Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and said, “Behold us, we are your kin and flesh.

Already in times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you that was going out and coming in at the head of Israel. And the LORD said to you, ‘You shall take care of my people Israel, and you shall be king over Israel.’”

So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel.

David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.

At Hebron he reigned over those of the House of Judah seven years and six months; and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty three years.

And the king and his men went to Jerusalem, toward the Jebusite, who inhabited the land. And they said to David, “You will not come in here, unless you remove the sinners and the guilty, who are saying, ‘David will not come in here.’”

Yet David took the citadel of Zion, that is, the City of David.

And David had said on that day, “Whoever would kill the Jebusite, let him begin to subject the fortified city.” And David’s soul rejected the sinners and the guilty. Therefore they say, “The sinners and the guilty will not enter the house.”

And David dwelt in the citadel, and called it “City of David”. And David built it round about, from the bulwark and inward.

And David became greater and greater, and the LORD, Elohe Sebaoth, was in his aid.

And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters who were skilled at cutting trees, and architects who were skilled at building walls. And he built David a house.

And David knew that the LORD strengthened him to be king over Israel, and that his kingdom was exalted for the sake of his people Israel.

And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron. And more sons and daughter were born to David.

And these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,

Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,

Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David to be king over Israel, all the Philistines went up in search of David. But David heard of it and went down to the citadel.

The Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of the Heroes.

And David inquired of the speech of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Wilt Thou surrender them into my hand?” And the LORD said to David, “Go up, for I will certainly surrender the Philistines into your hand.”

And David came to the valley of Perazim, and David struck them down there. And he said, “The LORD has broken my haters before me, like the breaking of a vessel of clay full of water.” Therefore he called the name of that place the Valley of Perazim.

And they had left their idols there, and David and his men burnt them.

And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread out in the Valley of the Heroes.

And when David inquired of the speech of the LORD, he said, “You shall not go up. Go around to their rear, and go toward them opposite the trees.

And about the time you hear the sound of an outcry in the tops of the trees, then you will be strengthened, for then the angel of the LORD will have gone out to succeed before you to kill among the camp of the Philistines.

And David did as the LORD commanded him, and killed the Philistines from Geba to the entrance of Gezer.