2 Chronicles 11:5–13

²That the cities which Huram had restored to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there.

³And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and prevailed against it.

⁴And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath.

⁵Also he built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fenced cities, with walls, gates, and bars;

⁶And Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities, and the cities of the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and throughout all the land of his dominion.

²³And he dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his children throughout all the countries of Judah and Benjamin, unto every fenced city: and he gave them victual in abundance. And he desired many wives.

⁶¶ And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because the Lord had given him rest.

⁷Therefore he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us; because we have sought the Lord our God, we have sought him, and he hath given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered.

⁶Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha was building; and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.

¹²¶ And Jehoshaphat waxed great exceedingly; and he built in Judah castles, and cities of store.

⁶And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and brake down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ashdod, and among the Philistines.

⁴Moreover he built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers.

⁸¶ And he discovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest.

⁹Ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool.

¹⁰And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall.

¹¹Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.

³²And their villages were, Etam, and Ain, Rimmon, and Tochen, and Ashan, five cities:

¹²¶ Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Beth-lehem-judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.

²⁰¶ And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.

²And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman, and said unto her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint not thyself with oil, but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead:

¹THE words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

¹⁹And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Beth-lehem.

¹O YE children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.

⁸And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.

⁵And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judæa: for thus it is written by the prophet,

⁶And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

²⁷After them the Tekoites repaired another piece, over against the great tower that lieth out, even unto the wall of Ophel.

⁵And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord.

³⁵Jarmuth, and Adullam, Socoh, and Azekah,

¹DAVID therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down thither to him.

¹³And three of the thirty chief went down, and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adullam: and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim.

¹⁵The king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;

⁵⁸Halhul, Beth-zur, and Gedor,

¹⁵Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel.

¹NOW after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them, and took Gath and her towns out of the hand of the Philistines.

¹⁴And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.

¹⁹¶ Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?

²⁴Ziph, and Telem, and Bealoth,

⁴⁴And Keilah, and Achzib, and Mareshah; nine cities with their villages:

¹SAVE me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength.

⁹¶ After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem, (but he himself laid siege against Lachish, and all his power with him,) unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying,

¹¹And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Beth-horon, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.

⁵Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it.

³⁵Jarmuth, and Adullam, Socoh, and Azekah,

³⁹Lachish, and Bozkath, and Eglon,

¹¹And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

²And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

¹⁴Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel.

³³And in the valley, Eshtaol, and Zoreah, and Ashnah,

⁴¹And the coast of their inheritance was Zorah, and Eshtaol, and Ir-shemesh,

⁴²And Shaalabbin, and Ajalon, and Jethlah,

⁷¶ And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah.

²²And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

²³And he dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his children throughout all the countries of Judah and Benjamin, unto every fenced city: and he gave them victual in abundance. And he desired many wives.

¹⁹These waited on the king, beside those whom the king put in the fenced cities throughout all Judah.

¹⁰And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall.

¹¹Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.

¹⁴And Uzziah prepared for them throughout all the host shields, and spears, and helmets, and habergeons, and bows, and slings to cast stones.

¹⁵And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong.

⁵Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David, and made darts and shields in abundance.

¹⁹¶ And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of divers colours that was on her, and laid her hand on her head, and went on crying.

²²And Absalom spake unto his brother Amnon neither good nor bad: for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar.