Antiquities — Book 7

Josephus · a new plain-English translation from the Greek

1. How David reigned over the one tribe at the city of Hebron, while the son of Saul reigned over the rest of the people. 2. How, when Ish-bosheth was murdered by a conspiracy of friends, David received the kingdom over all. 3. How David besieged Jerusalem, took the city, drove the Canaanites out of it, and settled Jews there. 4. How, when the Philistines twice took the field against him, he defeated them at Jerusalem. 5. The friendship that arose between David and Hiram, king of Tyre. 6. How David campaigned against the surrounding nations, subdued them, and imposed tribute on them. 7. The battle and victory David won against the Damascenes. 8. How he campaigned against the Mesopotamians and mastered them. 9. How, when his own household rose against him, he was driven from power by his son and fled beyond the Jordan. 10. How Absalom took the field against his father David and perished together with his army. 11. How David came down again to the kingdom, lived out his days in happiness, and, while still alive, appointed his son Solomon king. 12. The death of David, who left his son a great store of silver, gold, and precious stones for building the temple. This book covers a period of forty years.

Now it happened that this battle took place on the very day that David, having defeated the Amalekites, returned to Ziklag. He had already spent two days at Ziklag when, on the third, a man arrived who had escaped from the battle against the Philistines — the very man who had killed Saul — with his clothes torn and ashes poured over his head. He bowed before David, and when David asked him where he had come from in such a state, he said he had come from the battle of the Israelites, and reported that its outcome had been disastrous: many tens of thousands of the Hebrews had been killed, and their king Saul had fallen along with his sons. He claimed to know this because he himself had been present at the rout of the Hebrews and had been with the king when he fled.

He said that when Saul, about to be captured by the enemy, was on the point of killing himself, he had been urged by the king to do it, and admitted that he had done so: Saul had fallen upon his sword, but because his wounds were so severe he had grown too weak to finish himself off. As proof of the killing the man produced the gold armlet the king had worn and his crown, which he had stripped from Saul's corpse and brought to David. David, now unable to disbelieve, seeing clear evidence of Saul's death, tore his clothes, and together with his companions spent the whole day weeping and lamenting.

His grief was made still sharper by the fact that Saul's son Jonathan had been his most faithful friend and the man responsible for saving his life. Indeed Jonathan had shown such virtue and such devotion toward Saul that, though he had often been in danger of losing his own life at his father's hands, he not only took his death hard but also punished the man who had killed him. For when the Amalekite told him he had himself been the one to kill the king, boasting of it as his own doing, and David learned that the man was the son of an Amalekite father, he ordered him put to death. David also composed dirges and funeral eulogies for Saul and Jonathan, which survive even to my own day.

When he had honored the king with these tributes and his mourning was ended, he inquired of God through the prophet which city of the tribe called Judah he should give him to settle in. God answered that he should give him Hebron; so David left Ziklag and went there, bringing with him his wives — he had two — and the soldiers who were with him. And all the people of the tribe just named came together to him and proclaimed him king.

When he heard that the inhabitants of Jabesh in Gilead had buried Saul and his sons, he sent to them praising and commending their deed, promising to repay them for the devotion they had shown the dead, and at the same time informing them that the tribe of Judah had chosen him king. Now Saul's commander-in-chief, Abner son of Ner, a vigorous man of good natural ability, when he learned that the king had fallen, along with Jonathan and his two other sons, hastened to the camp, snatched up Saul's surviving son — his name was Ish-bosheth — and carried him across to the far side of the Jordan, where he proclaimed him king over the whole people except the tribe of Judah.

He made him a royal seat at the place called, in the native tongue, Mahanaim, and in Greek, "The Camps." From there Abner set out with a picked force, intending to engage the men of the tribe of Judah, for he was furious with them for having made David king. But he was met by a man David had sent — the son of Zeruiah, whose father was Suri, and who was Zeruiah's son by David's sister — Joab, who was David's commander-in-chief, together with his brothers Abishai and Asahel and all of David's soldiers.

Coming upon each other at a certain spring in the city of Gibeon, they drew up for battle. Abner proposed that they find out which side had the braver soldiers, and it was agreed that twelve men from each side would fight it out. So the men chosen for the contest by the two commanders advanced into the space between the battle lines, hurled their spears at one another, then drew their swords and, seizing each other by the head, held on and struck each other in the ribs and flanks with their blades, until, as if by agreement, every one of them died.

When these had fallen the rest of the armies clashed as well, and after a hard-fought battle Abner's men were defeated. Joab did not let up in pursuing the routed enemy, but pressed on himself, urging his soldiers to keep close on their heels and not tire of cutting them down. His brothers fought eagerly too, and the younger, Asahel, distinguished himself above the rest, for he had a reputation for speed of foot — indeed they say he could outrun not only men but even a horse matched against him in a race.

He pursued Abner headlong, running straight on without swerving to either side. Abner turned and tried to outwit his pursuer's charge, and at one point one of his own soldiers told him to give up the chase and strip Asahel of his armor; but when this failed to persuade Asahel to stop and he kept urging him not to pursue further, warning that if he killed him he would lose the friendship he enjoyed with his brother — Asahel would not listen to these words but kept up the pursuit, so that Abner, still fleeing, thrust his spear backward and struck a fatal blow, killing him on the spot.

When the men who had been pursuing Abner alongside Asahel reached the place where he lay, they stood around the body and pursued the enemy no further. But Joab himself and his brother Abishai ran past the corpse, and, driven by anger over their dead brother to press the chase against Abner all the harder, pursued him with incredible speed and eagerness as far as a place called Ammah, by which time the sun was already setting. Abner climbed a certain hill in that region, which belongs to the tribe of Benjamin,

and from there kept watch on his pursuers and on Abner's own men. Then Joab shouted out that kinsmen should not be goaded into strife and battle against one another, and that his own brother Asahel had been at fault as well, since he would not listen when warned not to pursue and so was struck down and killed because of it. Persuaded by these words, and taking them as good counsel, Joab sounded the trumpet to recall his soldiers and called off the long pursuit.

So Joab encamped that night on that very spot, while Abner marched the whole night through, crossed the Jordan River, and arrived at Mahanaim, where Saul's son was. The next day Joab counted all the dead and gave them burial. Of Abner's soldiers about three hundred and sixty had fallen,

and of David's, nineteen, plus Asahel, whose body Joab and Abishai carried from there to Bethlehem and buried in their ancestral tomb before returning to David at Hebron. From that time civil war began among the Hebrews and continued for a long while, David's side always growing stronger and gaining the advantage in the fighting, while Saul's son and his supporters grew weaker almost by the day.

About this time David also had sons born to him, six in number, from as many wives. The eldest, born of his mother Ahinoam, was named Amnon; the second, by his wife Abigail, was named Chileab; the third, born to him of Maacah, daughter of Talmai king of the Geshurites, was named Absalom;

the fourth he named Adonijah, by his wife Haggith; the fifth, Shephatiah, by Abital; and the sixth he named Ithream, by Eglah. While the civil war continued, with frequent clashes and battles between the two kings' forces, Abner, the commander-in-chief of Saul's son, being a shrewd man and

holding great goodwill among the people, kept them all firmly loyal to Ish-bosheth, and for a considerable time they remained devoted to his cause. But later Abner fell under a charge — accused of having slept with Saul's concubine Rizpah, daughter of Aiah — and when Ish-bosheth reproached him for it, he was deeply hurt and angered, feeling that he was not receiving fair treatment in return for all the care he had taken on Ish-bosheth's behalf,

and he threatened to turn the kingdom over to David, and to show that it was not through his own strength and judgment that Ish-bosheth ruled the lands beyond the Jordan, but through Abner's generalship and loyalty. He sent to David at Hebron asking to receive oaths and pledges that David would keep him as companion and friend, in return for his winning over the people to abandon Saul's son

and proclaim David king of the whole country. David agreed to the terms — he was pleased with what Abner proposed to him through his envoys — but insisted that as a first proof of the agreement Abner restore to him his wife Michal, whom he had won at great risk and with six hundred Philistine heads, which he had brought to her father Saul as her bride-price. So Abner sent Michal to him,

taking her from Paltiel, who was then living with her as her husband, with Ish-bosheth's cooperation as well — for David had written to him that he should justly get his wife back. Abner then called together the elders of the people, the captains, and the officers, and addressed them, saying that although he had before now turned them back from their readiness to abandon Ish-bosheth and side with David, he now let them go whichever way they wished,

for he knew that God, through the prophet Samuel, had appointed David king of all the Hebrews, and had foretold that David himself would take vengeance on the Philistines and reduce them to subjection. Hearing this, the elders and the leaders, since Abner's judgment now matched the view they themselves had already held about affairs, changed their allegiance to David's side. Once they were persuaded, Abner called together the tribe of Benjamin,

since it was from that tribe that all of Ish-bosheth's bodyguard came, and he made the same case to them; and when he found they raised no objection but went along with what he wanted, he took about twenty companions with him and went to David to receive the oaths from him in person, since agreements each man makes for himself are held to be more trustworthy than those made through another, and also to report

to the leaders and to the whole tribe the terms that had been arranged. David received him warmly, entertained him for several days at a lavish and costly table, and Abner asked leave to go and bring the people, so that in David's presence, before their own eyes, they might hand over the kingdom to him. But no sooner had David sent Abner off than Joab, his commander-in-chief, arrived at Hebron, and on learning that

Abner had just been with David and had a little before departed under a settlement and agreement about the kingship, he feared that David would honor Abner and give him the first place, making him his partner in the kingdom — since Abner was, besides, a shrewd man skilled at reading affairs and seizing opportunities — while he himself would be diminished and stripped of his command. So he set out on a wicked and treacherous course. First

he tried to slander Abner to the king, warning him to be on his guard and not trust what Abner had agreed to, since everything Abner did was aimed at securing the throne for Saul's son, and that he had come to David with deceit and treachery, meaning to leave again with the very hopes and plans he had set out to arrange. But when he failed to persuade David of this and saw that David was not even provoked by it, he turned

to a bolder course still, and, having decided to kill Abner, sent men after him with orders that, once they overtook him, they should summon him in David's name, on the pretext that David had some further business to discuss with him that he had forgotten to mention while Abner was present. When Abner heard the messengers' words, they caught up with him at a place called Besherah, twenty stadia from Hebron, and, suspecting nothing

of what was about to happen, he turned back. Joab met him at the gate and greeted him with every show of goodwill and friendship — for men who set their hand to monstrous deeds are quite practiced at feigning the manner of truly good men, so as to keep their plot from being suspected — and drew him away from his own companions, as though to speak with him privately, leading him to a more deserted part of the gate where he was alone with his brother Abishai;

there, drawing his sword, he struck him under the ribs. And so Abner died, ambushed in this way by Joab — ostensibly, as Joab himself claimed, in vengeance for his brother Asahel, whom Abner had killed in the battle near Hebron after catching him in pursuit, but in truth, as the matter really stood, because Joab feared for his command and for his standing with the king, lest he himself

be stripped of these honors and Abner receive from David the first place instead. From this one may see how far, and to what lengths, men will go out of greed for gain and power and their refusal to yield any part of it to another: longing to obtain such things, they resort to countless evils to get them, and, fearing to lose them, secure the permanence of their hold by means far worse still — as though winning something so great were no less dangerous a business than keeping it.

power, and a man who has grown used to the good things it brings, only to lose it afterward, since this is the greatest of misfortunes. It is for this reason that everyone, once seized by the fear of losing it, contrives harsher measures and dares terrible deeds. But let this brief statement suffice on that subject.

When David heard that Abner had been murdered, he was grieved to the heart, and he called everyone to witness, raising his right hand to God and crying out, that he had had no part in Abner's slaughter and that the man had not died by his order or his own wish. He pronounced terrible curses on the murderer, and he held Joab's whole house and his accomplices answerable to the penalties owed for the dead man, for he was anxious not to seem to have done this in violation of the pledges and oaths he had given Abner.

He ordered the whole people, however, to weep and mourn the man and to honor his body with the customary rites, tearing their garments and putting on sackcloth, and to do this while walking before the bier. He himself followed with the elders and the men in command, beating his breast and showing through his tears both his goodwill toward the man while he lived and his grief now that he was dead, and that it was not by his own wish that he had been killed. He buried him at Hebron with great splendor, and having composed dirges for the funeral, he himself stood first at the tomb and led the lament, then handed it over to the others. So thoroughly did the death of Abner overcome him that his companions could not persuade him to take food, and he swore to taste nothing until sunset.

