June
27
2
Samuel 22-24
2Sa
22:1 David spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that
Yahweh delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of
the hand of Saul:
2Sa
22:2 and he said, Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
even mine;
2Sa
22:3 God, my rock, in him I will take refuge; my shield, and the
horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge. My savior, you
save me from violence.
2Sa
22:4 I will call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I
be saved from my enemies.
2Sa
22:5 For the waves of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness
made me afraid.
2Sa
22:6 The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death caught
me.
2Sa
22:7 In my distress I called on Yahweh. Yes, I called to my God. He
heard my voice out of his temple. My cry came
into his ears.
2Sa
22:8 Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven
quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.
2Sa
22:9 Smoke went up out of his nostrils. Fire out of his mouth
devoured. Coals were kindled by it.
2Sa
22:10 He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was
under his feet.
2Sa
22:11 He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he was seen on the wings
of the wind.
2Sa
22:12 He made darkness pavilions around himself: gathering of
waters, and thick clouds of the skies.
2Sa
22:13 At the brightness before him, coals of fire were kindled.
2Sa
22:14 Yahweh thundered from heaven. The Most High uttered his voice.
2Sa
22:15 He sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and
confused them.
2Sa
22:16 Then the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the
world were laid bare by the rebuke of Yahweh, At the blast of the
breath of his nostrils.
2Sa
22:17 He sent from on high and he took me. He drew me out of many
waters.
2Sa
22:18 He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me,
for they were too mighty for me.
2Sa
22:19 They came on me in the day of my calamity, but Yahweh was my
support.
2Sa
22:20 He also brought me out into a large place. He delivered me,
because he delighted in me.
2Sa
22:21 Yahweh rewarded me according to my righteousness. He rewarded
me according to the cleanness of my hands.
2Sa
22:22 For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, and have not wickedly
departed from my God.
2Sa
22:23 For all his ordinances were before me. As for his statutes, I
did not depart from them.
2Sa
22:24 I was also perfect toward him. I kept myself from my iniquity.
2Sa
22:25 Therefore Yahweh has rewarded me according to my
righteousness, According to my cleanness in his eyesight.
2Sa
22:26 With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the
perfect man you will show yourself perfect.
2Sa
22:27 With the pure you will show yourself pure. With the crooked
you will show yourself shrewd.
2Sa
22:28 You will save the afflicted people, But your eyes are on the
haughty, that you may bring them down.
2Sa
22:29 For you are my lamp, Yahweh. Yahweh will light up my darkness.
2Sa
22:30 For by you, I run against a troop. By my God, I leap over a
wall.
2Sa
22:31 As for God, his way is perfect. The word of Yahweh is tested.
He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.
2Sa
22:32 For who is God, besides Yahweh? Who is a rock, besides our
God?
2Sa
22:33 God is my strong fortress. He makes my way perfect.
2Sa
22:34 He makes his feet like hinds' feet,
and sets me on my high places.
2Sa
22:35 He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of
brass.
2Sa
22:36 You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your
gentleness has made me great.
2Sa
22:37 You have enlarged my steps under me. My feet have not slipped.
2Sa
22:38 I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them. I didn't turn
again until they were consumed.
2Sa
22:39 I have consumed them, and struck them through, so that they
can't arise. Yes, they have fallen under my feet.
2Sa
22:40 For you have armed me with strength for the battle. You have
subdued under me those who rose up against me.
2Sa
22:41 You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I
might cut off those who hate me.
2Sa
22:42 They looked, but there was none to save; even to Yahweh, but
he didn't answer them.
2Sa
22:43 Then I beat them as small as the dust of the earth. I crushed
them as the mire of the streets, and spread them abroad.
2Sa
22:44 You also have delivered me from the strivings of my people.
You have kept me to be the head of the nations. A people whom I have
not known will serve me.
2Sa
22:45 The foreigners will submit themselves to me. As soon as they
hear of me, they will obey me.
2Sa
22:46 The foreigners will fade away, and will come trembling out of
their close places.
2Sa
22:47 Yahweh lives! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be God, the rock of
my salvation,
2Sa
22:48 even the God who executes vengeance for me, who brings down
peoples under me,
2Sa
22:49 who brings me away from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above
those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man.
2Sa
22:50 Therefore I will give thanks to you, Yahweh, among the
nations. Will sing praises to your name.
2Sa
22:51 He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving
kindness to his anointed, to David and to his seed, forevermore.
2Sa
23:1 Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse
says, the man who was raised on high says, the anointed of the God of
Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel:
2Sa
23:2 The Spirit of Yahweh spoke by me. His word was on my tongue.
2Sa
23:3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, one who
rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God,
2Sa
23:4 He shall be
as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, a morning without
clouds, When
the tender grass springs
out of the earth, Through clear shining after rain.
2Sa
23:5 Most certainly my house is not so with God, yet he has made
with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, for
it is all my salvation, and all my
desire, although he doesn't make it grow.
2Sa
23:6 But all of the ungodly shall be as thorns to be thrust away,
because they can't be taken with the hand,
2Sa
23:7 But the man who touches them must be armed with iron and the
staff of a spear. They shall be utterly burned with fire in their
place.
2Sa
23:8 These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb
Basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains; the same was Adino
the Eznite, against eight hundred slain at one time.
