2 Samuel 3

³⁰There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their days.

⁷Though your beginnings were modest, your latter days will flourish.

¹⁸The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.

¹⁹But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.

¹⁷The battle that day was intense, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated by the servants of David.

¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

⁹Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.

¹These were the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: The firstborn was Amnon by Ahinoam of Jezreel; the second was Daniel by Abigail of Carmel;

²the third was Absalom the son of Maacah daughter of King Talmai of Geshur; the fourth was Adonijah the son of Haggith;

⁴²So Abigail hurried and got on a donkey, and attended by five of her maidens, she followed David’s messengers and became his wife.

⁴³David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. So she and Abigail were both his wives.

¹After some time, David’s son Amnon fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of David’s son Absalom.

²Amnon was sick with frustration over his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed implausible for him to do anything to her.

³Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.

⁴Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it.

⁸Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these people had inhabited the land extending to Shur and Egypt.)

¹These were the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: The firstborn was Amnon by Ahinoam of Jezreel; the second was Daniel by Abigail of Carmel;

²⁰Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has your brother Amnon been with you? Be quiet for now, my sister. He is your brother. Do not take this thing to heart.” So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in the house of her brother Absalom.

²¹When King David heard all this, he was furious.

²So David went there with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel.

³⁷Now Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. But David mourned for his son every day.

³⁸After Absalom had fled and gone to Geshur, he stayed there three years.

¹⁴Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites. He renamed Bashan after himself, Havvoth-jair, by which it is called to this day.

¹³Now Adonijah son of Haggith went to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, and she asked, “Do you come in peace?” “Yes, in peace,” he replied.

¹⁴Then he said, “I have something to tell you.” “Say it,” she answered.

⁵At that time Adonijah, David’s son by Haggith, began to exalt himself, saying, “I will be king!” And he acquired chariots and horsemen and fifty men to run ahead of him.

⁶(His father had never once reprimanded him by saying, “Why do you act this way?” Adonijah was also very handsome, born next after Absalom.)

⁸Meanwhile, Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, took Saul’s son Ish-bosheth, moved him to Mahanaim,

⁹and made him king over Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin—over all Israel.

⁹Huddle together, O peoples, and be shattered; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for battle, and be shattered; prepare for battle, and be shattered!

¹⁰Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; state a proposal, but it will not happen. For God is with us.”

³⁰He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

⁸Even if you go and fight bravely in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has power to help and power to overthrow.”

⁹Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war; rouse the mighty men; let all the men of war advance and attack!

¹⁰Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong!’

²³Next, Jehu and Jehonadab son of Rechab entered the temple of Baal, and Jehu said to the servants of Baal, “Look around to see that there are no servants of the Lord here among you—only servants of Baal.”

⁸But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons whom Rizpah daughter of Aiah had borne to Saul, as well as the five sons whom Merab daughter of Saul had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite.

⁹And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the Lord. So all seven of them fell together; they were put to death in the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

⁸I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more.

²¹Ahithophel replied, “Sleep with your father’s concubines, whom he has left to take care of the palace. When all Israel hears that you have become a stench to your father, then the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

²²So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

²¹So Bathsheba said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife.”

²²King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you request Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Since he is my older brother, you might as well request the kingdom for him and for Abiathar the priest and for Joab son of Zeruiah!”

¹⁷Adonijah replied, “Please speak to King Solomon, since he will not turn you down. Let him give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”

⁸Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog like me?”

⁹Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!”

²⁸So Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.

¹⁸You must not bring the wages of a prostitute, whether female or male, into the house of the Lord your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the Lord your God.

²Even in times past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them back. And to you the Lord said, ‘You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be ruler over them.’”

²³Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!

²⁸So Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.

²So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I have not made your life like the lives of those you killed!”

¹⁷Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me, and ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”

¹⁷He has done exactly what He spoke through me: The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor David.

²³Now these are the numbers of men armed for battle who came to David at Hebron to turn Saul’s kingdom over to him, in accordance with the word of the Lord:

³⁵Once and for all I have sworn by My holiness—I will not lie to David—

³⁶his offspring shall endure forever, and his throne before Me like the sun,

¹Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the Lord at Mizpah.

²⁰So all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord.

