2 Samuel
Chapter 5
1 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Look, we are your own flesh and blood.”
2 Before, when Saul was our king, you were the one who led Israel out and in. And God told you, ‘You will take care of my people Israel, and you will be their leader.’
3 All the leaders of Israel went to see the king at Hebron. There, David made an agreement with them in Hebron before God, and they made David king over Israel.
4 David was thirty when he became king, and he ruled for forty years.
5 He ruled over Judah in Hebron for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem, he ruled over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years.
6 The king and his men went to Jerusalem to meet the Jebusites who lived there. The Jebusites told David, “You can’t come in here unless you get rid of the blind and lame people.” They thought, “David can’t come in here.”
7 David captured the fortress of Zion, which is now called the city of David.
8 David said that day, “Whoever climbs through the water shaft and defeats the Jebusites, including the blind and lame whom David dislikes, will become the leader.” That’s why people say, “The blind and lame cannot enter the house.”
9 David lived in the fortress and named it David’s city. He then built it up from the Millo and inside.
10 David continued to become powerful, and God was with him.
11 Hiram, king of Tyre, sent messengers to David with cedar trees, carpenters, and masons, and they built a house for David.
12 David realized that God had made him king over Israel, and that God had lifted up his kingdom for the benefit of the people of Israel.
13 David married more women and added them to his other wives in Jerusalem after he left Hebron, and he had more sons and daughters.
14 Here are the names of his children born to him in Jerusalem: Shammuah, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon.
15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, and Japhia were also there.
16 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphalet.
17 When the Philistines learned that David had been made king over Israel, they all went to look for David; and when David heard about it, he went to the fortress.
18 The Philistines came and scattered throughout the valley of Rephaim.
19 David asked God, “Should I go to fight the Philistines? Will you give them to me?” God said to David, “Go, because I will surely give the Philistines to you.”
20 David came to Baalperazim, David defeated them there, and said, “God has burst through my enemies before me, like a flood.” So he named that place Baalperazim.
21 There they left their idols, and David and his men burned them.
22 The Philistines came again and spread out in Rephaim Valley.
23 When David asked God, He said, “Do not attack them straight on; instead, go around them and surprise them near the mulberry trees.”
24 When you hear a sound like marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, act quickly, for that means God is going ahead of you to defeat the Philistine army.
25 David did as God had commanded him and struck down the Philistines from Geba to Gazer.