David’s Last Song

23 Now these are the last words of David.

David the son of Jesse declares,
(A)The man who was raised on high,
(B)The anointed of the God of Jacob
And the sweet psalmist of Israel, declares,
(C)The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me,
And His word was on my tongue.
The God of Israel said it;
(D)The Rock of Israel spoke to me:
(E)He who rules over mankind righteously,
(F)Who rules in the fear of God,
(G)Is like the light of the morning when the sun rises,
A morning without clouds,
When the fresh grass springs out of the earth
From sunshine after rain.’
Is my house not indeed so with God?
For (H)He has made an everlasting covenant with me,
Properly ordered in all things, and secured;
For will He not indeed make
All my salvation and all my delight grow?
(I)But the worthless, every one of them, are like scattered thorns,
Because they cannot be taken in hand;
Instead, the man who touches them
Must be [a]armed with iron and the shaft of a spear,
And (J)they will be completely burned with fire in their [b]place.”

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 23:7 Lit filled
  2. 2 Samuel 23:7 Lit sitting

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 the man who was raised on high,
the anointed of the God of Jacob,
    the sweet psalmist of Israel:[a]

“The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me,
    his word is upon my tongue.
The God of Israel has spoken,
    the Rock of Israel has said to me:
When one rules justly over men,
    ruling in the fear of God,
he dawns on them like the morning light,
    like the sun shining forth upon a cloudless morning,
    like rain[b] that makes grass to sprout from the earth.
Yea, does not my house stand so with God?
    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?
But godless men[c] are all like thorns that are thrown away;
    for they cannot be taken with the hand;
but 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

  1. 2 Samuel 23:1 Or the favorite of the songs of Israel
  2. 2 Samuel 23:4 Heb from rain
  3. 2 Samuel 23:6 Heb worthlessness
  4. 2 Samuel 23:7 Heb fire in the sitting