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.