Uriah replied to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah reside in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and my lord’s soldiers are camping in the open field. Should I go to my house to eat and drink and have marital relations ¹  with my wife? As surely as you are alive, ²  I will not do this thing!”

he ¹  went and took the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan ²  from the leaders ³  of Jabesh Gilead. (They had secretly taken ⁴  them from the plaza at Beth Shan. It was there that Philistines ⁵  publicly exposed their corpses ⁶  after ⁷  they ⁸  had killed Saul at Gilboa.)

May the Lord punish him for the blood he shed; ¹  behind my father David’s back he struck down and murdered with the sword two men who were more innocent and morally upright than he ²  – Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army.

A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness. ²  O God, you are my God! I long for you! ³  My soul thirsts ⁴  for you, my flesh yearns for you, in a dry and parched ⁵  land where there is no water.

David ¹  brought the bones of Saul and of Jonathan his son from there; they also gathered up the bones of those who had been executed.

Zadok the priest and his fellow priests served ¹  before the Lord’s tabernacle at the worship center ²  in Gibeon,

I will lay siege to you on all sides; ¹  I will besiege you with troops; ²  I will raise siege works against you.

David by foreseeing this ¹  spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, ²  that he was neither abandoned to Hades, ³  nor did his body ⁴  experience ⁵  decay. ⁶ 

So Joab went to the king and informed him. The king ¹  summoned Absalom, and he came to the king. Absalom ²  bowed down before the king with his face toward the ground and the king kissed him. ³ 

The king and all the people who were with him arrived exhausted at their destination, where David ¹  refreshed himself.

The men of Israel replied to the men of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king, and we have a greater claim on David than you do! Why do you want ¹  to curse us? Weren’t we the first to suggest bringing back our king?” But the comments of the men of Judah were more severe than those of the men of Israel.

A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s ¹  root stock, a bud will sprout ²  from his roots.

From the descendants ¹  of this man ²  God brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, just as he promised. ³ 

So David said, “Good! I will make an agreement with you. I ask only one thing from you. You will not see my face unless you bring Saul’s daughter Michal when you come to visit me.” ¹ 

The Gibeonites said to him, “We ¹  have no claim to silver or gold from Saul or from his family, ²  nor would we be justified in putting to death anyone in Israel.” David asked, ³  “What then are you asking me to do for you?”

The king said to Nathan the prophet, “Look! I am living in a palace made from cedar, while the ark of God sits in the middle of a tent.”

But the king said to Absalom, “No, my son. We shouldn’t all go. We shouldn’t burden you in that way.” Though Absalom ¹  pressed ²  him, the king ³  was not willing to go. Instead, David ⁴  blessed him.

Now Adonijah, son of David and Haggith, ¹  was promoting himself, ²  boasting, ³  “I will be king!” He managed to acquire ⁴  chariots and horsemen, as well as fifty men to serve as his royal guard. ⁵ 

However, Saul said nothing about it ¹  that day, for he thought, ²  “Something has happened to make him ceremonially unclean. Yes, he must be unclean.”

He inquired of the Lord for him and gave him provisions. He also gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”