| 1 | Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, "There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gib'eonites to death." |
| 2 | So the king called the Gib'eonites. Now the Gib'eonites were not of the people of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to slay them in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. |
| 3 | And David said to the Gib'eonites, "What shall I do for you? And how shall I make expiation, that you may bless the heritage of the LORD?" |
| 4 | The Gib'eonites said to him, "It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel." And he said, "What do you say that I shall do for you?" |
| 5 | They said to the king, "The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, |
| 6 | let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them up before the LORD at Gibeon on the mountain of the LORD." And the king said, "I will give them." |
| 7 | But the king spared Mephib'osheth, the son of Saul's son Jonathan, because of the oath of the LORD which was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. |
| 8 | The king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Ai'ah, whom she bore to Saul, Armo'ni and Mephib'osheth; and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to A'dri-el the son of Barzil'lai the Meho'lathite; |
| 9 | and he gave them into the hands of the Gib'eonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the LORD, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest. |
| 10 | Then Rizpah the daughter of Ai'ah took sackcloth, and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens; and she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night. |
| 11 | When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Ai'ah, the concubine of Saul, had done, |
| 12 | David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Ja'besh-gil'ead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilbo'a; |
| 13 | and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. |
| 14 | And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father; and they did all that the king commanded. And after that God heeded supplications for the land. |
| 15 | The Philistines had war again with Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines; and David grew weary. |
| 16 | And Ish'bi-be'nob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze, and who was girded with a new sword, thought to kill David. |
| 17 | But Abi'shai the son of Zeru'iah came to his aid, and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David's men adjured him, "You shall no more go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel." |
| 18 | After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob; then Sib'becai the Hu'shathite slew Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants. |
| 19 | And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elha'nan the son of Ja'areor'egim, the Bethlehemite, slew Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. |
| 20 | And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also was descended from the giants. |
| 21 | And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shim'e-i, David's brother, slew him. |
| 22 | These four were descended from the giants in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants. |
| 1 | And David spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. |
| 2 | He said, "The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, |
| 3 | my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; thou savest me from violence. |
| 4 | I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. |
| 5 | "For the waves of death encompassed me, the torrents of perdition assailed me; |
| 6 | the cords of Sheol entangled me, the snares of death confronted me. |
| 7 | "In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears. |
| 8 | "Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations of the heavens trembled and quaked, because he was angry. |
| 9 | Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him. |
| 10 | He bowed the heavens, and came down; thick darkness was under his feet. |
| 11 | He rode on a cherub, and flew; he was seen upon the wings of the wind. |
| 12 | He made darkness around him his canopy, thick clouds, a gathering of water. |
| 13 | Out of the brightness before him coals of fire flamed forth. |
| 14 | The LORD thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice. |
| 15 | And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and routed them. |
| 16 | Then the channels of the sea were seen, the foundations of the world were laid bare, at the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. |
| 17 | "He reached from on high, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. |
| 18 | He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me. |
| 19 | They came upon me in the day of my calamity; but the LORD was my stay. |
| 20 | He brought me forth into a broad place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me. |
| 21 | "The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me. |
| 22 | For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. |
| 23 | For all his ordinances were before me, and from his statutes I did not turn aside. |
| 24 | I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from guilt. |
| 25 | Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight. |
| 26 | "With the loyal thou dost show thyself loyal; with the blameless man thou dost show thyself blameless; |
| 27 | with the pure thou dost show thyself pure, and with the crooked thou dost show thyself perverse. |
| 28 | Thou dost deliver a humble people, but thy eyes are upon the haughty to bring them down. |
| 29 | Yea, thou art my lamp, O LORD, and my God lightens my darkness. |
| 30 | Yea, by thee I can crush a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. |
| 31 | This God -- his way is perfect; the promise of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. |
