Category: 2 Samuel

1 And a famine occurred, during the days of David, for three years continuously. And David consulted the oracle of the Lord. And the Lord said: “This is because of Saul, and his house of bloodshed. For he killed the Gibeonites.”

2 Therefore, the king, calling for the Gibeonites, spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel, but were the remnant of the Amorites. And the sons of Israel had sworn an oath to them, but Saul wished to strike them in zeal, as if on behalf of the sons of Israel and Judah.

3 Therefore, David said to the Gibeonites: “What shall I do for you? And what shall be your satisfaction, so that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord?”

4 And the Gibeonites said to him: “There is no quarrel for us over silver or gold, but against Saul and against his house. And we do not desire that any man of Israel be put to death.” The king said to them, “Then what do you wish that I should do for you?”

5 And they said to the king: “The man who unjustly afflicted and oppressed us, we ought to destroy in such manner that not even one of his stock may be left behind in all the parts of Israel.

6 Let seven men from his sons be given to us, so that we may crucify them to the Lord in Gibeon of Saul, formerly the chosen place of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath of the Lord which had been made between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul.

8 And so the king took the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michal, the daughter of Saul, whom she conceived of Adriel, the son of Barzillai, who was from Meholath,

9 and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites. And they crucified them on a hill in the sight of the Lord. And these seven fell together in the first days of the harvest, when the barley is beginning to be reaped.

10 Then Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, taking a haircloth, spread it under herself on a rock, from the beginning of the harvest until water dropped from heaven upon them. And she did not permit the birds to tear them by day, nor the beasts by night.

11 And it was reported to David what Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.

12 And David went and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of his son Jonathan, from the men of Jabesh Gilead, who had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had suspended them after they had slain Saul at Gilboa.

13 And he brought the bones of Saul, and the bones of his son Jonathan, from there. And they collected the bones of those who had been crucified.

14 And they buried them with the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan, in the land of Benjamin, to the side of the sepulcher of his father Kish. And they did all that the king had instructed. And after these things, God showed favor again to the land.

15 Then the Philistines again undertook a battle against Israel. And David descended, and his servants with him, and they fought against the Philistines. But when David grew faint,

16 Ishbibenob, who was of the ancestry of Arapha, the iron of whose spear weighed three hundred ounces, who had been girded with a new sword, strove to strike down David.

17 And Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, defended him, and striking the Philistine, he killed him. Then David’s men swore an oath to him, saying, “You shall no longer go out to war with us, lest you extinguish the lamp of Israel.”

18 Also, a second war occurred in Gob against the Philistines. Then Sibbecai from Hushah struck down Saph, from the stock of Arapha, of the ancestry of the giants.

19 Then there was a third war in Gob against the Philistines, in which Adeodatus, a son of the forest, a weaver from Bethlehem, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like the beam used by a cloth maker.

20 A fourth battle was in Gath. In that place, there was a lofty man, who had six digits on each hand and each foot, that is, twenty-four in all, and he was from the origins of Arapha.

21 And he blasphemed Israel. So Jonathan, the son of Shimei, the brother of David, struck him down.

22 These four men were born of Arapha in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and his servants.

1 And David spoke to the Lord the words of this verse, in the day that the Lord freed him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

2 And he said: “The Lord is my rock, and my strength, and my Savior.

3 I will hope in him. God is my strong one, my shield, and the horn of my salvation. He lifts me up, and he is my refreshment. You, O my Savior, will free me from iniquity.

4 I will call upon the Lord, who is praiseworthy; and I will be saved from my enemies.

5 For the pangs of death have encircled me. The torrents of Belial have terrified me.

6 The ropes of Hell have encompassed me. The snares of death have intercepted me.

7 In my tribulation, I will call upon the Lord, and I will cry out to my God. And he will heed my voice from his temple, and my outcry will reach his ears.

8 The earth was shaken, and it quaked. The foundations of the mountains were struck together and violently shaken, because he was angry with them.