This won him the people's goodwill, for those who had been devoted to Abner were deeply pleased at the honor David showed him after his death and at his fidelity in keeping faith, since he had accorded him everything customary as to a kinsman and friend, and had not, though the man had become his enemy, insulted him with a disorderly and neglected burial. And the rest of the people too rejoiced, as one does at a good and gentle nature, each reckoning that the same care the king had shown toward Abner's corpse he would find shown toward himself in similar circumstances. For this reason especially they were devoted to David, taking care, as was natural, for his good name, since no one suspected him of having had Abner murdered. He also spoke to the people, saying that no ordinary grief had come upon him at the death of a good man, and that it was no small loss to the affairs of the Hebrews to be deprived of one who could hold them together and preserve them, both by the best of counsels and by strength of hand in the deeds of war.

"But God," he said, "who cares for all things, will not let this go unavenged for us. And I know well that I am not able to do anything against Joab and Abishai, the sons of Zeruiah, who are more powerful than I am, but the divine will render them the recompense owed for what they have dared."

Such was the end to which Abner's life came. When Saul's son Ishbosheth heard of his death he did not bear it calmly, having lost a kinsman who had also given him the kingdom, but was overcome with grief, and Abner's death pained him greatly. He himself did not live much longer either, but was murdered through a plot by the sons of Eremmon, one named Bana and the other Thaenos.

These men were Benjaminites of the first rank, and reckoning that if they killed Ishbosheth they would win great gifts from David, together with a command or some other mark of trust, since the deed would recommend them to him, found Ishbosheth resting at noon and asleep, with neither the guards present nor the doorkeeper awake -- she too had fallen into sleep from weariness and the work she had been doing, and from the heat. They went in to the chamber where Saul's son lay sleeping and killed him. Cutting off his head, and traveling through a whole night and day, as men fleeing from those they had wronged toward one who would receive their favor and grant them safety, they arrived at Hebron. They showed David the head of Ishbosheth and presented themselves as loyal men who had done away with his enemy and rival for the kingdom.

But David did not receive their deed as they had hoped; instead he said, "You most wicked men, who will at once pay the penalty -- did you not understand how I punished the murderer of Saul and the man who brought me his golden crown, even though he did the killing as a favor to Saul, so that the enemy might not capture him? Did you suppose that I had changed and was no longer the same man, so as to delight in evildoers and to count as favors your master-killing deeds, done against a righteous man who had done no wrong to anyone, in his own bed, when you yourselves had received much goodwill and honor from him? For this you will pay the penalty owed to him by being punished, and to me the penalty for having supposed that I would be pleased at Ishbosheth's death, and that this would move you to kill him. For you could not have wronged my good name more than by that assumption."

Having said this, he had them tortured with every torment and then put to death, and taking Ishbosheth's head, he had it buried with all honor in Abner's tomb.

After these events reached such an end, all the leading men of the people of the Hebrews came to David at Hebron, both their commanders of thousands and their officers, and gave themselves over to him, recalling the goodwill they had held toward him even while Saul was still living, and also the honor which, when he had become a commander of a thousand, they had continued to show him without fail, and declaring that he had been appointed king by God through Samuel the prophet, and his descendants after him, and that it was he who had saved the country of the Hebrews for them by defeating the Philistines, a gift God had granted through him. He welcomed their eagerness, urged them to remain steadfast -- for they would have no cause to regret it -- feasted them and treated them kindly, and sent the people back to bring to him everyone else.

There assembled, from the tribe of Judah, about six thousand eight hundred armed men bearing shield and spear -- these had remained with Saul's son, for apart from them the tribe of Judah had proclaimed David king. From the tribe of Simeon, seven thousand one hundred. From the tribe of Levi, four thousand seven hundred, with Jodamus as their commander; with them was the high priest Zadok, together with twenty-two kinsmen who were leaders. From the tribe of Benjamin, four thousand armed men -- for that tribe still waited, expecting that someone of Saul's line would yet become king. From the tribe of Ephraim, twenty thousand eight hundred of the strongest and most outstanding in might. From the half-tribe of Manasseh, eighteen thousand of the strongest. From the tribe of Issachar, two hundred who had foreknowledge of things to come, and twenty thousand armed men. From the tribe of Zebulun, fifty thousand picked, armed men -- this tribe alone came out in full; all of these had the same equipment as the men of the tribe of Gad. From the tribe of Naphtali, one thousand notable men and leaders equipped with shield and spear, followed by a tribe beyond counting. From the tribe of Dan, twenty-seven thousand six hundred chosen men. From the tribe of Asher, forty thousand. From the two tribes across the Jordan and the rest of the tribe of Manasseh, one hundred twenty thousand armed with shield, spear, helmet, and sword; and the rest of the tribes used swords.

This whole multitude came together to David at Hebron with abundant provision of food and wine and everything needed for sustenance, and with one accord confirmed David as king. After the people had feasted and been entertained for three days at Hebron, David set out from there with them all and came to Jerusalem.

The inhabitants of the city, the Jebusites, a people of Canaanite stock, shut the gates against him, and set upon the wall, in mockery of the king, the blind and the lame and everyone who was maimed, saying that they would keep him from entering -- even the disabled would stop him -- and they did this out of contempt for the strength of their walls. Enraged, David began to besiege Jerusalem, and applying great effort and zeal, so as to display his strength at once by taking it and to strike fear into any others who might be disposed toward him as these people were, he took the lower city by force. But the citadel still held out, and the king, knowing this, resolved by promise of honor and rewards to make the soldiers more eager for the task, and he proclaimed that he would give command of the whole army to whoever climbed up to the citadel by way of the ravines beneath it and took it. As everyone was eager to make the climb and no one shrank from any labor out of desire for the command, Joab son of Zeruiah outstripped the others, and having climbed up, called out to the king demanding the command.

Having driven the Jebusites from the citadel and having himself rebuilt Jerusalem, he named the city after himself, the City of David, and he spent all his time there while he reigned. The time during which he ruled over the tribe of Judah alone, at Hebron, came to seven years and six months. Having made Jerusalem his royal seat, he grew ever more splendid in his fortunes, as God provided for him, making his affairs prosper and increase. Hiram, king of Tyre, sent envoys to him and concluded a treaty of friendship and alliance; he also sent him gifts -- cedar wood and skilled men, carpenters and builders, who built a palace at Jerusalem.

David, having taken the upper city and joined the citadel to it, made them a single body, and having walled it round, he appointed Joab overseer of the walls. David was thus the first to drive the Jebusites out of Jerusalem and to name the city after himself; for in the time of Abraham our forefather it was called Salem, but afterward, some say, because Homer too gave it this name, it was called Hierosolyma -- for in the Hebrew tongue "hieron" renders "Solyma," which means safety. The whole time from the campaign and war of Joshua the general against the Canaanites, in which he defeated them and allotted this land to the Hebrews, down to when the Israelites were no longer able to drive the Canaanites out of Jerusalem, until David took it by siege, was five hundred and fifteen years.

I shall also make mention of Orna, a wealthy man of the Jebusites, who was not killed in the siege of Jerusalem by David because of his goodwill toward the Hebrews, and because of a certain favor and eagerness he showed toward the king, which I will explain more fittingly a little later.

David also married other wives besides those he already had, and he took concubines. He fathered nine sons in all, whom he named Amase, Amnou, Seban, Nathan, Solomon, Iebares, Elien, Phalnageas, Naphe, Ienae, Eliphale, and also a daughter, Thamar. Of these, nine were born of women of noble birth, while the last two we have named were born of the concubines. Thamar was Absalom's sister by the same mother.

When the Philistines learned that David had been made king by the Hebrews, they marched against him toward Jerusalem, and seizing the valley called the Valley of the Giants -- a place not far from the city -- they encamped there. The king of the Jews, for he was accustomed to do nothing without prophecy and without bidding God stand as his guarantor concerning things to come, ordered the high priest to foretell what seemed good to God and how the battle would end. When he had prophesied victory and mastery, David led out his forces against the Philistines, and when battle was joined, falling suddenly upon the enemy's rear, he killed some of them and put the rest to flight.

Let no one suppose that a small army of Philistines came against the Hebrews, judging from the speed of their defeat and from the fact that they showed no brave deed worthy of note, that they were slow and cowardly. Rather, let it be known that all Syria and Phoenicia, and besides these many other warlike nations, campaigned together with them and shared in the war -- this alone was the reason why, though defeated so often and losing so many tens of thousands, they still came against the Hebrews with greater force. Indeed, having failed even in these battles, a threefold army came against David and encamped in the same place. Again the king of the Israelites inquired of God concerning the outcome of the battle,

and the high priest prophesied that he should hold the army back in the groves called the Weeping-groves, not far from the enemy's camp, and not move it nor begin the battle before the groves were stirred, though no wind was blowing. When the groves were stirred, and the moment God had foretold to him arrived, he delayed no longer but went out to a victory already assured and evident. For the enemy's ranks did not withstand him, but were routed from the very first clash, and he pressed on killing them; he pursued them as far as the city of Gazara, which is the boundary of their country, plundered their camp, and finding great wealth in it, destroyed their gods as well.

When this battle too had ended in this way, David resolved, after taking counsel with the elders and the officers and the commanders of thousands, to summon the men of fighting age from every part of the country belonging to his own people, and then the priests and Levites, and to go to Kiriath-jearim and bring up the ark of God from there to Jerusalem, and to worship it there from then on with sacrifices and the other honors in which the divine takes delight -- for if they had done this even while Saul was still reigning, they would have suffered no harm. So, when all the people had assembled, as they had resolved, the king came to the ark, which the priests had lifted from the house of Aminadab and placed on a new cart, and entrusted brothers and sons to draw it along with

of oxen. The king led the way, and the whole crowd with him hymned God and sang every kind of native song, with a rich accompaniment of instruments, dances, and psalms, and trumpet and cymbals besides, as they brought the ark down toward Jerusalem. But when they had come as far as the threshing floor of Chidon, a place so called, Uzzah died by the anger of God. For when the oxen shook the ark, he stretched out his hand and tried to steady it, and because he was not a priest and had touched it, God caused his death. The king and the people were distressed at Uzzah's death, and the place where he died is called the Breach. David, afraid, and reasoning that he might suffer the same fate as Uzzah if he received the ark into the city with him — since that man had died merely for stretching out his hand toward it — did not bring it in to himself in the city, but turned aside to the estate of a righteous man, a Levite named Obededom, and set the ark down with him. It remained there three full months, and in that time the house of Obededom prospered greatly and received a large share of blessings.

When the king heard that this had happened to Obededom, and that he had suddenly risen from poverty and humble station to prosperity and became the envy of all who saw or heard about his household, he took courage, confident that he would suffer no harm, and moved the ark to himself. The priests carried it, seven choirs which the king had arranged went ahead of it, and David himself played and struck the strings of a lyre — so that his wife Michal, daughter of Saul the first king, seeing him doing this, mocked him. When they had brought the ark in, they set it beneath the tent David had pitched for it, and he offered whole burnt offerings and peace offerings, and feasted the whole crowd, both women and men and children, giving out to each a small round loaf of bread, a portion of roasted meat, a fried cake, and a share of the sacrificial victim. Having thus feasted the people, he sent them away and returned to his own house.

Michal, Saul's daughter, came out to meet him. She wished him well in other things and prayed that God would grant him all he could, since he was in God's favor, but she also reproached him for having disgraced himself, so great a king, by dancing and exposing himself in his dancing before slaves and serving women. He answered that he was not ashamed to do what was pleasing to God, who had honored him above her father and everyone else, and that he would play and dance again and again, caring nothing that it might seem shameful to the servant women, since he took no such view of it himself. This Michal, though she lived with David, bore him no children; later, when she was given in marriage to the man to whom her father Saul had once handed her, and David then took her back from him by force, she bore five children. We shall speak of these in their proper place.

Seeing that in almost every day his affairs were turning out better through the will of God, the king thought he was doing wrong if, while he himself lived in a house built of cedar, lofty and furnished with every fine appointment, he allowed the ark to remain lying in a tent. He wanted to build a temple for God, as Moses had said, and he spoke of this with Nathan the prophet. Since Nathan told him to do whatever he had set his mind on, as God was with him and would cooperate with him in everything, David grew even more eager about building the temple. But that same night God appeared to Nathan and ordered him to tell David that he accepted his intention and desire — since no one before him had thought of building him a temple, though it was David who had first conceived the plan — but that he would not allow a man who had fought many wars and been stained with the blood of enemies to build him a temple. After David's death, however, once he had grown old and lived out a long life, the temple would be built by his son, who would succeed him in the kingdom and would be called Solomon. God promised to watch over and provide for him as a father does for a son, to keep the kingdom for his descendants and hand it down to them, and to punish him, if he should sin, with sickness and famine in the land.

When David learned this from the prophet, he was overjoyed to know for certain that the rule would remain with his descendants and that his house would be glorious and celebrated, and he went to the ark, fell on his face, and began to worship and to give thanks to God for everything — for having already raised him from a humble shepherd to so great a height of rule and glory, and for what he had promised his descendants, and for the providence he had shown toward the freedom of the Hebrews. Having said this and hymned God, he departed.

