In their own words — 2791 recorded sayings
The recorded words of the people of scripture. Search by speaker or by what they said.
“David said to him, If you go on with me, you will be a trouble to me: But if you go back to the town and say to Absalom, I will be your servant, O king; as in the past I have been your father's servant, so now I will be yours: then you will be able to keep Ahithophel's designs against me from being put into effect. And have you not there Zadok and Abiathar the priests? so whatever comes to your ears from the king's house, give word of it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. See, they have with them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok's son, and Jonathan, the son of Abiathar; by them you may send…”— David, 2 Samuel 15:33-36
“And David said to Ziba, What is your reason for this? And Ziba said, The asses are for the use of the king's people, and the bread and the fruit are food for the young men; and the wine is for drink for those who are overcome by weariness in the waste land.”— David, 2 Samuel 16:2
“And the king said, And where is your master's son? And Ziba said, He is still at Jerusalem: for he said, Today Israel will give back to me the kingdom of my father.”— David, 2 Samuel 16:3
“Then the king said to Ziba, Truly everything which was Mephibosheth's is yours. And Ziba said, I give honour to my lord, may I have grace in your eyes, my lord, O king!”— David, 2 Samuel 16:4
“And the king said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? Let him go on cursing, for the Lord has said, Put a curse on David, and who then may say, Why have you done so? And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, You see how my son, the offspring of my body, has made designs against my life: how much more then may this Benjamite do so? Let him be, and let him go on cursing; for the Lord has given him orders. It may be that the Lord will take note of my wrongs, and give me back good in answer to his cursing of me today.”— David, 2 Samuel 16:10-12
“And David sent the people out, a third of them under the orders of Joab, and a third under the orders of Abishai, son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and a third under Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the people, And I myself will certainly go out with you.”— David, 2 Samuel 18:2
“And the king said to them, I will do whatever seems best to you. So the king took his place by the door of the town, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands. And the king gave orders to Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Because of me, be gentle to the young man Absalom. And this order about Absalom was given in the hearing of all the people.”— David, 2 Samuel 18:4-5
“And the watchman gave news of it to the king. And the king said, If he is coming by himself, then he has news. And the man was travelling quickly, and came near. Then the watchman saw another man running: and crying out in the direction of the door he said, Here is another man running by himself. And the king said, He, like the other, comes with news.”— David, 2 Samuel 18:25-26
“And the watchman said, It seems to me that the running of the first is like the running of Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and his news will be good.”— David, 2 Samuel 18:27
“And the king said, Is it well with the young man Absalom? And Ahimaaz said in answer, When Joab sent me, your servant, I saw a great outcry going on, but I had no knowledge of what it was.”— David, 2 Samuel 18:29
“And the king said, Get back and take your place here. So turning to one side, he took his place there.”— David, 2 Samuel 18:30
“And the king said to the Cushite, Is the young man Absalom safe? And the Cushite said in answer, May all the king's haters and those who do evil against the king, be as that young man is!”— David, 2 Samuel 18:32
“Then the king was much moved, and went up into the room over the door, weeping, and saying, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! if only my life might have been given for yours, O Absalom, my son, my son!”— David, 2 Samuel 18:33
“But the king, covering his face, gave a great cry, O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!”— David, 2 Samuel 19:4
“And King David sent word to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, Say to the responsible men of Judah, Why are you the last to take steps to get the king back to his house? You are my brothers, my bone and my flesh; why are you the last to get the king back again? And say to Amasa, Are you not my bone and my flesh? May God's punishment be on me, if I do not make you chief of the army before me at all times in place of Joab!”— David, 2 Samuel 19:11-13
“And David said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you put yourselves against me today? is it right for any man in Israel to be put to death today? for I am certain today that I am king in Israel. So the king said to Shimei, You will not be put to death. And the king gave him his oath.”— David, 2 Samuel 19:22-23
“Now when he had come from Jerusalem to see the king, the king said to him, Why did you not come with me, Mephibosheth?”— David, 2 Samuel 19:25
“And the king said, Say nothing more about these things. I say, Let there be a division of the land between Ziba and you.”— David, 2 Samuel 19:29
“And the king said to Barzillai, Come over with me, and I will take care of you in Jerusalem.”— David, 2 Samuel 19:33
“And the king said in answer, Let Chimham go over with me, and I will do for him whatever seems good to you: and whatever your desire is, I will do it for you.”— David, 2 Samuel 19:38
“Then the king said to Amasa, Get all the men of Judah together, and in three days be here yourself.”— David, 2 Samuel 20:4
“And David said to Abishai, Sheba, the son of Bichri, will do us more damage than Absalom did; so take some of your lord's servants and go after him, before he makes himself safe in the walled towns, and gets away before our eyes.”— David, 2 Samuel 20:6
