Beginning
The Victory Song of David
22 Then David spoke to Yahweh the words of this song,[a] on the day Yahweh delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.
2 And he said:
“Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.
3 I take refuge in God, my rock,[b] my shield, and the strength[c] of my salvation.
My stronghold and my refuge, O my savior, you will save me from violence!
4 I call upon Yahweh who is praiseworthy,
and I am saved from those who hate me.
5 For the breaker waves of death engulfed me;
the currents of chaos overwhelmed me.
6 The ropes of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
7 In my distress I called upon Yahweh, and to my God I called.
He heard my voice from his temple,
and my cry for help was to his ears.
8 The earth heaved and shook,
the foundations of heaven trembled and heaved
because he was angry.[d]
9 Smoke went up from his nostrils and fire from his mouth.
Burning coals devoured, they burned from him.
10 He bowed the heavens and came down;
a very thick cloud was under his feet.
11 He rode upon a cherub and flew;
he was seen on the wings of the wind.
12 He put darkness as a canopy all around him,
a collection of thick rain clouds.[e]
13 From the brightness before him
flamed burning coals of fire.
14 Yahweh thundered from heaven,
and the Most High uttered his voice.[f]
15 He sent arrows and he scattered them,
lightning, and he directed them.
16 Then the channels of water of the sea were exposed,
the foundations of the world,
at the rebuke of Yawheh,
from the blast of the breath of his nostrils.
17 He sent from a high position and took me;
he drew me from mighty waters.
18 He delivered me from my strong enemies,
from those who hate me, for they were mightier than I.
19 They approached me on the day of my disaster,
but Yahweh was my support.
20 He brought me out to a spacious place.
He delivered me because he delighted in me.
21 Yahweh rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.
22 For I have kept the ways of Yahweh;
I have not acted wickedly against my God.
23 For all of his ordinances were before me,
and I did not turn aside from his statutes.
24 I was blameless before him,
and I kept myself from my iniquity.
25 Yahweh has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
according to my cleanness before his eyes.
26 With the loyal, you act as loyal,
and with the blameless, you show yourself blameless.
27 With the pure, you show yourself pure,
but with the crooked, you appear as a fool.
28 Humble people you will deliver,
but your eyes are on the haughty, whom you bring down.
29 For you, O Yahweh are my lamp,
and Yahweh lightens my darkness.
30 For by you I can run a raid;
by my God I can leap over a wall.
31 This God, his way is blameless;
the promise of Yahweh is flawless.
He is a shield to all who take refuge in him.
32 For who is God apart from Yahweh?
And who is a rock apart from our God?
33 God is my strong refuge,
he has fully opened my way.[g]
34 He makes my feet[h] like a doe deer,
and on my high places he has set me.
35 He trains my hands for the war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
36 You have given me the shield of your salvation;
your willingness to help has made me great.
37 You have broadened my steps beneath me;
my ankles have not wobbled.
38 I pursued those who hate me, and I destroyed them.
I did not turn back until finishing them.
39 I wiped them out and I smashed them;
they did not get up; they fell under my feet.
40 You have girded me with physical strength for the battle;
you caused those who rose up against me to kneel under me.
41 My enemies you cause to retreat from me;[i]
I destroy those who hate me.
42 They looked out, but there was no deliverer,
even to Yahweh, but he did not answer them.
43 I beat them fine, like the dust of the earth;
like the mire of the streets, I crushed them, I stamped them down.
44 You delivered me from the strife of my people;
you preserved me as the head of the nations.
A people I had not known served me.
45 Children of a foreign land came cringing to me;
when they heard of me,[j] they became obedient to me.
46 Children of a foreign land lost heart
and came trembling from their strongholds.
47 Yahweh lives! Blessed be my rock!
May God, the rock of my salvation, be exalted!
48 God does vengeance for me,
bringing down peoples under me.
49 He brings me out from my enemies,
and from those who rose up against me you lift me up,
and from men of violence you rescue me.
50 Therefore I will extol you, Yahweh, among the nations!
I will sing praises to your name!
51 He makes great salvation for his king
and shows loyal love to his anointed one, David
and to his descendants forever.”
David Extols Yahweh
23 These are the last words of David, the declaration of David the son of Jesse, and the declaration of the man exalted by the Most High, the anointed one of the God of Jacob and the darling of the songs of Israel. 2 “The spirit of Yahweh speaks through me, and his word is upon my tongue. 3 The God of Israel said to me, the rock of Israel has spoken; ‘He who rules over mankind rules righteously, in the fear of God. 4 Like the light of the morning when the sun rises, shining with no clouds, bringing vegetation from the earth apart from rain.’[k] 5 Yet not so is my house with God, for he made an everlasting covenant for me, arranging everything. He has secured all my deliverance, and all my desire he will cause to happen. 6 But evil persons are like thorns cast aside; all of them, because they cannot be picked up in the hand. 7 And if a man wants to touch them, he must use an iron instrument or the shaft of a spear; then they are consumed entirely with fire on the spot.”