After a short interval he decided he must march out against the Philistines, unwilling to let his affairs grow idle or slack in anything, so that, having subdued his enemies as God had foretold to him, he might leave his descendants ruling thereafter in peace. He called the army together again, ordered it to be ready and prepared for war, and when he judged the moment right, marched out from Jerusalem against the Philistines with his forces. Having defeated them in battle and cut off a large part of their territory, annexing it to that of the Hebrews, he next carried the war against the Moabites, and defeating two-thirds of their army in battle he destroyed them, taking the remainder captive. He imposed on them a yearly tribute.

He then campaigned against Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, and joining battle with him by the Euphrates river he destroyed about twenty thousand of his infantry and about five thousand of his cavalry. He also captured a thousand of his chariots, most of which he destroyed, keeping only a hundred for himself.

When Hadad, king of Damascus and of Syria, heard that David was warring against Hadadezer, being his friend he came with a strong force to help him, but the outcome was as he had feared: joining battle by the Euphrates river, he was defeated and lost many of his soldiers, for twenty thousand of Hadad's force fell at the hands of the Hebrews, and all the rest fled.

Nicolaus too mentions this king in the fourth book of his histories, writing as follows: "Long afterward, a certain man of the region named Hadad, having grown more powerful, ruled over Damascus and the rest of Syria, except Phoenicia. He made war on David, king of Judea, and after being tried in many battles, in the last of them, fought by the Euphrates, in which he was defeated, he was judged to be the best of kings in strength and courage." And besides this he also speaks of his descendants, saying that after his death they received the kingdom and the name from one another in succession, writing thus: "After his death his descendants reigned for ten generations, each receiving from his father both the rule and the name together, just as the Ptolemies do in Egypt. The third of them, who had grown mightiest of all, wishing to avenge his ancestor's defeat, marched against the Jews and ravaged the land now called Samaria." Nicolaus does not miss the truth here, for this is the Hadad who campaigned against Samaria in the reign of Ahab, king of the Israelites, of whom we shall speak in the proper place.

David, having campaigned against Damascus and all the rest of Syria, made it wholly subject to himself, stationing garrisons in the country and fixing the tribute they were to pay, then returned. The golden quivers and suits of armor worn by Hadad's bodyguards he dedicated to God at Jerusalem — the very ones which the Egyptian king Shishak later took when he campaigned against David's grandson Rehoboam, carrying off besides much other wealth from Jerusalem; we shall tell of this when we come to its proper place.

As God favored the king of the Hebrews and gave him success in his wars, he also campaigned against the finest cities of Hadadezer, Betah and Berothai, and taking them by force plundered them. A great quantity of gold was found in them, and silver, and bronze too, which they said was better than the gold — the very bronze from which Solomon later made the great vessel called the Sea, and those beautiful basins, when he built the temple for God.

When the king of Hamath learned what had happened to Hadadezer and heard that his forces had been destroyed, fearing for himself he resolved to bind David to himself in friendship and trust before David should come against him, and sent to him his son Joram, acknowledging his gratitude for David's having warred against Hadadezer, who was also his enemy, and offering an alliance and friendship. He also sent him gifts, vessels of ancient workmanship in gold, silver, and bronze.

David, having made the alliance with Toi — for that was the name of the king of Hamath — and received the gifts, sent his son back with the honor due to both parties. What was sent to him, along with the rest of the gold and silver he had taken from the cities and the nations he had subdued, he brought and dedicated to God.

Nor did God grant victory and success only to David himself when he fought and led the army in person; when he sent Abishai, brother of Joab the commander-in-chief, with a force into Idumea, he gave the Hebrews victory over the Idumeans through him as well, for Abishai destroyed eighteen thousand of them in battle. The king garrisoned all Idumea and received from them tribute for the land and a poll tax for each person. He was also just by nature and rendered his judgments with an eye to the truth.

He had Joab as commander of the whole army; over the records he set Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud; from the house of Phinehas he appointed Zadok high priest along with Abiathar, since he was his friend; he made Seraiah secretary; to Benaiah son of Jehoiada he gave command of the bodyguard; and his elder sons attended his person and served as his guard.

He also remembered the covenant and oaths he had made with Jonathan, Saul's son, and Jonathan's friendship and devotion toward him. For besides all the other good qualities he possessed, he was most mindful, for all time, of those who had done him good. He therefore ordered a search to be made for anyone still living from Jonathan's family, to whom he might repay the debt he owed Jonathan for his friendship. A man was brought to him who had been freed by Saul and who knew who among that family still survived; David asked him whether he could name any relative of Jonathan still alive who might receive in return the favor of the kindnesses he himself had received from Jonathan. The man said a son of his survived, named Mephibosheth, who was lame in both feet, for after news came that the child's father and grandfather had fallen in battle, his nurse had snatched him up and fled, and in her flight he had fallen from her shoulders and his feet were injured.

Learning where and with whom the boy was being raised, David sent to Machir, in the city of Lodebar, for it was with him that Jonathan's son was being brought up, and summoned him to himself. Mephibosheth came to the king, fell on his face, and did obeisance to him. David urged him to take courage and expect better things, and gave him his father's house and all the property that his grandfather Saul had owned, ordered that he should eat at his table as a companion, and that he should not be absent a single day from dining with him. When the boy had done obeisance for these words and gifts, David called Ziba and told him he had given the ancestral house to the boy along with all of Saul's estate, and ordered Ziba himself to work the land and, taking charge of everything, to bring the produce to Jerusalem, and to bring himself and his sons — there were fifteen of them — each day to David's own table, along with Mephibosheth, and he granted to the boy Ziba's servants, who numbered twenty. When the king had arranged all this, Ziba did obeisance, promised to do everything, and withdrew, while Jonathan's son settled in Jerusalem, dining with the king and receiving every attention as though he were his own son; a son was also born to him, whom he named Micha.

Those who survived from the family of Saul and Jonathan received these honors from David. About that time Nahash, king of the Ammonites, who had been his friend, died, and his son Hanun succeeded to the kingdom. David sent envoys to him, urging him to bear his father's death calmly and promising that the same friendship he had shown Nahash would continue toward him. But the rulers of the Ammonites received this in bad faith, not in the spirit David intended, and urged their king on, saying that David had sent spies to survey their country and their strength under the pretense of kindness, and they advised him to be on guard and not to heed David's words, lest he be deceived and fall into irremediable disaster. Hanun, king of the Ammonites, thinking the rulers spoke more plausibly than the truth, treated the envoys David had sent with harsh insult: he shaved off half of each man's beard, cut off half their garments, and sent them away, their answer conveyed in deeds rather than words. When the king of the Israelites saw this, he was furious, and it was clear he would not overlook the outrage and insult but would make war on the Ammonites and exact from their king punishment for this offense against his envoys. When the Ammonites learned this...

His kinsmen and commanders, seeing that they had broken faith and owed a reckoning for it, began preparing for war. They sent to Syrus, king of the Mesopotamian Syrians, a thousand talents to persuade him to become their ally for that fee, and did the same with Souba; between the two kings they had twenty thousand infantry. They also hired the king of the land called Maacah, and a fourth, named Istobos, together bringing twelve thousand heavy infantry.

David was not daunted by this alliance or by the strength of the Ammonites. Trusting in God, and convinced that he would be fighting them justly for the outrage he had suffered, he gave Joab, his commander-in-chief, the fittest part of the army and sent him against them. Joab encamped before Arabatha, the Ammonite capital.

When the enemy came out and drew up for battle, they did not form as one body but in two: the mercenary force was posted apart on the plain, while the Ammonite army stood by the gates, facing the Hebrews. Seeing this, Joab devised a countermeasure of his own. Choosing his bravest men, he drew them up opposite the Syrian and his allied kings, and gave the rest to his brother Abishai with orders to form up against the Ammonites.

He told Abishai that if he saw the Syrians pressing him hard and gaining the upper hand, he should wheel his line around and come to his aid, and that he himself would do the same if he saw Abishai being worn down by the Ammonites. Having encouraged his brother in this way and urged him to fight with the spirit and eagerness proper to men who fear disgrace, he sent him off to engage the Ammonites while he himself joined battle with the Syrians.

After holding out stubbornly for a little while, the Syrians were routed: Joab killed many of them and forced the whole force to flight. Seeing this, and afraid of Abishai and the troops with him, the Ammonites did not stand their ground either, but followed their allies example and fled into the city. Having thus mastered the enemy, Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king in triumph.

This defeat did not persuade the Ammonites to keep quiet, nor did they learn from stronger men to remain at peace. Instead they sent to Chalamas, king of the Syrians beyond the Euphrates, and hired him as an ally; he had as his commander-in-chief Sebekos, with eighty thousand infantry and ten thousand cavalry. When the king of the Hebrews learned that the Ammonites had again gathered so great a force against him, he decided he could no longer fight them through his generals, but crossed the Jordan himself with the whole army. Meeting the enemy, he joined battle and won: he killed about forty thousand of their infantry and about seven thousand cavalry, and wounded Chalamas general Sebekos, who died of the wound. The Mesopotamians, the battle having ended so, surrendered themselves to David and sent him gifts.

He himself returned to Jerusalem for the winter season, and at the beginning of spring sent his commander-in-chief Joab to make war on the Ammonites. Joab overran their whole land, laying it waste, and shut them up in their capital, Arabatha, which he besieged.

It was at this time that a grave misfortune befell David, a man naturally just and God-fearing, who kept faithfully to the laws of his ancestors. One evening, watching from the roof of the palace, where it was his custom to walk at that hour, he saw a woman bathing in cold water in her own house, a woman of the greatest beauty, surpassing all others; her name was Bathsheba. He was overcome by the woman's beauty, and unable to master his desire, he had her brought to him.

When the woman conceived, she sent to the king asking him to find some way of concealing the offense, since by their ancestral laws she was liable to die as an adulteress. David summoned from the siege one of Joab's armor-bearers, the woman's husband, whose name was Uriah, and on his arrival questioned him about the army and the siege.

When Uriah said that everything was going as they wished, David took portions from his own dinner and gave them to him, and told him to go home to his wife and rest with her. But Uriah did not do so; instead he lay down to sleep by the king's doors along with the other armor-bearers. When the king learned of this, he questioned him as to why he had not gone to his own house or to his wife after so long a time away, when it is the nature of all men to do so when they return from a campaign. Uriah answered that it was not right for him to rest and indulge himself with a woman while his fellow soldiers and his commander were sleeping on the ground in camp, in enemy territory. Having said this, he was ordered to remain there that day, so that he might be sent back to the commander-in-chief the next day.

Invited to dine with the king, Uriah drank to the point of drunkenness, the king plying him deliberately with toasts, but even so he again slept before the king's doors, feeling no desire at all for his wife. Exasperated by this, the king wrote to Joab ordering him to punish Uriah, making clear that Uriah had committed some fault, and, so that his own wish in the matter should not become apparent, he suggested the manner of the punishment: he ordered Joab to post him in the most exposed sector of the enemy line, at a point where he would be in danger of being left alone in the fighting, for he instructed that his fellow soldiers should withdraw once the battle began. Having written this and sealed the letter with his own signet, he gave it to Uriah to carry to Joab.

Joab received the letter, and having read the king's design, stationed Uriah, together with some of the army's best men, at the very point where he knew the enemy had proved most dangerous. He himself declared he would come up in support with the whole force, if they could breach part of the wall and get into the city. Since Uriah was a fine soldier who enjoyed a reputation with the king and with all his countrymen for courage, Joab thought it right to let him welcome great hardships rather than resent them. Uriah eagerly undertook the task, and Joab told the men posted alongside him to abandon him privately whenever they saw the enemy charging out.

So when the Hebrews attacked the city, the Ammonites, fearing that the enemy might scale the wall before they could stop them at the very point where Uriah happened to be posted, put their bravest men forward, threw open the gate, and suddenly rushed out upon the enemy with great force and speed. Seeing them, all the men with Uriah withdrew, just as Joab had told them to; but Uriah, ashamed to flee and abandon his post, stood his ground against the enemy. Receiving their charge, he killed no small number of them, but was surrounded, caught in their midst, and died there, along with a few others who fell alongside him.

When this had happened, Joab sent messengers to the king, instructing them to say that he had been eager to take the city quickly, but that after assaulting the wall and losing many men he had been forced to withdraw, and to add, if the king grew angry at this, the news of Uriah's death as well.

When the king heard this from the messengers, he was indignant, saying that they had done wrong to assault the wall, when they ought instead to have tried to take the city by mines and siege engines, citing as an example Gideon's son Abimelech, who, wishing to take the tower at Thebes by force, was struck by a stone thrown by an old woman and fell, and though a most courageous man died shamefully because of the recklessness of his attempt; men should remember him and not approach the enemy's wall too closely, for it is best, of all things done in war, whether they turned out well or badly, to keep such risks in memory, so as to imitate some and guard against others. But when the messenger, finding him in this mood, told him also of Uriah's death, he ceased from his anger.

