Chronological
22 David composed the following song of praise to the Eternal because He delivered him from all of his enemies and especially from Saul.
At last the day comes when David has conquered—at least, temporarily—all his enemies, and he marks this day by rejoicing. In the same way that he composed songs to lament Saul’s and Jonathan’s deaths, David composes a psalm of joy to the Lord who is his strong fortress and his security. He gives God the credit, but he also claims—and rightly, of course, in spite of his occasional transgressions—that he has tried to do what God asked him to do, has tried to keep the ways of God.
2 David: The Eternal is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
3 He is my True God, my stronghold in whom I take refuge,
My strong shield, my horn that calls forth rescue,
my tall-walled tower and strong refuge,
My savior from violence.
4 I call on the Eternal, who is worthy to be praised,
and I have been rescued from my enemies.
5 The waves of death surrounded me;
the torrents of terror tugged at me.
6 The sorrows of the grave[a] tightly tangled me;
the snares of death met me.
7 In my time of need I called upon the Eternal One;
I called to my True God for help.
He heard my voice from His temple,
and my cry came to His ears.
8 Because of His great anger,
the earth shook and staggered;
the foundations of the heavens trembled and quaked.
9 Smoke billowed out from His nostrils
and devouring fire from His mouth;
glowing coals flamed from Him.
10 He bent the heavens and descended;
darkness is beneath His feet.
11 He rode upon a heavenly creature,[b] flying;
He soared swiftly on the wings of the wind.
12 He placed darkness around Him like a canopy
and made His home in dark watery clouds of the sky.
13 Out from His brightness,
hailstones and burning coals flared forth.
14 The Eternal thundered in the heavens,
the voice of the Most High speaking.
15 He shot forth His arrows and scattered the wicked;
He flung forth His lightning and struck them.
16 Then the deepest channels of the seas were revealed;
and the foundations of the world were uncovered
At Your rebuke, O Eternal One,
at the blast of wind breathed from Your nostrils.
17 He reached down from above me, He held me;
He pulled me from the raging waters.
18 He rescued me from my strong enemy
and from all those who hated me,
for they would have overwhelmed me.
19 When my enemies came for me on the day of my destruction,
the Eternal stepped in to support me.
20 He led me out onto a broad plain;
He delivered me because of His delight in me.
21 The Eternal One rewarded me because I sought righteousness;
He rewarded me because I kept my hands clean.
22 He rewarded me because I kept the ways of the Eternal
and have not walked away from my True God in wickedness.
23 For all His laws were there before me,
and I did not push His statutes away.
24 I made myself blameless before Him;
I kept myself from guilt and shame.
25 That’s why the Eternal has rewarded me for seeking righteousness;
He’s rewarded me because He sees I have remained pure.
26 To the good, You show Your goodness;
to the blameless, You prove to be blameless;
27 To the pure, You show Your purity;
to the crooked, You make Yourself twisted.
28 For You rescue weak people,
but the proud You bring low.
29 You are the lamp who lights my way, O Eternal One,
the Eternal, who lights up my darkness.
30 With Your help, I can conquer an army;
with Your help, I can vault over walls.
31 God has made an upright way;
the promise of the Eternal rings true;
He stands and shields all who hide in Him.
32 Who is the True God except the Eternal One?
Who stands like a rock except our God?
33 The True God who circled me with strength
puts the upright on His way.
34 He made me sure-footed as a deer
and placed me high up and safe.
35 He teaches me to fight
so that my arms can bend a bronze bow.
36 You have given me the shield of Your salvation,
and Your support has made me strong.
37 You taught me how to walk with care
so my feet would not slip.
38 I pursued my enemies and defeated them
and did not stop until all were destroyed.
39 When I eliminated them, they fell down beneath my feet
so they could not rise again.
40 For You equipped me with strength for battle,
and You made my enemies fall beneath me.
41 You made my enemies turn and run,
and all who hated me, I destroyed.
42 They looked everywhere, but no one came to save them;
they asked the Eternal for help, but He did not answer them.
43 I beat them until they were as small as the dust of the earth;
I flung them away and beat them down like mud in the gutters.
44 You delivered me from conflict with the peoples;
you raised me up to rule over nations;
people whom I did not know came to serve me.
45 Strangers came to me, cringing and afraid;
as soon as they heard about me, they obeyed me.
46 Strangers had their courage shrivel before them
and came fearfully to me from behind their high walls.
47 The Eternal One is alive! May my Rock be blessed;
and the True God, the Rock of my deliverance be exalted,
48 The God who avenged me
and tamed the peoples under me,
49 Who rescued me from all my foes.
You raised me up above my enemies;
You saved me from the violent ones.
50 For this, I will praise You, O Eternal One, among the nations
and sing praises to Your name.[c]
51 He is a tower of salvation for His king
and shows His loyal love to His anointed,
to David and his descendants, continually.[d]
23 Here are the last words of David, son of Jesse: the words of the one raised up, the anointed one of Jacob’s True God, the sweet songwriter of Israel.
2 David: The Spirit of the Eternal speaks through me;
His voice emerges from my mouth.
3 The God of Israel has talked to me;
and the Rock of Israel said,
“One who rules people with justice
and who leads them in the fear of God
4 Is like the morning light,
the sun rising on a cloudless morning,
and the shining grasslands brought up from rain.”
5 Isn’t this how God has raised up my house?
Because He has made a perpetual covenant with me,
well-ordered and secure,
Won’t He make all things to grow and prosper,
save me, and give me all I desire?
6 But the wicked are like thorns cut off and tossed away
that can’t be picked up with your hands;
7 No, to touch them, use the iron tip
on the shaft of a spear.
They are burned up on the spot.
