He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and murdered his half-brothers, ¹  the seventy legitimate ²  sons of Jerub-Baal, on one stone. Only Jotham, Jerub-Baal’s youngest son, escaped, ³  because he hid.

He sent messengers to Abimelech, who was in Arumah, ¹  reporting, “Beware! ²  Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers are coming ³  to Shechem and inciting the city to rebel against you. ⁴ 

The man who owned the house went outside and said to them, “No, my brothers! Don’t do this wicked thing! After all, this man is a guest in my house. Don’t do such a disgraceful thing!

The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until evening. They asked the Lord, “Should we ¹  again march out to fight ²  the Benjaminites, our brothers?” ³  The Lord said, “Attack them!” ⁴ 

Then Boaz said to the guardian, ¹  “Naomi, who has returned from the region of Moab, is selling ²  the portion of land that belongs to our relative Elimelech.

Now Ahijah was carrying ¹  an ephod. He was the son of Ahitub, who was the brother of Ichabod and a son of Phineas, son of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh. The army was unaware that Jonathan had left.

So Samuel took the horn full of olive oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers. The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day onward. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah.

So David left there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father’s family ¹  learned about it, they went down there to him.

David said to Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” Abishai replied, “I will go down with you.”

So Abner spoke again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me! I do not want to strike you to the ground. ¹  How then could I show ²  my face in the presence of Joab your brother?”

Then Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize that this will turn bitter in the end? When will you tell the people to turn aside from pursuing their brothers?”

When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside at the gate as if to speak privately with him. Joab then stabbed him ¹  in the abdomen and killed him, avenging the shed blood of his brother Asahel. ² 

David replied to Recab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered my life from all adversity,

They loaded the ark of God on a new cart and carried it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart.

He asked Amnon, ¹  “Why are you, the king’s son, ²  so depressed every morning? Can’t you tell me?” So Amnon said to him, “I’m in love with Tamar the sister of my brother Absalom.”

So Tamar went to the house of Amnon her brother, who was lying down. She took the dough, kneaded it, made some cakes while he watched, ¹  and baked them. ² 

Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the cakes into the bedroom; then I will eat from your hand.” So Tamar took the cakes that she had prepared and brought them to her brother Amnon in the bedroom.

But she said to him, “No I won’t, for sending me away now would be worse than what you did to me earlier!” ¹  But he refused to listen to her.

Your servant ¹  has two sons. When the two of them got into a fight in the field, there was no one present who could intervene. One of them struck the other and killed him.

Abishai son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, was head of the three. ¹  He killed three hundred men with his spear and gained fame among the three. ²