sore troubled. There were two princes of thieves
with Ishbosheth named Baanah and Rechab, which came on a day in to
Ishbosheth where he lay and slept, and there they slew him, and took
privily his head and brought it in to David in Hebron and said: Lo, here
is the head of thine enemy Ishbosheth, that sought to slay thee; this
day God hath given to thee my lord vengeance of Saul and of his seed.
David answered to them: By the living God that hath delivered me from
all anguish, him that told me that he had slain Saul, and had thought
to have had a reward of me, I did do slay, how much more ye that be so
wicked to slay him that is not guilty, in his house and upon his bed?
Shall I not ask his blood of your hands, and throw you out of this
world? Yes, certainly. And David commanded to his servants to slay them,
and so they were slain, and cut off their hands and feet, and hung them
on the piscine [pool] in Hebron, and took the head of Ishbosheth and
buried it in the sepulchre of Abner. And then came all the tribes of
Israel to David in Hebron, saying: We be thy mouth and thy flesh, when
Saul lived and was king on us and reigned, thou wert coming and going;
and because God hath said thou shalt reign upon my people and be their
governor, therefore we shall obey thee. And all the seniors of Israel
came and did homage to David in Hebron, and anointed him king over them.

David was thirty years old when he began to reign and he reigned forty
years. He reigned in Hebron upon Judah seven years and six months, and
in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years upon all Israel and Judah.
David then made him a dwelling-place in the hill of Sion in Jerusalem.
And after this the Philistines made war against him, but he oft
overthrew them and slew many of them, and made them tributary to him,
and after brought the ark of God in Jerusalem, and set it in his house.
After this yet the Philistines made war again unto him and other kings
were aiding and helping them against David, whom David overcame and slew
and put under.

And on a time when Joab was out with his men of war lying at a siege
tofore a city, David was at home, and walked in his chamber, and as he
looked out at a window he saw a fair woman wash her and bain her in her
chamber, which stood against his house, and demanded of his servants who
she was, and they said she was Uriah's wife. And David sent letters to
Joab and bade him to send home to him Uriah; and Joab sent Uriah to
Dav