9 Smoke ascends from his nostrils, and fire from his mouth will devour; coals have been kindled by it.

10 He bent down the heavens, and it descended; and a fog was beneath his feet.

11 And he climbed upon the cherubim, and he flew; and he slid upon the wings of the wind.

12 He set darkness as a hiding place around himself, with waters sifted from the clouds of the heavens.

13 By means of the brightness of his glance, coals of fire were kindled.

14 The Lord will thunder from heaven; and the Most High will utter his voice.

15 He shot arrows, and he scattered them; lightning, and he consumed them.

16 And the overflow of the sea appeared, and the foundations of the globe were revealed, at the rebuke of the Lord, at the exhale of the breath of his fury.

17 He sent from on high, and he took me up. And he drew me out of many waters.

18 He freed me from my most powerful enemy and from those who had hated me. For they were too strong for me.

19 He went before me in the day of my affliction, and the Lord became my firmament.

20 And he led me out to a wide-open place. He freed me, because I was pleasing to him.

21 The Lord will reward me according to my justice. And he will repay me according to the cleanness of my hands.

22 For I have kept to the ways of the Lord, and I have not acted impiously before my God.

23 For all his judgments are in my sight. And I have not removed his precepts from me.

24 And I shall be perfect with him. And I shall guard myself from my own iniquity.

25 And the Lord will recompense me according to my justice, and according to the cleanness of my hands in the sight of his eyes.

26 With the holy one, you will be holy, and with the strong one, you will be perfect.

27 With the elect one, you will be elect, and with the perverse one, you will be perverse.

28 And you will bring to salvation the poor people, and you will humble the exalted with your eyes.

29 For you are my lamp, O Lord. And you, O Lord, will illuminate my darkness.

30 For in you, I will run girded. In my God, I will leap over the wall.

31 God, his way is immaculate; the eloquence of the Lord is an exacting fire. He is the shield of all who hope in him.

32 Who is God except the Lord? And who is strong except our God?

33 God, he has girded me with fortitude, and he has made my way perfect:

34 making my feet like the feet of the stag, and stationing me upon my exalted places,

35 teaching my hands to do battle, and making my arms like a bow of brass.

36 You have given me the shield of your salvation. And your mildness has multiplied me.

37 You will enlarge my steps under me, and my ankles will not fail.

38 I will pursue my enemies, and crush them. And I will not turn back, until I consume them.

39 I will consume them and break them apart, so that they cannot rise up; they will fall under my feet.

40 You have girded me with strength for the battle. Those who resisted me, you have bent down under me.

41 You have caused my enemies to turn their back to me; they have hatred for me, and I shall destroy them.

42 They will cry out, and there will be no one to save; to the Lord, and he will not heed them.

43 I will wipe them away like the dust of the earth. I will break them apart and crush them, like the mud of the streets.

44 You will save me from the contradictions of my people. You will preserve me to be the head of the Gentiles; a people I do not know shall serve me.

45 The sons of foreigners, who will resist me, at the hearing of the ear they will be obedient to me.

46 The foreigners flowed away, but they will be drawn together in their anguishes.

47 The Lord lives, and my God is blessed. And the strong God of my salvation shall be exalted.

48 God gives me vindication, and he casts down the peoples under me.

49 He leads me away from my enemies, and he lifts me up from those who resist me. You will free me from the iniquitous man.

50 Because of this, I will confess to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and I will sing to your name:

51 magnifying the salvation of his king, and showing mercy to David, his Christ, and to his offspring forever.”

1 These are the last words of David. Now David, the son of Jesse, the man to whom it was appointed concerning the Christ of the God of Jacob, the preeminent psalmist of Israel said:

2 “The Spirit of the Lord has spoken through me, and his word was spoken through my tongue.

