Chapter 5

  Then all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said, Truly, we are your bone and your flesh.  

  In the past when Saul was king over us, it was you who went at the head of Israel when they went out or came in: and the Lord said to you, You are to be the keeper of my people Israel and their ruler.  

  So all the responsible men of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and King David made an agreement with them in Hebron before the Lord: and they put the holy oil on David and made him king over Israel.  

  David was thirty years old when he became king, and he was king for forty years,  

  Ruling over Judah in Hebron for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem, over all Israel and Judah, for thirty-three years.  

  And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the people of the land: and they said to David, You will not come in here, but the blind and the feeble-footed will keep you out; for they said, David will not be able to come in here.  

  But David took the strong place of Zion, which is the town of David.  

  And that day David said, Whoever makes an attack on the Jebusites, let him go up by the water-pipe, and put to death all the blind and feeble-footed who are hated by David. And this is why they say, The blind and feeble-footed may not come into the house.  

  So David took the strong tower for his living-place, naming it the town of David. And David took in hand the building of the town all round, starting from the Millo.  

  And David became greater and greater; for the Lord, the God of armies, was with him.  

  And Hiram, king of Tyre, sent men to David, with cedar-trees and woodworkers and stoneworkers: and they made David a house.  

  And David saw that the Lord had made his position safe as king over Israel, and that he had made his kingdom great because of his people Israel.  

  And David took more women and wives in Jerusalem, after he had come from Hebron: and he had more sons and daughters.  

  These are the names of those whose birth took place in Jerusalem: Shammua and Shobab and Nathan and Solomon  

  And Ibhar and Elishua and Nepheg and Japhia  

  And Elishama and Eliada and Eliphelet.  

  And when the Philistines had news that David had been made king over Israel, they all went up in search of David; and David, hearing of it, went down to the strong place.  

  And when the Philistines came, they went in every direction in the valley of Rephaim.  

  And David, desiring directions from the Lord, said, Am I to go up against the Philistines? will you give them up into my hands? And the Lord said, Go up, for I will certainly give up the Philistines into your hands.  

  And David went to Baal-perazim, and overcame them there; and he said, The Lord has let the forces fighting against me be broken before me as a wall is broken by rushing waters. So that place was named Baal-perazim.  

  And the Philistines, when they went in flight, did not take their images with them, and David and his men took them away.  

  And the Philistines came up again, and went in every direction in the valley of Rephaim.  

  And when David went for directions to the Lord, he said, You are not to go up against them in front; but make a circle round them from the back and come on them opposite the spice-trees.  

  Then at the sound of footsteps in the tops of the trees, go forward quickly, for the Lord has gone out before you to overcome the army of the Philistines.  

  And David did as the Lord had said; and he overcame the Philistines, attacking them from Gibeon to near Gezer.