11 ◙ 2 ◙ 3 ◙

4 [ref]◙ 5 ◙ 6 ◙ 7 ◙ 8 ◙ 9 ◙

5 Then the leaders of all of Israel’s tribes came to David at Hebron and said to him, “Listen, we’re all close relations. 2 In the past when Sha’ul was our king, you were the one who actually showed leadership of the people. Yahweh has already told you that you will shepherd Israel and become our king.” 3 So with Yahweh as their witness, all the Israeli elders made a formal agreement with David, and they anointed him as king over all Israel. 4 David was thirty years old when he became their king and he reigned for a total of forty years:[ref] 5 seven and a half years in Hebron as king of Yehudah, then thirty-three years in Yerushalem as king over all Israel and Yehudah.

6 The king and his men battled against the Yebusites who lived in and around Yerushalem, but Yebusites mocked David, “You’ll never break in here—even blind and crippled men could keep you out,” because they thought that David couldn’t get in.[ref] 7 But David did capture that Tsiyyon stronghold that then became known as David’s city.

8 He’d told his men that day, “Anyone wanting to strike the Yebusites should use the water tunnel to reach the lame people and the blind people—the ones who’re hated by David.” (That’s why they say that blind and crippled people shouldn’t enter the house.[fn])

9 So David lived in that stronghold and called it ‘David’s city’—expanding it on all sides. 10 David continued to grow more powerful because Yahweh the commander God was with him.