2 Samuel 23–24

Chapter 23

¹Now these are the last words of David:

The oracle of David, the son of Jesse,

the oracle of the man who was raised on high,

the anointed of the God of Jacob,

the sweet psalmist of Israel:^y

²“The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me,

his word is upon my tongue.

³The God of Israel has spoken,

the Rock of Israel has said to me:

When one rules justly over men,

ruling in the fear of God,

⁴he dawns on them like the morning light,

like the sun shining forth upon a cloudless morning,

like rain^z that makes grass to sprout from the earth.

⁵Yea, does not my house stand so with God?

For 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 godless men^a 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.”^b

⁸These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tah-chemonite; he was chief of the three;^c he wielded his spear against eight hundred whom he slew at one time.

⁹And next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar the son of Dodo, son of Ahohi. 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 cleaved to the sword; and the Lord wrought 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 Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, 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 slew the Philistines; and the Lord wrought a great victory.

¹³And three of the thirty chief men went down, and came about harvest time to David at the cave of Adullam, when a band of Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴David was then in the stronghold; and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. ¹⁵And David said longingly, “O that some one would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which 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 which was by the gate, and took 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 the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.

¹⁸Now Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the thirty.^z And he wielded his spear against three hundred men and slew them, and won a name beside the three. ¹⁹He was the most renowned of the thirty, and became their commander; but he did not attain to the three.

²⁰And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man^g of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds; he smote two ariels^h of Moab. He also went down and slew a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen. ²¹And he slew an Egyptian, a handsome man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but Benaiah went down to him with a staff, and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and slew him with his own spear. ²²These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and won a name beside the three mighty men. ²³He was renowned among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David set him over his bodyguard.

²⁴Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, ²⁵Shammah of Harod, Elika of Harod, ²⁶Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh of Tekoa, ²⁷Abi-ezer, of Anathoth, Mebunnai the Hushathite, ²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai of Netophah, ²⁹Heleb the son of Baanah of Netophah, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibe-ah of the Benjaminites, ³⁰Benaiah of Pirathon, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash, ³¹Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth of Bahurim, ³²Eliahba of Sha-albon, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, ³³Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Hararite, ³⁴Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai of Maacah, Eliam the son of Ahithophel of Gilo, ³⁵Hezroⁱ of Carmel, Paarai the Arbite, ³⁶Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, ³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai of Be-eroth, the armor-bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah, ³⁸Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ³⁹Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.

Chapter 24

¹Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” ²So the king said to Joab and the commanders of the army, who were with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.” ³But Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see it; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” ⁴But the king’s word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. ⁵They crossed the Jordan, and began from Aroer,^k and from the city that is in the middle of the valley, toward Gad and on to Jazer. ⁶Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites;^l and they came to Dan, and from Dan they went around to Sidon, ⁷and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beer-sheba. ⁸So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand.

¹⁰But David’s heart smote him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, I pray thee, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.” ¹¹And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, ¹²“Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offerⁿ you; choose one of them, that I may do it to you.” ¹³So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” ¹⁴Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress; let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”

¹⁵So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time; and there died of the people from Dan to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men. ¹⁶And when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented of the evil, and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was smiting the people, and said, “Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, be against me and against my father’s house.”

¹⁸And Gad came that day to David, and said to him, “Go up, rear an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹So David went up at Gad’s word, as the Lord commanded. ²⁰And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him; and Araunah went forth, and did obeisance to the king with his face to the ground. ²¹And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor of you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be averted from the people.” ²²Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him; here are the oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. ²³All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “The Lord your God accept you.” ²⁴But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it of you for a price; I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing.” So David 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. So the Lord heeded supplications for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.