2 Samuel 23:1–17

The Last Words of David

23Now these are the last words of David:

The oracle of David, the son of Jesse,

the oracle of ^lthe man who was raised on high,

^jthe anointed of the God of Jacob,

the sweet psalmist of Israel:¹

^2m“The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me;

his word is on my tongue.

³The God of Israel has spoken;

ⁿthe Rock of Israel has said to me:

When one rules justly over men,

ruling ^oin the fear of God,

⁴he ^pdawns on them like the morning light,

like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning,

like rain² that makes grass to sprout from the earth.

⁵“For does not my house stand so with God?

^qFor he has made with me an everlasting covenant,

ordered in all things and secure.

For will he not cause to prosper

all my help and my desire?

⁶But worthless men³ are all like thorns that are thrown away,

for they cannot be taken with the hand;

⁷but the man who touches them

arms himself with iron and the shaft of a spear,

and they are utterly consumed with fire.”⁴

David’s Mighty Men

^8rThese are the names of the mighty men whom David had: ^sJosheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite; he was chief of the three.⁵ He wielded his spear⁶ against eight hundred whom he killed at one time.

⁹And next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar the son of ^tDodo, son of ^uAhohi. He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel withdrew. ¹⁰He rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clung to the sword. And the Lord brought about a great victory that day, and the men returned after him only to strip the slain.

¹¹And next to him was Shammah, the son of Agee the ^vHararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi,⁷ where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the men fled from the Philistines. ¹²But he took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines, and the Lord worked a great victory.

¹³And three of the thirty chief men went down and came about harvest time to David at the ^wcave of Adullam, when a band of Philistines was encamped ^xin the Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴David was then ^yin the stronghold, and ^zthe garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. ¹⁵And David said longingly, “Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” ¹⁶Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and carried and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the Lord ¹⁷and said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink ^athe blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.