2 Samuel 22-24

2 Samuel 22

¹And David spake unto Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:

²and he said, Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine;

³God, my rock, in him will I take refuge; My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge; My saviour, thou savest me from violence.

⁴I will call upon Jehovah, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I be saved from mine enemies.

⁵For the waves of death compassed me; The floods of ungodliness made me afraid:

⁶The cords of Sheol were round about me; The snares of death came upon me.

⁷In my distress I called upon Jehovah; Yea, I called unto my God: And he heard my voice out of his temple, And my cry [came] into his ears.

⁸Then the earth shook and trembled, The foundations of heaven quaked And were shaken, because he was wroth.

⁹There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, And fire out of his mouth devoured: Coals were kindled by it.

¹⁰He bowed the heavens also, and came down; And thick darkness was under his feet.

¹¹And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly; Yea, he was seen upon the wings of the wind.

¹²And he made darkness pavilions round about him, Gathering of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

¹³At the brightness before him Coals of fire were kindled.

¹⁴Jehovah thundered from heaven, And the Most High uttered his voice.

¹⁵And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; Lightning, and discomfited them.

¹⁶Then the channels of the sea appeared, The foundations of the world were laid bare, By the rebuke of Jehovah, At the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

¹⁷He sent from on high, he took me; He drew me out of many waters;

¹⁸He delivered me from my strong enemy, From them that hated me; for they were too mighty for me.

¹⁹They came upon me in the day of my calamity; But Jehovah was my stay.

²⁰He brought me forth also into a large place; He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

²¹Jehovah rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

²²For I have kept the ways of Jehovah, And have not wickedly departed from my God.

²³For all his ordinances were before me; And as for his statutes, I did not depart from them.

²⁴I was also perfect toward him; And I kept myself from mine iniquity.

²⁵Therefore hath Jehovah recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in his eyesight.

²⁶With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful; With the perfect man thou wilt show thyself perfect;

²⁷With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; And with the perverse thou wilt show thyself froward.

²⁸And the afflicted people thou wilt save; But thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down.

²⁹For thou art my lamp, O Jehovah; And Jehovah will lighten my darkness.

³⁰For by thee I run upon a troop; By my God do I leap over a wall.

³¹As for God, his way is perfect: The word of Jehovah is tried; He is a shield unto all them that take refuge in him.

³²For who is God, save Jehovah? And who is a rock, save our God?

³³God is my strong fortress; And he guideth the perfect in his way.

³⁴He maketh his feet like hinds' [feet], And setteth me upon my high places.

³⁵He teacheth my hands to war, So that mine arms do bend a bow of brass.

³⁶Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation; And thy gentleness hath made me great.

³⁷Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; And my feet have not slipped.

³⁸I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; Neither did I turn again till they were consumed.

³⁹And I have consumed them, and smitten them through, so that they cannot arise: Yea, they are fallen under my feet.

⁴⁰For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle; Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.

⁴¹Thou hast also made mine enemies turn their backs unto me, That I might cut off them that hate me.

⁴²They looked, but there was none to save; Even unto Jehovah, but he answered them not.

⁴³Then did I beat them small as the dust of the earth, I did crush them as the mire of the streets, and did spread them abroad.

⁴⁴Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people; Thou hast kept me to be the head of the nations: A people whom I have not known shall serve me.

⁴⁵The foreigners shall submit themselves unto me: As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me.

⁴⁶The foreigners shall fade away, And shall come trembling out of their close places.

⁴⁷Jehovah liveth; And blessed be my rock; And exalted be God, the rock of my salvation,

⁴⁸Even the God that executeth vengeance for me, And that bringeth down peoples under me,

⁴⁹And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: Yea, thou liftest me up above them that rise up against me; Thou deliverest me from the violent man.

⁵⁰Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Jehovah, among the nations, And will sing praises unto thy name.

⁵¹Great deliverance giveth he to his king, And showeth lovingkindness to his anointed, To David and to his seed, for evermore.

