David inquired, “How were things going? ¹  Tell me!” He replied, “The people fled from the battle and many of them ²  fell dead. ³  Even Saul and his son Jonathan are dead!”

Afterward David inquired of the Lord, “Should I go up to one of the cities of Judah?” The Lord told him, “Go up.” David asked, “Where should I go?” The Lord replied, ¹  “To Hebron.”

David replied to Michal, “It was before the Lord! I was celebrating before the Lord, who chose me over your father and his entire family ¹  and appointed me as leader over the Lord’s people Israel.

Now there was a servant from Saul’s house named Ziba, so he was summoned to David. The king asked him, “Are you Ziba?” He replied, “At your service.” ¹ 

When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed low with his face toward the ground. ¹  David said, “Mephibosheth?” He replied, “Yes, at your service.” ² 

Then David exclaimed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord!” Nathan replied to David, “Yes, and the Lord has forgiven ¹  your sin. You are not going to die.

When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he ¹  realized that the child was dead. So David asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” They replied, “Yes, he’s dead.”

But Ittai replied to the king, “As surely as the Lord lives and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king is, whether dead or alive, ¹  there I ²  will be as well!”

The king asked, “Where is your master’s grandson?” ¹  Ziba replied to the king, “He remains in Jerusalem, ²  for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will give back to me my grandfather’s ³  kingdom.’”

The king said to Ziba, “Everything that was Mephibosheth’s now belongs to you.” Ziba replied, “I bow before you. May I find favor in your sight, my lord the king.”

Joab replied to the man who was telling him this, “What! You saw this? Why didn’t you strike him down right on the spot? ¹  I would have given you ten pieces of silver ²  and a commemorative belt!” ³ 

Joab replied, “I will not wait around like this for you!” He took three spears in his hand and thrust them into the middle of Absalom while he was still alive in the middle of the oak tree. ¹ 

The king asked the Cushite, “How is the young man Absalom?” The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who have plotted against you ¹  be like that young man!”

He replied, “My lord the king, my servant deceived me! I ¹  said, ‘Let me get my donkey saddled so that I can ride on it and go with the king,’ for I ²  am lame.

When he approached her, the woman asked, “Are you Joab?” He replied, “I am.” She said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant.” He said, “Go ahead. I’m listening.”

They replied to the king, “As for this man who exterminated us and who schemed against us so that we were destroyed and left without status throughout all the borders of Israel –

let seven of his male descendants be turned over to us, and we will execute ¹  them before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, who was the Lord’s chosen one.” ²  The king replied, “I will turn them over.”

Joab replied to the king, “May the Lord your God make the army a hundred times larger right before the eyes of my lord the king! But why does my master the king want to do this?”

Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David replied, “To buy from you the threshing floor so I can build an altar for the Lord, so that the plague may be removed from the people.”

She replied to him, “My master, you swore an oath to your servant by the Lord your God, ‘Solomon your son will be king after me and he will sit on my throne.’