Chapter 5

  Then all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said, Truly, we are your bone and your flesh.  

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  In the past when Saul was king over us, it was you who went at the head of Israel when they went out or came in: and the Lord said to you, You are to be the keeper of my people Israel and their ruler.  

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  So all the responsible men of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and King David made an agreement with them in Hebron before the Lord: and they put the holy oil on David and made him king over Israel.  

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  David was thirty years old when he became king, and he was king for forty years,  

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  Ruling over Judah in Hebron for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem, over all Israel and Judah, for thirty-three years.  

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  And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the people of the land: and they said to David, You will not come in here, but the blind and the feeble-footed will keep you out; for they said, David will not be able to come in here.  

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  But David took the strong place of Zion, which is the town of David.  

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  And that day David said, Whoever makes an attack on the Jebusites, let him go up by the water-pipe, and put to death all the blind and feeble-footed who are hated by David. And this is why they say, The blind and feeble-footed may not come into the house.  

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  So David took the strong tower for his living-place, naming it the town of David. And David took in hand the building of the town all round, starting from the Millo.  

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  And David became greater and greater; for the Lord, the God of armies, was with him.  

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  And Hiram, king of Tyre, sent men to David, with cedar-trees and woodworkers and stoneworkers: and they made David a house.  

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  And David saw that the Lord had made his position safe as king over Israel, and that he had made his kingdom great because of his people Israel.  

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  And David took more women and wives in Jerusalem, after he had come from Hebron: and he had more sons and daughters.  

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  These are the names of those whose birth took place in Jerusalem: Shammua and Shobab and Nathan and Solomon  

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  And Ibhar and Elishua and Nepheg and Japhia  

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  And Elishama and Eliada and Eliphelet.  

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  And when the Philistines had news that David had been made king over Israel, they all went up in search of David; and David, hearing of it, went down to the strong place.  

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  And when the Philistines came, they went in every direction in the valley of Rephaim.  

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  And David, desiring directions from the Lord, said, Am I to go up against the Philistines? will you give them up into my hands? And the Lord said, Go up, for I will certainly give up the Philistines into your hands.  

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  And David went to Baal-perazim, and overcame them there; and he said, The Lord has let the forces fighting against me be broken before me as a wall is broken by rushing waters. So that place was named Baal-perazim.  

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  And the Philistines, when they went in flight, did not take their images with them, and David and his men took them away.  

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  And the Philistines came up again, and went in every direction in the valley of Rephaim.  

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  And when David went for directions to the Lord, he said, You are not to go up against them in front; but make a circle round them from the back and come on them opposite the spice-trees.  

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  Then at the sound of footsteps in the tops of the trees, go forward quickly, for the Lord has gone out before you to overcome the army of the Philistines.  

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  And David did as the Lord had said; and he overcame the Philistines, attacking them from Gibeon to near Gezer.  

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