2 Samuel 23

¹Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse saith, And the man who was raised on high saith, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel:

²The Spirit of Jehovah spake by me, And his word was upon my tongue.

³The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me: One that ruleth over men righteously, That ruleth in the fear of God,

⁴[ He shall be] as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, A morning without clouds, [When] the tender grass [springeth] out of the earth, Through clear shining after rain.

⁵Verily my house is not so with God; Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, Ordered in all things, and sure: For it is all my salvation, and all [my] desire, Although he maketh it not to grow.

⁶But the ungodly shall be all of them as thorns to be thrust away, Because they cannot be taken with the hand;

⁷But the man that toucheth them Must be armed with iron and the staff of a spear: And they shall be utterly burned with fire in [their] place.

⁸These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite, against eight hundred slain at one time.

⁹And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodai the son of an Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away.

¹⁰He arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword; and Jehovah wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to take spoil.

¹¹And after him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the people fled from the Philistines.

¹²But he stood in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and slew the Philistines; and Jehovah wrought a great victory.

¹³And three of the thirty chief men went down, and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adullam; and the troop of the Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim.

¹⁴And David was then in the stronghold; and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Beth-lehem.

¹⁵And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me water to drink of the well of Beth-lehem, which is by the gate!

¹⁶And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Beth-lehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto Jehovah.

¹⁷And he said, Be it far from me, O Jehovah, that I should do this: [shall I drink] the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.

¹⁸And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the three. And he lifted up his spear against three hundred and slew them, and had a name among the three.

¹⁹Was he not most honorable of the three? therefore he was made their captain: howbeit he attained not unto the [first] three.

²⁰And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, he slew the two [sons of] Ariel of Moab: he went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow.

²¹And he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man: and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear.

²²These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had a name among the three mighty men.

²³He was more honorable than the thirty, but he attained not to the [first] three. And David set him over his guard.

²⁴Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Beth-lehem,

²⁵Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite,

²⁶Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite,

²⁷Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite,

²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite,

²⁹Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin,

³⁰Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash.

³¹Abialbon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite,

³²Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan,

³³Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite,

³⁴Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maacathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,

³⁵Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite,

³⁶Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite,

³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, armorbearers to Joab the son of Zeruiah,

³⁸Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,

³⁹Uriah the Hittite: thirty and seven in all.

2 Samuel 24

¹And again the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah.

²And the king said to Joab the captain of the host, who was with him, Go now to and fro through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the sum of the people.

³And Joab said unto the king, Now Jehovah thy God add unto the people, how many soever they may be, a hundredfold; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?

⁴Notwithstanding, the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.

⁵And they passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and unto Jazer:

⁶then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi; and they came to Dan-jaan, and round about to Sidon,

⁷and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of Judah, at Beer-sheba.

⁸So when they had gone to and from through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

⁹And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

¹⁰And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto Jehovah, I have sinned greatly in that which I have done: but now, O Jehovah, put away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

¹¹And when David rose up in the morning, the word of Jehovah came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,

¹²Go and speak unto David, Thus saith Jehovah, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.

¹³So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thy foes while they pursue thee? or shall there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise thee, and consider what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

¹⁴And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of Jehovah; for his mercies are great; and let me not fall into the hand of man.

¹⁵So Jehovah sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men.

¹⁶And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Jehovah repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough; now stay thy hand. And the angel of Jehovah was by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁷And David spake unto Jehovah when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? let thy hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house.

¹⁸And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto Jehovah in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁹And David went up according to the saying of Gad, as Jehovah commanded.

²⁰And Araunah looked forth, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.

²¹And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshing-floor of thee, to build an altar unto Jehovah, that the plague may be stayed from the people.

²²And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, the oxen for the burnt-offering, and the threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood:

²³all this, O king, doth Araunah give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, Jehovah thy God accept thee.

²⁴And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will verily buy it of thee at a price. Neither will I offer burnt-offerings unto Jehovah my God which cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

²⁵And David built there an altar unto Jehovah, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So Jehovah was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.