He ordered the messenger to go and tell Joab that what had happened was merely human, and that war has this nature: sometimes it turns out well for one side, sometimes for the other. For the future, however, Joab should take care over the siege, so that they suffer no further reverse in it, but should reduce the city by earthworks and siege engines, and once they had mastered it, raze the city to the ground and destroy everyone in it.

The messenger hurried back to Joab carrying the king's orders. Meanwhile Uriah's wife Bathsheba, on learning of her husband's death, mourned him for many days; and once she had ceased her grief and her weeping over Uriah, the king at once took her as his wife, and she bore him a son.

God was not pleased by this marriage. Angry with David, he appeared to the prophet Nathan in a dream and reproached the king through him. Nathan, a shrewd and intelligent man, reasoning that kings, once they fall into anger, give more weight to their passion than to justice, decided not to state God's threats outright, but instead related to him another, gentler kind of story, wishing to make clear to David, by this means, what he thought of what David had done.

Two men, he said, lived in the same city. One was rich and owned many flocks of cattle, sheep, and other livestock; the poor man had only a single ewe lamb, which he raised together with his children, sharing his food with her and treating her with the affection one might show a daughter. When a guest arrived at the rich man's house, the rich man would not consent to slaughter any of his own flocks to entertain his friend; instead he sent for the poor man's lamb, seized it, prepared it, and feasted his guest with it.

This story greatly distressed the king, and he declared to Nathan that the man who had dared to do such a thing deserved to pay fourfold for the lamb and, beyond that, to be punished with death. Nathan replied that David himself was the man he had just condemned by his own judgment, for daring so great and terrible a deed. He then uncovered and laid bare to him the full anger of God, who had made him king over the whole power of the Hebrews and lord of many great nations round about, who had rescued him earlier still from the hands of Saul, and had given him wives whom he had lawfully and rightfully married, and who had been despised and wronged by him, since he had taken another man's wife and had put her husband to death by handing him over to the enemy.

For this, Nathan said, David would pay the penalty to God: his own wives would be violated by one of his sons, and he himself would be plotted against by that same son, and the wrong he had done in secret would be punished openly; moreover, the son born to him of that woman would die at once.

The king was shaken by this and overcome with grief; with tears he confessed that he had sinned, for he was by common consent a God-fearing man who had committed no wrong at all in his life except in the matter of Uriah's wife. God took pity on him, was reconciled, and promised to preserve both his life and his kingdom, saying that since he repented of what had happened, he would no longer deal harshly with him. Having prophesied these things to the king, Nathan went home.

God struck the child born of Uriah's wife with a grave illness. David, distressed by this, refused all food for seven days, though his household urged him to eat; he put on black clothing, and lay on the ground on sackcloth, imploring God for the child's life, for he loved its mother deeply. On the seventh day the child died, and his servants did not dare tell the king, reasoning that if he learned of it he would abstain even more from food and from all other care of himself, as would be natural for one whose beloved child had died, when even during its illness grief had made him treat himself so harshly.

But the king noticed that his servants were troubled and behaving as people do when they most want to conceal something, and understood that the child had died. He called one of the servants to him and, learning the truth, rose up, bathed, put on white clothing, and went to the tent of God; then he ordered dinner to be served to him, causing great astonishment among his relatives and servants at this unexpected behavior, since he had done none of these things while the child was ill, yet now, once it had died, did them all at once.

When they asked the reason, and begged leave first to ask him about it, he told them they were ignorant, and explained: while the child still lived he had reason to hope for its recovery, and so did everything that was fitting, believing that God would in this way be made favorable toward it; but once it had died, there was no further use in vain grief. Hearing this, they praised the king's wisdom and understanding.

He then went in to his wife Bathsheba again and made her pregnant; when she bore a male child, he named him Solomon, as the prophet Nathan had directed.

Meanwhile Joab pressed the siege of the Ammonites hard, cutting them off from their water and from their other supplies, so that they suffered greatly from lack of drink and food; for they depended on a small well and cistern, using it sparingly so that the spring would not fail them completely.

He then wrote to the king to report this and to urge him to come and take the city himself, so that the victory might be credited to him. When Joab's letter arrived, the king, approving of his loyalty and good faith, took the force that was with him and came to storm Rabatha. Taking it by force, he allowed the soldiers to plunder it.

He himself took the crown of the king of the Ammonites, a talent of gold in weight, set with a costly sardonyx stone in the center; David wore it on his head from then on. He found much other splendid and costly plunder in the city as well; and he tortured the men to death. He did the same to the other cities of the

That was how he treated the other cities of the Ammonites too, taking them all by force. When the king returned to Jerusalem, a disaster befell his household for the following reason. He had a daughter, still a virgin, of such striking beauty that she surpassed all the loveliest women; her name was Tamar, and she shared the same mother as Absalom. Amnon, the eldest of David's sons, fell in love with her, and since he could obtain the object of his desire neither because of her virginity nor because of how closely she was guarded, he fell into a wretched state: his body wasted away under the torment consuming him, and his color changed.

He could not hide what he was suffering from a certain kinsman and friend named Jonadab, a man of unusual intelligence and sharp understanding. Noticing every morning that Amnon was not himself physically, Jonadab came to him and asked him to explain the reason, guessing on his own that Amnon was in the grip of erotic desire. When Amnon admitted his condition—that he was in love with his sister, who shared the same father—Jonadab suggested a way and a device for him to obtain what he longed for: he advised Amnon to pretend to be ill, and when their father came to see him, to ask that his sister be sent to attend to him, since he would find relief and quickly be rid of the illness once that happened.

So Amnon took to his bed and feigned sickness, following Jonadab's advice. When their father came and asked how he was, Amnon begged him to send his sister to him, and the king at once ordered her brought. When she arrived he directed her to make him some fried cakes with her own hands, since he would eat more gladly from her hands. She kneaded the flour while her brother watched, shaped the cakes, fried them, and brought them to him. But he did not taste them then; instead he ordered the servants to withdraw from the chamber, saying he wanted to rest, free of noise and disturbance. When his order had been carried out, he asked his sister to bring the food into the inner room to him. She did so, but as soon as she came near he seized her and tried to persuade her to lie with him.

The girl cried out, "No—do not force me to this, and do not commit this outrage, brother! You would be breaking the law and wrapping yourself in terrible shame. Stop this unjust and vile desire, from which our house will reap only reproach and disgrace." She urged him to speak to their father about it, for he would surely consent. She said this only to escape, for the moment, the onrush of his passion. But he would not be persuaded; burning with love and goaded by the stings of his passion, he forced his sister.

Hatred entered Amnon at once after the assault, and after heaping abuse on her he ordered her to get up and leave. When she protested that this was an even worse outrage—for having violated her, he would not even let her stay until nightfall, but ordered her out at once, in broad daylight, so that she would meet witnesses to her shame—he had her thrown out by a servant. Overwhelmed with grief at the outrage and the violence done to her, she tore her tunic (for in ancient times unmarried girls wore long-sleeved tunics reaching to the ankles, so as not to be seen bare), poured ashes over her head, and went off through the middle of the city crying out and lamenting the violence. Her brother Absalom happened upon her and asked what terrible thing had befallen her to leave her in such a state. When she told him of the outrage, he comforted her, urging her to keep calm and bear it patiently, and not to think herself dishonored, since it was her brother who had violated her.

Persuaded by him, she stopped her crying and no longer spoke of the assault before many people, and for a long time she lived on, widowed in effect, in the household of her brother Absalom. When their father David learned of this, he was distressed at what had happened, but since he loved Amnon deeply—he was, after all, his eldest son—he was forced to hold back from grieving him. Absalom, however, hated Amnon bitterly, and in secret he watched for an opportune moment to avenge his sister's wrong.

A second year had now passed since the wrong done to his sister, and as Absalom was about to go out to Baal-hazor, a town in the territory allotted to Ephraim, for the shearing of his own flocks, he invited his father, along with his brothers, to come and feast with him. When David declined, so as not to be a burden to him, Absalom asked that his brothers be sent instead. When they were sent, Absalom instructed his own men that as soon as they saw Amnon overcome and heavy with wine, they should kill him at Absalom's signal, fearing no one.

When they had carried out the order, shock and confusion seized the brothers, and in terror they mounted their horses and rode off to their father. But someone reached him first with the report that all of them had been killed by Absalom. Since the grief over the loss of so many sons at once, and at the hand of a brother—which made it seem all the more bitter, since it could have been prevented—overwhelmed him, he was swept away by his suffering and did not stop to inquire into the cause or to learn anything else, as one would naturally do when such a great calamity is reported and, because of its enormity, hard to credit. Instead he tore his clothes, threw himself to the ground, and lay there mourning all his sons—both those reported dead and the one who had killed them.

Jonadab, the son of his brother Shammah, urged him to relax his grief somewhat: as for the others, he said, David should not believe they were dead, for there was no reason to suppose so; but as for Amnon, he said David should make inquiry, since it was likely that Absalom, because of the outrage done to Tamar, had dared to kill him. At that moment the sound of horses and the commotion of men approaching made them turn—it was the king's sons who had fled from the feast. Their father met them weeping with grief, and, against his expectation, saw alive those he had just heard were dead a little while before. There was weeping and groaning from everyone: from the brothers, as though for one who had died, and from the king, as though for a son who had been slaughtered. Absalom fled to Geshur, to his maternal grandfather, who ruled that region, and remained with him three full years.

David had a desire to send for his son Absalom, not to bring him back for punishment but so that he might be with him, for time had softened his anger. Joab, the commander-in-chief, urged him toward this all the more, for he arranged for a certain woman, already advanced in years, to come before the king in mourning dress, as if her sons had quarreled while working in the fields, and, falling into a violent dispute with no one present able to stop them, one had struck and killed the other. She begged that, since her relatives had risen up against the one who had done the killing and were seeking to put him to death, the king would grant her the life of her son and not deprive her of her remaining hopes for care in her old age; and that by preventing this he would keep those who wished to kill her son from doing so, for they would restrain themselves out of fear of no one but him.

When David agreed to what the woman pleaded, she took up the matter again, saying to the king, "Thanks be to you already for your kindness in taking pity on my old age and my near-childlessness. But so that your favor to me may be made secure, first be reconciled with your own son and let go of your anger toward him. For how could I believe that you have truly granted me this favor, when you yourself remain estranged from your own son on similar grounds until now? It would be utterly senseless to add, of your own free will, another son to the one who died against your intention."

The king perceived that the pretext was put into the old woman's mouth by Joab and his zeal for the matter, and when he had learned from her, upon questioning, that this was indeed so, he summoned Joab and told him that he had succeeded in his purpose and ordered him to bring Absalom back, for he was no longer harsh toward him but had already let go of his anger and wrath. Joab bowed before the king, welcomed his words with joy, set out at once for Geshur, and, taking Absalom with him, came to Jerusalem.

The king sent word ahead to his son, for he had heard of his arrival, directing him to go to his own house, since he was not yet prepared to see him at once upon his return. Absalom, in obedience to his father's order, kept out of his sight and continued to receive the care of his household. His good looks had not been harmed by his grief or by his failure to receive the attention due a king's son; rather, he still stood out and excelled in every respect, in both the beauty and the stature of his body, surpassing even those who lived amid every luxury. So thick, indeed, was the growth of his hair that it could scarcely be cut once every eight days, and it weighed two hundred shekels—that is, five minas. He remained in Jerusalem for two years, becoming the father of three sons and one daughter of surpassing beauty, whom Solomon's son Rehoboam later married, and by her had a child named Abijah.

Absalom himself sent to Joab and begged him to fully appease his father and to ask that he be permitted to come before him, to see him and speak with him. When Joab neglected this, Absalom sent some of his own men and set fire to the field adjoining his. When Joab learned what had been done, he came to Absalom, reproaching him and asking his reason. Absalom said, "I devised this stratagem, since it could bring you to us when you were neglecting the instructions I gave you, so that you might reconcile me with my father. I beg you now, since you are here, to soften my father toward me, for I judge my return more grievous than my exile, so long as my father remains angry."

Persuaded, and taking pity on his predicament, Joab acted as mediator with the king and, speaking on behalf of the young man, put him in so favorable a disposition that David at once summoned Absalom to himself. When Absalom threw himself to the ground and begged forgiveness for his offenses, David raised him up and declared an amnesty for what had happened.

Now that things had turned out this way for him at his father's hands, Absalom, in a very short time, acquired many horses and many chariots, and had fifty armed men about him. Every day, early in the morning, he would present himself at the palace, and by speaking agreeably to those who came for judgment and were losing their cases, suggesting that it was for want of good counselors to his father that they had perhaps been wronged in their judgments, he won everyone's goodwill by saying that if he himself held that authority he would administer much justice for them.

By such means he courted the populace, and once he judged the people's goodwill toward him firmly secured—four years having now passed since his reconciliation with his father—he came to David at Hebron and asked leave to go and pay a vow he had made to God while he was in exile. When David granted the request, Absalom set out, and, having sent word to many, a great crowd streamed together to him.

