Daily Text and Bible Reading: Tuesday, April 7 [Press play below]

3.1 The war between the house of Saul and the house of David dragged on; and David kept getting stronger, and the house of Saul grew steadily weaker.
3.2 Meanwhile, sons were born to David in Hebron. His firstborn was Amnon by Ahinoam of Jezreel.
3.3 His second was Chileab by Abigail, the widow of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third was Absalom the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai the king of Geshur.
3.4 The fourth was Adonijah the son of Haggith, and the fifth was Shephatiah the son of Abital.
3.5 The sixth was Ithream by David’s wife Eglah. These were born to David in Hebron.
3.6 While the war between the house of Saul and the house of David continued, Abner kept strengthening his position in the house of Saul.
3.7 Now Saul had had a concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. Ish-bosheth later said to Abner: “Why did you have relations with the concubine of my father?”
3.8 Abner grew very angry over the words of Ish-bosheth and said: “Am I a dog’s head from Judah? Until this very day, I have shown loyal love toward the house of your father Saul and to his brothers and his friends, and I have not betrayed you into the hand of David; yet today you call me to account for an error concerning a woman.
3.9 May God do so to Abner and add to it if I do not do for David just as Jehovah swore to him:
3.10 to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and to establish the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan to Beer-sheba.”
3.11 He was not able to say one more word in reply to Abner, for he was afraid of him.
3.12 Abner immediately sent messengers to David, saying: “To whom does the land belong?” He added: “Make a covenant with me, and I will do whatever I can to turn all Israel to your side.”
3.13 To this he replied: “Good! I will make a covenant with you. The only thing I ask of you is that you do not try to see my face unless first you bring Michal, Saul’s daughter, when you come to see me.”
3.14 Then David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, saying: “Give me my wife Michal, to whom I became engaged for 100 foreskins of the Philistines.”
3.15 So Ish-bosheth sent to take her from her husband, Paltiel the son of Laish.
3.16 But her husband kept walking with her, weeping as he followed her as far as Bahurim. Then Abner said to him: “Go, return!” At that he returned.
3.17 Meanwhile, Abner sent word to the elders of Israel, saying: “For some time you wanted to have David as king over you.
3.18 Now act, for Jehovah said to David: ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.’”
3.19 Then Abner spoke to the people of Benjamin. Abner also went to speak privately to David at Hebron to tell him what Israel and the whole house of Benjamin had agreed upon.
3.20 When Abner came to David at Hebron with 20 men, David held a feast for Abner and for the men with him.
3.21 Then Abner said to David: “Let me go and gather all Israel together to my lord the king, so that they may make a covenant with you, and you will become king over all that you desire.” So David sent Abner off, and he went his way in peace.
3.22 Just then, David’s servants and Joab returned from a raid, bringing a great quantity of spoil back with them. Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, for he had sent him on his way in peace.
3.23 When Joab and all the army that was with him arrived, Joab was told: “Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he sent him off, and he went his way in peace.”
3.24 So Joab went in to the king and said: “What have you done? Here Abner came to you. Why did you send him off so that he successfully got away?
3.25 You know Abner the son of Ner! He came here to fool you and to get to know your every move and to find out everything that you are doing.”
3.26 So Joab left David and sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah; but David did not know anything about it.
3.27 When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside inside the gate to speak with him privately. However, there he stabbed him in the abdomen, and he died; this was for killing his brother Asahel.
3.28 When David heard about it later, he said: “I and my kingdom are forever innocent before Jehovah of the bloodguilt for Abner the son of Ner.
3.29 May it turn back on the head of Joab and on the entire house of his father. May Joab’s house never be without a man suffering from a discharge or a leper or a man working at the spindle or one falling by the sword or one in need of food!”
3.30 So Joab and his brother Abishai killed Abner because he had put Asahel their brother to death in the battle at Gibeon.
3.31 Then David said to Joab and all the people with him: “Rip your garments apart and tie on sackcloth and wail over Abner.” King David himself was walking behind the funeral bier.
3.32 They buried Abner in Hebron; and the king wept loudly at Abner’s tomb, and all the people gave way to weeping.
3.33 The king chanted over Abner and said: “Should Abner die the death of a senseless person?
3.34 Your hands had not been bound, And your feet were not in fetters. You fell like one falling before criminals.” At that all the people wept over him again.
3.35 Later all the people came to give David bread for consolation while it was still daytime, but David swore: “May God do so to me and add to it if before the sun sets I taste bread or anything at all!”
3.36 All the people took notice, and it pleased them. Like everything that the king did, it pleased all the people.
3.37 So all the people and all Israel knew on that day that the king was not responsible for having Abner the son of Ner put to death.
3.38 Then the king said to his servants: “Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel?
3.39 Today I am weak, although anointed as king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too brutal for me. May Jehovah repay the evildoer according to his own evil.”

