2 Samuel 23–24

David Extols Yahweh

23These are the last words of David, the declaration of David the son of Jesse, and the declaration of the man exalted by the Most High, the anointed one of the God of Jacob and the darling of the songs of Israel. ²“The spirit of Yahweh speaks through me, and his word is upon my tongue. ³The God of Israel said to me, the rock of Israel has spoken; ‘He who rules over mankind rules righteously, in the fear of God. ⁴Like the light of the morning when the sun rises, shining with no clouds, bringing vegetation from the earth apart from rain.’^{a 5}Yet not so is my house with God, for he made an everlasting covenant for me, arranging everything. He has secured all my deliverance, and all my desire he will cause to happen. ⁶But evil persons are like thorns cast aside; all of them, because they cannot be picked up in the hand. ⁷And if a man wants to touch them, he must use an iron instrument or the shaft of a spear; then they are consumed entirely with fire on the spot.”

David’s Faithful Soldiers

⁸These are the names of the mighty warriors who were David’s: Josheb-Basshebeth a Tahkemonite was chief of three officers; first Adino, whose spear was against eight hundred slain on one occurrence. ⁹Next to him Eleazar, the son of Dodo the son of an Ahohite, was among the three mighty warriors with David when they defied the Philistines and they gathered there for the battle and the men of Israel withdrew. ¹⁰He stood up and struck down the Philistines until his hand grew tired and his hand clung to the sword, and Yahweh brought about a great victory on that day. Then the army returned back to him only for stripping the dead. ¹¹Next to him was Shamma, the son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines assembled at Lehi, a plot of the field was there filled with lentils, and the army fled there from the presence of the Philistines. ¹²But he took a stand in the middle of the plot of land and defended it. He killed the Philistines, and Yahweh brought about a great victory. ¹³Then three^b of the thirty leaders went down and came to David at the time of the harvest^c to the cave of Adullam, while a group of the Philistines were camping in the valley of the Rephaim. ¹⁴Now at that time, David was in the stronghold, and a garrison of the Philistines was in Bethlehem at that same time. ¹⁵David said longingly,^d “Oh that someone would bring me a drink^e of water from the well of Bethlehem that is at the gate.” ¹⁶So three of the mighty warriors broke into the camp of the Philistines, and they drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was at the gate, and they carried it and brought it to David. But he was not willing to drink it, but poured it out to Yahweh. ¹⁷He said, “Far be it from me before Yahweh that I should do this. Is this not the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” So he was not willing to drink it. These things the three mighty warriors did. ¹⁸Now Abishai the brother of Joab the son of Zeruiah was himself the leader of the thirty. He was wielding his spear against three hundred slain and gained a name^f among the thirty. ¹⁹Among the thirty, is it not that he was honored and became a commander for them? But he did not come up to the three. ²⁰Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of Ish-Hai, was a great man of deeds from Kabzeel. He struck down two sons of Ariel of Moab, and he went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day. ²¹He also killed a good-looking Egyptian man, in whose hand was a spear. He went down against him with the staff and snatched the spear from the hand of the Egyptian and killed him with his spear. ²²These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did and gained a name for himself among the three mighty warriors. ²³He was honored more than the thirty, but he did not come up to the three. David appointed him in charge of his bodyguard.

The Mighty Men of David

²⁴Among the thirty were Asahel the brother of Joab, 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 from Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin, ³⁰Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai from the wadis of Gaash, ³¹Abi-Albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, ³²Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan ³³the son of Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite, ³⁴Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai the son of the Maacathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, ³⁵Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, ³⁶Igal the son of Nathan from Zobah, Bani the Gadite, ³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, the carriers of the weapons of Joab the son of Zeruiah, ³⁸Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ³⁹Uriah the Hittite; in all, thirty-seven.

David and the Census of the People

24Again Yahweh was angry with Israel, and he^a incited David against them, saying, “Go count Israel and Judah.” ²The king said to Joab, the commander of the army who was with him: “Please go about through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people that I may know the number of the people.” ³Then Joab said to the king, “May Yahweh your God increase the people a hundred times what they are^b as the eyes of my lord the king are seeing. But my lord the king, why does he desire this thing?” ⁴But the word of the king prevailed over Joab and over the commanders of the army, so Joab and the commanders of the army went out from before the king to count the people of Israel. ⁵They crossed over the Jordan and camped at Aroer to the south of the city, which was in the middle of the wadi of Gad, and up to Jazer. ⁶Then they went to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi. They came to Dan Jaan and around to Sidon ⁷and came to the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went out to the Negev of Judah at Beersheba. ⁸They went about through all the land, and they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

⁹Then Joab gave the number of the counting of the people to the king. Israel was eight hundred thousand valiant warriors^c wielding the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand. ¹⁰The heart of David struck him after he had counted the people, and David said to Yahweh, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done! So then, O Yahweh, please forgive the guilt of your servant because I have acted very foolishly.” ¹¹When David got up in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to Gad the prophet, the seer of David, saying, ¹²“Go and speak to David, ‘Thus says Yahweh, three things I am laying on you; choose for yourself one of them and I will do it to you.’ ” ¹³Then Gad came to David, and he told him and said to him, “Shall seven years of famine in the land come to you? Or three months of your fleeing from your enemies while he is pursuing you? Or should there be three days of pestilence in your land? Now consider and decide what I must return to the one who sent me a word.” ¹⁴Then David said to Gad, “I am greatly distressed. Please let us fall into the hand of Yahweh, because he is great in his compassion; but into the hand of man don’t let me fall.” ¹⁵Then Yahweh sent a plague into Israel from the morning until the agreed time,^d and from the people from Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand men died.

¹⁶When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, Yahweh regretted about the evil, and he said to the angel who brought destruction among the people, “Enough, now relax your hand.” Now the angel of Yahweh was at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel destroying among the people, and he said, “Look, I have sinned and I have done wrong, but these sheep, what did they do? Please let your hand be against me and against the house of my father.” ¹⁸Then Gad came to David on that same day and said to him, “Go up and erect an altar to Yahweh at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹So David went up according to the word of Gad, as Yahweh had commanded. ²⁰Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants coming over to him, so Araunah went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground. ²¹Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy from you the threshing floor, to build an altar to Yahweh who brought a halt to the plague on the people.” ²²Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer what is good in his eyes. Look, here are the cattle for the burnt offering and the threshing sledge and the yokes of the oxen for the firewood. ²³All of this Araunah hereby gives to the king.” Then Araunah said to the king, “May Yahweh your God respond favorably for you.” ²⁴Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will certainly buy^e it from you for a price; I don’t want to offer to Yahweh my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the cattle for fifty shekels of silver. ²⁵David built an altar to Yahweh there, and he offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then Yahweh responded to his prayer for the land and brought the plague to a halt from upon Israel.