| 32 | "For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God? |
| 33 | This God is my strong refuge, and has made my way safe. |
| 34 | He made my feet like hinds' feet, and set me secure on the heights. |
| 35 | He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. |
| 36 | Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy help made me great. |
| 37 | Thou didst give a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip; |
| 38 | I pursued my enemies and destroyed them, and did not turn back until they were consumed. |
| 39 | I consumed them; I thrust them through, so that they did not rise; they fell under my feet. |
| 40 | For thou didst gird me with strength for the battle; thou didst make my assailants sink under me. |
| 41 | Thou didst make my enemies turn their backs to me, those who hated me, and I destroyed them. |
| 42 | They looked, but there was none to save; they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them. |
| 43 | I beat them fine as the dust of the earth, I crushed them and stamped them down like the mire of the streets. |
| 44 | "Thou didst deliver me from strife with the peoples; thou didst keep me as the head of the nations; people whom I had not known served me. |
| 45 | Foreigners came cringing to me; as soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me. |
| 46 | Foreigners lost heart, and came trembling out of their fastnesses. |
| 47 | "The LORD lives; and blessed be my rock, and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation, |
| 48 | the God who gave me vengeance and brought down peoples under me, |
| 49 | who brought me out from my enemies; thou didst exalt me above my adversaries, thou didst deliver me from men of violence. |
| 50 | "For this I will extol thee, O LORD, among the nations, and sing praises to thy name. |
| 51 | Great triumphs he gives to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David, and his descendants for ever." |
| 1 | Now 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: |
| 2 | "The Spirit of the LORD speaks by me, his word is upon my tongue. |
| 3 | The 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, |
| 4 | he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth upon a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth. |
| 5 | Yea, 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? |
| 6 | But godless men are all like thorns that are thrown away; for they cannot be taken with the hand; |
| 7 | but the man who touches them arms himself with iron and the shaft of a spear, and they are utterly consumed with fire." |
| 8 | These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshe'beth a Tah-che'monite; he was chief of the three; he wielded his spear against eight hundred whom he slew at one time. |
| 9 | And next to him among the three mighty men was Elea'zar the son of Dodo, son of Aho'hi. He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel withdrew. |
| 10 | He 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. |
| 11 | And next to him was Shammah, the son of Agee the Har'arite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the men fled from the Philistines. |
| 12 | But he took his stand in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and slew the Philistines; and the LORD wrought a great victory. |
| 13 | And 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 Reph'aim. |
| 14 | David was then in the stronghold; and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. |
| 15 | And David said longingly, "O that some one would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate!" |
| 16 | Then 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, |
| 17 | and 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. |
| 18 | Now Abi'shai, the brother of Jo'ab, the son of Zeru'iah, was chief of the thirty. And he wielded his spear against three hundred men and slew them, and won a name beside the three. |
| 19 | He was the most renowned of the thirty, and became their commander; but he did not attain to the three. |
| 20 | And Benai'ah the son of Jehoi'ada was a valiant man of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds; he smote two ariels of Moab. He also went down and slew a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen. |
| 21 | And he slew an Egyptian, a handsome man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but Benai'ah went down to him with a staff, and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear. |
| 22 | These things did Benai'ah the son of Jehoi'ada, and won a name beside the three mighty men. |
| 23 | He was renowned among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David set him over his bodyguard. |
| 24 | As'ahel the brother of Jo'ab was one of the thirty; Elha'nan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, |
| 25 | Shammah of Harod, Eli'ka of Harod, |
| 26 | Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh of Teko'a, |
| 27 | Abi-e'zer, of An'athoth, Mebun'nai the Hu'shathite, |
| 28 | Zalmon the Aho'hite, Ma'harai of Netoph'ah, |
| 29 | Heleb the son of Ba'anah of Netoph'ah, It'tai the son of Ri'bai of Gib'e-ah of the Benjaminites, |
| 30 | Benai'ah of Pira'thon, Hid'dai of the brooks of Ga'ash, |
| 31 | Abi-al'bon the Ar'bathite, Az'maveth of Bahu'rim, |
| 32 | Eli'ahba of Sha-al'bon, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, |
| 33 | Shammah the Har'arite, Ahi'am the son of Sharar the Har'arite, |
| 34 | Eliph'elet the son of Ahas'bai of Ma'acah, Eli'am the son of Ahith'ophel of Gilo, |
| 35 | Hezro of Carmel, Pa'arai the Arbite, |
| 36 | Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, |
| 37 | Zelek the Ammonite, Na'harai of Be-er'oth, the armor-bearer of Jo'ab the son of Zeru'iah, |
| 38 | Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, |
| 39 | Uri'ah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all. |
