2 Samuel 21–22

Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because ^ahe slew the Gibeonites. ²And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but ^bof the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.) ³Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless ^cthe inheritance of the Lord? ⁴And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What you shall say, that will I do for you. ⁵And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that ^ddevised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, ⁶let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord ^ein Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose. And the king said, I will give them. ⁷But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of ^fthe Lord’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. ⁸But the king took the two sons of ^gRizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite: ⁹and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in ^hthe beginning of barley harvest. ¹⁰And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, ⁱfrom the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. ¹¹And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. ¹²And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from ^jthe men of Jabesh-gilead, ^kwhich had stolen them from the street of ^lBeth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa: ¹³and he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged. ¹⁴And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in ^mZelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that ⁿGod was intreated for the land.

¹⁵Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint. ¹⁶And Ishbi-benob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred ^oshekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David. ¹⁷But ^pAbishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, ^qThou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel. ^18rAnd it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then ^sSibbechai the ^sHushathite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant. ¹⁹And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where ^tElhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a Beth-lehemite, slew ^uthe brother of Goliath the Gittite, ^wthe staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. ²⁰And there was yet a battle in ^xGath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant. ²¹And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of ^yShimea the brother of David slew him. ²²These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell ^zby the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

XXII.And David spake ^aunto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:^2band he said,

The Lord is ^cmy rock, and ^dmy fortress, and my deliverer;

³The God ^eof my rock; ^fin him will I trust:

He is my ^gshield, and the ^hhorn of my salvation, my ⁱhigh tower, and my ^krefuge,

My saviour; thou savest me from violence.

⁴I will call on the Lord, ^lwho is worthy to be praised:

So shall I be saved from mine enemies.

⁵When the waves of death compassed me,

The floods of ungodly men made me afraid;

⁶The sorrows of hell compassed me about;

The snares of death prevented me:

⁷In my distress ^mI called upon the Lord,

And cried to my God:

And he did hear my voice out of his temple,

And my cry ⁿdid enter into his ears.

⁸Then ^othe earth shook and trembled;

^pThe foundations of heaven moved

And shook, because he was wroth.

⁹There went up a smoke out of his nostrils,

And fire out of his mouth devoured:

Coals were kindled by it.

¹⁰He ^qbowed the heavens also, and came down;

And ^rdarkness was under his feet.

¹¹And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly:

And he was seen ^supon the wings of the wind.

¹²And he made darkness ^tpavilions round about him,

Dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies.

¹³Through the brightness before him

Were coals of fire kindled.

¹⁴The Lord ^uthundered from heaven,

And the most High uttered his voice.

¹⁵And he sent out ^xarrows, and scattered them;

Lightning, and ^ydiscomfited them.

¹⁶And the channels of the sea appeared,

The foundations of the world were discovered,

At the ^zrebuking of the Lord,

At the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

^17aHe sent from above, he took me;

^bHe drew me out of many waters;

^18cHe delivered me from my strong enemy,

And from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.

¹⁹They ^dprevented me in the day of my calamity:

But the Lord was my stay.

²⁰He brought me forth also ^einto a large place:

He delivered me, because he ^fdelighted in me.

^21gThe Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness:

According to the ^hcleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

²²For I have ⁱkept the ways of the Lord,

And have not wickedly departed from my God.

²³For all his ^jjudgments were before me:

And as for his statutes, I did not depart from them.

²⁴I was also ^kupright before him,

And have kept myself from mine iniquity.

²⁵Therefore ^lthe Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness;

According to my cleanness in his eye sight.

²⁶With ^mthe merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful,

And with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.

²⁷With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure;

And with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury.

²⁸And the ⁿafflicted people thou wilt save:

But thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down.

²⁹For thou art my lamp, O Lord:

And the Lord will lighten my darkness.

³⁰For by thee I have run through a troop:

By my God have I leaped over a wall.

³¹As for God, his way is perfect;

^oThe word of the Lord is tried:

He is ^pa buckler to all them that trust in him.

³²For ^qwho is God, save the Lord?

And who is a rock, save our God?

³³God is my ^rstrength and power:

And he maketh my way ^sperfect.

³⁴He maketh my feet ^tlike hinds’ feet:

And setteth me ^uupon my high places.

^35xHe teacheth my hands to war;

So that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.

³⁶Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation:

And thy gentleness hath made me great.

³⁷Thou hast enlarged ^ymy steps under me;

So that my feet did not slip.

³⁸I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them;

And turned not again until I had consumed them.

³⁹And I have consumed them, and wounded them, that they could not arise:

Yea, they are fallen under my feet.

⁴⁰For thou hast ^zgirded me with strength to battle:

^aThem that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me.

⁴¹Thou hast also given me the ^bnecks of mine enemies,

That I might destroy them that hate me.

^42cThey looked, but there was none to save;

Even unto the Lord, but he answered them not.

⁴³Then ^ddid I beat them as small ^eas the dust of the earth,

I did stamp them ^fas the mire of the street, and ^gdid spread them abroad.

⁴⁴Thou also hast delivered me ^hfrom the strivings of my people,

ⁱThou hast kept me to be head of the heathen:

A ^jpeople which I knew not shall serve me.

⁴⁵Strangers shall submit themselves unto me:

As soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me.

⁴⁶Strangers shall fade away,

And they ^kshall be afraid ^lout of their close places.

⁴⁷The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock;

And exalted be the God of the ^mrock of my salvation.

⁴⁸It is God that avengeth me,

And that ⁿbringeth down the people under me,

⁴⁹And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies:

^oThou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me:

Thou hast delivered me from the ^pviolent man.

^50qTherefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen,

And I will sing praises unto thy name.

⁵¹He is the tower of ^rsalvation for his king:

And sheweth mercy to his ^sanointed,

Unto David, and ^tto his seed for evermore.

XXIII.