Later, David prayed to the Lord, saying, “Should I go up to any of the cities of Judah?” The Lord said to David, “Go.” David asked, “Where should I go?” The Lord answered, “To Hebron.”
David asked the Lord, “Should I attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?” The Lord said to David, “Go! I will certainly hand them over to you.”
When David prayed to the Lord, he answered, “Don’t attack the Philistines from the front. Instead, go around and attack them in front of the balsam trees.
They donated about three hundred eighty thousand pounds of gold, about seven hundred fifty thousand pounds of silver, about one million three hundred fifty thousand pounds of bronze, and about seven million five hundred thousand pounds of iron to the Temple of God.
I ask only one thing from the Lord. This is what I want: Let me live in the Lord’s house all my life. Let me see the Lord’s beauty and look with my own eyes at his Temple.
“This is what the Lord God says: I will let myself be asked by the people of Israel to do this for them again: I will make their people grow in number like a flock.
They went through the southern area to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak lived. (The city of Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
He must stand before Eleazar the priest, and Eleazar will get advice from the Lord by using the Urim. At his command all the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will all come in.”
The Lord had commanded Joshua to give Caleb son of Jephunneh part of the land in Judah, so he gave Caleb the town of Kiriath Arba, also called Hebron. (Arba was the father of Anak.)