2Sa 21:1 In the days of David they were short of food for three years, year after year; and David went before the Lord for directions. And the Lord said, On Saul and on his family there is blood, because he put the Gibeonites to death.
2Sa 21:2 Then the king sent for the Gibeonites; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but were the last of the Amorites, to whom the children of Israel had given an oath; but Saul, in his passion for the children of Israel and Judah, had made an attempt on their lives:)
2Sa 21:3 So David said to the Gibeonites, What may I do for you? how am I to make up to you for your wrongs, so that you may give a blessing to the heritage of the Lord?
2Sa 21:4 And the Gibeonites said to him, It is not a question of silver and gold between us and Saul or his family; and it is not in our power to put to death any man in Israel. And he said, Say, then, what am I to do for you?
2Sa 21:5 And they said to the king, As for the man by whom we were wasted, and who made designs against us to have us completely cut off from the land of Israel,
2Sa 21:6 Let seven men of his family be given up to us and we will put an end to them by hanging them before the Lord in Gibeon, on the hill of the Lord. And the king said, I will give them.
2Sa 21:7 But the king did not give up Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of the Lord’s oath made between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul.
2Sa 21:8 But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Saul to whom Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, had given birth; and the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab, whose father was Adriel, the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:
2Sa 21:9 And he gave them up to the Gibeonites, and they put them to death, hanging them on the mountain before the Lord; all seven came to their end together in the first days of the grain-cutting, at the start of the cutting of the barley.
2Sa 21:10 And Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took haircloth, placing it on the rock as a bed for herself, from the start of the grain-cutting till rain came down on them from heaven; and she did not let the birds of the air come near them by day, or the beasts of the field by night.
2Sa 21:11 And news was given to David of what Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, one of Saul’s wives, had done.
2Sa 21:12 And David went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had taken them away secretly from the public place of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had put them, hanging up the bodies there on the day when they put Saul to death in Gilboa:
2Sa 21:13 And he took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from that place; and they got together the bones of those who had been put to death by hanging.
2Sa 21:14 And they put them with the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the resting-place of Kish, his father, in Zela in the country of Benjamin; they did all the king had given them orders to do. And after that, God gave ear to their prayers for the land.
2Sa 21:15 And the Philistines went to war again with Israel; and David went down with his people, and while they were at Gob they had a fight with the Philistines:
2Sa 21:16 And there came against David one of the offspring of the Rephaim, whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, and having a new sword, he made an attempt to put David to death.
2Sa 21:17 But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, came to his help, and, turning on the Philistine, gave him his death-blow. Then David’s men took an oath, and said, Never again are you to go out with us to the fight, so that you may not put out the light of Israel.
2Sa 21:18 Now after this there was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Sibbecai the Hushathite put to death Saph, one of the offspring of the Rephaim.
2Sa 21:19 And again there was war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan, the son of Jair the Beth-lehemite, put to death Goliath the Gittite, the stem of whose spear was like a cloth-worker’s rod.
2Sa 21:20 And again there was war at Gath, where there was a very tall man, who had twenty-four fingers and toes, six fingers on his hands and six toes on his feet; he was one of the offspring of the Rephaim.
2Sa 21:21 And when he was purposing to put shame on Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimei, David’s brother, put him to death.
2Sa 21:22 These four were of the offspring of the Rephaim in Gath; and they came to their end by the hands of David and his servants.
2Sa 22:1 And David made a song to the Lord in these words, on the day when the Lord made him free from the hands of all his haters, and from the hand of Saul:
2Sa 22:2 And he said, The Lord is my Rock, my walled town, and my saviour, even mine;
2Sa 22:3 My God, my Rock, in him will I put my faith; my breastplate, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my safe place; my saviour, who keeps me safe from the violent man.
2Sa 22:4 I will send up my cry to the Lord, who is to be praised; so will I be made safe from those who are against me.
2Sa 22:5 For the waves of death came round me, and the seas of evil put me in fear;
2Sa 22:6 The cords of hell were round me: the nets of death came on me.
2Sa 22:7 In my trouble my voice went up to the Lord, and my cry to my God: my voice came to his hearing in his holy Temple, and my prayer came to his ears.
