2 Samuel 23–24

David’s Last Words

23Now these are the last words of David.

Thus says David the son of Jesse;

Thus says ^athe man raised up on high,

^bThe anointed of the God of Jacob,

And the sweet psalmist of Israel:

²“The ^cSpirit of the Lord spoke by me,

And His word was on my tongue.

³The God of Israel said,

^dThe Rock of Israel spoke to me:

‘He who rules over men must be just,

Ruling ^ein the fear of God.

⁴And ^fhe shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises,

A morning without clouds,

Like the tender grass springing out of the earth,

By clear shining after rain.’

⁵“Although my house is not so with God,

^gYet He has made with me an everlasting covenant,

Ordered in all things and secure.

For this is all my salvation and all my desire;

Will He not make it increase?

⁶But the sons of rebellion shall all be as thorns thrust away,

Because they cannot be taken with hands.

⁷But the man who touches them

Must be ¹armed with iron and the shaft of a spear,

And they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place.”

David’s Mighty Men

⁸These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: ²Josheb-Basshebeth the Tachmonite, chief among ³the captains. He was called Adino the Eznite, because he had killed eight hundred men at one time. ⁹And after him was ^hEleazar the son of ⁴Dodo, the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel had retreated. ¹⁰He arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was ⁱweary, and his hand stuck to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to ^jplunder. ¹¹And after him was ^kShammah the son of Agee the Hararite. ^lThe Philistines had gathered together into a troop where there was a piece of ground full of lentils. So the people fled from the Philistines. ¹²But he stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory.

¹³Then ^mthree of the thirty chief men went down at harvest time and came to David at ⁿthe cave of Adullam. And the troop of Philistines encamped in ^othe Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴David was then in ^pthe stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. ¹⁵And David said with longing, “Oh, that someone would give me a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” ¹⁶So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord. ¹⁷And he said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this! Is this not ^qthe blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it.

These things were done by the three mighty men.

¹⁸Now ^rAbishai the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of ⁵another three. He lifted his spear against three hundred men, killed them, and won a name among these three. ¹⁹Was he not the most honored of three? Therefore he became their captain. However, he did not attain to the first three.

²⁰Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from ^sKabzeel, ⁶who had done many deeds. ^tHe had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. ²¹And he killed an Egyptian, ⁷a spectacular man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand; so he went down to him with a staff, wrested the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with his own spear. ²²These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and won a name among three mighty men. ²³He was more honored than the thirty, but he did not attain to the first three. And David appointed him ^uover his guard.

^24vAsahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, ^25wShammah 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 children of Benjamin, ³⁰Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai from the brooks of ^xGaash, ³¹Abi-Albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, ³²Eliahba the Shaalbonite (of the sons of Jashen), Jonathan, ^33yShammah the ⁸Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Hararite, ³⁴Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maachathite, Eliam the son of ^zAhithophel the Gilonite, ³⁵⁹Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, ³⁶Igal the son of Nathan of ^aZobah, Bani the Gadite, ³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite (armorbearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah), ^38bIra the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ³⁹and ^cUriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.

David’s Census of Israel and Judah

24Again ^athe anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, ^b“Go, ¹number Israel and Judah.”

²So the king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Now go throughout all the tribes of Israel, ^cfrom Dan to Beersheba, and count the people, that ^dI may know the number of the people.”

³And Joab said to the king, “Now may the Lord your God ^eadd to the people a hundred times more than there are, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king desire this thing?” ⁴Nevertheless the king’s word ²prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the army. Therefore Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king to count the people of Israel.

⁵And they crossed over the Jordan and camped in ^fAroer, on the right side of the town which is in the midst of the ravine of Gad, and toward ^gJazer. ⁶Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; they came to ^hDan Jaan and around to ⁱSidon; ⁷and they came to the stronghold of ^jTyre and to all the cities of the ^kHivites and the Canaanites. Then they went out to South Judah as far as Beersheba. ⁸So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to the king. ^lAnd there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

The Judgment on David’s Sin

¹⁰And ^mDavid’s heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. So ⁿDavid said to the Lord, ^o“I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, I pray, O Lord, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have ^pdone very foolishly.”

¹¹Now when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet ^qGad, David’s ^rseer, saying, ¹²“Go and tell David, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.” ’ ” ¹³So Gad came to David and told him; and he said to him, “Shall ^sseven ³years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.”

¹⁴And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the Lord, ^tfor His mercies are great; but ^udo not let me fall into the hand of man.”

¹⁵So ^vthe Lord sent a plague upon Israel from the morning till the appointed time. From Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand men of the people died. ^16wAnd when the ⁴angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, ^xthe Lord relented from the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “It is enough; now restrain your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of ⁵Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁷Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Surely ^yI have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.”

The Altar on the Threshing Floor

¹⁸And Gad came that day to David and said to him, ^z“Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹So David, according to the word of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. ²⁰Now Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. So Araunah went out and bowed before the king with his face to the ground.

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

^aAnd David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the Lord, that ^bthe plague may be withdrawn from the people.”

²²Now Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. ^cLook, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen for wood. ²³All these, O king, Araunah has given to the king.”

And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God ^daccept you.”

²⁴Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” So ^eDavid bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. ²⁵And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. ^fSo the Lord heeded the prayers for the land, and ^gthe plague was withdrawn from Israel.