The man said to Joab, “Not even if I had felt the weight of a thousand shekels of silver in my hand would I have laid a hand on the king’s son. In our hearing the king commanded you, Abishai, and Ittai saying: Beware lest anyone touch the young man Absalom!
Then the men of Judah came and there anointed David as king over the house of Judah, and they informed David that it was the men of Jabesh-gilead who had buried Saul.
So all of the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them before the Lord at Hebron. They anointed David king over Israel.
To this day they continue to practice their former customs. They do not fear the Lord, nor are they doing according to the statutes, requirements, the law or commandment that the Lord commanded the sons of Jacob, whom He named Israel.
O Lord, are not Your eyes upon the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
The king said to the guards standing near him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand is with David. And because they knew that he was fleeing and did not reveal it to me.” But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to attack the priests of the Lord.
Behold, this day you have seen with your own eyes that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave. So that some said to kill you, but my eye had compassion on you. And I said, ‘I will not put forth my hand against my lord, for he is anointed of the Lord.’