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¹ Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. ² In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was thou that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be prince over Israel. ³ So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel. ⁴ David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. ⁵ In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six mouths: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah.

⁶ And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither. ⁷ Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion; the same is the city of David. ⁸ And David said on that day, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites, let him get up to the watercourse, and [smite] the lame and the blind, that are hated of David’s soul. Wherefore they say, There are the blind and the lame; he cannot come into the house. ⁹ And David dwelt in the strong hold, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward. ¹⁰ And David waxed greater and greater; for the LORD, the God of hosts, was with him.

¹¹ And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons: and they built David an house. ¹² And David perceived that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake. ¹³ And David took him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron: and there were yet sons and daughters born to David. ¹⁴ And these be the names of those that were born unto him in Jerusalem; Shammua, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, ¹⁵ and Ibhar, and Elishua; and Nepheg, and Japhia; ¹⁶ and Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphelet.

¹⁷ And when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David; and David heard of it, and went down to the hold. ¹⁸ Now the Philistines had come and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁹ And David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the LORD said unto David, Go up: for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into thine hand. ²⁰ And David came to Baal–perazim, and David smote them there; and he said, The LORD hath broken mine enemies before me, like the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal–perazim. ²¹ And they left their images there, and David and his men took them away. ²² And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. ²³ And when David inquired of the LORD, he said, Thou shalt not go up: make a circuit behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. ²⁴ And it shall be, when thou hearest the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then is the LORD gone out before thee to smite the host of the Philistines. ²⁵ And David did so, as the LORD commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gezer.