Chapter 23

The Last Words of David.^{[a] 1} These are the last words of David:

David’s Warriors. ⁸ These are the names of David’s warriors.^[b] Ishbaal, the son of Hachamoni, chief of the Three. He brandished his spear over eight hundred whom he had slain in a single encounter.^{(G) 9} Next to him was Eleazar, the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the Three warriors with David at Ephes-dammim, when they insulted the Philistines who had massed there for battle. The Israelites had retreated,^{(H) 10} but he stood there and struck down the Philistines until his hand grew tired from clutching the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory on that day; the army turned back to rejoin Eleazar, but only to strip the slain. ¹¹ Next to him was Shammah, son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had assembled at Lehi, where there was a plot of land full of lentils. The people were fleeing before the Philistines,^{(I) 12} but he took his stand in the middle of the plot, kept it safe, and cut down the Philistines. Thus the Lord brought about a great victory. Such deeds as these the Three warriors performed.

¹³ Three of the Thirty chiefs went down to David in the cave of Adullam during the harvest, while a Philistine clan was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.^{(J) 14} David was then in the stronghold, and there was a garrison of Philistines in Bethlehem. ¹⁵ Now David had a craving and said, “If only someone would give me a drink of water from the cistern by the gate of Bethlehem!” ¹⁶ Thereupon the three warriors broke through the encampment of the Philistines, drew water from the cistern by the gate of Bethlehem, and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it, and instead poured it out^[c] to the Lord, ¹⁷ saying: “The Lord forbid that I do such a thing! Could I drink the blood of these men who went at the risk of their lives?” So he refused to drink it.

¹⁸ Abishai, the brother of Joab, son of Zeruiah, was the chief of the Thirty; he brandished his spear over three hundred whom he had slain. He made a name among the Thirty, ¹⁹ but was more famous than any of the Thirty, becoming their leader. However, he did not attain to the Three.

²⁰ Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, a valiant man of mighty deeds, from Kabzeel, killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. Also, he went down and killed the lion in the cistern on a snowy day.^{(K) 21} He likewise slew an Egyptian, a huge man. The Egyptian carried a spear, but Benaiah came against him with a staff; he wrested the spear from the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with that spear. ²² Such deeds as these Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, performed; and he made a name among the Thirty warriors ²³ but was more famous than any of the Thirty. However, he did not attain to the Three. David put him in charge of his bodyguard.^{(L) 24} Asahel,^(M) brother of Joab, was among the Thirty; Elhanan, son of Dodo, from Bethlehem; ²⁵ Shammah, from En-harod; Elika, from En-harod; ²⁶ Helez, from Beth-pelet; Ira, son of Ikkesh, from Tekoa; ²⁷ Abiezer, from Anathoth; Sibbecai, from Husha;^{(N) 28} Zalmon, from Ahoh; Maharai, from Netophah; ²⁹ Heled, son of Baanah, from Netophah; Ittai, son of Ribai, from Gibeah of Benjamin; ³⁰ Benaiah, from Pirathon; Hiddai, from the valley of Gaash; ³¹ Abibaal, from Beth-arabah; Azmaveth, from Bahurim; ³² Eliahba, from Shaalbon; Jashen the Gunite; Jonathan, ³³ son of Shammah the Hararite; Ahiam, son of Sharar the Hararite; ³⁴ Eliphelet, son of Ahasbai, from Beth-maacah; Eliam, son of Ahithophel, from Gilo; ³⁵ Hezrai, from Carmel; Paarai the Arbite; ³⁶ Igal, son of Nathan, from Zobah; Bani the Gadite; ³⁷ Zelek the Ammonite; Naharai, from Beeroth, the armor-bearer of Joab, son of Zeruiah; ³⁸ Ira, from Jattir; Gareb, from Jattir; ³⁹ Uriah the Hittite—thirty-seven in all.^(O)

Chapter 24

David’s Census; the Plague. ¹ The Lord’s anger against Israel flared again,^(P) and he incited David against them: “Go, take a census of Israel and Judah.” ² The king therefore said to Joab and the leaders of the army who were with him, “Tour all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba and register the people, that I may know their number.” ³ But Joab replied to the king: “May the Lord your God increase the number of people a hundredfold for my lord the king to see it with his own eyes. But why does it please my lord to do a thing of this kind?” ⁴ However, the king’s command prevailed over Joab and the leaders of the army, so they left the king’s presence in order to register the people of Israel. ⁵ Crossing the Jordan, they began near Aroer, south of the city in the wadi, and turned in the direction of Gad toward Jazer. ⁶ They continued on to Gilead and to the district below Mount Hermon. Then they proceeded to Dan; from there they turned toward Sidon, ⁷ going to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites, and ending up in the Negeb of Judah, at Beer-sheba. ⁸ Thus they toured the whole land, reaching Jerusalem again after nine months and twenty days. ⁹ Joab then reported the census figures to the king: of men capable of wielding a sword, there were in Israel eight hundred thousand, and in Judah five hundred thousand.

¹⁰ Afterward, however, David regretted having numbered the people. David said to the Lord: “I have sinned grievously in what I have done.^(Q) Take away, Lord, your servant’s guilt, for I have acted very foolishly.”^{[d] 11} When David rose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying: ¹² Go, tell David: Thus says the Lord: I am offering you three options; choose one of them, and I will give you that. ¹³ Gad then went to David to inform him. He asked: “Should three years of famine come upon your land; or three months of fleeing from your enemy while he pursues you; or is it to be three days of plague in your land? Now consider well: what answer am I to give to him who sent me?”^{(R) 14} David answered Gad: “I am greatly distressed. But let us fall into the hand of God, whose mercy is great, rather than into human hands.” ¹⁵ Thus David chose the plague. At the time of the wheat harvest it broke out among the people. The Lord sent plague over Israel from morning until the time appointed, and from Dan to Beer-sheba seventy thousand of the people died. ¹⁶ But when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord changed his mind about the calamity, and said to the angel causing the destruction among the people: Enough now! Stay your hand.^(S) The angel of the Lord was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.^{(T) 17} When David saw the angel who was striking the people, he said to the Lord: “It is I who have sinned; it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong. But these sheep, what have they done? Strike me and my father’s family!”

David Offers Sacrifices. ¹⁸ On the same day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go and set up an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹ According to Gad’s word, David went up as the Lord had commanded. ²⁰ Now Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants coming toward him while he was threshing wheat. So he went out and bowed down before the king, his face to the ground. ²¹ Then Araunah asked, “Why does my lord the king come to his servant?” David replied, “To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.” ^22 (U)But Araunah said to David: “Let my lord the king take it and offer up what is good in his sight. See, here are the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing sledges and the yokes of oxen for wood. ²³ All this does Araunah give to the king.” Araunah then said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept your offering.” ²⁴ The king, however, replied to Araunah, “No, I will buy it from you at the proper price, for I cannot sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty silver shekels. ²⁵ Then David built an altar to the Lord there, and sacrificed burnt offerings and communion offerings. The Lord granted relief to the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel.