David’s Last Song

23 Now these are the last words of David.

David’s Mighty Men

^8 (K)These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth, a Tahchemonite, chief of the ^[c]captains; he was called Adino the Eznite because of eight hundred who were killed by him at one time. ⁹ And after him was Eleazar the son of ^(L)Dodo the ^(M)Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there to battle and the men of Israel had ^[d]withdrawn. ^10 (N)He rose up and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary and ^[e]it clung to the sword, and ^(O)the Lord brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to plunder the dead.

¹¹ Now after him was Shammah the son of Agee, a ^(P)Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered ^[f]into an army where there was a plot of land full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines. ¹² But he took his stand in the midst of the plot, defended it, and struck the Philistines; and ^(Q)the Lord brought about a great victory.

¹³ Then three of the thirty chief men went down and came to David at harvest time to the ^(R)cave of Adullam, while the army of the Philistines was camping in ^(S)the Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴ David was then ^(T)in the stronghold, while the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. ¹⁵ And ^(U)David had a craving and said, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate!” ^16 (V)So the three mighty men forced their way into the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and carried it and brought it to David. Yet he would not drink it, but ^(W)poured it out as an offering to the Lord; ¹⁷ and he said, “Far be it from me, Lord, that I would do this! ^(X)Should I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” So he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

¹⁸ Now ^(Y)Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was ^(Z)chief of the ^[g]thirty. And he swung his spear against three hundred ^[h]and killed them, and had a name ^[i]as well as the three. ¹⁹ He was the most honored among the thirty, so he became their commander; however, he did not attain to the reputation of the three.

²⁰ Then ^(AA)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of ^(AB)Kabzeel, who had done great deeds, ^[j]killed the ^[k]two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day. ²¹ And he ^[l]killed an Egyptian, ^[m]an impressive man. Now the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but he went down to him with a club and snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with his own spear. ²² These things ^(AC)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and had a name ^[n]as well as the three mighty men. ²³ He was honored among the thirty, but he did not attain the reputation of the three. And David appointed him over his bodyguard.

^24 (AD)Asahel the brother of Joab was among the thirty; and there was Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, ^25 (AE)Shammah the ^(AF)Harodite, Elika the Harodite, ²⁶ Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the ^(AG)Tekoite, ²⁷ Abiezer the ^(AH)Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, ²⁸ Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the ^(AI)Netophathite, ^29 (AJ)Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of ^(AK)Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin, ³⁰ Benaiah a ^(AL)Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of ^(AM)Gaash, ³¹ Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the ^(AN)Barhumite, ³² Eliahba the ^(AO)Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, ^33 (AP)Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite, ³⁴ Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of ^(AQ)the Maacathite, ^(AR)Eliam the son of ^(AS)Ahithophel the Gilonite, ^35 (AT)Hezro the ^(AU)Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, ³⁶ Igal the son of Nathan of ^(AV)Zobah, Bani the Gadite, ³⁷ Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the ^(AW)Beerothite, armor bearers of Joab the son of Zeruiah, ³⁸ Ira the ^(AX)Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ³⁹ and ^(AY)Uriah the Hittite; thirty-seven in all.

The Census Taken

24 ^(AZ)Now ^(BA)the anger of the Lord burned against Israel again, and He incited David against them to say, “^(BB)Go, count Israel and Judah.” ² So the king said to Joab the commander of the army, who was with him, “Roam about now through all the tribes of Israel, ^(BC)from Dan to Beersheba, and conduct a census of the people, so that I may know the number of the people.” ³ But Joab said to the king, “^(BD)May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king can still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” ⁴ Nevertheless, the king’s order prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army left the presence of the king to conduct a census of the people of Israel. ⁵ They crossed the Jordan and camped in ^(BE)Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the Valley of Gad and toward ^(BF)Jazer. ⁶ Then they came to Gilead and to ^[o]the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to ^(BG)Sidon, ⁷ then they came to the ^(BH)fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the ^(BI)Hivites and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to ^(BJ)Beersheba. ⁸ So when they had roamed about through the whole land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹ And Joab gave ^(BK)the number of the census of the people to the king: in Israel there were ^(BL)eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

¹⁰ Now ^(BM)David’s heart ^[p]troubled him after he had counted the people. So David said to the Lord, “^(BN)I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, Lord, please ^[q]overlook the guilt of Your servant, for ^(BO)I have acted very foolishly.” ¹¹ When David got up in the morning, the word of the Lord came to ^(BP)Gad the prophet, David’s ^(BQ)seer, saying, ¹² “Go and speak to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I am imposing upon you three choices; choose for yourself one of them, and I will do it to you.”’” ¹³ So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall ^(BR)seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee for three months before your enemies while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ of plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.” ¹⁴ Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of the Lord, ^(BS)for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”

Plague Sent

¹⁵ So ^(BT)the Lord ^[r]sent a plague upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand men of the people ^(BU)from Dan to Beersheba died. ^16 (BV)When the angel extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, ^(BW)the Lord relented of the disaster and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now drop your hand!” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷ Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, “Behold, ^(BX)it is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done wrong; but ^(BY)these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and against my father’s house!”

