¹ Now as Saul watched David going out to fight the Philistine, he asked Abner, the general in command of the army, “Whose son is this young man, Abner?” Abner replied, “As surely as you live, O king, I don’t know.”

When the servant had left, David got up from beside the mound, ¹  knelt ²  with his face to the ground, and bowed three times. Then they kissed each other and they both wept, especially David.

David replied to Ahimelech the priest, “The king instructed me to do something, but he said to me, ‘Don’t let anyone know the reason I am sending you or the instructions I have given you.’ ¹  I have told my soldiers ²  to wait at a certain place. ³ 

The priest replied to David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread at my disposal. Only holy bread is available, and then only if your soldiers ¹  have abstained from sexual relations with women.” ² 

David said to the priest, “Certainly women have been kept away from us, just as on previous occasions when I have set out. The soldiers’ ¹  equipment is holy, even on an ordinary journey. How much more so will they be holy today, along with their equipment!”

My lord should not pay attention to this wicked man Nabal. He simply lives up to his name! His name means ‘fool,’ and he is indeed foolish! ¹  But I, your servant, did not see the servants my lord sent. ² 

David said to him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?” The young man said, “I am an Egyptian, the servant of an Amalekite man. My master abandoned me when I was ill for three days.

But David struck them down from twilight until the following evening. None of them escaped, with the exception of four hundred young men who got away on camels. ¹ 

Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right or to your left. Capture one of the soldiers ¹  and take his equipment for yourself!” But Asahel was not willing to turn aside from following him.

So David issued orders to the soldiers and they put them to death. Then they cut off their hands and feet and hung them ¹  near the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth ²  and buried it in the tomb of Abner ³  in Hebron. ⁴ 

Absalom instructed his servants, “Look! When Amnon is drunk ¹  and I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon down,’ kill him then and there. Don’t fear! Is it not I who have given you these instructions? Be strong and courageous!” ² 

When David had gone a short way beyond the summit, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth was there to meet him. He had a couple of donkeys that were saddled, and on them were two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred raisin cakes, a hundred baskets of summer fruit, ¹  and a container of wine.

The king asked Ziba, “Why did you bring these things?” ¹  Ziba replied, “The donkeys are for the king’s family to ride on, the loaves of bread ²  and the summer fruit are for the attendants to eat, and the wine is for those who get exhausted in the desert.” ³ 

The king gave this order to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai: “For my sake deal gently with the young man Absalom.” Now the entire army was listening when the king gave all the leaders this order concerning Absalom.

The king replied, “How is the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz replied, “I saw a great deal of confusion when Joab was sending the king’s servant and me, your servant, but I don’t know what it was all about.”

There were a thousand men from Benjamin with him, along with Ziba the servant ¹  of Saul’s household, and with him his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They hurriedly crossed ²  the Jordan within sight of the king.

So Ahab ¹  assembled the 232 servants of the district governors. After that he assembled all the Israelite army, numbering 7,000. ² 

He went up from there to Bethel. ¹  As he was traveling up the road, some young boys ²  came out of the city and made fun of him, saying, “Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!”

So she went to visit ¹  the prophet at Mount Carmel. When he ²  saw her at a distance, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, it’s the Shunammite woman.

Elisha ¹  told Gehazi, “Tuck your robes into your belt, take my staff, ²  and go! Don’t stop to exchange greetings with anyone! ³  Place my staff on the child’s face.”