¹Now these are the last words of David: David the son of Jesse saith, And the man who was raised up on high, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel saith, ²The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me, And his word was on my tongue. ³The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me, The ruler among men shall be just, Ruling in the fear of God; ⁴And he shall be as the light or the morning, like the rising of the sun, A morning without clouds; When from the sunshine, after rain, The green grass springeth from the earth. ⁵Although my house be not so before •God, Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, Ordered in every way and sure; For this is all my salvation, and every desire, Although he make it not to grow. ⁶But the sons of Belial are all of them as thorns thrust away, Because they cannot be taken with hands; ⁷And the man that will touch them provideth himself with iron and the staff of a spear; And they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place.

⁸These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Joseb-Bassebeth, Tachkemonite the chief of the captains: he was Adino the Eznite; he fought against eight hundred, slain by him at one time. ⁹And after him, Eleazar the son of Dodo the son of an Ahohite: he was one of the three mighty men with David, when they had defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone up. ¹⁰He arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave to the sword; and Jehovah wrought a great deliverance that day; and the people returned after him only to spoil. ¹¹And after him, Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite: the Philistines were gathered into a troop, and there was there a plot of ground full of lentils, and the people had fled before the Philistines; ¹²and he stood in the midst of the plot and delivered it, and smote the Philistines, and Jehovah wrought a great deliverance. ¹³And three of the thirty chiefs went down, and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam, when the troop of the Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴And David was then in the stronghold; and the Philistines’ garrison was then at Bethlehem. ¹⁵And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me to drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is in the gate! ¹⁶And the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, which is in the gate, and took it, and brought it to David; however he would not drink of it, but poured it out to Jehovah. ¹⁷And he said, Be it far from me, Jehovah, that I should do this thing! is it not the blood of the men that went at the risk of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men. ¹⁸And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was the chief of three; and he brandished his spear against three hundred and slew them; and he had a name among the three. ¹⁹Was he not most honourable of three? and he was their captain; but he did not attain to the first three. ²⁰And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, son of a valiant man, great in exploits, of Kabzeel: he it was that smote two lions of Moab; and he went down and smote a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. ²¹He also smote the Egyptian, an imposing man: and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; and he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and slew him with his own spear. ²²These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he had a name among the three mighty men. ²³He was honoured above the thirty, but he did not attain to the first three. And David set him in his council. ²⁴Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, ²⁵Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, ²⁶Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, ²⁷Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, ²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, ²⁹Heleb the son of Baanah, the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin, ³⁰Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash, ³¹Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, ³²Eliahba the Shaalbonite, of the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, ³³Shammah the Ararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite, ³⁴Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maachathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, ³⁵Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, ³⁶Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, ³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, the armour-bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah, ³⁸Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ³⁹Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.

Chapter 24

¹And again the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them saying, Go, number Israel and Judah. ²And the king said to Joab the captain of the host, who was with him, Go, I pray thee, through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, and count the people, that I may know the number of the people. ³And Joab said to the king, May Jehovah thy God even add to the people, how many soever they be, a hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing? ⁴But the king’s word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the army. And Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king to count the people of Israel. ⁵And they passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the midst of the ravine of Gad, and toward Jaazer. ⁶And they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi; and came to Dan-jaan, and to the environs of Sidon; ⁷and they came to the fortified city of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites; and went out to the south of Judah, to Beer-sheba. ⁸And they went through all the land, and came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to the king; and there were of Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

¹⁰And David’s heart smote him after he had numbered the people. And David said to Jehovah, I have sinned greatly in what I have done; and now, I beseech thee, Jehovah, put away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. ¹¹And when David arose in the morning, the word of Jehovah came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, ¹²Go and say to David, Thus saith Jehovah: I impose on thee three things; choose one of them that I may do it unto thee. ¹³And Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, Shall seven years of famine come to thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine adversaries while they pursue thee? or shall there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? Now be aware and consider what word I shall bring again to him that sent me. ¹⁴And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall, I pray thee, into the hand of Jehovah; for his mercies are great; but let me not fall into the hand of man. ¹⁵And Jehovah sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the set time; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men. ¹⁶And the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it; but Jehovah repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed among the people, It is enough: withdraw now thine hand. And the angel of Jehovah was by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷And David spoke to Jehovah when he saw the angel that smote among the people, and said, Behold, it is I that have sinned, and it is I that have committed iniquity; but these sheep, what have they done? let thy hand, I pray thee, be on me, and on my father’s house!

¹⁸And Gad came that day to David, and said to him, Go up, rear an altar to Jehovah in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁹And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as Jehovah had commanded. ²⁰And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on towards him; and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. ²¹And Araunah said, Why is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshing-floor of thee, to build an altar to Jehovah, that the plague may be stayed from the people. ²²And Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer up that which is good in his sight: see, here are oxen for the burnt-offering, and the threshing-sledges and implements of the oxen for wood. ²³All these things, O king, doth Araunah give to the king. And Araunah said to the king, Jehovah thy God accept thee. ²⁴And the king said to Araunah, No; but I will in any case buy them of thee at a price: neither will I offer up to Jehovah my God burnt-offerings without cost. And David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. ²⁵And David built there an altar to Jehovah, and offered up burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. And Jehovah was propitious to the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

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