Beginning
David’s Psalm of Deliverance
22 David composed the words of this song to the Lord the very day the Lord delivered him from the domination[a] of all of his enemies, including from Saul’s hands. 2 This is what[b] he said:
Lord, you are[c] my stone stronghold
and my fortified place;
you are continuously delivering[d] me.
3 He is my God,
my strong stone—
in him I will find my refuge—
my shield,
the strength[e] of my salvation,
my high tower,
my way of escape,
and the one who is saving me.
You will save me from violence.
4 As I am praising him,[f]
I will call out to the Lord,
and I will be saved from my enemies.
5 Because deadly breakers[g] engulfed me,
while torrents of abuse[h] from the ungodly overwhelmed[i] me.
6 Binding ropes from Sheol entangled me
while lethal snares hindered me.
7 I cried out to the Lord in the middle of my troubles;
I cried out to my God.
He listened to my voice from his sanctuary,
and my call for help was heard.
8 Just then the earth shook and trembled!
The foundations of heaven reeled and quaked
because the Lord[j] was angry.
9 Smoke poured out of his nostrils,
and fire from his mouth
kindling coals to flame by it.
10 He deformed heaven itself as he descended.
Thick darkness enveloped his feet.
11 He rode on a cherub and flew,
soaring on the wings of the wind!
12 The darkness around him was his canopies—
amassed water was his overhanging clouds!
13 From the shining light[k] that was his presence[l]
coals of fire blazed into flame!
14 The Lord roared from heaven!
The Most High let his voice be heard!
15 He launched his arrows and scattered them—
his lightning routed them.
16 The currents of the sea were revealed
and the foundations of the world were exposed
at the rebuke of the Lord
and at the blazing breath from his nostrils!
17 He sent for me from on high!
He grabbed hold of me,
drawing me out of deep water.
18 He rescued me from my strong enemy—
from those who hate me continually,
since they were stronger than I.
19 They confronted me when I was in trouble,[m]
but the Lord remained my support!
20 He brought me to a wide open area,
rescuing me because he was pleased with me!
21 The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness,
rewarding me according to the degree of my innocence,[n]
22 because I have kept the Lord’s way—
I haven’t willfully abandoned my God—
23 and because all of his decrees remain in my thoughts,[o]
I have not turned aside from his statutes,
24 I have been innocent before him,
and I’ve kept myself from incurring[p] guilt.
25 The Lord has repaid me according to my righteousness,
that is, according to my clean standing as he[q] looks at me.[r]
26 In the company of the gracious
you demonstrate your gracious love.
In the company of the blamelessly valiant
you demonstrate your blamelessness.
27 In the company of the pure
you demonstrate your purity.
In the company of the perverted
you will appear to be perverse.
28 You save the nation who is humble
but your eyes watch the proud,
to bring them down.
29 For you are my lamp, Lord,
the Lord who illuminates my darkness.
30 By you I devastate armies,
by my God I scale walls.
31 This God! His way is perfect!
What the Lord declares proves true.
He shields[s] everyone who flees for protection to him!
32 For who is God apart from the Lord?
And who is a Rock, apart from our God?
33 This God is my strong place of valor!
He has made my life[t] blameless.
34 He has made my feet like those of a deer,
setting me secure on his high places!
35 He has trained my hands for battle readiness—
I can bend a bow made out of bronze.
36 He has equipped me with the shield that is your salvation,
Your gentleness[u] has made me great.
37 You’ve made room beneath me for my footsteps,
and my feet didn’t slip.
38 I pursued my enemies and conquered them;
I didn’t return until they were consumed.
39 I devoured them,
striking them down
until they could not get up again.
They fell beneath my feet.
40 You strengthened me with valor sufficient for the battle;
you made those who rebelled against me fall beneath me.
41 You made my enemies turn and run—[v]
that is, those who hate me—
and I destroyed them!
42 They looked around, but there was no one to save[w] them[x]—
they looked[y] to the Lord, but he paid no attention!
43 I pulverized them to powder,
like the dust of the earth;
I crushed them,
stomping on them like mud on a street.
44 You delivered me from civil war among my own people.
You preserved me as head of the nations.
People whom I had never known served me!
45 Foreigners[z] came cringing to me;
they obeyed as soon as they heard[aa] me.
46 Foreigners[ab] lost their courage,
coming trembling from their strongholds.
