshorns. And the rearguard followed the ark, and they went sounding the ramshorns. ¹⁰Then Joshua commanded the people, and he said, “Do not shout, and do not let your voices be heard, and let nothing be uttered from your mouth until the day when I say to you, ‘Shout’, then you will shout.” ¹¹So the ark of the Lord circled round the city by going round once, and they came back to the camp, and they lodged at the camp. ¹²Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord, ¹³while seven priests were bearing seven far-sounding ramshorns before the ark of the Lord, walking continually and sounding the ramshorns, and whoever was armed went before them, and the rearguard followed the ark of the Lord, and they sounded the ramshorns as they went. ¹⁴And they circled round the city on the second day once, then they returned to the camp. So they did for six days. ¹⁵And it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early at the break of dawn and circled round the city seven times, as was this custom, except that on that day it was seven times that they circled round the city. ¹⁶And it came to pass the seventh time, that the priests sounded the ramshorns, and Joshua said to the people, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city. ¹⁷And the city shall become a cursed place to the Lord, it and everyone in it, except that Rahab the prostitute shall live – she and all those with her at home – because she hid the two scouts whom we sent. ¹⁸And indeed, you must be on your guard with the cursed place, so that you do not become a cursed person, and you take anything from the cursed place, and you make the camp of Israel become a cursed site, and you cause it sorrow. ¹⁹And all silver and gold and articles of copper and iron are holy to the Lord. They will go into the Lord's treasury.” ²⁰Then the people shouted, and the ramshorns were sounded, and it came to pass that when the people heard the sound of the ramshorn, the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall collapsed, and the people went up into the city, each man forwards, and they captured the city. ²¹And they obliterated everything in the city, both man and woman, both child and old man, including oxen and sheep and donkeys, with the edge of the sword. ²²But Joshua had said to the two men who spied on the land, “Go to the house of the prostitute woman and bring the woman out from there with all those belonging to her, as you swore to her.” ²³So the young men who did the spying went in and brought Rahab out, and her father and her mother, and her brothers, and all that belonged to her. And they brought out all her family members and set them down outside the camp of Israel. ²⁴Then they burnt the city with fire, and everything that was in it, except that they put the silver and gold and the articles of copper and iron in the treasury of the house of the Lord. ²⁵And Joshua let Rahab the prostitute live, and the household of her father, and everyone that belonged to her, and she has been living in the midst of Israel to this day, because she hid the scouts whom Joshua sent out to spy out Jericho. ²⁶And Joshua adjured them at that time, and he said, “Cursed before the Lord is the man who arises and builds this city – Jericho. He will lay the foundations at the cost of his firstborn, and he will install gates at the cost of his younger son.” ²⁷And the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was spread all over the land.

¹But the sons of Israel acted treacherously in the cursed place, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took goods from the cursed place, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the sons of Israel. ²Then Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai which is conglomerate with Beth-Aven to the east of Beth-El, and he spoke to them and said, “Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. ³Then they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up. Have about two thousand or about three thousand men go up and strike Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for they are few.” ⁴So about three thousand men from the people went up, but they fled from the men of Ai. ⁵And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, and they pursued them from the front of the gate as far as Shebarim, and they struck them on the way down, and the heart of the people melted away and became water. ⁶Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell face down to the ground before the ark of the Lord until the evening – he and the elders of Israel – and they cast up dust onto their heads. ⁷And Joshua said, “Alas, my Lord the Lord, why did you so specially have this people cross over the Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorite to destroy us? So if only we had been contented to live on the other side of the Jordan. ⁸Please, Lord^*, what shall I say, now that Israel has retreated at the presence of its enemies? ⁹And the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land have heard, and they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will you do about your great name?” ¹⁰At this the Lord said to Joshua, “Get yourself up. Why is it that you have fallen face down? ¹¹Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them, and they have also taken goods from the cursed place, and they have also stolen, and they have also lied, and they have put them in their boxes. ¹²So the sons of Israel will not be able to stand in the presence of their enemies, and they will retreat in the presence of their enemies, because they have been made an object of cursing. I will not be with you any more if you do not eradicate the cursed object from your midst. ¹³Arise, sanctify the people and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, for this is what the Lord God of Israel says: «There is a cursed object in your midst, O Israel. You will not be able to stand against your enemies until you have removed the cursed object from your midst. ¹⁴Now you will approach in the morning by your tribes, and it will be the case that the tribe which the Lord convicts will approach by families, and the family which the Lord convicts will approach by households, and the household which the Lord convicts will approach by men. ¹⁵And it will be the case that he who is convicted of the cursed object will be burned with fire – he and everything he has – because he has transgressed the Lord's covenant, and because he has committed a foolish act in Israel.» ’ ” ¹⁶So Joshua arose early in the morning, and he gathered Israel together by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was convicted. ¹⁷So he had the family of Judah approach, and he convicted the family of Zarhi. Then he had the family of Zarhi approach by men, and Zabdi was convicted. ¹⁸Then he had his household approach by men, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was convicted. ¹⁹Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, do accord honour to the Lord God of Israel and make confession to him and tell me, please, what you have done. Do not conceal anything from me.” ²⁰Then Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and I did such and such. ²¹When I saw among the spoil a fine mantle from Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold whose weight was fifty shekels, I coveted them, and I took them, and now they are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver under it.” ²²Then Joshua sent out messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was hidden in his tent, with the silver under it. ²³Then they took the goods from the interior of the tent, and they brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel, and they laid them out before the Lord. ²⁴And Joshua took Achan the great grandson of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the bar of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his ox and his donkey and his sheep and his tent and everything he had, while all Israel was present with him, and they brought them up to the Valley of Achor. ²⁵And Joshua said, “Why have you caused us trouble? The Lord will cause you trouble this day.” Then all Israel stoned him, and they burned them with fire, and they stoned them. ²⁶And they raised a great heap of stones over him, which is there up to this day, and the Lord relented from the fury of his anger. For this reason he called that place the Valley of Achor, as it is up to this day.

¹Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear and do not be afraid. Take all the military people with you, and arise and go up to Ai. Look, I have delivered the king of Ai into your hand, with his people and his city and his land. ²So do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, but you may take as booty its spoils and its cattle for yourselves. Ambush the city behind it.” ³So Joshua arose with all the military people to go up to Ai, and Joshua selected thirty thousand men, valiant warriors, and he sent them out by night. ⁴And he commanded them, and he said, “Look, you are ambushing the city behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be prepared. ⁵And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city, and it will be the case that they will come out against us as the first time, and we will flee before them. ⁶And they will come after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as the first time’, and we will flee before them. ⁷Then you will arise from the ambush and take possession of the city, and the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. ⁸And it will be the case that when you capture the city, you will set the city on fire. You will act according to the word of the Lord. Look, I have commanded you.” ⁹So Joshua sent them off, and they went to the ambush, and they remained between Beth-El and Ai to the west of Ai, while Joshua lodged that night among the people. ¹⁰Then Joshua got up early in the morning, and he reviewed the people, then he and the elders of Israel went up before the people to Ai. ¹¹And all the military people who were with him went up and approached it, and they came opposite the city, and they encamped to the north of Ai. Now there was a valley between them and Ai. ¹²And he took about five thousand men and stationed them as an ambush between Beth-El and Ai to the west of the city. ¹³And they stationed the people – the whole camp which was to the north of the city – and their trap to the west of the city, while Joshua went into the valley that night. ¹⁴And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city quickly got up and went out to confront Israel in war – he and all his people at the appointed time, before the arid tract – but he did not know that there was an ambush for him behind the city. ¹⁵Then Joshua and all Israel acted as if beaten by them, and they fled in the direction of the desert. ¹⁶Then all the people who were in the city were called upon to pursue them. So they pursued Joshua, and they were drawn out of the city. ¹⁷And not a man remained in Ai or Beth-El who did not come out after Israel, and they left the city open, and they pursued Israel. ¹⁸And the Lord said to Joshua, “Point the spear in your hand towards Ai, for I will deliver it into your hand.” So Joshua pointed the spear in his hand towards the city. ¹⁹Then the ambush arose quickly from its place, and they started to run as he pointed his hand, and they came to the city and captured it, and they quickly set the city on fire. ²⁰And the men of Ai turned round and looked, and what they saw was the smoke of the city rising into the sky, and they did not have the ability to flee one way or another, and the people who were fleeing to the desert turned on the pursuer. ²¹And Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that the smoke of the city was rising, and they turned round and attacked the men of the city. ²²Then the others came out of the city towards them, and Israel had them in a pincer, with some on one side and some on the other side, and they struck them down until they had not left a remnant or escapee. ²³But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua. ²⁴And it came to pass, when Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open land in the desert in which they had chased them, and they had all fallen by the edge of the sword until they had been destroyed, that all Israel returned to Ai, and they struck it with the edge of the sword. ²⁵And all those that fell on that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand – the whole population of Ai. ²⁶And Joshua did not retract his hand with which he pointed the spear until he had obliterated all the inhabitants of Ai, ²⁷except that Israel took the spoils of the cattle and the booty of that city, according to the word of the Lord with which he had commanded Joshua. ²⁸Then Joshua burned Ai and made it an age-abiding mound – a desolation up to this day. ²⁹And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening time, and as the sun set, Joshua gave commandment, and they took his corpse down from the tree, and they cast it into the entrance of the gate of the city, and they raised up on it a great heap of stones, which is there up to this day. ³⁰Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel at Mount Ebal, ³¹as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses – an altar of pure stones, which no-one has used iron on – and they offered burnt offerings to the Lord on it, and they sacrificed peace-offerings. ³²And he wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the sons of Israel. ³³And all Israel and its elders and officers and its judges stood on either side of the ark, opposite the Levite priests who bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord – the foreigner as well as the native citizen, half of them facing Mount Gerizim and half of them facing Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded at the start, so as to bless the people of Israel. ³⁴And after that he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to everything that was written in the book of the law. ³⁵There was no word in everything which Moses commanded which Joshua did not read in the presence of the whole convocation of Israel, including the women and the children and the foreigner who walked in their midst.

¹And it came to pass that when all the kings who were across the Jordan heard it, in the mountain ranges and the low lying land, and along all the coast of the Great Sea opposite Lebanon – the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite – ²that they joined up together to wage war on Joshua and on Israel unanimously. ³And the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, ⁴and they for their part acted craftily, and they set out and pretended to be travellers, and they took worn-out sacks for the donkeys, and worn-out skin bottles for the wine, which were torn and mended, ⁵and they wore shoes that were worn out and patched up on their feet, and they had worn-out clothes on them, and all the bread of their provisions was stale and speckled with mould. ⁶And they came to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, and they said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land, so make a covenant with us now.” ⁷And the men of Israel said to the Hivite, “It could be that you dwell in my midst. So how can I make a covenant with you?” ⁸And they said to Joshua, “We are your servants”, and Joshua said to them, “Who are you and where do you come from?” ⁹And they said to him, “Your servants have come from a very distant land, because of the name of the Lord your God, for we have heard of his fame and everything that he did in Egypt, ¹⁰and everything he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were across the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan, who was in Ashtaroth. ¹¹And our elders and all the inhabitants of our land spoke to us and said, ‘Take provisions in your hand for the journey, and go and meet them, and say to them, «We are your servants, so now make a covenant with us.» ’ ¹²This is our bread. We stocked up with it hot from our houses when we departed to go to you, but now look, it is dry, and it has become speckled with mould. ¹³And these are our wine bottles which we filled when they were new, but look, they have become torn, and these clothes and shoes of ours are worn out from the great length of the journey.” ¹⁴And the men took some of their provisions, but they did not ask for the Lord's pronouncement. ¹⁵And Joshua made peace with them, and he made a covenant with them to let them live, and the chiefs of the congregation swore it to them. ¹⁶Then it transpired after three days, after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they lived in their midst. ¹⁷Then the sons of Israel travelled and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah and Beeroth and Kiriath-Jearim. ¹⁸So the sons of Israel did not attack them, because the chiefs of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel. And the whole congregation complained about the chiefs. ¹⁹And all the chiefs said to the whole congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel, so now we cannot touch them. ²⁰This is what we will do with them, as we let them live, so that there will not be anger on us on account of the oath which we swore to them ...” ²¹And the chiefs said to them, “They shall live ...” And they became hewers of wood and drawers of water for the whole congregation, as the chiefs told them. ²²So Joshua called them and spoke to them, and he said, “Why did you deceive us, saying, ‘We are very distant from you’, whilst you live in our midst? ²³So now, you are cursed, and none of you shall be discharged from being a servant or hewers of wood or drawers of water for the house of my God.” ²⁴Then they answered Joshua and said, “It is because it was definitely told to your servants what the Lord your God commanded Moses his servant, that he would give you all the land and destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you, and we were very afraid of you for our lives, so we did this thing. ²⁵So now, here we are in your hands. Do what is right and proper in your sight to do to us.” ²⁶So he did so to them, and he spared them from the hand of the sons of Israel, and they did not kill them. ²⁷And Joshua appointed them hewers of wood and drawers of water on that day, to the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, as it is up to this day, at the place which he would yet choose.

¹And it came to pass when Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai and had obliterated it – that as he did to Jericho and its king, so he did to Ai and its king – and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and they were in their midst, ²that they were very afraid, for Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and it was larger than Ai, and all its men were warriors. ³So Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem sent messengers to Hoham king of Hebron, and to Piram king of Jarmuth, and to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Debir king of Eglon and said, ⁴“Come up to me and help me, and we will attack Gibeon, because it has made peace with Joshua and the sons of Israel.” ⁵So five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon gathered together and went up – they and all their companies – and they encamped against Gibeon and waged war on it. ⁶Then the men of Gibeon sent messengers to Joshua, to the camp in Gilgal, and they said, “Do not let your support for your servants fail. Come up to us quickly and save us and help us, because all the kings of the Amorites – the inhabitants of the mountain range – are gathered up against us.” ⁷So Joshua went up from Gilgal – he and all the military people with him – and all the valiant warriors. ⁸And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for I have delivered them into your hand. Not a man of them will stand before you.” ⁹And Joshua immediately went to them; he went up from Gilgal all night. ¹⁰And the Lord routed them before Israel, and he struck them with a great blow in Gibeon, and he pursued them on the ascent road to Beth-Horon, and he struck them down as far as Azekah and as far as Makkedah. ¹¹And it came to pass, as they fled from Israel, while they were on the descent of Beth-Horon, that the Lord cast great stones at them from heaven, as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more that died by the hailstones than they whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword. ¹²Then Joshua spoke to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorite before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,

“Sun in Gibeon, stand still,

And moon too,

At the Valley of Aijalon.

¹³And the sun stood still,

And the moon stood in place,

Until a people had taken vengeance on their enemy.”

Is it not written in the Book of the Upright?

“And the sun stood in place

Half way across the sky

And did not hasten to set

For a complete day.”

¹⁴And there was nothing like that day, before it or after it, in that the Lord obeyed man, for the Lord fought for Israel. ¹⁵Then Joshua returned, as did all Israel with him, to the camp in Gilgal. ¹⁶And those five kings fled, and they hid in a cave at Makkedah. ¹⁷But it was reported to Joshua as follows: “The five kings have been found hiding in a cave at Makkedah.” ¹⁸Then Joshua said, “Roll large stones across the entrance to the cave and appoint men over it to guard them. ¹⁹But don't you stay. Pursue your enemies and attack them at the rear. Do not let them go to their cities, for the Lord your God has delivered them into your hand.” ²⁰And it came to pass, when Joshua and the sons of Israel had finished striking them down with a very great blow, until they had been finished off, that the remnant escaped from them and went to the fortified cities. ²¹Then all the people returned to the camp – to Joshua – Makkedah being secure, and no-one criticized any of the sons of Israel. ²²Then Joshua said, “Open the entrance to the cave and bring out to me those five kings from the cave.” ²³And they did so, and they brought those five kings to him from the cave – the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon. ²⁴And it came to pass, when they had brought these kings out to Joshua, that Joshua called for every man of Israel and said to the leaders of the men of war who had gone with him, “Approach, place your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they approached and placed their feet on their necks. ²⁵Then Joshua said to them, “Do not fear and do not be afraid. Be strong and take courage, for so the Lord will do to all your enemies with whom you are waging war.” ²⁶And after that Joshua struck them and killed them, and he hung them on five trees, and they were hanging on the trees until the evening. ²⁷And it came to pass, at the time of sunset, that Joshua gave command, and they took them down from the trees, and they cast them into the cave where they had hidden, and they placed large stones at the cave entrance, which are there to this very day. ²⁸And Joshua captured Makkedah that day, and he struck it with the edge of the sword, including its king. He obliterated them, along with every person in it. He did not leave a remnant remaining, and he did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho. ²⁹Then Joshua and all Israel with him crossed from Makkedah to Libnah, and he fought against Libnah. ³⁰And the Lord delivered that too into Israel's hand, and its king, and he struck it with the edge of the sword, along with every person in it. He did not leave a remnant remaining in it, and he did to its king as he did to the king of Jericho. ³¹Then Joshua and all of Israel with him crossed from Libnah to Lachish, and he encamped against it, and he fought against it. ³²And the Lord delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, and he captured it on the second day, and he struck it with the edge of the sword, along with every person in it, just as everything he did to Libnah. ³³Then Horam king of Gezer went up to help Lachish, but Joshua struck him and his people, not leaving him a remnant remaining. ³⁴Then Joshua and all Israel with him crossed from Lachish to Eglon, and they encamped against it, and they fought against it. ³⁵And they captured it on that day, and they struck it with the edge of the sword, along with every person in it. On that day he obliterated it, just as everything he did to Lachish. ³⁶Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron, and they fought against it, ³⁷and they captured it, and they struck it with the edge of the sword, and its king, and all its cities, and every person in it. He did not leave a remnant remaining, just as everything he did to Eglon. And he obliterated it along with every person who was in it. ³⁸Then Joshua and the whole of Israel with him returned to Debir, and he fought against it. ³⁹And he captured it and its king, and all its cities, and they struck them with the edge of the sword, and they obliterated every person in it. He did not leave a remnant remaining. Just as he did to Hebron, so he did to Debir and its king, and as he did to Libnah and its king. ⁴⁰And Joshua struck the whole land – the mountain range and the south and the low lying land and the ravines – and all their kings. He did not leave a remnant remaining, and he obliterated every breathing creature, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded. ⁴¹And Joshua struck them from Kadesh-Barnea to Gaza, and all the land of Goshen to Gibeon. ⁴²And Joshua captured all these kings and their land in one go, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. ⁴³Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp in Gilgal.

¹And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor heard of this, that he sent messengers to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron and to the king of Achshaph, ²and to the kings to the north, in the mountain range, and to those in the arid tract to the south of Kinnereth and in the low lying land, and in the heights of Dor to the west, ³and to the Canaanite to the east and to the west, and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Jebusite in the mountain range, and the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpah. ⁴And they came out, as did all their companies with them – a numerous people which is like the sand on the sea-shore in multitude – with horses and chariots in very great number. ⁵And all these kings met, and they departed and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel. ⁶And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at about this time I will be making all of them fallen men before Israel. You will hamstring their horses, and you will burn their chariots with fire.” ⁷Then Joshua and all the military people with him came against them suddenly at the waters of Merom, and they attacked them. ⁸And the Lord delivered them into Israel's hand, and they struck them, and they pursued them as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-Maim, and as far as the Valley of Mizpeh in the east. And they struck them without leaving them a remnant remaining. ⁹And Joshua did to them as the Lord had told him. He hamstrung their horses, and he burned their chariots with fire. ¹⁰Then at that time Joshua turned back and captured Hazor. And he struck its king with the sword, for Hazor in the past was the head of all these kingdoms. ¹¹And they struck every person that was in it with the edge of the sword. He obliterated it. No breathing creature remained, and he burned Hazor with fire. ¹²And Joshua captured all the cities of those kings, and all their kings, and he struck them with the edge of the sword. He obliterated them as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. ¹³But Israel did not burn any of the cities which stood on their mound, except for Hazor alone, which Joshua burned. ¹⁴And the sons of Israel took as spoil for themselves all the booty of these cities, and the cattle, but they struck every person with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them. They did not leave any breathing creature remaining. ¹⁵As the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses had commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He did not omit anything of all that the Lord commanded Moses. ¹⁶And Joshua took all this land – the mountain range and all the south and all the land of Goshen, and the low lying land and the arid tract and the mountain range of Israel and its low lying land, ¹⁷from Mount Halak which goes up to Seir, as far as Baal-Gad in the Valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon – and he captured all their kings, and he struck them and killed them. ¹⁸Joshua waged war with all these kings for many days. ¹⁹There was no city which made peace with the sons of Israel except the Hivites – the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took everything in the war. ²⁰For it was from the Lord that their hearts should be hardened to engage in battle with Israel, so as to obliterate them, so that they should not be shown any mercy, for it was so as to destroy them, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²¹And Joshua came at that time and cut the Anakites off from the mountain range, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab and from every mountain of Judah, and from every mountain of Israel. Joshua obliterated them with their cities. ²²No Anakites remained in the land of the sons of Israel, except that they remained in Gaza, in Gath and in Ashdod. ²³And Joshua took all the land according to everything the Lord had said to Moses. And Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land rested from war.

¹Now these are the kings of the land whom the sons of Israel struck and whose land they took possession of across the Jordan on the east, from the Arnon Brook up to Mount Hermon and all the arid tract in the east: ²Sihon king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon, who ruled from Aroer, which is on the bank of the Arnon Brook, and from the brook, and from half of Gilead to the Jabbok Brook, the border of the sons of Ammon, ³and the arid tract up to the Sea of Kinnereth to the east, and as far as the Arid Sea – the Dead Sea – to the east, the road to Beth-Jeshimoth, and to the south below Ashdoth-Pisgah, ⁴and the territory of Og king of Bashan, who was of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived in Ashtaroth and in Edrei, ⁵and who ruled at Mount Hermon and in Salcah and in all Bashan up to the border with the Geshurites and the Maachathites, and half of Gilead, to the border of Sihon king of Heshbon. ⁶Moses the servant of the Lord and the sons of Israel struck them, and Moses the servant of the Lord gave it as a possession to the Reubenites and the Gadites and half of the tribe of Manasseh. ⁷And these are the kings of the land, whom Joshua and the sons of Israel struck across the Jordan to the west, from Baal-Gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, which goes up to Seir, land which Joshua gave to the tribes of Israel as a possession, according to their divisions, ⁸in the mountain range and in the low lying land, and in the arid tracts and in the ravines, and in the desert, and in the south – the land of the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite: ⁹the king of Jericho, one, the king of Ai which is alongside Beth-El, one, ¹⁰the king of Jerusalem, one, the king of Hebron, one, ¹¹the king of Jarmuth, one, the king of Lachish, one, ¹²the king of Eglon, one, the king of Gezer, one, ¹³the king of Debir, one, the king of Geder, one, ¹⁴the king of Hormah, one, the king of Arad, one, ¹⁵the king of Libnah, one, the king of Adullam, one, ¹⁶the king of Makkedah, one, the king of Beth-El, one, ¹⁷the king of Tappuah, one, the king of Hepher, one, ¹⁸the king of Aphek, one, the king of Lasharon, one, ¹⁹the king of Madon, one, the king of Hazor, one, ²⁰the king of Shimron-Meron, one, the king of Achshaph, one, ²¹the king of Taanach, one, the king of Megiddo, one, ²²the king of Kedesh, one, the king of Jokneam of Carmel, one, ²³the king of Dor of the heights of Dor, one, the king of the nations of Gilgal, one, ²⁴the king of Tirzah, one. All the kings came to thirty-one.

¹Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, “You have become old and advanced in years, but very much of the land remains to be taken possession of. ²This is the land which remains: all the regions of the Philistines, and all Geshuri, ³from Shihor which is before Egypt up to the border of Ekron to the north, which is reckoned to the Canaanites, five barons of the Philistines: the Gazathites and the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites and the Ekronites; also the Avites. ⁴From the south: all the land of the Canaanites and Mearah of the Sidonians to Aphek, to the border of the Amorites, ⁵and the land of the Giblites, and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal-Gad under Mount Hermon to the approach of Hamath. ⁶As for all the inhabitants of the mountain range, from Lebanon to Misrephoth-Maim – all the Sidonians – I will dispossess them before the sons of Israel. You just assign it to Israel as an inheritance, as I have commanded you. ⁷And now, divide this land to be an inheritance for the nine tribes and half of the tribe of Manasseh. ⁸With them the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance which Moses gave them across the Jordan on the east, as Moses the servant of the Lord gave them, ⁹from Aroer which is on the bank of the Arnon Brook and the city which is at the middle section of the brook, and all the plain of Medeba to Dibon, ¹⁰and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon and as far as the border of the sons of Ammon, ¹¹and Gilead and the territory of the Geshurites and the Maachathites and all of Mount Hermon and all Bashan as far as Salcah, ¹²and all the kingdom of Og in Bashan who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei. It is he who was left from the remainder of the Rephaim, whom Moses struck and dispossessed.” ¹³But the sons of Israel did not dispossess the Geshurite and the Maachathite, and Geshur and Maachath dwell in the midst of Israel up to this day. ¹⁴But he did not give an inheritance to the tribe of Levi. The fire-offerings of the Lord God of Israel are their inheritance, as he has said to them. ¹⁵And Moses gave the tribe of the sons of Reuben their inheritance according to their families. ¹⁶And they had the territory from Aroer, which is on the bank of the Arnon Brook, and the city which is at the middle section of the brook, and all the plain as far as Medeba, ¹⁷namely Heshbon and all its cities which are on the plain, Dibon and Bamoth-Baal and Beth-Baal-Meon, ¹⁸and Jahzah and Kedemoth and Mephaath, ¹⁹and Kiriathaim and Sibmah and Zereth-Shahar in the mountain range of the valley, ²⁰and Beth-Peor and Ashdoth-Pisgah and Beth-Jeshimoth, ²¹and all the cities of the plain, and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses struck, with the chiefs of Midian – Evi and Rekem, and Zur and Hur and Reba, princes of Sihon – inhabiting the land. ²²And the sons of Israel killed by the sword Balaam the son of Beor, the diviner, among those who were defeated by them. ²³And the border of the sons of Reuben was the Jordan – as a natural border. This was the inheritance of the sons of Reuben according to their families – their cities with their villages. ²⁴And Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of Gad – to the sons of Gad – according to their families. ²⁵And their territory was at Jazer and all the cities of Gilead, and half of the land of the sons of Ammon as far as Aroer which is before Rabbah, ²⁶and from Heshbon to Ramath-Mizpeh and Betonim, and from Mahanaim up to the border of Debir, ²⁷and in the valley, Beth-Haram and Beth-Nimrah, and Succoth and Zaphon – the remainder of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon – with the Jordan as a natural border up to the end of the Sea of Kinnereth across the Jordan, to the east. ²⁸This was the inheritance of the sons of Gad according to their families – the cities and the villages. ²⁹And Moses gave inheritance to half of the tribe of Manasseh, and to the half-tribe of the sons of Manasseh it belonged, according to their families. ³⁰And their border was from Mahanaim, all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all the villages of Jair which were in Bashan: sixty cities. ³¹And half of Gilead and Ashtaroth and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan were given to the sons of Machir the son of Manasseh – to one half of the sons of Machir by their families. ³²These are what Moses gave as an inheritance in the arid tracts of Moab across the Jordan, east of Jericho. ³³But to the tribe of Levi Moses did not give any inheritance. The Lord God of Israel is their inheritance, as he said to them.

¹And these are the places which the sons of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun distributed as an inheritance, with the paternal heads of the tribes of the sons of Israel. ²Their inheritance was by lot, as the Lord had commanded through the intermediacy of Moses, it being for the nine and a half tribes. ³For Moses gave the inheritance of the two and a half tribes across the Jordan, but he did not give the Levites any inheritance among them. ⁴For Joseph's sons became two tribes – Manasseh and Ephraim. But they did not give a portion to the Levites in the land, except cities to inhabit and pasture lands belonging to them, for their cattle and for their property. ⁵As the Lord commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did, and they divided up the land. ⁶Then the sons of Judah approached Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know the word which the Lord spoke to Moses the man of God concerning me and concerning you in Kadesh-Barnea. ⁷I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-Barnea to spy out the land, and I reported back to him, in accordance with my heart. ⁸But my brothers who went up with me caused the heart of the people to melt away, but I followed the Lord my God fully. ⁹And Moses swore on that day and said, ‘The land which your foot has trodden on will certainly be yours as an inheritance, and your sons', age-abidingly, for you have fully followed the Lord my God.’ ¹⁰And now, look, the Lord has kept me alive, as he said forty-five years ago, since when the Lord spoke this word to Moses, when Israel was walking in the desert, and now, look, I am eighty-five years old today. ¹¹Today I am still as strong as on the day when Moses sent me. As my strength was then, so my strength is now, in battle and in ordinary affairs. ¹²So now, give me this mountain, of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day that the Anakites were there, with great fortified cities, but that if the Lord was to be with me, I would dispossess them, as the Lord had said.” ¹³Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as an inheritance, ¹⁴which is why Hebron came to belong to Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite as an inheritance, up to this day – because he fully followed the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁵And the name of Hebron was previously Kiriath-Arba, after Arba, who was the great man of the Anakites. And the land rested from war.

¹And the lot of the tribe of the sons of Judah, according to their families, was to the border of Edom – the Desert of Zin to the south, at the southern end. ²And their border to the south was from the end of the Dead Sea, from the inlet which faces south. ³And it went out from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and it crossed over towards Zin, and it went up from the south to Kadesh-Barnea, and it crossed Hezron and went up to Addar, and it went round to Karkaa. ⁴And it crossed to Azmon and went out to the Brook of Egypt, and the border at the sea was its extreme end. This will be your southern border. ⁵And the border to the east was the Dead Sea, up to the end of the Jordan, and the border in the northern corner is from the sea inlet at the end of the Jordan. ⁶And the border went up to Beth-Hoglah, and it crossed over in the north to Beth-Arabah, and the border went up to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben. ⁷And the border went up to Debir from the Valley of Achor, and northwards, turning towards Gilgal, which is opposite the ascent of Adummim, which is to the south of the brook, and the border crossed to the water of En-Shemesh, and its extremities were at En-Rogel. ⁸And the border went up the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to the slope of the Jebusite to the south, that is Jerusalem. And the border went up to the summit of the mountain which faces the Valley of Hinnom on the west, which is at the northern end of the Valley of the Rephaim. ⁹And the border was drawn from the summit of the mountain to the source of the water of Nephtoah, and it went out to the cities of Mount Ephron, and the border was drawn to Baalah, that is Kiriath-Jearim. ¹⁰Then the border went round from Baalah westwards to Mount Seir, and it crossed to the side of Mount Jearim on the north, that is Chesalon, and it went down to Beth-Shemesh, and it crossed over to Timnah. ¹¹And the border went out to the side of Ekron towards the north, then the border was drawn to Shicron, and it crossed over to Mount Baalah, and it went out to Jabneel, and the extremities of the border were at the sea. ¹²And the border to the west went to the Great Sea – as a natural border. This is the border of the sons of Judah round about, according to their families. ¹³And to Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a share in the midst of the sons of Judah according to the pronouncement of the Lord to Joshua: Kiriath-Arba (Arba being the father of Anak), that is Hebron. ¹⁴And Caleb dispossessed the three sons of Anak of that place: Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai – the offspring of Anak. ¹⁵Then he went up from there to the inhabitants of Debir. Now the name of Debir was previously Kiriath-Sepher. ¹⁶And Caleb said, “Whoever attacks Kiriath-Sepher and captures it, to him I will give Achsah my daughter as a wife.” ¹⁷Then Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's brother, captured it, and he gave him Achsah his daughter as a wife. ¹⁸And it came to pass when she came to him that she persuaded him to ask for a field from her father. So she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What is the matter?” ¹⁹And she said, “Give me a blessing, for you have given me the land of the south, so give me springs of water.” Then he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. ²⁰This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Judah, according to their families. ²¹And the cities from the boundary of the tribe of the sons of Judah to the border of Edom in the south were: Kabzeel and Eder and Jagur, ²²and Kinah and Dimonah and Adadah, ²³and Kedesh and Hazor and Ithnan, ²⁴Ziph and Telem and Bealoth, ²⁵and Hazor-Hadattah and Kerioth and Hezron which is Hazor, ²⁶Amam and Shema and Moladah, ²⁷and Hazar-Gaddah and Heshmon and Beth-Pelet, ²⁸and Hazar-Shual and Beersheba and Bizjothjah, ²⁹Baalah and Iim and Ezem, ³⁰and Eltolad and Chesil and Hormah, ³¹and Ziklag and Madmannah and Sansannah, ³²and Lebaoth and Shilhim and Ain and Rimmon – all the cities came to twenty-nine in number, with their villages. ³³In the lowland: Eshtaol and Zorah and Ashnah, ³⁴and Zanoah and En-Gannim, Tappuah and Enam, ³⁵Jarmuth and Adullam, Sochoh and Azekah, ³⁶and Shaaraim and Adithaim and Gederah and Gederothaim – fourteen cities with their villages; ³⁷Zenan and Hadashah and Migdal-Gad, ³⁸and Dilan and Mizpeh and Joktheel, ³⁹Lachish and Bozkath and Eglon, ⁴⁰and Cabbon and Lahmas and Kithlish, ⁴¹and Gederoth, Beth-Dagon and Naamah and Makkedah – sixteen cities with their villages; ⁴²Libnah and Ether and Ashan, ⁴³and Jephthah and Ashnah and Nezib, ⁴⁴and Keilah and Achzib and Mareshah – nine cities with their villages; ⁴⁵Ekron with its satellites and its villages; ⁴⁶from Ekron westwards: all that were next to Ashdod with their villages, ⁴⁷Ashdod, its satellites, and its villages, Gaza, its satellites and its villages, as far as the Brook of Egypt and the sea – the border – as a natural border; ⁴⁸and in the mountain area: Shamir and Jattir and Sochoh, ⁴⁹and Dannah and Kiriath-Sannah, which is Debir, ⁵⁰and Anab and Eshtemoh and Anim, ⁵¹and Goshen and Holon and Giloh – eleven cities with their villages; ⁵²Arab and Rumah and Eshan, ⁵³Janim and Beth-Tappuah and Aphekah, ⁵⁴and Humtah and Kiriath-Arba, which is Hebron, and Zior – nine cities with their villages; ⁵⁵Maon, Carmel and Ziph and Juttah, ⁵⁶and Jezreel and Jokdeam and Zanoah, ⁵⁷Cain, Gibeah and Timnah – ten cities with their villages; ⁵⁸Halhul, Beth-Zur and Gedor, ⁵⁹and Maarath and Beth-Anoth and Eltekon – six cities with their villages; ⁶⁰Kiriath-Baal which is Kiriath-Jearim and Rabbah – two cities with their villages; ⁶¹in the desert: Beth-Arabah, Middin and Sechachah, ⁶²and Nibshan and the City of Salt and En-Gedi – six cities with their villages. ⁶³But as for the Jebusites – the inhabitants of Jerusalem – the sons of Judah are not able to dispossess them, and the Jebusites have been dwelling with the sons of Judah in Jerusalem up to this day.

¹And the lot of Joseph's sons came out as from the Jordan at Jericho to the water of Jericho to the east – the desert which rises from Jericho at Mount Beth-El. ²And it came out as from Beth-El to Luz, and it crossed over to the border of Archi, to Ataroth. ³And it went down to the west, to the border of Japhleti as far as the border of Lower Beth-Horon, and as far as Gezer, and its limits were at the sea. ⁴And the sons of Joseph, of Manasseh and Ephraim, inherited it. ⁵And the border of the sons of Ephraim according to their families was assigned, and the border of their inheritance was to the east, in Ataroth-Addar as far as Upper Beth-Horon. ⁶And the border went out westwards to Michmethath in the north, and the border went round to the east to Taanath-Shiloh, and it passed it on the east, proceeding to Janohah. ⁷And it went down from Janohah to Ataroth and to Naarath, and it reached Jericho, and it went out to the Jordan. ⁸The border goes from Tappuah westwards to the Kanah Brook, and its limits are at the sea. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim according to their families. ⁹And the separate cities of the sons of Ephraim were among the inheritance of the sons of Manasseh – all the cities with their villages. ¹⁰But they did not dispossess the Canaanite who was living in Gezer, and the Canaanite lived in the midst of Ephraim, as it is up to this day, and they were under tribute service.

¹And there was the lot for the tribe of Manasseh, because he was Joseph's firstborn, the lot for Machir Manasseh's firstborn, the father of Gilead, for he was a man of war, and he had Gilead and Bashan. ²And the sons of Manasseh who remained had a lot according to their families: for the sons of Abiezer and for the sons of Helek, and for the sons of Asriel, and for the sons of Shechem, and for the sons of Hepher, and for the sons of Shemida. These were the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph – the males – according to their families. ³But Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, did not have any sons, but only daughters, and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. ⁴And they came into the presence of Eleazar the priest and of Joshua the son of Nun, and of the leaders, and they said, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers.” And he gave them an inheritance according to the pronouncement of the Lord, among their father's brothers. ⁵And the portions of Manasseh fell, ten of them in number, apart from the land of Gilead and Bashan which are across the Jordan. ⁶For the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons, and the land of Gilead was for the remaining sons of Manasseh. ⁷And the border of Manasseh was from Asher to Michmethath, which is in front of Shechem, and the border went to the right, to the inhabitants of En-Tappuah. ⁸Manasseh had the land of Tappuah, but Tappuah itself up to Manasseh's border was for the sons of Ephraim. ⁹And the border went down to the Kanah Brook southwards – towards the brook. These cities were for Ephraim in the midst of the cities of Manasseh, and Manasseh's border was to the north of the brook, and its limits were at the sea. ¹⁰To the south it was Ephraim's and to the north it was Manasseh's. And the sea was its border, and they met with the territory of Asher in the north, and with that of Issachar in the east. ¹¹And Manasseh had in Issachar's territory and in Asher's territory: Beth-Shean and its satellites, and Ibleam and its satellites, and the inhabitants of Dor and its satellites, and the inhabitants of En-Dor and its satellites, and the inhabitants of Taanach and its satellites, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its satellites – the three highlands. ¹²But the sons of Manasseh could not dispossess these cities, and the Canaanites resolved to dwell in this land. ¹³And it came about that, when the sons of Israel became strong, they put the Canaanites under tribute, but they did not dispossess them at all. ¹⁴Then the sons of Joseph spoke with Joshua and said, “Why have you given me as an inheritance one lot and one portion, whilst I am a numerous people inasmuch as so far the Lord has blessed me?” ¹⁵And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, get moving up into the woodland and reclaim land for yourself there, in the land of the Perizzite and the Rephaim, for Mount Ephraim is too confined for you.” ¹⁶Then the sons of Joseph said, “The mountain is not sufficient for us, but all the Canaanites who live in the valley area have iron chariots, both they of Beth-Shean and its satellites, and they of the Valley of Jezreel.” ¹⁷Then Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph – to Ephraim and to Manasseh – and he said, “You are a numerous people, and you have great strength. You will not have just one lot. ¹⁸For you will have a mountain, for it is woodland, and you will reclaim it, and its limits will belong to you, for you will dispossess the Canaanite, although they have iron chariots and although they are strong.”

