The Last Words of David

23 Now these are the last words of David:

David's Mighty Men

^8 (H)These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: ^(I)Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite; he was chief of the three.^[e] He wielded his spear^[f] against eight hundred whom he killed at one time.

⁹ And next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar the son of ^(J)Dodo, son of ^(K)Ahohi. He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel withdrew. ¹⁰ He rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clung to the sword. And the Lord brought about a great victory that day, and the men returned after him only to strip the slain.

¹¹ And next to him was Shammah, the son of Agee the ^(L)Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi,^[g] where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the men fled from the Philistines. ¹² But he took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines, and the Lord worked a great victory.

¹³ And three of the thirty chief men went down and came about harvest time to David at the ^(M)cave of Adullam, when a band of Philistines was encamped ^(N)in the Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴ David was then ^(O)in the stronghold, and ^(P)the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. ¹⁵ And David said longingly, “Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” ¹⁶ Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and carried and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the Lord ¹⁷ and said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink ^(Q)the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

¹⁸ Now Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the thirty.^[h] And he wielded his spear against three hundred men^[i] and killed them and won a name beside the three. ¹⁹ He was the most renowned of the thirty^[j] and became their commander, but he did not attain to ^(R)the three.

²⁰ And ^(S)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man^[k] of ^(T)Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two ariels^[l] of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen. ²¹ And he struck down an Egyptian, a handsome man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but Benaiah went down to him with a staff and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear. ²² These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and won a name beside the three mighty men. ²³ He was renowned among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David set him over his bodyguard.

^24 (U)Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, ^25 (V)Shammah of Harod, Elika of Harod, ²⁶ Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh ^(W)of Tekoa, ²⁷ Abiezer ^(X)of Anathoth, Mebunnai ^(Y)the Hushathite, ²⁸ Zalmon ^(Z)the Ahohite, Maharai ^(AA)of Netophah, ²⁹ Heleb the son of Baanah ^(AB)of Netophah, Ittai the son of Ribai of ^(AC)Gibeah of the people of Benjamin, ³⁰ Benaiah ^(AD)of Pirathon, Hiddai of the brooks of ^(AE)Gaash, ³¹ Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth of ^(AF)Bahurim, ³² Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, ^33 (AG)Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Hararite, ³⁴ Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai ^(AH)of Maacah, ^(AI)Eliam the son of ^(AJ)Ahithophel the Gilonite, ³⁵ Hezro^{[m] (AK)}of Carmel, Paarai the Arbite, ³⁶ Igal the son of Nathan ^(AL)of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, ³⁷ Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai ^(AM)of Beeroth, the armor-bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah, ^38 (AN)Ira the ^(AO)Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ^39 (AP)Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.

David's Census

24 ^(AQ)(AR)Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, ^(AS)“Go, number Israel and Judah.” ² So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army,^[n] who was with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, ^(AT)from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.” ³ But Joab said to the king, ^(AU)“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 still see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” ⁴ But the king's word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. ⁵ They crossed the Jordan and began from ^(AV)Aroer,^[o] and from the city that is in the middle of the ^(AW)valley, toward Gad and on to ^(AX)Jazer. ⁶ Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites;^[p] and they came to Dan, and from Dan^[q] they went around to ^(AY)Sidon, ⁷ and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the ^(AZ)Hivites and ^(BA)Canaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba. ⁸ So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹ And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were 800,000 valiant men ^(BB)who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000.

The Lord's Judgment of David's Sin

¹⁰ But ^(BC)David's heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, ^(BD)“I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done ^(BE)very foolishly.” ¹¹ And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to ^(BF)the prophet Gad, David's ^(BG)seer, saying, ¹² “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer^[r] you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” ¹³ So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall ^(BH)three^[s] years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” ¹⁴ Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, ^(BI)for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”

^15 (BJ)So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from ^(BK)Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men. ¹⁶ And when ^(BL)the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem ^(BM)to destroy it, ^(BN)the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel ^(BO)who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And ^(BP)the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of ^(BQ)Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷ Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father's house.”

David Builds an Altar

¹⁸ And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of ^(BR)Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹ So David went up at Gad's word, as the Lord commanded. ²⁰ And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. ²¹ And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague ^(BS)may be averted from the people.” ²² Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the ^(BT)threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. ²³ All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God ^(BU)accept you.” ²⁴ But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels^[t] of silver. ²⁵ And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. ^(BV)So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.

My Soul Thirsts for You

A Psalm of David, ^(A)when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

Paul Appeals to Caesar

25 Now three days after Festus had arrived in ^(A)the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. ² And the chief priests and the principal men of the Jews ^(B)laid out their case against Paul, and they urged him, ³ asking as a favor against Paul^[a] that he summon him to Jerusalem—because ^(C)they were planning an ambush to kill him on the way. ⁴ Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea and that he himself intended to go there shortly. ⁵ “So,” said he, “let the men of authority among you go down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them bring charges against him.”

⁶ After he stayed among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day he took his seat on ^(D)the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. ⁷ When he had arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him ^(E)that they could not prove. ⁸ Paul argued in his defense, “Neither ^(F)against ^(G)the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor ^(H)against Caesar have I committed any offense.” ⁹ But Festus, ^(I)wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges before me?” ¹⁰ But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar's ^(J)tribunal, where I ought to be tried. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you yourself know very well. ¹¹ If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them. ^(K)I appeal to Caesar.” ¹² Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, “To Caesar you have appealed; to Caesar you shall go.”

Paul Before Agrippa and Bernice

¹³ Now when some days had passed, Agrippa the king and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and greeted Festus. ¹⁴ And as they stayed there many days, Festus laid Paul's case before the king, saying, ^(L)“There is a man left prisoner by Felix, ¹⁵ and when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews laid out their case ^(M)against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. ^16 (N)I answered them that it was not the custom of the Romans to give up anyone ^(O)before the accused met the accusers face to face and had opportunity to make his defense concerning the charge laid against him. ^17 (P)So when they came together here, I made no delay, but on the next day took my seat on ^(Q)the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought. ¹⁸ When the accusers stood up, they brought no charge in his case of such evils as I supposed. ¹⁹ Rather they ^(R)had certain points of dispute with him about their own religion and about ^(S)a certain Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive. ²⁰ Being at a loss how to investigate these questions, I ^(T)asked whether he wanted to go to Jerusalem and be tried there regarding them. ²¹ But ^(U)when Paul had appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of ^(V)the emperor, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to Caesar.” ²² Then ^(W)Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” said he, “you will hear him.”

²³ So on the next day ^(X)Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city. Then, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. ²⁴ And Festus said, “King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you see this man about whom ^(Y)the whole Jewish people petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, ^(Z)shouting that he ought not to live any longer. ²⁵ But I found that ^(AA)he had done nothing deserving death. And ^(AB)as he himself appealed to ^(AC)the emperor, I decided to go ahead and send him. ²⁶ But I have nothing definite to write to my lord about him. Therefore I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that, after we have examined him, I may have something to write. ²⁷ For it seems to me unreasonable, in sending a prisoner, not to indicate the charges against him.”