1 Then all the tribes of Israel came unto David in Hebron and spoke, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh.
2 And even yesterday and the day before yesterday, when Saul was king over us, it was thou that didst lead out and bring 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 in 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 months; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.
6 Then the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, who dwelt in the land, who spoke unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in here, thinking, David cannot come in here.
7 Nevertheless, David took the fortress of Zion; the same is the city of David.
8 And David said on that day, Who shall go up the waterspout and smite the Jebusites and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David’s soul? Therefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.
9 So David dwelt in the fortress and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward.
10 And David went on and grew great, and the Lord God of the hosts was with him.
11 And Hiram, king of Tyre, also sent messengers to David, and cedar trees and carpenters and masons, and they built David a house.
12 And David understood that the Lord had confirmed him as king over Israel and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake.
13 And David took more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem after he had come from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born unto David.
14 And these were the names of those that were born unto him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,
16 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphalet.
17 But when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines came up to seek David, and David heard of it and went down to the fortress.
18 The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. {Heb. of the giants}
19 Then David enquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? Wilt thou deliver them into my hand? And the Lord said unto David, Go up, for I without a doubt will deliver the Philistines into thy hand.
20 And David came to Baalperazim, and David smote them there and said, The Lord has broken forth upon my enemies before me as the breach of waters. Therefore, he called the name of that place Baalperazim.
21 And they left their images there, and David and his men burned them.
22 And the Philistines came up yet again and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.
23 And when David enquired of the Lord, he said, Thou shalt not go up, but go around behind them and come upon them over against the mulberry trees,
24 and when thou hearest thunder going through the tops of the mulberry trees, then thou shalt move, for then the Lord shall go out before thee to smite the host of the Philistines.
25 And David did so as the Lord had commanded him and smote the Philistines from Geba unto Gazer.