¹Then the whole congregation of the sons of Israel was convened at Shiloh, and they set up the tent of contact there. And the land was subdued before them. ²Now there remained among the sons of Israel those who had not been apportioned their inheritance – seven tribes. ³And Joshua said to the sons of Israel, “How long will you be slack in going to take possession of the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you? ⁴Appoint yourselves three men per tribe, and I will send them, and they will get up and walk around the land, and document it according to their inheritance, and then they will come to me. ⁵And they will divide it into seven portions. Judah will remain in his territory in the south, and the house of Joseph will remain in their territory to the north. ⁶And you will document the land as seven portions, and you will report to me here, and I will cast lots for you here before the Lord our God. ⁷For the Levites do not have a portion in your midst, for the Lord's priesthood is their inheritance, and Gad and Reuben and half of the tribe of Manasseh received their inheritance across the Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them.” ⁸Then the men got up and departed, and Joshua commanded those who went to document the land, and he said, “Go and walk around the land and document it, then return to me, and I will cast lots for you here in the presence of the Lord in Shiloh.” ⁹So the men departed and crossed the land and documented it by cities in seven portions in a book. Then they came back to Joshua at the camp at Shiloh, ¹⁰and Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh, in the presence of the Lord, and Joshua apportioned the land there to the sons of Israel according to their divisions. ¹¹And the lot of the sons of Benjamin came up according to their families, and the territory of their lot came out as between the sons of Judah and the sons of Joseph. ¹²And their border in the northern quarter was from the Jordan, and the border went up to the side of Jericho in the north, then it went up to the mountain range westwards, and its limits were at the Desert of Beth-Aven. ¹³The border then crossed over from there to Luz, to the slope of Luz, going south, that is to Beth-El, then the border went down to Ataroth-Addar at the mountain which is south of Lower Beth-Horon. ¹⁴And the border was drawn, and it went round the western quarter southwards from the mountain which is before Beth-Horon, southwards, and its limits were at Kiriath-Baal, that is Kiriath-Jearim, a city of the sons of Judah. This is the western quarter. ¹⁵And the southern quarter was from the end of Kiriath-Jearim, and the border went out westwards, and it went out to the water-source of Nephtoah. ¹⁶And the border went down to the end of the mountain range which is by the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is in the Valley of the Rephaim to the north. And it went down the Valley of Hinnom to the side of Jebusi on the south, and it went down to En-Rogel. ¹⁷And it was drawn from the north, and it went out to En-Shemesh, and it went out to Geliloth, which is opposite the ascent to Adummim, then it went down to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben. ¹⁸And it crossed over to the side opposite Arabah to the north, and then descended to Arabah itself. ¹⁹And the border crossed the side of Beth-Hoglah northwards, and the limits of the border were at the inlet of the Dead Sea to the north and at the southern end of the Jordan. This is the southern border. ²⁰And the Jordan formed its border in the eastern quarter. This was the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin according to their enclosing borders, according to their families. ²¹And the cities which belonged to the tribe of the sons of Benjamin according to their families were: Jericho and Beth-Hoglah and the Valley of Keziz, ²²and Beth-Arabah and Zemaraim and Beth-El, ²³and Avim and Parah and Ophrah, ²⁴and Chephar-Haammoni and Ophni and Geba – twelve cities with their villages; ²⁵Gibeon and Ramah and Beeroth, ²⁶and Mizpeh and Chephirah and Mozah, ²⁷and Rekem and Irpeel and Taralah, ²⁸and Zela, Eleph and Jebusi – that is Jerusalem – Gibeath, Kiriath – fourteen cities with their villages. This was the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin according to their families.

¹And the second lot came out for Simeon – for the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families – and their inheritance was within the inheritance of the sons of Judah. ²And they had as their inheritance Beersheba and Sheba and Moladah, ³and Hazar-Shual and Balah and Ezem, ⁴and Eltolad and Bethul and Hormah, ⁵and Ziklag and Beth-Marcaboth and Hazar-Susah, ⁶and Beth-Lebaoth and Sharuhen – thirteen cities with their villages; ⁷and Ain, Rimmon, and Ether and Ashan – four cities with their villages; ⁸and all the villages that are around these cities, up to Baalath-Beer and Ramath of the south. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families. ⁹The inheritance of the sons of Simeon came from the portion of the sons of Judah, for the portion of the sons of Judah was too great for them, and the sons of Simeon received an inheritance within their inheritance. ¹⁰Then the third lot came up, for the sons of Zebulun, according to their families, and the border of their inheritance was up to Sarid. ¹¹And their border went up to the west, and to Maralah, and it reached Dabbesheth, and it reached the brook which is before Jokneam. ¹²And it came back from Sarid eastwards, towards the sunrise, to the border of Chisloth-Tabor, and it went out to Daberath, and it went up to Japhia. ¹³And from there it crossed eastwards, towards the sunrise, to Gittah-Hepher and Ittah-Kazin, and it went out to Rimmon-Methoar, and to Neah. ¹⁴And the border went round it to the north at Hannathon and its limits were at the Valley of Jiphtah-El, ¹⁵and Kattath and Nahalal and Shimron, and Idalah, and Bethlehem – twelve cities with their villages. ¹⁶This was the inheritance of the sons of Zebulun according to their families – these cities with their villages. ¹⁷The fourth lot came out for Issachar – for the sons of Issachar according to their families. ¹⁸And their border was towards Jezreel and Chesuloth and Shunem, ¹⁹and Hapharaim and Shion and Anaharath, ²⁰and Rabbith and Kishion and Ebez, ²¹and Remeth and En-Gannim and En-Haddah and Beth-Pazzez. ²²And the border reached Tabor and Shahazumah and Beth-Shemesh, and the limits of their border were at the Jordan – sixteen cities with their villages. ²³This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Issachar according to their families – the cities with their villages. ²⁴Then the fifth lot came out, for the tribe of the sons of Asher, according to their families. ²⁵And their border was at Helkath and Hali and Beten and Achshaph, ²⁶and Alammelech and Amad and Mishal, and it reached Carmel to the west, and to Shihor-Libnath. ²⁷And it came back eastwards to Beth-Dagon, and it reached the territory of Zebulun and the Valley of Jiphtah-El to the north of Beth-Emek and Neiel, and it went out to Cabul on the left hand side, ²⁸and Ebron and Rehob and Hammon and Kanah, as far as Great Sidon. ²⁹And the border returned to Ramah and to the fortified city of Tyre, then the border returned to Hosah. And its limits to the west were from the region of Achzib. ³⁰And Umah and Aphek and Rehob – twenty-two cities with their villages. ³¹This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Asher according to their families – these cities with their villages. ³²The sixth lot came out for the sons of Naphtali – for the sons of Naphtali according to their families. ³³And their border was from Heleph and from Elon at Zaanannim and Adami, Nekeb and Jabneel, up to Lakkum. And its limits were at the Jordan. ³⁴And the border returned westwards to Aznoth-Tabor, and it went out from there to Hukok, and it adjoined the territory of Zebulun in the south, and it adjoined the territory of Asher in the west, and of Judah at the Jordan towards the east. ³⁵And it took in the fortified cities of Ziddim, Zer and Hammath, Rakkath and Kinnereth, ³⁶and Adamah and Ramah and Hazor, ³⁷and Kedesh and Edrei and En-Hazor, ³⁸and Iron and Migdal-El, Horem and Beth-Anath and Beth-Shemesh – nineteen cities with their villages. ³⁹This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali according to their families – the cities with their villages. ⁴⁰The seventh lot came out for the tribe of the sons of Dan according to their families, ⁴¹and the territory of their inheritance was Zorah and Eshtaol and Ir-Shemesh, ⁴²and Shaalabbin and Aijalon and Jithlah, ⁴³and Elon and Timnah and Ekron, ⁴⁴and Eltekeh and Gibbethon and Baalath, ⁴⁵and Jehud and Bene-Berak and Gath-Rimmon, ⁴⁶and Me-Jarkon and Rakkon with the border opposite Japho. ⁴⁷And the border of the sons of Dan went out from them, and the sons of Dan went up and fought against Leshem and captured it, and they struck it with the edge of the sword, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it, and they called it Leshem Dan, after the name of Dan their father. ⁴⁸This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Dan according to their families – these cities with their villages. ⁴⁹And they finished inheriting the land according to its borders, and the sons of Israel gave an inheritance to Joshua the son of Nun in their midst. ⁵⁰They gave him the city which he had asked for, according to the pronouncement of the Lord: Timnath-Serah on Mount Ephraim, and he built the city and dwelt in it. ⁵¹These were the inheritances which Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun, and the chief men of the fathers caused the tribes of the sons of Israel to inherit by lot in Shiloh before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of contact, and they finished dividing the land.

¹Then the Lord spoke to Joshua and said, ²“Speak to the sons of Israel and say, ‘Appoint for yourselves the cities of refuge, about which I have told you through the intermediacy of Moses, ³so that a manslayer can flee there – one who strikes a person by accident, unintentionally – and they will be a refuge for you from the avenger of blood. ⁴And he will flee to one of these cities, and he will stand at the entrance of the gate of the city and relate his case in the audience of the elders of that city, and they will absorb him in the city with them, and they will give him a place, and he will dwell with them. ⁵And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they will not deliver the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbour unintentionally not having hated him in the past. ⁶And he shall dwell in that city until he stands before the congregation in judgment, until the death of the high priest who is in office in those days. Then the manslayer will return and go to his city and to his house – to the city from which he fled.’ ” ⁷So they sanctified Kedesh in Galilee at Mount Naphtali, and Shechem at Mount Ephraim, and Kiriath-Arba – that is Hebron – at the mountain of Judah. ⁸And across the Jordan east of Jericho they appointed Bezer in the desert, in the plains of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead, of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan of the tribe of Manasseh. ⁹These were the cities appointed for all the sons of Israel and for the foreigner temporarily resident in their midst, for them to flee there – anyone striking a person accidentally – so that he does not die at the hand of the avenger of blood, up to when he stands before the congregation.

¹Then the paternal heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun, and the paternal heads of the tribes of the sons of Israel. ²And they spoke to them in Shiloh in the land of Canaan, and they said, “The Lord gave commandment through the intermediacy of Moses to give us cities to inhabit with their pasture lands for our cattle.” ³So the sons of Israel gave the Levites their due from their own inheritance, according to the instruction of the Lord – these cities with their pasture lands. ⁴And the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites, and the sons of Aaron the priest – members of the Levites – had from the tribe of Judah and from the tribe of the Simeonites and from the tribe of Benjamin, by lot, thirteen cities. ⁵And to the sons of Kohath who remained were given – from the families of the tribe of Ephraim and from the tribe of Dan and from the half-tribe of Manasseh – ten cities by lot. ⁶And to the sons of Gershon were given – from the families of the tribe of Issachar and from the tribe of Asher and from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan – thirteen cities by lot. ⁷To the sons of Merari, according to their families were given – from the tribe of Reuben and from the tribe of Gad and from the tribe of Zebulun – twelve cities. ⁸So the sons of Israel gave the Levites these cities with their pasture lands, as the Lord had commanded through the intermediacy of Moses, by lot. ⁹And from the tribe of the sons of Judah and from the tribe of the sons of Simeon, they gave these cities which he specified by name. ¹⁰And the sons of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, of the sons of Levi, had what follows, because they had the first lot, ¹¹and they were given Kiriath-Arba (Arba being the father of Anak), that is Hebron, in the mountain range of Judah, and its pasture lands around it, ¹²but the fields of the city and its courtyards were given to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession. ¹³So they gave the sons of Aaron the priest as a city of refuge for the manslayer Hebron and its pasture lands, and Libnah and its pasture lands, ¹⁴and Jattir and its pasture lands, and Eshtemoa and its pasture lands, ¹⁵and Holon and its pasture lands, and Debir and its pasture lands, ¹⁶and Ain and its pasture lands, and Juttah and its pasture lands, and Beth-Shemesh and its pasture lands – nine cities from these two tribes. ¹⁷And from the tribe of Benjamin: Gibeon and its pasture lands, Geba and its pasture lands, ¹⁸Anathoth and its pasture lands and Almon and its pasture lands – four cities. ¹⁹All the cities of the sons of Aaron, the priests, came to thirteen cities with their pasture lands. ²⁰And the families of the sons of Kohath – the remaining Levites of Kohath's sons – had cities by their lot from the tribe of Ephraim. ²¹And they gave them as a city of refuge for the manslayer Shechem and its pasture lands at Mount Ephraim, and Gezer and its pasture lands, ²²and Kibzaim and its pasture lands, and Beth-Horon and its pasture lands – four cities. ²³And from the tribe of Dan: Eltekeh and its pasture lands, Gibbethon and its pasture lands, ²⁴Aijalon and its pasture lands, and Gath-Rimmon and its pasture lands – four cities. ²⁵And from the half-tribe of Manasseh: Taanach and its pasture lands, and Gath-Rimmon and its pasture lands – two cities. ²⁶All these cities amount to ten, with their pasture lands, given to the families of the sons of Kohath who remained. ²⁷And to the sons of Gershon from the families of the Levites, they gave from the half-tribe of Manasseh, as a city of refuge for the manslayer, Golan in Bashan and its pasture lands, and Beeshterah and its pasture lands – two cities – ²⁸and from the tribe of Issachar: Kishion and its pasture lands, Daberath and its pasture lands, ²⁹Jarmuth and its pasture lands, En-Gannim and its pasture lands – four cities. ³⁰And from the tribe of Asher: Mishal and its pasture lands, Abdon and its pasture lands, ³¹Helkath and its pasture lands, and Rehob and its pasture lands – four cities. ³²And from the tribe of Naphtali, as a city of refuge for the manslayer: Kedesh in Galilee and its pasture lands, and Hammoth-Dor and its pasture lands, and Kartan and its pasture lands – three cities. ³³All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families amount to thirteen cities with their pasture lands. ³⁴And to the families of the sons of Merari – the remaining Levites – they gave from the tribe of Zebulun Jokneam and its pasture lands, Kartah and its pasture lands, ³⁵Dimnah and its pasture lands, Nahalal and its pasture lands – four cities. ³⁶And from the tribe of Reuben: Bezer and its pasture lands, and Jahzah and its pasture lands, ³⁷Kedemoth and its pasture lands, and Mephaath and its pasture lands – four cities. ³⁸And from the tribe of Gad, as a city of refuge for the manslayer: Ramoth in Gilead and its pasture lands, and Mahanaim and its pasture lands, ³⁹Heshbon and its pasture lands, Jazer and its pasture lands – all the cities amount to four. ⁴⁰All the cities of the sons of Merari according to their families – those who remained from the families of the Levites – had as their lot twelve cities. ⁴¹All the cities of the Levites among the possessions of the sons of Israel amounted to forty-eight cities with their pasture lands. ⁴²These cities were city by city with their pasture lands around each – so it was for all these cities. ⁴³And the Lord gave Israel all the land about which he had sworn that he would give it to their fathers, and they took possession of it, and they dwelt in it. ⁴⁴And the Lord gave them rest round about, according to everything he had sworn to their fathers, and no man could stand before them from any of their enemies; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. ⁴⁵And not a word failed of all the good words which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel – it all came about.

¹Then Joshua called for the Reubenites and the Gadites and half of the tribe of Manasseh, ²and he said to them, “You have kept everything Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and you have obeyed me in everything I have commanded you. ³You did not forsake your brothers during these many days up to this day, and you have kept the charge of the body of commandments of the Lord your God. ⁴And now the Lord your God has given your brothers rest, as he told them, and now, turn and get going to your tents and to the land of your possession which Moses the servant of the Lord has given you across the Jordan. ⁵But be very much on your guard to carry out the body of commandments and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you – to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cling to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” ⁶And Joshua blessed them and dismissed them, and they went to their tents. ⁷Now Moses had given an inheritance to half of the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, and Joshua gave the other half of it an inheritance with their brothers, across the Jordan to the west. And also when Joshua sent them off to their tents, he blessed them. ⁸And he spoke to them and said, “Return to your tents with great riches and very much cattle, with silver and gold and copper and iron and very many clothes. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.” ⁹So the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh returned and departed from the sons of Israel, from Shiloh which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession which they became possessors of, according to the pronouncement of the Lord through the intermediacy of Moses. ¹⁰And they came to the regions of the Jordan which are in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh built an altar there – at the Jordan – an altar of grand appearance. ¹¹And the sons of Israel heard it and said, “Look, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar opposite the land of Canaan in the regions of the Jordan, opposite the sons of Israel.” ¹²And when the sons of Israel heard it, the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled at Shiloh to go up against them in battle. ¹³And the sons of Israel sent Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to half of the tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, ¹⁴and ten leading people with him – one leading person individually per paternal house – for each of the tribes of Israel, and each was a head of their paternal house, which the thousands of Israel have. ¹⁵And they came to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to half of the tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them and said, ¹⁶“This is what the whole congregation of the Lord says: ‘What is this treacherous thing that you have treacherously done against the God of Israel, in turning away today from following the Lord, in building yourselves an altar – in rebelling today against the Lord? ¹⁷Is the iniquity of Peor a small matter to us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves up to this day, when there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord? ¹⁸But you have turned away today from following the Lord, and it has come about that you are rebelling against the Lord today, and tomorrow he will become angry with the whole congregation of Israel. ¹⁹And even if the land of your possession is unclean, do cross over to the land of the Lord's possession where the Lord's tabernacle dwells, and come into a possession in our midst, and do not rebel against the Lord, and do not rebel against us, by building yourselves an altar other than the altar to the Lord our God. ²⁰Did not Achan the son of Zerah deal treacherously with an accursed thing, so that there was anger on the whole congregation of Israel? And he did not die in his iniquity on his own.’ ” ²¹Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh answered and said to the heads of thousands of Israel, ²²“The Lord God of gods – the Lord God of gods – he knows, and he will know Israel, whether they are in rebellion or whether they are in treachery against the Lord (do not save us on this day) ²³in building ourselves an altar, in turning away from following the Lord. And whether it was to offer on it a burnt offering and a meal-offering, or whether it was to sacrifice peace-offerings on it, the Lord will inquire, ²⁴or whether it is not out of concern, for a reason, that we made this thing and said, ‘In the future your sons will speak to our sons and say, «What is the connection between you and the Lord God of Israel? ²⁵For the Lord has put a border between us and you, you sons of Reuben and you sons of Gad – the Jordan. You have no part in the Lord.» ’ So your sons will stop our sons from fearing the Lord. ²⁶So we said, ‘Let us now undertake to build an altar, but not for a burnt offering and not for sacrifice. ²⁷For it is a testimony between us and you and our generations after us to carry out the Lord's service before him with our burnt offerings and with our sacrifices and with our peace-offerings, so that your sons will not say in the future to our sons, «You have no part in the Lord.» ’ ²⁸So we said, ‘It will be the case that when they speak to us and to our generations in the future, that we will say, «See the edifice – an altar to the Lord – which our fathers made, not for a burnt offering and not for sacrifice, but it is a testimony between us and you.» ’ ²⁹May it be far from us to rebel against the Lord, and to turn away today from following the Lord in building an altar for a burnt offering, for a meal-offering or for a sacrifice other than the altar to the Lord our God which is before his tabernacle.” ³⁰Then Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the congregation and the heads of thousands of Israel who were with him heard the words which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the sons of Manasseh said, and they were happy with it. ³¹Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is in our midst, and that you have not committed such a treacherous act against the Lord. You have now delivered the sons of Israel from the hand of the Lord.” ³²Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the leaders, came back from the sons of Reuben and from the sons of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the sons of Israel, and they reported back to them. ³³And the sons of Israel were happy with the matter, and the sons of Israel blessed God, and they did not speak of going up against them in battle to ruin the land which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad were living in. ³⁴And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called the altar Testimony, for it was a testimony between us, that the Lord is God.

¹And it was the case after many days, after the Lord had given Israel rest from all their enemies round about, that Joshua had become old and advanced in years, ²and Joshua called all Israel – its elders and its heads and its judges and its officers – and he said to them, “I have become old; I am advanced in years, ³and you have seen everything that the Lord your God has done to all these nations before you, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you. ⁴See how I have assigned these remaining nations to you as an inheritance to your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations which I cut off, with the Great Sea in the west. ⁵And it is the Lord your God who drives them back at your presence and who dispossesses them in front of you, so that you inherit their land as the Lord your God has said to you. ⁶So be of very good courage to keep and do everything that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so not to depart from it to the right or to the left, ⁷and not to go among these nations – these that remain with you – and you shall not mention the name of their gods, and you shall not adjure by them, and you shall not serve them, and you shall not worship them. ⁸But rather, cling to the Lord your God, as you have done so far. ⁹For the Lord has dispossessed great and powerful nations before you, and as for you, no man has withstood you up to this day. ¹⁰One man from you will pursue a thousand, for it is the Lord your God who is fighting for you, as he has said to you. ¹¹So be very much on your guard for your lives to love the Lord your God. ¹²For if you turn back at all and cling to the remnant of these nations – these that remain with you – and intermarry with them, and you go into them, and they into you, ¹³then know for certain that the Lord your God will not continue to dispossess these nations before you, and that they will be a trap and a snare and a scourge to you in your sides, and as thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you. ¹⁴And look, I am going the way of the whole of the earth today, but you have known with all your heart and with all your soul that not one word has failed from all the good words which the Lord your God has spoken concerning you – everything has come about for you; not one word of it has failed, ¹⁵and it will come to pass, that just as every good word that the Lord your God spoke to you has come about with you, so shall the Lord bring upon you every bad word until he has destroyed you in this good land which the Lord your God has given you, ¹⁶in your transgression of the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, if you depart and serve other gods and bow down to them, so that the Lord's anger is kindled against you, and you quickly perish from the good land which he has given you.”

¹Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel in Shechem, and he called for the elders of Israel and for its heads and for its judges and for its officers, and they stood before God. ²And Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Your fathers dwelt across the river in time past – Terah the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor – and they served other gods, ³but I took your father Abraham from the far side of the river, and I led him through all the land of Canaan, and I multiplied his seed, and I gave him Isaac. ⁴And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau, and to Esau I gave Mount Seir to possess, while Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. ⁵And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in their midst, and afterwards I brought you out. ⁶And I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea, whereupon Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen at the Red Sea. ⁷And they cried out to the Lord, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and he brought the sea over them, and it covered them, and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt, and you dwelt in the desert for many days. ⁸And I brought you to the land of the Amorite who dwelt across the Jordan, and they fought you, and I delivered them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. ⁹Then Balak the son of Zippor, the king of Moab, rose up and fought against Israel, and he sent men and called for Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. ¹⁰But I was not willing to hear Balaam, and he thoroughly blessed you, and I delivered you out of his hand. ¹¹Then you crossed the Jordan and went to Jericho, and the lords of Jericho fought against you – the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Hivites and the Jebusites – and I delivered them into your hand. ¹²And I sent out wasps before you, and they drove them out before you – two kings of the Amorites – not by your sword and not by your bow. ¹³And I gave you land which you did not toil on, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them, and you are eating from vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant.’ ¹⁴So now, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river, and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵And if it is bad in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served, which were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are dwelling, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” ¹⁶And the people answered and said, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord, to serve other gods. ¹⁷For the Lord is our God, who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from a house of slavery, and who performed in our sight these great signs, and who guarded us along all the way we went, and among all the various peoples through whose midst we crossed. ¹⁸And the Lord drove out all the nations before us, including the Amorites inhabiting the land, so we in turn will serve the Lord, for he is our God.” ¹⁹Then Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God, and he is a jealous God; he will not endure your transgressions or your sins. ²⁰If you forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, he will turn and do you harm and make an end of you, after doing you good.” ²¹Then the people said to Joshua, “Not that, for we will serve the Lord.” ²²Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses to yourselves, for you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” ²³Joshua said, “And now, put away the strange gods which are in your midst, and extend your heart to the Lord God of Israel.” ²⁴And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God, and we will obey him.” ²⁵Then Joshua made a covenant with the people on that day, and he set up for them a statute and a judicial system in Shechem. ²⁶And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and he took a large stone, and he set it up there under the oak tree at the sanctuary of the Lord. ²⁷Then Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone will be a witness to us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord which he spoke with us, and it will be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.” ²⁸Then Joshua sent the people away – each one to his inheritance. ²⁹And it came to pass after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, aged one hundred and ten years. ³⁰And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance at Timnath-Serah, which is at Mount Ephraim, to the north of Mount Gaash. ³¹And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and who knew all the work of the Lord which he had done for Israel. ³²And they buried Joseph's bones, which the sons of Israel had brought up from Egypt, in Shechem, in the parcel of land which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred kesitahs, and they became an inheritance of the sons of Joseph. ³³Then Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him at the hill of Phinehas his son which had been given to him at Mount Ephraim.

¹And it came to pass after the death of Joshua that the sons of Israel inquired of the Lord and said, “Who will go up for us against the Canaanite first, to fight against them?” ²And the Lord said, “Judah will go up. Behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.” ³Then Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Go up with me into my lot, and we will fight against the Canaanite, and I in turn will go with you into your lot.” And Simeon went with him. ⁴So Judah went up, and the Lord delivered the Canaanite and the Perizzite into their hand, and they struck them down in Bezek – ten thousand men. ⁵And they found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek, and they fought against him, and they struck the Canaanites and the Perizzites down. ⁶And Adoni-Bezek fled, but they pursued him and captured him, and they cut off his thumbs and big toes. ⁷And Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings have had their thumbs and their big toes cut off, and they have picked up the pieces under my table. As I did, so God has requited me.” And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there. ⁸Then the sons of Judah fought in Jerusalem and captured it, and they struck it with the edge of the sword, and they set the city on fire. ⁹And afterwards the sons of Judah came down to fight the Canaanite, who inhabited the mountain range, and the south, and the lowland. ¹⁰And Judah went against the Canaanite who was living in Hebron (now the name of Hebron was previously Kiriath-Arba) and they struck down Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai. ¹¹Then he went from there to the inhabitants of Debir. Now the name of Debir was previously Kiriath-Sepher. ¹²And Caleb said, “Whoever attacks Kiriath-Sepher and captures it, to him I will give Achsah my daughter as a wife.” ¹³Then Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, captured it, and he gave him Achsah his daughter as a wife. ¹⁴And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she persuaded him to ask for a field from her father. So she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What is the matter?” ¹⁵And she said to him, “Give me a blessing, for you have given me the land of the south, so give me springs of water.” Then Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. ¹⁶And the sons of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up from the City of Palm Trees with the sons of Judah to the Judaean Desert which is in the south of Arad, and they departed and dwelt with the people. ¹⁷Then Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanite who dwelt in Zephath, which they obliterated, and they called the city Hormah. ¹⁸And Judah captured Gaza and its territory, and Ashkelon and its territory and Ekron and its territory. ¹⁹And the Lord was with Judah, and he gained possession of the mountain, but he could not dispossess the inhabitants of the valley, because they had iron chariots. ²⁰And they gave Caleb Hebron, as Moses had said, and they dispossessed the three sons of Anak of that place. ²¹But the sons of Benjamin did not dispossess the Jebusite – the inhabitant of Jerusalem – and the Jebusite has been dwelling with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem up to this day. ²²And the house of Joseph also went up against Beth-El, and the Lord was with them. ²³And the house of Joseph spied out Beth-El. Now the name of the city was previously Luz. ²⁴And the observers saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the entrance to the city, and we will deal with you graciously.” ²⁵And he showed them the entrance to the city, whereupon they struck the city with the edge of the sword, but they let the man and all his family go. ²⁶Then the man went to the land of the Hittites, and he built a city, and he called it Luz – that is its name up to this day. ²⁷And Manasseh did not dispossess Beth-Shean and its satellites, or Taanach and its satellites, or the inhabitants of Dor and its satellites, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its satellites, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its satellites. And the Canaanites resolved to dwell in this land. ²⁸And it came about that, when Israel became strong, they put the Canaanite under tribute, but they did not dispossess them at all. ²⁹And Ephraim did not dispossess the Canaanite who was living in Gezer, and the Canaanite dwelt in their midst in Gezer. ³⁰Zebulun did not dispossess the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of Nahalal, and the Canaanite dwelt in their midst, and they came under tribute. ³¹Asher did not dispossess the inhabitants of Akko or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab or of Achzib or of Helbah, or of Aphik or of Rehob. ³²And the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites – inhabitants of the land – because they did not dispossess them. ³³Naphtali did not dispossess the inhabitants of Beth-Shemesh or the inhabitants of Beth-Anath, and they dwelt among the Canaanites – inhabitants of the land – but the inhabitants of Beth-Shemesh and Beth-Anath came under tribute to them. ³⁴And the Amorites squeezed the sons of Dan into the mountain range, for they did not let them come down into the valley. ³⁵And the Amorites resolved to dwell on Mount Heres, in Aijalon and in Shaalbim, but the power of the house of Joseph was greater, and they came under tribute. ³⁶And the border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock and above.

¹Then the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I am bringing you up from Egypt, and I have brought you to the land about which I swore to your fathers, for I said, ‘I shall never break my covenant with you. ²And you shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You will demolish their altars.’ But you have not obeyed me. What is this you have done? ³So I also said, ‘I shall not drive them out before you, and they will be snares to you, and their gods will be a trap to you.’ ” ⁴And it came about, as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice and wept. ⁵And they called that place Bochim, and they made a sacrifice there to the Lord. ⁶Then Joshua dismissed the people, and the sons of Israel each went to their inheritance to take possession of the land. ⁷And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which he had done for Israel. ⁸Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, aged one hundred and ten years. ⁹And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-Heres at Mount Ephraim to the north of Mount Gaash. ¹⁰And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers, and another generation arose after them, who had not known the Lord, nor the work that he had done for Israel either. ¹¹And the sons of Israel did wrong in the sight of the Lord, and they served the Baalim. ¹²And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed other gods, from the gods of the various peoples which were around them, and they bowed down to them, and they provoked the Lord to anger. ¹³And they forsook the Lord, and they served Baal and images of Astarte. ¹⁴And the Lord's anger was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of plunderers, and they plundered them, and he sold them into the hand of their enemies round about, and they could no longer stand against their enemies. ¹⁵Everywhere they went, the hand of the Lord was against them, to their detriment, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them, and they were greatly straitened. ¹⁶But the Lord raised up judges, who saved them from those who were plundering them. ¹⁷But they did not obey their judges either, for they played the harlot with other gods, and they bowed down to them, and they quickly departed from the way their fathers had gone, in that those obeyed the Lord's commandments, but these did not do so. ¹⁸And when the Lord raised up judges to them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hands of their enemies all the days of the judge, because the Lord had pity, because of their lamentation on account of those who oppressed them and those who tyrannized them. ¹⁹And it would come to pass at the death of the judge, that they would revert and corruptly deviate from the way of their fathers, in following other gods, in serving them and in bowing down to them. They did not desist from their deeds or their stubborn way, ²⁰so the Lord's anger was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Since this people has transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and they have not obeyed me, ²¹I in turn will not continue to dispossess anyone before them, from the nations which Joshua left when he died, ²²in order to test Israel through them, as to whether they are keeping the way of the Lord, by walking in these ways as their fathers kept them, or not.” ²³For the Lord had left those nations alone, not quickly dispossessing them. And he had not delivered them into Joshua's hand.

¹And these are the nations which the Lord left alone, in order to test Israel through them – all those who did not know all the wars of Canaan – ²but in order for the generations of the sons of Israel to know – to teach them war – just those who had not known them previously, they are: ³five barons of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived at the mountain range of Lebanon, from Mount Baal-Hermon to the approach to Hamath. ⁴Now they were to test Israel, by means of them, so as to know whether they would obey the Lord's commandments which he commanded their fathers through the intermediacy of Moses. ⁵And the sons of Israel dwelt in the midst of the Canaanites, the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. ⁶And they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and they gave their daughters to their sons, and they served their gods. ⁷And the sons of Israel did wrong in the eyes of the Lord, and they forgot the Lord their God, and they served the Baalim and the phallic parks. ⁸And the Lord's anger was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-Rishathaim king of Aramaea of Mesopotamia, and the sons of Israel served Chushan-Rishathaim for eight years. ⁹And the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up a saviour to the sons of Israel, who delivered them: Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. ¹⁰And the spirit of the Lord came on him, and he judged Israel, and he went out to battle, and the Lord delivered Chushan-Rishathaim king of Aramaea into his hand, and his hand prevailed against Chushan-Rishathaim. ¹¹Then the land was quiet for forty years, then Othniel the son of Kenaz died. ¹²The sons of Israel then did wrong in the sight of the Lord again, and the Lord strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because they had done wrong in the sight of the Lord. ¹³And he recruited the sons of Ammon and Amalek, and they set off and struck Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palm Trees. ¹⁴Then the sons of Israel served Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years. ¹⁵And the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up a saviour to them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man, and the sons of Israel sent a gift through his agency to Eglon king of Moab. ¹⁶And Ehud made himself a sword with two edges, a short-cubit in length, and he girded it under his garments at his right thigh. ¹⁷And he offered the gift to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸And it came to pass, when he had finished offering the gift, that he sent the people who bore the gift out. ¹⁹And he returned from the quarry which was in Gilgal, and he said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he said, “Shush.” And all the people standing around him went out away from him. ²⁰Then Ehud went to him. Now he was sitting in an upper cool room which was for himself only, and Ehud said, “I have a message from God to you.” And he got up from his seat. ²¹Then Ehud shot out his left hand and took his sword from his right thigh and thrust it into his belly. ²²And even the handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed in around the blade, because he did not draw the sword out of his belly, and it came out at his rectum. ²³Then Ehud went out through the porch, and he closed the doors to the upper room behind him and locked them. ²⁴And when he had gone out, his servants came and looked, and they found the doors of the upper room locked, and they said, “Surely he is covering his feet in the upper cool room.” ²⁵And they waited until they were ashamed, and contrary to expectation, he didn't open the doors to the upper room, so they took the key and opened it, and what they saw was that their master had fallen to the ground dead. ²⁶And Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he crossed over the quarry and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷And it came to pass, when he arrived, that he sounded the ramshorn at Mount Ephraim, and the sons of Israel came down with him from the mountain, and he was in front of them. ²⁸And he said to them, “Pursue following me, because the Lord has delivered your enemies – Moab – into your hand.” So they went down following him, and they captured the fords of the Jordan for crossing to Moab, and they did not allow any man to cross. ²⁹And they struck Moab at that time – about ten thousand men – all brawny and all valiant men, and not a man escaped. ³⁰So Moab was humiliated on that day by the power of Israel, and the land was quiet for eighty years. ³¹And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, and he struck the Philistines – six hundred men – with an ox-goad. And he too saved Israel.

¹Then the sons of Israel did what was wrong in the eyes of the Lord again, but Ehud was dead. ²And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor, the commander of whose army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Gentiles. ³And the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord, for he had nine hundred iron chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years. ⁴Now Deborah was a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, and she was judging Israel at that time, ⁵and she was sitting under the palm tree of Deborah – between Ramah and Beth-El at Mount Ephraim – and the sons of Israel went up to her for justice. ⁶And she sent for and called for Barak the son of Abinoam in Kedesh-Naphtali, and she said to him, “Did not the Lord God of Israel command you and say, ‘Go and seize Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun. ⁷And I will draw Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, to you at the Kishon Brook, with his chariot fleet and his multitude, and I will deliver him into your hands’?” ⁸Then Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go, but if you don't go with me, I won't go.” ⁹Then she said, “I will willingly go with you, but you will not have the honour of the expedition which you are going on, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰Then Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together in Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up in his footsteps, and Deborah went up with him. ¹¹And Heber the Kenite, who had parted from the Kenites, one of the sons of Hobab, Moses' father-in-law, pitched his tent at the oak at Zaanannim which is next to Kedesh. ¹²And it was reported to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. ¹³So Sisera called up the whole of his chariot fleet – nine hundred iron chariots – and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles to the Kishon Brook. ¹⁴Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise, for this is the day on which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Will not the Lord go out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. ¹⁵And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariot fleet and the whole of his camp, by the edge of the sword before Barak, but Sisera descended from his chariot and fled on foot. ¹⁶And Barak pursued the chariot fleet and the camp as far as Harosheth of the Gentiles, and the whole of Sisera's camp fell at the edge of the sword – not even one remained. ¹⁷And Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and she said to him, “Turn in, my lord, turn in to me. Do not be afraid.” So he turned in to her, into her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. ¹⁹And he said, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” And she opened a flask of milk and let him drink, and she covered him. ²⁰And he said to her, “Stand at the entrance to the tent, and make sure if a man comes and asks you, and says, ‘Is there a man here?’, that you will say, ‘No.’ ” ²¹Then Jael Heber's wife took a tent peg, and she took a mallet in her hand, and she went to him stealthily, and she drove the peg into his temple, and it penetrated the ground, while he was slumbering and was weary. And he died. ²²And what happened was that when Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and she said to him, “Come and I will show you the man you are looking for.” So he went to her and there was Sisera fallen down dead, with the peg in his temple. ²³So God humiliated Jabin king of Canaan on that day before the sons of Israel. ²⁴And the force of the sons of Israel was ongoing and severe against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

¹And Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, and they said,

²“For the effecting of deliverance in Israel,

When the people were willing,

Bless the Lord.

³Hear, O kings;

Give ear, O princes.

I myself shall sing to the Lord;

I shall sing psalms to the Lord God of Israel.

⁴Lord, when you went out from Seir,

When you marched from the open country of Edom,

The earth trembled,

And not only did the heavens drip,

But the thick clouds also precipitated water.

⁵Mountains flowed on account of the Lord

– Sinai here did

On account of the Lord God of Israel.

⁶In the days of Shamgar

The son of Anath,

In the days of Jael,

They avoided the highways,

And those that went on travels

Went by twisting ways.

⁷Leadership ceased in Israel

– It ceased –

Until I, Deborah, arose,

When I arose as a mother in Israel.

⁸It chose new gods,

Then there was war at the gates.

Was a shield seen

– Or a spear –

Among the forty thousand in Israel?

⁹My heart turned to the legislators of Israel,

Those who were willing among the people.

Bless the Lord.

¹⁰Riders on white she-asses,

You who sit in judgment,

And you who walk on the road,

Speak!

¹¹At the sound of archers,

Between water troughs,

There they celebrate

The righteous deeds of the Lord

– The righteous deeds

Of his leadership in Israel.

That is when the people of the Lord

Went down to the gates.

¹²Awake, awake, Deborah!

Awake, awake; utter a song.

Arise, Barak!

And make your captivity captive,

O son of Abinoam.

¹³At that time he gave dominion

Over the nobility of the people

To a survivor.

The Lord gave me dominion

Over warriors.

¹⁴From Ephraim came their root

Against Amalek.

And after you came Benjamin,

Among your people.

From Machir, legislators came down,

And from Zebulun,

They that hold out the rod of the recording scribe.

¹⁵But my princes among Issachar were with Deborah.

And as was Issachar, so was Barak.

He was sent to the valley on foot.

Among the divisions of Reuben,

Great were the impressions on the heart.

¹⁶Why did you dwell between the sheepfolds,

So as to hear the bleating of the flocks?

Among the divisions of Reuben,

Great were the searchings of the heart.

¹⁷Gilead dwelt across the Jordan,

And why did Dan inhabit ships?

Asher stayed on the coast of the seas

And dwelt in its creeks.

¹⁸Zebulun is a people

Who despised mortal danger.

Naphtali likewise

In the heights of the open countryside.

¹⁹Kings came and fought,

Then the kings of Canaan fought

In Taanach by the water of Megiddo.

They did not take any spoils of silver.

²⁰They fought from heaven;

The stars fought

Against Sisera from their courses.

²¹The Kishon Brook swept them away

– The brook of the ancients,

The Kishon Brook.

My own self was to tread there in strength.

²²Then the tracks of cavalry were imprinted at the prancing

– The prancing of his mighty ones.

²³‘Curse Meroz’,

Said the angel of the Lord;

‘Curse its inhabitants vehemently,

For they did not come

To the Lord's help

– To the Lord's help

Against the warriors.’

²⁴May Jael be the most blessed of women

– The wife of Heber the Kenite –

May she be the most blessed

Of women in the tent.

²⁵He asked for water;

She gave him milk.

In a bowl for the nobility,

She offered buttermilk.

²⁶Her hand reached for the peg

And her right hand for the workmen's hammer,

And she hammered Sisera.

She crushed his head

And dashed and pierced his temple.

²⁷He sank down and fell

And lay between her feet.

He sank down and fell between her feet.

Where he sank down,

There he fell,

Slain.

²⁸Sisera's mother peered through the window

And cried aloud through the latticework,

‘Why is his chariot delayed in coming?

Why is the clattering noise of his chariots late?’

²⁹Her princesses in their wisdom answered;

She even responded in her own words,

³⁰‘Have they not found,

And are they not dividing, the spoil?

A maiden or two per headcount of a man,

Spoil of dyed garments for Sisera,

Spoil of dyed garments with embroidery,

Dyed double-sided embroidery

For the necks of the spoil-takers.’

³¹May all your enemies perish that way,

O Lord,

But let those who love him

Be like the rising of the sun

In its strength.”

And the land was quiet for forty years.