47 The Lord lives!
Blessed be my Rock,
and may my God be exalted,
the Rock who is my salvation!
48 The God who keeps on avenging me,
subjugating people beneath me,
49 delivering me from my enemies.
You exalted me above those who rebelled against me,
delivering me from violent men.
50 Because of all of this I will praise you among the nations, Lord,
and I will sing praises to your name!
51 Great is the salvation he brings to his king,
showing gracious love to his anointed,
to David and to his offspring[ac] forever.
David’s Oracle
23 This was David’s last composition:
The oracle of David, son of Jesse,
an oracle by the valiant one who was exalted—
anointed by the God of Jacob,
the contented psalm writer of Israel.
2 The Spirit of the Lord speaks within[ad] me;
his word is on my tongue!
3 The God of Israel has spoken;
the Rock of Israel has talked to me.
“When one is governing men justly,
he fears God while governing.
4 He is like dawn’s first[ae] light,
like bright sun blazing on a cloudless morning,
glistening on grassland that flourishes after a rain shower.
5 Is not my dynasty[af] like this with God?
Has he not made an eternal covenant with me,
preparing every detail of it?
And he has made it secure,
including my complete[ag] salvation, has he not?
He has been of continual [ah] help, has he not,
even with respect to all of my desires?
6 But ungodly men[ai] are like thorns that are discarded
because they cannot be safely[aj] handled.
7 Whoever handles them
wears heavy duty clothing,[ak]
carries strong tools,[al]
and burns them to ashes on the spot![am]
David’s Elite Soldiers(A)
8 Here’s a list of the names of David’s special forces: Josheb-basshebeth the Tahkemonite[an] was head of the Three;[ao] he was nicknamed Adino the Eznite[ap] because he killed 800 men in a single battle engagement.
9 Next was Dodai[aq] the Ahohite’s son Eleazar. Eleazar, who also was one of the Three, was with David when they challenged the Philistines. When the Philistines had assembled in battle array, the Israeli army retreated, 10 but Eleazar remained standing right where he was and fought so hard against the Philistines that he became exhausted—he couldn’t even let go of his sword! The Lord magnificently delivered them that day. After Eleazar had won the battle, the other soldiers returned, but only to strip the weapons and armor from the dead.[ar]
11 Next was Shammah, Agee the Hararite’s son. One time the Philistines assembled to fight[as] in a field where lentils had been growing. Israel’s army retreated from the Philistines, 12 but Shammah stood his ground in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. And the Lord brought about a great victory.
13 One day while the Philistine army was camping in the valley of giants,[at] three of the 30 leaders joined David at the cave of Adullam. 14 David was living in that stronghold at the time, while a Philistine garrison was then at Bethlehem.
15 David expressed his longing, “Oh, how I wish someone would get me a drink of water from the Bethlehem well that’s by the city gate!” 16 So the Three elite warriors broke through the Philistine ranks, drew some water from the Bethlehem well that was next to the city gate, and brought it back to David. But he refused to drink it. Instead, he poured it out in the Lord’s presence, 17 and said, “The Lord forbid that I drink this—this is the blood of men who endangered their own lives!” The Three elite warriors did these things.
David’s Other Valiant Soldiers(B)
18 Zeruiah’s son Abishai, Joab’s brother, was the lieutenant[au] in charge of the platoons.[av] He used his spear to fight and kill 300 men, gaining a reputation distinct from the Three. 19 He was more well-known than the Three, and became their commander, but he never measured up to[aw] the Three.
20 Jehoiada’s son Benaiah, who was a valiant man, accomplished great things. He was from Kabzeel. He killed two men named[ax] Ariel from Moab[ay] and then he also went down into a pit and struck down a lion during a snow storm one day. 21 He also killed a soldier[az] from Egypt. Of handsome appearance, the Egyptian carried a spear, but Benaiah attacked him with a staff, snatched the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. 22 Benaiah did things like this and gained a reputation comparable to the Three warriors. 23 He was well known among the platoons, but he didn’t measure up to[ba] the Three. David placed him in charge of his security detail.
