2 Samuel 22-24

2 Samuel 22

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

²¶ And he said, The LORD [is] my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;

³The God of my rock; in him will I trust: [he is] my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.

⁴I will call on the LORD, [who is] worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

⁵When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid;

⁶The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;

⁷In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry [did enter] into his ears.

⁸Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, 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 darkness [was] under his feet.

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

¹²And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, [and] thick clouds of the skies.

¹³Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.

¹⁴The LORD thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice.

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

¹⁶And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

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

¹⁸He delivered me from my strong enemy, [and] from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.

¹⁹They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.

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

²¹The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

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

²³For all his judgments [were] before me: and [as for] his statutes, I did not depart from them.

²⁴I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity.

²⁵Therefore the LORD hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight.

²⁶With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, [and] with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.

²⁷With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury.

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 LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.

³⁰For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.

³¹[As for] God, his way [is] perfect; the word of the LORD [is] tried: he [is] a buckler to all them that trust in him.

³²For who [is] God, save the LORD? and who [is] a rock, save our God?

³³God [is] my strength [and] power: and he maketh my way perfect.

³⁴He maketh my feet like hinds' [feet]: and setteth me upon my high places.

³⁵He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.

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

³⁷Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip.

³⁸I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not again until I had consumed them.

³⁹And I have consumed them, and wounded them, that they could not arise: yea, they are fallen under my feet.

⁴⁰For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me.

⁴¹Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me.

⁴²They looked, but [there was] none to save; [even] unto the LORD, but he answered them not.

⁴³Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street, [and] did spread them abroad.

⁴⁴Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people, thou hast kept me [to be] head of the heathen: a people [which] I knew not shall serve me.

⁴⁵Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me.

⁴⁶Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places.

⁴⁷The LORD liveth; and blessed [be] my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.

⁴⁸It [is] God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me,

⁴⁹And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.

⁵⁰Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.

⁵¹[He is] the tower of salvation for his king: and sheweth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore.

2 Samuel 23

¹¶ Now these [be] the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man [who was] raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,

²The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word [was] in my tongue.

³The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men [must be] just, ruling in the fear of God.

⁴And [he shall be] as the light of the morning, [when] the sun riseth, [even] a morning without clouds; [as] the tender grass [springing] out of the earth by clear shining after rain.

⁵Although my house [be] not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all [things], and sure: for [this is] all my salvation, and all [my] desire, although he make [it] not to grow.

⁶But [the sons] of Belial [shall be] all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands:

⁷But the man [that] shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the [same] place.

⁸¶ These [be] the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same [was] Adino the Eznite: [he lift up his spear] against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.

⁹And after him [was] Eleazar the son of Dodo the 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 the LORD wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to spoil.

¹¹And after him [was] Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentiles: and the people fled from the Philistines.

¹²But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines: and the LORD wrought a great victory.

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

¹⁴And David [was] then in an hold, and the garrison of the Philistines [was] then [in] Bethlehem.

¹⁵And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, 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 Bethlehem, that [was] by the gate, and took [it], and brought [it] to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD.

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

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

¹⁹Was he not most honourable of three? therefore he was 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 many acts, he slew two lionlike men 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 the name among three mighty men.

²³He was more honourable 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 Bethlehem,

²⁵Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite,

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

²⁷Abiezer the Anethothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite,

²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite,

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

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

³¹Abialbon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite,

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

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

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

³⁵Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite,

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

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

³⁸Ira an Ithrite, Gareb an Ithrite,

³⁹Uriah the Hittite: thirty and seven in all.

2 Samuel 24

¹¶ And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.

²For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which [was] with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people.

³And Joab said unto the king, Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may 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 Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that [lieth] in the midst of the river of Gad, and toward Jazer:

⁶Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtimhodshi; and they came to Danjaan, and about to Zidon,

⁷And came to the strong hold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, [even] to Beersheba.

⁸So when they had gone 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 number 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.

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

¹¹For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,

¹²Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, 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 thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see 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 the LORD; for his mercies [are] great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.

¹⁵So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.

¹⁶And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.

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

¹⁸¶ And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.

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

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

²¹And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, 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, [here be] oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and [other] instruments of the oxen for wood.

²³All these [things] did Araunah, [as] a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee.

²⁴And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy [it] of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

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