¹¹Instead, I advise that all Israel from Dan to Beersheba—a multitude like the sand on the seashore—be gathered to you, and that you yourself lead them into battle.

²So the king said to Joab the commander of his army, who was with him, “Go now throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and register the troops, so that I may know their number.”

²⁵Throughout the days of Solomon, Judah and Israel dwelt securely from Dan to Beersheba, each man under his own vine and his own fig tree.

³⁸All these men of war, arrayed for battle, came to Hebron fully determined to make David king over all Israel. And all the rest of the Israelites were of one mind to make David king.

³⁹They spent three days there eating and drinking with David, for their relatives had provided for them.

¹Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood.

²Even in times past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them back. And to you the Lord said, ‘You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be ruler over them.’”

⁹Lowborn men are but a vapor; the exalted are but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.

⁶You love those who hate you and hate those who love you! For you have made it clear today that the commanders and soldiers mean nothing to you. I know today that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead, it would have pleased you!

⁵And he called in each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he asked the first.

⁶‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he answered. ‘Take your bill,’ said the manager, ‘sit down quickly, and write fifty.’

⁸A massive crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

⁹The crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed were shouting: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!”

³But Judah replied, “The man solemnly warned us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’

²⁹As the ark of the covenant of the Lord was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David dancing and celebrating, and she despised him in her heart.

²³But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your younger brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’

¹¹Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal warned him, “If you do not run for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!”

¹²So Michal lowered David from the window, and he ran away and escaped.

²⁰Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David, and when this was reported to Saul, it pleased him.

²¹“I will give her to David,” Saul thought, “so that she may be a snare to him, and the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “For a second time now you can be my son-in-law.”

²⁰When Abner and twenty of his men came to David at Hebron, David held a feast for them.

²¹Then Abner said to David, “Let me go at once, and I will gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may rule over all that your heart desires.” So David dismissed Abner, and he went in peace.

²⁷David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented them as payment in full to become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to David in marriage.

²⁵Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king desires no other dowry but a hundred Philistine foreskins as revenge on his enemies.’” But Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.

¹⁰Saul’s son Ish-bosheth was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned for two years. The house of Judah, however, followed David.

⁴⁴But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

⁵As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the family of the house of Saul was just coming out. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and as he approached, he kept yelling out curses.

¹⁶Then Shimei son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David,

⁸Keep an eye on Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim who is with you. He called down bitter curses against me on the day I went to Mahanaim, but when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord: ‘I will never put you to the sword.’

¹⁸But a young man did see them and told Absalom. So the two left quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it.

¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is tasty!”

¹⁸But they do not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

²⁸So Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.

¹⁹You once spoke in a vision; to Your godly ones You said, “I have bestowed help on a warrior; I have exalted one chosen from the people.

²⁰I have found My servant David; with My sacred oil I have anointed him.

¹⁶“At this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you are to anoint him ruler over My people Israel; he will save them from the hand of the Philistines. For I have looked upon My people, because their cry has come to Me.”

³You said, “I have made a covenant with My chosen one, I have sworn to David My servant:

⁴‘I will establish your offspring forever and build up your throne for all generations.’” Selah

⁹May God punish Abner, and ever so severely, if I do not do for David what the Lord has sworn to him:

¹⁷There I will make a horn grow for David; I have prepared a lamp for My anointed one.

¹⁸I will clothe his enemies with shame, but the crown upon him will gleam.”

²⁹From Benjamin, the kinsmen of Saul: 3,000, most of whom had remained loyal to the house of Saul up to that time.

²⁰Thus Samuel had all the tribes of Israel come forward, and the tribe of Benjamin was selected.

²¹Then he had the tribe of Benjamin come forward by its clans, and the clan of Matri was selected. Finally, Saul son of Kish was selected. But when they looked for him, they could not find him.

²⁷There is Benjamin, the youngest, ruling them, the princes of Judah in their company, the princes of Zebulun and of Naphtali.

³⁰So Isaac prepared a feast for them, and they ate and drank.

³In the third year of his reign, Xerxes held a feast for all his officials and servants. The military leaders of Persia and Media were there, along with the nobles and princes of the provinces.

⁵⁴Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. And after they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain.

