21
David’s mob fought with the Philistia mob again
15 Some time later, the Israel mob went to fight with the Philistia mob again. David also went with his soldiers, to fight along with them. But soon, he got very tired. 16 Then a really big Philistia man came close to David. His name was Ishbibenob. He belonged to Rafa’s family. Everybody in that family was really big and strong. His spear had a sharp point. It was heavy, 3½ kilograms, and he had a new long knife. He reckoned he was going to kill David dead. 17 But one of David’s boss soldiers came to save him from that big man. He attacked the big man and killed him dead. That brave man was Abishai, the son of David’s sister called Zeruiah.*
After that, David’s men made a promise to him. They said, “We will never let you come with us again to fight. They might kill you dead. You are like the lamp in God’s ceremony house. Nobody puts out its fire. You see, your life is like that. We don’t want anybody to kill you and finish up Israel’s lamp.”
(We have not yet translated 21:18—24:25. It is about some of the other things that David did before he died. The last bit of this story is from another book called the 1st book of the Big Bosses. We call that book 1 Kings, and these verses are from 1 Kings 2:10-12.)
David died when he was an old man. They buried him in the city called Jerusalem, in that part of the city they call the city of David. David was the big boss of Israel for 40 years. First he was the boss in the town called Hebron for 7 years, then he was the boss in Jerusalem for 33 years. Then David’s son Solomon became the big boss. He took over from his father and controlled the whole country.
* 21:17 1 Kings 11:36; Psalm 132:17