2Sa 22:8 Then the earth was moved with a violent shock; the bases of heaven were moved and shaking, because he was angry.
2Sa 22:9 There went up a smoke from his nose, and a fire of destruction from his mouth: coals were lighted by it.
2Sa 22:10 The heavens were bent, so that he might come down; and it was dark under his feet.
2Sa 22:11 And he went through the air, seated on a storm-cloud: going quickly on the wings of the wind.
2Sa 22:12 And he made the dark his tent round him, a mass of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
2Sa 22:13 Before his shining light his dark clouds went past, raining ice and coals of fire.
2Sa 22:14 The Lord made thunder in the heavens, and the voice of the Highest was sounding out.
2Sa 22:15 And he sent out his arrows, driving them in all directions; by his flames of fire they were troubled.
2Sa 22:16 Then the deep beds of the sea were seen, and the bases of the world were uncovered, because of the Lord’s wrath, because of the breath of his mouth.
2Sa 22:17 He sent from on high, he took me, pulling me out of great waters.
2Sa 22:18 He made me free from my strong hater, from those who were against me, because they were stronger than I.
2Sa 22:19 They came on me in the day of my trouble: but the Lord was my support.
2Sa 22:20 He took me out into a wide place; he was my saviour because he had delight in me.
2Sa 22:21 The Lord gives me the reward of my righteousness, because my hands are clean before him.
2Sa 22:22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I have not been turned away in sin from my God.
2Sa 22:23 For all his decisions were before me, and I did not put away his laws from me.
2Sa 22:24 And I was upright before him, and I kept myself from sin.
2Sa 22:25 Because of this the Lord has given me the reward of my righteousness, because my hands are clean in his eyes.
2Sa 22:26 On him who has mercy you will have mercy; to the upright you will be upright;
2Sa 22:27 He who is holy will see that you are holy; but to the man whose way is not straight you will be a hard judge.
2Sa 22:28 For you are the saviour of those who are in trouble; but your eyes are on men of pride, to make them low.
2Sa 22:29 For you are my light, O Lord; and the Lord will make the dark bright for me.
2Sa 22:30 By your help I have made a way through the wall which was shutting me in: by the help of my God I have gone over a wall.
2Sa 22:31 As for God, his way is all good: the word of the Lord is tested; he is a safe cover for all those who put their faith in him.
2Sa 22:32 For who is God but the Lord? and who is a Rock but our God?
2Sa 22:33 God puts a strong band about me, guiding me in a straight way.
2Sa 22:34 He makes my feet like roes’ feet, and puts me on high places.
2Sa 22:35 He makes my hands expert in war, so that a bow of brass is bent by my arms.
2Sa 22:36 You have given me the breastplate of your salvation, and your mercy has made me great.
2Sa 22:37 You have made my steps wide under me, so that my feet make no slip.
2Sa 22:38 I go after my haters and overtake them; not turning back till they are all overcome.
2Sa 22:39 I have sent destruction on them and given them wounds, so that they are not able to get up: they are stretched under my feet.
2Sa 22:40 For I have been armed by you with strength for the fight: you have made low under me those who came out against me.
2Sa 22:41 By you their backs are turned in flight, so that my haters are cut off.
2Sa 22:42 They were crying out, but there was no one to come to their help: even to the Lord, but he gave them no answer.
2Sa 22:43 Then they were crushed as small as the dust of the earth, stamped down under my feet like the waste of the streets.
2Sa 22:44 You have made me free from the fightings of my people; you have made me the head of the nations: a people of whom I had no knowledge will be my servants.
2Sa 22:45 Men of other countries will, with false hearts, put themselves under my authority: from the time when my name comes to their ears, they will be ruled by me.
2Sa 22:46 They will be wasted away, they will come out of their secret places shaking with fear.
2Sa 22:47 The Lord is living; praise be to my Rock, and let the God of my salvation be honoured:
2Sa 22:48 It is God who sends punishment on my haters, and puts peoples under my rule.
2Sa 22:49 He makes me free from my haters: I am lifted up over those who come up against me: you have made me free from the violent man.
2Sa 22:50 Because of this I will give you praise, O Lord, among the nations, and will make a song of praise to your name.
