Afterward you will go to Gibeah of God, where there are Philistine officials. ¹  When you enter the town, you will meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place. They will have harps, tambourines, flutes, and lyres, and they will be prophesying.

You will go down to Gilgal before me. I am going to join you there to offer burnt offerings and to make peace offerings. You should wait for seven days, until I arrive and tell you what to do.”

So Jonathan spoke on David’s behalf ¹  to his father Saul. He said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David, for he has not sinned against you. On the contrary, his actions have been very beneficial ²  for you.

Saul sent messengers to David’s house to guard it and to kill him in the morning. Then David’s wife Michal told him, “If you do not save yourself ¹  tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!”

Jonathan said to David, “The Lord God of Israel is my witness. ¹  I will feel out my father about this time the day after tomorrow. If he is favorably inclined toward David, will I not then send word to you and let you know? ² 

When Abigail went back to Nabal, he was holding a banquet in his house like that of the king. Nabal was having a good time ¹  and was very intoxicated. She told him absolutely nothing ²  until morning’s light.

Now Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, ¹  came down to meet the king. From the day the king had left until the day he safely ²  returned, Mephibosheth ³  had not cared for his feet ⁴  nor trimmed ⁵  his mustache nor washed his clothes.

Visit ¹  King David and say to him, ‘My master, O king, did you not solemnly promise ²  your servant, “Surely your son Solomon will be king after me; he will sit on my throne”? So why has Adonijah become king?’

So he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him up as a burnt sacrifice on the wall. There was an outburst of divine anger against Israel, ¹  so they broke off the attack ²  and returned to their homeland.

He removed from the entrance to the Lord’s temple the statues of horses ¹  that the kings of Judah had placed there in honor of the sun god. (They were kept near the room of Nathan Melech the eunuch, which was situated among the courtyards.) ²  He burned up the chariots devoted to the sun god. ³ 

He also tore down the altar in Bethel ¹  at the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin. ²  He burned all the combustible items at that high place and crushed them to dust; including the Asherah pole. ³ 

His servants transported his dead body ¹  from Megiddo in a chariot and brought it to Jerusalem, where they buried him in his tomb. The people of the land took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz, poured olive oil on his head, ²  and made him king in his father’s place.

The scribe Shemaiah son of Nethanel, a Levite, wrote down their names before the king, the officials, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech son of Abiathar, and the leaders of the priestly and Levite families. One family was drawn by lot from Eleazar, and then the next from Ithamar. ¹ 

David and the army officers selected some of the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to prophesy as they played stringed instruments and cymbals. ¹  The following men were assigned this responsibility: ² 

King David said to the entire assembly: “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is just an inexperienced young man, ¹  and the task is great, for this palace is not for man, but for the Lord God.

The residents of Jerusalem ¹  made his youngest son Ahaziah king in his place, for the raiding party that invaded the city with the Arabs had killed all the older sons. ²  So Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah.

The king of Egypt made Jehoahaz’s ¹  brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Necho seized his brother Jehoahaz and took him to Egypt.

Harbona, ¹  one of the king’s eunuchs, said, “Indeed, there is the gallows that Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke out in the king’s behalf. It stands near Haman’s home and is seventy-five feet ²  high.” The king said, “Hang him on it!”

So ¹  I again considered ²  all the oppression ³  that continually occurs ⁴  on earth. ⁵  This is what I saw: ⁶  The oppressed ⁷  were in tears, ⁸  but no one was comforting them; no one delivers ⁹  them from the power of their oppressors.

For no one knows what is best for a person during his life ¹  – during the few days of his fleeting life – for ²  they pass away ³  like a shadow. Nor can anyone tell him what the future will hold for him on earth. ⁴