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the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “We are of your own flesh and blood. 2 In the past, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led Israel out to battle and brought us back. And the Lord said to you, ‘You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be ruler over Israel’.”
3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron. There King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.
4 David was thirty years old when he began his reign, and he reigned forty years. 5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.
6 The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites who inhabited the region. They told David, “You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can drive you away.” They were thinking, “David cannot get in here.” 7 Yet David did capture the stronghold of Zion, the City of David.
8 On that day, David said, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites will need to go through the water shaft to reach ‘the lame and the blind’, who are despised by David.” That is why it is said, “The ‘blind and the lame’ will never come into the house.”
9 David took up residence in the stronghold, and he renamed it the City of David. He built up the area around it, from the Millo inward. 10 And David became more and more powerful, for the Lord God of Hosts was with him.
11 King Hiram of Tyre sent envoys to David, along with cedar logs, and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David. 12 And David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.
13 After he left Hebron, David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him. 14 These are the names of the children born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 16 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
17 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they all went up to search for David, but David heard of it and he went down to the stronghold. 18 So the Philistines came and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. 19 David inquired of the Lord, asking, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hand?”
The Lord answered David, “Go, for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into your hand.”
20 So David went to Baal-perazim, and he defeated them there. He said, “Like a bursting flood, the Lord has broken out against my enemies before me.” So he named that place Baal-perazim. 21 The Philistines abandoned their heathen god idols there, and David and his men carried them off.
22 Once again the Philistines marched up and spread out across the Valley of Rephaim. 23 So David inquired of the Lord, and He answered, “You must not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them opposite the balsam trees. 24 When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then move quickly, for that will be the sound of the Lord marching out before you to attack the camp of the Philistines.” 25 So David did just as the Lord had commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines from Geba all the way to Gezer.