¹Then the sons of Israel did wrong in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years. ²And Midian's grip on Israel tightened. Because of Midian, the sons of Israel made themselves tunnels in the mountains, and caves, and fortresses. ³And it came to pass, when Israel had sown seed, that Midian came up, as did Amalek and the easterners, and they came up against them. ⁴And they encamped against them, and they destroyed the produce of the land as far as when you come to Gaza. And they did not leave any means of livelihood in Israel, neither sheep, nor oxen, nor donkeys. ⁵For they and their cattle would come up, with their tents. They would come like locusts in multitude, they and their camels being innumerable, and they came to the land to destroy it. ⁶And Israel was brought very low on account of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord. ⁷And it came to pass, when the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord because of Midian, ⁸that the Lord sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and he said to them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I brought you up out of Egypt, and I brought you out of a house of slavery. ⁹And I delivered you from Egypt's grip and from the grip of all who were oppressing you, and I drove them out before you, and I gave you their land. ¹⁰And I said to you, «I am the Lord your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living», but you did not obey me.’ ” ¹¹Then the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abi-Ezrite, while Gideon his son was threshing wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites. ¹²And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you valiant warrior.” ¹³And Gideon said to him, “O my Lord, please, if the Lord is present with us, then why has all this befallen us? And where are all his wonders which our fathers told us about, when they said, ‘Did the Lord not bring us up out of Egypt?’ And now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.” ¹⁴And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this strength of yours, and save Israel from Midian's grip. Have I not sent you?” ¹⁵Then he said to him, “Please, Lord^*, by what means shall I save Israel? Look, my family is the most reduced in the tribe of Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house.” ¹⁶And the Lord said to him, “When I am with you, you will be able to strike Midian as one man.” ¹⁷And he said to him, “If now I have found grace in your sight, do perform a sign for me, to show that it is you talking to me. ¹⁸Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my meal-offering, and I deposit it before you.” And he said, “I will stay until you return.” ¹⁹Then Gideon departed and prepared a kid of the goats and an ephah of flour's worth of unleavened loaves. He put the meat in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and he brought it out to him under the terebinth tree, and he offered it. ²⁰Then the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened loaves, and deposit them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. ²¹And the angel of the Lord held out the end of the staff which was in his hand, and he touched the meat and the unleavened loaves, and fire went up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened loaves. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. ²²And Gideon saw that it was the angel of the Lord, and Gideon said, “Alas, my Lord the Lord, because I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” ²³And the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you, do not be afraid, you shall not die.” ²⁴Then Gideon built an altar to the Lord there, and he called it Jehovah-Shalom, as it is up to this day, still there in Ophrah of the Abi-Ezrites. ²⁵And it came to pass that night that the Lord said to him, “Take your father's bull of the oxen, and the second bull which is seven years old, and demolish the altar of Baal which your father has, and cut down the phallic park which goes with it. ²⁶And build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this fortress at the pile of material, and take the second bull and make a burnt offering with the wood of the phallic park which you cut down.” ²⁷Then Gideon took ten men from his servants, and he did what the Lord had said to him, and it so happened that as he was afraid of the house of his father and the men of the city – of doing it by day – that he did it by night. ²⁸Then when the men of the city got up early in the morning, what they saw was that the altar of Baal had been demolished, and the phallic park which went with it had been cut down, and the second bull had been offered as a burnt offering on the altar which had been built. ²⁹And they said to each other, “Who has done this thing?” And they looked into it and inquired, and they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” ³⁰And the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring your son out, and he will die, because he has demolished the altar of Baal and because he has cut down the phallic park which went with it.” ³¹But Joash said to everyone who was standing against him, “Will you defend Baal? Or will you save him? Let him who would defend him be put to death while it is morning. If he is a god, let him defend himself, because someone has demolished his altar.” ³²And he called him Jerubbaal on that day, and he said, “Let Baal defend himself, because that man has demolished his altar.” ³³Then all the Midianites and Amalekites and the easterners gathered together, and they went across and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. ³⁴And the spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon, and he sounded the ramshorn, and Abiezer was called to assembly after him. ³⁵And he sent messengers throughout all the territory of Manasseh, and they too were called to assembly, following him. And he sent messengers to Asher and Zebulun and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them. ³⁶Then Gideon said to God, “If you are about to save Israel through my intermediacy, as you have said, ³⁷here I am ready to put the fleece of wool on the threshing floor, to see whether there will be dew on the fleece only and dryness on all the ground, so that I know that it is through my intermediacy that you will save Israel, as you have said.” ³⁸And it was so, and he rose early on the next day, and he wrung the fleece out and extracted dew from the fleece – a full bowl of water. ³⁹Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let your anger be kindled against me, and I will speak just once. Please let me do the test just once with the fleece. Let the fleece only be dry, and let there be dew on all the ground.” ⁴⁰And God did so on that night, and there was dryness for the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.

¹Then Jerubbaal – that is Gideon – and all the people who were with him arose early and encamped at the source of Harod, while Midian had his camp to the north, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. ²And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for me to deliver Midian into their hands, in case Israel vaunt themselves against me, and they say, ‘My own ability saved me.’ ³So now, please proclaim in the audience of the people and say, ‘Whoever is fearful or trembling should return and go back quickly from Mount Gilead.’ ” And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, but ten thousand remained. ⁴And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will filter them out for you there. And it will be the case that of whomever I say to you, ‘This man will go with you’, he will go with you, and everyone of whom I say to you, ‘This man will not go with you’, he will not go.” ⁵So he led the people down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, set him aside, and also everyone who kneels down to drink.” ⁶And the number of those who lapped with their hands to their mouth was three hundred men, and all the rest of the people knelt down to drink the water. ⁷Then the Lord said to Gideon, “I will save you by the three hundred men who lapped, and I will deliver Midian into your hand. So let all the people go to their own place.” ⁸So the people took provisions in their hand, with their ramshorns, and he sent every man of Israel away to his tent, but he kept hold of the three hundred men. Now Midian had his camp below in the valley. ⁹And it came to pass that night that the Lord said to him, “Get up and go down to the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. ¹⁰But if you are afraid to go down, you and Purah your servant-boy go down to the camp, ¹¹and you will hear what they are saying, and afterwards your hands will be strengthened, and you will go down to the camp.” So he and Purah his servant-boy went down to the edge of the armed men who were in the camp. ¹²And Midian and Amalek and all the easterners were lying in the valley, like locusts in multitude, and their camels were countless, like the sand which is on the sea-shore in abundance. ¹³Then Gideon came, and what he heard was a man telling his colleague a dream, and he said, “Look, I have had a dream, and what I saw was a loaf of barley bread tumbling into Midian's camp, and it came up to the tent and struck it, and it fell down, and it turned it upside down, so the tent fell down.” ¹⁴And his colleague answered and said, “This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has delivered Midian and all his camp into his hand.” ¹⁵And it came to pass, when Gideon heard the account of the dream, and its interpretation, that he worshipped and went back to Israel's camp and said, “Arise, for the Lord has delivered Midian's camp into your hand.” ¹⁶Then he divided the three hundred men into three contingents, and he put ramshorns in each one's hand, and empty jars, with lamps inside the jars, ¹⁷and he said to them, “Look at me and act accordingly, and when I come to the edge of the camp, whatever I do, so you do. ¹⁸When I sound the ramshorn – I and everyone who is with me – then you also sound the ramshorns yourselves, all around the camp, and say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’ ” ¹⁹Then Gideon and the one hundred men who were with him came to the edge of the camp at the start of the middle night-watch – they had only just put the watchmen on duty – and they sounded the ramshorns and broke the jars which were in their hands. ²⁰So the three contingents sounded the ramshorns and broke the jars, and they held the lamps in their left hand and the ramshorns to sound in their right hand, and they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon.” ²¹And each man stood on the spot round about the camp, but all the camp itself ran shouting out and fled. ²²And the three hundred men sounded their ramshorns, and the Lord set every man's sword against his colleague, and this throughout the camp, and the camp fled to Beth-Shittah of Zererah, to the border of Abel-Meholah, as far as Tabbath. ²³Then the men of Israel and Naphtali and Asher and all of Manasseh were drawn together, and they pursued Midian. ²⁴Then Gideon sent messengers throughout Mount Ephraim, who said, “Go down against Midian, and capture their water-rich area as far as Beth-Barah and the Jordan.” Then every man of Ephraim was drawn together, and they captured the water-rich area as far as Beth-Barah and the Jordan. ²⁵And they captured two of Midian's commanders, Oreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb on the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb in the wine vat of Zeeb, and they pursued Midian, and they brought the head of Oreb and of Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan.

¹And the men of Ephraim said to him, “What is this thing you have done to us in not calling us, because you went to fight against Midian.” And they argued with him vehemently. ²And he said to them, “What have I done now compared to you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the whole wine crop of Abiezer? ³God delivered Midian's commanders into your hands – Oreb and Zeeb – and what was I able to do compared to you?” Then their temper against him subsided, when he said these words. ⁴Then Gideon came to the Jordan. He and the three hundred men who were with him crossed over, weary but pursuing. ⁵And he said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who are following in my footsteps, for they are weary, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.” ⁶But the commanders of Succoth said, “Are the palms of the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hands, so that we should give your army bread?” ⁷Then Gideon said, “That presumption is why, when the Lord delivers Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will thrash your flesh with the desert thorn bushes and with the briars.” ⁸Then he went up from there to Penuel and spoke similarly to them, and the men of Penuel answered him in the same way as the men of Succoth answered. ⁹And he also spoke to the men of Penuel and said, “When I return in peace, I will demolish this tower.” ¹⁰Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their camps were with them – about fifteen thousand men – all those who remained from the whole camp of the easterners. And those who fell were one hundred and twenty thousand men who drew the sword. ¹¹And Gideon went up the road to the tent-dwellers to the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked the camp, although the camp was secure. ¹²And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them, and he captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he routed the whole camp. ¹³Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle before sunrise. ¹⁴And he took a boy-servant of the men of Succoth, and he questioned him, and the boy described the chief men of Succoth to him, and its elders – seventy-seven men. ¹⁵Then Gideon went to the men of Succoth, and he said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you reproached me and said, ‘Are the palms of the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hands, so that we should give your weary men bread?’ ” ¹⁶And he took the elders of the city, and the desert thorn bushes, and the briars, with which he gave the men of Succoth a lesson. ¹⁷And he demolished the tower of Penuel, and he killed the men of the city. ¹⁸And he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men were they that you killed at Tabor?” And they answered, “As you are, so were they. Each one had the appearance of the king's sons.” ¹⁹Then he said, “They were my brothers – my mother's sons. As the Lord lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.” ²⁰And he said to Jether his firstborn, “Arise and kill them.” But the lad did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, for he was still only a lad. ²¹Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “You arise and fall on us. For as a man is, so is his valour.” Then Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments which were on the camels' necks. ²²And the men of Israel said to Gideon, “You rule over us – in turn you and your son and your grandson – for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” ²³But Gideon said to them, “I shall not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.” ²⁴And Gideon said to them, “Let me ask you a request. Give me every man's earring which he has as his spoil.” For they had golden earrings, for the Midianites were Ishmaelites. ²⁵And they said, “We will certainly give them.” And they spread out a garment, and each man cast there his earring which he had as his spoil. ²⁶And the weight of the golden earrings which he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, apart from the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple clothes which were on the kings of Midian, and apart from the necklaces which were on the camels' necks. ²⁷And Gideon made these things into an ephod, and he put it in his city, in Ophrah, and the whole of Israel went whoring after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household. ²⁸So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not assert themselves any more, and the land was quiet for forty years in the days of Gideon. ²⁹Then Jerubbaal the son of Joash departed, and he dwelt in his house. ³⁰And Gideon had seventy sons – those who came from his thighs – for he had many wives. ³¹And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he gave him the name Abimelech. ³²And Gideon the son of Joash died at a good old age, and he was buried in the grave of Joash his father, the Abi-Ezrite, in Ophrah. ³³And it came to pass, when Gideon died, that the sons of Israel went whoring after the Baalim again, and they made Baal-Berith their god. ³⁴And the sons of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who saved them from the hand of all their enemies round about. ³⁵Nor did they deal kindly with the house of Jerubbaal – Gideon – for all the good which he did with Israel.

¹Then Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem, to his mother's brothers, and he spoke to them and to the whole family of his mother's father's house, and he said, ²“Please speak in the audience of all the lords of Shechem, and say, ‘What is better for you: seventy men to rule over you – all of Jerubbaal's sons – or for one man to rule over you? And remember that I am your bone and your flesh.’ ” ³So his mother's brothers spoke concerning him all these words in the audience of all the lords of Shechem, and their heart inclined towards Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.” ⁴And they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-Berith, with which Abimelech hired some idle and reckless men, and they followed him. ⁵And he went to his father's house, to Ophrah, and he killed his brothers – the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men – on one stone, but Jotham, Jerubbaal's youngest son, was left remaining, because he hid himself. ⁶And all the lords of Shechem, and the whole house of Millo gathered together, and they departed and made Abimelech king by the oak which had been set up in Shechem. ⁷And it was reported to Jotham, and he departed and stood on the summit of Mount Gerizim, and he raised his voice and called out and said to them, “Listen to me, you lords of Shechem, so that God may listen to you. ⁸The trees went purposefully to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’ ⁹But the olive tree said to them, ‘Should I give up my fatness, by which through me they honour God and men, and should I go to hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁰Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹¹But the fig tree said to them, ‘Should I give up my sweetness and my good produce, and should I go to hold sway over the trees?’ ¹²Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹³But the vine said to them, ‘Should I give up my new wine which cheers up God and men, and should I go to hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁴Then all the trees said to the blackthorn, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹⁵And the blackthorn said to the trees, ‘If you truly anoint me as king over you, come and put your trust in my shadow; and if you do not, let fire come out of the blackthorn and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’ ¹⁶So now, if you acted truthfully and with integrity when you made Abimelech king, and if you acted correctly with Jerubbaal and with his house, and if you dealt with him according to his just deserts, ¹⁷in that my father fought for you, and he put his life in jeopardy and saved you from Midian's grip ¹⁸(and you have risen up against the house of my father today, and you have killed his sons – seventy men – on one stone, and you have made Abimelech, his maid's son, king over the lords of Shechem, because he is your brother), ¹⁹so if you have dealt truthfully and with integrity with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, rejoice in Abimelech and let him also rejoice in you. ²⁰But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and consume the lords of Shechem and the house of Millo, and let fire come from the lords of Shechem and the house of Millo and consume Abimelech.” ²¹Then Jotham fled and bolted, and he went to Beer, and he lived there because of Abimelech his brother. ²²And Abimelech was prince over Israel for three years. ²³Then God sent an untoward spirit between Abimelech and the lords of Shechem, and the lords of Shechem acted treacherously against Abimelech, ²⁴so that the violence against the seventy sons of Jerubbaal should come to a head, and to lay their blood on Abimelech their brother, because he killed them, and on the lords of Shechem, because they abetted him in killing his brothers. ²⁵And the lords of Shechem set up men in ambush against him on the summits of the mountains, and they robbed everyone who came across them on the road, and it was reported to Abimelech. ²⁶Then Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers came and crossed over to Shechem, and the lords of Shechem put their trust in him. ²⁷And they went out into the fields and harvested their vineyards and trod the grapes, and they held thanksgiving celebrations, and they went to the house of their god, and they ate and drank, and they cursed Abimelech. ²⁸And Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech and who is Shechem that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal? And is not Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem. So why should we serve this one? ²⁹And if only this people was in my power! Then I would remove Abimelech.” And he said to Abimelech, “Increase your army and come out!” ³⁰And when Zebul the chief officer of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled. ³¹And he sent messengers to Abimelech clandestinely and said, “Look, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers are coming to Shechem, and what they are doing is stirring up the city against you. ³²So now, arise by night, you and the people who are with you, and set an ambush in the countryside. ³³So what you should do is, in the morning, when the sun rises, get up early and invade the city, and when he and the people with him come out against you, do to him whatever is fitting.” ³⁴So Abimelech and all the people who were with him arose at night and lay in ambush against Shechem, in four contingents. ³⁵Then when Gaal the son of Ebed came out and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city, Abimelech and the people with him arose from the ambush. ³⁶And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Look, a people is coming down from the summits of the mountains.” But Zebul said to him, “You are mistaking the shadow of the mountain for men.” ³⁷Then Gaal spoke yet again and said, “Look, a people is coming down from the height of the land, and one contingent is coming by the way of the oak of Meonenim.” ³⁸Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your mouth now, with which you might say, ‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’? Is this not the people whom you rejected? Come on out now and fight them!” ³⁹Then Gaal came out in the presence of the lords of Shechem, and he fought against Abimelech. ⁴⁰And Abimelech pursued him, and he fled before him, and many fell wounded up to the entrance of the gate. ⁴¹And Abimelech lived in Arumah, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his brothers, stopping them from living in Shechem. ⁴²And it came to pass on the next day when the people went out into the fields that it was reported to Abimelech. ⁴³And he took his people and divided them into three contingents, and he lay in ambush in the fields, and he looked, and what he saw was the people coming out of the city. And he rose up against them and struck them. ⁴⁴And Abimelech and the contingents which were with him made an onslaught, and they took up position at the entrance of the gate of the city, and two contingents made an onslaught against everyone in the fields and struck them down. ⁴⁵And Abimelech fought in the city all that day, and he took the city, and he killed the people who were in it, and he demolished the city and sowed it with salt. ⁴⁶Then when all the lords of the tower of Shechem heard it, they went to the watchtower of the house of El-Berith. ⁴⁷And it was reported to Abimelech that all the lords of the tower of Shechem had gathered together. ⁴⁸Then Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon – he and all the people who were with him – and Abimelech took axes in his hand and cut off a bough from one of the trees, and he lifted it up and put it on his shoulder, and he said to the people who were with him, “What you have seen me do, hurry up and do the same as me.” ⁴⁹So all the people also each cut off a bough, and they followed Abimelech, and they put them against the watchtower, and with them they set fire to the watchtower, and all the men of the tower of Shechem also died – about a thousand men and women. ⁵⁰Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and he encamped at Thebez, and he captured it. ⁵¹Now there was a strong tower inside the city, and all the men and women and all the lords of the city fled there, and they closed it behind them, and they went up onto the roof of the tower. ⁵²And Abimelech went to the tower, and he attacked it, and he approached the entrance of the tower to set it on fire. ⁵³And a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech's head, and it crushed his skull. ⁵⁴And he quickly called the servant-lad carrying his equipment, and he said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they do not say about me, ‘A woman killed him.’ ” So his servant thrust him through, and he died. ⁵⁵And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, each man went to his place. ⁵⁶So God requited Abimelech's wickedness which he committed against his father, in killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷And God requited all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their head, and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came upon them.

¹Then after Abimelech was gone, Tola, the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, arose to save Israel – a man of Issachar – and he lived in Shamir at Mount Ephraim. ²And he judged Israel for twenty-three years, then he died and was buried in Shamir. ³And after him Jair the Gileadite arose, and he judged Israel for twenty-two years. ⁴And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty ass-colts, and they had thirty cities, and they call them the Villages of Jair up to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. ⁵Then Jair died, and he was buried in Camon. ⁶Then the sons of Israel again did what was wrong in the eyes of the Lord, and they served the Baalim, and images of Astarte, and the gods of Aramaea, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. But they forsook the Lord, and they did not serve him. ⁷And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the sons of Ammon. ⁸And they crushed and oppressed the sons of Israel in that year – for eighteen years all the sons of Israel who were on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites who were in Gilead. ⁹Then the sons of Ammon crossed the Jordan to fight against both Judah and Benjamin, as well as the house of Ephraim, and Israel was in a serious strait. ¹⁰And the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord and said, “We have sinned against you, because we have both forsaken our God and we have served the Baalim.” ¹¹Then the Lord said to the sons of Israel, “Is it not from Egypt and from the Amorites and from the sons of Ammon and from the Philistines that I saved you? ¹²And when the Sidonians and Amalek and Maon oppressed you, you cried out to me, and I saved you from their hand. ¹³But you forsook me, and you served other gods. That is why I shall not save you again. ¹⁴Go and cry out to the gods that you have chosen. Let them save you in the time of your distress.” ¹⁵Then the sons of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Deal with us in whatever way is right in your sight, but please deliver us this day.” ¹⁶Then they removed the foreign gods from their midst, and they served the Lord, and he became impatient over Israel's suffering. ¹⁷Then the sons of Ammon were mobilized, and they encamped at Gilead. And the sons of Israel gathered and encamped in Mizpah. ¹⁸And the people – the officers of Gilead – said to each other, “Who is the man who will start fighting the sons of Ammon? He will be the head of all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

¹Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a valiant warrior, and he was the son of a harlot woman, and it was Gilead who begot Jephthah. ²And Gilead's wife bore him sons, and his wife's sons grew up and drove Jephthah out, and they said to him, “You will not inherit anything in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman.” ³At this Jephthah fled from his brothers, and he dwelt in the land of Tob, and some idle men gathered around Jephthah and went out with him. ⁴And it came to pass after a number of days that the sons of Ammon fought against Israel. ⁵And it so happened as the sons of Ammon were fighting against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah from the land of Tob. ⁶And they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, and let us fight against the sons of Ammon.” ⁷Then Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Have you not hated me and driven me out of my father's house? So why have you come to me now that you are in a strait?” ⁸And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “This is why we have now turned to you: for you to come with us and fight against the sons of Ammon, and you will be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” ⁹Then Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you are bringing me back to fight against the sons of Ammon, when the Lord has delivered them before me, then I will be your head.” ¹⁰Then the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “May the Lord hold us to account if we do not act according to your words.” ¹¹Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people appointed him to be head over them and a leader, and Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpah. ¹²Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon and said, “What is the issue between me and you that you should come to me to fight in my land?” ¹³And the king of the sons of Ammon said to Jephthah's messengers, “Because Israel took my land when it came up from Egypt, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and up to the Jordan. So now, give it back in peace.” ¹⁴Then Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the sons of Ammon, ¹⁵and he said to him, “This is what Jephthah says: ‘Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the sons of Ammon, ¹⁶for when it came up from Egypt, Israel went into the desert, to the Red Sea, and it came to Kadesh. ¹⁷Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom and said, «Please let me cross your land.» But the king of Edom did not consent. And it also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he was not willing, and Israel stayed in Kadesh. ¹⁸And it went into the desert, and it went round the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and it came to the land of Moab from the sunrise direction, and they encamped across the Arnon, but they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon is the border of Moab. ¹⁹Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites – the king of Heshbon – and Israel said to him, «Please let us cross through your land to our place.» ²⁰But Sihon did not trust Israel to cross its territory, and Sihon gathered all his people, and they encamped at Jahaz, and he did battle with Israel. ²¹And the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into Israel's hand, and they struck them, and Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who lived in that land. ²²So they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok, and from the desert to the Jordan. ²³So now that the Lord God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites before his people Israel, will you then take possession of it? ²⁴Is it not so, that whatever Chemosh your god dispossesses for you, you take possession of? And that everything that the Lord our God dispossesses before us, we take possession of? ²⁵So now, are you really any better than Balak the son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Did he strive vehemently with Israel, or did he fight fiercely against them? ²⁶When Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its satellites, and in Aroer and its satellites, and in all the cities alongside the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not deliver these places, at that time? ²⁷And I have not committed any offence against you, but you are doing wrong with me in fighting me. May the Lord, the judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.’ ” ²⁸But the king of the sons of Ammon did not favourably receive the words of Jephthah which he had sent to him. ²⁹Then the spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah, and he crossed Gilead and Manasseh, and he crossed Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he crossed over to the sons of Ammon. ³⁰Then Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and he said, “If you will make a point of delivering the sons of Ammon into my hand, ³¹then it will be the case that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon will be the Lord's, or I will offer it as a burnt offering.” ³²Then Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hand. ³³And he struck them from Aroer to where one approaches Minnith – twenty cities – and as far as Abel-Keramim, with a very great blow, and the sons of Ammon were humiliated before the sons of Israel. ³⁴Then Jephthah went to Mizpah, to his house, and what should happen but his daughter came out to meet him, with timbrels and dancing, and moreover, she was an only child – besides her he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵And it came to pass when he saw her that he tore his clothes, and he said, “Alas, my daughter, you have brought me very low, and you have joined those who cause me sorrow, for I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot reverse it.” ³⁶Then she said to him, “My father, have you opened your mouth to the Lord? Do to me according to what was uttered from your mouth, since the Lord has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, on the sons of Ammon.” ³⁷And she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me – leave me alone for two months, and I will go up and down on the mountains and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.” ³⁸And he said, “Go.” And he sent her off for two months. So she went – she and her companions – and she bewailed her virginity on the mountains. ³⁹Then it came to pass after two months that she returned to her father, and he performed with her his vow which he had made, and she did not know a man, and it became a statute in Israel. ⁴⁰On these days, as they recur, the daughters of Israel go to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, for four days per year.

¹Then the men of Ephraim were called together, and they crossed over to the north, and they said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight the sons of Ammon, without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house with fire on you.” ²Then Jephthah said to them, “I was a man in contention – I and my people – with the sons of Ammon, to a great extent, and I called out to you, but you did not deliver me out of their hand. ³And when I saw that you were not delivering me, I risked by life, and I went across to the sons of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into my hand. So why have you come up this day to fight against me?” ⁴Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim, and the men of Gilead struck Ephraim down, for the latter had said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, Gilead within Ephraim and within Manasseh.” ⁵And Gilead captured Ephraim's fords of the Jordan, and it came to pass that when the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me cross”, the men of Gilead said, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No”, ⁶then they said to him, “Kindly say, ‘Shibboleth’ ”, and if he said, “Sibboleth”, and he did not articulate to pronounce it correctly, then they took him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. And at that time forty-two thousand men of Ephraim fell. ⁷And Jephthah judged Israel for six years, then Jephthah the Gileadite died, and he was buried in the cities of Gilead. ⁸Then after him, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. ⁹And he had thirty sons and thirty daughters whom he sent out. And he brought thirty daughters from outside for his sons, and he judged Israel for seven years. ¹⁰Then Ibzan died, and he was buried in Bethlehem. ¹¹And after him Elon the Zebulonite judged Israel, and he judged Israel for ten years. ¹²Then Elon the Zebulonite died, and he was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun. ¹³Then after him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. ¹⁴And he had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy ass-colts, and he judged Israel for eight years. ¹⁵Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and he was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim at the mount of the Amalekite.

¹Then the sons of Israel again did what was wrong in the eyes of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. ²And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the Danite family, and his name was Manoah, and his wife was barren, and she had not given birth. ³And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Look now, you are barren, and you have not given birth, but you will conceive and bear a son. ⁴So now, please be on your guard, and do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean. ⁵For you are about to conceive, and you will bear a son, and no razor will pass over his head, for the boy will be a Nazarite of God from the womb, and he will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁶Then the woman went and spoke to her husband, and she said, “A man of God has come to me, and his appearance was as the appearance of an angel of God – most awesome – and I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name. ⁷And he said to me, ‘You are about to conceive, and you will bear a son. So now, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, for the boy will be a Nazarite of God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ” ⁸Then Manoah entreated the Lord and said, “O Lord^*, please – the man of God whom you sent – may he please come to us again and teach us what we are to do with the boy who is to be born.” ⁹And God heeded Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was sitting down in a field, when Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰And the woman hastened and ran and told her husband, and she said to him, “Look, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me again.” ¹¹So Manoah got up and followed his wife, and he came to the man, and he said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to the woman?” And he said, “Yes I am.” ¹²Then Manoah said, “May your words now come to pass. What is the boy's duty to be, and his function?” ¹³And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Let her be on her guard about everything I have said to her. ¹⁴She shall not consume anything that comes from the grape vine, nor drink any wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean. Let her keep everything I have commanded her.” ¹⁵Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you, and we will prepare a kid of the goats for you.” ¹⁶But the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I shall not eat your food, but if you would offer a burnt offering, you shall offer it to the Lord.” For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord. ¹⁷Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that when your words come to pass, we can honour you.” ¹⁸Then the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask me my name, when it is Wonderful?” ¹⁹Then Manoah took a kid of the goats and a meal-offering, and he offered them on the rock to the Lord, and a wondrous thing was done while Manoah and his wife were watching. ²⁰And it came to pass, as the flame went up from the altar towards heaven, that the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar, while Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell face down to the ground. ²¹And the angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah or to his wife, so Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. ²²And Manoah said to his wife, “We will certainly die, for we have seen God.” ²³But his wife said to him, “If it had pleased the Lord to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering or a meal-offering from our hand, and he would not have shown us all these things, and at this time he would not have informed us of such things.” ²⁴And the woman bore a son, and she called him Samson, and the boy grew up, and the Lord blessed him. ²⁵And the spirit of the Lord began to motivate him in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

¹Then Samson went down to Timnah, and he saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines. ²And he went up and told his father and his mother, and he said, “I have seen a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines, so now, get her for me to be my wife.” ³But his father and his mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your brothers and all my people, that you should go and take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.” ⁴Now his father and his mother did not know that this was from the Lord, for he was seeking an occasion against the Philistines, for at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel. ⁵Then Samson and his father and his mother went down to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah, and what he came across was a lion cub roaring at him. ⁶But the spirit of the Lord descended on him, and he tore it apart as one tears a kid of the goats apart, yet there was nothing in his hand, but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. ⁷Then he went down and spoke to the woman, and she was right in Samson's eyes. ⁸Then after a number of days he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion, and what he saw was a colony of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion. ⁹And he took some of it in his palms, and he went eating as he was walking, and he went to his father and mother, and he gave them some, and they ate it, but he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the carcase of the lion. ¹⁰Then his father went down to the woman, and Samson held a feast there, for so the young men would do. ¹¹And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they took thirty friends, who accompanied him. ¹²Then Samson said to them, “Let me pose you a riddle. If you can plainly tell me the solution in the seven days of the feast, and solve it, then I will give you thirty linen undergarments and thirty suits of clothing. ¹³But if you cannot tell me, then you must give me thirty linen undergarments and thirty suits of clothing.” And they said to him, “Pose your riddle, and we will listen to it.” ¹⁴And he said to them,

“Food came out of that which eats,

And out of that which is strong

Came out sweetness.”

And they could not solve the riddle for three days. ¹⁵Then it came to pass on the seventh day that they said to Samson's wife, “Entice your husband to tell us the solution to the riddle, or else we will burn you and your father's house with fire. Did you invite us so as to dispossess us or not?” ¹⁶Then Samson's wife wept at him, and she said, “You just hate me, and you do not love me. You posed the riddle to the sons of my people, but you have not told me its solution.” Then he said to her, “Look, I have not told my father or my mother, so am I supposed to tell you?” ¹⁷Then she wept at him in the week in which they held the feast, and it came to pass on the seventh day that he told her, because she distressed him. Then she told the sons of her people. ¹⁸Then on the seventh day the men of the city said to him before the sun set,

“What is sweeter than honey,

And what is stronger than a lion?”

Then he said to them, “If you had not ploughed my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle.” ¹⁹Then the spirit of the Lord descended on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty of its men, and he took their spoil, and he gave the suits of clothing to those who had solved the riddle, and his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house. ²⁰And a friend of his, who had befriended him, had Samson's wife.

¹Then it came to pass after many days, in the days of the wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid of the goats, and he said, “I will go to my wife, into the room.” But her father would not let him go in. ²And her father said, “I have solemnly declared that you definitely hated her, and I gave her to your friend. Is not her younger sister prettier than she? Please have her instead of her.” ³Then Samson said concerning them, “This time I am more innocent than the Philistines, although I am doing them harm.” ⁴Then Samson went and took three hundred foxes, and he took torches, and he orientated them tail to tail, and he put one torch between the two tails in between them. ⁵And he set the torches on fire and released them in the Philistines' cornfields, and he burnt both a stack of corn and standing corn, and also an olive grove. ⁶And the Philistines said, “Who did this?” And they said, “Samson the son-in-law of the Timnite, for he took his wife and gave her to his friend.” Then the Philistines went up and burnt her and her father with fire. ⁷And Samson said to them, “As you have done this, I will surely avenge myself on you, and only afterwards will I cease.” ⁸And he struck them down in the leg and in the thigh with a great assault, and he went down and sat in a cleft in the rock of Etam. ⁹And the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and spread out in Lehi. ¹⁰And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” And they said, “We have come up to bind Samson up, to do to him what he has done to us.” ¹¹Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cleft in the rock of Etam, and they said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? What is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they have done to me, so I have done to them.” ¹²And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you up and to deliver you into the hands of the Philistines.” Then Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.” ¹³But they spoke to him and said, “No, rather we will certainly bind you up and deliver you into their hand, but we will certainly not kill you.” And they bound him with two new ropes, and they brought him up out of the rock. ¹⁴He came to Lehi, and the Philistines sounded an alarm to confront him, but the spirit of the Lord descended on him, and the ropes which were around his arms became like flax burning in a fire, and his bonds melted from around his hands. ¹⁵Then he found a fresh donkey's jawbone, and he stretched out his hand and took hold of it, and he struck down one thousand men with it. ¹⁶Then Samson said,

“With an ass's jawbone

– A heap, a pair of heaps –

With an ass's jawbone

I struck down a thousand men.”

¹⁷And then, when he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone away, and he called that place Ramath-Lehi. ¹⁸And he was very thirsty, and he called on the Lord and said, “You have now put this great salvation in the hand of your servant, but now I will die of thirst, and I will fall into the hands of the uncircumcised.” ¹⁹Then God split open the hollow which is in Lehi, and water came out, and he drank, and his spirit returned, and he revived, and for that reason he called it En-Hakkore, which is in Lehi, up to this day. ²⁰And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines for twenty years.

¹Then Samson went to Gaza, and he saw a harlot there, and he went in to her. ²It was reported to the Gazans as follows: “Samson has come here.” Then they surrounded and ambushed him all night at the city gate, and they kept quiet all night and said, “At morning light we will kill him.” ³And Samson lay down until midnight, then he arose at midnight, and he seized the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, and he wrenched them out with the bolt, and he put them on his shoulders, and he brought them up to the top of the mountain which is adjacent to Hebron. ⁴And it came to pass after that, that he fell in love with a woman at the Brook of Sorek, and her name was Delilah. ⁵Then the barons of the Philistines went up and said to her, “Entice him and see what his great strength is due to, and by what means we can prevail over him, so that we can bind him to subdue him, and we will each give you one thousand one hundred pieces of silver.” ⁶So Delilah said to Samson, “Do tell me what your great strength is due to, and by what means you can be bound to subdue you.” ⁷And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh cords which have not dried up, then I will become weak, and I will become like any other man.” ⁸Then the barons of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords which had not dried, and she bound him with them. ⁹And an ambush was present in collusion with her in the room, and she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he broke the cords as one breaks a thread of hemp when one makes it touch fire, and the cause of his strength was not known. ¹⁰Then Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have mocked me, and you have told me lies. Now do tell me how you can be bound.” ¹¹Then he said to her, “If indeed they bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then I will become weak and become like any other man.” ¹²So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the ambush was present in the room, but he broke them from around his arms like a thread. ¹³Then Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you can be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven braids of my head with a web.” ¹⁴She did so, and she fastened it with a peg. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” Then he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the peg for the woven work and the web. ¹⁵Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you’, when your heart is not with me? That is three times you have mocked me and not told me what your great strength is due to.” ¹⁶And it came to pass that she distressed him with her words every day, and she urged him, so that he was inwardly grieved to death. ¹⁷And he told her all his heart, and he said to her, “No razor has gone over my head, for I have been a Nazarite of God from my mother's womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will depart from me, and I will become weak, and I will become like any other man.” ¹⁸And Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, and she sent word and called for the barons of the Philistines, and she said, “Come up this time.” For he had told her all his heart. And the barons of the Philistines came up to her, and they brought up the silver in their hands. ¹⁹And she made him sleep on her knees, and she called for the man, and she had him shave the seven braids of his head, then she began to oppress him, and his strength departed from him. ²⁰And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep, and he said, “I will go out as at other times and rouse myself.” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. ²¹Then the Philistines seized him, and they gouged out his eyes, and they brought him down to Gaza, and they bound him in fetters, and he became a millstone worker in the prison. ²²And the hair of his head began to grow after he had been shaven. ²³Then the barons of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and for rejoicing, and they said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hands.” ²⁴And the people saw him, and they praised their god, for they said,

“Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands

– The one who made our land desolate

And who increased the number of our casualties.”

²⁵And it came to pass, because their heart was cheerful, that they said, “Call for Samson, and he will be sport for us.” So they called for Samson from prison, and he was sport before them, and they placed him between the columns. ²⁶And Samson said to the boy who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the columns by which the building is held up, so that I can lean on them.” ²⁷And the building was full of men and women, and all the barons of the Philistines were there, and there were about three thousand men and women on the roof, watching the sport with Samson. ²⁸And Samson called out to the Lord, and he said, “My Lord the Lord, do remember me and strengthen me just this once, O God, so that I will be avenged with one act of vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes.” ²⁹And Samson took hold round the two central columns to which the building fixed, and he exerted force against them, one by his right hand, and one by his left hand. ³⁰And Samson said, “I myself will die with the Philistines.” And he stretched out in strength, and the building fell on the barons and on all the people in it, and those who died – whom he killed in his death – were more than those whom he killed in his life. ³¹Then his brothers and the whole household of his father went down and took him and brought him up, and they buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the grave of Manoah his father. And he had judged Israel for twenty years.

¹Now there was a man from Mount Ephraim, and his name was Micah. ²And he said to his mother, “Regarding the one thousand one hundred pieces of silver which were taken from you, when you then cursed and also spoke in my ears: here is the silver; I have it with me – I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed are you, my son, by the Lord.” ³And he gave the one thousand one hundred pieces of silver back to his mother, and his mother said, “I had specifically dedicated the silver to the Lord from my own resources for my son, to make an engraved image and a cast image. But now I will give it back to you.” ⁴But he returned the silver to his mother. And his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and she gave them to the silversmith, and he made them into an engraved image and a cast image, and they were in Micah's house. ⁵And the man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod and amulets, and he appointed one of his sons to be his priest. ⁶In those days there was no king in Israel – each man did what was right in his own eyes. ⁷And there was a lad from Bethlehem-Judah of the family of Judah, and he was a Levite, and he was staying there. ⁸And the man went from the city – from Bethlehem-Judah – to stay wherever he could find a livelihood, and he came to Mount Ephraim, to Micah's house, in making his way. ⁹And Micah asked him, “Where have you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem-Judah, and I am moving around to stay wherever I find a livelihood.” ¹⁰Then Micah said to him, “Stay with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver per year and a suit of clothes and your food.” And the Levite went in. ¹¹And the Levite was willing to stay with the man, and the lad became to him like one of his sons. ¹²And Micah appointed the Levite, and the lad became his priest, and he was in Micah's house. ¹³And Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be favourable to me, because I have the Levite as a priest.”

¹In those days there was no king in Israel, and in those days the Danite tribe was looking for an inheritance to dwell in, because up to that time no inheritance had fallen to it among the tribes of Israel. ²And the sons of Dan sent five men from their family – from their borders, valiant men – from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and to search it out, and they said to them, “Go and search out the land.” And they came to Mount Ephraim, to Micah's house, and they lodged there. ³They were with Micah's household, and they recognized the voice of the Levite lad, and they went aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here, and what are you doing in this place, and what is your business here?” ⁴And he said to them, “Micah offered me this and that and hired me, and I became his priest.” ⁵Then they said to him, “Kindly ask God so that we may know whether our way on which we are going will be prosperous.” ⁶And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. Your way on which you are going is before the Lord.” ⁷And the five men departed, and they came to Laish, and they saw the people inside it, dwelling in security, in the manner of the Sidonians, being quiet and secure, with no-one who possessed authority accusing anyone of any shame in the land. Now they were far from the Sidonians, and they had no business with any man. ⁸Then they went back to their brothers in Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brothers said to them, “What news have you?” ⁹And they said, “Arise, and let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and we have seen that it is very good. But you are silent. Do not be slack in going to enter in and to take possession of the land. ¹⁰As you arrive, you will come to a self-confident people. And the land is very wide, for God has delivered it into your hands – a place where there is no lack of anything in the land.” ¹¹Then six hundred men of the Danite family, girded with weapons of war, moved from there – from Zorah and Eshtaol – ¹²and they went up and encamped at Kiriath-Jearim in Judah, which is why they call that place Mahaneh-Dan up to this day. Its location is behind Kiriath-Jearim. ¹³And they crossed from there to Mount Ephraim, and they went up to Micah's house. ¹⁴Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish spoke and said to their brothers, “Did you know that there is an ephod and amulets in these houses, and an engraved image and a cast image? So now, decide what you are going to do.” ¹⁵Then they turned aside to there, and they went to the house of the Levite lad – to Micah's house – and they asked him how he was. ¹⁶And the six hundred men, girded with their weapons of war, who were from the sons of Dan, stood at the entrance of the gate. ¹⁷And the five men who had gone to spy out the land went up and went in there. They took the engraved image and the ephod and the amulets and the cast image, while the priest stood at the entrance of the gate, with the six hundred men girded with weapons of war. ¹⁸So these men went to Micah's house, and they took the engraved image, the ephod and the amulets and the cast image. And the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” ¹⁹And they said to him, “Be silent, and put your hand to your mouth, and come with us, and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man or for you to be a priest to a tribe and family in Israel?” ²⁰Then the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod and the amulets and the engraved image, and he went among the people. ²¹Then they turned around and departed, and they put the little ones and the cattle and the precious things before them. ²²When they had moved away from Micah's house, the men who were in the houses which were associated with Micah's house mobilized themselves and caught up with the sons of Dan. ²³And they called out to the sons of Dan, who turned round and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you that you should mobilize yourself like this?” ²⁴And he said, “You have taken my gods which I made, and the priest, and you have departed. So what remains for me, and what is this that you say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’?” ²⁵And the sons of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard with us in case any embittered men attack you and you gather yourself and the people of your household with the dead.” ²⁶Then the sons of Dan went their way and Micah saw that they were stronger than he, so he turned round and went back to his house. ²⁷So they took what Micah had had made, and the priest whom he had, and they came to Laish, to a quiet and self-confident people, and they struck them down with the edge of the sword, and they burnt the city with fire. ²⁸And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with any man, and it was in the valley which belongs to Beth-Rehob. Then they built up the city and dwelt in it. ²⁹And they called the city Dan after their father Dan who was born to Israel, but the name of the city at first was Laish. ³⁰And the sons of Dan set up the engraved image for themselves, whilst Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh – he and his sons – became priests to the Danite tribe up to the day when the land became captive. ³¹And they set up for themselves Micah's engraved image which he had had made for all the time when the house of God was in Shiloh.