David Builds an Altar

¹⁸ So Gad came to David that day and said to him, “^(BZ)Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of ^[s]Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹ Then David went up in accordance with the word of Gad, just as the Lord had commanded. ²⁰ And Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; so Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king. ²¹ Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, ^(CA)so that the plague may be ^[t]withdrawn from the people.” ²² Araunah then said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, here are ^(CB)the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. ²³ Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God be ^(CC)favorable to you.” ²⁴ However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will certainly buy it from you for a price; for ^(CD)I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God ^[u]that cost me nothing.” So ^(CE)David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. ²⁵ Then David built there an altar to the Lord, and he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And ^(CF)the Lord responded to prayer for the land, and the plague was ^[v]withdrawn from Israel.

The Lord’s Wonderful Works in Behalf of Israel.

The Macedonian Vision

16 Now Paul also came to ^(A)Derbe and to ^(B)Lystra. And a disciple was there, named ^(C)Timothy, the son of a ^(D)Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek, ² and he was well spoken of by ^(E)the brothers and sisters who were in ^(F)Lystra and ^(G)Iconium. ³ Paul wanted this man to leave with him; and he ^(H)took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. ⁴ Now while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering ^(I)the ordinances for them to follow which had been determined by ^(J)the apostles and ^(K)elders in Jerusalem. ⁵ So ^(L)the churches were being strengthened ^[a]in the faith, and were ^(M)increasing in number daily.

⁶ They passed through the ^[b](N)Phrygian and ^(O)Galatian region, after being forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in ^[c](P)Asia; ⁷ and after they came to ^(Q)Mysia, they were trying to go into ^(R)Bithynia, and the ^(S)Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; ⁸ and passing by ^(T)Mysia, they went down to ^(U)Troas. ^9 (V)And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of ^(W)Macedonia was standing and pleading with him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ When he had seen ^(X)the vision, ^(Y)we immediately sought to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to ^(Z)preach the gospel to them.

¹¹ So after setting sail from ^(AA)Troas, we ran ^(AB)a straight course to Samothrace, and on the following day to Neapolis; ¹² and from there to ^(AC)Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of ^(AD)Macedonia, ^(AE)a Roman colony; and we were spending some days in this city. ¹³ And on ^(AF)the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were thinking that there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.

First Convert in Europe

¹⁴ A woman named Lydia was listening; she was a seller of purple fabrics from the city of ^(AG)Thyatira, and ^(AH)a worshiper of God. ^[d]The Lord ^(AI)opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. ¹⁵ Now when she and ^(AJ)her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

¹⁶ It happened that as we were going to ^(AK)the place of prayer, a slave woman who had ^(AL)a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing great profit to her masters by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ She followed Paul and us and cried out repeatedly, saying, “These men are bond-servants of ^(AM)the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you a way of salvation.” ¹⁸ Now she continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and he turned and said to the spirit, “I command you ^(AN)in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very ^[e]moment.

¹⁹ But when her masters saw that their hope of ^(AO)profit was suddenly gone, they seized ^(AP)Paul and Silas and ^(AQ)dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities, ²⁰ and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men, Jews as they are, are causing our city trouble, ²¹ and they ^(AR)are proclaiming customs that are not lawful for us to accept or to practice, since we are ^(AS)Romans.”

Paul and Silas Imprisoned

²² The crowd joined in an attack against them, and the chief magistrates tore their ^[f]robes off them and proceeded to order ^[g]them to be ^(AT)beaten with rods. ²³ When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding ^(AU)the jailer to guard them securely; ^24 [h]and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in ^(AV)the ^[i]stocks.

²⁵ Now about midnight ^(AW)Paul and Silas were praying and ^(AX)singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; ²⁶ and suddenly ^(AY)there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately ^(AZ)all the doors were opened, and everyone’s ^(BA)chains were unfastened. ²⁷ When ^(BB)the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about ^(BC)to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul called out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” ²⁹ And the jailer asked for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before ^(BD)Paul and Silas; ³⁰ and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, ^(BE)what must I do to be saved?”

The Jailer Converted

³¹ They said, “^(BF)Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and ^(BG)your household.” ³² And they spoke the word of God to him together with all who were in his house. ³³ And he took them ^(BH)that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. ³⁴ And he brought them into his house and set ^[j]food before them, and was ^[k]overjoyed, since he had become a believer in God together with ^(BI)his whole household.

³⁵ Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their officers, saying, “Release those men.” ³⁶ And ^(BJ)the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent word that you be released. So come out now and go ^(BK)in peace.” ³⁷ But Paul said to them, “After beating us in public without due process—^(BL)men who are Romans—they threw us into prison; and now they are releasing us secretly? No indeed! On the contrary, let them come ^[l]in person and lead us out.” ³⁸ The officers reported these words to the chief magistrates. ^(BM)And they became fearful when they heard that they were Romans, ³⁹ and they came and pleaded with them, and when they had led them out, they repeatedly asked them ^(BN)to leave the city. ⁴⁰ They left the prison and entered the house of ^(BO)Lydia, and when they saw ^(BP)the brothers and sisters, they ^[m]encouraged them and departed.