^{1 Ref} Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh.

^{2 Ref} In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was thou that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and Jehovah said to thee, Thou shalt be shepherd of my people Israel, and thou shalt be prince over Israel.

^{3 Ref} So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Jehovah: and they anointed David king over Israel.

^{4 Ref} David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.

^{5 Ref} In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah.

^{6 Ref} And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither; thinking, David cannot come in hither.

^{7 Ref} Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David.

^{8 Ref} And David said on that day, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites, let him get up to the watercourse, and `smite' the lame and the blind, that are hated of David's soul. Wherefore they say, There are the blind and the lame; he cannot come into the house.

^{9 Ref} And David dwelt in the stronghold, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward.

^{10 Ref} And David waxed greater and greater; for Jehovah, the God of hosts, was with him.