Also present was David's counselor Ahithophel the Gilonite, along with two hundred men sent from Jerusalem itself, who knew nothing of the plot but had simply been summoned as if for a sacrifice; and Absalom was proclaimed king by all, having engineered this outcome. When this news reached David, and word of his son's doings came to him against all expectation, he was seized with fear both at the impiety and at the audacity of it, marveling that Absalom, far from remembering the pardon granted him for his own offenses, had set his hand to a far worse and more lawless deed—seizing a kingship that, first, had not been given him by God, and, second, was aimed at the overthrow of his own father. He resolved to flee across the Jordan.

Calling together the most trusted of his friends, and taking counsel with them about his son's madness, and committing everything to the judgment of God, he left ten concubines behind to guard the palace and departed from Jerusalem, accompanied by the rest of the populace who joined his flight along with the six hundred armed men who had shared his first exile, back when Saul was alive. He persuaded Abiathar and Zadok, the high priests, who had decided to go with him, along with all the Levites, to remain behind with the ark, on the ground that God would deliver him whether or not it was carried along with him. He instructed them to send him secret word of everything that happened, and he had as trusted agents for this purpose their sons, Ahimaaz son of Zadok and Jonathan son of Abiathar. Ittai the Gittite set out with him as well, overriding David's own wish, for David had tried to persuade him to stay behind, and for this reason he appeared all the more devoted to him.

As David was going up the Mount of Olives barefoot, and everyone with him was weeping, word came that Ahithophel too was with Absalom and shared his views. This news added to his grief, and he called upon God, praying that he would turn Absalom's mind against Ahithophel, for he feared that, being a shrewd man and extremely sharp at perceiving what was advantageous, Ahithophel might persuade him with contrary advice.

When he reached the summit of the mountain, he looked back at the city and, with many tears, prayed to God as one cast out of his kingdom. There a loyal friend named Hushai met him. Seeing that his clothes were torn and his head full of ashes, and that he was mourning the reversal of his fortunes, David comforted him and urged him to stop grieving, and finally begged him to go back to Absalom, pretending to side with him, so as to learn his most private plans and to work against Ahithophel's counsels; for Hushai, he said, would be of less help by staying with him than by going over to Absalom. Persuaded by David, Hushai left him and came to Jerusalem; and not long after, Absalom too arrived there.

As David had gone on a little way, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, met him. David had sent Ziba to look after the property he had given to the son of Jonathan, Saul's son, and Ziba now came with a pair of donkeys loaded with provisions, from which he told David to take whatever he and his companions needed. When David asked where he had left Mephibosheth, Ziba said that he had remained in Jerusalem, expecting to be made king because of the unrest, in memory of the benefits done for them

...Saul. David was angered by this and gave to Ziba everything he had assigned to Mephibosheth, judging that Ziba deserved to hold it far more justly than the other man did. Ziba was overjoyed. But when David reached a place called Choranus, a kinsman of Saul named Shimei son of Gera came out against him, pelting him with stones and cursing him. When David's friends closed ranks and shielded him still more closely, Shimei went on reviling him, calling him a murderer and the author of many evils. He ordered him to leave the land as a thing accursed and polluted, and declared that he was thanking God for taking the kingship from him and exacting through David's own son the penalty for the wrongs he had done his former master.

Everyone around David was inflamed with anger at this, above all Abishai, who wanted to kill Shimei on the spot, but David restrained him from his rage. "Let us not," he said, "add some new occasion to the troubles we already have. This raging dog's abuse means nothing to me and stirs no shame in me; I yield to God, since it is because of him that this man has been driven to such madness against us. It is no wonder that I suffer this at his hands, when I have already had experience of it from an impious son of my own. But we will yet receive some mercy from God, and if he wills it we will overcome our enemies." So he continued on his way, paying no attention to Shimei, who ran along the other side of the mountain hurling abuse the whole time. On reaching the Jordan, David let his men, who were worn out, rest there.

When Absalom and his counselor Ahithophel arrived at Jerusalem with the whole people, David's friend Hushai came to them, and bowing before Absalom he prayed that his kingship would endure forever and for all time. When Absalom asked him why, having been counted among his father's closest friends and having seemed faithful in every way, he was not now with his father but had abandoned him to come over to him, Hushai answered shrewdly and prudently.

"I must follow God," he said, "and the whole people. Since these have sided with you, my lord, I follow with them as well, for you have received the kingship from God. And I will show you the same loyalty and goodwill I am known to have given your father, now that I am trusted as your friend. There is no reason at all to be suspicious of my present position, for the kingship has not passed to another house; it has remained in the same family, only taken up now by the son." By speaking this way he won Absalom over, for Absalom had been suspicious of him.

Absalom then summoned Ahithophel and asked his counsel on what should be done. Ahithophel advised him to go in to his father's concubines, saying that from this act the people would come to believe that his breach with his father was irreconcilable, and would then join with great enthusiasm in the campaign against him; for up to now, he said, they were holding back from openly taking up hostility, expecting that father and son would be reconciled. Persuaded by this counsel, Absalom ordered a tent pitched for himself on the roof of the palace, in full view of the people, and went in and lay with his father's concubines. This happened in fulfillment of the prophecy of Nathan, who had foretold to David the attack that would come upon him from his own son.

After Absalom had done what Ahithophel advised, he asked him a second time for counsel on the war against his father. Ahithophel asked for twelve thousand chosen men, and promised that he would kill the father himself while bringing back those with him alive, and declared that once David was no longer living the kingship would then be secure. Pleased with this plan, Absalom summoned also Hushai, David's chief friend, for that was the title Absalom gave him, and having told him Ahithophel's opinion, asked what he himself thought of it. Hushai realized that if Ahithophel's advice were carried out, David would be captured and put to death, and so he tried to put forward an opposing view.

"You are surely not unaware, O king," he said, "of your father's courage and that of the men with him, that he has fought many wars and has always come off victorious over his enemies. As things now stand, it is likely that he will remain in camp, for he is a most capable general and skilled at foreseeing the tricks of an advancing enemy; instead, toward evening he will leave his own men and either hide himself in one of the ravines or lie in ambush by some rock. When our forces engage, his men will fall back a little, and our own, growing bold at the thought that the king is near them, will stand their ground; and while they are fighting, the father will suddenly appear and put courage into his own men to face the danger while striking terror into yours. So weigh my advice as well against your own judgment, and once you have recognized which is best, refuse Ahithophel's plan, and instead send throughout the whole land of the Hebrews and summon them to the campaign against your father; then take command of the army's full strength yourself and be its general, and do not entrust this to another. For you may expect to defeat him easily if you catch him out in the open with only a few men, while you yourself command many tens of thousands eager to display their zeal and devotion to you. And if your father shuts himself up under siege, we will bring that city down with siege engines and mines dug beneath it."

By saying this Hushai found more favor than Ahithophel, for Absalom preferred his plan to the other's. It was God, in fact, who had arranged in Absalom's mind that Hushai's counsel should seem the better one. Hushai hurried at once to the high priests Zadok and Abiathar, told them both Ahithophel's plan and his own, and reported that it had been decided to act on his advice; he told them to send messengers to inform David and make known to him what had been planned, and to urge him to cross the Jordan quickly, lest his son change his mind and set out in pursuit, overtaking him before he was safe. The high priests, for this very purpose, kept their sons hidden outside the city so that they could carry word to David of what was happening; they sent a trusted servant girl to them with the plans made by Absalom, and instructed them to report this to David with all speed. They wasted no time in delay or hesitation, but taking their fathers' orders became at once devout and faithful messengers, and judging speed and swiftness of service to be best, they hurried to meet David.

When they had gone about two stadia from the city, some horsemen caught sight of them and reported it to Absalom, who at once sent men to seize them. Realizing this, the priests' sons turned off the road and took refuge without delay in a village near Jerusalem called Bahurim, and begged a certain woman to hide them and keep them safe. She let the young men down into a well, spread fleeces of wool over its mouth, and when their pursuers arrived and questioned her whether she had seen them, she did not deny having seen them, saying that after drinking at her house they had gone off again, and telling them that if they pursued vigorously they would catch them. When the pursuers, after chasing far and wide, failed to catch them, they turned back. Seeing them withdrawing, and that the young men were no longer in any danger of being seized, the woman drew them up and urged them to continue on the road before them. Making great haste and speed on their journey, they came to David and reported to him in full detail everything Absalom had planned. David at once ordered his men to cross the Jordan, since night had already fallen, and not to hesitate on that account.

Ahithophel, seeing that his counsel had been passed over in favor of another's, mounted his beast and set out for Gilon, his native city. There he gathered all his household together and related to them everything he had advised Absalom, declaring that since his advice had not been followed, it was plain he himself would soon perish, but that David would prevail and be restored to the kingship. He said it was better, therefore, to take his own life freely and with dignity than to hand himself over for punishment to David, against whom he had joined in everything with Absalom. Having said this, he went into the innermost room of his house and hanged himself. His relatives took Ahithophel down from the noose and buried him, this being the judge he had made for himself over such a death. David, having crossed the Jordan as we said before, came to Mahanaim, a very fine and strongly fortified city.

All the leading men of that region received him most gladly, both out of respect for his flight at that time and out of honor for his former prosperity. These were Barzillai the Gileadite, Shobi ruler of Ammon, and Machir, the foremost man of the land of Gilead. They provided every kindness for him and for his men's needs, so that neither beds properly made up nor bread and wine were lacking, but they even supplied an abundance of sacrificial animals and, for men already worn out, a generous supply of things useful for rest and nourishment.

While David's men were occupied with these things, Absalom, having gathered a great army of the Hebrews against his father, crossed the Jordan river and camped not far from Mahanaim, in the land of the Gileadites, appointing Amasa as general of the whole force in place of his kinsman Joab, whose position he took over; for Amasa's father was Jether, and his mother Abigail, who together with Zeruiah, Joab's mother, were David's sisters. When David, having numbered the men with him, found them to be about four thousand, he decided not to wait for Absalom to come against him, but adding to his forces commanders of thousands and of hundreds, he divided them into three parts. One part he entrusted to the general Joab, another to Joab's brother Abishai, and the third division he gave into the charge of Ittai, who was both a familiar friend and a man from the city of Gath. His friends, with a very wise judgment, would not allow David himself to go out with them into battle, saying that if they were defeated together with him they would lose all hope of recovery, but if defeated in one part of the army they could flee to him with the rest and he would provide them a stronger force; and it was likely, they said, that the enemy too would suspect there was another army with him.

Persuaded by this advice, David decided to remain himself at Mahanaim, and as he sent out his friends and commanders to the war, he urged them to show eagerness, loyalty, and remembrance of it, if they had received any fair treatment from him; and he begged them, when they had overcome him, to spare his son Absalom, so that he might not do himself some harm once Absalom was dead. Having prayed for their victory, he sent the army out. Joab drew up his force facing the enemy in a great plain with a forest lying behind it, and Absalom led out his army to meet him. When the battle was joined, both sides displayed great feats of strength and daring: David's men risking everything and using all their zeal to recover the kingship for him, Absalom's men sparing no effort in either doing or suffering anything so that he should not be deprived of it and pay the penalty to his father for what he had dared, and further, the greater number on Absalom's side fighting so as not to be defeated by Joab's men, who were the fewer, since this would have been the greatest disgrace to them, while David's soldiers strove to overcome so vast a multitude. A fierce struggle broke out, and David's men won, superior both in strength and in skill at warfare. Pursuing the fleeing enemy through woods and ravines, they captured some and killed many, so that more fell in flight than in battle; about twenty thousand fell that day.

All of David's men then rushed upon Absalom, for he was conspicuous to them both for his beauty and his stature. Fearing that his enemies would overtake him, he mounted the royal mule and fled; but as he was carried along swiftly, and light because of the mule's motion and speed, his hair became entangled in a rough tree with great branches spreading far out, and he was left hanging there in an extraordinary way. The mule, being swift, went on ahead still carrying what it took to be its rider's weight, while Absalom hung suspended from the branches, at the mercy of his enemies. One of David's soldiers, seeing this, reported it to Joab, and when the general said he would have given him fifty shekels if he had shot and killed Absalom, the soldier replied, "Even if you were going to give me a thousand, I would not have done that to my master's son, especially when he himself, in the hearing of all of us, begged that the young man be spared." Joab then ordered him to show where he had seen Absalom hanging, and shooting him through the heart with an arrow, killed him; and the men bearing Joab's weapons surrounded the tree and pulled the corpse down.

They threw the body into a deep, gaping pit and heaped stones upon it, until it took on both the shape and the size of a tomb. Joab then sounded the recall and kept his own soldiers from pursuing the enemy's forces further, sparing his fellow countrymen. Absalom had set up for himself, in the King's Valley two stadia from Jerusalem, a pillar of marble, which he called "his own hand," saying that since his children had died, his name would still remain on the pillar; for he had three sons and one daughter, named Tamar, as we said before. She married Rehoboam, Solomon's son, and their child, who succeeded to the kingship, was Abijah. We will speak of these matters more fittingly later in our history. After Absalom's death, the people scattered to their homes.

Ahimaaz, son of the high priest Zadok, came to Joab and asked him to let him go to David and report the victory, and bring him the good news that he had received help and providence from God. Joab told him it was not fitting for him, who had always been a bearer of good news, now to go and announce to the king the death of his son, and asked him to remain; instead he called Hushai and assigned him this task, so that he might report to the king what he himself had seen. When Ahimaaz again begged him to let him carry the message too, saying that he would speak only of the victory and stay silent about Absalom's death, Joab allowed him to go to David. And taking the shorter route...

Cushi outran Ahimaaz on the shorter road, since he alone knew it. David was sitting between the gates, waiting for someone to come from the battle and report how it had gone, when a watchman saw Ahimaaz running but could not yet tell who he was, and told David that he saw a man approaching. When the watchman said this was good news, he soon reported that another man was following the first. The watchman, hearing that this second man too was a messenger, and now recognizing Ahimaaz drawing near, announced that it was the son of Zadok the high priest running toward them. David, overjoyed, said that this must be a messenger of good news, bringing him something he had prayed for from the battle. While the king was still speaking, Ahimaaz appeared.

Ahimaaz bowed before the king, and when asked about the battle he announced victory and triumph. Asked whether he had anything to report about the boy, he said that he himself had set out toward the king as soon as the enemy broke, but had heard a great shout of men pursuing Absalom and had been able to learn nothing more, because he had been sent by Joab and was hurrying to bring news of the victory. When Cushi arrived, bowed, and reported the victory, David questioned him about the boy. He replied, “May whatever has happened to Absalom happen to your enemies.” This word did not let David, or his soldiers, keep the great joy of the victory. He went up to the highest part of the city and wept for his son, beating his chest, tearing at his hair, and abusing himself in every way, crying out, “My child, would that death had come to me and that I had died together with you.” For he was by nature deeply affectionate, and felt still more tenderly toward that son.

When the army and Joab heard that the king was mourning his son so bitterly, they were ashamed to enter the city in the manner of victors, and all of them, downcast and in tears, passed through it as if returning from a defeat. While the king sat covered and groaning for his son, Joab came in to him and, trying to console him, said, “Master, you do not realize that you are wronging yourself by what you are doing. You seem to hate the very men who love you and have risked their lives for you, and yourself and your own family besides, while you cherish and long for men who no longer exist, men who died justly. For if Absalom had prevailed and held the kingdom securely, not one of us would have survived; all of us, beginning with you and your own children, would have perished miserably, and our enemies would not have wept over us but would have rejoiced, and punished anyone who pitied us in our misfortune. Are you not ashamed to act this way toward an enemy, simply because he happened, impiously, to be your son? Put an end to this unjust grief, come out and show yourself to your own soldiers, and thank them for the victory and for the eagerness they showed in the fighting. For I swear that if you continue as you are behaving now, I will persuade the people to desert you this very day and hand the kingdom to another, and then I will make your grief bitter, and real.”

By these words Joab turned David away from his grief and brought the king back to consider what needed to be done. David changed his appearance and made himself presentable to be seen by the people, and took his seat by the gates, so that the whole population, on hearing of it, ran together to him and greeted him warmly. That is how these events unfolded.

Those of the Hebrews who had fought with Absalom and had retreated from the battle each went back to their own homes and began sending word to one another throughout the cities, reminding themselves of the benefits David had done them and of the freedom he had won for them by delivering them from many great wars, and complaining that after driving him from the kingdom and handing it to another, now that the man they had set up as their leader was dead, they were not urging David to set aside his anger and be favorably disposed toward them, and to take up, as he had before, the care of the state by resuming the kingship. These reports were repeatedly brought to David, and he in turn sent word to Zadok and Abiathar, the high priests, telling them to speak with the leaders of the tribe of Judah about how shameful it was that other tribes should be first to make David king, ahead of Judah's own tribe, especially since they were his kinsmen and shared a common blood with him. He gave the same instructions to be conveyed to Amasa the general, telling him that as David's own sister's son he ought to persuade the people to restore the kingdom to David, and that he could expect from David not only reconciliation -- for that had already been granted -- but also command of the whole army, the very post that Absalom too had given him.

The high priests spoke to the leaders of the tribe as instructed, and also persuaded Amasa, telling him what the king had said, to take up the king's cause in earnest. He at once persuaded the tribe to send envoys to David urging him to return to his own kingdom, and all the Israelites did the same at Amasa's urging.

When the envoys reached him, David set out for Jerusalem. The tribe of Judah outran all the others in meeting the king at the Jordan river, along with Shimei son of Gera, who brought a thousand men from the tribe of Benjamin, and Ziba, the freedman of Saul, with his fifteen sons and twenty servants. Together with the tribe of Judah, these men bridged the river so that the king might cross most easily with his own people. When he reached the Jordan, the tribe of Judah welcomed him, and Shimei, falling before him as he stepped onto the bridge and clasping his feet, begged him to forgive the wrongs done against him, and not to hold it bitterly against him, nor to think it right, now that he had the power to punish, to make that his first act, but rather to consider that Shimei, having repented of his offenses, had hurried to come to him first of all. While he was pleading and lamenting in this way, Abishai, Joab's brother, said, “Shall he not die for this, then, for cursing the one appointed king by God?” David turned to him and said, “Will you never stop, sons of Zeruiah? Do not stir up new troubles and factions for us on top of the old ones; you ought to know that today I begin my reign. I therefore swear to grant amnesty from punishment to all who did wrong, and to hold nothing against any offender.” And he said, “As for you, Shimei, take courage and have no fear of death.” Shimei bowed before him and went ahead.

Mephibosheth, Saul's grandson, also came to meet him, wearing filthy clothing and with his hair long and unkempt; for since David's flight he had neither cut his hair in his grief nor cleaned his clothing, judging this misfortune fitting given the change in the king's fortunes. He had also been unjustly slandered to David by his steward Ziba. After greeting David and bowing before him, David began to ask why he had not gone out with him and shared in his flight. He said that this was Ziba's wrongdoing: ordered to prepare what was needed for the journey, Ziba had paid no attention, but had disobeyed him as if he were some slave. “Yet if my legs had been sound, I would not have failed to use them to accompany you in your flight. Nor is this the only wrong he has done to my loyalty toward you, my lord; he has also slandered and lied about me out of malice. But I know that your judgment, being just and eager to uphold the truth and devoted to God, will accept none of this. For though you were in danger of suffering far worse at the hands of my grandfather, and though our whole family deserved to perish for those wrongs, you were moderate and kind to me then, forgetting all of that above everyone else, at the very time when your memory of it gave you full power to punish us for it. You judged me your friend and kept me at your table every day, and I lacked nothing that your closest kinsmen enjoyed.” When he had said this, David decided neither to punish Mephibosheth nor to condemn Ziba as a liar against him, but, saying that he forgave Mephibosheth for not having come with Ziba, he promised to grant Ziba's request and ordered that half of the estate be restored to Mephibosheth. But Mephibosheth said, “Let Ziba have it all; it is enough for me that you have recovered your kingdom.”

David urged Barzillai the Gileadite, a large and handsome man who had provided much for him in the camps and had escorted him as far as the Jordan, to come along with him to Jerusalem, promising to care for him in his old age with every honor and to look after him as a father. But Barzillai, out of longing for his home, declined to spend his remaining time with him, saying that his old age was such that, having reached eighty years, he could no longer enjoy pleasures, but instead needed to think about his final rest and burial; he asked, since David wished to grant him his desire, to be released for that purpose. He said he could no longer make sense of food or drink because of his age, and that his hearing, too, was already closed to the sound of flutes and other instruments, the very things that delight those who live alongside kings. Since he pleaded so earnestly, David said, “I release you, but leave your son Achimas with me; I will share with him all good things.” So Barzillai, leaving his son behind, bowed before the king, prayed that everything he wished for his own soul might come to pass, and returned home.

David arrived at Gilgal, already having about half the whole people around him, together with the tribe of Judah. The leaders of every tribe came to him at Gilgal with a large crowd, and they reproached the tribe of Judah for having come to him secretly, saying that all of them together, with one mind, ought to have gone to meet him. The leaders of the tribe of Judah asked them not to be aggrieved at having been anticipated, since, being his kinsmen and therefore all the more concerned for him and devoted to him, they had hurried to be first -- not in order to receive gifts by arriving early, so that the others, arriving later, might have grounds for resentment on that score.

When the leaders of the tribe of Judah had said this, the leaders of the other tribes did not stay quiet, but said, “We are astonished, brothers, that you call the king kinsman of yourselves alone. He who received authority over all of us from God is judged to be kinsman of us all. For this reason the people hold eleven shares, and you hold one, and yet we are the elder, and you have not acted justly in coming to the king in secret.” While the leaders were exchanging such words with one another, a wicked man who delighted in strife, named Sheba, son of Bichri, of the tribe of Benjamin, stood up in the midst of the crowd, shouted loudly, and said, “None of us has any share from David, nor any portion with the son of Jesse.” And after these words he sounded a trumpet as a signal of war against the king, and everyone followed him, abandoning David; only the tribe of Judah remained with him and established him in the royal residence at Jerusalem. As for the concubines with whom his son Absalom had lain, he moved them to another house, ordering their attendants to provide them with everything they needed, but he no longer went in to them himself. He also appointed Amasa general, giving him the command that Joab had held, and ordered him to gather as large a force as he could from the tribe of Judah and come to him within three days, so that, once he had handed over the whole army to him, he could send him out to make war on the son of Bichri.

When Amasa had gone out and was slow in gathering the army, and when he had not returned by the third day, the king said to Joab that it was not to their advantage to give Sheba a respite, lest, given more time to prepare, he become the cause of still greater troubles and disasters than Absalom had been for them. “So do not wait for anyone; take the force you have, along with the six hundred men under your brother Abishai, and pursue the enemy, and wherever you catch up with him, try to engage him. Hurry to get ahead of him, so that he does not seize fortified cities and create for us struggles and much hard toil.” Joab decided to delay no longer, but took his brother and the six hundred men, and, ordering whatever other force remained in Jerusalem to follow, set out against Sheba.

By the time he reached Gibeon, a village forty stadia from Jerusalem, Amasa, who had gathered a large force, met him there. Joab had a sword girded on and was wearing a breastplate; as Amasa approached to greet him, Joab contrived for the sword to fall of its own accord from its sheath, picked it up from the ground, and with his other hand took hold of Amasa's beard as if to kiss him, as Amasa drew near without suspecting anything, and struck him in the belly and killed him -- an impious and wholly unholy act, since he had grown jealous of the command and of the equal honor Amasa held with the king, though Amasa was a good young man, his kinsman, and had done him no wrong. It was for this same reason that he had also murdered Abner. But that earlier crime of his had seemed to have a plausible excuse that made it forgivable, since it was thought to be vengeance for his brother Asahel; the murder of Amasa had no such cover.

Having killed his fellow general, he pursued Sheba, leaving one man beside the body with orders to shout to the army that Amasa had died justly and for good cause: “But if you are loyal to the king, follow his general Joab and his brother Abishai.” While the body lay in the road and the whole crowd streamed together around it and, as a crowd is wont to do, marveled and pitied him as they stood by, the guard lifted it from there and carried it to a place well off the road, laid it down, and covered it with a garment. Once this was done, all the people followed Joab. As he pursued Sheba through the whole territory of the Israelites, someone told him that Sheba was in a fortified city.

Sheba, they learned, was in a town called Abel-beth-maacah. Joab marched there, invested the city with his army, threw up a rampart around it, and ordered his soldiers to undermine the walls and tear them down; for since the people inside had refused to admit him, he was thoroughly incensed against them. But a certain woman, prudent and intelligent, who saw her city already brought to the last extremity, climbed onto the wall and, through the men-at-arms, asked to see Joab.

When he came forward she began to speak: God, she said, appointed kings and generals so that they might destroy the enemies of the Hebrews and secure them peace from them; yet here he was, bent on tearing down and sacking a mother-city of Israel that had done no wrong. Joab answered that he prayed God would remain gracious to her, but that this was his own position: he had no wish to kill any of the people, still less to destroy so great a city; if, however, they would hand over Sheba son of Bichri, who had risen against the king, to face punishment, he would break off the siege and lead his army away.

When the woman heard Joab's terms, she asked him to wait a little, for the enemy's head would be thrown to him at once, and went down to her fellow citizens. "Would you rather," she said, "perish miserably, you and your children and your wives, for the sake of a worthless man whose very identity nobody even knows, and set him up against David, who has done you so much good, as your king — pitting one town against a power so vast?" She persuaded them, and they cut off Sheba's head and threw it into Joab's camp.