2Sa
23:9 After him was Eleazar the son of Dodai the son of an Ahohite,
one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the
Philistines who were there gathered together to battle, and the men
of Israel were gone away.
2Sa
23:10 He arose, and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary,
and his hand froze to the sword; and Yahweh worked a great victory
that day; and the people returned after him only to take spoil.
2Sa
23:11 After him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite. The
Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where there was a
plot of ground full of lentils; and the people fled from the
Philistines.
2Sa
23:12 But he stood in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and
killed the Philistines; and Yahweh worked a great victory.
2Sa
23:13 Three of the thirty chief men went down, and came to David in
the harvest time to the cave of Adullam; and the troop of the
Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim.
2Sa
23:14 David was then in the stronghold; and the garrison of the
Philistines was then in Bethlehem.
2Sa
23:15 David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me water to
drink of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!
2Sa
23:16 The three mighty men broke through the army of the
Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by
the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but he would not
drink of it, but poured it out to Yahweh.
2Sa
23:17 He said, Be it far from me, Yahweh, that I should do this:
shall I drink
the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore
he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.
2Sa
23:18 Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of
the three. He lifted up his spear against three hundred and killed
them, and had a name among the three.
2Sa
23:19 Wasn't he most honorable of the three? therefore he was made
their captain: however he didn't attain to the first
three.
2Sa
23:20 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of
Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, he killed the two sons
of Ariel of Moab: he went down also and
killed a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow.
2Sa
23:21 He killed an Egyptian, a goodly man: and the Egyptian had a
spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked
the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and killed him with his own
spear.
2Sa
23:22 These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had a name
among the three mighty men.
2Sa
23:23 He was more honorable than the thirty, but he didn't attain to
the first
three. David set him over his guard.
2Sa
23:24 Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the
son of Dodo of Bethlehem,
2Sa
23:25 Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite,
2Sa
23:26 Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite,
2Sa
23:27 Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite,
2Sa
23:28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite,
2Sa
23:29 Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of
Ribai of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin,
2Sa
23:30 Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash.
2Sa
23:31 Abialbon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite,
2Sa
23:32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan,
2Sa
23:33 Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite,
2Sa
23:34 Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maacathite, Eliam
the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,
2Sa
23:35 Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite,
2Sa
23:36 Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite,
2Sa
23:37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, armor bearers to
Joab the son of Zeruiah,
2Sa
23:38 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,
2Sa
23:39 Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.
2Sa
24:1 Again the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he
moved David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah.
2Sa
24:2 The king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with
him, Go now back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan
even to Beersheba, and number you the people, that I may know the sum
of the people.
2Sa
24:3 Joab said to the king, Now Yahweh your God add to the people,
however many they may be, one hundred times; and may the eyes of my
lord the king see it: but why does my lord the king delight in this
thing?
2Sa
24:4 Notwithstanding, the king's word prevailed against Joab, and
against the captains of the army. Joab and the captains of the army
went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of
Israel.
2Sa
24:5 They passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the
right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad,
and to Jazer:
2Sa
24:6 then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; and
they came to Dan Jaan, and around to Sidon,
2Sa
24:7 and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of
the Hivites, and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of
Judah, at Beersheba.
2Sa
24:8 So when they had gone back and forth through all the land, they
came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.
2Sa
24:9 Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to the
king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who
drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
2Sa
24:10 David's heart struck him after that he had numbered the
people. David said to Yahweh, I have sinned greatly in that which I
have done: but now, Yahweh, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your
servant; for I have done very foolishly.
2Sa
24:11 When David rose up in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to
the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,
2Sa
24:12 Go and speak to David, Thus says Yahweh, I offer you three
things: choose one of them, that I may do it to you.
2Sa
24:13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, Shall
seven 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 answer, and consider what
answer I shall return to him who sent me.
2Sa
24:14 David said to Gad, I am in distress. Let us fall now into the
hand of Yahweh; for his mercies are great; and let me not fall into
the hand of man.
2Sa
24:15 So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to
the time appointed; and there died of the people from Dan even to
Beersheba seventy thousand men.
2Sa
24:16 When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to
destroy it, Yahweh relented of the disaster, and said to the angel
who destroyed the people, It is enough; now stay your hand. The angel
of Yahweh was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
2Sa
24:17 David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who struck the
people, and said, Behold, I have sinned, and I have done perversely;
but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against
me, and against my father's house.
2Sa
24:18 Gad came that day to David, and said to him, Go up, rear an
altar to Yahweh in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
2Sa
24:19 David went up according to the saying of Gad, as Yahweh
commanded.
2Sa
24:20 Araunah looked forth, and saw the king and his servants coming
on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the
king with his face to the ground.
2Sa
24:21 Araunah said, Why is my lord the king come to his servant?
David said, To buy the threshing floor of you, to build an altar to
Yahweh, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people.
2Sa
24:22 Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer up
what seems good to him: behold, the cattle for the burnt offering,
and the threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood:
2Sa
24:23 all this, king, does Araunah give to the king. Araunah said to
the king, Yahweh your God accept you.
2Sa
24:24 The king said to Araunah, No; but I will most certainly buy it
of you at a price. Neither will I offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my
God which cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and
the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
2Sa
24:25 David built there an altar to Yahweh, and offered burnt
offerings and peace offerings. So Yahweh was entreated for the land,
and the plague was stayed from Israel.