2Sa 22:51 Great salvation does he give to his king; he has mercy on the king of his selection, David, and on his seed for ever.
2Sa 23:1 Now these are the last words of David. David, the son of Jesse, says, the man who was lifted up on high, the man on whom the God of Jacob put the holy oil, the loved one of Israel’s songs, says:
2Sa 23:2 The spirit of the Lord had voice through me, his word was on my tongue.
2Sa 23:3 The God of Israel said, the word of the Rock of Israel came to me: When an upright king is ruling over men, when he is ruling in the fear of God,
2Sa 23:4 It is as the light of the morning, when the sun comes up, a morning without clouds; making young grass come to life from the earth.
2Sa 23:5 For is not my house so with God? For he has made with me an eternal agreement, ordered in all things and certain: as for all my salvation and all my desire, will he not give it increase?
2Sa 23:6 But the evil-doers, all of them, will be like thorns to be pushed away, because they may not be gripped in the hand:
2Sa 23:7 But anyone touching them has to be armed with iron and the rod of a spear; and they will be burned with fire, every one of them.
2Sa 23:8 These are the names of David’s men of war: Ishbaal the Hachmonite, chief of the three; his axe was lifted up against eight hundred put to death at one time.
2Sa 23:9 After him was Eleazar, the son of Dodai the Ahohite, one of the three great fighters, who was with David in Pas-dammim when the Philistines came together there for the fight; and when the men of Israel had gone in flight,
2Sa 23:10 He was with David and went on fighting the Philistines till his hand became tired and stiff from gripping his sword: and that day the Lord gave a great salvation, and the people came back after him only to take the goods of the Philistines.
2Sa 23:11 After him was Shammah, the son of Ela the Hararite. And the Philistines came together in Lehi, where there was a bit of land full of seed; and the people went in flight from the Philistines.
2Sa 23:12 But he kept his place in the middle of the bit of land, and kept back their attack and overcame the Philistines: and the Lord gave a great salvation.
2Sa 23:13 And three of the thirty went down at the start of the grain-cutting, and they came to David at the strong place of Adullam; and the band of Philistines had taken up their position in the valley of Rephaim.
2Sa 23:14 And at that time David had taken cover in the strong place, and an armed force of the Philistines was in Beth-lehem.
2Sa 23:15 And David, moved by a strong desire, said, If only someone would give me a drink of water from the water-hole of Beth-lehem, by the doorway into the town!
2Sa 23:16 And the three men, forcing their way through the Philistine army, got water from the water-hole of Beth-lehem, by the doorway into the town, and took it back to David: but he would not take it, but, draining it out, made an offering of it to the Lord.
2Sa 23:17 And he said, Far be it from me, O Lord, to do this; how may I take as my drink the life-blood of men who have put their lives in danger? So he would not take it. These things did the three great men of war.
2Sa 23:18 And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the thirty. He put to death three hundred with his spear, and he got for himself a name among the thirty.
2Sa 23:19 Was he not the noblest of the thirty? so he was made their captain: but he was not equal to the first three.
2Sa 23:20 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, a fighting man of Kabzeel, had done great acts; he put to death the two sons of Ariel of Moab: he went down into a hole and put a lion to death in time of snow:
2Sa 23:21 And he made an attack on an Egyptian, a tall man: and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a stick, and pulling the spear out of the hands of the Egyptian, put him to death with that same spear.
2Sa 23:22 These were the acts of Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, who had a great name among the thirty men of war.
2Sa 23:23 He was honoured over the rest of the thirty, but he was not equal to the first three. And David put him over the fighting men who kept him safe.
2Sa 23:24 Asahel, the brother of Joab, was one of the thirty; and Elhanan, the son of Dodai, of Beth-lehem,
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, Sibbecai the Hushathite,
2Sa 23:28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite,
2Sa 23:29 Heldai, the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai, the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin,
2Sa 23:30 Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai of the valleys of Gaash,
2Sa 23:31 Abiel the Arbathite, Azmaveth of Bahurim,
2Sa 23:32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite, Jashen the Gunite,
2Sa 23:33 Jonathan, the son of Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam, the son of Sharar the Hararite,
2Sa 23:34 Eliphelet, the son of Ahasbai the Maacathite, Eliam, the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,
2Sa 23:35 Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Archite,
2Sa 23:36 Igal, the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite,
2Sa 23:37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, who had the care of the arms of Joab, son of Zeruiah,
2Sa 23:38 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,
2Sa 23:39 Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in number.