“So David said to the Gibeonites, What may I do for you? how am I to make up to you for your wrongs, so that you may give a blessing to the heritage of the Lord? And the Gibeonites said to him, It is not a question of silver and gold between us and Saul or his family; and it is not in our power to put to death any man in Israel. And he said, Say, then, what am I to do for you?”— David, 2 Samuel 21:3-4
“And he said, The Lord is my Rock, my walled town, and my saviour, even mine; My God, my Rock, in him will I put my faith; my breastplate, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my safe place; my saviour, who keeps me safe from the violent man. I will send up my cry to the Lord, who is to be praised; so will I be made safe from those who are against me. For the waves of death came round me, and the seas of evil put me in fear; The cords of hell were round me: the nets of death came on me. In my trouble my voice went up to the Lord, and my cry to my God: my voice came to his hearing…”— David, 2 Samuel 22:2-51
“The spirit of the Lord had voice through me, his word was on my tongue. The God of Israel said, the word of the Rock of Israel came to me: When an upright king is ruling over men, when he is ruling in the fear of God, It is as the light of the morning, when the sun comes up, a morning without clouds; making young grass come to life from the earth. For is not my house so with God? For he has made with me an eternal agreement, ordered in all things and certain: as for all my salvation and all my desire, will he not give it increase? But the evil-doers, all of them, will be like thorns to be…”— David, 2 Samuel 23:2-7
“And David, moved by a strong desire, said, If only someone would give me a drink of water from the water-hole of Beth-lehem, by the doorway into the town!”— David, 2 Samuel 23:15
“And he said, Far be it from me, O Lord, to do this; how may I take as my drink the life-blood of men who have put their lives in danger? So he would not take it. These things did the three great men of war.”— David, 2 Samuel 23:17
“Again the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and moving David against them, he said, Go, take the number of Israel and Judah. And the king said to Joab and the captains of the army, who were with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan as far as Beer-sheba, and have all the people numbered, so that I may be certain of the number of the people.”— David, 2 Samuel 24:1-2
“And after the people had been numbered, David's heart was troubled. And David said to the Lord, Great has been my sin in doing this; but now, O Lord, be pleased to take away the sin of your servant, for I have done very foolishly”— David, 2 Samuel 24:10
“And David said to Gad, This is a hard decision for me to make: let us come into the hands of the Lord, for great are his mercies: let me not come into the hands of men.”— David, 2 Samuel 24:14
“And when David saw the angel who was causing the destruction of the people, he said to the Lord, Truly, the sin is mine; I have done wrong: but these are only sheep; what have they done? let your hand be against me and against my family.”— David, 2 Samuel 24:17
“And Araunah said, Why has my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To give you a price for your grain-floor, so that I may put up an altar to the Lord, and the disease may be stopped among the people.”— David, 2 Samuel 24:21
“And the king said to Araunah, No, but I will give you a price for it; I will not give to the Lord my God burned offerings for which I have given nothing. So David got the grain-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.”— David, 2 Samuel 24:24
“And Bath-sheba went down on her face on the earth before the king giving him honour. And he said, What is your desire?”— David, 1 Kings 1:16
“Then King David in answer said, Send for Bath-sheba to come to me. And she came in and took her place before the king. And the king took an oath, and said, By the living Lord, who has been my saviour from all my troubles, As I took an oath to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, saying, Certainly Solomon your son will become king after me, seated on my seat in my place; so will I do this day.”— David, 1 Kings 1:28-30
“And King David said, Send for Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king. And the king said to them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and put Solomon my son on my beast, yes, mine, and take him down to Gihon; And there let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet put the holy oil on him to make him king over Israel; and sounding the horn say, Long life to King Solomon! Then come up after him and he will come in and take his place on the seat of my kingdom; for he is to be king in my place, and I have given orders that he is…”— David, 1 Kings 1:32-35
“I am going the way of all the earth: so be strong and be a man; And keep the orders of the Lord your God, walking in his ways, keeping his laws and his orders and his rules and his words, as they are recorded in the law of Moses; so that you may do well in all you do and wherever you go, So that the Lord may give effect to what he said of me, If your children give attention to their ways, living uprightly before me with all their heart and their soul, you will never be without a man to be king in Israel. Now you have knowledge of what Joab, the son of Zeruiah, did to me, and to the two…”— David, 1 Kings 2:2-9
“And David said, The first to overcome the Jebusites will be chief and captain. And Joab, the son of Zeruiah, went up first, and became chief.”— David, 1 Chronicles 11:6
“And David, moved by a strong desire, said, If only someone would give me a drink of the water from the water-hole of Beth-lehem by the doorway into the town!”— David, 1 Chronicles 11:17
“Saying, By my God, far be it from me to do this! How may I take as drink the life-blood of these men who have put their lives in danger? so he did not take it. These things did the three great men of war.”— David, 1 Chronicles 11:19
Speaker attribution: Clear Bible MACULA (CC BY 4.0). Wording: Bible in Basic English (public domain).