II Samuel 20-24

II Samuel 20

¹And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew the trumpet, and said, We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.

²So all the men of Israel went up from following David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri: but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem.

³And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and provided them with sustenance, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood.

⁴Then said the king to Amasa, Call me the men of Judah together within three days, and be thou here present.

⁵So Amasa went to call the men of Judah together: but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him.

⁶And David said to Abishai, Now shall Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom: take thou thy lord’s servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fenced cities, and escape out of our sight.

⁷And there went out after him Joab’s men, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men: and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.

⁸When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. And Joab was girded with his apparel of war that he had put on, and thereon was a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof; and as he went forth it fell out.

⁹And Joab said to Amasa, Is it well with thee, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.

¹⁰But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab’s hand: so he smote him therewith in the belly, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. And Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri.

¹¹And there stood by him one of Joab’s young men, and said, He that favoureth Joab, and he that is for David, let him follow Joab.

¹²And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a garment over him, when he saw that every one that came by him stood still.

¹³When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.

¹⁴And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Beth-maacah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him.

¹⁵And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah, and they cast up a mount against the city, and it stood against the rampart: and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down.

¹⁶Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee.

¹⁷And he came near unto her, and the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear.

¹⁸Then she spake, saying, they were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so they ended the matter.

¹⁹I am of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?

²⁰And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.

²¹The matter is not so: but a man of the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David: deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall.

²²Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. And he blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king.

²³Now Joab was over all the host of Israel: and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites:

²⁴and Adoram was over the tribute: and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder:

²⁵and Sheva was scribe: and Zadok and Abiathar were priests:

²⁶and Ira also the Jairite was priest unto David.

II Samuel 21

¹And there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put to death the Gibeonites.

²And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah:)

³and David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD?

⁴And the Gibeonites said unto him, It is no 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 ye shall say, that will I do for you.

⁵And they said unto the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the borders of Israel,

⁶let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD; And the king said, I will give them.

⁷But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD’S oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

⁸But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bare to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:

⁹And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before the LORD, and they fell all seven together: and they were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest.

¹⁰And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water was poured upon them from heaven; and she suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

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

¹²And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, which had stolen them from the street of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, in the day that the Philistines slew Saul in Gilboa:

¹³and he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged.

¹⁴And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was entreated for the land.

¹⁵And the Philistines had war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint.

¹⁶and Ishbi-benob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.

¹⁷But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the lamp of Israel.

¹⁸And it came to pass after this, that there was again war with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbecai the Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant.

¹⁹And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Beth-lehemite slew Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

²⁰And there was again war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.

²¹And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei David’s brother slew him.

²²These four were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

II Samuel 22

¹And David spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:

²and he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine;

³The God of my rock, in him will I trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge; my saviour, thou savest me from violence.

⁴I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

⁵For the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

⁶The cords of Sheol were round about me: the snares of death came upon me.

⁷In my distress I called upon the LORD, yea, I called unto my God: and he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came into his ears.

⁸Then the earth shook and trembled, the foundations of heaven moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.

⁹There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.

¹⁰He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and thick darkness was under his feet.

¹¹And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he was seen upon the wings of the wind.

¹²And he made darkness pavilions round about him, gathering of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

¹³At the brightness before him coals of fire were kindled.

¹⁴The LORD thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice.

¹⁵And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them.

¹⁶Then the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were laid bare, by the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

¹⁷He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters;

¹⁸He delivered me from my strong enemy, from them that hated me; for they were too mighty for me.

¹⁹They came upon me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.

²⁰He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

²¹The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

²²For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

²³For all his judgments were before me: and as for his statutes, I did not depart from them.

²⁴I was also perfect toward him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.

²⁵Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eyesight.

²⁶With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, with the perfect man thou wilt shew thyself perfect;

²⁷With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the perverse thou wilt shew thyself froward.

²⁸And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down.

²⁹For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.

³⁰For by thee I run upon a troop: by my God do I leap over a wall.

³¹As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried; he is a shield unto all them that trust in him.