¹And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a Levite man staying on the far side of Mount Ephraim, and he took for himself a concubine woman from Bethlehem-Judah. ²And his concubine played the harlot on him, and she went from him to her father's house, to Bethlehem-Judah, and she was there for a year and four months. ³Then her husband-as-it-were arose and went after her to speak kindly to her, to bring her back, and his servant-lad was with him, with a pair of donkeys. And she brought him into her father's house, and when the young lady's father saw him, he was pleased at meeting him. ⁴And his father-in-law as it were – the father of the young lady – prevailed upon him, and he stayed with him for three days, and they ate and drank, and they lodged there. ⁵And it came to pass on the fourth day that they got up early, and he arose to go, but the father of the young lady said to his son-in-law, “Refresh your heart with a bit of food, and afterwards you can go.” ⁶So they stayed and ate – both of them together – and they drank, and the father of the young lady said to the man, “Please be willing to lodge and let your heart be cheerful.” ⁷But the man got up to go, but his father-in-law put pressure on him, and he lodged there again. ⁸And he arose early to go on the fifth day, but the father of the young lady said, “Do refresh your heart. And they tarried until the day turned noon.” And the two of them ate. ⁹Then the man got up to go – he and his concubine and his servant-lad – but his father-in-law, the father of the young lady, said to him, “Look, the day is declining so as to draw towards evening. Please lodge; see how the day is drawing in. Lodge here, and let your heart be cheerful, and get up early tomorrow for your journey, and go to your tent.” ¹⁰But the man was not willing to lodge, and he got up and departed and came to opposite Jebus – that is Jerusalem – and with him were the pair of donkeys, saddled, and his concubine was also with him. ¹¹They were near Jebus when the day was very much in decline, and the servant-lad said to his master, “Please go and let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites and lodge in it.” ¹²But his master said to him, “We will not turn aside to a foreigner's city where there aren't any sons of Israel, but we will cross to Gibeah.” ¹³And he said to his servant-lad, “Come, and we will approach one of the places, and we will lodge in Gibeah or in Ramah.” ¹⁴Then they crossed over, and they proceeded, and the sun set on them beside Gibeah, which is Benjamin's. ¹⁵And they turned aside there to go and lodge in Gibeah. When he arrived there, he sat in a city street, for no-one would receive them indoors to lodge. ¹⁶Now there was an old man coming from his work – from the field – in the evening, and the man was from Mount Ephraim, and he was staying in Gibeah, but the men of the place were Benjaminites. ¹⁷And he raised his eyes, and he saw the traveller in a city street, and the old man said, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?” ¹⁸And he said to him, “We are crossing from Bethlehem-Judah to the far side of Mount Ephraim. I am from there. And I went to Bethlehem-Judah, and I am going to the house of the Lord, but no-one will receive me in their house. ¹⁹Yet we have not only straw and also fodder for our donkeys, but I also have bread and wine, including for your maidservant and the servant-lad, whom you can reckon with your servants. There is no lack of anything.” ²⁰And the old man said, “Peace to you. Only let all your needs be my responsibility, and do not lodge in the street.” ²¹And he brought him into his house, and he fed the donkeys, and they washed their feet, and they ate and drank. ²²While they were making their hearts merry, what happened was some men of the city – good-for-nothing men – surrounded the house, and they knocked on the door and spoke to the old man who was master of the house, and they said, “Bring out the man who went into your house so that we may know him.” ²³And the man who was master of the house came out and said to them, “No, my brothers, please do not act wickedly, because this man has come into my house. Do not do this disgraceful thing. ²⁴Here is my virgin daughter, and this man's concubine. Let me bring them out. Then rape them and do to them what is right in your eyes, but do not do this immoral thing to this man.” ²⁵But the men were not willing to listen to him, and the man took hold of his concubine and brought her outside to them, and they knew her, and they abused her all night until morning, and they let her go when dawn came. ²⁶And the woman came at daybreak and fell down at the door of the house of the man where her master was, until daylight. ²⁷And her master rose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way, and what he saw was the woman who was his concubine fallen down at the entrance to the house with her hands on the threshold. ²⁸And he said to her, “Get up and let's go.” But no-one answered. Then he took her on his donkey. Then the man got up and went back home. ²⁹And when he came to his house, he took a knife, and he took hold of his concubine, and he cut her in pieces by her bones – into twelve pieces – and he dispersed her into every territory of Israel. ³⁰And it came to pass that everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has happened or has been seen from the day the sons of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt, up to this day. Consider it, deliberate, and speak out.”

¹Then all the sons of Israel went out, and the congregation assembled in unanimity from Dan to Beersheba and the land of Gilead, to the Lord in Mizpah. ²And the key men of all the people – of all the tribes of Israel – stood up in the convocation of the people of God, four hundred thousand infantrymen who drew the sword. ³Now the sons of Benjamin heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpah. And the sons of Israel said, “Explain how this wickedness came about.” ⁴And the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered and said, “I and my concubine arrived in Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to lodge there. ⁵And the inhabitants of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house on me by night. They intended to kill me, and they raped my concubine, and she died. ⁶So I took hold of my concubine, and I cut her in pieces, and I dispersed her into all the country of the inheritance of Israel, for they committed depravity and immorality in Israel. ⁷Behold, you are all sons of Israel. Give your verdict and counsel here.” ⁸And all the people arose unanimously and said, “Not one of us will go to his tent, and not one of us will turn in to his house. ⁹For now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah, against it, by lot: ¹⁰we will take ten men per hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred per thousand, and one thousand per ten thousand, to take provisions for the people, for them to do to Geba of Benjamin when they arrive there what they deserve for all the immorality which they did in Israel.” ¹¹So every man of Israel gathered against the city, unanimously, in league. ¹²And the tribes of Israel sent men throughout all the tribes of Benjamin, and they said, “What is this evil act which has taken place among you? ¹³So now, hand over the good-for-nothing men who are in Gibeah so that we can put them to death and eradicate evil from Israel.” But the sons of Benjamin were not willing to comply with their brothers, the sons of Israel. ¹⁴Then the sons of Benjamin gathered together in Gibeah from the cities so as to go out to war against the sons of Israel. ¹⁵And the sons of Benjamin were counted on that day, from the cities, as twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, apart from the inhabitants of Gibeah who were counted: seven hundred choice men. ¹⁶From all this people there were seven hundred choice men who were left-handed. Each of these could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. ¹⁷And each man of Israel was counted, apart from Benjamin: four hundred thousand men who drew the sword. All these were men of war. ¹⁸And they arose and went up to Beth-El, and they inquired of God, and the sons of Israel said, “Which of us should go up first into battle against the sons of Benjamin?” And the Lord said, “Judah will go up first.” ¹⁹Then the sons of Israel arose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. ²⁰And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel drew themselves up for battle against them in Gibeah. ²¹And the sons of Benjamin went out from Gibeah and dispatched twenty-two thousand men of Israel to the ground on that day. ²²But the people – the men of Israel – encouraged themselves and drew up for battle again in the place where they had drawn up on the first day. ²³And the sons of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening, and they inquired of the Lord and said, “Should I again engage in battle the sons of Benjamin my brother?” And the Lord said, “Go up against him.” ²⁴And the sons of Israel engaged the sons of Benjamin on the second day. ²⁵And Benjamin came out from Gibeah to confront them on the second day, and they dispatched another eighteen thousand men among the sons of Israel to the ground, all these drawing the sword. ²⁶Then all the sons of Israel went up with all the people, and they came to Beth-El, and they wept, and they sat there before the Lord, and they fasted on that day until evening, and they offered burnt offerings and peace-offerings before the Lord. ²⁷Then the sons of Israel inquired of the Lord, for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, ²⁸and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, was standing before it in those days, and he said, “Should I yet again go out to battle against the sons of Benjamin my brother, or should I cease?” And the Lord said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver him into your hand.” ²⁹Then Israel placed men in an ambush around Gibeah. ³⁰And the sons of Israel went up against the sons of Benjamin on the third day, and they drew up against Gibeah as on previous occasions. ³¹And the sons of Benjamin came out to confront the people, and they were drawn away from the city, and they began to strike down some of the people dead as on previous occasions, on the highways, one of which goes up to Beth-El, and one to Gibeah in the field – about thirty men of Israel. ³²Then the sons of Benjamin said, “They are defeated at our advance as at first.” But the sons of Israel said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.” ³³And every man of Israel arose from his place, and they drew up in Baal-Tamar, and Israel's ambush burst out of its place – out of the scrubland of Geba. ³⁴And ten thousand choice men from all Israel came opposite Gibeah, and the battle was heavy, but they did not know that a calamity was about to hit them. ³⁵And the Lord struck Benjamin before Israel, and the sons of Israel dispatched twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin on that day – all these drew the sword. ³⁶And the sons of Benjamin saw that they had been defeated, and that the men of Israel had only given way to Benjamin because they relied on the ambush which they had placed in Gibeah. ³⁷And the ambush hastened and invaded Gibeah, and the ambush drew up and struck all the city with the edge of the sword. ³⁸Now there was an agreed signal between the men of Israel and the ambush: they would make smoke rise profusely from the city. ³⁹When the men of Israel retreated in the battle, Benjamin began to strike some dead among the men of Israel, about thirty men, for they said, “Surely he has been defeated before us, as in the first battle.” ⁴⁰But when the rising signal began to rise from the city – a column of smoke – Benjamin turned round, and what they saw was that the whole city was going up into the sky. ⁴¹Then the men of Israel turned round, and the men of Benjamin were terrified, because they saw that a calamity had struck them. ⁴²And they turned in front of the men of Israel to the road to the desert, but the battle caught up with them, and Israel dispatched whoever was from the cities in their midst. ⁴³They surrounded Benjamin, they pursued them, they trod them down with ease all the way to just outside Gibeah on the east. ⁴⁴And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell – all of these being valiant men. ⁴⁵Then they turned and fled to the desert, to the rock of Rimmon, and Israel gleaned five thousand of their men on the highways, and they pursued them to Gidom, and they struck down two thousand of their men. ⁴⁶And all the fallen of Benjamin amounted to twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword on that day – all of these being valiant men. ⁴⁷And they turned and fled to the desert, to the rock of Rimmon – six hundred men – and they stayed at the rock of Rimmon for four months. ⁴⁸So the men of Israel turned on the sons of Benjamin and struck them down with the edge of the sword from the entire city, including the cattle and everything found there. And they also set all the cities they found on fire.

¹And the men of Israel swore in Mizpah and said, “None of our men will give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.” ²And the people came to Beth-El and stayed there until the evening, before God, and they lifted up their voices and wept with great weeping. ³And they said, “Why, O Lord God of Israel, did this happen in Israel, for one tribe of Israel to be visited today?” ⁴And it came to pass on the next day that the people got up early and built an altar there and offered burnt offerings and peace-offerings. ⁵And the sons of Israel said, “Who is there in the convocation of all the tribes of Israel who has not come up to the Lord?” For a great oath had taken place against whoever did not come up to the Lord in Mizpah, namely, that he should certainly be put to death. ⁶And the sons of Israel felt compassion for Benjamin their brother, and they said, “Today, one tribe of Israel was cut off. ⁷What shall we do for wives for them that remain? For we have sworn by the Lord not to give them any of our daughters as wives.” ⁸And they said, “What single person is there in the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the Lord in Mizpah?” And they ascertained that no-one had come up to the camp from Jabesh-Gilead to the convocation. ⁹For the people had been counted, and it was seen that there was no man there of the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead. ¹⁰Then the congregation sent twelve thousand of the valiant men there, and they commanded them and said, “Go and strike down the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead with the edge of the sword, including the women and little ones. ¹¹And this is what you will do: you will destroy every male and every woman who has known intercourse with a male.” ¹²And of the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead they found four hundred virgin girls who had not known a man by intercourse with a male, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh which is in the land of Canaan. ¹³And the whole congregation sent word and spoke to the sons of Benjamin, who were at the rock of Rimmon, and they proclaimed peace to them. ¹⁴And Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had let live from the women of Jabesh-Gilead, but that was not sufficient for them. ¹⁵And the people had compassion on Benjamin, for the Lord had caused a rupture in the tribes of Israel. ¹⁶And the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who remain? For the women have been obliterated from Benjamin.” ¹⁷And they said, “Benjamin must have an inheritance for the escaped remnant so that a tribe is not wiped out from Israel. ¹⁸But we cannot give them wives from our daughters, because the sons of Israel have sworn and said, ‘Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.’ ” ¹⁹And they said, “Look, there is a festival to the Lord on these days when they occur, in Shiloh, which is north of Beth-El to the east of the highway which goes up from Beth-El to Shechem, and to the south of Lebonah.” ²⁰And they commanded the sons of Benjamin and said, “Go and set an ambush in the vineyards. ²¹And watch, and this is the plan: when the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then you come out of the vineyards and seize each one a wife for yourselves from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. ²²And it will come to pass that if their fathers or their brothers come to contest this with us, we will say to them, ‘Be gracious to us with them, because we did not take for each man his wife in battle, and because you are by no means giving them to them now, whereby you would incur guilt.’ ” ²³And the sons of Benjamin did so, and they took wives according to their number from the dancers whom they snatched away, and they departed and returned to their inheritance, and they built cities and lived in them. ²⁴And the sons of Israel walked away from there at that time – each man to his tribe and his family – and each man went out from there to his inheritance. ²⁵In those days there was no king in Israel; each man did what was right in his own eyes.

¹Now there was a certain man from Ramathaim-Zophim, from Mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite, ²and he had two wives. The name of the first was Hannah and the name of the second was Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not have any children. ³And this man went up from his city every year to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh, where Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests to the Lord, were. ⁴And the day came when Elkanah made his sacrifice, and he gave portions to Peninnah his wife and to each of her sons and her daughters. ⁵And to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved Hannah, but the Lord had closed her womb. ⁶And her rival provoked her dreadfully, so as to torment her, for the Lord had closed her womb. ⁷And just as he did this from year to year, every time she went up to the house of the Lord, so she for her part provoked her, and she wept and would not eat. ⁸And Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why are you crying, and why will you not eat, and why does your heart grieve? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” ⁹Then Hannah got up after they had eaten in Shiloh and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat at the gatepost of the temple of the Lord. ¹⁰But she was very bitter, and she prayed to the Lord and wept profusely. ¹¹And she made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if only you would make a point of attending to the affliction of your maidservant and would remember me and not forget your maidservant and give your maidservant progeny, then I would give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor would pass over his head.” ¹²And it came to pass that she was praying intensively before the Lord when Eli observed her mouth. ¹³Now Hannah was speaking in her heart – only her lips were moving and her voice was not heard – and Eli thought she was drunk. ¹⁴And Eli said to her, “How much longer will you keep getting drunk? Put your wine well away from you.” ¹⁵But Hannah answered and said, “It's not that, my lord. I am a hard-pressed woman, and I have not drunk any wine or strong drink, but I have poured out my heart before the Lord. ¹⁶Do not take your handmaid for a good-for-nothing girl, for it is with a lot of grievance and frustration on my part that I have spoken so far.” ¹⁷Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant your request which you have asked him for.” ¹⁸And she said, “May your maidservant find grace in your eyes.” And the woman went her way and ate, and her expression was no longer dejected. ¹⁹And they got up early in the morning and worshipped before the Lord, then they returned and went to their home in Ramah, and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. ²⁰And it came to pass in the course of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called him Samuel, “Because”, she said, “I asked for him from the Lord.” ²¹And the man, Elkanah, and all of his household, went up to offer the yearly sacrifice and that of his vow to the Lord. ²²But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “Not until the young boy is weaned, and then I will bring him, and he will appear in the presence of the Lord, and he will stay there indefinitely.” ²³And Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what is right in your sight. Stay until you have weaned him, only may the Lord establish his word.” So the woman stayed and suckled her son until she had weaned him. ²⁴Then when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls and one ephah of flour and a bottle of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh, when he was just a boy. ²⁵And they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the boy to Eli. ²⁶And she said, “Please, my lord, as you yourself live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing with you here, praying to the Lord. ²⁷I prayed for this boy, and the Lord granted my request which I asked for from him. ²⁸And I have also made him over to the Lord for all his days. He was a request made to the Lord.” And he worshipped the Lord there.

¹And Hannah prayed and said,

“My heart exults in the Lord,

My horn has been raised by the Lord,

My mouth has become broad over my enemies,

For I have rejoiced in your salvation.

²There is no-one holy like the Lord,

For there is no-one besides you,

Nor is there any rock like our God.

³Do not speak profusely in lofty words,

Nor let insolence issue from your mouth,

For the Lord is a God of knowledge,

And by him deeds are weighed.

⁴The bows of heroes are shattered,

But those who once stumbled

Have girded themselves with strength.

⁵The once satiated have hired themselves out for bread,

But the hungry are no more so.

Even the barren has borne seven,

Whereas she who had many sons is languishing.

⁶The Lord kills and makes alive;

He brings down to the grave and raises up.

⁷The Lord disinherits and enriches;

He abases as well as exalts.

⁸He raises up the poor from the dust

And elevates the needy from the dung heap,

To house them with princes

And to endow them with a throne of honour.

For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's,

And on them he has set the world.

⁹He will keep the feet of the man of his grace,

But the wicked will be destroyed in darkness,

For man will not prevail by force.

¹⁰As for the Lord, his adversaries will be broken;

He will thunder against them in heaven.

The Lord will judge the ends of the earth

And give strength to his king

And raise the horn of his messiah.”

¹¹Then Elkanah went to Ramah, to his house. And the boy was serving the Lord before Eli the priest. ¹²But Eli's sons were good-for-nothing – they did not know the Lord. ¹³And it was the custom of the priests with the people that when any man offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant-boy would come while the meat was cooking, with a three-pronged fork in his hand. ¹⁴And he would plunge it into the pan or the cauldron or the kettle or the pot. Everything that the fork brought up, the priest would take for himself. So they did with all Israel which went there, to Shiloh. ¹⁵Also, before they burned the fat, the priest's servant-boy would come and say to the man who was making a sacrifice, “Give the meat to the priest to roast. And he will not accept cooked meat from you, but rather, raw.” ¹⁶And if the man said to him, “Be sure they burn the fat straightaway, then take for yourself whatever your heart desires”, then he would say to him, “No, for you must give it now, and if you do not, I will take it by force.” ¹⁷And the young men's sin was very great before the Lord, for the men despised the Lord's offering. ¹⁸But Samuel served before the Lord – a boy girded with an ephod of fine linen. ¹⁹And his mother would make him a little coat and bring it up to him each year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. ²⁰And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and he said, “May the Lord appoint you seed from this woman in return for the granted request – the boy who has been made over to the Lord.” Then they went home. ²¹Then the Lord visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy, Samuel, grew up in fellowship with the Lord. ²²Now Eli was very old, and he heard everything that his sons did to the whole of Israel, and that they lay with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of contact. ²³And he said to them, “Why are you doing such things? For I hear about your bad behaviour from all of this people. ²⁴No, my sons, for it is not a good report that I hear about you, making the Lord's people transgress. ²⁵If a man sins against another, then God will judge him, but if a man sins against the Lord, who will pray for him?” But they would not heed their father, and consequently the Lord wished to put them to death. ²⁶And the boy, Samuel, kept growing and was approved of by both the Lord and men. ²⁷And a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Was I not clearly revealed to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house? ²⁸And did I not choose him from all the tribes of Israel to be a priest to me? – to offer on my altar, to burn incense, to wear the ephod before me, and did I not allocate all the fire-offerings of the sons of Israel to your father's house? ²⁹Why are you recalcitrant about my sacrifice and my meal-offering which I commanded in my dwelling place, and why have you honoured your sons more than me by making yourselves fat with the beginning of all the offerings of my people Israel?’ ³⁰Therefore the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I have explicitly said to your house and to the house of your father that they should walk before me age-abidingly. And now, says the Lord, far be it from me, for I will honour those who honour me, and those who despise me will be held in contempt. ³¹Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your arm and the arm of the house of your father, so that there will not be an old man in your house. ³²And you will see distress in my dwelling place, in everything regarding which it has been treating Israel well, and there will not be an old man in your house at any time. ³³But I will not cut anyone of yours off from my altar when I waste your eyes away and wear your heart down, and at every increase in your house, men will die. ³⁴And this will be the sign to you, which will come on your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas. On one day the two of them will die. ³⁵And I will raise up a faithful priest to myself, who will act according to what is in my heart and in my soul, and I will build a faithful house for him, and he will walk before my anointed at all times. ³⁶And it will come to pass that everyone who remains in your house will come to bow down before him for an agorah of silver and a loaf of bread, and he will say, «Admit me, please, to one of the priestly offices, so that I may eat a piece of bread.» ’ ”

¹And Samuel the boy served the Lord before Eli, and the word of the Lord was precious in those days, and visions were infrequent. ²And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was lying down in his place, and his eyes had begun to become dim, and he could not see, ³and before the lamp of God went out, while Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was, ⁴that the Lord called out to Samuel. And he said, “Here I am”, ⁵and he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.” But he said, “I didn't call you. Lie down again.” So he went back and lay down. ⁶Then the Lord called him again: “Samuel.” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.” But he said, “I did not call you, my son. Lie down again.” ⁷Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and it was before the word of the Lord had been revealed to him. ⁸And the Lord called Samuel again – a third time. And he got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.” And Eli understood that the Lord had been calling the boy. ⁹And Eli said to Samuel, “Go and lie down, and it will be the case that if he calls you, you will say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went back and lay down in his place. ¹⁰And the Lord came and stood there and called as the previous times, “Samuel, Samuel.” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” ¹¹And the Lord said to Samuel, “I am about to do something in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. ¹²On that day I will fulfil everything against Eli which I have spoken against his house. I will make a start and I will bring it to its conclusion. ¹³For I have told him that I am about to judge his house age-abidingly for the iniquity which he has known about, for his sons are cursing God, but he has not admonished them. ¹⁴Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of the house of Eli will certainly not be expiated by sacrifice or offering age-abidingly.” ¹⁵And Samuel lay down until the morning, when he opened the doors of the house of the Lord, but Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. ¹⁶And Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son”, and he said, “Here I am.” ¹⁷And he said, “What is the thing which he has said to you? Please do not conceal it from me. May God do such-and-such to you and add such-and-such if you conceal from me anything of the whole thing which he said to you.” ¹⁸So Samuel told him all the words, and he did not conceal anything from him. And he said, “It is the Lord. May he do what is right in his sight.” ¹⁹And Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him, and he did not let any of his words fall on the ground. ²⁰And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. ²¹Then the Lord appeared again in Shiloh, for the Lord was revealed to Samuel in Shiloh with the word of the Lord.

¹And Samuel's word came to all of Israel, and Israel went out to war against the Philistines, and they encamped at Eben-Ezer, whereas the Philistines encamped in Aphek. ²And the Philistines lined themselves up against Israel, and the war spread, and Israel was defeated when confronting the Philistines, who struck down about four thousand men in battle-array in the field. ³And the people went to the camp, and the elders of Israel asked, “Why has the Lord defeated us today when confronting the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh, so that it comes right in among us and saves us from the hand of our enemies.” ⁴So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts – with him dwelling between the cherubim – and Eli's two sons were there with the ark of the covenant of God, Hophni and Phinehas. ⁵And it came to pass when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the camp that all Israel raised a loud shout, and the land was in commotion. ⁶And the Philistines heard the sound of the shouting, and they said, “What is this sound of loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?” And they became aware that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp. ⁷And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us, because it wasn't like this in the past. ⁸Woe to us. Who can deliver us from the hand of these great gods? They are the gods which struck Egypt with every kind of blow in the desert. ⁹Strengthen yourselves and become men, you Philistines, so as not to become servants to the Hebrews, in the way they have been servants to you, and become men, and fight.” ¹⁰And the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each fled to his tent, and the blow was very heavy, and thirty thousand of Israel's infantry fell. ¹¹And the ark of God was taken, and Eli's two sons died – Hophni and Phinehas. ¹²Then a Benjaminite ran from the battle-line and came to Shiloh on that day, with his clothing torn and earth on his head. ¹³And when he arrived, he saw Eli sitting on a seat at the side of the road keeping a look out, for his heart was trembling about the ark of God, and when the man came to give a report in the city, all the city shouted out. ¹⁴And Eli heard the sound of the shouting, and he said, “What is this sound of commotion?” And the man quickly came and told Eli. ¹⁵Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were unable to focus, and he could not see. ¹⁶And the man said to Eli, “I am the one who has come from the battle-line, and I fled from the battle-line today.” And he said, “What was the outcome, my son?” ¹⁷And the messenger replied and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there was also a great massacre among the people, and also your two sons died, Hophni and Phinehas, and the ark of God was captured.” ¹⁸And it came to pass, when he mentioned the ark of God, that he fell from his seat backwards through the side of the gate, and his neck was broken, and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel for forty years. ¹⁹And his daughter-in-law, Phinehas's wife, was pregnant and was on the point of giving birth when she heard the report of the ark of God being captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead. Then she sank down and gave birth, for her labour pains had come on over her. ²⁰And at the time of her death, the women standing around her said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son.” But she did not answer, and she did not lay it to heart. ²¹And she called the boy I-Chabod, for she said, “The glory has been removed from Israel with the ark of God being captured”, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. ²²And she said, “The glory has been removed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

¹So the Philistines captured the ark of God, and they brought it from Eben-Ezer to Ashdod. ²And the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it to the house of Dagon, and they set it up next to Dagon. ³But when the Ashdodites got up early next day, what they saw was that Dagon had fallen face down to the ground before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon and restored him to his position. ⁴Then they got up early on the next day and saw that Dagon had fallen face down to the ground before the ark of the Lord, and Dagon's head and the two palms of his hands had been cut off at the threshold – only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. ⁵For this reason the priests of Dagon and all those who come to the house of Dagon have not been treading on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod up to this day. ⁶And the hand of the Lord became very heavy on the Ashdodites, and he devastated them, and he struck them – the people of Ashdod and its outskirts – with haemorrhoids. ⁷And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was like that, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel will not stay with us, for his hand has been harsh on us and on Dagon our god.” ⁸So they sent word, and they had all the barons of the Philistines gather with them, and they asked, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” And they said, “The ark of the God of Israel shall be transferred to Gath.” And they transferred the ark of the God of Israel. ⁹Then it came to pass, after they had transferred it, that the hand of the Lord came on the city with very great turmoil, and he struck the men of the city, both great and small, and haemorrhoids broke out on them. ¹⁰Then they sent the ark of God to Ekron, and it came to pass when the ark of God arrived at Ekron that the Ekronites shouted out and said, “They have transferred the ark of the God of Israel to me to kill me and my people.” ¹¹And they sent word, and they had all the barons of the Philistines gather, and they said, “Send the ark of the God of Israel away, and have it return to its place, so that it does not kill me and my people”, for there was a deadly turmoil in the whole of the city – the hand of God was very heavy there. ¹²And the men who did not die were struck with haemorrhoids, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.

¹And the ark of the Lord was in the Philistines' country for seven months. ²Then the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, and they said, “What should we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us in what way we should send it to its place.” ³And they said, “If you send the ark of the God of Israel back, do not send it back empty, but certainly return a guilt-offering to him, then you will be healed, and it will be made known to you why his hand would not depart from you.” ⁴And they said, “What is the guilt-offering which we should render to him?” And they said, “As the number of barons of the Philistines is: five golden haemorrhoids and five golden mice, for there is one plague on them all, including your barons. ⁵And you shall make images of your haemorrhoids and images of your mice which infested the land, and you shall give honour to the God of Israel so that maybe he will relax his grip on you and on your god and on your land. ⁶Why should you harden your heart in the way Egypt and Pharaoh hardened their heart? When he dealt forcefully with them, did they not let them go, and they departed? ⁷So now, make one new wagon, and take two dairy cows on which no yoke has been put, and you will attach the cows to the wagon and have their calves remain at home, leaving them behind. ⁸And you will take the ark of the Lord, and you will put it on the wagon, and you will put the golden items, which you are giving to him in return as a guilt-offering, in a box alongside it, and you will send it, and it will be dispatched. ⁹And you will see whether it goes up by the way of his border to Beth-Shemesh, because then it was him who did this great evil to us, but if not, then we will know that it was not his hand which struck us, and that it was a coincidence that happened to us.” ¹⁰And the men did this, and they took two dairy cows, and they attached them to the wagon, and they confined their calves at home. ¹¹And they put the ark of the Lord and the box and the golden mice and the images of their tumours on the wagon. ¹²And the cows went straight down the road, on the road to Beth-Shemesh, and they went on the one highway, lowing as they went, and they did not turn to the right or left, while the barons of the Philistines followed them up to the border of Beth-Shemesh. ¹³And at Beth-Shemesh they were reaping the wheat harvest in the valley, and they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, and they rejoiced at seeing it. ¹⁴And the wagon came to the field of Joshua the Beth-Shemeshite, and it stopped there, where there is a large stone, and they chopped up the wood of the wagon and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹⁵Then the Levites brought the ark of the Lord down, and the box which was with it, in which were the golden items, and they put them on the large stone. And the men of Beth-Shemesh offered burnt offerings and offered sacrifices to the Lord on that day. ¹⁶And the five barons of the Philistines saw it and went back to Ekron on that day. ¹⁷And these are the golden tumours which the Philistines returned as a guilt-offering to the Lord: for Ashdod, one; for Gaza, one; for Ashkelon, one; for Gath, one; for Ekron, one. ¹⁸And the golden mice were in number according to all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five barons, from fortified city to unwalled village, including the great meadow above which they placed the ark of the Lord, a place as it is up to this day, in the field of Joshua the Beth-Shemeshite. ¹⁹Then he struck down the men of Beth-Shemesh, because they looked in the ark of the Lord, and among the people he struck down seventy men, and fifty thousand men. And the people mourned, for the Lord had inflicted a severe blow on the people. ²⁰And the men of Beth-Shemesh said, “Who can stand before this holy Lord God, and to whom will it go up away from us?” ²¹And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-Jearim and said, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and bring it up to where you are.”

¹So the men of Kiriath-Jearim came and brought the ark of the Lord up, and they brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill, and they sanctified Eleazar his son for him to keep the ark of the Lord. ²And it came to pass, since the day when the ark remained in Kiriath-Jearim, that much time passed, and twenty years went by, and the whole house of Israel lamented before the Lord. ³Then Samuel spoke to the whole house of Israel and said, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods from your vicinity, including the images of Astarte, and prepare your heart for the Lord, and serve him alone, and may he deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁴So the sons of Israel removed the images of Baal and the images of Astarte, and they served the Lord only. ⁵Then Samuel said, “Assemble all of Israel in Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.” ⁶So they assembled in Mizpah, and they drew water and poured it before the Lord, and they fasted on that day, and they said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the sons of Israel in Mizpah. ⁷And the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel had assembled in Mizpah, and the barons of the Philistines went up against Israel, and when the sons of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. ⁸And the sons of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not refrain in silence from crying out to the Lord our God on behalf of us, so that he saves us from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁹Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a complete burnt offering to the Lord, and Samuel cried out to the Lord on behalf of Israel, and the Lord answered him. ¹⁰And Samuel was performing the burnt offering when the Philistines approached to wage war on Israel, but the Lord made it thunder on the Philistines with a loud sound on that day, and he routed them, and they were struck down before Israel. ¹¹And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and they struck them down as far as below Beth-Car. ¹²Then Samuel took a stone, and he put it between Mizpah and Shen, and he called it Eben-Ezer, and he said, “Up to this point the Lord has helped us.” ¹³So the Philistines were defeated, and they did not come into Israel's territory again, and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines for all Samuel's days. ¹⁴And the cities which the Philistines had captured from Israel returned to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and Israel rescued their borders from the hand of the Philistines, and there was peace between Israel and the Amorite. ¹⁵And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶And each year he went round Beth-El and Gilgal and Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all these places. ¹⁷And his final stop was to Ramah, for that is where his house was, and he judged Israel there, and he built an altar to the Lord there.

¹And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he appointed his sons as Israel's judges. ²And the name of his elder son was Joel, and the name of his second one was Abijah, and they were judges in Beersheba. ³But his sons did not walk in his way, and they turned aside after unjust gain, and they accepted bribes, and they perverted the course of justice. ⁴And all the elders of Israel gathered and came to Samuel in Ramah. ⁵And they said to him, “Look, you are old, but your sons don't walk in your ways. Now then, appoint us a king to judge us like all the Gentiles.” ⁶But the matter was wrong in Samuel's sight, when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. ⁷And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the people – everything they say to you – for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me reigning over them, ⁸like all their deeds which they have perpetrated from the day when I brought them up out of Egypt up to this day, and they have abandoned me and served other gods, and so they are doing to you too. ⁹So now, heed them, but nevertheless testify solemnly against them, and tell them about the administration of the king who will reign over them.” ¹⁰And Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. ¹¹And he said, “This will be the administration of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them in his interest in his chariot fleet and his cavalry, and some of them will run before his chariot fleet. ¹²And he will appoint himself commanders of a thousand and commanders of fifty, and men to plough his fields and to reap his harvest and to make his armaments and his chariot equipment. ¹³And he will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ¹⁴And he will take your best fields and vineyards and olive groves, and he will give them to his servants. ¹⁵And he will tithe your seed and your vineyards and give them to his courtiers and his servants. ¹⁶And he will take your menservants and your maidservants and your best young men, and your donkeys, and he will engage them in his work. ¹⁷He will tithe your sheep, and you will become his servants. ¹⁸And you will cry out on that day because of your king whom you chose for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you on that day.” ¹⁹But the people refused to heed Samuel, and they said, “No, on the contrary, we will have a king over us. ²⁰And we too will be like all the Gentiles, and our king will judge us, and he will go out before us and fight our wars.” ²¹And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he spoke them in the audience of the Lord. ²²And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed them and appoint them a king.” Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Depart, each of you, to your city.”

¹Now there was a Benjaminite whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, who was a valiant warrior. ²And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a fine young man, and there was no man among the sons of Israel who was better than him. He was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upwards. ³And the donkeys of Kish, Saul's father, got lost, and Kish said to Saul his son, “Take one of the servant-lads with you, and get up and go and look for the donkeys.” ⁴And he crossed over at Mount Ephraim, and he crossed into the land of Shalishah, but they did not find them, and they crossed into the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then he crossed into the land of the Benjaminites, but they did not find them. ⁵And they came into the land of Zuph, and Saul said to his servant-lad who was with him, “Come, let us return in case my father stops worrying about the donkeys and worries about us.” ⁶And he said to him, “Look now, there is a man of God in this city, and the man is honoured. Everything he says absolutely comes to pass. Now let's go there; maybe he can tell us the way which we should go.” ⁷Then Saul said to his servant-lad, “Well look, we will go, but what shall we bring for the man, for we have run out of bread, and there is no gift to bring to the man of God. What do we have?” ⁸And the servant-lad answered Saul again, and he said, “Look, here is a quarter shekel of silver in my hand. So I will give it to the man of God, and he will tell us our way.” ⁹Previously in Israel, this is what a man said when he went to inquire of God: “Come, let us go to the seer”, for he who is called a prophet today was previously called a seer. ¹⁰And Saul said to his servant-lad, “Your proposal is fine. Come on, let's go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was. ¹¹As they went on the way up to the city, they found some girls on their way out to draw water, and they said to them, “Is the seer here?” ¹²And they answered them and said, “He is – here ahead of you. Go quickly now, because he came to the city today, for there is a sacrifice today for the people, on the raised site. ¹³As soon as you go into the city, you will find him before he goes up to the raised site to eat, for the people will not eat until he comes, because he will bless the sacrifice. After that, those invited will eat, so go up now, for at this time of day you will find him.” ¹⁴So they went up to the city, and as they went into the city, it so happened that Samuel was coming out towards them to go up to the raised site. ¹⁵Now the Lord had informed Samuel privately one day before Saul came, and he had said, ¹⁶“At about this time tomorrow, I will send a man from the land of Benjamin to you, and you will anoint him as leader over my people Israel, and he will deliver my people from the hands of the Philistines, for I have seen my people, for their cry has come to me.” ¹⁷So Samuel saw Saul, and the Lord affirmed to him, “Here is the man concerning whom I said to you, ‘This man will rule my people.’ ” ¹⁸Then Saul drew near to Samuel inside the gated area and said, “Please tell me, where is the seer's house?” ¹⁹Then Samuel answered Saul and said, “I am the seer. Come up before me to the raised site, and you will eat with me today, and I will send you on your way in the morning, and I will tell you everything that is on your heart. ²⁰And as for your donkeys which you lost three days ago, do not concern yourself with them, for they have been found. And for whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not for you and for the whole house of your father?” ²¹And Saul answered and said, “Am I not a Benjaminite, from the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and is not my family the lowliest of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? So why have you spoken to me in this way?” ²²Then Samuel took Saul and his servant-lad, and he brought them to the reception room, and he gave them a place at the head of those invited, of whom there were about thirty. ²³And Samuel said to the cook, “Serve the portion which I gave to you, about which I said to you, ‘Keep it aside.’ ” ²⁴So the cook brought up the leg and what was on it and placed it before Saul. And Samuel said, “Here is what was reserved. Put it in front of you and eat, for it was kept for you for this occasion when I said, ‘I have invited the people.’ ” So Saul ate with Samuel on that day. ²⁵Then they went down from the raised site to the city, and he spoke with Saul on the roof-top. ²⁶And they got up early, and as it was dawning, Samuel called to Saul on the roof-top and said, “Get up, and I will see you off.” So Saul got up and the two of them went out, he and Samuel, into the open. ²⁷And as they were going at the edge of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant-lad to move on ahead of us” – and he moved on – “but you stand still now, and I will proclaim the word of God to you.”

¹And Samuel took the flask of oil and poured it on his head, and he kissed him, and he said, “Is it not the case that the Lord has anointed you as leader over his inheritance? ²When you depart from me today, you will find two men at Rachel's tomb, at the border of Benjamin's territory at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys which you went to look for have been found, and look, your father dropped the matter of the donkeys and became concerned for you, and he said, «What can I do for my son?» ’ ³And you will pass on from there and go further on, and when you arrive at the oak tree of Tabor, there three men will meet you, going up to God in Beth-El, one leading three goat-kids, and one carrying three loaves of bread, and one carrying a skin-bottle of wine. ⁴And they will ask you how you are, and they will give you two loaves of bread, and you will take them from them. ⁵After that you will come to the hill of God where there are garrisons of Philistines, and it will come to pass when you arrive there at the city that you will meet a company of prophets coming down from the raised site, and in front of them will be a lute and a drum and a pipe and a harp, and they will prophesy. ⁶And the spirit of the Lord will come over you, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be turned into another man. ⁷And it will come to pass, when these signs come on you, that you will do whatever presents itself to you, for God is with you. ⁸And you will go down before me to Gilgal, and look, I am coming down to you to make burnt offerings and to offer peace-sacrifices. You will wait for seven days for me to come to you, and I will make known to you what you will do.” ⁹And it came to pass when he turned his back to depart from Samuel that God replaced his heart by a different one, and all these signs came about on that day. ¹⁰And when they came there – to the hill – it so happened that a group of prophets came towards him, and the spirit of God descended on him, and he prophesied among them. ¹¹And it came to pass that everyone who had known him for some time looked and saw that he prophesied with the prophets, and the people said to one another, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹²And a man from there answered and said, “And who is their father?” Because of that it became a saying: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³Then he finished prophesying, and he went to the raised site. ¹⁴Then Saul's uncle said to him and to his servant-lad, “Where did you go?” And he said, “To look for the donkeys. And when we saw that they weren't around, we went to Samuel.” ¹⁵And Saul's uncle said, “Please tell me, what did Samuel say to you?” ¹⁶And Saul said to his uncle, “He emphatically told us that the donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell him about the matter of the kingdom which Samuel had spoken about. ¹⁷Meanwhile Samuel called the people together to the Lord in Mizpah. ¹⁸And he said to the sons of Israel, “The Lord God of Israel says this: ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I delivered you from the grip of Egypt and the grip of all the kingdoms which were oppressing you. ¹⁹But you today have rejected your God, who saves you from all your troubles and adversities, and you have said to him, «So appoint a king over us.» And now stand before the Lord according to your tribes and according to your thousands.’ ” ²⁰And Samuel had all the tribes of Israel approach, and the tribe of Benjamin was selected. ²¹Then he had the tribe of Benjamin approach according to its families, and the family of Matri was selected, and Saul the son of Kish was selected. And they looked for him, but he was not found. ²²Then they inquired of the Lord again, “Has the man come here yet?” And the Lord said, “Look, he has hidden among the equipment.” ²³So they ran and took him from there, and he stood among the people, and he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upwards. ²⁴And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see whom the Lord has chosen? For there is no-one like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted and said, “May the king live.” ²⁵And Samuel told the people the decision on the kingship, and he wrote it in a book and deposited it before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away – each one to his home. ²⁶And Saul went home to Gibeah, and with him went the army whose heart God had motivated so to do. ²⁷But the riff-raff said, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and did not bring him any offering. But he remained silent.