¹²Then Abner sent messengers on his behalf to say to David, “To whom does the land belong? Make your covenant with me, and surely my hand will be with you to bring all Israel over to you.”

³⁷But as for you, I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your heart desires, and you will be king over Israel.

¹⁰to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and to establish the throne of David over Israel and Judah, from Dan to Beersheba.”

²¹For all the others look after their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

⁴May He give you the desires of your heart and make all your plans succeed.

⁹and made him king over Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin—over all Israel.

⁵Then Joab went into the house and said to the king, “Today you have disgraced all your servants who have saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters, of your wives, and of your concubines.

⁶You love those who hate you and hate those who love you! For you have made it clear today that the commanders and soldiers mean nothing to you. I know today that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead, it would have pleased you!

³⁹And I am weak this day, though anointed as king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too fierce for me. May the Lord repay the evildoer according to his evil!”

⁸Abner was furious over Ish-bosheth’s accusation. “Am I the head of a dog that belongs to Judah?” he asked. “All this time I have been loyal to the house of your father Saul, to his brothers, and to his friends. I have not delivered you into the hand of David, but now you accuse me of wrongdoing with this woman!

³⁵“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed You over to me. What have You done?”

¹¹Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you here to curse my enemies, and behold, you have only blessed them!”

²⁸But I know your sitting down, your going out and coming in, and your raging against Me.

¹⁷who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

⁶You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

⁸The Lord will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore.

⁴But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with Achish and told him, “Send that man back and let him return to the place you assigned him. He must not go down with us into battle only to become our adversary during the war. What better way for him to regain the favor of his master than with the heads of our men?

⁵Is this not the David about whom they sing in their dances: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”

⁴⁷“Have you also been deceived?” replied the Pharisees.

⁴Wrath is cruel and anger is like a flood, but who can withstand jealousy?

⁵Better an open rebuke than love that is concealed.

²³Like glaze covering an earthen vessel are burning lips and a wicked heart.

²⁴A hateful man disguises himself with his speech, but he lays up deceit in his heart.

⁵Moreover, you know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether, the two commanders of the armies of Israel. He killed them in peacetime to avenge the blood of war. He stained with the blood of war the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet.

⁹“Are you well, my brother?” Joab asked Amasa. And with his right hand Joab grabbed Amasa by the beard to kiss him.

¹⁰Amasa was not on guard against the dagger in Joab’s hand, and Joab stabbed him in the stomach and spilled out his intestines on the ground. And Joab did not need to strike him again, for Amasa was dead. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bichri.

³²The Lord will bring his bloodshed back upon his own head, for without the knowledge of my father David he struck down two men more righteous and better than he when he put to the sword Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army.

²⁴‘Cursed is he who strikes down his neighbor in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

⁶And Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. When Ishmael encountered the men, he said, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.”

⁷And when they came into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern.

¹⁹and he chased Abner, not turning to the right or to the left in his pursuit.

²⁰And Abner glanced back and said, “Is that you, Asahel?” “It is,” Asahel replied.

³³Do not pollute the land where you live, for bloodshed pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land on which the blood is shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

¹²Whoever strikes and kills a man must surely be put to death.

¹⁰“What have you done?” replied the Lord. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.

⁶Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.

¹If one is found slain, lying in a field in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him,

²your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the neighboring cities.

²⁴When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but that instead a riot was breaking out, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “You bear the responsibility.”

¹⁶For David had said to the Amalekite, “Your blood be on your own head because your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I killed the Lord’s anointed.’”

⁸May his days be few; may another take his position.

⁹May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.

³¹And the king replied, “Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so remove from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood that Joab shed.

³²The Lord will bring his bloodshed back upon his own head, for without the knowledge of my father David he struck down two men more righteous and better than he when he put to the sword Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army.

⁴When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “Surely this man is a murderer. Although he was saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”

¹Now Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man in his master’s sight and highly regarded, for through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. And he was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

²⁴in order that the crime against the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come to justice and their blood be avenged on their brother Abimelech and on the leaders of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers.

⁴When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “Surely this man is a murderer. Although he was saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”

¹⁹and he chased Abner, not turning to the right or to the left in his pursuit.