3 The God of Israel spoke to me, the Strong One of Israel spoke, the Ruler of men, the Just Ruler, in the fear of God,

4 like the first light of the morning as the sun is rising, when a morning without clouds glows red, and like plants springing forth from the earth after a rainfall.

5 But my house is not so great with God that he should undertake an eternal covenant with me, firm and fortified in all things. For he is the entirety of my salvation and the entirety of my will. And there is nothing of this which will not spring forth.

6 But all prevaricators shall be plucked out like thorns, yet they are not taken away by hands.

7 And if anyone wishes to touch them, he must be armed with iron and a wooden lance. And they shall be set ablaze and burned to nothing.”

8 These are the names of the valiant of David. Sitting in the chair was the wisest leader among the three; he was like a very tender little worm in a tree, who killed eight hundred men in one attack.

9 After him, there was Eleazar, the son of his paternal uncle, an Ahohite, who was among the three valiant men who were with David when they chastised the Philistines, and they were gathered together in battle there.

10 And when the men of Israel had gone up, he himself stood fast and struck down the Philistines, until his hand grew weak and stiff with the sword. And the Lord wrought a great salvation on that day. And the people who had fled returned to take up the spoils of the slain.

11 And after him, there was Shammah, the son of Agee, from Hara. And the Philistines gathered together at an outpost. For a field full of lentils was in that place. And when the people had fled from the face of the Philistines,

12 he stood fast in the middle of the field, and it was protected by him. And he struck down the Philistines. And the Lord wrought a great salvation.

13 And moreover, before this, the three who were leaders among the thirty descended and went to David at harvest time, in the cave of Adullam. But the camp of the Philistines was positioned in the Valley of the giants.

14 And David was in a stronghold. Moreover, there was a garrison of the Philistines at that time in Bethlehem.

15 Then David desired, and he said, “If only someone would give me a drink of the water from the cistern, which is in Bethlehem beside the gate!”

16 Therefore, the three valiant men burst into the encampment of the Philistines, and they drew water from the cistern of Bethlehem, which was beside the gate. And they brought it to David. Yet he was not willing to drink; instead, he poured it out to the Lord,

17 saying: “May the Lord be gracious to me, so that I may not do this. Should I drink the blood of these men who have set out to the peril of their own lives?” Therefore, he was not willing to drink. These things were accomplished by these three robust men.

18 Also Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was first among the three. It was he who lifted up his spear against three hundred men, whom he killed. And he was renowned among the three,

19 and he was the noblest of the three, and he was their leader. But at first he did not attain to the three.

20 And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, a very strong man of great deeds, was from Kabzeel. He slew the two lions of Moab, and he descended and slew a lion in the middle of a den, in the days of snow.

21 He also killed an Egyptian who had a spear in his hand, a man worthy to behold. And yet he had gone down to him with only a staff. And he forced the spear from the hand of the Egyptian, and he killed him with his own spear.

22 Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, accomplished these things.

23 And he was renowned among the three robust men, who were the most noble among the thirty. Yet truly, he did not attain to the three, until David made him his secret advisor.

24 Among the thirty were: Asahel, the brother of Joab, Elhanan, the son of his paternal uncle, from Bethlehem,

25 Shammah from Harod, Elika from Harod,

26 Helez from Palti, Ira, the son of Ikkesh, from Tekoa,

27 Abiezer from Anathoth, Mebunnai from Hushah,

28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite,

29 Heleb, the son of Baanah, also himself a Netophathite, Ittai, the son of Ribai, from Gibeah, of the sons of Benjamin,

30 Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai from the Torrent Gaash,

31 Abialbon the Arbathite, Azmaveth from Beromi,

32 Eliahba from Shaalbon; the sons of Jashen, Jonathan,

33 Shammah from Orori, Ahiam, the son of Sharar, the Hararite,

34 Eliphelet, the son of Ahasbai, the son of Maacath, Eliam, the son of Ahithophel, the Gilonite,

35 Hezrai from Carmel, Paarai from Arbi,

36 Igal, the son of Nathan, from Zobah, Bani from Gad,

37 Zelek from Ammon, Naharai the Beerothite, the armor bearer of Joab, the son of Zeruiah,

38 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb also an Ithrite,

39 Uriah the Hittite: altogether thirty seven

1 And the fury of the Lord was again kindled against Israel, and he stirred up David among them, saying: “Go, number Israel and Judah.”

