2 Samuel 22:1–24:25
22 Then David aspoke to the Lord the words of this song, on the day when the Lord had bdelivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. 2 And he csaid:
d“The Lord is my rock and my efortress and my deliverer;
3 The God of my strength, fin whom I will trust;
My gshield and the hhorn 1of my salvation,
My istronghold and my jrefuge;
My Savior, You save me from violence.
4 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.
5 “When the waves of death surrounded me,
The floods of ungodliness 2made me afraid.
6 The ksorrows of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
7 In my distress lI called upon the Lord,
And cried out to my God;
He mheard my voice from His temple,
And my cry entered His ears.
8 “Then nthe earth shook and trembled;
oThe foundations of 3heaven quaked and were shaken,
Because He was angry.
9 Smoke went up from His nostrils,
And devouring pfire from His mouth;
Coals were kindled by it.
10 He qbowed the heavens also, and came down
With rdarkness under His feet.
11 He rode upon a cherub, and flew;
And He 4was seen supon the wings of the wind.
12 He made tdarkness canopies around Him,
Dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
13 From the brightness before Him
Coals of fire were kindled.
14 “The Lord uthundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered His voice.
15 He sent out varrows and scattered them;
Lightning bolts, and He vanquished them.
16 Then the channels of the sea wwere seen,
The foundations of the world were uncovered,
At the xrebuke of the Lord,
At the blast of the breath of His nostrils.
17 “He ysent from above, He took me,
He drew me out of many waters.
18 He delivered me from my strong enemy,
From those who hated me;
For they were too strong for me.
19 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
But the Lord was my zsupport.
20 aHe also brought me out into a broad place;
He delivered me because He bdelighted in me.
21 “The cLord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the dcleanness of my hands
He has recompensed me.
22 For I have ekept the ways of the Lord,
And have not wickedly departed from my God.
23 For all His fjudgments were before me;
And as for His statutes, I did not depart from them.
24 I was also gblameless before Him,
And I kept myself from my iniquity.
25 Therefore hthe Lord has 5recompensed me according to my righteousness,
According to 6my cleanness in His eyes.
26 “With ithe merciful You will show Yourself merciful;
With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
27 With the pure You will show Yourself pure;
And jwith the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.
28 You will save the khumble 7people;
But Your eyes are on lthe haughty, that You may bring them down.
29 “For You are my mlamp, O Lord;
The Lord shall enlighten my darkness.
30 For by You I can run against a troop;
By my God I can leap over a nwall.
31 As for God, oHis way is perfect;
pThe word of the Lord is proven;
He is a shield to all who trust in Him.
32 “For qwho is God, except the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?
33 8God is my rstrength and power,
And He smakes 9my way tperfect.
34 He makes 1my feet ulike the feet of deer,
And vsets me on my high places.
35 He teaches my hands 2to make war,
So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
36 “You have also given me the shield of Your salvation;
Your gentleness has made me great.
37 You wenlarged my path under me;
So my feet did not slip.
38 “I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them;
Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed.
39 And I have destroyed them and wounded them,
So that they could not rise;
They have fallen xunder my feet.
40 For You have yarmed me with strength for the battle;
You have 3subdued under me zthose who rose against me.
41 You have also 4given me the anecks of my enemies,
So that I destroyed those who hated me.
42 They looked, but there was none to save;
Even bto the Lord, but He did not answer them.
43 Then I beat them as fine cas the dust of the earth;
I trod them dlike dirt in the streets,
And I 5spread them out.
44 “You ehave also delivered me from the 6strivings of my people;
You have kept me as the fhead of the nations.
gA people I have not known shall serve me.
45 The foreigners submit to me;
As soon as they hear, they obey me.
And 7come frightened hfrom their hideouts.
Blessed be my Rock!
Let God be exalted,
The iRock of my salvation!
And jsubdues the peoples under me;
49 He delivers me from my enemies.
You also lift me up above those who rise against me;
You have delivered me from the kviolent man.
50 Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among lthe Gentiles,
And sing praises to Your mname.
51 “He nis the tower of salvation to His king,
And shows mercy to His oanointed,
To David and phis descendants forevermore.”
23 Now these are the last words of David.
Thus says David the son of Jesse;
Thus says athe man raised up on high,
bThe anointed of the God of Jacob,
And the sweet psalmist of Israel:
2 “The cSpirit of the Lord spoke by me,
And His word was on my tongue.
dThe Rock of Israel spoke to me:
‘He who rules over men must be just,
Ruling ein the fear of God.
4 And fhe shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises,
A morning without clouds,
Like the tender grass springing out of the earth,
By clear shining after rain.’
5 “Although my house is not so with God,
gYet He has made with me an everlasting covenant,
Ordered in all things and secure.
For this is all my salvation and all my desire;
Will He not make it increase?
6 But the sons of rebellion shall all be as thorns thrust away,
Because they cannot be taken with hands.
7 But the man who touches them
Must be 1armed with iron and the shaft of a spear,
And they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place.”
8 These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: 2Josheb-Basshebeth the Tachmonite, chief among 3the captains. He was called Adino the Eznite, because he had killed eight hundred men at one time. 9 And after him was hEleazar the son of 4Dodo, the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel had retreated. 10 He arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was iweary, and his hand stuck to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to jplunder. 11 And after him was kShammah the son of Agee the Hararite. lThe Philistines had gathered together into a troop where there was a piece of ground full of lentils. So the people fled from the Philistines. 12 But he stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory.
13 Then mthree of the thirty chief men went down at harvest time and came to David at nthe cave of Adullam. And the troop of Philistines encamped in othe Valley of Rephaim. 14 David was then in pthe stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. 15 And David said with longing, “Oh, that someone would give me a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” 16 So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord. 17 And he said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this! Is this not qthe blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it.
These things were done by the three mighty men.
18 Now rAbishai the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of 5another three. He lifted his spear against three hundred men, killed them, and won a name among these three. 19 Was he not the most honored of three? Therefore he became their captain. However, he did not attain to the first three.
20 Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from sKabzeel, 6who had done many deeds. tHe had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. 21 And he killed an Egyptian, 7a spectacular man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand; so he went down to him with a staff, wrested the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with his own spear. 22 These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and won a name among three mighty men. 23 He was more honored than the thirty, but he did not attain to the first three. And David appointed him uover his guard.
24 vAsahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, 25 wShammah 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 children of Benjamin, 30 Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai from the brooks of xGaash, 31 Abi-Albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, 32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite (of the sons of Jashen), Jonathan, 33 yShammah the 8Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Hararite, 34 Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maachathite, Eliam the son of zAhithophel the Gilonite, 35 9Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, 36 Igal the son of Nathan of aZobah, Bani the Gadite, 37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite (armorbearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah), 38 bIra the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, 39 and cUriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.
David’s Census of Israel and Judah
24 Again athe anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, b“Go, 1number Israel and Judah.”
2 So the king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Now go throughout all the tribes of Israel, cfrom Dan to Beersheba, and count the people, that dI may know the number of the people.”
3 And Joab said to the king, “Now may the Lord your God eadd to the people a hundred …