²⁰And Abner glanced back and said, “Is that you, Asahel?” “It is,” Asahel replied.

¹⁷A man burdened by bloodguilt will flee into the Pit; let no one support him.

³⁴Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

²On the third day a man with torn clothes and dust on his head arrived from Saul’s camp. When he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him homage.

¹¹Then David took hold of his own clothes and tore them, and all the men who were with him did the same.

⁶Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown before the ark of the Lord until evening, as did the elders of Israel; and they all sprinkled dust on their heads.

³⁵As soon as Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You have brought great misery upon me, for I have given my word to the Lord and cannot take it back.”

¹On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the Lord.

¹⁷Do not gloat when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart rejoice when he stumbles,

²⁸this would also be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God on high.

¹²They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the people of the Lord and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

⁴So David and the troops with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no strength left to weep.

³³The king was shaken and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he walked, he cried out, “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

⁴¹As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it

⁴²and said, “If only you had known on this day what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes.

²⁵Then Jeremiah lamented over Josiah, and to this day all the male and female singers recite laments over Josiah. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in the Book of Laments.

¹⁹Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’

¹⁷Then David took up this lament for Saul and his son Jonathan,

¹²“No, my brother!” she cried. “Do not violate me, for such a thing should never be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing!

¹³Where could I ever take my shame? And you would be like one of the fools in Israel! Please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.”

¹⁵So I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will also befall me. What then have I gained by being wise?” And I said to myself that this too is futile.

¹⁶For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, just as with the fool, seeing that both will be forgotten in the days to come. Alas, the wise man will die just like the fool!

¹¹Like a partridge hatching eggs it did not lay is the man who makes a fortune unjustly. In the middle of his days his riches will desert him, and in the end he will be the fool.”

²¹Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison.

⁹Like raiders who lie in ambush, so does a band of priests; they murder on the way to Shechem; surely they have committed atrocities.

¹⁰Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and chains,

¹¹because they rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High.

¹⁴When daylight is gone, the murderer rises to kill the poor and needy; in the night he is like a thief.

¹²They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the people of the Lord and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

¹²They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the people of the Lord and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

¹⁷The elders of his household stood beside him to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them.

¹⁷Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me, and ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”

⁷No food will be offered to comfort those who mourn the dead; not even a cup of consolation will be given for the loss of a father or mother.

¹⁷Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Put on your turban and strap your sandals on your feet; do not cover your lips or eat the bread of mourners.”

²⁶Then the Israelites, all the people, went up to Bethel, where they sat weeping before the Lord. That day they fasted until evening and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Lord.

³⁷The people were utterly astonished and said, “He has done all things well! He makes even the deaf hear and the mute speak!”

¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas to them instead.

¹²So Pilate asked them again, “What then do you want me to do with the One you call the King of the Jews?”

⁹Lowborn men are but a vapor; the exalted are but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.

⁶Absalom did this to all the Israelites who came to the king for justice. In this way he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

¹³Then a messenger came to David and reported, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.”

⁹It is not only the old who are wise, or the elderly who understand justice.

⁵⁰His wife’s name was Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz. The name of the commander of his army was Abner, the son of Saul’s uncle Ner.

⁵¹Saul’s father Kish and Abner’s father Ner were sons of Abiel.

¹²Then Abner sent messengers on his behalf to say to David, “To whom does the land belong? Make your covenant with me, and surely my hand will be with you to bring all Israel over to you.”

⁸Meanwhile, Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, took Saul’s son Ish-bosheth, moved him to Mahanaim,

⁴Repay them according to their deeds and for their works of evil. Repay them for what their hands have done; bring back on them what they deserve.

⁸Every morning I will remove all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off every evildoer from the city of the Lord.

³³Their blood will come back upon the heads of Joab and his descendants forever; but for David, his descendants, his house, and his throne, there shall be peace from the Lord forever.”

³⁴So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, struck down Joab, and killed him. He was buried at his own home in the wilderness.

¹⁴Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.

⁵Remove the wicked from the king’s presence, and his throne will be established in righteousness.

⁵Moreover, you know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether, the two commanders of the armies of Israel. He killed them in peacetime to avenge the blood of war. He stained with the blood of war the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet.

⁶So act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.