2 Samuel 23:1-7

English Standard Version

The Last Words of David

23 Now these are the last words of David:

The oracle of David, the son of Jesse,
the oracle of ^(A)the man who was raised on high,
^(B)the anointed of the God of Jacob,
the sweet psalmist of Israel:^[a]

²^(C)“The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me;
    his word is on my tongue.
³The God of Israel has spoken;
    ^(D)the Rock of Israel has said to me:
When one rules justly over men,
    ruling ^(E)in the fear of God,
⁴he ^(F)dawns on them like the morning light,
    like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning,
    like rain^[b] that makes grass to sprout from the earth.

⁵“For does not my house stand so with God?
    ^(G)For he has made with me an everlasting covenant,
    ordered in all things and secure.
For will he not cause to prosper
    all my help and my desire?
⁶But worthless men^[c] are all like thorns that are thrown away,
    for they cannot be taken with the hand;
⁷but the man who touches them
    arms himself with iron and the shaft of a spear,
    and they are utterly consumed with fire.”^[d]

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Footnotes

2 Samuel 23:1 Or the favorite of the songs of Israel
2 Samuel 23:4 Hebrew from rain
2 Samuel 23:6 Hebrew worthlessness
2 Samuel 23:7 Hebrew consumed with fire in the sitting

2 Samuel 23:13-17

English Standard Version

¹³And three of the thirty chief men went down and came about harvest time to David at the ^(A)cave of Adullam, when a band of Philistines was encamped ^(B)in the Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴David was then ^(C)in the stronghold, and ^(D)the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. ¹⁵And David said longingly, “Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” ¹⁶Then 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 ¹⁷and said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink ^(E)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.