¹Then Nahash the Ammonite went up and encamped against Jabesh-Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you.” ²And Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition I will make a covenant with you: that I gouge out every right eye of yours and make it a reproach on all Israel.” ³And the elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days, and we will send envoys to every territory of Israel, and if we don't have anyone to save us, we will come out to you.” ⁴And the envoys came to Gibeah of Saul, and they spoke the words in the audience of the people. And all the people raised their voice and wept. ⁵And it so happened that Saul came following the cattle from the field, and Saul said, “What is the matter with the people making them weep?” And they told him the words of the men of Jabesh. ⁶Then the spirit of God came on Saul when he heard these words, and his anger was very much kindled. ⁷And he took a yoke of oxen and divided them in pieces and sent them to every territory of Israel by the hand of envoys and said, “As for anyone who does not come out behind Saul and behind Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.” And the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out in unison. ⁸And he counted them in Bezek, and the sons of Israel were three hundred thousand in number, and the men of Judah came to thirty thousand. ⁹And they said to the envoys who came, “This is what you will say to the men of Jabesh-Gilead: ‘Tomorrow in the heat of the sun, you will have salvation.’ ” So the envoys went back and reported it to the men of Jabesh, and they rejoiced at it. ¹⁰And the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will go out to you, and you will do to us whatever is right in your sight.” ¹¹And it came to pass on the next day that Saul arranged the people in three contingents, and they went into the camp during the morning-watch, and they struck the Ammonites down until the heat of the day. And it came to pass that those remaining were scattered, and no two among them remained together. ¹²And the people said to Samuel, “Who is it that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Give us the men so we can put them to death.” ¹³Then Saul said, “No-one shall be put to death on this day, for today the Lord accomplished salvation in Israel.” ¹⁴And Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingship there.” ¹⁵So all the people went to Gilgal, and they made Saul king there before the Lord at Gilgal, and they offered peace-sacrifices there before the Lord, and Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

¹And Samuel said to the whole of Israel, “Look, I have given heed to your voice – everything you have said to me – and I have appointed a king over you. ²So now, look, the king walks before you, but I have grown old and become grey-haired, but here are my sons with you, and I have walked before you from my youth up to this day. ³Here I am – testify against me in the presence of the Lord and in the presence of his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I oppressed? Whom have I maltreated? Or from whose hand have I received a bribe to turn a blind eye with it? – and I will restore it to you.” ⁴And they said, “You have not oppressed us, and you have not maltreated us, and you have not taken anything from anyone's hand.” ⁵And he said to them, “The Lord is a witness to you, and his anointed is a witness on this day that you have not found anything in my hand.” And each said, “He is a witness.” ⁶Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the Lord who made Moses and Aaron, and who brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. ⁷And now, stand there and let me join issue with you before the Lord about all the righteous acts of the Lord which he did with you and with your fathers, ⁸when Jacob went to Egypt, and your fathers cried out to the Lord, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and they brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. ⁹But they forgot the Lord their God, so he sold them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. ¹⁰Then they cried out to the Lord, and each said, ‘We have sinned, for we have left the Lord and served the images of Baal and images of Astarte, but save us now from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you.’ ¹¹And the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Bedan and Jephthah, and Samuel, and he delivered you from your enemies round about, and you lived in security. ¹²And when you saw that Nahash king of the sons of Ammon had come against you, you said to me, ‘No, for a king will reign over us’, although the Lord your God is your king. ¹³And now here is the king whom you chose, whom you asked for, and you see that the Lord has assigned a king over you. ¹⁴If you fear the Lord and serve him and heed his voice and do not resist the Lord's instructions, then both you and the king who reigns over you will be in the wake of the Lord your God. ¹⁵But if you don't heed the voice of the Lord, and you rebel against the instructions of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and against your fathers. ¹⁶Now too, stand and see this great proceeding which the Lord is about to do before your eyes. ¹⁷Is it not the wheat-harvest today? I will call out to the Lord, and he will produce rolls of thunder and rain, so be aware and see that your wickedness which you have committed is great in the eyes of the Lord in asking for a king for yourselves.” ¹⁸Then Samuel called out to the Lord, and the Lord produced rolls of thunder and rain on that day, and all the people feared the Lord and Samuel greatly. ¹⁹And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God on behalf of your servants that we don't die, for we have added to all our sins a wicked thing in asking for a king for us.” ²⁰And Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear – you have all done this wrong, but do not depart from following the Lord, and serve the Lord with all your heart. ²¹And you shall not depart, for that would be to follow vain things which will not be of benefit and will not save you, for they are vain things. ²²For the Lord will not abandon his people, for the sake of his great name, for the Lord is willing to make you his people. ²³Also as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by stopping praying on your behalf. And I will teach you the right and upright way. ²⁴But fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart, for see how he has done great things with you. ²⁵But if you for your part decidedly act wickedly, both you and your king will perish.”

¹Saul was one year old when he started to reign, and he reigned over Israel for two years. ²And Saul chose for himself three thousand men from Israel, and there were two thousand men with Saul in Michmas and at the mountain of Beth-El, and one thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin, and he sent each of the rest of the people to his tent. ³And Jonathan attacked the Philistines' garrison which was in Geba, and the Philistines heard about it, and Saul blew the ramshorn throughout all the land, and he said, “Let the Hebrews hear.” ⁴And all Israel heard it said, “Saul has defeated the Philistines' garrison, and also Israel has become odious among the Philistines.” And the people were called together behind Saul in Gilgal. ⁵And the Philistines gathered to fight against Israel – thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and people like the sand on the sea-shore in profusion – and they came up and encamped at Michmas, to the east of Beth-Aven. ⁶And the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, for the people were distressed, and the people hid in caves and in thorn bushes and in rocks and in watchtowers and in pits. ⁷And the Hebrews crossed the Jordan, to the land of Gad and Gilead, whereas Saul was still in Gilgal, and all the people were trembling behind him. ⁸And he waited seven days, for the time which Samuel had said, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people dispersed away from him. ⁹Then Saul said, “Bring me a burnt offering and a peace-offering.” And he performed a burnt offering. ¹⁰And it came to pass when he had finished offering the burnt offering that he saw Samuel coming, and Saul went out to meet him to bless him. ¹¹And Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people had dispersed away from me, and that you had not come after the appointed number of days, and that the Philistines were assembled in Michmas, ¹²I then said, ‘Now the Philistines will descend on me in Gilgal, and I have not entreated the Lord.’ Then I constrained myself and offered a burnt offering.” ¹³At this Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly. You have not kept the commandments of the Lord your God which he commanded you, for the Lord would have now appointed your kingdom over Israel age-abidingly. ¹⁴But now your kingdom will not stand. The Lord has sought a man for himself according to his heart, and the Lord will command him as leader of his people, for you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” ¹⁵Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul counted the people who were present with him – about six hundred men. ¹⁶Then while Saul and Jonathan his son and the people who were present with them were living in Geba of Benjamin, the Philistines encamped at Michmas. ¹⁷And the fighting force came out from the Philistines' camp in three contingents. One contingent turned into the road to Ophrah, to the land of Shual, ¹⁸and one contingent turned into the road to Beth-Horon, and one contingent turned into the road to the border which overlooks the Valley of Zeboim, going towards the desert. ¹⁹Now there was no blacksmith to be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines had said, “Prevent them, in case the Hebrews make swords or spears.” ²⁰So all Israel went down to the Philistines for each to sharpen his ploughshare and his coulter and his axe and his mattock. ²¹And there was a file for the mattocks and coulters and for the three-pronged pitchfork and the axes, and to sharpen the goad. ²²And it came to pass on the day of war that no sword or spear was to be found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan, but with Saul and Jonathan his son themselves each item was to be found. ²³And the Philistines' garrison went out to the pass of Michmas.

Reference(s) in Chapter 13: v.14 ↔ Acts 13:22.

¹Then it came to pass on a certain day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to his servant-lad carrying his arms, “Come, let us cross to the Philistines' garrison which is beyond this place.” And he did not tell his father. ²And Saul remained at the edge of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree which is in Migron, and the people who were with him were about six hundred in number. ³And Ahiah the son of Ahitub, the brother of I-Chabod the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh, wearing the ephod, remained there, and the people did not know that Jonathan had gone. ⁴Now among the passes which Jonathan undertook to cross to the Philistines' garrison was one with a precipice on each side of the pass, and the name of one side was Bozez, and the name of the other side was Senneh. ⁵And one precipice was a sheer edge to the north, facing Michmas, and the other was to the south, facing Geba. ⁶And Jonathan said to the servant-lad who was carrying his arms, “Come, and let us cross to the garrison of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act for us, for the Lord is not under any constraint to save by means of many or few.” ⁷And his arms-bearer said to him, “Do everything that is in your heart. Be resolute – here I am with you according to your intention.” ⁸And Jonathan said, “Look, we will cross over to the men and reveal ourselves to them. ⁹If they say this to us: ‘Wait until we have come to you’, then we will stay on the spot, and we will not go up to them. ¹⁰But if they say this: ‘Come up to us’, then we will go up, for then the Lord will have delivered them into our hand, and this will be a sign to us.” ¹¹And the two of them revealed themselves to the Philistines' garrison, and the Philistines said, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of their holes where they hid themselves.” ¹²And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his arms-bearer, and they said, “Come up to us, and we will make a thing known to you.” And Jonathan said to his arms-bearer, “Go up behind me, for the Lord has delivered them into Israel's hand.” ¹³So Jonathan went up on his hands and feet with his arms-bearer behind him. And they fell before Jonathan, and his arms-bearer killed them after him. ¹⁴And the first attack which Jonathan and his arms-bearer made was on about twenty men in the narrow space of about half a furrow which a yoke of oxen would plough in a field. ¹⁵And there was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and the fighting force also trembled, and the land shook, and it was a tremendous trembling. ¹⁶And Saul's watchmen in Gibeah of Benjamin looked and saw a crowd melt away this way and that way. ¹⁷Then Saul said to the people who were with him, “Count now, and see who has gone away from us.” So they counted, and it turned out that Jonathan and his arms-bearer were absent. ¹⁸And Saul said to Ahiah, “Bring the ark of God here”, for at that time the ark of God was with the sons of Israel. ¹⁹And it came to pass, while Saul was speaking to the priest, that the noise in the Philistines' camp became louder and louder, and Saul said to the priest, “Stay your hand.” ²⁰And Saul and all the people with him assembled and went to the battle, and it ensued that each man's sword was against his neighbour, and there was very great confusion. ²¹And moreover the Hebrews who had been in favour with the Philistines for some time, who had gone up with them in the camp, in the surroundings, re-joined Israel, which was with Saul and Jonathan. ²²And when every man of Israel who had been hiding in Mount Ephraim heard that the Philistines had fled, they too joined in pursuing them in the battle. ²³And the Lord saved Israel on that day, and the battle moved across to Beth-Aven. ²⁴But the men of Israel were distressed on that day, and Saul adjured the people and said, “Cursed be the man who eats bread before this evening, so that I may be avenged of my enemies.” So none of the people tasted any bread. ²⁵And the whole country went to a wood, and there was honey throughout the terrain. ²⁶And when the people came to the wood, they saw that there was a supply of honey, but no-one brought his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. ²⁷But Jonathan had not heard his father adjuring the people, and he poked with the end of the stick which was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb, and he put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes saw a vision. ²⁸And a man from the people reacted and said, “Your father solemnly adjured the people and said, ‘Cursed be the man who eats bread today.’ ” And the people became faint. ²⁹And Jonathan said, “My father has caused the land sorrow. Look now, for my eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey. ³⁰How much better it would have been if only the people had eaten today from the spoil of their enemies which they found! For would there not now have been a greater defeat of the Philistines?” ³¹And they struck the Philistines down on that day from Michmas to Aijalon, but the people were very faint. ³²And the people acquired spoil, and they took sheep and oxen and calves, and they slaughtered them on the ground, and the people ate them with the blood. ³³And they reported it to Saul, and they said, “Look, the people are sinning against the Lord by eating with the blood.” And he said, “You have dealt treacherously. Roll a large stone up to me this day.” ³⁴And Saul said, “Disperse among the people and say to them, ‘Let each man bring to me his ox, or let each man bring his sheep, and slaughter them here and eat them, and do not sin against the Lord by eating with the blood.’ ” So all the people brought their ox in their hand that night, and they slaughtered them there. ³⁵And Saul built an altar to the Lord. He began with this one in building altars to the Lord. ³⁶And Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines at night and plunder them until the light of the morning, and let us not leave a man among them remaining.” And they said, “Do whatever is right in your sight.” And the priest said, “Let us draw near here to God.” ³⁷And Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you deliver them into the hand of Israel?” But he did not answer him on that day. ³⁸Then Saul said, “Come over here, all you princes of the people, and know and see what this sin today consisted of. ³⁹For as the Lord, the saviour of Israel, lives, even if it is Jonathan my son who committed it, he will surely die.” But there was no-one among all the people who answered him. ⁴⁰And he said to the whole of Israel, “You be on one side, and Jonathan and I will be on the other side.” And the people said to Saul, “Do what is right in your sight.” ⁴¹Then Saul said to the Lord God of Israel, “Give the verdict of the Thummim.” And Jonathan and Saul were indicted, whereas the people were exonerated. ⁴²Then Saul said, “Draw the lot between me and Jonathan my son.” And Jonathan was indicted. ⁴³Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” And Jonathan told him and said, “I did indeed taste a little honey with the end of my staff which is in my hand, and in consequence I will die.” ⁴⁴And Saul said, “May God do this and add more otherwise, for you will surely die, Jonathan.” ⁴⁵And the people said to Saul, “Must Jonathan die, who achieved this great salvation in Israel? Far be it – as the Lord lives – no hair from his head shall fall to the ground, for he acted with God on this day. So the people delivered Jonathan, and he did not die.” ⁴⁶Then Saul withdrew after the encounter with the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place. ⁴⁷And Saul took the kingship over Israel, and he fought against all his enemies round about, against Moab, and against the sons of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. And everywhere he turned, he caused harm. ⁴⁸And he acted valiantly, and he struck Amalek down, and he delivered Israel from the hand of those who plundered it. ⁴⁹And Saul's sons were Jonathan and Jishvi and Malchi-Shua, and as for the names of his two daughters, the name of the elder was Merab and the name of the younger was Michal. ⁵⁰And the name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz, and the name of the commander of his army was Abner the son of Ner, Saul's uncle. ⁵¹And Kish was Saul's father, and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel. ⁵²And the war against the Philistines was fierce, for all Saul's days, and when Saul saw any heroic man or any valiant man, he recruited him.

¹And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord has sent me to anoint you as king over his people, over Israel, so now, listen to the voice of the words of the Lord. ²The Lord of hosts says this: ‘I have examined what Amalek did to Israel, how he took a position on the way when Israel came up out of Egypt. ³Now go and strike Amalek down, and obliterate everything of his, and do not show mercy to him, and put to death both men and women, both child and baby, both ox and sheep, both camel and donkey.’ ” ⁴And Saul summoned the people and counted them in Telaim – two hundred thousand infantrymen and ten thousand men of Judah. ⁵And Saul came to the city of Amalek, and he contended with him in the ravine. ⁶And Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, go down away from the Amalekites, so that I don't destroy you with them, for you acted kindly towards all the sons of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” And the Kenites departed and went away from Amalek. ⁷And Saul attacked the Amalekites from Havilah to where you come to Shur which is opposite Egypt. ⁸And he captured Agag king of the Amalekites alive, but he obliterated all the people by the edge of the sword. ⁹But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, and the cattle, and the second best of them, and the fatted lambs, and all the goods, for they were not willing to obliterate them. But they obliterated all the despised artisanry, and it was all melted down and they obliterated it. ¹⁰Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel and said, ¹¹“I regret making Saul king, for he has turned away from following me, and he has not fulfilled my words.” And it infuriated Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night. ¹²And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, and the matter was reported to Samuel with the words, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a landmark for himself, and he went round the perimeter, and he passed across, and he went down to Gilgal.” ¹³Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Be blessed by the Lord. I have fulfilled the word of the Lord.” ¹⁴But Samuel said, “Now what is this sound of sheep in my ears, and the sound of oxen which I hear?” ¹⁵And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, because the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen in order to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we have obliterated the remainder.” ¹⁶And Samuel said to Saul, “Stop, and I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak.” ¹⁷Then Samuel said, “Is it not so, that when you were unimportant in your own sight, you became the head of the tribes of Israel, and that the Lord anointed you as king over Israel? ¹⁸And the Lord sent you on an expedition and said, ‘Go and obliterate the sinners – the Amalekites – and fight them until you have finished them off.’ ¹⁹So why did you not obey the Lord, for you swooped on the spoil, and you did wrong in the sight of the Lord?” ²⁰And Saul said to Samuel, “I maintain that I have obeyed the Lord, and I went on the way which the Lord sent me, and I led Agag king of the Amalekites captive, and I obliterated the Amalekites. ²¹But the people took sheep and oxen from the spoil – the firstlings of the condemned animals to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” ²²Then Samuel said,

“The Lord's pleasure in the offering of sacrifices

Is as that of obeying the Lord's voice.

Look, to obey is better than a sacrifice,

And heeding him is better than the fat of rams.

²³For rebellion is as the sin of divination,

And stubbornness is as the wickedness of amulets.

Since you have rejected the word of the Lord,

He has rejected you as king.”

²⁴Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the utterance of the Lord and your words, for I feared the people and I obeyed them. ²⁵So now, please forgive my sin, and turn back with me, and I will worship the Lord.” ²⁶But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not turn back with you, for you rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” ²⁷Then when Samuel turned to depart, he grasped the hem of his coat, and it tore. ²⁸Then Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you today, and he has given it to a compatriot of yours who is better than you. ²⁹And moreover the perpetual one of Israel will not lie and will not relent, for he is not a man to relent.” ³⁰Then he said, “I have sinned. Now honour me, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and turn back with me, and I will worship the Lord your God.” ³¹Then Samuel turned back to Saul, and Saul worshipped the Lord. ³²And Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.” Then Agag came to him winsomely, and Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death has gone.” ³³But Samuel said,

“As your sword has bereaved women,

So your mother will be bereaved among women.”

And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. ³⁴Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. ³⁵And Samuel did not see Saul any more up to the day of his death, for Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted having made Saul king over Israel.

Reference(s) in Chapter 15: v.22 ↔ Mark 12:33.

¹And the Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, whereas I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided myself with a king from among his sons.” ²Then Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a calf with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ³And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will make known to you what you must do, and anoint for me him whom I tell you.” ⁴And Samuel did what the Lord had told him, and he went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the city trembled at meeting him, and they said, “Is it in peace that you have come?” ⁵And he said, “It is in peace, to sacrifice to the Lord, that I have come. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and he invited them to the sacrifice. ⁶And it came to pass, when they came, that he saw Eliab, and he said, “Surely his anointed is before the Lord.” ⁷But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance and the height of his stature, for I have rejected him, for it is not a matter of how man sees it, for man sees with his eyes, but the Lord looks at the heart.” ⁸Then Jesse called for Abinadab, and they brought him for review before Samuel, but he said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” ⁹And Jesse brought Shammah for review, but he said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” ¹⁰So Jesse brought his seven sons before Samuel for review, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” ¹¹And Samuel said to Jesse, “Do these lads complete the number?” And he said, “The youngest still remains, and there he is tending the sheep.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Send for him and get him, for we will not wend our way until he comes here.” ¹²So he sent for him and brought him. Now he was red-haired with handsome eyes and of fine appearance, and the Lord said, “Get up, anoint him, for this is him.” ¹³So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in full view of his brothers, and the spirit of the Lord came on David from that day on. Then Samuel arose and went to Ramah. ¹⁴And the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord alarmed him. ¹⁵And Saul's servants said to him, “It is apparent that an evil spirit of God is alarming you. ¹⁶Please let our lord tell your servants before you to seek a man who is skilled in playing the harp, and it will come to pass when there is an evil spirit of God on you that he will play music plucking with his hand, and you will feel better.” ¹⁷Then Saul said to his servants, “Provide me, then, with a man who is good at playing music, and bring him to me.” ¹⁸And one of the servant-lads answered and said, “Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skilled in playing music and who is a valiant warrior and a man of war, and with common sense and who is a man of handsome appearance, and the Lord is with him.” ¹⁹So Saul sent messengers to Jesse, who said, “Send me David your son who is with the sheep.” ²⁰Then Jesse took a donkey, and bread and a skin-bottle of wine, and one kid of the goats, and he sent them under the charge of David his son to Saul. ²¹And David came to Saul and stood before him, and Saul liked David a lot, and he became his arms-bearer. ²²And Saul sent a messenger to Jesse to say, “Please let David stand before me, for he has pleased me.” ²³And it came to pass, when the spirit from God was on Saul, that David took the harp and played it plucking it with his hand, and Saul had relief and felt better, and the evil spirit departed from him.

Reference(s) in Chapter 16: v.7 ↔ Revelation 2:23.

¹Then the Philistines mobilized their battalions for war, and they were assembled in Sochoh which is in Judah, and they encamped between Sochoh and Azekah in Ephes-Dammim. ²And Saul and the men of Israel assembled and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and they drew up for war against the Philistines. ³Now the Philistines were stationed on one side of the mountain, and Israel was stationed on the other side of the mountain, and there was a valley between them. ⁴And a duellist went out from the Philistines' camps, whose name was Goliath, from Gath, and his height was six cubits and a span. ⁵And there was a copper helmet on his head, and he wore scaled armour, and the weight of his armour was five thousand shekels of copper. ⁶And he had copper leg-armour on his legs, and a copper javelin between his shoulders. ⁷And his spear was an arrow like a weaver's beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred iron shekels, and his shield-bearer went in front of him. ⁸And he stood and called to the regiments of Israel, and he said to them, “Why have you come out to draw up for war? Am I not a Philistine, and you Saul's servants? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down against me. ⁹If he is able to fight with me, and he strikes me down, then we will be your servants, but if I prevail over him and strike him down, then you will be our servants, and you will serve us.” ¹⁰And the Philistine said, “I defy the regiments of Israel this day. Give me a man and let us fight together!” ¹¹And Saul and the whole of Israel heard these words of the Philistine, and they were very fearful and afraid. ¹²Now David was the son of this Ephrathite man from Bethlehem Judah whose name was Jesse, who had eight sons, and the man was becoming old in the days of Saul, going about his affairs among men. ¹³And the eldest three sons of Jesse had gone to follow Saul to battle, and the names of his three sons who went to battle were Eliab the firstborn, and his second-born Abinadab, and the third one, Shammah. ¹⁴And David was the youngest, and the three eldest went behind Saul. ¹⁵Now David had departed and was returning from Saul to tend his father's sheep at Bethlehem. ¹⁶And the Philistine approached early in the morning and in the evening, and he took a stand for forty days. ¹⁷Meanwhile Jesse said to David his son, “Please take this ephah of roasted corn and these ten loaves to your brothers, and bring them quickly to the encampment for your brothers. ¹⁸And bring these ten slices of cheese to the commander of a thousand, and bid your brothers good fortune, and take their pledge.” ¹⁹And Saul and they and every man of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines. ²⁰And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep to a guardian, and he loaded up and departed as Jesse had commanded him, and he arrived at the entrenchment, and the army was going out to the opposing regiment, and they sounded a call to battle. ²¹And Israel drew up its lines, as did the Philistines – regiment against regiment. ²²And David left his equipment behind him in the hands of his equipment-guardian, and he ran to the regiment, and when he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were faring. ²³And just as he was speaking with them, the duellist came up, whose name was Goliath the Philistine from Gath, from the caves of the Philistines, and he spoke similar words to the previous ones, and David heard them. ²⁴And when they saw the man, all the men of Israel fled from him and were very afraid. ²⁵Now the men of Israel had said, “Have you seen this man who has come up, for he comes up to defy Israel, and the king would make the man who could strike him down rich with great wealth, and he would give him his daughter, and he would make his father's house free in Israel.” ²⁶And David spoke to the men who were standing with him and said, “What will be done for the man who strikes this Philistine down and removes the reproach from Israel, for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, for he has defied the regiments of the living God?” ²⁷And the people spoke to him as described above and said, “So shall it be done for the man who strikes him down.” ²⁸And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men, and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why is it that you have come down, and to whom have you left those few sheep in the desert? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart, for you came down to watch the battle.” ²⁹Then David said, “What have I done now? Isn't there business to attend to?” ³⁰And he turned away from him towards someone else, and he spoke in the same way, and the people answered him in a similar way to the first time. ³¹And when the words which David spoke were heard, they reported them in Saul's presence, and he fetched him. ³²And David said to Saul, “Do not let anyone's heart sink because of him. Your servant will go and fight against this Philistine.” ³³Then Saul said to David, “You cannot go to this Philistine to fight against him, for you are a lad, whereas he has been a warrior from his youth.” ³⁴Then David said to Saul, “Your servant was a shepherd among the sheep for his father, and a lion came, and a bear, and it took a sheep from the flock. ³⁵And I went out after it and struck it down and delivered the sheep from its mouth, and it rose up against me, but I seized its beard and struck it down and killed it. ³⁶Your servant struck down both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the regiments of the living God.” ³⁷And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the grip of the lion and from the grip of the bear will deliver me from the grip of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord will be with you.” ³⁸Then Saul clothed David with his livery, and he put a copper helmet on his head, and he put armour on him. ³⁹And David girded his sword on his livery and set about walking, for he had not practised with it, and David said to Saul, “I can't walk in these things, for I have not practised with them.” So David took them off. ⁴⁰And he took his staff in his hand, and he chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in the shepherd's bag which he had, and in his satchel. And his sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine. ⁴¹Then the Philistine came, getting closer and closer to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him. ⁴²And the Philistine looked and saw David, and he despised him, because he was a lad, and red-haired, and with an elegant appearance. ⁴³And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, in that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴And the Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and to the wild animals.” ⁴⁵And David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with your sword and your spear and with your javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the ranks of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hand, and I will strike you down, and I will remove your head from you, and I will give the corpses of the Philistines' camp this day to the birds of the sky and to the wild animals of the land, and all the land will know that Israel has a God. ⁴⁷And this whole convocation will know that it is not by sword or by spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will deliver you into our hands.” ⁴⁸And it came to pass that the Philistine arose and walked and approached David, and David hastened and ran to the ranks towards the Philistine. ⁴⁹And David put his hand in his bag and took a stone from there, and he slung it, and he struck the Philistine on his forehead, and the stone penetrated into his forehead, and he fell to the ground face down. ⁵⁰So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him, while there was no sword in David's hand. ⁵¹Then David ran and stood over the Philistine, and he took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and he cut his head off with it. And the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, and they fled. ⁵²Then the men of Israel and Judah rose up and shouted and pursued the Philistines to where you come to the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the Philistines' casualties fell along the way to Shaaraim and to Gath and to Ekron. ⁵³Then the sons of Israel returned from ardently pursuing the Philistines, and they pillaged their camps. ⁵⁴And David took the Philistine's head, and he brought it to Jerusalem, and he put his equipment in his tent. ⁵⁵And when Saul saw David coming out against the Philistine, he said to Abner the commander of the army, “Whose son is this young man, Abner?” And Abner said, “I swear by your own life, O king, I do not know.” ⁵⁶And the king said, “You ask whose son the lad is.” ⁵⁷Then when David returned from striking the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the Philistine's head in his hand. ⁵⁸And Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David said, “The son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

¹And it came to pass when he had finished speaking to Saul that Jonathan's deepest feelings were bound to David's deepest feelings, and Jonathan loved him as his own self. ²And Saul took him on that day, and he did not let him return to his father's house. ³Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own self. ⁴And Jonathan took off his coat which was on him, and he gave it to David, and his livery, and even his sword and even his bow and even his girdle. ⁵And David went out to everywhere that Saul sent him, and he acted prudently. And Saul appointed him over the warriors, and he was popular with all the people, and also with Saul's servants. ⁶And it came to pass, as they were coming in when David was returning from striking the Philistine, that the women came out from all the cities of Israel to sing, and with dancing, converging on Saul the king, with drums and rejoicing and triangles. ⁷And the women who played sang in turns and said,

“Saul has struck down his thousands,

But David his tens of thousands.”

⁸And Saul became very angry, and this matter displeased him, and he said, “They have credited David with tens of thousands, whereas they have only credited me with thousands. And what more will he have but the kingdom?” ⁹And Saul viewed David with envy from that day on. ¹⁰And it came to pass on the next day that an evil spirit from God came on Saul, and he prophesied inside the house, while David was playing music plucking with his hand, as on other days, and there was a spear in Saul's hand. ¹¹And Saul threw the spear and said, “I will strike David down against the wall.” But David dodged him twice. ¹²And Saul feared David, for the Lord was with him, but from Saul he had departed. ¹³Then Saul removed him from his presence, and he appointed him as his commander of a thousand, and he went out and came before the people. ¹⁴And David was prudent in all his ways, and the Lord was with him. ¹⁵And Saul saw that he was very prudent, and he was afraid of him. ¹⁶And all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in in their presence. ¹⁷And Saul said to David, “Here is my elder daughter Merab. I will give her to you as a wife, but be a warrior to me and fight the Lord's wars.” And Saul said to himself, “Don't let my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him.” ¹⁸Then David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be the king's son-in-law?” ¹⁹But it came to pass, at the time when Merab Saul's daughter was to be given to David, that she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife. ²⁰But Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David, and they told Saul, and he approved of the matter. ²¹And Saul said, “I will give her to him, and she will be a snare to him, and the hand of the Philistines will be on him.” And Saul said to David, “Make it so that I am a father-in-law through both daughters today.” ²²And Saul commanded his servants and said, “Speak to David secretly and say, ‘It is apparent that the king is pleased with you. And all his servants like you, so now, marry into the king's family.’ ” ²³So Saul's servants spoke these words to David privately, to which David said, “Is it a light matter in your sight to marry into the king's family, seeing I am a poor and insignificant man?” ²⁴And Saul's servants reported back to him and said, “David said such and such.” ²⁵Then Saul said, “This is what you will say to David: ‘The king has no wish for a dowry, but rather for one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, so as to be avenged on the king's enemies.’ ” But Saul intended to cause David to fall at the hand of the Philistines. ²⁶And his servants told David these things, and David approved of the matter, to marry into the king's family. And before the days were completed, ²⁷David arose and set off, he and his men, and he struck two hundred men of the Philistines down, and David brought their foreskins, and they presented them to the king for him to marry into the king's family. Then Saul gave him Michal his daughter to be his wife. ²⁸And Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, Saul's daughter, loved him. ²⁹And Saul became even more afraid of David, and Saul became more hostile to David day by day. ³⁰Then the commanders of the Philistines came out, and it came to pass that whenever they came out, David was more prudent than any of Saul's servants, and he was greatly esteemed.

¹And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all the servants about how to kill David, but Jonathan Saul's son liked David very much. ²And Jonathan spoke to David and said, “Saul my father is looking for a way to kill you, so now, please, beware in the morning, and live in a secret place and hide. ³Meanwhile I will go out and stand at my father's side in the field where you are, and I will speak about you to my father, and I will see what happens, and I will tell you.” ⁴And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father, and he said to him, “Let the king not sin against his servant David, for he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have been very good for you, ⁵and he put his life in his hand and struck the Philistines, and the Lord performed a great act of salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced, so why should you sin against innocent blood in killing David gratuitously?” ⁶And Saul heeded Jonathan, and Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he will certainly not be put to death.” ⁷Then Jonathan called for David, and Jonathan told him all these things, and Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he would be in his presence as previously. ⁸And there was war again, and David went out and fought the Philistines, and he dealt them a severe blow, and they fled from his presence. ⁹Then an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul, when he was sitting at home with his spear in his hand, and David was playing music, plucking with his hand, ¹⁰and Saul tried to strike David against the wall with the spear, but he evaded Saul, who struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night. ¹¹Then Saul sent agents to David's house, to watch him and to kill him in the morning, but Michal his wife told David and said, “If you do not save yourself tonight, you will be put to death tomorrow.” ¹²And Michal lowered David through a window, and he departed and fled and escaped. ¹³And Michal took the amulets and put them on the bed, and she put the goat's hair pillow at his head-end and covered it with a garment. ¹⁴Now Saul had sent agents to seize David, and she said, “He is ill.” ¹⁵Then Saul sent agents to watch David, and he said, “Bring him up to me in the bed, so that I can kill him.” ¹⁶When the agents came, what they saw was the amulets on the bed and the goat's hair pillow at his head-end. ¹⁷Then Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so he has escaped?” And Michal said to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go. Why should I kill you?’ ” ¹⁸So David fled and escaped, and he went to Samuel in Ramah, and he told him everything that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel departed and stayed in Naioth. ¹⁹And it was reported to Saul as follows: “Look, David is in Naioth in Ramah.” ²⁰Then Saul sent agents to seize David, and they saw the company of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing by, having been appointed over them, and the spirit of God came on Saul's agents, and they also prophesied. ²¹And they reported this to Saul, and he sent other agents, but they also prophesied. So Saul sent agents again – a third group – but they also prophesied. ²²Then he also went to Ramah, and he came to the big cistern which is in Sechu, and he inquired and asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And the person said, “He is in Naioth in Ramah.” ²³So he went there, to Naioth in Ramah, and the spirit of God came on him too, and he prophesied as he went, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. ²⁴And he too took his clothes off, and he too prophesied before Samuel, and he lay naked all that day and all night. This is why they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets.”

¹Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and he came and said in Jonathan's presence, “What have I done and what is my iniquity and what is my sin before your father that he should seek my life?” ²And he said to him, “Far be it – you will not die. Look, my father will not do anything great or small without informing me, and why should my father hide this matter from me? It is not the case.” ³And David swore again and said, “Your father certainly knows that you like me, and he has said to himself, ‘Don't let Jonathan know this, in case he is grieved’, but as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, there is just a step between me and death.” ⁴And Jonathan said to David, “Whatever your inclination dictates, I will do for you.” ⁵And David said to Jonathan, “Look, it is the new moon tomorrow, and I really ought to be sitting with the king to dine, but let me go, and I will hide in the country until the third evening. ⁶If your father misses me at all, say, ‘David made a point of asking me for leave to dash off to Bethlehem his city, because there is an annual sacrifice there for all the family.’ ⁷If he replies with this, ‘That's all right’, then your servant will have peace, but if it infuriates him at all, know that he intends evil. ⁸And act graciously towards your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you, and if there is any iniquity in me, kill me yourself, for why then should you bring me to your father?” ⁹Then Jonathan said, “Far be it from you, for if I were at all aware that my father intended evil to come on you, would I not tell you about it?” ¹⁰Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me about it if your father answers you harshly?” ¹¹And Jonathan said to David, “Come, let's go out into the field.” So the two of them went out into the field. ¹²And Jonathan said to David, “By the Lord God of Israel, when I investigate my father at this time tomorrow and up to the third evening, if he is well-disposed to David, and I do not then send a report to you and inform you, ¹³may the Lord so do to Jonathan and more. But if my father decides to do harm to you, then I will inform you and let you go, and you can go in peace, and the Lord be with you, as he was with my father. ¹⁴And let it not be while I am still alive that you do not show me the Lord's kindness, in which case I would die. ¹⁵And do not ever cut your kindness off from my house, nor when the Lord cuts David's enemies off, each one from the face of the earth.” ¹⁶So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, and he said, “May the Lord require any penalty from the hand of David's enemies.” ¹⁷Then Jonathan adjured David again in his love for him, for he loved him with his deepest feelings. ¹⁸And Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon. You will be missed, because your seat will be unoccupied. ¹⁹And when you have spent three days over there, come down quickly and come to the place where you hid on the previous occasion of intrigue, and remain at the stone of Ezel, ²⁰and I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as if I were practising shooting at a target. ²¹And look, I will send a lad, and say, ‘Go and find the arrows.’ If I specifically say to the lad, ‘Look, the arrows are short of you; take them’, then come, for you have peace, and there is no issue, as the Lord lives. ²²But if I say this to the youth: ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you’, then go, for the Lord will have sent you away. ²³And as for the matter which we have spoken about, you and I, look, the Lord is between you and me age-abidingly.” ²⁴So David hid in the field, and the new moon came, and the king sat at the meal to dine. ²⁵And the king sat in his seat as on previous occasions, on a seat at a wall, and Jonathan arose, and Abner sat at Saul's side, and David's place was unoccupied. ²⁶But Saul did not say anything untoward on that day, for he said, “It is some incident – he is unclean – it is that he is not clean.” ²⁷And it came to pass on the next day of the month – the second – that David's place was unoccupied, and Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why did the son of Jesse not come either yesterday or today to the meal?” ²⁸Then Jonathan replied to Saul, “David made a point of asking me for leave to go to Bethlehem. ²⁹And he said, ‘Please let me go, for we have a family sacrifice in the city, and the one who commanded me to attend is my brother. So now, if I have found grace in your eyes, let me slip away, please, and I will see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king's table.” ³⁰And Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman, am I not aware that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? ³¹For as long as the son of Jesse is alive on the ground, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. So now, send men and bring him to me, for he is destined for death.” ³²Then Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” ³³Then Saul threw his spear at him so as to strike him. So Jonathan knew that it had been determined on the part of his father to kill David. ³⁴And Jonathan got up from the table in furious anger, and he did not eat any food on the second day of the month, for he grieved for David, for his father had put him to shame. ³⁵And it came to pass in the morning that Jonathan went out into the field, to the place agreed with David, and a little lad was with him. ³⁶And he said to his servant-lad, “Run and find me the arrows which I shoot.” So the lad ran, and he shot an arrow beyond him. ³⁷And the lad came to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, and Jonathan called to the lad and said, “Isn't the arrow further on from you?” ³⁸And Jonathan called to the lad, “Quick, hurry, don't stand around.” So Jonathan's servant-lad picked up the arrow and came back to his master. ³⁹And the lad wasn't aware of anything, but Jonathan and David knew the purpose. ⁴⁰Then Jonathan gave his equipment to his servant-lad and said to him, “Go and take it to the city.” ⁴¹The lad departed, and David came up from the southern side, and he fell face down to the ground, and he bowed three times, and they kissed each other, and they wept with one another, with David doing it profusely. ^42aThen Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, inasmuch as we have both sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord will be between me and you and between my seed and your seed age-abidingly.’ ” ^42bAnd he got up and departed, and Jonathan went to the city.

¹And David arrived in Nob, and he went to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was afraid at meeting David, and he said to him, “Why are you on your own, and why is no-one with you?” ²And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter, and he said to me, ‘No-one must know anything about the mission which I am sending you on, and what I have charged you with. And I have appointed servants to go to such and such a place.’ ³And now, what is at your disposal? Hand me five loaves or whatever is available.” ⁴And the priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread at my disposal. There is only holy bread, which you can have if your servant-lads really have kept themselves from women.” ⁵Then David answered the priest and said to him, “Indeed women have been withheld from us for several days since I went out, and the lads' equipment is holy, although it was a secular journey, so how much more will it be sanctified today by the vessel containing it?” ⁶Then the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there other than the showbread, which was removed from the Lord's presence, so it was necessary to put hot bread out on the day it was taken away. ⁷Now there was there on that day a man from Saul's servants, retained in the Lord's presence, and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the foreman of Saul's shepherds. ⁸And David said to Ahimelech, “And is there no spear or sword at your disposal here? For I took neither my sword nor my equipment in my hand, for it was an urgent matter of the king's.” ⁹Then the priest said, “Here is the sword of Goliath the Philistine whom you struck down in the Valley of Elah, wrapped in a garment behind the ephod. If you want to take it for yourself, take it, for there is nothing other than that here.” And David said, “There is nothing like it. Give it to me.” ¹⁰So David arose and fled from Saul on that day. Then he went to Achish king of Gath. ¹¹And Achish's servants said to him, “Isn't this David, the king of the land? Wasn't it to him that they sang in turns with dancing and said,

‘Saul struck his thousands,

But David his tens of thousands.’ ”

¹²And David laid these things to heart, and he was very afraid of Achish king of Gath. ¹³And he changed his character in their sight, and he pretended to be mad under their charge, and he scratched on the doors of the gate, and he let his spittle run down onto his beard. ¹⁴And Achish said to his servants, “Look, you can see that the man is mad. Why are you bringing him to me? ¹⁵Do I lack madmen, so that you should bring this one to behave madly with me? Shall this man come into my house?”

¹So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam, and his brothers and all his father's household heard it, and they went down to him there. ²And everyone who was distressed, and everyone who had a debt, and everyone who was embittered gathered around him, and he became a prince over them, and they were with him – about four hundred men. ³And David went from there to Mizpeh in Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come out to be with you, until I know what God is going to do with me.” ⁴And he led them into the presence of the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the days while David was in the citadel. ⁵Then the prophet Gad said to David, “You shall not dwell in the citadel. Go and betake yourself to the land of Judah.” So David departed, and he came to the forest of Hereth. ⁶And Saul heard about it, because David had been informed on, including the men who were with him, while Saul was sitting in Gibeah under the tamarisk tree in Ramah. And his spear was in his hand, and all his servants were standing around him. ⁷And Saul said to his servants who were standing around him, “Now listen, you Benjaminites. Will the son of Jesse really give all of you the fields and vineyards? Will he make you all commanders of a thousand and commanders of a hundred? ⁸For you have all conspired against me, and no-one informed me about my son allying himself with the son of Jesse, and none of you is grieving for me or has been informing me that my son has incited my servant against me, setting an ambush on this day.” ⁹And Doeg the Edomite, who had been appointed over Saul's servants, answered and said, “I have seen the son of Jesse going to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. ¹⁰And Ahimelech inquired of him from the Lord, and he gave him provisions, and he gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.” ¹¹Then the king sent an envoy to call for Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, the priest, and all his father's household – the priests who were in Nob – and they all came to the king. ¹²And Saul said, “Now listen, son of Ahitub.” And he said, “Here I am, my lord.” ¹³And Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, by you giving him bread and a sword, and in inquiring for him of God, for him to rise up against me, ambushing me on this day?” ¹⁴And Ahimelech answered the king and said, “Rather, who among all your servants is faithful like David, who is the king's son-in-law, who goes at your bidding and is honoured in your house? ¹⁵Is it today that I began to inquire of God for him? Far be it from me. May the king not lay anything to the charge of his servant or of anyone of my father's house, for your servant is not aware of any of this, in a big or small way.” ¹⁶Then the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all the house of your father.” ¹⁷Then the king said to the runners who were standing around him, “Turn on them and kill the Lord's priests, for their hand is also with David, and because they knew that he had fled, but they did not inform me.” But the king's servants were not willing to stretch out their hand to attack the Lord's priests. ¹⁸Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn on them and attack the priests.” Then Doeg the Edomite turned on them, and he attacked the priests, and on that day he killed eighty-five men bearing an ephod of fine linen. ¹⁹And he struck Nob, the city of the priests, with the edge of the sword, both men and women, both children and babies, and oxen and donkeys and sheep, with the edge of the sword. ²⁰But one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub escaped, whose name was Abiathar, and he fled to join David. ²¹And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the Lord's priests. ²²Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day when Doeg the Edomite was there that he would certainly tell Saul. I have been involved in all the loss of life in your father's house. ²³Stay with me, do not fear, for he who seeks my life seeks your life, so that you are a guard with me.”

¹And they reported to David and said, “Look, the Philistines are fighting in Keilah, and they are plundering the threshing floors.” ²Then David inquired of the Lord and said, “Should I go and strike these Philistines?” And the Lord said to David, “Go and strike the Philistines and save Keilah.” ³Then David's men said to him, “Look, we here in Judah are afraid, and how much more so if we go to Keilah, to the ranks of the Philistines.” ⁴So David inquired again of the Lord, and the Lord answered him and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I am delivering the Philistines into your hand.” ⁵Then David and his men went to Keilah and fought the Philistines, and he carried their cattle away, and he struck a great blow on them. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. ⁶Now it had come to pass when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David in Keilah, that he came down with the ephod in his hand. ⁷And it was reported to Saul that David had arrived in Keilah, and Saul said, “God has consigned him to my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town with gates and a bolt.” ⁸And Saul called all the people up to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men. ⁹Now David knew that Saul was devising evil against him, and he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.” ¹⁰And David said, “O Lord God of Israel, your servant has reliably heard that Saul is attempting to come to Keilah to destroy the city on account of me. ¹¹Will the inhabitants of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down as your servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, do tell your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.” ¹²Then David said, “Will the inhabitants of Keilah deliver me and my men up into Saul's hand.” And the Lord said, “They will deliver you up.” ¹³So David arose, as did his men – about six hundred men – and they went out of Keilah and wandered around wherever they could wander around. And it was reported to Saul that David had escaped from Keilah. So he stopped going out. ¹⁴Meanwhile David stayed in the desert, in strongholds, and he stayed in the mountain in the Desert of Ziph, while Saul sought him all the time, but God did not deliver him into his hand. ¹⁵And David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life, while David was in the Desert of Ziph in a wood. ¹⁶And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David, to the wood, and he encouraged him in God. ¹⁷And he said to him, “Do not be afraid, for the hand of Saul my father will not find you, and you will reign over Israel, and I will be second to you. And Saul my father knows this.” ¹⁸And the two of them made a covenant before the Lord, and David stayed in the wood, but Jonathan went to his home. ¹⁹Then some Ziphites came up to Saul, to Gibeah, and they said, “Isn't David hiding with us in the fortresses in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is to the south of Jeshimon? ²⁰So now, in accordance with all your heart's desire, O king, to come down, do come down, and it will be up to us to deliver him into the king's hand.” ²¹At this Saul said, “Blessed are you to the Lord, for you have had compassion on me. ²²Go now and keep preparing, and find out and observe his whereabouts and where he treks, and who has seen him there, for I have been told that he acts very craftily. ²³So observe and find out about all the hiding places where he hides, and come back to me with confirmation, and I will go with you, and it will come to pass, if he is in the land, that I will seek him among all the thousands of Judah.” ²⁴So they arose and went to Ziph in front of Saul, whereas David and his men were in the Desert of Maon, in the arid tract to the south of Jeshimon. ²⁵And Saul and his men went to search for him, and it was reported to David, who then went down to the rock and stayed in the Desert of Maon. And Saul heard of it, and he pursued David in the Desert of Maon. ²⁶And Saul went to one side of the mountain, whereas David and his men were on the other side of the mountain. Then David became alarmed, intending to move away from Saul, while Saul and his men were surrounding David and his men, in order to capture them. ²⁷Then a messenger came to Saul and said, “Hurry and go, for the Philistines have invaded the land.” ²⁸So Saul returned from pursuing David, and he went to confront the Philistines, which is why they call that place Sela-Hammahlekoth. ²⁹Then David went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of En-Gedi.

¹And it came to pass, when Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, that they reported to him and said, “Look, David is in the Desert of En-Gedi.” ²Then Saul took three thousand men, chosen from the whole of Israel, and he went to seek David and his men in the area of the rocks of the mountain goats. ³And they came to the sheepfolds on the way, and there was a cave there, and Saul went in to cover his feet. Now David and his men were stationed at the sides of the cave. ⁴And David's men said to him, “Behold the day about which the Lord told you, when he said, ‘Behold, I am giving you your enemy in your hand, and you can do to him as is good in your sight.’ ” Then David arose and cut the hem of Saul's coat in secret. ⁵And it came to pass after that, that David's heart pained him, because he had cut the hem of Saul's coat. ⁶And he said to his men, “Far be it from me with the Lord that I should do this thing to my lord, to the Lord's anointed, to lay my hand on him, for he is the Lord's anointed.” ⁷And David restrained his men with these words, and he did not allow them to rise up against Saul. And Saul arose from the cave and went on his way. ⁸Then David arose after that, and he came out of the cave, and he called after Saul and said, “My lord the king.” Then Saul looked behind him and David bowed face down to the ground and prostrated himself. ⁹And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of a man who says, ‘Look, David is trying to harm you’? ¹⁰Look, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord handed you over to me this day in the cave, and one would have said to kill you, but my eye spared you, and I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, for he is the Lord's anointed.’ ¹¹And, my father, just look, and see the hem of your coat in my hand, for when I cut the hem of your coat, I did not kill you. Know and see that there is no evil or transgression in my hand, and that I have not sinned against you, yet you hunt me down to take my life. ¹²May the Lord judge between me and you, and may the Lord avenge me on you, but my hand will not be on you. ¹³As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Wickedness proceeds from the wicked’, but my hand will not be on you. ¹⁴After whom has the king of Israel gone out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A single flea? ¹⁵And may the Lord be a judge, and may he judge between me and you, and may he see and contend my case and acquit me from your charge.” ¹⁶And it came to pass, when David had finished speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul raised his voice and wept. ¹⁷And he said to David, “You are more righteous than I am, for you have repaid me good, whereas I repaid you evil. ¹⁸And you have shown me today that you have done good to me – that when the Lord delivered me up into your hand, you did not kill me. ¹⁹For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him cheerily go on his way? So may the Lord repay you with goodness, because of what you did with me on this day. ²⁰And now, look, I know that you will certainly reign and that the kingdom of Israel will be established under your authority. ²¹So now, swear to me by the Lord that you will not cut my seed off after me, and that you will not obliterate my name from the house of my father.” ²²Then David swore to Saul, and Saul went to his house, and David and his men went up to the stronghold.

¹When Samuel died, the whole of Israel gathered and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the Desert of Paran. ²Now a man in Maon, whose business was at Carmel, a man who was very wealthy, who had three thousand sheep and one thousand goats, was busy with the shearing of his sheep at Carmel. ³And the man's name was Nabal, and the name of his wife was Abigail, and the woman was very intelligent and attractive in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his actions, and he was a Calebite. ⁴Now David heard in the desert that Nabal was shearing his sheep, ⁵and David sent ten servant-lads, and David said to the servant-lads, “Go up to Carmel and go to Nabal, and ask him how he is in my name. ⁶And say this to the man who lives well: ‘Peace to you and peace to your household, and peace to all of yours. ⁷Well now, I have heard that you have shearers, and now as for your shepherds who were with us, we have not put them to shame, and they didn't lack anything all the time they were at Carmel. ⁸Ask your servant-lads, and they will tell you, and may the servant-lads find favour in your sight, for we have come on a good day. Please give what you can afford to your servants and to your son David.’ ” ⁹So David's servant-lads went there, and they spoke to Nabal in line with all these words in David's name, then they paused. ¹⁰Then Nabal answered David's servants and said, “Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? Nowadays there are many servants who break away from their master. ¹¹So should I take my bread and my water, and my meat which I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men when I don't know where they are from?” ¹²Then David's servant-lads turned back to their way and returned, and when they had arrived, they told him about all these things. ¹³At this David said to his men, “Let each man gird on his sword.” And each man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword, and about four hundred men went up behind David, and two hundred remained with the equipment. ¹⁴But one of the servant-lads told Abigail, Nabal's wife, and he said, “Look, David sent messengers from the desert to bless our lord, but he reacted aggressively to them. ¹⁵But the men were very good to us, and we were not treated contemptuously, and we did not miss anything all the time we associated with them, when we were in the countryside. ¹⁶They were a wall to us, both night and day, all the time when we were with them tending the sheep. ¹⁷So now, decide and see what you will do, for evil has been resolved against our lord and on all his house, and he is too useless to speak to.” ¹⁸Then Abigail acted quickly, and she took two hundred loaves and two wineskins of wine, and five prepared sheep, and five seahs of parched grain, and one hundred measures of raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and she put them on the donkeys. ¹⁹And she said to her servant-lads, “Go across in front of me, and you will see me coming behind you.” But she did not tell Nabal her husband. ²⁰And it came to pass as she was riding on a donkey that she came down to the hiding place in the hill, and along came David and his men, coming down towards her, and she met them. ²¹And David said, “Surely it was in vain that I kept everything of this man's in the desert – and nothing of his went missing – but he requited me with evil for good. ²²May God do such to David's enemies and add more if I leave anyone, of all who belong to him, who urinates against a wall, alive until morning.” ²³Then when Abigail saw David, she quickly dismounted from the donkey and fell face down before David and bowed to the ground. ²⁴And she fell at his feet and said, “My lord, let the iniquity be on me, and let your handmaid speak a word in your ear, and listen to the words of your handmaid. ²⁵May my lord not pay attention to this useless man, to Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly accompanies him, and I am your handmaid who did not see my lord's servant-lads whom you sent. ²⁶So now, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your being lives, since the Lord has prevented you from embarking on bloodshed, and from your own ability giving you victory, so now may your enemies and those who are seeking my lord's harm be as Nabal. ²⁷And now, may this gift, which your handmaid has brought for my lord, be given to the servant-lads who are following at my lord's feet. ²⁸Please forgive your handmaid's transgression, for the Lord will certainly make my lord a secure house, for my lord is fighting the Lord's wars, and evil has not been found in you in all your days. ²⁹But a man has arisen to pursue you and to seek your life, but my lord's life is wrapped up in the bundle of life with the Lord your God, but as for the life of your enemies, he will sling it out as from the cradle of a sling. ³⁰And it will come to pass that the Lord will do for my lord all the good he has spoken about concerning you, and he will appoint you as leader over Israel. ³¹And don't let this be an unsettling matter to you, or a disconcerting affair to my lord, whether it is about shedding blood for no reason, or my lord giving himself victory, and may the Lord do good to my lord, and may you remember your handmaid.” ³²Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who has sent you to me today. ³³And blessed is your conduct and blessed are you, in that you have stopped me on this day from embarking on bloodshed, and from my own ability giving me victory. ³⁴But as the Lord God of Israel lives, who has prevented me from harming you, for unless you had hastened in coming to me, Nabal would certainly not have had anyone who urinates against a wall left to him by morning light.” ³⁵And David took what she had brought him from her hand, and he said to her, “Go up to your house in peace. Look, I have heeded you, and I have granted your request.” ³⁶Then Abigail went to Nabal, and she saw that he was holding a banquet in his house like the king's banquet, and Nabal's heart was merry, and he was very drunk, and she didn't tell him anything great or small until morning light. ³⁷Then it came to pass in the morning, when the effects of the wine had gone from Nabal, that when his wife told him these things, his heart died within him, and he became like stone. ³⁸And it came to pass after ten days that the Lord struck Nabal, and he died. ³⁹And David heard that Nabal had died, and he said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has vindicated me who was held in contempt from Nabal's stand, and who has saved his servant from harm, and the Lord has turned Nabal's harm back on his head.” Then David sent men to tell Abigail that he would take her to be his wife. ⁴⁰And David's servants came to Abigail at Carmel, and they spoke to her and said, “David has sent us to you to take you to be his wife.” ⁴¹Then she arose and bowed with her face to the ground, and she said, “Here I am as your handmaid, as a servant-girl to wash the feet of my lord's servants.” ⁴²Then Abigail made haste and arose and rode on a donkey, with her five servant-girls walking in her tracks, and she followed David's messengers, and she became his wife. ⁴³And David took Ahinoam from Jezreel, and both of them became his wives. ⁴⁴And Saul gave Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish who was from Gallim.

¹Then the Ziphites came to Saul in Gibeah and said, “Isn't David hiding in the hill of Hachilah opposite Jeshimon?” ²And Saul arose and went down to the Desert of Ziph, and with him were three thousand men – young men of Israel – to seek David in the Desert of Ziph. ³And Saul encamped at the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite Jeshimon on the way there. Now David was living in the desert, and he saw that Saul had come after him in the desert. ⁴So David sent spies, and he found out that Saul had indeed come. ⁵Then David arose and went to the place where Saul had encamped, and David saw the place where Saul was stationed, with Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army, with Saul located in a circular barricade of wagons, with the people encamped around him. ⁶And David reacted and spoke to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, and he said, “Who will go down with me, to Saul, to the camp?” And Abishai said, “I will go down with you.” ⁷So David and Abishai went to the people by night, and they saw Saul lying asleep in the circular barricade of wagons, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head-end and Abner and the people lying around him. ⁸Then Abishai said to David, “God has delivered your enemy into your hand today, so now I will strike him, if I may, with a spear to the ground, in one go, and I will not need to do it to him a second time.” ⁹But David said to Abishai, “Do not dispatch him, for who can lay his hand on the Lord's anointed and be held guiltless?” ¹⁰And David said, “As the Lord lives, let rather the Lord strike him, or let his day come when he dies, or let him go down to battle and perish. ¹¹Far be it from me with the Lord that I should lay my hand on the Lord's anointed, so now, take, would you, the spear which is at his head-end, and the water-flask, and let us go our way.” ¹²So David took the spear and the water-flask from Saul's head-end, and they went their way, and no-one saw, and no-one knew, and no-one woke up, for they were all asleep, for a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen on them. ¹³Then David crossed to the opposite side and stood on the peak of the mountain at a distance, the distance between them being large. ¹⁴And David called out to the people and to Abner the son of Ner and said, “Do you not answer, Abner?” And Abner answered and said, “Who are you who have called out to the king?” ¹⁵And David said to Abner, “Are you not a man? And who is like you in Israel? So why have you not kept guard over your lord the king? For one of the people came to dispatch your lord the king. ¹⁶This thing that you have done is not right – as the Lord lives – for you deserve death, in that you did not keep guard over your lord, over the Lord's anointed. So now, look for the king's spear and water-flask which were at his head-end.” ¹⁷And Saul recognized David's voice, and he said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And David said, “It is my voice, my lord the king.” ¹⁸Then he said, “Why is it that my lord pursues his servant, because what have I done, and what wrong is to my charge? ¹⁹So now, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the Lord has stirred you up against me, let him smell an offering. But if the incitement is from the sons of men, they are accursed before the Lord, for they drove me out today from joining the Lord's inheritance, and they said, ‘Go and serve other gods.’ ²⁰So now, don't let my blood fall to the ground in the presence of the Lord, for the king of Israel came out to seek a single flea, like one chasing a partridge in the mountains.” ²¹Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will not harm you any more, because my life was valued in your sight this day. Look, I have acted foolishly, and I have erred very greatly.” ²²Then David answered and said, “Here is the spear, O king. Now let one of the lads come across and fetch it. ²³And the Lord will render to each his righteousness and his faithfulness, in that the Lord delivered you into my hand today, but I was not willing to lay my hand on the Lord's anointed. ²⁴And look, just as your life was valued in my sight this day, so may my life be valued in the Lord's sight, and may he deliver me from all adversity.” ²⁵Then Saul said to David, “Blessed are you, my son David. You will both accomplish much and prevail strongly.” Then David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.

¹And David said in his heart, “One of these days I will be eliminated by Saul. There is nothing better for me than to cleanly escape to the land of the Philistines, then Saul will desist from searching for me any more in every territory of Israel, and I will escape from his clutches.” ²So David arose, and he crossed over, as did the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, the king of Gath. ³And David resided with Achish in Gath, he and his men, each with his household, David and his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the former wife of Nabal, the Carmelitess. ⁴And it was reported to Saul that David had fled to Gath, and he did not search for him any more. ⁵And David said to Achish, “Would you, if I have found grace in your eyes, let me be given a place in one of the country towns, and I will stay there, for why should your servant stay in the royal city with you?” ⁶And Achish gave him Ziklag on that day, which is why Ziklag belongs to the kings of Judah as it is up to this day. ⁷And the number of days that David stayed in the country of the Philistines was for a year and four months. ⁸Then David and his men went up and invaded the Geshurites and the Gizrites, and the Amalekites, for they from ancient times had been the inhabitants of the land as you go to Shur as far as the land of Egypt. ⁹And David attacked the land, and he did not leave a man or a woman alive, and he took sheep and oxen and donkeys and camels and clothes, then he returned and went to Achish. ¹⁰And Achish said, “Whom did you raid today?” And David said, “The south of Judah and the south of the Jerahmeelites, and the south of the Kenites.” ¹¹And David did not leave a man or a woman alive to bring a report to Gath, and he said, “It is in order that they do not report on us and say, ‘This is what David did, and this has been his custom all the days that he has been living in the countryside of the Philistines.’ ” ¹²And Achish believed David, and he said, “He has acted utterly odiously with his own people – with Israel – and he will become my servant perpetually.”

¹And it came to pass in those days that the Philistines assembled their battalions for battle, to fight against Israel, and Achish said to David, “You will be well aware that you will be going out with me in the battalion, you and your men.” ²And David said to Achish, “Yes, for you are aware of what your servant will do.” And Achish said to David, “That is why I will make you my bodyguard permanently.” ³Now Samuel was dead, and the whole of Israel mourned for him, and they buried him in Ramah – so in his own city. Now Saul had removed the necromancers and the wizards from the land. ⁴And the Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem, while Saul assembled the whole of Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. ⁵And Saul saw the Philistines' camp, and he became afraid and his heart trembled a lot. ⁶So Saul inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him, either in dreams, or by the Urim, or by the prophets. ⁷And Saul said to his servants, “Find me a woman necromancer, and I will go to her, and I will inquire of her.” Then his servants said to him, “There is a woman necromancer in En-Dor.” ⁸So Saul disguised himself, and he put other clothes on, and he set off – he and two men with him – and they came to the woman by night. And he said, “Divine for me by necromancy, please, and bring up for me him whom I say to you.” ⁹And the woman said to him, “Look, you know what Saul did when he cut the necromancers and the wizards off from the land, so why are you laying a snare to my life, to have me killed?” ¹⁰Then Saul swore to her by the Lord and said, “As the Lord lives, no incrimination will be made against you in this matter.” ¹¹And the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” And he said, “Bring Samuel up for me.” ¹²Then when the woman saw Samuel, she shouted in a loud voice, and the woman spoke to Saul and said, “Why have you deceived me, for you are Saul.” ¹³And the king said to her, “Don't be afraid, but what did you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I saw gods ascending from the earth.” ¹⁴And he said to her, “What was its form?” And she said, “An old man came up, and he was enveloped in a robe.” And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed face down to the ground and prostrated himself. ¹⁵Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you stirred me up to make me come up?” And Saul said, “I am very much in a strait, for the Philistines are fighting me, and God has departed from me, and he no longer answers me, either by the intermediacy of the prophets or in dreams, so I called you up to inform me about what I should do.” ¹⁶Then Samuel said, “But why should you ask me, when the Lord has departed from you, and he has become your enemy? ¹⁷And the Lord did for his part as he had said through my intermediacy, and the Lord tore the kingdom from your hand and gave it to your compatriot David. ¹⁸As you did not obey the voice of the Lord, and you did not execute the fury of his anger on Amalek, the Lord has done this thing to you this day. ¹⁹And the Lord has also delivered Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me, and the Lord will also deliver Israel's camp into the hand of the Philistines.” ²⁰Then Saul quickly fell down at full length to the ground, and he was very afraid at Samuel's words. Moreover there was no strength in him, for he had not eaten bread all day and all night. ²¹And the woman came up to Saul, and she saw that he was very alarmed, and she said to him, “Look, your maidservant has obeyed you, and I put my life in my hand, and I heeded your words which you spoke to me. ²²So now, please will you comply with your maidservant, and I will place before you a piece of bread, and eat so you have strength when you go on your way.” ²³But he refused and said, “I will not eat”, but his servants and also the woman urged him, and he complied with them and got up from the ground and sat on the couch. ²⁴Now the woman had a fatted calf at the house, and she went quickly and sacrificed it, and she took flour and kneaded it and baked it into unleavened bread. ²⁵And she served it to Saul and his servants, and they ate, and they arose then departed on that night.

¹And the Philistines assembled all their battalions in Aphek while Israel was encamping at the fount which is in Jezreel. ²And the barons of the Philistines crossed over in hundreds and in thousands, and David and his men crossed over at the rear with Achish. ³And the commanders of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” And Achish said to the commanders of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul king of Israel, who has been with me all these days or all these years, in whom I have not found anything amiss from the day when he arrived up to this day.” ⁴But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him, and the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Send the man back so he returns to his place where you appointed him to be, so he does not go down to battle with us and will not be an adversary of ours in the battle. And on what grounds should this man ingratiate himself to his master? Is he not one of the heads of those men? ⁵Is this not David, whom they eulogized with dances, saying,

‘Saul struck down his thousands,

But David his tens of thousands.’ ”

⁶Then Achish called for David, and he said to him, “As the Lord lives, you are surely upright, and it was good in my sight that you should associate with me in the battalion, for I have found no fault in you from the day you came to me up to this day, but you are unwelcome in the sight of the barons. ⁷So now, return and go in peace, and do not do what is wrong in the sight of the barons of the Philistines.” ⁸Then David said to Achish, “Well what have I done and what have you found in your servant from the day that I was first in your presence up to this day, that I should not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?” ⁹And Achish answered and said to David, “I know that you are good – in my sight like an angel of God. But the commanders of the Philistines have said, ‘He shall not go up with us into the battle.’ ¹⁰So now, get up early in the morning with your lord's servants who came with you, and when you have got up early in the morning, and you have light, depart.” ¹¹So David got up early – he and his men – to depart in the morning, so as to return to the land of the Philistines, and the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

¹Then it came to pass, as David and his men were going to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites invaded the south and Ziklag, and they attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire. ²And they took the women who were in it captive, both small and great. They did not kill anyone, but they drove them along as they went their way. ³And David and his men came to the city, and what they saw was that it had been burned with fire, and their women and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive. ⁴And David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they didn't have any strength to weep. ⁵Now David's two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail who had been the wife of Nabal the Carmelite, ⁶and David was very distressed, for the people intended to stone him, for all the people were inwardly bitter – each man about his son and about his daughters – but David gathered strength through the Lord his God. ⁷And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring the ephod up to me”, and Abiathar brought the ephod up to David. ⁸And David inquired of the Lord and said, “Should I pursue this troop? Will I catch up with them?” And he said to him, “Pursue, for you will certainly catch up with them and certainly bring deliverance.” ⁹So David and the six hundred men who were with him set out and came to the Besor stream, whereas the rest stayed behind. ¹⁰And David was in pursuit, he and four hundred men, whereas two hundred men who had become too exhausted to cross the Besor stream stayed behind. ¹¹And they found an Egyptian man in the field, and they took him to David, and they gave him bread, and he ate, and they gave him water to drink. ¹²And they gave him a slice of a cake of dried figs and two raisin cakes, and he ate, and his spirit returned to him, for he had not eaten bread and he had not drunk water for three days and three nights. ¹³And David said to him, “To whom do you belong? And where are you from?” And he said, “I am an Egyptian youth, the servant of an Amalekite man, but my master left me, because I became sick three days ago. ¹⁴We raided the south of the Cherethites' territory, and Judah's territory, and the south of Caleb's territory, and we burned Ziklag with fire.” ¹⁵And David said to him, “Will you lead me down to this troop?” And he said, “Swear to me by God that you definitely will not kill me, and that you definitely will not deliver me up into the hand of my master, and I will lead you down to this troop.” ¹⁶So he led him down, and he saw that there were people scattered over the whole expanse of the land, eating and drinking and celebrating all the great spoil which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. ¹⁷And David attacked them from dawn to evening the day after, and no-one escaped from them except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled. ¹⁸So David recovered everything that the Amalekites had taken, and David recovered his two wives. ¹⁹And no-one whether small or great was missing from them, neither sons nor daughters, nor any spoil, nor anything which they had taken away. David recovered everything. ²⁰And David took all the sheep and oxen. They drove them in front of the other livestock, and they said, “This is David's spoil.” ²¹Then David went to the two hundred men who had become too exhausted to follow David, whom they had stationed at the Besor stream. And they went out to meet David and to meet the people with him, and David approached the people and asked them how they were. ²²And every evil or good-for-nothing man from the men who went with David answered and said, “Since they did not go with me, we will not give them any of the spoil which we have recovered, except for each man's wife and his sons, for them to take away and depart.” ²³But David said, “You shall not do this, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us, for he protected us, and he delivered the troop which came against us into our hands. ²⁴And who will heed you in this matter? For the share of him who went down to battle will be as the share of him who stayed with the equipment. They will share it out together.” ²⁵And it came to pass from that day on that he made it a statute and a regulation for Israel, as it is up to this day. ²⁶Then David came to Ziklag, and he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his neighbour, and he said, “Here is a gift for you from the spoil of the Lord's enemies.” ²⁷He sent it to those in Beth-El, and to those in Ramoth of the south, and to those in Jattir, ²⁸and to those in Aroer, and to those in Siphmoth, and to those in Eshtemoa, ²⁹and to those in Rachal, and to those in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to those in the cities of the Kenites, ³⁰and to those in Hormah, and to those in Bor-Ashan, and to those in Athach, ³¹and to those in Hebron, and to all the places which David frequented – he and his men.

¹Then the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from the Philistines, and they fell as casualties on Mount Gilboa. ²And the Philistines hotly pursued Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-Shua, Saul's sons. ³And the war went heavily against Saul, and the archers – men of the bow – hit him, and he was severely wounded by the archers. ⁴And Saul said to his arms-bearer, “Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, so that these uncircumcised men do not come and thrust me through or ill-treat me.” But his arms-bearer was not willing to do so, because he was very afraid. So Saul took his sword and fell on it. ⁵Then when his arms-bearer saw that Saul had died, he too fell on his sword and died with him. ⁶So Saul and his three sons died, as did his arms-bearer, and all his men together on that day. ⁷And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and on the other side of the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled, and that Saul and his sons had died, they left the cities and fled, and the Philistines came and lived in them. ⁸And it came to pass, on the next day when the Philistines came to strip the fallen, that they found Saul and his three sons lying fallen at Mount Gilboa. ⁹And they cut his head off and stripped his weaponry, and they sent messengers into the land of the Philistines round about to bring the good news to the house of their idols and to the people. ¹⁰And they put his weaponry in the house of images of Astarte, and they fastened his corpse to the wall of Beth-Shan. ¹¹And when the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead heard of it – of what the Philistines had done to Saul – ¹²every valiant man arose and went all night and took down Saul's corpse and his sons' corpses from the wall of Beth-Shan, and they went to Jabesh and burnt them there. ¹³And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh. And they fasted for seven days.

¹And it came to pass after Saul's death that David returned from attacking the Amalekites, and David stayed in Ziklag for two days. ²And it came to pass on the third day that there was a man who had come from Saul's camp, whose clothes were torn, and there was soil on his head, and when he came to David, he fell to the ground and prostrated himself. ³And David said to him, “Where have you come from?” And he said to him, “I have escaped from Israel's camp.” ⁴Then David asked him, “What happened? Do please tell me.” And he said that the people had fled from the battle and that many of the people had fallen and died, and that Saul and Jonathan his son had also died. ⁵Then David asked the lad who had told him, “How did you come to know that Saul and Jonathan his son died?” ⁶And the lad who was informing him said, “Completely by chance I was on Mount Gilboa when I saw Saul leaning on his spear, while the chariot fleet and the horsemen were hotly pursuing him. ⁷And he turned round and saw me, and he called for me, and I said, ‘Here I am.’ ⁸Then he said to me, ‘Who are you?’ And I said to him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’ ⁹Then he said to me, ‘Come up to me please and kill me, for a seizure has taken hold of me, although my life is still in me.’ ¹⁰So I went up to him and killed him, for I knew that he would not live after his incident, and I took the crown which was on his head and the bangle which was on his arm, and I have brought them to my lord here.” ¹¹Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, as did all the men who were with him. ¹²And they mourned and wept and fasted until the evening, for Saul and Jonathan his son, and for the Lord's people, and for the house of Israel, for they had fallen by the sword. ¹³Then David asked the lad who was informing him, “Where are you from?” And he said, “I am the son of a foreigner, an Amalekite.” ¹⁴And David said to him, “How come you did not fear to stretch out your hand to dispatch the Lord's anointed?” ¹⁵And David called one of the lads and said, “Come up and strike him.” And he struck him, and he died. ¹⁶Then David said to him, “May your blood be on your head, for your mouth testified against you, when you said, ‘I have killed the Lord's anointed.’ ” ¹⁷And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son, ¹⁸and he gave the order to teach the sons of Judah archery – look, it is written in the Book of the Upright –

¹⁹“The gazelle – Israel – lies slain on your heights.

How the mighty have fallen!

²⁰Do not report it in Gath,

Do not proclaim it in the open places of Ashkelon,

Lest the daughters of the Philistines should rejoice,

Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised should exult.

²¹May there be no dew on the mountains of Gilboa,

And may there be no rain on you,

Nor on the fields for heave-offerings,

For there the shield of heroes was abandoned

– The shield of Saul without the one anointed with oil.

²²From the blood of the slain,

From the fat of the heroes,

Jonathan's bow did not shrink,

And Saul's sword did not return empty.

²³Saul and Jonathan were loved and were delightful in their lives,

And they did not part in their death.

They were swifter than eagles;

They were stronger than lions.

²⁴O daughters of Israel, weep for Saul,

Who clothed you in scarlet with delights,

Who set ornaments of gold on your clothing.

²⁵How the heroes have fallen in the midst of the battle!

Jonathan was slain on your heights.

²⁶I am distressed about you, my brother Jonathan.

You were very much a source of pleasure to me.

Your love for me was more wondrous

Than the love of women.

²⁷How the heroes have fallen

And the weapons of war have perished!”

¹Then it came to pass after that, that David inquired of the Lord and asked, “Should I go up into one of the cities of Judah?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up.” Then David said, “Where should I go up to?” And he said, “To Hebron.” ²So David went up there, as did his two wives Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail who had been the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. ³And David brought up his men who were with him, each one and his household, and they lived in the cities of Hebron. ⁴And the men of Judah came, and they anointed David as king over the house of Judah. And they gave a report to David, and they said, “It is the men of Jabesh-Gilead who buried Saul.” ⁵Then David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-Gilead, and he said to them, “Blessed are you to the Lord, because you did this kind act with your lord, with Saul, when you buried him. ⁶So now, may the Lord act kindly and in truth with you, and I too will recompense you this good deed, because you did this thing. ⁷And now, may your hands be strengthened, and may you become valiant men, for your lord, Saul, is dead, and moreover the house of Judah has anointed me as king over them.” ⁸But Abner the son of Ner, the commander of Saul's army, took Ish-Bosheth, Saul's son, and he brought him across to Mahanaim. ⁹And they made him king of Gilead, and of the Ashurites and of Jezreel, and of Ephraim and of Benjamin and of all of Israel. ¹⁰Ish-Bosheth, Saul's son, was forty years old when he reigned over Israel, and he reigned for two years, but the house of Judah was behind David. ¹¹And the number of days that David was king over the house of Judah in Hebron was seven years and six months. ¹²And Abner the son of Ner went out, as did the servants of Ish-Bosheth, Saul's son, from Mahanaim to Gibeon. ¹³And Joab the son of Zeruiah and David's servants went out, and they met them at the pool of Gibeon so that they were all together, and they sat with one group on one side of the pool and one group on the other side of the pool. ¹⁴And Abner said to Joab, “Let the lads get up and make sport for us.” And Joab said, “Let them get up.” ¹⁵So the twelve in number of Benjamin and Ish-Bosheth, Saul's son, arose and crossed over, as did twelve of David's servants. ¹⁶And each took hold of his neighbour's head and thrust his sword into his neighbour's side, and they fell down together, and that place is called Helkath-Hazzurim, which is in Gibeon. ¹⁷And the war was very severe on that day, and Abner was defeated, as were the men of Israel, by David's servants. ¹⁸And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab and Abishai and Asahel. Now Asahel was swift-footed like one of the gazelles in the field. ¹⁹And Asahel pursued Abner, and he did not turn aside to go to the right or to the left in going after Abner. ²⁰Then Abner turned round, and he said, “Is that you, Asahel?” And he said, “I am.” ²¹And Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right or to your left, and take hold of one of the lads and take his spoil.” But Asahel was not willing to deviate from going after him. ²²And Abner went on to say to Asahel, “Give up coming after me. Why should I strike you to the ground, and how would I face Joab your brother?” ²³But he refused to give up, and Abner struck him with a backward-pointing spear in the abdomen, and the spear came out behind him, and he fell there and died on the spot. And it came to pass that everyone who came to the place where Asahel fell and died stood still. ²⁴And Joab and Abishai pursued Abner, and the sun was setting when they came to the hill of Ammah which faces Giah on the way to the Desert of Gibeon. ²⁵And the Benjaminites assembled themselves behind Abner and became one battalion, and they stood on the top of a certain hill. ²⁶And Abner called to Joab and said, “Will the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it will be bitter in the end? So how much longer will you not tell the people to stop going after their brothers?” ²⁷And Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, then the people would have been led up from this morning onwards, each one pursuing his brother.” ²⁸Then Joab sounded the ramshorn, and all the people stood still, and they didn't pursue Israel any longer, and they didn't continue fighting any longer. ²⁹Then Abner and his men walked through the arid tract all that night, and they crossed the Jordan, and they walked through all of Bithron, and they arrived in Mahanaim. ³⁰And Joab returned from going after Abner, and he assembled all the people. Now nineteen men of David's servants were missing, as was Asahel. ³¹But David's servants had struck the Benjaminites and Abner's men, and three hundred and sixty men had died. ³²And they carried Asahel away and buried him in his father's sepulchre, which is in Bethlehem. And Joab and his men walked all night, then dawn broke on them in Hebron.

¹And the war between the house of Saul and the house of David was long, but David became stronger and stronger, whereas Saul's house became weaker and weaker. ²And various sons were born to David in Hebron, and his eldest was Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelitess. ³And his second eldest was Chilab, by Abigail the former wife of Nabal the Carmelite. And the third was Absalom the son of Maachah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur. ⁴And the fourth was Adonijah the son of Haggith, and the fifth was Shephatiah the son of Abital. ⁵And the sixth was Ithream, by Eglah David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron. ⁶Then it came to pass, while the war was going on being between the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner was becoming stronger in the house of Saul. ⁷Now Saul had had a concubine, and her name was Rizpah the daughter of Aiah. And Ish-Bosheth said to Abner, “Why have you gone in to my father's concubine?” ⁸And Abner became very angry about Ish-Bosheth's words, and he said, “Am I a dog's head, who is for Judah? Today I will show kindness to the house of Saul your father, towards his brothers and towards his friends, and I won't deliver you up into the hand of David, although you have charged me with an iniquity against the woman today. ⁹May God so do to Abner if I am guilty, and may he so add to him, for as the Lord has sworn to David, so I will do for him, ¹⁰in transferring the kingdom from the house of Saul and in setting up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan's territory up to Beersheba.” ¹¹And he could not answer Abner a word any more, for fear of him. ¹²And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf to say, “Whose is the land?” and to say, “Make your covenant with me, and you will see that my hand is with you, to round up the whole of Israel to you.” ¹³And David said, “Good, I will make a covenant with you, but I will ask one thing of you, namely, ‘You shall not see my face unless and until you bring Michal, Saul's daughter, when you come to see my face.’ ” ¹⁴So David sent messengers to Ish-Bosheth, Saul's son, to say, “Give me my wife Michal whom I betrothed to myself for one hundred foreskins of the Philistines.” ¹⁵And Ish-Bosheth sent men, and he had her taken from her husband Paltiel the son of Laish. ¹⁶And her husband went with her, weeping as he went, following her to Bahurim. But Abner said to him, “Depart; go back.” So he went back. ¹⁷And Abner's position was under consideration with the elders of Israel as he had said, “In times past you were requesting David as king over you. ¹⁸So now, act, for the Lord has spoken to David and said, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.’ ” ¹⁹And Abner also spoke privately to the tribe of Benjamin, and Abner also went to speak privately to David in Hebron everything that was right in the sight of Israel and in the sight of the whole house of Benjamin. ²⁰So Abner came to David in Hebron, and twenty men were with him, and David held a feast for Abner and for the men who were with him. ²¹And Abner said to David, “Let me get up and go and gather the whole of Israel to my lord the king, and they will make a covenant with you, and you will reign over everyone your heart desires.” And David let Abner go, and he went in peace. ²²Then along came the servants of David and Joab from the troop, and they brought much spoil with them, and Abner was not with David in Hebron, for he had let him go, and he had gone in peace. ²³Then when Joab and the whole army which was with him had arrived, they spoke to Joab and said, “Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he let him go, and he went in peace.” ²⁴Then Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Look, Abner came to you. Why is it that you have let him go, and he has simply gone? ²⁵You know Abner the son of Ner – that he came to deceive you and to get to know your comings and goings and to get to know everything you are doing.” ²⁶And Joab left David's company, and he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah, without David knowing. ²⁷So Abner returned to Hebron, and Joab took him aside inside the gate to speak to him quietly, and he struck him there in the abdomen, and he died for the blood of Asahel Joab's brother. ²⁸And afterwards, David heard about it, and he said, “I and my kingdom are age-abidingly innocent before the Lord of the blood of Abner the son of Ner. ²⁹May it fall on Joab's head and on all his father's house, and may there not fail to be one with a pathological discharge, or a leper, or one holding a staff, or falling by the sword, or lacking bread in the house of Joab.” ³⁰So Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner, because he had killed Asahel their brother in Gibeon in the war. ³¹And David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes and gird on sackcloth, and mourn for Abner.” And King David walked behind the funeral bier. ³²And they buried Abner in Hebron, and the king raised his voice and wept at Abner's grave, and all the people wept. ³³So the king lamented over Abner, and he said,

“Did Abner die as a fool dies?

³⁴Your hands were not bound,

And your feet were not fettered.

You fell as one falls before the iniquitous.”