2 And the king said to Joab, the leader of his army, “Travel through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, so that I may know their number.”

3 And Joab said to the king: “May the Lord your God increase your people, who are already great in number, and may he again increase them, one hundredfold, in the sight of my lord the king. But what does my lord the king intend for himself by this kind of thing?”

4 But the words of the king prevailed over the words of Joab and the leaders of the army. And so Joab and the leaders of the military departed from the face of the king, so that they might number the people of Israel.

5 And when they had passed across the Jordan, they arrived at Aroer, to the right of the city, which is in the Valley of Gad.

6 And they continued on through Jazer, into Gilead, and to the lower land of Hodsi. And they arrived in the woodlands of Dan. And going around beside Sidon,

7 they passed near the walls of Tyre, and near all the land of the Hivite and the Canaanite. And they went into the south of Judah, to Beersheba.

8 And having inspected the entire land, after nine months and twenty days, they were present in Jerusalem.

9 Then Joab gave the number of the description of the people to the king. And there were found of Israel eight hundred thousand able-bodied men, who might draw the sword; and of Judah, five hundred thousand fighting men.

10 Then the heart of David struck him, after the people were numbered. And David said to the Lord: “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But I pray that you, O Lord, may take away the iniquity of your servant. For I have acted very foolishly.”

11 And David rose up in the morning, and the word of the Lord went to Gad, the prophet and seer of David, saying:

12 “Go, and say to David: ‘Thus says the Lord: I present to you a choice of three things. Choose one of these, whichever you will, so that I may do it to you.’ ”

13 And when Gad had gone to David, he announced it to him, saying: “Either seven years of famine will come to you in your land; or you will flee for three months from your adversaries, and they will pursue you; or there will be a pestilence in your land for three days. Now then, deliberate, and see what word I may respond to him who sent me.”

14 Then David said to Gad: “I am in great anguish. But it is better that I should fall into the hands of the Lord (for his mercies are many) than into the hands of men.”

15 And the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people, from Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand men.

16 And when the Angel of the Lord had extended his hand over Jerusalem, so that he might destroy it, the Lord took pity on the affliction. And he said to the Angel who was striking the people: “It is enough. Hold back your hand now.” And the Angel of the Lord was beside the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

17 And when he had seen the Angel cutting down the people, David said to the Lord: “I am the one who sinned. I have acted iniquitously. These ones who are the sheep, what have they done? I beg you that your hand may be turned against me and against my father’s house.”

18 Then Gad went to David on that day, and he said, “Ascend and construct an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

19 And David ascended in accord with the word of Gad, which the Lord had commanded to him.

20 And looking out, Araunah turned his attention to the king and his servants, passing toward him.

21 And going out, he adored the king, lying prone with his face to the ground, and he said, “What is the reason that my lord the king has come to his servant?” And David said to him, “So as to purchase the threshing floor from you, and to build an altar to the Lord, and to quiet the plague that rages among the people.”

22 And Araunah said to David: “May my lord the king offer and accept whatever is pleasing to him. You have oxen for a holocaust, and the cart and the yokes of the oxen to use for wood.”

23 All these things Araunah gave, as a king to a king. And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept your vow.”

24 And in response, the king said to him: “It shall not be as you wish. Instead, I will purchase it from you at a price. For I will not offer to the Lord, my God, holocausts that cost nothing.” Therefore, David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

25 And in that place, David built an altar to the Lord. And he offered holocausts and peace offerings. And the Lord was gracious to the land, and the plague was held back from Israel.