2Sa 24:1 Again the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and moving David against them, he said, Go, take the number of Israel and Judah.
2Sa 24:2 And the king said to Joab and the captains of the army, who were with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan as far as Beer-sheba, and have all the people numbered, so that I may be certain of the number of the people.
2Sa 24:3 And Joab said to the king, Whatever the number of the people, may the Lord make it a hundred times as much, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it: but why does my lord the king take pleasure in doing this thing?
2Sa 24:4 But the king’s order was stronger than Joab and the captains of the army. And Joab and the captains of the army went out from the king, to take the number of the children of Israel.
2Sa 24:5 And they went over Jordan, and starting from Aroer, from the town which is in the middle of the valley, they went in the direction of the Gadites, and on to Jazer;
2Sa 24:6 Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of the Hittites under Hermon; and they came to Dan, and from Dan they came round to Zidon,
2Sa 24:7 And to the walled town of Tyre, and to all the towns of the Hivites and the Canaanites: and they went out to the South of Judah at Beer-sheba.
2Sa 24:8 So after going through all the land in every direction, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.
2Sa 24:9 And Joab gave the king the number of all the people: there were in Israel eight hundred thousand fighting men able to take up arms; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand.
2Sa 24:10 And after the people had been numbered, David’s heart was troubled. And David said to the Lord, Great has been my sin in doing this; but now, O Lord, be pleased to take away the sin of your servant, for I have done very foolishly
2Sa 24:11 And David got up in the morning; now the word of the Lord had come to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,
2Sa 24:12 Go and say to David, The Lord says, Three things are offered to you: say which of them you will have, and I will do it to you.
2Sa 24:13 So Gad came to David, and gave him word of this and said to him, Are there to be three years when there is not enough food in your land? or will you go in flight from your haters for three months, while they go after you? or will you have three days of violent disease in your land? take thought and say what answer I am to give to him who sent me.
2Sa 24:14 And David said to Gad, This is a hard decision for me to make: let us come into the hands of the Lord, for great are his mercies: let me not come into the hands of men.
2Sa 24:15 So David made selection of the disease; and the time was the days of the grain-cutting, when the disease came among the people, causing the death of seventy thousand men from Dan as far as Beer-sheba.
2Sa 24:16 And when the hand of the angel was stretched out in the direction of Jerusalem, for its destruction, the Lord had regret for the evil, and said to the angel who was sending destruction on the people, It is enough; do no more. And the angel of the Lord was by the grain-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
2Sa 24:17 And when David saw the angel who was causing the destruction of the people, he said to the Lord, Truly, the sin is mine; I have done wrong: but these are only sheep; what have they done? let your hand be against me and against my family.
2Sa 24:18 And that day Gad came to David and said to him, Go up, and put up an altar to the Lord on the grain-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
2Sa 24:19 So David went up, as Gad had said and as the Lord had given orders.
2Sa 24:20 And Araunah, looking out, saw the king and his servants coming to him: and Araunah went out, and went down on his face to the earth before the king.
2Sa 24:21 And Araunah said, Why has my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To give you a price for your grain-floor, so that I may put up an altar to the Lord, and the disease may be stopped among the people.
2Sa 24:22 And Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take whatever seems right to him, and make an offering of it: see, here are the oxen for the burned offering, and the grain-cleaning instruments and the ox-yokes for wood:
2Sa 24:23 All this does the servant of my lord the king give to the king. And Araunah said, May the Lord your God be pleased with your offering!
2Sa 24:24 And the king said to Araunah, No, but I will give you a price for it; I will not give to the Lord my God burned offerings for which I have given nothing. So David got the grain-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
2Sa 24:25 And there David put up an altar to the Lord, making burned offerings and peace-offerings. So the Lord gave ear to his prayer for the land, and the disease came to an end in Israel.

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