1  Then the leaders of all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and said to him, “Listen, we have the same ancestors [IDM] that you do. 2  In the past, when Saul was our king, it was you who led our Israeli soldiers in our battles. You are the one to whom Yahweh promised, ‘You will be the leader [MET] of my people; you will be their king.’ ”

3  So while Yahweh was listening, all those leaders of the people of Israel declared there at Hebron that David would be their king. And David made a sacred agreement with them. They anointed him with olive oil to set him apart to be the king of the Israeli people. 4  David was 30 years old when he became their king. He ruled them for 40 years. 5  In Hebron he ruled over the tribe of Judah for seven and a half years, and in Jerusalem he ruled over all the people of Judah and Israel for 33 years.

6  One day King David and his soldiers went to Jerusalem to fight against the Jebus people-group who lived there. The people there thought that David’s army would not be able to capture the city, so they sent a message to David, saying “Your army will never be able to get inside our city! Even the blind and crippled people will be able to chase you away!” 7  But David’s army captured the fortress on Zion Hill, and later it was known as David’s City. 8  On that day, David said to his soldiers, “Those who want to get rid of the Jebus people-group should go through the water tunnel to enter the city. Then they can attack those people whom I [SYN] detest— and we will find out if any blind and crippled people will be able to stop them!” That is why people say, “Blind and crippled people cannot enter Yahweh’s temple.”

9  After David and his soldiers captured the city with its strong walls around it, he lived there, and they named it ‘David’s City’. David and his soldiers built the city around the fortress, starting where the land was ◄filled in/terraces► on the east side of the hill. 10  David continued to become more and more powerful/influential, because the Almighty Commander of the armies of angels was with/helping him.

11  One day Hiram, the king of Tyre city, sent ambassadors/messengers to David to talk about making agreements between their countries. Hiram agreed to provide cedar trees to make lumber, and also that he would send carpenters and masons, to build a palace for David. 12  His doing that caused David to realize that Yahweh truly had appointed him to be the king of Israel, and that Yahweh was going to cause his kingdom to prosper, because Yahweh loved the Israeli people, whom he had chosen to belong to him.

13  After David moved from Hebron to Jerusalem, he took more slave women to be his second-class wives, and he also married other women. All of those women gave birth to more sons and daughters. 14  The names of the sons who were born in Jerusalem were Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 15  Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 16  Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

17  When the Philistia people heard that David had been appointed to be the king of Israel, their army went up toward Jerusalem to try to capture David. But David heard that they were coming, so he went down to another fortified place. 18  The army of Philistia arrived at Rephaim Valley southwest of Jerusalem and spread all over the valley. 19  David asked Yahweh, “Should my men and I attack the Philistia army? Will you enable us to defeat them [IDM]?” Yahweh replied, “Yes, attack them, because I will certainly enable your army to defeat them. [IDM]”

20  So David and his army went to where the Philistia army was, and there they defeated them. Then David said, “Yahweh has burst through my enemies like a flood.” [SIM] So that place is called ‘Lord of Bursting-through’. 21  The Philistia men left their idols there; so David and his soldiers took them away.

22  Then the Philistia army returned to Rephaim Valley and spread all over the valley. 23  So again David asked Yahweh if his army should attack them. But Yahweh replied, “Do not attack them from here. Tell your men to go around them and attack them from the other side, near the balsam trees. 24  When you hear something in the tops of the balsam trees that sounds like an army marching, attack them, because I will have gone ahead of you to enable your army to defeat their army.” 25  So David did what Yahweh told him to do, and his army defeated the Philistia army from Geba city all the way west to Gezer city.