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Chapter 23

The Last Words of David.[a] These are the last words of David:

The oracle of David, son of Jesse;
    the oracle of the man God raised up,
Anointed of the God of Jacob,
    favorite of the Mighty One of Israel.(A)
The spirit of the Lord spoke through me;
    his word was on my tongue.(B)
The God of Israel spoke;
    of me the Rock of Israel said,
“One who rules over humankind with justice,
    who rules in the fear of God,(C)
Is like the light at sunrise
    on a cloudless morning,
    making the land’s vegetation glisten after rain.”(D)
Is not my house firm before God?
    He has made an eternal covenant with me,
    set forth in detail and secured.(E)
Will he not bring to fruition
    all my salvation and my every desire?
But the wicked are all like thorns to be cast away;
    they cannot be taken up by hand.(F)
One wishing to touch them
    must be armed with iron or the shaft of a spear.
    They must be utterly consumed by fire.

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Footnotes

  1. 23:1–7 The last words of David: the text of this short composition is difficult in places; it views David’s career in retrospect.