And all the people wept for him again. ³⁵And all the people came to give David bread while it was still day, but David swore and said, “May God so do to me and more besides if I taste bread or anything else before the sun sets.” ³⁶And all the people showed respect, and it was right in their eyes. Everything that the king did was right in the eyes of all the people. ³⁷And all the people and all Israel knew on that day that it was not an initiative from the king to kill Abner the son of Ner. ³⁸And the king said to his servants, “Do you not know that a commander and a great man has fallen on this day in Israel? ³⁹And I am faint today, although anointed king, and these men – the sons of Zeruiah – are too harsh for me. May the Lord requite him who commits wickedness according to his wickedness.”

¹When Saul's son heard that Abner had died in Hebron, his hands sank, and all Israel was agitated. ²Now Saul's son had two men who were commanders of troops. The name of one was Baanah and the name of the other was Rechab – the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin, for Beeroth was also reckoned to Benjamin. ³And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and dwelt there, as they are up to this day. ⁴And Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son who was lame in his legs. He was five years old when the report of Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his foster mother took him away and fled, and it came to pass in her haste to flee that he fell and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth. ⁵And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite – Rechab and Baanah – departed, and they arrived as the day was becoming hot, at the house of Ish-Bosheth, and he was lying on a bed at midday. ⁶And they went into the house as if they were customers for wheat, and they struck him in the abdomen, and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. ⁷For they went into the house while he was lying on his bed in his bedroom, and they struck him and killed him, and they removed his head, and they took his head and departed through the arid tract all night. ⁸And they brought Ish-Bosheth's head to David in Hebron, and they said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth, the son of Saul your enemy who sought your life, and the Lord avenged my lord the king on this day on Saul and his seed.” ⁹But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and he said to them, “As the Lord lives, who redeemed my life from all adversity, ¹⁰when the one reporting to me said, ‘Look, Saul is dead’ – when he was bringing good news in his eyes – I seized him and killed him in Ziklag, which was me giving him good news. ¹¹How much more is it like that when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his house on his bed? So now, should I not require his blood from yourselves and eradicate you from the land?” ¹²Then David commanded his servant-lads, and they killed them, and they cut off their hands and feet, and they hanged them over the pool in Hebron, and they took Ish-Bosheth's head and buried it in Abner's sepulchre in Hebron.

¹And all of the tribes of Israel came to David, in Hebron, and they spoke and said, “Here we are; we are your bone and your flesh. ²Throughout the past when Saul was king over us, it was you who brought Israel out and led it in. And the Lord said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will be a leader over Israel.’ ” ³And all the elders of Israel came to the king in Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David as king over Israel. ⁴David was thirty years old when he started to reign, and he reigned for forty years. ⁵In Hebron he reigned over Judah for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned for thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah. ⁶Then the king and his men went to Jerusalem, to the Jebusites, who were inhabiting the land, and they spoke to David and said, “You shall not come here unless you can remove the blind and the lame”, and they said, “David shall not come here.” ⁷But David captured the stronghold of Zion, which is the City of David. ⁸And on that day, David said, “Whoever strikes a Jebusite and gets to the waterfall and strikes the lame and the blind – who hate David's existence – ...” For this reason they say, “The blind and the lame shall not enter the house.” ⁹And David resided in the citadel, and he called it the City of David. And David built around it, from the Millo inwards. ¹⁰And David continued to become greater, and the Lord God of hosts was with him. ¹¹And Hiram king of Tyre sent envoys to David, and cedar wood and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built a house for David. ¹²And David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel. ¹³Then David took some more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he had arrived there from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to David. ¹⁴And these are the names of those born to 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 as king over Israel, all the Philistines came up to seek David, but David heard about it, and he went down into the citadel. ¹⁸And the Philistines came and spread themselves out in the Valley of the Rephaim. ¹⁹And David asked the Lord and said, “Should I go up against the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hand?” And the Lord said to David, “Go up, for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into your hand.” ²⁰So David went to Baal-Perazim, and David struck them there, and he said, “The Lord has dispersed my enemies before me, like an outpouring of water”, which is why he called that place Baal-Perazim. ²¹And they abandoned their idols there, and David and his men removed them. ²²But the Philistines came up yet again, and they spread themselves out in the Valley of the Rephaim. ²³And David inquired of the Lord. And he said, “You shall not go up. Surround them at their rear and advance on them from opposite the balsam trees. ²⁴And it will come to pass, when you hear the sound of marching in the crowns of the balsam trees, that you will then act decisively, for then the Lord will go out before you to strike the Philistines' camp.” ²⁵And David did this as the Lord had commanded him, and he struck the Philistines from Geba to the approach to Gezer.

¹And David again gathered every young man in Israel – thirty thousand of them. ²And David arose and proceeded, with all the people who were with him from Baale-Judah, to bring the ark of God up from there, where a name – the name of the Lord of hosts who resides between cherubim on it – is called on. ³And they loaded the ark of God onto a new wagon, and they removed it from Abinadab's house, which was in Gibeah. Now Uzza and Ahio, Abinadab's sons, were driving the new wagon, ⁴and they removed it from Abinadab's house which was in Gibeah, travelling with the ark of God, with Ahio walking in front of the ark. ⁵Now David and the whole house of Israel were playing music before the Lord on all kinds of instruments of cypress wood, and on harps and on lutes and with drums and with sistrums and with cymbals, ⁶when they came to Nachon's threshing floor, and Uzza stretched out his hand to the ark of God, and he held on to it, because the oxen were destabilizing it. ⁷At this the Lord's anger was kindled against Uzza, and God struck him down there for his nonchalance, and he died there with the ark of God. ⁸And it grieved David that the Lord had burst out against Uzza, and he called that place Perez-Uzza, as it is up to this day. ⁹And David feared the Lord on that day, and he said, “How will the ark of the Lord come to me?” ¹⁰And David was not willing to have the ark of the Lord brought to him at the City of David, and David had it diverted to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. ¹¹So the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household. ¹²And it was reported to King David with the words, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom, and everything he has, on account of the ark of God.” So David went and brought the ark of God up from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with joy. ¹³And it came to pass, when the bearers of the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, that he sacrificed an ox and a fatted calf. ¹⁴And David leapt with all his might before the Lord, and David was girded with an ephod of fine linen. ¹⁵So David and the whole house of Israel brought the ark of the Lord up with shouting and with the sound of the ramshorn. ¹⁶And as the ark of the Lord was arriving in the City of David, Michal, Saul's daughter, was peering out of the window, and she saw King David leaping and bounding before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart. ¹⁷And they brought the ark of the Lord, and they put it in its place inside the tent which David had pitched for it, and David offered burnt offerings and peace-offerings before the Lord. ¹⁸And when David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace-offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. ¹⁹And he distributed to all the people and the whole multitude of Israel, to both men and women – to each one – a loaf of bread and a portion of roast beef and raisin cake. Then all the people went home. ²⁰Then when David returned to bless his household, Michal, Saul's daughter, came out to meet David, and she said, “How dignified the king of Israel was today, who exposed himself today in the sight of the maidservants of his menservants, like an empty-headed person deliberately exposing himself.” ²¹And David said to Michal, “I did it before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father and rather than all his house in appointing me a leader over the people of the Lord – over Israel – and I will play before the Lord. ²²And I will be more contemptible than this, and I will be lowly in my own eyes, but with the maidservants with whom you spoke I shall be honoured.” ²³And Michal, Saul's daughter, did not have a child up to the day of her death.

¹And it came to pass when the king was sitting in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on all sides from all his enemies, ²that the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I am sitting in a house of cedars, but the ark of God is residing behind a sheet.” ³And Nathan said to the king, “Whatever is in your heart, go and do, for the Lord is with you.” ⁴And it came to pass on that night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan and said, ⁵“Go and say to my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: «Will you build me a house for me to dwell in? ⁶For I have not dwelt in a house from the day when I brought the sons of Israel up out of Egypt, up to this day, and I have been going about in a tent and in a tabernacle. ⁷Everywhere where I have gone about among all the sons of Israel, have I spoken a word with the one of the tribes of Israel which I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, ‹Why have you not built me a house of cedar?›?» ’ ⁸So now, this is what you will say to my servant, to David: ‘This is what the Lord of hosts says: «I took you out of the pasture, from looking after the sheep, to be a leader over my people, over Israel. ⁹And I was with you everywhere you went, and I cut off all your enemies at your advance, and I made your name great, like the name of the great men who are on the earth. ¹⁰And I will appoint a place for my people – for Israel – and I will plant them there, and they will dwell right there, and they will no longer shudder, and the unrighteous will no longer afflict them as at first. ¹¹And ever since the day when I appointed judges over my people Israel, I have given you rest from all your enemies. And the Lord has told you that the Lord will make a house for you. ¹²When your days are fulfilled, and you lie with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, who will come from your loins, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom age-abidingly. ¹⁴I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me. When he acts iniquitously, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the beatings of the sons of Adam. ¹⁵But my kindness will not depart from him, as when I withdrew it from Saul, whom I removed from you. ¹⁶And your house and your kingdom will be immutable age-abidingly before you. Your throne will be confirmed age-abidingly.» ’ ” ¹⁷According to all these words, and according to all of this vision, so Nathan spoke to David. ¹⁸Then King David came and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, my Lord the Lord, and who constitutes my house, that you should have brought me here? ¹⁹And was this just a small matter in your sight, my Lord the Lord? And moreover you spoke to the house of your servant from afar, and is this man's right, my Lord the Lord? ²⁰And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, my Lord the Lord. ²¹It was for the sake of your word and according to your heart that you performed all this great thing, in making it known to your servant, ²²which is why you are great, my Lord the Lord, for there is none like you, and there is no God except for you in anything which we have heard with our ears. ²³And who is like your people, like Israel, one nation on the earth, which God proceeded to redeem to himself as a people, and to establish a name for himself, and to perform for you a great deed and awesome things, for your land, on account of your people whom you redeemed to yourself from Egypt – the nations and their gods? ²⁴And you have established your people for yourself, Israel as your people age-abidingly. And you, O Lord, have become their God. ²⁵So now, O Lord God, establish the word which you spoke concerning your servant and concerning his household age-abidingly, and act as you have spoken. ²⁶And may your name be magnified age-abidingly, by people saying, ‘O Lord of hosts, God over Israel’, and may the house of your servant David be established before you. ²⁷For you, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, have informed your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house’, which is why your servant has found it in his heart to pray this prayer to you. ²⁸So now, my Lord the Lord, you are God and your words will come true, and you have spoken this good thing to your servant. ²⁹So now, be willing to bless the house of your servant, for it to be before you age-abidingly, because you, my Lord the Lord, have spoken, and from your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed age-abidingly.”

Reference(s) in Chapter 7: v.12 ↔ Acts 2:30 ● v.14 ↔ 2 Corinthians 6:18, Hebrews 1:5.

¹And it came to pass after that, that David attacked the Philistines and subdued them, and David took the metropolis from the Philistines' control. ²And he attacked Moab, and he allotted them in a line, making them lie down on the ground, and he allotted two groups, one to be put to death and one numerous group to be preserved alive. So Moab became David's servants and tribute-bearers. ³And David attacked Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, the king of Zobah, when he went to regain control of the river. ⁴And David captured from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand infantrymen. And David hamstrung all the horses of the chariot fleet, but he allowed one hundred of its chariots to remain. ⁵Then Aramaea of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, but David struck down twenty-two thousand men in Aramaea. ⁶And David stationed garrisons in Aramaea of Damascus, and Aramaea became David's servants and tribute-bearers. And the Lord sustained David everywhere he went. ⁷And David took the golden shields which Hadadezer's servants had, and he brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸And King David took a very great quantity of copper from Betah and from Berothai, Hadadezer's cities. ⁹And when Toi king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the whole of Hadadezer's army, ¹⁰Toi sent Joram his son to King David to ask him for peace and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him, for Hadadezer had been a man at war with Toi. And in his hand were items of silver and items of gold and items of copper. ¹¹Them too King David consecrated to the Lord with the silver and the gold which he had consecrated from all the nations which he had conquered, ¹²from Aramaea, and from Moab, and from the sons of Ammon, and from the Philistines, and from Amalek, and from the booty of Hadadezer the son of Rehob, the king of Zobah. ¹³And David gained a reputation when he returned from defeating Aramaea in the Valley of Salt – eighteen thousand men. ¹⁴And he stationed garrisons in Edom – in the whole of Edom he stationed garrisons – and all of Edom became David's servants. And the Lord sustained David everywhere he went. ¹⁵So David reigned over all of Israel, and David would execute judgment and justice to all his people. ¹⁶And Joab the son of Zeruiah was in charge of the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was state secretary. ¹⁷And Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, and Seraiah was the scribe. ¹⁸And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and the Cherethites and the Pelethites and the sons of David were priests.

¹And David said, “Is there still anyone who remains of the house of Saul, so I can show kindness to him on account of Jonathan?” ²Now there was a servant of the house of Saul, and his name was Ziba, and they summoned him to David. And the king asked him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “Your servant.” ³And the king said, “Is there no longer a man of the house of Saul, so that I may show the kindness of God to him?” And Ziba said to the king, “There is still Jonathan's son, who is lame in the feet.” ⁴And the king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “Well now, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel in Lo-Debar.” ⁵And King David sent for him, and he took him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo-Debar. ⁶So Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan the son of Saul came to David, and he fell face down and prostrated himself. And David said, “Mephibosheth.” And he said, “Here is your servant.” ⁷And David said to him, “Don't be afraid, for I will certainly show you kindness, on account of Jonathan your father. And I will restore to you all of the field of Saul your father, and you will always eat bread at my table.” ⁸And Mephibosheth prostrated himself and said, “What is your servant, that you should turn to a dead dog such as me?” ⁹And the king called for Ziba, Saul's servant-lad, and he said to him, “Everything which was Saul's or of any of his house, I have given to your master's son. ¹⁰And you will till the ground for him, you and your sons and your servants, and you will bring the produce in. So your master's son will have bread, and he will eat it, and Mephibosheth your master's son will always eat bread at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. ¹¹And Ziba said to the king, “Everything that my lord the king commands his servant, your servant will do.” Then David added, “So Mephibosheth will eat at my table like one of the king's sons.” ¹²And Mephibosheth had a small son whose name was Micah. And the whole household of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth. ¹³And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king's table. And he was lame in both his feet.

¹And it came to pass after this, that the king of the sons of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his place. ²And David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash in the way his father showed me kindness.” And David sent word to comfort him through his servants about his father. And David's servants arrived in the land of the sons of Ammon. ³But the officials of the sons of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, “Does David honour your father, in your opinion? For he has sent consolers to you. Is it not to investigate the city and to spy on it, and to overthrow it, that David has sent his servants to you?” ⁴And Hanun seized David's servants, and he shaved off half of their beards, and he cut their garments down the middle as far as their buttocks, and he sent them away. ⁵Then when David was told, he sent servants to meet them, for the men had been very much put to shame. And the king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow, and then return.” ⁶Then when the sons of Ammon saw that they had become odious to David, the sons of Ammon contacted and hired the Aramaeans of Beth-Rehob, and the Aramaeans of Zoba – twenty thousand infantry – and one thousand men from King Maachah, and twelve thousand men from Ish-Tob. ⁷And when David heard of it, he sent Joab and the whole army of warriors. ⁸And the sons of Ammon came out and drew up in battle order at the gate entrance, and the Aramaeans of Zoba and Rehob, and Ish-Tob and Maachah were in the field by themselves. ⁹And when Joab saw that there was a battlefront against him, ahead of him and behind, he made a selection from all the young men in Israel, and he drew them up to confront the Aramaeans. ¹⁰And he placed the remainder of the people in the hand of Abishai his brother, who drew up to confront the sons of Ammon. ¹¹And he said, “If the Aramaeans are too strong for me, then you will come to my rescue, and if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will go to rescue you. ¹²Be strong and let us be strengthened for our people and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what is right in his sight.” ¹³Then Joab and the people who were with him advanced to the battle against the Aramaeans, who fled from his presence. ¹⁴Then when the sons of Ammon saw that the Aramaeans had fled, they fled from Abishai, and they went to the city, and Joab returned from the sons of Ammon, and he went to Jerusalem. ¹⁵But when the Aramaeans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together. ¹⁶And Hadadezer sent messengers, and they brought out the Aramaeans who were on the far side of the river. So their forces came, with Shobach the commander of Hadadezer's army at their head. ¹⁷And it was reported to David, and he gathered the whole of Israel, and he crossed the Jordan and went to Helam. And the Aramaeans drew up their forces to confront David, and they fought against him. ¹⁸And the Aramaeans fled from Israel, and of the Aramaeans David killed seven hundred chariot crew, and forty thousand horsemen, and he struck Shobach the commander of his army, and he died there. ¹⁹And when all the kings – servants of Hadadezer – saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them, and the Aramaeans were afraid of coming to the rescue of the sons of Ammon any more.

¹And it came to pass in the new year, at the time when the messengers go out, that David sent out Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they ravaged the sons of Ammon, and they besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. ²And it came to pass one evening that David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very good-looking. ³And David sent a servant and inquired about the woman. And the servant said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” ⁴And David sent messengers, and he took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. Then she purified herself from her uncleanness and returned to her house. ⁵And the woman conceived, and she sent word, and she told David and said, “I am pregnant.” ⁶Then David sent word to Joab and said, “Send Uriah the Hittite to me.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷And Uriah came to him, and David asked about Joab's welfare and the welfare of the people, and the course of the war. ⁸And David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah went out of the king's house, and a meal from the king went out after him. ⁹But Uriah lay at the entrance to the king's house with all his master's servants, and he did not go down to his house. ¹⁰And they reported it to David as follows: “Uriah has not gone down to his house.” Then David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why have you not gone down to your house?” ¹¹And Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths, and my master Joab and my master's servants are encamped in the open field, so should I go to my house and eat and drink and lie with my wife? Not on your life or on the life of your being will I do this thing.” ¹²And David said to Uriah, “Stay here to-day as well, and tomorrow I will send you off.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem on that day and on the next day. ¹³Then David called him, and he ate in his presence, and he drank, and he made him drunk, but he went out in the evening to lie on his couch with his master's servants, and he did not go down to his house. ¹⁴And it came to pass in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab, and he sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵And he wrote in the letter as follows: “Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle, and withdraw behind him so that he is struck and dies.” ¹⁶And it came to pass, when Joab was keeping watch over the city, that he put Uriah in the place where he knew that the most valiant warriors were. ¹⁷And the men of the city came out and fought Joab, and some of the company of David's servants fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died. ¹⁸And Joab sent word and reported all the events of the war to David. ¹⁹And he commanded the messenger as follows: “When you have finished telling the king all the events of the war, ²⁰and if it should come to pass that the king's anger is aroused, and he says to you, ‘Why did you approach the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? ²¹Who struck Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Didn't a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, and did he not die in Thebez? Why did you approach the wall?’ – then you will say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.’ ” ²²And the messenger departed and arrived and told David everything that Joab had sent him for. ²³And the messenger said to David, “The men prevailed over us and came out against us in the field when we were up against them at the gate entrance. ²⁴And the archers shot at your servant from the wall, and some of the king's servants died, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.” ²⁵Then David said to the messenger, “This is what you will say to Joab: ‘Don't let this matter be hurtful in your eyes, for the sword consumes this way and that way. Intensify your battle against the city and demolish it.’ And bid him strength.” ²⁶And Uriah's wife heard that Uriah her husband had died, and she lamented for her husband. ²⁷And when the period of mourning had passed, David sent for her, and he added her to his household, and she became his wife, and she bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the Lord's sight.

¹Then the Lord sent Nathan to David, and he came to him, and he said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and one poor. ²The rich man had very many sheep and cattle, ³but the poor man didn't have anything except one small lamb which he had bought and reared, and it grew up together with him and with his sons. It ate from his plate and drank from his cup, and it lay in his bosom, and it became like a daughter to him. ⁴And a traveller came to the rich man, but he spared taking anything from his own flock and herd, and preparing it for the guest who had come to him, and he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” ⁵And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who did this is deserving of death. ⁶And he will repay the lamb fourfold, since he did this thing and because he did not show pity.” ⁷Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man. This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from Saul's hand. ⁸And I gave your lord's house and your lord's wives into your bosom, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if you had little of anything, I increased it for you left, right and centre. ⁹Why have you despised the word of the Lord in doing evil in his sight? You have struck Uriah the Hittite down with the sword, and you have taken his wife to be your wife. And you killed him by the sword of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁰So now, the sword will not depart from your house age-abidingly, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ ¹¹This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to stir up evil against you from your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes, and I will give them to your neighbour, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. ¹²For you acted in secret, but I will do this thing in the presence of all Israel and in the presence of the sun.’ ” ¹³Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “However, the Lord has transferred your sin; you will not die for it, ¹⁴except that because you have thoroughly mocked the Lord in this matter, the son born to you will certainly die.” ¹⁵Then Nathan went to his house, and the Lord struck the child whom Uriah's wife had borne to David, and he became ill. ¹⁶And David pleaded with God about the boy, and David fasted, then he went indoors and spent the night lying on the ground. ¹⁷And the elders of his house got up and went to him to lift him up from the ground, but he was not willing, and he did not eat bread with them. ¹⁸Then it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died, but David's servants were afraid to tell him that the child had died, because they said, “Look, when the child was alive, we spoke to him, but he did not heed us, so how can we say to him, ‘The child has died’? He would then do something wrong.” ¹⁹But David saw that his servants were whispering to each other, and David realized that the child had died, and David asked his servants, “Has the child died?” And they said, “He has died.” ²⁰Then David arose from the ground and washed and anointed himself, and he changed his robe, and he went to the house of the Lord and worshipped. Then he went to his house and asked for bread, and they served it to him, and he ate. ²¹And his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but when the child died, you got up and ate bread.” ²²And he said, “When the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will have compassion on me, and the child will live?’ ²³But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” ²⁴And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and he went to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called him Solomon. And the Lord loved him. ²⁵And David sent word through the intermediacy of Nathan the prophet, and he called him Jedidiah, because of the Lord. ²⁶And Joab fought in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and he captured the royal city. ²⁷And Joab sent messengers to David, and he said, “I have fought in Rabbah, and moreover I have captured the City of Water. ²⁸So now, gather the rest of the people and encamp against the city and capture it, so that it is not me who captures the city and it becomes called after my name.” ²⁹And David gathered all the people, and he went to Rabbah, and he fought against it, and he captured it. ³⁰And he took their king's crown from his head, and its weight was a talent of gold with a precious gemstone, and it was placed on David's head. He also brought out a great deal of the city's spoil, ³¹and he brought out the people who were in it, and he assigned them to work with the saw, and with iron threshing boards and with iron axes, and he moved them to a brickworks. And he did likewise to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

¹And it came to pass after that, that Absalom, David's son, had a beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar, and Amnon, David's son, loved her. ²And Amnon was stressed to the point of making himself ill on account of Tamar his sister, for she was a virgin, but it seemed difficult in Amnon's sight to do anything with her. ³But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab the son of Shimah, David's brother, and Jonadab was a very clever man. ⁴And he said to him, “Why are you so dejected, O son of the king, every morning? Will you not tell me?” And Amnon said to him, “I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.” ⁵Then Jehonadab said to him, “Lie on your bed and pretend to be ill, and when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Could Tamar my sister come and give me bread to eat and prepare the food in my sight, so that I may see it and eat from her hand.’ ” ⁶So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill, and the king came to see him, and Amnon said to the king, “Could Tamar my sister come in and make two pancakes before my eyes, and I will eat from her hand.” ⁷So David sent servants to Tamar's home who said, “Please go to the home of Amnon your brother and make him a meal.” ⁸So Tamar went to the home of Amnon her brother, and he was laid up, and she took the dough and kneaded it, and she made pancakes in his presence and cooked the pancakes. ⁹And she took the frying pan, and she poured them out in his presence, but he refused to eat, and Amnon said, “Send every man away from me.” So every man went out away from him. ¹⁰Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the room, and I will eat from your hand.” So Tamar took the pancakes which she had made and brought them to Amnon her brother in the room. ¹¹But when she served them for him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, “Come and lie with me, my sister.” ¹²But she said to him, “No, my brother, do not violate me, for such a thing is not done in Israel. Do not do this dishonourable thing. ¹³For where would I rid myself of my shame? And you would be like one of the dishonoured in Israel. So now, please, speak to the king, for he will not hold me back from you.” ¹⁴But he would not heed her, and he was stronger than her, and he violated her and lay with her. ¹⁵Then Amnon hated her with a very great hatred, for his hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her, and Amnon said to her, “Get up and go.” ¹⁶And she said to him, “There is no reason to do this wicked thing, in sending me away, which is greater than the other thing which you did to me.” But he would not listen to her. ¹⁷And he called for his servant-lad, who served him, and he said, “Send this woman away from me, outside, and bolt the door after her.” ¹⁸Now she was wearing a long striped tunic, for that was the kind of robe which the king's virgin daughters wore. And his servant took her outside and bolted the door after her. ¹⁹And Tamar took ash and put it on her head, and she tore the long striped tunic which she was wearing, and she put her hand on her head, and she went around wailing. ²⁰And Absalom her brother asked her, “Has Aminon your brother been with you? Well now, my sister, keep quiet about it; he is your brother. Do not take this matter to heart.” But Tamar remained devastated in the house of Absalom her brother. ²¹And King David heard all these things, and it greatly infuriated him. ²²And Absalom did not speak with Amnon on bad or good terms, because Absalom hated Amnon, because of the fact that he had violated Tamar his sister. ²³Then it came to pass after two full years, when they were shearing for Absalom in Baal-Hazor, which is Ephraim's, that Absalom invited all the king's sons round. ²⁴And Absalom went to the king and said, “Look now, they are shearing for your servant. Please let the king and his servants come along with your servant.” ²⁵But the king said to Absalom, “No, my son, let's not all go, so that we are not burdensome to you.” Then Absalom pressed him. However, the king was not willing to go, but he blessed him. ²⁶And Absalom said, “Not you then. But do let Amnon my brother go with us.” But the king said to him, “Why should he go with you?” ²⁷But Absalom pressed him, and he let Amnon go with him, and all the king's sons. ²⁸And Absalom commanded his servant-lads and said, “Now watch for when Amnon is light-hearted with wine, and when I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon’, you will kill him. Do not be afraid; have I not commanded you? Be strong and be bold.” ²⁹And Absalom's servant-lads did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and each rode on his mule, and they fled. ³⁰And it came to pass, while they were on the road, that the rumour came to David as follows: “Absalom has struck down all the king's sons, and not one of them remains.” ³¹And the king arose and tore his clothes and lay on the ground, and all his servants stood with torn clothes. ³²But Jonadab, the son of Shimah David's brother, reacted and said, “Don't let my lord say that they have killed all the lads who are the king's sons, for only Amnon is dead, for this was plotted by Absalom from the day when Amnon violated Tamar his sister. ³³So now, don't let my lord the king take anything to heart, saying, ‘All the king's sons have died’, for only Amnon is dead.” ³⁴And Absalom fled, and the young lad who kept watch lifted up his eyes and saw that there was a large number of people following him on the road at the side of the mountain. ³⁵And Jonadab said to the king, “Look, the king's sons have come. It is according to your servant's word.” ³⁶And it came to pass, when he had finished speaking, that indeed the king's sons came, and they raised their voices and wept, and the king and all his servants also wept very profusely. ³⁷And Absalom fled and went to Talmai the son of Ammihud king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son every day. ³⁸So Absalom fled and went to Geshur, and he was there for three years. ³⁹And David the king's whole being resolved to go out to Absalom, because he had been consoled about Amnon, for he was dead.

¹And Joab the son of Zeruiah became aware that the king's heart was against Absalom. ²And Joab sent messengers to Tekoa, and he brought a wise woman from there, and he said to her, “Pretend to mourn, would you, and dress in mourning clothes, and do not anoint yourself with oil, so that you are like a woman who has been mourning for one deceased for many days now. ³And go to the king and speak to him with these words ...” And Joab put the words in her mouth. ⁴And the Tekoan woman spoke to the king, and she fell face down to the ground, and she prostrated herself, and she said, “O king, help.” ⁵And the king said to her, “What is the matter?” And she said, “I am truly a widow and my husband has died. ⁶And your maidservant had two sons, and the two of them argued in the field, and there was no-one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him. ⁷And look what happened: the whole family rose up against your maidservant and said, ‘Give us the one who struck his brother down, so we can put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed, and we will also destroy the heir.’ And so they would extinguish the burning coal which remains to me, so not establishing a name or a remnant to my husband on the face of the earth.” ⁸Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will issue commands concerning you.” ⁹Then the Tekoan woman said to the king, “O my lord the king, let the iniquity be on me and my father's house, and let the king and his throne be guiltless.” ¹⁰And the king said, “If anyone speaks to you, then have him brought to me, and he shall no longer unsettle you.” ¹¹And she said, “Do let the king remember the Lord your God by not giving free rein to the avenger of blood to destroy, so that they do not destroy my son.” And he said, “As the Lord lives, not a hair of your son will fall to the ground.” ¹²And the woman said, “Do let your maidservant speak a word to my lord the king.” And he said, “Speak.” ¹³And the woman said, “Now why did you scheme like this against the people of God, and with the king not speaking on this matter he is guilty, in that the king has not brought his banished son back. ¹⁴For we will certainly die, and we are like water being poured onto the ground, which cannot be gathered up, and God is not partial, but he designs ways by which he who is banished is not banished from him. ¹⁵But now that I have come to speak these words to my lord the king – for the people frighten me – your maidservant said to herself, ‘Let me then speak to the king; perhaps the king will act on the case of his maidservant. ¹⁶For the king will hear me, so delivering his maidservant from the hand of the man intent on eliminating me and my son together from an inheritance from God.’ ¹⁷Then your maidservant said, ‘Let the words of my lord the king be settled, for my lord the king is like an angel of God in assessing good and evil.’ And may the Lord your God be with you.” ¹⁸Then the king answered and said to the woman, “Please do not conceal anything from me which I am asking you about.” And the woman said, “Let my lord the king speak.” ¹⁹And the king said, “Is Joab's hand with you in all this?” And the woman answered and said, “By your own life, my lord the king, no-one can possibly deviate to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king has said, for your servant Joab did command me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your maidservant. ²⁰Your servant Joab did this thing so as to raise the issue in a roundabout way, and my lord is wise as if with the wisdom of an angel of God in knowing everything on earth.” ²¹Then the king said to Joab, “Here you are, I have settled this matter, so go and bring the lad, Absalom, back.” ²²At this Joab fell face down to the ground and prostrated himself, and he blessed the king, and Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favour in your sight, O my lord the king, in that the king has acted on the concern of his servant.” ²³Then Joab arose and went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. ²⁴And the king said, “Let him wend his way to his house, but don't let him see my face.” So Absalom wended his way to his house, but he did not see the king's face. ²⁵Now in all Israel there wasn't a man so highly celebrated for his good looks as Absalom – there was no blemish on him from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head, ²⁶and when he shaved his head – and it was at the end of each year that he would shave it, for it was heavy on him, so he shaved it – he weighed the hair of his head: two hundred shekels according to the king's weight. ²⁷And three sons were born to Absalom, and one daughter whose name was Tamar. She was a woman of beautiful appearance. ²⁸And Absalom resided in Jerusalem for two full years, and he did not see the king's face. ²⁹And Absalom contacted Joab in order that he might send Joab to the king, but he was not willing to come to him. So he contacted him again – a second time – but he was not willing to come. ³⁰So he said to his servants, “Look, there is an estate of Joab's next to mine, where he has barley. Go and set it on fire.” So Absalom's servants set the estate on fire. ³¹At this Joab arose and went to Absalom at his house, and he said to him, “Why have your servants set my estate on fire?” ³²And Absalom said to Joab, “Look, I contacted you and said, ‘Come here and let me send you to the king with the words, «Why have I come from Geshur? It would have been better for me to still be there.» ’ So now, let me see the king's face, and if there is any iniquity in me, let him put me to death.” ³³Then Joab went to the king and told him this. Then the king called for Absalom, and he came to the king, and he prostrated himself to him face down to the ground before the king. And the king kissed Absalom.

¹And it came to pass after that, that Absalom acquired chariots and horses and fifty men who ran before him. ²And Absalom rose early and stood at the side of the road at the gate. And whenever any man who had a dispute was about to go to the king for a verdict, Absalom would call to him and ask, “From which city are you?” And he would reply, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.” ³And Absalom would say to him, “Look, your contentions are right and proper, but you do not have anyone from the king to hear you.” ⁴And Absalom would say, “If only I were appointed a judge in the land! Then everyone who has a dispute or a lawsuit would come to me, and I would do him justice.” ⁵And it would come to pass, when a man approached to prostrate himself to him, that he would stretch out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. ⁶And Absalom acted in this way towards all of Israel that came to the king for judgment, and Absalom stole the heart of the men of Israel. ⁷And it came to pass after forty years that Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to pay my vow in Hebron which I made to the Lord. ⁸For your servant made a vow when I lived in Geshur in Aramaea and said, ‘If the Lord decidedly brings me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord.’ ” ⁹And the king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he arose and went to Hebron. ¹⁰Then Absalom sent spies among all the tribes of Israel and said, “When you hear the sound of the ramshorn, you will say, ‘Absalom reigns in Hebron.’ ” ¹¹And with Absalom went two hundred men from Jerusalem, who were called up, but who went in their naivety, and who didn't know anything. ¹²And Absalom sent Ahithophel the Gilonite, an adviser to David, from his city – from Giloh – while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy was powerful, and the people who were with Absalom became more and more numerous. ¹³Then an informant came to David and said, “The heart of the men of Israel is behind Absalom.” ¹⁴At this David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, “Get up and let us flee, for we won't be left with a survivor in confronting Absalom. Get going quickly or he will quickly catch up with us and bring disaster on us and strike the city with the blade of the sword.” ¹⁵And the king's servants said to the king, “Whatever my lord the king chooses to do, here we are as your servants.” ¹⁶And the king departed, and all his household went in his footsteps, and the king left the ten concubine ladies to keep the house. ¹⁷So the king departed with all the people in his footsteps, and they stopped at a remote house. ¹⁸And all his servants crossed over next to him, as did all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites. Six hundred men who had followed in his footsteps from Gath crossed over alongside the king. ¹⁹And the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why are you too going with us? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner and an exile from your place. ²⁰You arrived yesterday, so should I cause you to wander around today in going with us? For I am going wherever I may go. Go back and take your brothers back. May kindness and truth be with you.” ²¹But Ittai answered the king and said, “As the Lord lives and by the life of my lord the king, wherever my lord the king may be – whether in death or in life – there your servant will certainly be.” ²²But David said to Ittai, “Go and cross back over.” So Ittai the Gittite crossed back over, with all his men and all the children who were with him. ²³And the whole land wept with a loud voice, and all the people crossed over, and the king crossed over at the Kidron Brook, and all the people crossed over along the road through the desert. ²⁴And there were also Zadok and all the Levites with him, carrying the ark of the covenant of God, and they put the ark of God down, and Abiathar offered burnt offerings, until all the people from the city had finished crossing over. ²⁵And the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back to the city. If I find grace in the Lord's eyes, he will bring me back and show me it and his dwelling place. ²⁶But if he says this: ‘I do not take pleasure in you’, then here I am; let him do to me whatever is right in his sight.” ²⁷And the king said to Zadok the priest, “Are you a seer? Go back to the city in peace with Ahimaaz your son and Jonathan Abiathar's son – your two sons with you. ²⁸Look, I will wait at the crossings in the desert until word comes from you to inform me.” ²⁹So Zadok and Abiathar brought the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and they stayed there. ³⁰And David went up by the ascent of the Olives, weeping as he went up, with his head covered, and he went barefoot. And of all the people who were with him, each one covered his head, and they went up weeping as they did so. ³¹Then David received a report which said, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” And David said, “O Lord, please frustrate Ahithophel's plan.” ³²Then when David was going to the summit where he worshipped God, it so happened that Hushai the Archite came towards him with his tunic torn and soil on his head. ³³And David said to him, “If you come over with me, you will be a burden to me. ³⁴But if you go back to the city and say to Absalom, ‘O king, I will be your servant; I was your father's servant, and as I was then, so now I am your servant’, then you will frustrate Ahithophel's plan for me. ³⁵For will not Zadok and Abiathar the priests be there with you? And it will come to pass that you will tell Zadok and Abiathar the priests everything you hear from the king's house. ³⁶Moreover their two sons are there with them – Ahimaaz Zadok's and Jonathan Abiathar's – and you will send word to me through their intermediacy of everything you hear.” ³⁷So Hushai David's friend went to the city, and Absalom arrived in Jerusalem.

¹Then when David had moved on a little from the summit, he saw Ziba, Mephibosheth's servant-lad coming towards him, and a pair of donkeys pack-saddled with two hundred loaves of bread on them and one hundred cakes of raisins and one hundred summer fruits and a skin-bottle of wine. ²And the king said to Ziba, “What are these things of yours?” And Ziba said, “The donkeys are for the king's household to ride on, and the bread, and the summer fruits are for the lads to eat, and the wine is for anyone weary in the desert to drink.” ³Then the king said, “And where is your master's son?” And Ziba said to the king, “Well now, he is staying in Jerusalem, for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will restore my father's kingdom to me.’ ” ⁴And the king said to Ziba, “Look, everything which was Mephibosheth's is yours.” And Ziba said, “I am humbled in that I find grace in your sight, my lord the king.” ⁵Then when King David was approaching Bahurim, he saw a man of the family of the house of Saul coming out from there, whose name was Shimei the son of Gera, cursing incessantly as he came out. ⁶And he threw stones at David and all King David's servants, and at all the people, and at all the warriors, to the right and to the left. ⁷And this is what Shimei said in his cursing: “Come out, come out, you man of blood and useless man. ⁸The Lord has requited you all the blood of the house of Saul in whose place you have reigned, but the Lord has put the kingdom in the house of Absalom your son, and here you are in your plight, because you are a man of blood.” ⁹At this Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please let me go over and remove his head.” ¹⁰But the king said, “What does it matter to me and to you, you sons of Zeruiah, if he curses and if the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David’? So who can say, ‘Why have you done this?’?” ¹¹And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Look, my son who came out of my inward parts is seeking my life. So now, how much more may this Benjaminite? Leave him to curse, for so the Lord has said to him. ¹²It may be that the Lord will look with his eye, and that the Lord will render me good for that man's cursing this day.” ¹³And David and his men went on their way, while Shimei went on the mountain flank opposite him, cursing as he went and throwing stones at him, and throwing soil. ¹⁴And the king and all the people who were with him arrived tired, and he refreshed himself there. ¹⁵And Absalom and all the people – men of Israel – arrived in Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with him. ¹⁶And it came to pass when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, went to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom, “May the king live, may the king live.” ¹⁷And Absalom said to Hushai, “That is your gracious courtesy with your friend. Why have you not gone with your friend?” ¹⁸And Hushai said to Absalom, “No, for my loyalty is to whomever the Lord chooses, and this people, and every man of Israel. I will be for him, and I will stay with him. ¹⁹And secondly, whom should I serve? Should it not be in the presence of his son? As I have served in the presence of your father, so I will be in your presence.” ²⁰Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give your advice as to what we should do.” ²¹And Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father's concubines whom he has left to keep the house, and all Israel will hear that you have become abhorrent to your father, and the hands of all those who are with you will be strengthened.” ²²Then they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and Absalom went in to his father's concubines in the sight of the whole of Israel. ²³And Ahithophel's advice which he gave in those days was as when a man asks for the word of God. So was all Ahithophel's advice, both to David and to Absalom.

