1 *Chronicles 14

₁King Hiram from the city of Tyre sent messengers to David with lots of cedar wood and artisans that could work with stone and wood. They built a palace for David. ₂David knew that the Lord had made him a strong and important king and had blessed him a lot because the Lord loved the people of Israel.

₃David married more women in Jerusalem and he had more sons and daughters. ₄Here are the names of David's children who were born in Jerusalem. They were Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, ₅Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, ₆Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, ₇Elishama, Beeliada and Eliphelet.

₈They told the Philistines that David had become king of all the people of Israel and they all came to look for David to catch him. When someone told David about their plans, he went to the Philistines with his soldiers. ₉The Philistines came the Valley of Rephaim and they were ready to fight. ₁₀David asked the Lord God: ‘Must I attack the Philistines? Will You help me defeat them?’

The Lord said to David: ‘Yes, you must attack them. I will help you defeat them.’

₁₁David went to the town of Baal-Perazim and he defeated the Philistines there. He said: ‘God has defeated my enemies. He has broken them like a flood of water breaks everything. He told me to do it.’ That is why David named that place Baal-Perazim. ₁₂The Philistines left their gods there and David told his men to burn the gods.

₁₃Later the Philistines came to the Rephaim Valley again and they were ready to go to war. ₁₄David again asked God what he must do. God said to him: ‘You must attack them, but do not attack them from the front. You must attack them from behind where the balsam trees are. ₁₅You must wait until you hear something that sounds like soldiers walking in the treetops, then you will know that it is I going before you to defeat the Philistines. Then you must start the war.’

₁₆David did what God said and he defeated the Philistines from the town of Gibeon to the town of Gezer. ₁₇The people from all the lands knew that David was an important king. The Lord made all the people afraid of him.