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¹ THEN all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said to him, Behold, we are your flesh and your bone.² Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel; and the LORD said to you, You shall feed my people Israel, and you shall be a ruler over my people Israel.³ So all the elders of Israel came to the king at 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 And King David and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, You shall not come in here, except you destroy both the blind and the lame; and they said, David cannot come in here.⁷ Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David.⁸ And David said on that day, Whosoever smites a Jebusite and whosoever strikes with a weapon the blind and the lame, he is a hater of Davids soul. Therefore they say, The blind and the lame shall not come into the temple.⁹ So David dwelt in the fort, that is, Zion; and he called it the city of David. And David built round about the fort from within.¹⁰ And David continued to become greater, and the LORD 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 a house.¹² And David perceived that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.¹³ And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron; and there were more sons and daughters born to David.¹⁴ And these are the names of the sons who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammuah, Shachab, Nathan, Solomon,¹⁵ Jocabar, Elisha, Nepheg, Naphia,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 fort.¹⁸ The Philistines also came and encamped in the Valley of Giants.¹⁹ And David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Wilt thou deliver them into my hands? And the LORD said to David, Go up; for I will deliver them into your hands.²⁰ And David came to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there, and David said, The LORD has made a breach through my enemies before me, like the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim.²¹ And they left their idols there, and David and his men carried them away.²² And the Philistines came up yet again and encamped in the Valley of the Giants.²³ And when David inquired of the LORD, the LORD said to him, You shall not go up; but circle behind them, and come upon them opposite Bachim.²⁴ And when you hear the sound of marching on the top of the mountain of Bachim, then you shall become strong; for then shall the LORD go out before you to smite the army of the Philistines.²⁵ And David did as the LORD had commanded him; and he smote the Philistines from Geba to the entrance of Gadar.