to love your enemies and hate your friends. For you have declared today that you regard neither princes nor servants; for today I perceive that if Absalom had lived and all of us had died today, that it would have pleased you well.

And there met them there a man of worthlessness, whose name was Sheba the son of Bichri, a Benjamite. And he blew a shofar, and said: We have no part in David, nor do we have inheritance in the son of Jesse; every man to his tents, O Israel!

And David came to his house at Jerusalem. And the king took the ten women, his concubines whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in confinement and sustained them, but did not go in to them. Thus they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood.

So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah. But he delayed beyond the appointed time which David had designated.

So Joab's men, with the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and all the mighty men, went out after him. And they went out of Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

Then Joab said to Amasa, Are you in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.

And one of Joab's men stood near Amasa, and said, Whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David; follow after Joab!

When he was removed from the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

Surely the sons of men are a vapor; men are a lie; if they were to climb up into the scales, they are altogether lighter than vapor.

So he called every one of his master's debtors to him, and said to the first, How much do you owe my master?

Then he said to another, And how much do you owe? So he said, A hundred measures of wheat. And he said to him, Take your bill, and write eighty.

And Abner said to David, I will arise and go, and gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your soul desires. And David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.

And when Abner had returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him privately, and there stabbed him in the stomach, so that he died for the blood of Asahel his brother.

Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and spoke, saying, Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.

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

And he inclined the hearts of all the men of Judah, as one man, so that they sent this word to the king: Return, you and all your servants!

And behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said to the king, Why have our brethren, the men of Judah, stolen you away and brought the king, his household, and all David's men with him across the Jordan?

And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king; therefore we also have more in David than you. Why then have you despised us; were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king? Yet the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

And there met them there a man of worthlessness, whose name was Sheba the son of Bichri, a Benjamite. And he blew a shofar, and said: We have no part in David, nor do we have inheritance in the son of Jesse; every man to his tents, O Israel!

So every man of Israel withdrew from David, and followed after Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah, from the Jordan as far as Jerusalem, stayed close to their king.

And all Israel gathered to David at Hebron, saying, Behold we are your bone and your flesh.

Therefore all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them at Hebron before Jehovah. And they anointed David king over Israel, according to the Word of Jehovah by the hand of Samuel.

All these men of war, who could keep ranks, came to Hebron with a perfect heart, to make David king over all Israel; and all the rest of Israel were of one heart to make David king.

Moreover those who were near to them, from as far away as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, were bringing food on donkeys and camels, on mules and oxen; provisions of flour and cakes of figs and cakes of raisins, wine and oil and oxen and sheep abundantly, for there was joy in Israel.

And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them in the way.

And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?