¹And Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me select twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. ²And I will come upon him when he is tired and weak in the hands, and I will frighten him, and all the people who are with him will flee. But I will strike the king only. ³And I will cause all the people to return to you. The man whose life you seek is key to everyone returning. All the people will be at peace.” ⁴And the proposal was sound in Absalom's eyes and the eyes of all the elders of Israel. ⁵Then Absalom said, “Please also call Hushai the Archite, and let us hear what he has to say as well.” ⁶And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom spoke to him and said, “Ahithophel put this proposal forward. Should we carry out his proposal? If not, you speak up.” ⁷At this, Hushai said to Absalom, “The advice which Ahithophel gave is not good on this occasion.” ⁸And Hushai said, “You know your father and his men – how valiant they are, and how embittered they are in spirit, like a bear bereaved of young in the wild, and your father is a man of war, and he will not pass the night with the people. ⁹Look, he is now hidden in one of the pits or in one of the hiding places, and it would come to pass, when some of those among them fell at the start, that one hearing it would say, ‘There was a massacre among the people who were following Absalom.’ ¹⁰And even he who is a soldier, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, would utterly melt, for all Israel knows that your father is valiant, as are the soldiers who are with him. ¹¹So I advise that all Israel be solidly gathered around you, from Dan to Beersheba, like the sand which is by the sea in abundance, and that you go to battle in person. ¹²And we will come upon him in one of the places where he is found, and we will descend on him as the dew falls on the ground, and not even one of all the men who are with him will remain. ¹³And if he is concentrated in a city, then all Israel will bring ropes against that city, and we will drag it to the brook until not so much as a grain is found there.” ¹⁴At this Absalom and every man of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel.” So the Lord ordained to frustrate the good advice of Ahithophel in order that the Lord should bring demise on Absalom. ¹⁵And Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, “Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel such and such, and I myself advised such and such. ¹⁶So now, send word quickly for them to tell David and say, ‘Do not spend the night tonight in the arid tracts of the desert, but rather cross right over so that the king and all the people who are with him are not swallowed up.’ ” ¹⁷Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were stationed in En-Rogel, and a servant-girl came and told them, and they proceeded to tell King David, because the others could not be seen going to the city. ¹⁸But a lad saw them, and he told Absalom, so the two of them went on quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard, and they went down into it. ¹⁹And the woman took and spread a cover over the top of the well, and she strewed crushed grain over it, and nothing was made known. ²⁰And when Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house, they said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” And the woman said to them, “They have crossed the brook.” Then they searched, but they did not find anyone, and they returned to Jerusalem. ²¹And it came to pass, after they were gone, that they came up out of the well, and they departed and reported to King David, and they said to David, “Get up and cross the water quickly, for Ahithophel gave advice against you in such and such a way.” ²²So David got up, as did all the people with him, and they crossed the Jordan. By morning light not as much as one had failed to cross the Jordan. ²³Then when Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been carried out, he saddled his donkey and arose and went to his house – to his city – and gave instructions to his household, and he strangled himself and died, and he was buried in his father's grave. ²⁴Then David went to Mahanaim, and Absalom crossed the Jordan – he and every man of Israel with him. ²⁵And Absalom appointed Amasa in charge of the army as Joab's counterpart. Now Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Ithra, the Israelite who went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, the sister of Zeruiah, the mother of Joab. ²⁶And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead. ²⁷And it came to pass when David arrived in Mahanaim that Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo-Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, ²⁸all brought bedding and trays and crockery and wheat and barley and flour and roasted corn and beans and lentils and roasted lentils, ²⁹and honey and buttermilk, and sheep, and cows' cheese, to David and the people who were with him, for sustenance, for they had said, “The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the desert.”

¹And David took stock of the people who were with him, and he appointed commanders of a thousand and commanders of a hundred over them. ²And David sent out one third of the people under Joab's charge, and one third under the charge of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and one third under the charge of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the people, “I too will certainly go out with you.” ³But the people said, “You will not go out, for if we have to flee, they will not pay attention to us, and if half of us die, they will not pay attention to us, but you are now like ten thousand of us, and you are better placed now if you are available to us to help from the city.” ⁴And the king said to them, “I will do whatever is right in your eyes.” And the king stood next to the gate, while all the people went out in hundreds and in thousands. ⁵And the king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai and said, “Deal gently with the young man Absalom for me.” And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders about Absalom. ⁶And the people went out into the country to confront Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim. ⁷And the people of Israel were defeated there by David's servants, and there was a great massacre on that day – twenty thousand dead. ⁸And the battle there was spread out over the face of all the land, and the forest consumed the people in greater numbers than the sword consumed on that day. ⁹And Absalom happened to be confronted by David's servants, and Absalom was riding on a mule, and the mule went under a thicket of large terebinth trees, and his head became stuck in a terebinth tree, and he was lodged between the sky and the ground, while the mule which was under him passed on. ¹⁰And a certain man saw him, and he told Joab, and he said, “Look, I have seen Absalom hanging in a terebinth tree.” ¹¹And Joab said to the man who told him, “Well, if you saw him, then why did you not strike him down on the spot to the ground? And I would have been obliged to give you ten pieces of silver and a girdle.” ¹²Then the man said to Joab, “Even if I were to feel the weight of one thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I would not stretch out my hand against the king's son, because the king gave commandment, with us hearing, to you and Abishai and Ittai, when he said, ‘Be on your guard – let no-one harm the lad Absalom.’ ¹³Otherwise, I would have committed a dishonesty against his very self, and nothing can be concealed from the king, and you would have taken a stand against me.” ¹⁴Then Joab said, “I can't wait around with you like this”, and he took three spears in his hand, and he drove them into Absalom's heart while he was still alive in the heart of the terebinth tree. ¹⁵And the ten youths who bore Joab's equipment surrounded Absalom and struck him and killed him. ¹⁶Then Joab sounded the ramshorn, and the people stopped pursuing Israel, for Joab spared the people. ¹⁷And they took Absalom and threw him in a large pit in the forest, and they erected a very large pile of stones over him, and all Israel fled, each to his tent. ¹⁸For in his life Absalom had taken and erected for himself the pillar which is in the King's Valley, for he said, “I do not have a son to remember my name.” And he called the pillar after his name, and it is called the Memorial of Absalom up to this day. ¹⁹Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me run and bring the good news to the king, for the Lord has done him justice by delivering him from the hand of his enemy.” ²⁰But Joab said to him, “You will not be a bringer of good news today, but you will bring the good news another day. So today you will not bring good news, because the king's son is dead.” ²¹Then Joab said to Cushi, “Go and tell the king what you have seen.” And Cushi prostrated himself to Joab and ran. ²²Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok spoke again to Joab and said, “However it may be, do let me run as well after Cushi.” And Joab said, “Why should you run, my son, when you will have no good news coming in?” ²³He replied, “However it may be, I will certainly run.” And he said to him, “Run.” Then Ahimaaz ran by the route of the adjacent tract, and he overtook Cushi. ²⁴Now David was sitting between the two gates when the look-out went onto the gate roof above the wall, and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and what he saw was a man running on his own. ²⁵And the look-out called out and told the king. And the king said, “If he is on his own, there will be good news in his mouth.” And he came nearer and nearer. ²⁶Then the look-out saw another man running, and the look-out called to the gatekeeper and said, “There is another man running on his own.” And the king said, “He too is bringing good news.” ²⁷Then the look-out said, “I make out the gait of the first one to be the gait of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.” And the king said, “He is a good man, and he will come with good news.” ²⁸And Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, “Peace”, and he prostrated himself to the king with his face to the ground. And he said, “Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king.” ²⁹At this the king asked, “Is the lad Absalom all right?” And Ahimaaz said, “When Joab was on the point of sending the king's servant and your servant, I saw a great commotion, but I did not know what it was.” ³⁰Then the king said, “Stand aside here.” So he stood aside. ³¹And it was then that Cushi came, and Cushi said, “Let my lord the king receive good tidings, for the Lord has done you justice today delivering you from the hand of all those who rose up against you.” ³²Then the king said to Cushi, “How is the lad Absalom?” And Cushi said, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all those who rise up against you to do harm, be as the lad is.” ³³And the king was upset, and he went up into the attic room of the gate and wept. And this is what he said as he walked around: “My son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you! Absalom my son, my son.”

¹And it was reported to Joab as follows: “Look, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.” ²So the victory on that day became mourning to all the people, for the people heard what was said on that day: “The king is grieved about his son.” ³And on that day the people were stealthy in coming to the city, as a people who are put to shame are stealthy when they flee in battle. ⁴And the king covered his face, and the king would cry out in a loud voice, “My son Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son!” ⁵Then Joab came to the king at home and said, “You have put shame on the faces of all your servants today, who saved your life today, and the lives of your sons and your daughters, and the lives of your wives and the lives of your concubines, ⁶through love for those who hate you, and by hating those who love you, for you declared today that your commanders and servants mean nothing to you. For I learnt today that if Absalom had lived, and we had all died today, then that would have been all right in your sight. ⁷So now, arise and go out, and speak encouragingly to your servants, for I swear by the Lord that if you do not go out, not a single man will pass the night in association with you tonight. And that would be worse for you than all the evil which has come on you from your youth up to now.” ⁸So the king arose and sat at the gate, and they reported it to all the people and said, “Look, the king is sitting at the gate.” And all the people came before the king, but Israel had fled – each man to his tent. ⁹And all the people were at strife among all the tribes of Israel, saying, “The king saved us from the hand of our enemies, and he delivered us from the hand of the Philistines, but now he has fled from the land away from Absalom. ¹⁰But Absalom whom we anointed over us has died in battle, so now, why are you silent about bringing the king back?” ¹¹Then King David sent word to Zadok and Abiathar the priests as follows: “Ask the elders of Judah this, ‘Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house, whereas the talk of all Israel has come to the king – to his house? ¹²You are my brothers – you are my bone and my flesh, so why are you the last to bring the king back?’ ¹³And to Amasa you will say, ‘Aren't you my bone and my flesh? May God do this to me and add more if you are not the commander of the army before me all the time instead of Joab.’ ” ¹⁴And he turned the heart of every man of Judah unanimously, and they sent word to the king, “Come back, you and all your servants.” ¹⁵So the king came back, and when he had come as far as the Jordan, Judah went to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to conduct the king over the Jordan. ¹⁶And Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjaminite, who was from Bahurim, quickly went down with the men of Judah to meet King David. ¹⁷And a thousand Benjaminite men were with him, as was Ziba, the servant-lad of Saul's household, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him, and they proceeded across the Jordan before the king. ¹⁸And a ferry crossed over to take the king's household across, and to do what was right in his sight. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king when he crossed the Jordan. ¹⁹And he said to the king, “My lord, do not impute iniquity to me, and do not recollect how your servant acted iniquitously on the day when my lord the king departed from Jerusalem, with the king taking it to heart. ²⁰For your servant knows that I have sinned, but look, I have been the first to come of the whole house of Joseph, in coming down to meet my lord the king.” ²¹But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, “Will Shimei not be put to death for this, for he cursed the Lord's anointed?” ²²However, David said, “What concern is it to me or to you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should be an adversary of mine today? Will any man in Israel be put to death today? For am I not aware that today I am king over Israel?” ²³Then the king said to Shimei, “You will not die.” And the king swore it to him. ²⁴Then Mephibosheth, Saul's son, went down to meet the king, not having attended to his feet, and not having attended to his beard, and not having washed his clothes from the day the king departed until the day when he came back in peace. ²⁵And it came to pass, when he went to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?” ²⁶And he answered, “My lord the king, my servant dealt treacherously with me. So your servant said, ‘I will saddle the donkey for myself, and I will ride on it, and I will go with the king’, for your servant is lame. ²⁷And he went around slandering your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like an angel of God, so do what is right in your sight. ²⁸For all my father's household was nothing but men deserving death before my lord the king, but you placed your servant among the diners at your table, so what more do I have by way of justification or in crying out any more to the king?” ²⁹Then the king said to him, “Why are you still talking about your affairs? I have said, ‘You and Ziba share the estate.’ ” ³⁰Then Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him even take it all, now that my lord the king has come to his house in peace.” ³¹Now Barzillai the Gileadite was one who had gone down from Rogelim and crossed the Jordan with the king, so as to escort him across the Jordan. ³²And Barzillai was very old – eighty years old – and he had sustained the king during his stay in Mahanaim, for he was a very great man. ³³And the king had said to Barzillai, “You cross over with me, and I will sustain you with me in Jerusalem.” ³⁴But Barzillai said to the king, “How many are the days of the years of my life? For am I to go up with the king to Jerusalem? ³⁵I am eighty years old today. Can I distinguish between what is good and bad? Or can your servant taste what I eat and what I drink? Or can I still hear the sound of men singing and women singing? So why should your servant be any further burden to my lord the king? ³⁶Let your servant cross over the Jordan with the king for a short distance, but why should the king recompense me with this recompense? ³⁷Do let your servant return so that I die in my city with the grave of my father and my mother. And look, here is your servant Chimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him what is right in your sight.” ³⁸Then the king said, “Chimham will cross over with me, and I will do what is right in your sight for him, and I will do for you whatever you request of me.” ³⁹So all the people crossed the Jordan, and the king crossed over, and the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him. Then Barzillai returned to his place. ⁴⁰And the king crossed over to Gilgal, and Chimham crossed over with him, and all the people of Judah conducted the king across, as did half the people of Israel also. ⁴¹And it so happened that all the men of Israel came to the king, and they said to the king, “Why have our brothers – the men of Judah – stolen you and conducted the king and his household over the Jordan, and all David's men with him?” ⁴²And every man of Judah would answer the Israelite and say, “The king is closely related to me, so why should this matter anger you? Have we in any way eaten at the king's expense, or has he favoured us in any way?” ⁴³And the Israelite would answer the man of Judah and say, “I constitute ten of the king's limbs, and so I am more associated with David than you are, so why did you despise me? And wasn't it my first concern to bring my king back?” So the words of the man of Judah were harder than the words of the Israelite.

¹And there happened to be a good-for-nothing man there, whose name was Sheba the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite, and he blew the ramshorn, and he said,

“We have no part in David,

And we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse.

Each man to his tent, O Israel!”

²And every Israelite went up after Sheba the son of Bichri, turning away from David. But each man of Judah clung to his king, from the Jordan to Jerusalem. ³And David arrived at his house in Jerusalem, and the king took the ten concubine women whom he had left to keep the house, and he put them in a guarded house and sustained them, but he did not go in to them, and they were confined until the day of their death, in lifelong widowhood. ⁴And the king said to Amasa, “Call up the men of Judah for me, within three days, then you present yourself here.” ⁵So Amasa went to call Judah up, but he took longer than the time that David had appointed him. ⁶Then David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. You take your lord's servants and pursue him so that he does not find fortified cities for himself and elude us.” ⁷So Joab's men and the Cherethites and the Pelethites and all the valiant warriors went out after him, and they departed from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. ⁸They were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, and Amasa went in front of them. And Joab was girded up; his clothing was his livery, and on him was a girdle for a sword, fastened at his waist in its sheath. But as he went forwards, the sword fell out. ⁹And Joab said to Amasa, “How are you, my brother?” And Joab's right hand took hold of Amasa's beard, so as to kiss him. ¹⁰But Amasa did not advert to the sword which was in Joab's hand, and he struck him with it in the abdomen, and he spilt his innards onto the ground. And Joab did not repeat the strike on him, and he died. Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri. ¹¹And one of Joab's servant-lads was standing in his vicinity, and he said, “Whoever is content with Joab and whoever is for David, follow Joab!” ¹²Then while Amasa was rolling in blood in the middle of the road, the man saw that all the people were stopping, so he moved Amasa from the road to the field, and he threw a garment over him when he saw that everyone coming to him was stopping. ¹³When he had removed him from the road, every man passed by, following Joab, to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. ¹⁴And he passed through all the tribes of Israel, to Abel and Beth-Maachah, and all the Berites. And they were assembled, and they went after him all the more keenly. ¹⁵And when they arrived and besieged Sheba in Abel in Beth-Maachah, they raised up a rampart against the city, and it stood against the fortification, and all the people who were with Joab worked on breaking up the wall to bring it down. ¹⁶Then a wise woman called out from the city, “Listen, listen. Please say to Joab, ‘Come up here, and I will speak to you.’ ” ¹⁷And he came up to her, and the woman asked, “Are you Joab?” And he said, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your maidservant.” And he said, “I am listening.” ¹⁸And she spoke and said, “They used to have a saying in the past, and they said, ‘They will set store on asking in Abel’, and that is how they concluded the matter. ¹⁹I am one of those of Israel who are peaceable and faithful. You are attempting to massacre a city – and a metropolis – in Israel. Why should you swallow up the Lord's inheritance?” ²⁰And Joab answered and said, “Far, far be it from me that I should swallow it up or that I should destroy it. ²¹The matter is not like that, but a man from Mount Ephraim – Sheba the son of Bichri is his name – has set himself against the king – against David. Hand just him over, and I will depart from the city.” And the woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head is to be thrown over the wall to you.” ²²Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom, and they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. And he sounded the ramshorn, and they dispersed from the city – each to his tent – and Joab returned to Jerusalem, to the king. ²³And Joab was in charge of the whole army of Israel, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in charge of the Cherethites and of the Pelethites. ²⁴And Adoram was in charge of the taxes, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the secretary of state. ²⁵And Sheva was the scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests. ²⁶And also Ira the Jairite was a priest of David's.

¹Then there was a famine in David's days for three years, year after year, and David appealed to the Lord. And the Lord said, “It is on account of Saul and on account of the house of blood, because he killed the Gibeonites.” ²So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not the sons of Israel, but the remainder of the Amorites, and the sons of Israel had sworn peace to them, but Saul had tried to strike them down in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah. ³And David asked the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you, and by what means can I make atonement so that you bless the Lord's inheritance?” ⁴Then the Gibeonites said to him, “I do not have a demand for silver or gold with Saul or with his house, nor do we have a demand to kill any man in Israel.” And he said, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.” ⁵And they said to the king, “The man who was exterminating us and who schemed against us, that we should be destroyed, so as not to have a place in any of the territory of Israel – ⁶let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will impale them to the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, the Lord's chosen one.” And the king said, “I will give you them.” ⁷But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, on account of the Lord's oath which was between them – between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. ⁸So the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of the sister of Michal, Saul's daughter, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. ⁹And he handed them over to the Gibeonites, and they impaled them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them fell together, and they were put to death in the days of the harvest, at its start, at the beginning of the barley harvest. ¹⁰And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took some sackcloth and spread it out for herself at the rock at the beginning of the harvest, until water from the sky flowed over them, and she did not let the birds of the sky rest on them by day, or the wild animals by night. ¹¹And it was reported to David – what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, Saul's concubine did. ¹²And David went to get Saul's bones and the bones of Jonathan his son from the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead, who had stolen them from the square of Beth-Shan, where the Philistines had hanged them on the day when the Philistines struck Saul down in Gilboa. ¹³And he brought Saul's bones up from there, and the bones of Jonathan his son, and they gathered the bones of those who were impaled. ¹⁴And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in Benjamin's land, in Zela, in the grave of Kish his father. And they did everything that the king commanded. And God was prevailed on for the land after that. ¹⁵Then the Philistines had another war with Israel, and David went down, as did his servants with him, and he fought the Philistines, and David became fatigued. ¹⁶And Ishbo-Benob, who was among the offspring of Rapha, the weight of whose spear was three hundred copper weights, and who was newly girded up, stated his intention to strike David. ¹⁷But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and he struck the Philistine and killed him. Then David's men swore to him and said, “You shall no longer come out with us to battle, so that you do not snuff out Israel's lamp.” ¹⁸And it came to pass after this, that there was another war in Gob with the Philistines, when Sibbechai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was among the offspring of Rapha. ¹⁹Then there was another war in Gob with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-Oregim, a Bethlehemite, struck the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. ²⁰And there was another war in Gath, and there was a man of great stature, the fingers of whose hands and the toes of whose feet were six apiece – twenty-four in number – and he too had been born to Rapha. ²¹And when he showed contempt for Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimah, David's brother, struck him down. ²²These four were born to Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hand of David and at the hand of his servants.

¹And David spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from Saul's hand. ²And he said,

“The Lord is my rock and my fortress,

And my deliverer,

³The God of my rock;

I will put my trust in him

– My shield and the horn of my salvation,

My high stronghold and my refuge,

My saviour.

You save me from violence.

⁴I will call on the praiseworthy Lord,

And I will be saved from my enemies.

⁵For the breaker-waves of death surrounded me,

And the onslaughts of the reprobate alarmed me,

⁶The tightening grip of the grave encompassed me;

Deadly snares confronted me.

⁷When I was in a strait,

I called on the Lord,

And I called to my God,

And he heard my voice from his temple,

And my cry reached his ears.

⁸And the earth shook and trembled;

The foundations of heaven quaked and shook,

Because he was furious.

⁹Smoke went up in his nostrils,

And fire from his mouth came devouring;

Coals were kindled by him.

¹⁰And he stretched out the heavens and descended,

And thick darkness was under his feet.

¹¹And he rode on a cherub and flew

And was seen on the wings of the wind.

¹²And he set darkness around him as canopies;

There were accumulations of water

And thick clouds of the upper skies.

¹³At the brightness ahead of him

Were fiery coals blazing away.

¹⁴The Lord thunders from heaven,

And the Most High sounds his voice.

¹⁵And he sent his arrows,

And he scattered them,

And lightning,

And he routed them.

¹⁶Then channels of the sea appeared;

The foundations of the world were revealed

At the Lord's rebuke

– At the blast of the wind from his nostrils.

¹⁷He sent help from on high,

And he took hold of me;

He drew me out of great waters.

¹⁸He delivered me from my strong enemy

– From those who hate me –

For they were stronger than I was.

¹⁹They confronted me on my day of distress,

But the Lord became a support for me,

²⁰And he brought me out into a wide place;

He delivered me

Because he delighted in me.

²¹The Lord recompensed me

According to my righteousness;

According to the cleanness of my hands

He rewarded me.

²²For I have kept the ways of the Lord,

And I have not committed wickedness against my God.

²³For all his injunctions were before me,

And I did not depart from any of his statutes.

²⁴And I was perfect towards him,

And I kept myself from iniquity.

²⁵And the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness

– According to my cleanness

Before his eyes.

²⁶With the kind, you will act kindly;

With the perfect warrior, you will act in perfection.

²⁷With the pure, you will act in purity,

But with the perverse, you will act in a convoluted way.

²⁸And you will save an afflicted people,

But your eyes are against those who are haughty;

You bring them low.

²⁹For you, O Lord, are my lamp,

And the Lord brightens my darkness.

³⁰For through you, I can run through a battalion;

Through my God I can leap over a wall.

³¹As for God, his way is perfect.

The word of the Lord has been refined.

He is a shield to all who trust in him.

³²For who is God

Apart from the Lord?

And who is a rock

Apart from our God?

³³God is my mighty fortress,

Who directs my perfect way,

³⁴Who makes my feet like those of hinds,

And stands me on my heights;

³⁵Who teaches my hands the skills of war,

So a copper bow can be drawn by my arms.

³⁶And you gave me the shield of your salvation,

Whilst your action makes me great.

³⁷You enlarged my step under me,

And my ankles did not slip.

³⁸I pursued my enemies

And destroyed them,

And I did not return

Until I had made an end of them.

³⁹And I consumed them, and I crushed them,

So that they could not get up,

And they fell under my feet.

⁴⁰And you girded me with valour for war;

You brought down my opponents under me.

⁴¹And you gave me the neck of my enemies

– Those who hate me –

And I cut them down.

⁴²They looked,

But there was no saviour;

They looked to the Lord,

But he did not answer them.

⁴³And I pulverized them like the dust of the ground,

I ground them fine like the filth of the streets;

I trod them under foot.

⁴⁴And you delivered me from the contentions of my people;

You kept me at the head of nations.

A people that I did not know

Will serve me.

⁴⁵Foreigners will feign obedience to me.

At bidding coming to their ears,

They will be obedient to me.

⁴⁶Foreigners will fade away;

They will be wrenched out of their confines.

⁴⁷How the Lord lives,

And my rock is blessed,

And the God of the rock of my salvation is exalted

⁴⁸– The God who gives me vengeance,

And who subjugates various peoples under me,

⁴⁹And who extricates me from my enemies.

You also raise me up above those who rise up against me;

You rescue me from the man of violence.

⁵⁰That is why I will praise you,

O Lord, among the nations,

And I will sing psalms to your name.

⁵¹He magnifies acts of salvation of his king,

Also showing kindness to his anointed

– To David and to his seed,

Age-abidingly.”

Reference(s) in Chapter 22: v.3 ↔ Hebrews 2:13 ● v.32 ↔ Mark 12:32 ● v.50 ↔ Romans 15:9.

¹Now these are the last words of David,

The utterance of David the son of Jesse,

And the utterance of the man raised up high,

The anointed of the God of Jacob,

Which are the pleasantness of the songs of Israel.

²“The spirit of the Lord spoke through me,

And its word was on my tongue.

³The God of Israel said

– The rock of Israel spoke to me –

‘A ruler over men shall be just;

A ruler shall have fear of God.

⁴And he will shine like morning light

When the sun rises,

On a morning without clouds,

At the brilliance after rain

On the grass shooting up out of the ground.’

⁵For is not my house like that with God?

For he has appointed an age-abiding covenant for me,

Ordered in all matters and secure,

For it is all my salvation and all my desire.

For shall he not make it spring up?

⁶But the good-for-nothing is like a thorn bush;

All of them are cast out,

For they are not taken up in a hand.

⁷But if a man touches them,

Let him be furnished with iron

And the shaft of a spear.

And they will be utterly burned up

By the fire on the spot.”

⁸These are the names of David's warriors: Josheb Bashshebeth the Tahchemonite, a head of the third rank – he is Adino the Eznite, famed for the eight hundred who were struck down by him at one time. ⁹And after him came Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite among the three warriors with David when they defied the Philistines who had assembled there for war, when the men of Israel had gone up to battle. ¹⁰He arose and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand stuck to the sword. And the Lord effected a great salvation on that day, and the people came back after him only to collect spoil. ¹¹And after him came Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. And the Philistines assembled into a battalion, and there was a parcel of land there in a field full of lentils, and the people fled from the presence of the Philistines. ¹²But he took his stand in the middle of the parcel of land, and he saved it, and he struck the Philistines, and the Lord brought about a great salvation. ¹³And three of the thirty heads went down and came at harvest time to David at the cave of Adullam, while the battalion of the Philistines encamped in the Valley of the Rephaim. ¹⁴And David was then in the stronghold, whereas the garrison of the Philistines was at that time in Bethlehem. ¹⁵And David had a longing, and he said, “Who will give me a drink of water from the cistern in Bethlehem, which is at the gate?” ¹⁶And the three warriors broke through into the Philistines' camp and drew water from the cistern in Bethlehem, which is at the gate, and they carried it and brought it to David, but he was not willing to drink it, and he poured it out to the Lord. ¹⁷And he said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Is this not the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” So he was not willing to drink it. The three warriors did these things. ¹⁸And Abishai the brother of Joab the son of Zeruiah was the head of the three, and he raised his spear against three hundred who were struck down by him, and he had fame among the three. ¹⁹Was he more honoured than the three? Now he became their commander, but he did not equal the three. ²⁰And there was Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, of many exploits, from Kabzeel. He struck down two men of Ariel of Moab, and he went down and struck a lion inside a pit on a snowy day. ²¹And he struck down an Egyptian man, who was of fine appearance, and in the Egyptian's hand was a spear, and he went down against him with a staff, and he wrenched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his spear. ²²Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did these things, and he had fame among the three warriors. ²³He was more honoured than the thirty, but he was not equal to the three, and David appointed him to his council. ²⁴Asahel the brother of Joab was among the thirty, as were Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, ²⁵Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, ²⁶Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, ²⁷Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, ²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite, Mahrai the Netophathite, ²⁹Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai from Gibeah, of the sons of Benjamin, ³⁰Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash, ³¹Abi-Albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, ³²Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, ³³Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite, ³⁴Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai the son of the Maachathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, ³⁵Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, ³⁶Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, ³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Nahrai the Beerothite, arms-bearers of Joab the son of Zeruiah, ³⁸Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ³⁹Uriah the Hittite – all thirty-seven of them.

¹And the Lord's anger was again kindled against Israel, and he stirred David up against them and said, “Go and count Israel and Judah.” ²And the king said to Joab, the commander of the army, who was with him, “Go and cover the ground of all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people, so that I know the number of the people.” ³But Joab said to the king, “Now may the Lord your God add to the people, some here and some there, a hundred times over, with the eyes of my lord the king observing it. But why does my lord the king delight in this matter?” ⁴But the king's decision was firm towards Joab and towards the commanders of the army, so Joab and the commanders of the army went out before the king to count the people – Israel. ⁵And they crossed the Jordan and encamped at Aroer, to the right of the city, this being in the middle of the ravine of Gad and towards Jazer. ⁶And they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim-Hodshi. Then they came to Dan-Jaan and round towards Sidon. ⁷And they came to the fortification of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites, and they went out towards the south of Judah to Beersheba. ⁸And they went up and down in all the land, and after nine months and twenty days they came to Jerusalem. ⁹And Joab gave the number of the census of the people to the king, and Israel consisted of eight hundred thousand soldiers who drew the sword, and Judah consisted of five hundred thousand men. ¹⁰Then David's heart cut him up after he had counted the people, and David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in that I did this. So now, O Lord, please remit the iniquity of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.” ¹¹And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to Gad the prophet, David's seer, as follows: ¹²“Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: «I have three things to impose on you. Choose one of them, and I will do it to you.» ’ ” ¹³So Gad went to David and told him and said to him, “Shall seven years of famine come in your land, or three months of you fleeing from your adversaries as they pursue you, or should there be three days of pestilence in your land? Now be aware of them and consider what answer I should give to him who sent me.” ¹⁴Then David said to Gad, “I am very much in a strait. Let us, then, fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great, and don't let me fall into the hand of man.” ¹⁵So the Lord caused a pestilence in Israel, from the morning to the appointed time. And from Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand of the people died. ¹⁶But when the angel stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord grieved over the harm, and he said to the angel who was to destroy the people, “Enough now; stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷Then when David saw the angel who struck the people, he spoke to the Lord and said, “I see that I have sinned and that I have been iniquitous, but as for these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, then, be against me and the house of my father.” ¹⁸And Gad came to David on that day, and he said to him, “Go up and set up an altar to the Lord at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹So David went up according to Gad's words, as the Lord had commanded. ²⁰And when Araunah looked out and saw the king and his servants coming across to him, Araunah went out and prostrated himself to the king face down. ²¹And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To purchase the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the Lord, so that the plague on the people stops.” ²²Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever is right in his sight. See the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing boards and equipment to go with the oxen for the wood.” ²³Araunah gave it all to the king – the king – and Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you graciously.” ²⁴Then the king said to Araunah, “No, for I insist on buying it from you for its value, and I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God at no cost.” And David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. ²⁵And David built an altar to the Lord there, and he offered burnt offerings and peace-offerings, and the Lord was prevailed upon for the land, and the plague on Israel stopped.

¹Now when King David was old, becoming advanced in years, they covered him with clothes, but he didn't become warm, ²and his servants said to him, “Let us seek for my lord the king a girl, a virgin, who will stand before the king and be a companion to him, and who will lie in your bosom, and my lord the king will become warm.” ³So they sought a pretty girl in all the territory of Israel, and they found Abishag the Shunammitess, and they brought her to the king. ⁴And the girl was very pretty, and she became a companion to the king, and she attended to him, but the king did not know her. ⁵Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself and said, “I will reign”, and he organized for himself a chariot and horsemen and fifty men to run before him. ⁶And his father never criticized him, saying, “Why have you done this?” Moreover he was very handsome in appearance. Now Haggith had borne him after Absalom. ⁷And there were dealings with Joab the son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they supported Adonijah. ⁸But Zadok the priest and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and Nathan the prophet and Shimei and Rei and the warriors who were attached to David were not with Adonijah. ⁹And Adonijah sacrificed sheep and cattle and fatted calves at the Crawling Stone which is by En-Rogel, and he invited all his brothers – the king's sons – and all men of Judah who were the king's servants. ¹⁰But he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the warriors or Solomon his brother. ¹¹And Nathan spoke to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, and he said, “Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith is reigning, and David our lord does not realize it? ¹²So now, depart and please let me give you some advice, and save your life and your son Solomon's life. ¹³Depart and go to King David and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord the king, swear to your maidservant and say, «Solomon your son will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne?» So how come Adonijah is reigning?’ ¹⁴While you are still speaking there with the king, you will see that I will come after you and complement your words.” ¹⁵So Bathsheba went to the king, to the room where he was, and the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammitess was attending to the king. ¹⁶And Bathsheba bowed and prostrated herself to the king, and the king said, “What do you want?” ¹⁷And she said to him, “My lord, you swore by the Lord your God to your maidservant and said, ‘Solomon your son will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne.’ ¹⁸But now look, Adonijah is reigning, although, my lord the king, you do not now realize it. ¹⁹And he has sacrificed oxen and fatted calves and sheep in abundance, and he invited all the king's sons, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the commander of the army, but he did not invite Solomon your servant. ²⁰And now, my lord the king, the eyes of the whole of Israel are on you, for you to tell them who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. ²¹Otherwise, it will be the case that when my lord the king lies with his fathers that I and my son Solomon will be seen as failures.” ²²And behold, while she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived. ²³And they told the king, and they said, “Here is Nathan the prophet.” And he came before the king and prostrated himself to the king face down to the ground. ²⁴And Nathan said, “My lord the king, have you said, ‘Adonijah will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne?’ ²⁵For he came down today and sacrificed oxen and fatted calves and sheep in abundance, and he invited all the king's sons and the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest, and there they are eating and drinking in his presence, and they said, ‘May Adonijah the king live!’ ²⁶But he did not invite me, your selfsame servant, or Zadok the priest, or Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, or Solomon your servant. ²⁷Was this event instigated by my lord the king, yet without you informing your servants who would sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?” ²⁸Then King David answered and said, “Call for Bathsheba to come to me.” And she came before the king, and before the king she stood. ²⁹And the king swore and said, “As the Lord lives, who redeemed my person from all adversity, ³⁰for just as I swore to you by the Lord God of Israel and said, ‘Solomon your son will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne instead of me’, so I will perform it this day.” ³¹At this Bathsheba bowed face down to the ground and prostrated herself to the king and said, “May the lord King David live age-abidingly.” ³²And King David said, “Summon Zadok the priest to me, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” And they came before the king. ³³And the king said to them, “Take your lord's servants with you, and mount Solomon my son on my she-mule, and take him down to Gihon, ³⁴and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet will anoint him there as king over Israel, and you will sound the ramshorn and say, ‘May King Solomon live!’ ³⁵Then you will go up after him, and he will come and sit on my throne, and he will reign instead of me, for I have appointed him to be a leader over Israel and over Judah.” ³⁶And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, “Amen. May the Lord God of my lord the king say likewise. ³⁷As the Lord has been with my lord the king, may he so be with Solomon, and may he make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.” ³⁸So Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites went down and mounted Solomon on King David's she-mule, and they led him to Gihon. ³⁹Then Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent, and he anointed Solomon, and they sounded the ramshorn, and all the people said, “May King Solomon live!” ⁴⁰And all the people went up after him, and the people played pipes and rejoiced greatly, so that the earth was sundered at the sound of them. ⁴¹And Adonijah heard about it, as did all his guests who were with him, and when they had finished eating, and Joab heard the sound of the ramshorn, he asked, “Why is the town in an uproar?” ⁴²While he was still speaking, they saw Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest come. And Adonijah said, “Come in, for you are a valiant man, and bring good news.” ⁴³And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, “Actually, our lord King David has made Solomon king. ⁴⁴And the king has sent Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and the Cherethites and the Pelethites with him, and they mounted him on the king's she-mule. ⁴⁵And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him as king in Gihon, and they went up from there rejoicing, and the town became boisterous – that is the sound which you heard. ⁴⁶And moreover Solomon has sat on the royal throne. ⁴⁷And also the king's servants have come to bless our lord King David, saying, ‘May your God favour Solomon's name more than your name, and may he make his throne greater than your throne.’ Then the king bowed on his couch. ⁴⁸And the king also said this: ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who has provided one to sit on my throne while my eyes see it.’ ” ⁴⁹And all Adonijah's guests were afraid, and they arose, and each went his own way. ⁵⁰And Adonijah feared Solomon, and he arose and departed, and he took hold of the horns of the altar. ⁵¹And it was reported to Solomon as follows: “Look, Adonijah fears King Solomon, and in fact he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘May King Solomon swear to me today that he certainly will not put his servant to death by the sword.’ ” ⁵²Then Solomon said, “If he will be a man of integrity, not a hair will fall to the ground, but if malignity is found in him, he will die.” ⁵³Then King Solomon sent a company, and they brought him down from the altar, and he came and bowed to King Solomon, and Solomon said to him, “Go to your home.”

¹And the days of David approached when he would die, and he commanded Solomon his son and said, ²“I am going the way of the whole earth, so be resolute and be manly. ³And keep the charge of the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments and his regulations and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, in order that you may act wisely in everything you do and everywhere you turn, ⁴in order that the Lord may establish his word which he spoke to me when he said, ‘If your sons keep their way in walking before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul’ – as he said – ‘not a man of yours shall be cut off from the throne of Israel.’ ⁵And you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me – what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner and to Amasa the son of Jether – whom he killed, and he adopted a course of warlike bloodshed in peacetime, and he applied the blood of war to his girdle around his waist and to his shoes on his feet. ⁶And you must act according to your wisdom, and do not let his grey hair go down to the grave in peace. ⁷But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite and let them be present among those who eat at your table, for they similarly came up to me when I fled from Absalom your brother. ⁸And look, Shimei the son of Gera the Benjaminite from Bahurim is with you, who cursed me with a pernicious curse on the day when I went to Mahanaim, but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord and said, ‘I will definitely not put you to death by the sword.’ ⁹But now, do not acquit him, for you are a wise man, and you know what you will do to him, but bring his grey hair down to the grave with blood.” ¹⁰And David lay with his fathers, and he was buried in the City of David. ¹¹And the days for which David reigned over Israel amounted to forty years. In Hebron he reigned for seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned for thirty-three years. ¹²And Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom became very well-established. ¹³Then Adonijah the son of Haggith went to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother. And she said, “Is your visit in peace?” And he said, “Yes, in peace.” ¹⁴And he said, “I have a matter to discuss with you.” And she said, “Tell me.” ¹⁵And he said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel had me in view to reign, but the kingdom took a turn and fell to my brother, for it was his from the Lord. ¹⁶And now, I have one request which I am asking of you. Do not turn me away.” And she said to him, “Carry on.” ¹⁷And he said, “Please ask King Solomon not to turn you away, and to give me Abishag the Shunammitess as my wife.” ¹⁸And Bathsheba said, “Very well, I will speak on your behalf to the king.” ¹⁹So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah, and the king got up to meet her, and he bowed to her, then he sat on his throne, and he had a seat placed for the king's mother, and she sat on his right hand side. ²⁰And she said, “I am asking you for a small request. Do not turn me away.” And the king said to her, “Ask it, my mother, for I will not turn you away.” ²¹And she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammitess be given to Adonijah your brother as his wife.” ²²And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “And why are you asking for Abishag the Shunammitess for Adonijah? Then ask for the kingdom for him, for he is my elder brother, both for him and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” ²³And King Solomon swore by the Lord and said, “May God do this to me and add more, if Adonijah has not spoken these words at the expense of his life. ²⁴And now, as the Lord lives, who established me and seated me on the throne of David my father, and who made me a house as he said he would, so Adonijah will be put to death today.” ²⁵And King Solomon sent a force under the authority of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he fell on him, and he died. ²⁶And the king said to Abiathar the priest, “Go to Anathoth, to your estate, for you deserve to die, but on this day I will not have you killed, because you have carried the ark of my Lord the Lord before David my father, and because you have been afflicted by everything that my father was afflicted by.” ²⁷So Solomon ousted Abiathar from being a priest to the Lord, so fulfilling the word of the Lord which he spoke at the house of Eli in Shiloh. ²⁸And the report came to Joab, for Joab had gravitated towards Adonijah, although he had not gravitated towards Absalom, and Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and held on to the horns of the altar. ²⁹And it was reported to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord, and there he was at the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and said, “Go and fall on him.” ³⁰When Benaiah arrived at the tent of the Lord, he said to him, “This is what the king says: ‘Come out.’ ” But he said, “No, for I will die here.” Then Benaiah reported back to the king and said, “Joab said this, and he answered me this way.” ³¹Then the king said to him, “Do as he said, and fall on him, and bury him, and requite the innocent blood which Joab shed of my house and my father's house. ³²And the Lord will requite his blood on his head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he is, and he killed them by the sword, but my father David was not aware of it, namely Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. ³³And their blood will rebound onto Joab's head and onto the head of his seed age-abidingly, whereas David and his seed and his house and his throne will have peace age-abidingly from the Lord.” ³⁴So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell on him, and he killed him, and he was buried at his house in the desert. ³⁵Then the king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada instead of him over the army, and the king appointed Zadok the priest instead of Abiathar. ³⁶And the king sent word and called for Shimei, and he said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not go out from there, moving around. ³⁷For know without doubt that it will be the case that on the day when you go out and cross the Kidron Brook you will certainly die – your blood will be on your head.” ³⁸And Shimei said to the king, “The arrangement is good. As my lord the king has spoken, so your servant will do.” And Shimei lived in Jerusalem for many days. ³⁹But it came to pass after three years that two of Shimei's servants fled to Achish the son of Maachah, the king of Gath. And they reported it to Shimei and said, “Look, your servants are in Gath.” ⁴⁰Then Shimei arose and saddled his donkey and went to Gath, to Achish, to seek his servants. So Shimei set off, and he fetched his servants from Gath. ⁴¹And it was reported to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned. ⁴²So the king sent men and called for Shimei and said to him, “Did I not adjure you by the Lord and testify to you and say, ‘Know without doubt that on the day when you go out and move around that you will certainly die’, and you said to me, ‘The arrangement which I have heard is good.’ ⁴³So why did you not heed the oath to the Lord and the commandment which I gave you?” ⁴⁴And the king said to Shimei, “You know all the evil which your heart is conscious of, which you did to David my father. And the Lord has requited your evil on your head. ⁴⁵And King Solomon is blessed, and the throne of David will be established before the Lord age-abidingly.” ⁴⁶And the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and fell on him, and he died, and the kingdom became established through the authority of Solomon.