Chapter 23

David’s Last Song

1 Now these are the last words of David.

David the son of Jesse declares,

aThe man who was raised on high declares,

bThe anointed of the God of Jacob,

And the sweet psalmist of Israel,

2 “aThe Spirit of the Lord spoke by me,

And His word was on my tongue.

3 “The God of Israel said,

aThe Rock of Israel spoke to me,

‘bHe who rules over men righteously,

cWho rules in the fear of God,

4 aIs as the light of the morning when the sun rises,

A morning without clouds,

When the tender grass springs out of the earth,

Through sunshine after rain.’

5 “Truly is not my house so with God?

For aHe has made an everlasting covenant with me,

Ordered in all things, and secured;

For all my salvation and all my desire,

Will He not indeed make it grow?

6 “aBut the worthless, every one of them will be thrust away like thorns,

Because they cannot be taken in hand;

7 But the man who touches them

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

And athey will be completely burned with fire in their 2place.”

His Mighty Men

8 aThese are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the 1captains, he was called Adino the Eznite, because of eight hundred slain by him at one time;

9 and after him was Eleazar the son of aDodo the bAhohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they 1defied the Philistines who were gathered there to battle and the men of Israel had 2withdrawn.

10 aHe arose and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary and 1clung to the sword, and bthe Lord brought about a great 2victory that day; and the people returned after him only to strip the slain.

11 Now after him was Shammah the son of Agee a aHararite. And the Philistines were gathered 1into a troop where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines.

12 But he took his stand in the midst of the plot, defended it and struck the Philistines; and athe Lord brought about a great 1victory.

13 Then three of the thirty chief men went down and came to David in the harvest time to the acave of Adullam, while the troop of the Philistines was camping in bthe valley of Rephaim.

14 David was then ain the stronghold, while the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.

15 aDavid had a craving and said, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate!”

16 aSo the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but bpoured it out to the Lord;

17 and he said, “Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this. aShall I drink the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

18 aAbishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was bchief of the 1thirty. And he swung his spear against three hundred 2and killed them, and had a name as well as the three.

19 He was most honored of the thirty, therefore he became their commander; however, he did not attain to the three.

20 Then aBenaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of bKabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, 1killed the 2two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day.

21 He 1killed an Egyptian, 2an impressive man. Now the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but he went down to him with a club and snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

22 These things aBenaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and had a name as well as the three mighty men.

23 He was honored among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David appointed him over his guard.

24 aAsahel the brother of Joab was among the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,

25 aShammah the bHarodite, Elika the Harodite,

26 Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the aTekoite,

27 Abiezer the aAnathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite,

28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the aNetophathite,

29 aHeleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of bGibeah of the sons of Benjamin,

30 Benaiah a aPirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of bGaash,

31 Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the aBarhumite,

32 Eliahba the aShaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan,

33 aShammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite,

34 Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of athe Maacathite, bEliam the son of cAhithophel the Gilonite,

35 aHezro the bCarmelite, Paarai the Arbite,

36 Igal the son of Nathan of aZobah, Bani the Gadite,

37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the aBeerothite, armor bearers of Joab the son of Zeruiah,

38 Ira the aIthrite, Gareb the Ithrite,

39 aUriah the Hittite; thirty-seven in all.

Chapter 24

The Census Taken

1 aNow bagain the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “cGo, number Israel and Judah.”

2 The king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Go about now through all the tribes of Israel, afrom Dan to Beersheba, and 1register the people, that I may know the number of the people.”

3 But Joab said to the king, “aNow 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; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?”

4 Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to 1register the people of Israel.

5 They crossed the Jordan and camped in aAroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad and toward bJazer.

6 Then they came to Gilead and to 1the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to aSidon,

7 and came to the afortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the bHivites and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to cBeersheba.

8 So when they had gone about through the whole land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

9 And Joab gave athe number of the 1registration of the people to the king; and there were in Israel beight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

10 Now aDavid’s heart 1troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, “bI have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please 2take away the iniquity of Your servant, for cI have acted very foolishly.”

11 When David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to athe prophet Gad, David’s bseer, saying,

12 “Go and speak to David, ‘Thus the Lord says, “I am offering you three things; choose for yourself one of them, which I will do to you.” ’ ”

13 So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall aseven 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 see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.”

14 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of the Lord afor His mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”

Pestilence Sent

15 So athe Lord 1sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand men of the people bfrom Dan to Beersheba died.

16 aWhen the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, bthe Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now relax your hand!” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, “Behold, ait is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done wrong; but bthese sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”

David Builds an Altar

18 So Gad came to David that day and said to him, “aGo up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of 1Araunah the Jebusite.”

19 David went up according to the word of Gad, just as the Lord had commanded.

20 Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; and Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king.

21 Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, athat the plague may be held back from the people.”

22 Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, athe oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.

23 “Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God aaccept you.”

24 However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for aI will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God 1which cost me nothing.” So bDavid bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

25 David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. aThus the Lord was moved by prayer for the land, and the plague was held back from Israel.