When this was done, the king's general sounded the recall, broke off the siege, and, returning to Jerusalem, was once more appointed commander of the whole people. The king also set Benaiah over his bodyguard and the six hundred, made Adoram overseer of the tribute, Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud keeper of the records, Sheva scribe, and appointed Zadok and Abiathar priests.

After this, when the land was being wasted by famine, David begged God to have mercy on the people and to make known to him both the cause of it and the cure for the affliction. The prophets declared that God wished the Gibeonites to obtain redress, whom King Saul, in killing them, had wronged, breaking faith with the oaths that Joshua the general and the council of elders had sworn to them. If, then, David gave the Gibeonites whatever satisfaction they themselves wished for the men who had been killed, God promised to be reconciled and to free the people from their sufferings. On learning this from the prophets, David sent for the Gibeonites and asked them what they wished to receive. When they asked to be given seven sons from Saul's line for punishment, the king searched them out and handed them over, sparing only Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan. The Gibeonites took the men and punished them as they wished.

At once God began to send rain, calling the earth back to the bearing of fruit and releasing it from the drought that had gripped it before; and the land of the Hebrews flourished again. Not long after, the king campaigned against the Philistines, and when he joined battle with them and routed them, he became separated from his men in the pursuit and, growing exhausted, was seen by one of the enemy, Akmon by name, son of Arapha — one of the descendants of the Giants — who, armed with a spear whose shaft alone weighed three hundred shekels, and a coat of chain mail, and a sword, wheeled about and rushed at him, meaning to kill the king of his enemies, for David had collapsed from fatigue.

But Abishai, Joab's brother, appeared suddenly, threw himself over the fallen king to shield him, and killed the enemy. The army took it hard that the king had come so close to danger, and the officers made him swear never again to go into battle at their side, lest through his own courage and eagerness he suffer some disaster and rob the people of the good things he had already given them and of all they would still share in through the long years he had yet to live.

When the Philistines mustered at the city of Gezer, the king heard of it and sent an army against them. On that occasion Sibbecai the Hittite, one of David's bravest men, distinguished himself greatly: he killed many who boasted descent from the Giants and prided themselves greatly on their courage, and became the cause of victory for the Hebrews. After that defeat the Philistines went to war again, and when David sent an army against them, his kinsman Elhanan distinguished himself: he fought a single combat with the bravest of all the Philistines, killed him, and put the rest to flight, and many of them died fighting.

After a brief pause they encamped by a city near the borders of the land of the Hebrews. Among them was a man six cubits in height, who had, on each hand and each foot, one finger or toe more than is natural. Out of the army David sent against them, Jonathan, son of Shimea, fought him in single combat, killed him, and, having turned the whole battle in the balance, carried off the glory of the exploit — for this Philistine too boasted of being a descendant of the Giants. After this battle they made war on the Israelites no more.

Now that he was rid of wars and dangers and enjoyed deep peace for the rest of his days, David composed odes and hymns to God in varied meters — some in trimeters, some in pentameters — and, having had instruments made, he taught the Levites to sing hymns to God with them, both on the day called the Sabbath and on the other festivals. The instruments were of the following kind: the kinyra, strung with ten strings, was struck with a plectrum; the nabla, having twelve notes, was played with the fingers; and there were cymbals, broad, large, and made of bronze. On these matters let so much be said, that we may not be wholly ignorant of the nature of the instruments already mentioned.

All the men about the king were brave, but of these the most distinguished and brilliant in their deeds numbered thirty-eight, of whom I shall recount the exploits of five only; for these will suffice to make plain the courage of the rest as well, since they too were capable of subduing territory and mastering great nations.

First, then, was Jashobeam son of Hachmoni, who often leapt into the enemy's battle line and would not stop fighting until he had struck down nine hundred of them. After him came Eleazar son of Dodo, who was with the king at Pas-dammim. Once, when the Israelites, terrified at the numbers of the Philistines, were fleeing, he alone stood his ground, closed with the enemy, and killed so many of them that his sword stuck fast to his hand with the blood; and the Israelites, seeing the Philistines routed by him, came down and joined the pursuit, winning a victory that was marveled at and talked of ever after — Eleazar doing the killing while the crowd followed and stripped the slain.

Third was Shammah, son of Agee. When the Philistines had drawn up their line at a place called Lehi, and the Hebrews, once more afraid of their numbers, would not stand, he alone held his ground like an army and a battle-line by himself, cutting some of them down and pursuing the rest, who could not withstand his strength and force and turned to flee. Such were the deeds of hand and battle these three performed.

At the time when, the king being in Jerusalem, the Philistine army came up to make war, David went up to the citadel, as we have said before, to inquire of God about the war; and while the enemy's camp lay in the valley that stretches as far as the city of Bethlehem, twenty stadia from Jerusalem, David said to his companions, "What good water we have in my homeland!" — marveling most of all at the water in the cistern by the gate, and saying that anyone who brought him a drink from it would earn more gratitude from him than if he gave him great sums of money.

On hearing this, the three men at once dashed out, charged straight through the middle of the enemy's camp, reached Bethlehem, drew the water, and made their way back through the camp to the king, so that the Philistines, struck with astonishment at their daring and courage, held still and did not venture against them, despising their small number. But when the water was brought, the king would not drink it, saying that it had been fetched at the risk and cost of men's blood and that for this reason it was not right for him to drink it; instead he poured it out as a libation to God and gave thanks to him for the men's safe return.

After these three came Abishai, Joab's brother, who in a single day killed six hundred of the enemy. Fifth was Naharai, a priest by birth, who, when challenged by distinguished brothers in the land of Moab, overcame them by his valor. Again, when an Egyptian of remarkable size challenged him, though unarmed he killed him, throwing the man's own spear at him, for he had wrested the javelin from him and, while the man was still alive and fighting, stripped him and finished him off with his own weapons.

One might add this exploit also to those already told, either as the foremost of them for sheer courage or at least as their equal: once, while God sent snow, a lion slipped into a pit and fell in; and since the mouth of the pit was narrow, it was clear it would be shut off entirely once the snow choked it, so that, seeing no way out to safety, the lion roared. Naharai, who happened to be traveling at the time, heard the beast, came toward the sound, went down into the pit, struck it as it fought him with the club he had in hand, and killed it on the spot. The rest of the men too were of like courage in their exploits.

Now King David, wishing to know how many tens of thousands the people numbered, forgot the command of Moses, who had declared that if the multitude were counted, a half-shekel should be paid to God for each head, and ordered Joab the general to go and number the whole people. Joab said this was not necessary and did not think it should be done, but David would not be persuaded, and ordered him to set out without delay on the census of the Hebrews.

Joab took the leaders of the tribes and scribes and, going through the land of the Israelites and noting how great the multitude was, returned to Jerusalem to the king after nine months and twenty days, and delivered to the king the number of the people, apart from the tribe of Benjamin, for he had not managed to count it, nor the tribe of Levi either, since the king repented of the sin he had committed against God. The number of the other Israelites able to bear arms and go to war was nine hundred thousand, and the tribe of Judah by itself numbered four hundred thousand.

When the prophets made known to David that God was angry with him, he began to entreat and implore that God be gracious and forgive him his sin. God sent Gad the prophet to him bearing three choices, that he might select whichever of them he judged best: whether he wished a famine to come upon the land for seven years, or to be defeated by his enemies after fighting them for three months, or a pestilence and plague to fall on the Hebrews for three days. Caught in a helpless choice among great evils, David was grieved and thrown into deep confusion.

When the prophet said that one of these must happen of necessity and pressed him to answer quickly, so that he might report his choice to God, the king reasoned that if he asked for famine, he would seem to have chosen it for himself without fear, since he had great stores of grain laid up, but to the harm of others; and if the people should be beaten for three months, since he had the bravest men about him and fortresses too and so had nothing to fear, it would look as if he had chosen war for that reason. So he asked for a suffering common to kings and subjects alike, in which the fear falls equally on everyone, declaring that it was far better to fall into the hands of God than into the hands of enemies. Hearing this, the prophet reported it to God, who sent the pestilence and destruction upon the Hebrews.

They died not in one manner, nor in a way easy to trace to a single disease; the affliction was one, yet it swept them away by countless causes and pretexts that they could not even imagine. One man perished after another, and the calamity, coming on unseen, brought a swift end — some giving up their lives suddenly amid violent pains and bitter agony, others wasting away with their sufferings and not even being left for burial, but utterly consumed in the very act of sickening; still others, as darkness suddenly ran over their eyes, choked and cried out in anguish, and some, while burying one of their own household, died themselves in the midst of it, leaving the burial unfinished. Beginning at dawn, the plague destroyed them until the hour of breakfast, and seventy thousand perished.

The angel stretched out his hand, sending the calamity to Jerusalem as well. But the king, clothed in sackcloth, lay upon the ground imploring God and begging him now at last to relent and, satisfied with those already lost, to stop. Looking up into the air, the king saw the angel being borne through it toward Jerusalem, sword drawn, and said to God that he himself, the shepherd, deserved to be punished, while the flock, having done no wrong, ought to be spared; he begged that the wrath fall upon him and all his line, and that the people be spared.

God, hearing his supplication, stopped the plague, and sending Gad the prophet, ordered him to go up at once to the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite and, building an altar there to God, to offer sacrifice. David, on hearing this, did not delay but hastened at once to the place appointed to him. Araunah, who was threshing his grain, when he saw the king approaching with all his attendants, ran up to him and bowed down. He was Jebusite by birth, but a close friend

Araunah asked what David wanted with his servant, and the king told him he wished to buy the threshing floor so that he could build an altar on it to God and offer a sacrifice. Araunah said he would give him the threshing floor itself, along with the plows and the oxen for the burnt offering, and that he prayed God would gladly accept the sacrifice. The king replied that he loved him for his simplicity and generosity and would accept the gift, but insisted on paying him the full value of everything, since it was not right to offer a sacrifice that cost him nothing. When Araunah said he might do as he wished, David bought the threshing floor from him for fifty shekels.

He built the altar there, performed the sacred rites, offered the burnt offering, and brought peace offerings as well. By these the divine anger was appeased and God became favorable again. It was to that same place that Abraham had once brought his son Isaac to offer him as a burnt sacrifice, and just as the boy was about to be slaughtered a ram suddenly appeared standing by the altar, which Abraham sacrificed in his son's place, as we have related earlier. When King David saw that God had heard his prayer and had gladly accepted the sacrifice, he decided to call that entire place the altar of the whole people and to build a temple to God there. And in saying this he unwittingly spoke a word that pointed to the future: for God, sending the prophet to him, said that it was there that his son would build him a temple—

the son who was to succeed him on the throne. After this prophecy the king ordered the resident aliens to be counted, and eighty-one thousand were found. Of these he appointed eighty thousand as stonecutters, and set the rest to carrying the stones, placing three thousand five hundred men in charge of the workers. He also prepared a great quantity of iron and bronze for the work, and enormous stores of cedar timber, which the Tyrians and Sidonians sent him, since he had written to them asking for a supply of wood. He told his friends that he was making these preparations now so that the son who was to reign after him would find the materials for the building ready at hand, and would not, being young and inexperienced in such matters, have to gather them himself because of his youth, but could carry out the work with everything already in place.

He summoned his son Solomon and, when he was about to succeed to the kingdom, charged him to build a temple to God, telling him that God had prevented him from doing so himself because he wanted to, since his hands were stained with blood and war, but had foretold that Solomon, his youngest son—who would bear that very name—would build it for him. God had promised to watch over him as a father would, and to make the land of the Hebrews prosperous under his reign, blessed above all with the greatest of goods: peace, freedom from war, and from civil strife. "You, then," he said, "since you were declared king by God even before your birth, strive in every other way to be worthy of his providence, by being pious, just, and courageous, and guard the commandments and laws he gave us through Moses, and do not allow others to transgress them.

As for the temple which he has chosen to have built during your reign, be eager to render it to God, and do not be daunted by the scale of the work nor lose heart before it, for I will have everything ready for you before my own death. Know that I have already gathered ten thousand talents of gold, and a hundred thousand talents of silver, and I have amassed bronze and iron beyond counting, and an abundance of timber and stone as well; and you have at your disposal many thousands of stonecutters and craftsmen. If anything more is needed besides these, you will supply it. Be excellent, then, having God as your protector." He also urged the leaders of the people to help his son with the building, and, free from every trouble, to devote themselves to the worship of God, for in return they would reap peace and good order, the rewards with which God repays pious and just men. He further instructed that once the temple was built, the ark and the sacred vessels—which for a long time now had lacked a temple to house them, ever since our fathers, in obedience to God's commandment, had failed to build one—

should be deposited there, after they had taken possession of this land and built him a temple. These were the things David said to the leaders and to his son. Now that he was already old and his body chilled with age, he was so susceptible to cold that even piling on many blankets could not warm him. When the physicians came together and gave their counsel, they proposed that a beautiful virgin, chosen from the whole country, should sleep beside the king, for the girl's warmth, they said, would be a remedy for his chill. A woman was found in the city more beautiful in appearance than any other, named Abishag, and by sleeping beside the king alone she warmed him, for through old age he was too weak for the pleasures of love and intercourse with a woman. We will speak of this virgin again shortly.

