2 Samuel 23–24

David’s Last Words

23These are the last words of David:

“The inspired utterance of David son of Jesse,

the utterance of the man exalted^m by the Most High,

the man anointedⁿ by the God of Jacob,

the hero of Israel’s songs:

²“The Spirit^o of the Lord spoke through me;

his word was on my tongue.

³The God of Israel spoke,

the Rock^p of Israel said to me:

‘When one rules over people in righteousness,^q

when he rules in the fear^r of God,^s

⁴he is like the light^t of morning^u at sunrise^v

on a cloudless morning,

like the brightness after rain^w

that brings grass from the earth.’

⁵“If my house were not right with God,

surely he would not have made with me an everlasting covenant,^x

arranged and secured in every part;

surely he would not bring to fruition my salvation

and grant me my every desire.

⁶But evil men are all to be cast aside like thorns,^y

which are not gathered with the hand.

⁷Whoever touches thorns

uses a tool of iron or the shaft of a spear;

they are burned up where they lie.”

David’s Mighty Warriors

23:8–39pp—1Ch 11:10–41

⁸These are the names of David’s mighty warriors:^z

Josheb-Basshebeth,^aa a Tahkemonite,^b was chief of the Three; he raised his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed^c in one encounter.

⁹Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai^b the Ahohite.^c As one of the three mighty warriors, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pas Dammim^d for battle. Then the Israelites retreated, ¹⁰but Eleazar stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day. The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead.

¹¹Next to him was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines banded together at a place where there was a field full of lentils, Israel’s troops fled from them. ¹²But Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field. He defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the Lord brought about a great victory.

¹³During harvest time, three of the thirty chief warriors came down to David at the cave of Adullam,^d while a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.^{e 14}At that time David was in the stronghold,^f and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem.^{g 15}David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!” ¹⁶So the three mighty warriors broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured^h it out before the Lord. ¹⁷“Far be it from me, Lord, to do this!” he said. “Is it not the bloodⁱ of men who went at the risk of their lives?” And David would not drink it.

Such were the exploits of the three mighty warriors.

¹⁸Abishai^j the brother of Joab son of Zeruiah was chief of the Three.^e He raised his spear against three hundred men, whom he killed, and so he became as famous as the Three. ¹⁹Was he not held in greater honor than the Three? He became their commander, even though he was not included among them.

²⁰Benaiah^k son of Jehoiada, a valiant fighter from Kabzeel,^l performed great exploits. He struck down Moab’s two mightiest warriors. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. ²¹And he struck down a huge Egyptian. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. ²²Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he too was as famous as the three mighty warriors. ²³He was held in greater honor than any of the Thirty, but he was not included among the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

²⁴Among the Thirty were:

Asahel^m the brother of Joab,

Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem,

²⁵Shammah the Harodite,ⁿ

Elika the Harodite,

²⁶Helez^o the Paltite,

Ira^p son of Ikkesh from Tekoa,

²⁷Abiezer^q from Anathoth,^r

Sibbekai^f the Hushathite,

²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite,

Maharai^s the Netophathite,^t

²⁹Heled^gu son of Baanah the Netophathite,

Ithai son of Ribai from Gibeah^v in Benjamin,

³⁰Benaiah the Pirathonite,^w

Hiddai^h from the ravines of Gaash,^x

³¹Abi-Albon the Arbathite,

Azmaveth the Barhumite,^y

³²Eliahba the Shaalbonite,

the sons of Jashen,

Jonathan ³³son ofⁱ Shammah the Hararite,

Ahiam son of Sharar^j the Hararite,

³⁴Eliphelet son of Ahasbai the Maakathite,^z

Eliam^a son of Ahithophel^b the Gilonite,

³⁵Hezro the Carmelite,^c

Paarai the Arbite,

³⁶Igal son of Nathan from Zobah,^d

the son of Hagri,^k

³⁷Zelek the Ammonite,

Naharai the Beerothite,^e the armor-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah,

³⁸Ira the Ithrite,^f

Gareb the Ithrite

³⁹and Uriah^g the Hittite.

There were thirty-seven in all.

David Enrolls the Fighting Men

24:1–17pp—1Ch 21:1–17

24Again^h the anger of the Lord burned against Israel,ⁱ and he incited David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of^j Israel and Judah.”

²So the king said to Joab^k and the army commanders^a with him, “Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba^l and enroll^m the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are.”

³But Joabⁿ replied to the king, “May the Lord your God multiply the troops a hundred times over,^o and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?”

⁴The king’s word, however, overruled Joab and the army commanders; so they left the presence of the king to enroll the fighting men of Israel.

⁵After crossing the Jordan, they camped near Aroer,^p south of the town in the gorge, and then went through Gad and on to Jazer.^{q 6}They went to Gilead and the region of Tahtim Hodshi, and on to Dan Jaan and around toward Sidon.^{r 7}Then they went toward the fortress of Tyre^s and all the towns of the Hivites^t and Canaanites. Finally, they went on to Beersheba^u in the Negev^v of Judah.

⁸After they had gone through the entire land, they came back to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

⁹Joab reported the number of the fighting men to the king: In Israel there were eight hundred thousand able-bodied men who could handle a sword, and in Judah five hundred thousand.^w

¹⁰David was conscience-stricken^x after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, “I have sinned^y greatly in what I have done. Now, Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.^z”

¹¹Before David got up the next morning, the word of the Lord had come to Gad^a the prophet, David’s seer:^{b 12}“Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’ ”

¹³So Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come on you three^b years of famine^c in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague^d in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”

¹⁴David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy^e is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”

¹⁵So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.^{f 16}When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented^g concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the Lord^h was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁷When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the Lord, “I have sinned; I, the shepherd,^c have done wrong. These are but sheep.ⁱ What have they done?^j Let your hand fall on me and my family.”^k

David Builds an Altar

24:18–25pp—1Ch 21:18–26

¹⁸On that day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah^l the Jebusite.” ¹⁹So David went up, as the Lord had commanded through Gad. ²⁰When Araunah looked and saw the king and his officials coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.

²¹Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”

“To buy your threshing floor,” David answered, “so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped.”^m

²²Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take whatever he wishes and offer it up. Here are oxenⁿ for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. ²³Your Majesty, Araunah^d gives^o all this to the king.” Araunah also said to him, “May the Lord your God accept you.”

²⁴But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”^p

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels^eq of silver for them. ²⁵David built an altar^r to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered his prayer^s in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.