David’s Faithful Soldiers
8 These are the names of the mighty warriors who were David’s: Josheb-Basshebeth a Tahkemonite was chief of three officers; first Adino, whose spear was against eight hundred slain on one occurrence. 9 Next to him Eleazar, the son of Dodo the son of an Ahohite, was among the three mighty warriors with David when they defied the Philistines and they gathered there for the battle and the men of Israel withdrew. 10 He stood up and struck down the Philistines until his hand grew tired and his hand clung to the sword, and Yahweh brought about a great victory on that day. Then the army returned back to him only for stripping the dead. 11 Next to him was Shamma, the son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines assembled at Lehi, a plot of the field was there filled with lentils, and the army fled there from the presence of the Philistines. 12 But he took a stand in the middle of the plot of land and defended it. He killed the Philistines, and Yahweh brought about a great victory. 13 Then three[l] of the thirty leaders went down and came to David at the time of the harvest[m] to the cave of Adullam, while a group of the Philistines were camping in the valley of the Rephaim. 14 Now at that time, David was in the stronghold, and a garrison of the Philistines was in Bethlehem at that same time. 15 David said longingly,[n] “Oh that someone would bring me a drink[o] of water from the well of Bethlehem that is at the gate.” 16 So three of the mighty warriors broke into the camp of the Philistines, and they drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was at the gate, and they carried it and brought it to David. But he was not willing to drink it, but poured it out to Yahweh. 17 He said, “Far be it from me before Yahweh that I should do this. Is this not the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” So he was not willing to drink it. These things the three mighty warriors did. 18 Now Abishai the brother of Joab the son of Zeruiah was himself the leader of the thirty. He was wielding his spear against three hundred slain and gained a name[p] among the thirty. 19 Among the thirty, is it not that he was honored and became a commander for them? But he did not come up to the three. 20 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of Ish-Hai, was a great man of deeds from Kabzeel. He struck down two sons of Ariel of Moab, and he went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day. 21 He also killed a good-looking Egyptian man, in whose hand was a spear. He went down against him with the staff and snatched the spear from the hand of the Egyptian and killed him with his spear. 22 These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did and gained a name for himself among the three mighty warriors. 23 He was honored more than the thirty, but he did not come up to the three. David appointed him in charge of his bodyguard.
The Mighty Men of David
24 Among the thirty were Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, 25 Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, 26 Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, 27 Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, 28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, 29 Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai from Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin, 30 Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai from the wadis of Gaash, 31 Abi-Albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, 32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan 33 the son of Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite, 34 Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai the son of the Maacathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, 35 Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, 36 Igal the son of Nathan from Zobah, Bani the Gadite, 37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, the carriers of the weapons of Joab the son of Zeruiah, 38 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, 39 Uriah the Hittite; in all, thirty-seven.
David and the Census of the People
24 Again Yahweh was angry with Israel, and he[q] incited David against them, saying, “Go count Israel and Judah.” 2 The king said to Joab, the commander of the army who was with him: “Please go about through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people that I may know the number of the people.” 3 Then Joab said to the king, “May Yahweh your God increase the people a hundred times what they are[r] as the eyes of my lord the king are seeing. But my lord the king, why does he desire this thing?” 4 But the word of the king prevailed over Joab and over the commanders of the army, so Joab and the commanders of the army went out from before the king to count the people of Israel. 5 They crossed over the Jordan and camped at Aroer to the south of the city, which was in the middle of the wadi of Gad, and up to Jazer. 6 Then they went to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi. They came to Dan Jaan and around to Sidon 7 and came to the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went out to the Negev of Judah at Beersheba. 8 They went about through all the land, and they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.
9 Then Joab gave the number of the counting of the people to the king. Israel was eight hundred thousand valiant warriors[s] wielding the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand. 10 The heart of David struck him after he had counted the people, and David said to Yahweh, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done! So then, O Yahweh, please forgive the guilt of your servant because I have acted very foolishly.” 11 When David got up in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to Gad the prophet, the seer of David, saying, 12 “Go and speak to David, ‘Thus says Yahweh, three things I am laying on you; choose for yourself one of them and I will do it to you.’” 13 Then Gad came to David, and he told him and said to him, “Shall seven years of famine in the land come to you? Or three months of your fleeing from your enemies while he is pursuing you? Or should there be three days of pestilence in your land? Now consider and decide what I must return to the one who sent me a word.” 14 Then David said to Gad, “I am greatly distressed. Please let us fall into the hand of Yahweh, because he is great in his compassion; but into the hand of man don’t let me fall.” 15 Then Yahweh sent a plague into Israel from the morning until the agreed time,[t] and from the people from Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand men died.
16 When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, Yahweh regretted about the evil, and he said to the angel who brought destruction among the people, “Enough, now relax your hand.” Now the angel of Yahweh was at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel destroying among the people, and he said, “Look, I have sinned and I have done wrong, but these sheep, what did they do? Please let your hand be against me and against the house of my father.” 18 Then Gad came to David on that same day and said to him, “Go up and erect an altar to Yahweh at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David went up according to the word of Gad, as Yahweh had commanded. 20 Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants coming over to him, so Araunah went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground. 21 Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy from you the threshing floor, to build an altar to Yahweh who brought a halt to the plague on the people.” 22 Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer what is good in his eyes. Look, here are the cattle for the burnt offering and the threshing sledge and the yokes of the oxen for the firewood. 23 All of this Araunah hereby gives to the king.” Then Araunah said to the king, “May Yahweh your God respond favorably for you.” 24 Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will certainly buy[u] it from you for a price; I don’t want to offer to Yahweh my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the cattle for fifty shekels of silver. 25 David built an altar to Yahweh there, and he offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then Yahweh responded to his prayer for the land and brought the plague to a halt from upon Israel.
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