David's fourth son, a handsome and tall young man, born to him by a wife named Haggith, was called Adonijah. Resembling Absalom, he too was carried away in his own mind with the thought that he should be king, and told his friends that the throne ought to pass to him. He procured many chariots and horses and fifty men to run before him. Seeing this, his father neither rebuked him nor restrained him from his purpose, nor did he even go so far as to ask why he was doing these things. Adonijah's collaborators were Joab the general and Abiathar the high priest; the only ones who opposed him were Zadok the high priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the commander of the bodyguard, Shimei, David's friend, and all the bravest men.

When Adonijah prepared a feast outside the city, near the spring in the royal garden, and invited all his brothers except Solomon, taking with him also Joab the general and Abiathar, and the leaders of the tribe of Judah, but did not invite Zadok the high priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the commander of the bodyguard, or any of those of the opposing party to the banquet, Nathan the prophet reported this to Solomon's mother, Bathsheba, telling her that Adonijah intended to become king, and advised her to save both herself and her son Solomon, in case Adonijah should indeed seize the throne, and to go inquire of the king about this. While she was still speaking of this to the king, the prophet said he too would come in and would confirm her words.

Persuaded by Nathan, Bathsheba went in to the king, and after bowing before him and asking leave to speak, she related to him everything just as the prophet had instructed her: the feast of Adonijah and those he had invited to it—Abiathar the high priest and Joab the commander and his own sons—leaving out Solomon and his closest friends. She said that the whole people were watching to see whom he would appoint king, and urged him to bear in mind that once he had passed away, if Adonijah became king, he would put both her and her son Solomon to death.

While the woman was still speaking, the attendants of the chamber announced that Nathan wished to see him. When the king ordered him to be admitted, Nathan entered and asked whether he had that day proclaimed Adonijah king and handed over the kingdom to him; for Adonijah, he said, had prepared a splendid feast and invited all his sons except Solomon, along with Joab the general, who together with the others were feasting amid much noise and merriment and praying for his rule to last forever. "But he did not invite me," he said, "nor Zadok the high priest, nor Benaiah the commander of the bodyguard; and it would only be right that all should know whether this was done with your approval."

When Nathan had said this, the king ordered Bathsheba to be called back in, for she had left the chamber when the prophet arrived. When the woman came in, he said to her, "I swear to you by the greatest God that your son Solomon shall be king, as I swore before, and that he shall sit upon my throne; and this shall happen today." After the woman bowed before him and prayed for him a long life, he summoned Zadok the high priest and Benaiah the commander of the bodyguard, and when they arrived he ordered them to take with them Nathan the prophet and the guards stationed around the court, set his son Solomon on the royal mule, lead him outside the city to the spring called Gihon, and anoint him with the sacred oil and proclaim him king. He charged Zadok the high priest and Nathan the prophet to perform this,

and ordered them, as they went, to proceed through the middle of the city sounding trumpets and proclaiming, "Long live King Solomon!" and to seat him upon the royal throne, so that all the people would know that he had been declared king by his father, and that Solomon had been charged concerning his rule to preside piously and justly over the whole nation of the Hebrews and over the tribe of Judah. After Benaiah had prayed that God would be gracious to Solomon, without the slightest delay they set Solomon on the mule, led him out of the city to the spring, anointed him with the oil, and brought him back into the city amid shouts of acclamation and prayers that his reign would be long; and bringing him to the royal palace, they seated him

upon the throne, and all the people at once turned to feasting and celebration, dancing and delighting in the sound of flutes, so that the whole earth and sky seemed to resound with the multitude of instruments. When Adonijah and those present at the feast heard the shouting, they were thrown into confusion, and Joab the general said he did not like the sound of the trumpets. While the feast lay untouched before them and no one ate, and all of them were sunk in anxious thought, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the high priest, came running in to them. Adonijah, seeing the young man, greeted him warmly and called him a bearer of good news, and Jonathan told them everything about Solomon and about King David's decision. At this Adonijah and all

his guests leaped up from the banquet and fled, each to his own home. Adonijah, fearing the king because of what had happened, became a suppliant of God and took hold of the horns of the altar, which projected from it, and made this known to Solomon, asking to receive pledges from him that he would not bear a grudge or do him any harm. Solomon, with great mildness and self-control, forgave him his offense for the time,

but told him that if he were found again attempting some new scheme, he would himself be responsible for his own punishment; then he sent for him and raised him up from his supplication. When Adonijah came and bowed before him, Solomon told him to go to his own house, free of suspicion, and urged him to conduct himself well from now on, since this would be to his own advantage. Wishing to proclaim his son king before the whole people, David called together the officials to Jerusalem, along with the priests and the Levites.

Counting them, he found first that those between thirty and fifty years of age numbered thirty-eight thousand. Of these he appointed twenty-four thousand to oversee the building of the temple, six thousand as judges of the people and scribes, four thousand as gatekeepers, and an equal number as singers of hymns to God, using the instruments David himself had made, as we said before. He divided them by families, and separating out the priests from the tribe found among them twenty-four families—sixteen from the house of Eleazar, eight from that of Ithamar—and appointed each family to serve God for eight days, from one Sabbath to the next. And so all the families cast lots

in the presence of David, and of Zadok and Abiathar the high priests, and of all the officials; and the family that came up first was recorded first, the second family followed in order, and so on to the twenty-fourth. This division has remained in force to this very day. He also organized the tribe of Levi into twenty-four divisions, and when they too had cast lots, they came up in the same manner to serve alongside the courses of the priests for eight days each. He also honored the descendants of Moses, appointing them guardians of the treasures of God and of the votive offerings that the kings had dedicated. He ordered all those of the tribe of Levi and the priests to serve God by night and by day, just as Moses had instructed them. After this he divided the army

into twelve divisions, each with commanders, centurions, and officers of companies. Each division numbered twenty-four thousand men, and he ordered them to attend on King Solomon in rotation for thirty days, from the first day to the last, together with their commanders of thousands and of hundreds. He also appointed over each division a leader whom he knew to be good and just, and other officials over the treasuries, the villages, the fields, and the herds, whose names I did not think it necessary to record. When he had arranged all these matters in the manner described, he called together the leaders of the Hebrews, the heads of the tribes, the commanders of the divisions, and all those placed in charge of any business or property of the king, to an assembly, and standing upon a very high platform the king spoke to the people:

"Brothers and countrymen, I want you to know that when I resolved to build a temple to God, I made ready a great quantity of gold and a hundred thousand talents of silver, but God, through the prophet Nathan, prevented me, because of the wars I fought for your sake and because my right hand had been stained by the killing of my enemies, and instead commanded that my son, who was to succeed to the kingdom, should build the temple for him.

Now then, just as our forefather Jacob had twelve sons, and you know that Judah was chosen as king among them, and I too, though I was one of six brothers, was preferred above them and received the kingship from God, and none of them resented it, so I ask that my own sons likewise not quarrel with one another now that Solomon has received the kingdom, but rather, understanding that it was God

"chose him gladly to bear him as master. For it is no hardship to serve one whom God has willed to rule, even a brother of one's own; rather it is fitting to rejoice that a brother has attained this honor, as though sharing in it oneself. I pray that God's promises may come to full completion, and that this prosperity may be sown throughout the whole land and remain there for all time, as he himself promised to provide it under King Solomon.

"These things will stand firm and come to a fair end, if you show yourself pious and just, and a guardian of our ancestral laws, my son. But if not, expect the worse for transgressing them." Having spoken these words the king fell silent, and in front of everyone he handed over to Solomon the plan and design for building the temple.

He specified the foundations, the chambers, and the upper rooms — how many there should be and how great in height and breadth — and he fixed the weight of all the gold and silver vessels. He also urged him, by his words, to apply himself to the work with every eagerness, and urged the officials and the tribe of Levi to join in the labor, both because of their age and because God himself had chosen him as leader both of the building of the temple and of the kingdom.

He declared that the building would be easy for them and not very burdensome, since he himself had prepared many talents of gold, still more of silver, timber, a multitude of craftsmen and stonecutters, and already-quarried emerald and every kind of costly stone. And now, he said, as a firstfruit offering of his own service he would give another three thousand talents of pure gold

for the inner sanctuary and for the chariot of God — the cherubim which must stand covering the ark. When David fell silent, great eagerness arose among the officials, the priests, and the tribe of Levi, who contributed and made splendid and magnificent pledges: for gold they undertook to bring in five thousand talents and ten thousand staters,

and ten thousand talents of silver, and many tens of thousands of talents of iron; and whoever had a costly stone brought it and handed it over to the treasuries, which were administered by Ialos, the descendant of Moses. At this the whole people rejoiced, and David, seeing the zeal and generosity of the officials, the priests, and everyone else, began to bless God with a loud cry,

calling him father and origin of all things, and maker of things human and divine with which he had adorned himself, and protector and guardian of the race of the Hebrews and of their prosperity and of the kingdom he had given him. After this he prayed for good things for the whole people, and for his son Solomon a sound and just mind, strong in every part of virtue,

and he bade the multitude bless God as well. They fell to the ground and worshiped, and gave thanks also to David for all the benefits they had enjoyed under his reign. On the following day they offered sacrifices to God — a thousand calves, as many rams, and a thousand lambs, which they burned whole; they also offered the peace offerings, slaughtering many tens of thousands of victims.

The king feasted with all the people through the whole day, and they anointed Solomon a second time with oil and proclaimed him king, and Zadok high priest of the whole multitude. Bringing Solomon to the palace and seating him on his father's throne, from that day they obeyed him.

A short time later David fell into sickness from old age, and knowing that he was about to die, he called his son Solomon and spoke to him as follows: "I, my child, am now departing to what is fated, going the way common to my fathers and to all who now exist and all who will exist, from which no one returning can learn what happens in life. Therefore, while I am still alive

and already close to death, I urge upon you what I have already counseled before: to be just toward your subjects, pious toward the God who gave you the kingdom, and to keep his commandments and the laws which he sent down to us through Moses, neither yielding to favor, flattery, desire, nor any other passion so as to neglect them.

For you will lose God's goodwill toward yourself if you transgress any of the laws, and you will turn away his good providence from everything. But by showing yourself to be the kind of man you ought to be, and the kind I urge you to be, you will keep the kingdom for our family, and no other house of the Hebrews will ever rule, but we ourselves for all time. Remember also the lawless deed of Joab

the general, who out of jealousy killed two just and good generals, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. Avenge their deaths as you see fit, since Joab, being stronger and more powerful than I, has escaped justice until now. I also commend to you the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, whom you will keep in every honor

and care, doing me this favor; for we are not the first to do good, but are repaying a debt for what their father did for me during my flight. And Shimei son of Gera, of the tribe of Benjamin, who cursed me abundantly during my flight, when I was going to Mahanaim, and met me at the Jordan and received pledges that he would suffer nothing

at that time — now, finding a reasonable pretext, punish him." Having given his son this counsel about all his affairs and about his friends, and about those he knew deserved punishment, he died, having lived seventy years, and having reigned seven years and six months over the tribe of Judah in Hebron, and thirty-three years over the whole country in Jerusalem. Such a man, the best of men

and possessed of every virtue, and entrusted as king with the safety of so many nations, deserved praise both for the vigor of his power and for the wisdom of his self-control. For he was courageous as no other man, and in the struggles waged on behalf of his subjects he was first to rush into danger, urging his soldiers to toil and fight in battle by his own example, not

by commanding them as a master would. He was most capable of understanding and grasping both what was to come and how to manage present affairs; he was self-controlled, fair, kind to those in misfortune, just, and humane — qualities most fitting for kings alone to have — and he erred in nothing whatever, given the greatness of his power, except in the matter of Uriah's wife. He left behind wealth greater than any other

king, whether of the Hebrews or of other nations. His son Solomon buried him in Jerusalem magnificently, with all else that custom requires for a royal funeral, and indeed he buried with him a great and abundant quantity of wealth, the extent of which one may easily judge from what will now be told: for after a period of one thousand three hundred years, Hyrcanus the high priest, when besieged by

Antiochus, surnamed the Pious, son of Demetrius, wishing to give him money to lift the siege and lead the army away, and having no other means of raising it, opened one chamber of David's tomb, removed three thousand talents, and gave part of it to Antiochus, and so ended the siege, as we have shown elsewhere. And after this, many years later,

King Herod likewise opened another chamber and took out a great deal of money. Neither of them, however, reached the burial vaults of the kings themselves, for these had been hidden underground by artifice, so that they would not be visible to those entering the tomb. But on this subject let what we have said suffice.

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