One Year Bible.

The Murder of Ish-bosheth

¹Now when Ish-bosheth son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost courage, and all Israel was dismayed. ²Saul’s son had two men who were leaders of raiding parties. One was named Baanah and the other Rechab; they were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite of the tribe of Benjamin— Beeroth is considered part of Benjamin, ³because the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have lived there as foreigners to this day.

⁴And Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she was hurrying to escape, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.

⁵Now Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out and arrived at the house of Ish-bosheth in the heat of the day, while the king was taking his midday nap. ⁶They entered the interior of the house as if to get some wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and his brother Baanah slipped away.

⁷They had entered the house while Ish-bosheth was lying on his bed, and having stabbed and killed him, they beheaded him, took his head, and traveled all night by way of the Arabah. ⁸They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life. Today the LORD has granted vengeance to my lord the king against Saul and his offspring.”

The Execution of Rechab and Baanah

⁹But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress, ¹⁰when someone told me, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was a bearer of good news, I seized him and put him to death at Ziklag. That was his reward for his news! ¹¹How much more, when wicked men kill a righteous man in his own house and on his own bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hands and remove you from the earth!”

¹²So David commanded his young men, and they killed Rechab and Baanah. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies by the pool in Hebron, but they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.

David Anointed King of All Israel

¹Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood. ²Even in times past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them back. And to you the LORD said, ‘You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be ruler over them.’”

³So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, where King David made with them a covenant before the LORD. And they anointed him king over Israel.

⁴David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years. ⁵In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

David Conquers Jerusalem

⁶Now the king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the land. The Jebusites said to David: “You will never get in here. Even the blind and lame can repel you.” For they thought, “David cannot get in here.”

⁷Nevertheless , David captured the fortress of Zion (that is, the City of David). ⁸On that day he said, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites must use the water shaft to reach the lame and blind who are despised by David.” That is why it is said, “The blind and the lame will never enter the palace.”

⁹So David took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built it up all the way around, from the supporting terraces inward. ¹⁰And David became greater and greater, for the LORD God of Hosts was with him.

¹¹Now Hiram king of Tyre sent envoys to David, along with cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David.

David’s Family Grows

¹²And David realized that the LORD had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.

¹³After he had arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him. ¹⁴These are the names of the children born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, ¹⁵Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, ¹⁶Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

Two Victories over the Philistines

¹⁷When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they all went in search of him; but David learned of this and went down to the stronghold.

¹⁸Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁹So David inquired of the LORD, “Should I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?”

“Go up,” replied the LORD, “for I will surely deliver the Philistines into your hand.”

²⁰So David went to Baal-perazim, where he defeated the Philistines and said, “Like a bursting flood, the LORD has burst out against my enemies before me.” So he called that place Baal-perazim. ²¹There the Philistines abandoned their idols, and David and his men carried them away.

²²Once again the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. ²³So David inquired of the LORD, who answered, “Do not march straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the balsam trees. ²⁴As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move quickly, because this will mean that the LORD has gone out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”

²⁵So David did as the LORD had commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.

Job’s Honor Turned to Contempt

¹“But now they mock me,

men younger than I am,

whose fathers I would have refused

to put with my sheep dogs.

²What use to me was the strength of their hands,

since their vigor had left them?

³Gaunt from poverty and hunger,

they gnawed the dry land,

and the desolate wasteland by night.

⁴They plucked mallow among the shrubs,

and the roots of the broom tree were their food.

⁵They were banished from among men,

shouted at like thieves,

⁶so that they lived on the slopes of the wadis,

among the rocks and in holes in the ground.

⁷They cried out among the shrubs

and huddled beneath the nettles.

⁸A senseless and nameless brood,

they were driven off the land.

⁹And now they mock me in song;

I have become a byword among them.

¹⁰They abhor me and keep far from me;

they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

¹¹Because God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me,

they have cast off restraint in my presence.

¹²The rabble arises at my right;

they lay snares for my feet

and build siege ramps against me.

¹³They tear up my path;

they profit from my destruction,

with no one to restrain them.

¹⁴They advance as through a wide breach;

through the ruins they keep rolling in.

Job’s Prosperity Becomes Calamity

¹⁵Terrors are turned loose against me;

they drive away my dignity as by the wind,

and my prosperity has passed like a cloud.

¹⁶And now my soul is poured out within me;

days of affliction grip me.

¹⁷Night pierces my bones,

and my gnawing pains never rest.

¹⁸With great force He grasps my garment;

He seizes me by the collar of my tunic.

¹⁹He throws me into the mud,

and I have become like dust and ashes.

²⁰I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer;

when I stand up, You merely look at me.

²¹You have ruthlessly turned on me;

You oppose me with Your strong hand.

²²You snatch me up into the wind

and drive me before it;

You toss me about in the storm.

²³Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death,

to the place appointed for all the living.

²⁴Yet no one stretches out his hand against a ruined man

when he cries for help in his distress.

²⁵Have I not wept for those in trouble?

Has my soul not grieved for the needy?

²⁶But when I hoped for good, evil came;

when I looked for light, darkness fell.

²⁷I am churning within and cannot rest;

days of affliction confront me.

²⁸I go about blackened, but not by the sun.

I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

²⁹I have become a brother of jackals,

a companion of ostriches.

³⁰My skin grows black and peels,

and my bones burn with fever.

³¹My harp is tuned to mourning

and my flute to the sound of weeping.[’’]