4.1 When Saul’s son Ish-bosheth heard that Abner had died in Hebron, his courage failed him and all the Israelites were disturbed.
4.2 There were two men in charge of the marauder bands that belonged to the son of Saul: one was named Baanah and the other Rechab. They were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the tribe of Benjamin. (For Beeroth too used to be counted as part of Benjamin.
4.3 The Beerothites ran away to Gittaim, and they are foreign residents there down to this day.)
4.4 Now Saul’s son Jonathan had a son whose feet were crippled. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse picked him up and fled, but as she was fleeing in panic, he fell and was crippled. His name was Mephibosheth.
4.5 The sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went to the house of Ish-bosheth during the hot part of the day, as he was taking his midday rest.
4.6 They went into the house as if they were getting wheat, and they struck him in the abdomen; then Rechab and his brother Baanah escaped.
4.7 When they had entered the house, he was lying on his bed in his bedroom, and they struck him and put him to death, after which they cut off his head. Then they took his head and walked all night long on the road to the Arabah.
4.8 And they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king: “Here is the head of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul your enemy who sought your life. This day Jehovah gives to my lord the king revenge on Saul and his descendants.”
4.9 However, David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them: “As surely as Jehovah is living, the one who rescued me out of all distress,
4.10 when someone reported to me, ‘Here Saul is dead,’ and he thought he was bringing me good news, I took hold of him and killed him in Ziklag. That was the messenger’s reward he received from me!
4.11 How much more so when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed! Should I not require his blood from your hands and rid the earth of you?”
4.12 David then ordered the young men to kill them. They cut off their hands and feet and hung them by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the burial place of Abner in Hebron.

5.1 In time all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said: “Look! We are your own bone and flesh.
5.2 In times past while Saul was our king, you were the one who was leading Israel on its campaigns. And Jehovah said to you: ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become leader over Israel.’”
5.3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Jehovah. Then they anointed David as king over Israel.
5.4 David was 30 years old when he became king, and he reigned for 40 years.
5.5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah for 7 years and 6 months, and in Jerusalem he reigned for 33 years over all Israel and Judah.
5.6 And the king and his men set out for Jerusalem against the Jebusites who were inhabiting the land. They taunted David: “You will never come in here! Even the blind and the lame will drive you away.” They thought, ‘David will never get in here.’
5.7 However, David captured the stronghold of Zion, which is now the City of David.
5.8 So David said on that day: “Those who attack the Jebusites should go through the water tunnel to strike down both ‘the lame and the blind,’ who are hateful to David!” That is why it is said: “The blind and the lame will never enter the house.”
5.9 Then David took up residence in the stronghold, and it was called the City of David; and David began to build all around from the Mound inward.
5.10 Thus David became greater and greater, and Jehovah the God of armies was with him.
5.11 King Hiram of Tyre sent messengers to David, also cedar timbers, woodworkers, and stonemasons for building walls, and they began to build a house for David.
5.12 And David knew that Jehovah had firmly established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.
5.13 David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to David.
5.14 These are the names of those born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
5.15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,
5.16 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
5.17 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed as king over Israel, all the Philistines came up to search for David. When David heard about it, he went down to the stronghold.
5.18 Then the Philistines came in and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
5.19 David inquired of Jehovah, saying: “Should I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” At this Jehovah said to David: “Go up, for I will surely give the Philistines into your hand.”
5.20 So David came to Baal-perazim, and David struck them down there. At that he said: “Jehovah has broken through my enemies before me, like a breach made by waters.” That is why he named that place Baal-perazim.
5.21 The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men took them away.
5.22 Later the Philistines came up once again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
5.23 David inquired of Jehovah, but He said: “Do not go directly up. Instead, go around behind them, and come against them in front of the baca bushes.
5.24 And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the baca bushes, then act decisively, for Jehovah will have gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.”
5.25 So David did just as Jehovah commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines from Geba all the way to Gezer.