24 Among the Thirty were Joab’s brother Asahel, Dodo’s son Elhanan of Bethlehem, 25 Shammah from Harod; Elika from Harod, 26 Helez the Paltite,[bb] Ikkesh’s son Ira from Tekoa, 27 Abiezer from Anathoth, Mebunnai the Hushathite, 28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai of Netophah, 29 Baanah’s son Heleb from Netophah, Ribai’s son Ittai from Gibeah of the descendants of Benjamin, 30 Benaiah from Pirathon, Hiddai from the Gaash creeks area,[bc] 31 Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth from Bahurim, 32 Eliahba from Shaalbon, Jashen’s sons, 33 Shammah’s son from Harar, Sharar the Hararite’s son Ahiam, 34 Ahasbai the Maacathite’s son Eliphelet, Ahithophel the Gilonite’s son Eliam,[bd] 35 Hezro from Carmel, Paarai the Arbite, 36 Nathan’s son Igal from Zobah, Bani the Gadite, 37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai from Beeroth (the armor-bearer for Zeruiah’s son Joab), 38 Ira the Ithrite,[be] Gareb the Ithrite, 39 and Uriah the Hittite—for a total of 37.
David Takes a Census of Israel(C)
24 Later, God’s anger blazed forth against Israel, so he incited David to move against them by telling him, “Go take a census of Israel and Judah.”
2 So the king ordered Joab, commander of the special forces, who was with him, “Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba and take a census of the people so I can be made aware of the total number.”
3 But Joab replied, “May the Lord your God increase the population of the people a hundredfold while your majesty the king is still alive to see it happen! But why does your majesty the king want to do this?”
4 But the king’s order overruled Joab and the commanders of the special forces, so Joab and the commanders of the special forces left David’s presence to take a census of the people of Israel. 5 They crossed the Jordan River,[bf] encamped at Aroer south of the town that is located in the river valley, proceeding through Gad and then on toward Jazer. 6 They went on to Gilead and the territory of Tahtim-hodshi, then on toward Dan. From Dan they went around to Sidon 7 and arrived at the fortified city of Tyre and all of the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites.
Eventually they proceeded to Beer-sheba in the Judean Negev.[bg] 8 After they had traveled throughout the entire land, they returned to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and 20 days. 9 Joab reported the total number of men to the king. In Israel there were 800,000 men trained for war.[bh] In Judah there were 500,000.
Discipline for David’s Sin(D)
10 Later, David’s conscience bothered[bi] him after he had numbered the army,[bj] so David told the Lord, “I have sinned greatly by what I did. But now I am asking you, please remove the guilt of your servant, since I have acted very foolishly.”
11 Before David arose the next morning, this message from the Lord came to Gad, David’s seer: 12 “Go tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I’m holding three choices out for you: pick one of them for yourself, and I will do it to you.”’”
13 So Gad went to David and asked him, “Shall seven years of famine come to your land, or three months of reversals[bk] while you flee from your enemies as they pursue you, or three days of pestilence in your land? Decide right now what I am to answer to the one who sent me.”
14 So David replied to Gad, “This is a very difficult choice for me to make! Let me now please fall into the hand of the Lord, since his mercy is very great, but may I never fall into human hands!”
15 That very morning, the Lord sent a pestilence to Israel until the conclusion of the time designated, and 70,000 men[bl] died from Dan to Beer-sheba. 16 As the angel was stretching out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord was grieved because of the calamity, so he told the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Stay your hand!” So the angel of the Lord remained near the threshing floor that belonged to Araunah[bm] the Jebusite.[bn]
17 When David saw the angel who had been attacking the people, he told the Lord, “Look, I’m the one who has sinned! I did the evil. These are only sheep! What did they do? Please, let your hand fall on me and on my household!”
David Buys Araunah’s Threshing Floor(E)
18 That very day, Gad approached David and told him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor that belongs to Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David went up, just as Gad had ordered, consistent with the Lord’s command.
20 When Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his staff approaching him. Araunah went out, bowed down before the king with his face on the ground, 21 and asked[bo] him, “Why has your majesty the king come to his servant?”
David replied, “To purchase your threshing floor and to build an altar to the Lord, so the pestilence can be averted from the people.”
22 Araunah responded to David, “May your majesty the king take it and offer whatever pleases him. Here are oxen for a burnt offering, along with the threshing sledges and yokes from the oxen for wood! 23 Your majesty, Araunah gives all of this[bp] to the king.” Araunah also told the king, “May the Lord your God be pleased with you!”
24 “No!” the king replied to Araunah. “I will buy them from you at full[bq] price. I won’t offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 silver shekels,[br] 25 built[bs] an altar to the Lord there, and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord answered David’s prayers for the land[bt] and the pestilence on Israel was averted.
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