Study Desk

But David said, "What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? Why should you be against me this day? Should any man be put to death in Israel today? For do I not know that this day I am king of Israel?"

He answered, "O my lord the king, my servant lied to me. Your servant had said to him, ‘Get a donkey ready for me to travel on, so I may go with the king.' Because your servant cannot walk.

For all those of my father's house were nothing but dead men in front of my lord the king. But you set your servant among those who ate at your own table. What right do I have to complain any more to the king?"

Barzillai was eighty years old. He had given food to the king while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very rich man.

Let your servant return, that I may die in my own city near the grave of my father and mother. But here is your servant Chimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king. And do for him what is good in your eyes."

The king answered, "Chimham will cross over with me. And I will do for him what is pleasing to you. I will do for you whatever you ask."

All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, "Because the king is a close brother to us. Why are you angry about this? Has the king paid for our food? Has he given us any gift?"

David said to Abishai, "Now Bichri's son Sheba will bring us more trouble than Absalom. Take your lord's servants and go after him. Or he might find strong cities for himself, and get away from us."

Now one of Joab's young men stood by him and said, "Whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab."

Then she said, "In the past they used to say, ‘Let them ask for words of wisdom at Abel.' And so they would stop fighting.

While David was king there was a time without food for three years. David went to the Lord. The Lord said, "It is because of Saul and his house of blood, for he put the Gibeonites to death."

David said to the Gibeonites, "What should I do for you? How can I pay for the sin, so you may bring good to the land of the Lord?"

The Gibeonites said to him, "We will take no silver or gold from Saul or his family. And it is not for us to put any man to death in Israel." David said, "I will do for you whatever you say."

Aiah's daughter Rizpah spread cloth made from hair on the rock for herself to lie upon, from the beginning of gathering time until the rain fell from the sky upon the bodies. She would not let the birds of the sky rest on them during the day, or the animals of the field during the night.

And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the grave of Kish his father. They did all that the king told them to do. After that, God heard and answered when they prayed for the land.

"For the waves of death were all around me. The storm that destroys made me afraid.

In my trouble I called upon the Lord. Yes, I cried to my God. From His house He heard my voice. My cry for help came into His ears.

He saved me from those strong ones who hated me. For they were too strong for me.

"The Lord has paid me for being right with Him. He has paid me for my clean hands.

For I have kept the ways of the Lord. I have not acted in sin against my God.