IT was the time when kings go forth to battle,  and David sent Joab, his general,and his servants with him,  and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah.  But David remained in Jerusalem. One evening he rose from his bed and walked on the roof of his...

  IN all Israel there was no handsomer man than Absalom the king's favourite son. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head,  there was no blemish in him.  He cut his hair every year when it became too heavy for his head,  and his hair weighed two hundred...

Absalom met the servants of David. He was riding a horse, and the horse went under a great oak,  and Absalom's head was caught up in the thick boughs of the oak,  so that he dangled between heaven and earth,  and his horse galloped away from beneath him.  A man saw him...

  NOW King David was old and stricken in years;  they wrapped him in clothes but he lost strength daily.  The end of his life drew near and he knew that he must die. He sent for his son Solomon and charged him, saying: "I go the way of all the earth; therefore you must be...