David has been brought up from his position as a lowly shepherd, the youngest son in the household, to the pinnacle of success by his faith in God and his own willingness to follow God. It has been an adventure fraught with danger and intrigue, and marked with loss and heartbreak along the way. David’s own failings find themselves reflected—and magnified—in his children. But here is one of the high points of the story of the people of God, united at last under a powerful and beloved king, and victorious against their enemies.
8 Here is a list of the warriors who fought for David:
Josheb-basshebeth the Tahchemonite was the most powerful of David’s three most-honored warriors; he took up his spear[e] and killed 800 in one battle.
9 The next of David’s three mighty men was Eleazar, son of Dodo of Ahohi. Eleazar stood with David when they defied the Philistines who had gathered there to fight. The Israelites retreated, 10 but Eleazar stood his ground. He killed Philistine soldiers that day until his arm grew tired, but he never dropped his sword. The Eternal One gave them a decisive victory that day; and then the people came back, only to pillage the fallen.
11 Last of these top three was Shammah, son of Agee of Harar. The Philistines gathered at Lehi[f] where there was a field full of lentils, and the Israelites fled from them. 12 But Shammah stood in the center of the field and fought, killing many Philistines; and the Eternal gave His people a great victory.
13 At the beginning of harvest, these top three of David’s thirty chief warriors joined David at the cave of Adullam. A group of Philistines was camped in the valley of Rephaim, 14 David was hiding in his safe place, and the main force of the Philistines was quartered in Bethlehem.
David (with longing): 15 I wish someone would bring me some water to drink from the well of Bethlehem by the gate!
16 So these three mighty men broke through the nearby camp of the Philistines, drew water from the Bethlehem well that was by the gate, and brought it back for David. But he would not drink it; instead he poured it out, although he was parched with thirst, as a drink offering to the Eternal One.
David: 17 O Eternal God, I have no right to drink this water. It would be like drinking the blood of the men who risked their lives for it!
So he did not drink it. This is the kind of thing the three mighty men did for David.
18 Besides the three highest ranking soldiers, there was Abishai (Zeruiah’s son and the brother of Joab), who was commander of the elite force of 30.[g] With his spear he killed 300 men in battle and won honor as the three did. 19 Abishai was the most honored of the 30 and became their commander, but he did not become one of the three.
20 And there was Benaiah (Jehoiada’s son), son of a great man from Kabzeel, who also did great deeds. He struck down two lionhearted heroes of Moab. Benaiah also killed a lion in a pit one snowy day, 21 and he killed an Egyptian who was a powerful-looking man. The Egyptian was armed with a spear while Benaiah had only his staff, but he took the spear away from him and killed the Egyptian with his own weapon. 22 These were the kinds of feats Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, performed that won him a name equal to the three mighty men for bravery. 23 He was famous among the 30, but never became one of the three. David made him the captain of his personal guard.
24 These are the warriors who were counted among the 30: Asahel, Joab’s brother; Elhanan, son of Dodo of Bethlehem; 25 Shammah of Harod; Elika of Harod; 26 Helez the Paltite; Ira, son of Ikkesh of Tekoa; 27 Abiezer of Anathoth; Mebunnai the Hushathite; 28 Zalmon the Ahohite; Maharai of Netophah; 29 Heleb, son of Baanah of Netophah; Ittai, son of Ribai of Gibeah in Benjamin; 30 Benaiah of Pirathon; Hiddai of the waters of Gaash; 31 Abi-albon the Arbathite; Azmaveth of Barhum; 32 Eliahba of Shaalbon; Jashen the Gimzonite; Jonathan, son of 33 Shammah of Harar; Ahiam, son of Sharar of Harar; 34 Eliphelet, son of Ahasbai of Maacah; Eliam, son of Ahithophel the Gilonite; 35 Hezro of Carmel; Paarai the Arbite; 36 Igal, son of Nathan of Zobah; Bani the Gadite; 37 Zelek the Ammonite; Naharai of Beeroth; the armor-bearer of Joab, Zeruiah’s son; 38 Ira the Ithrite; Gareb the Ithrite; 39 Uriah the Hittite—37 men in all who were counted among the 30.
Psalm 57
For the worship leader. A prayer[a] of David to the tune “Do Not Destroy,”[b] when he hid from Saul in a cave.
This individual lament refers back to those perilous times when David fled from Saul and hid in caves (1 Samuel 22; 24). David found real security not in the hidden recesses of the caves but in the shadow of God’s wings.
1 Mercy. May Your mercy come to me, O God,
for my soul is safe within You, the guardian of my life.
I will seek protection in the shade of Your wings
until the destruction has passed.
2 I cry out to God, the Most High,
to God who always does what is good for me.
3 Out of heaven my rescue comes.
He dispatches His mercy and truth
And goes after whoever tries to run over me.
[pause][c]
4 I am surrounded by lions;
I lie in a den of ravenous beasts.
Those around me have spears and arrows for teeth,
a sharpened blade for a tongue.
5 O God, be lifted up above the heavens;
may Your glory cover the earth.
6 Yet my foes cast a net to catch my feet and bring me to my knees.
I am weary from all of this.
They dug a pit to snare me
but fell into their own trap.
[pause]
7 My heart is ready, O God;
my heart is ready,
And I will sing!
Yes, I will sing praise!
8 Wake up, my glory!
Wake up, harp and lyre;
I will stir the sleepy dawn with praise!
9 I will offer You my thanks, O Lord, before the nations of the world;
I will sing of Your greatness no matter where I am.
10 For Your amazing mercy ascends far into the heavens;
Your truth rises above the clouds.
11 O God, be lifted up above the heavens;
may Your glory cover the earth.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.