³²For who is God, save the LORD? and who is a rock, save our God?

³³God is my strong fortress: and he guideth the perfect in his way.

³⁴He maketh his feet like hinds’ feet: and setteth me upon my high places.

³⁵He teacheth my hands to war; so that mine arms do bend a bow of brass.

³⁶Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great.

³⁷Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, and my feet have not slipped.

³⁸I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; neither did I turn again till they were consumed.

³⁹And I have consumed them, and smitten them through, that they cannot arise; yea, they are fallen under my feet.

⁴⁰For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.

⁴¹Thou hast also made mine enemies turn their backs unto me, that I might cut off them that hate me.

⁴²They looked, but there was none to save; even unto the LORD, but he answered them not.

⁴³Then did I beat them small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the streets, and did spread them abroad.

⁴⁴Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people; thou hast kept me to be the head of the nations: a people whom I have not known shall serve me.

⁴⁵The strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me.

⁴⁶The strangers shall fade away, and shall come trembling out of their close places.

⁴⁷The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation:

⁴⁸Even the God that executeth vengeance for me, and bringeth down peoples under me,

⁴⁹And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above them that rise up against me: thou deliverest me from the violent man.

⁵⁰Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the nations, and will sing praises unto thy name.

⁵¹Great deliverance giveth he to his king: and sheweth lovingkindness to his anointed, to David and to his seed, for evermore.

II Samuel 23

¹Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse saith, and the man who was raised on high saith, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel:

²The spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was upon my tongue.

³The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me: One that ruleth over men righteously, that ruleth in the fear of God,

⁴He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, a morning without clouds; when the tender grass springeth out of the earth, through clear shining after rain.

⁵Verily my house is not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for it is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he maketh it not to grow.

⁶But the ungodly shall be all of them as thorns to be thrust away, for they cannot be taken with the hand:

⁷But the man that toucheth them must be armed with iron and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place.

⁸These be 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.

⁹And 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 that were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away:

¹⁰He arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword: and the LORD wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to spoil.

¹¹And after him was Shammah the son of Agce a Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the people fled from the Philistines.

¹²But he stood in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and slew the Philistines: and the LORD wrought a great victory.

¹³And three of the thirty chief went down, and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adullam; and the troop of the Philistines were encamped in the valley of Rephaim.

¹⁴And David was then in the hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Beth-lehem.

¹⁵And David longed and said, Oh that one would give me water to drink of the well of Beth-lehem which is by the gate!

¹⁶And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Beth-lehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD.

¹⁷And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this: shall I drink the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.

¹⁸And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the three. And he lifted up his spear against three hundred and slew them, and had a name among the three.

¹⁹Was he not most honourable of the three? therefore he was made their captain: howbeit he attained not unto the first three.

²⁰And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, he slew the two sons of Ariel of Moab: he went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow:

²¹And he slew 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 slew him with his own spear.

²²These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had a name among the three mighty men.

²³He was more honourable than the thirty, but he attained not to the first three. And David set him over his guard.

²⁴Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Beth-lehem;

²⁵Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite;

²⁶Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite;

²⁷Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite;

²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite;

²⁹Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin;

³⁰Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash;

³¹Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite;

³²Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan;

³³Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite;

³⁴Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maacathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite;

³⁵Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite;

³⁶Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite;

³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, armourbearers to Joab the son of Zeruiah;

³⁸Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite;

³⁹Uriah the Hittite: thirty and seven in all.

II Samuel 24

¹And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah.

²And the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now to and fro through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the sum of the people.

³And Joab said unto the king, Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?

⁴Notwithstanding the king’s word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.

⁵And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and unto Jazer.

⁶then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi; and they came to Dan-jaan, and round about to Zidon,

⁷and came to the strong hold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, at Beer-sheba.

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

⁹And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

¹⁰And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: but now, O LORD, put away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

¹¹And when David rose up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,

¹²Go and speak unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.

¹³So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thy foes while they pursue thee? or shall there be three days pestilence in thy land? now advise thee, and consider what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

¹⁴And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.

¹⁵So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men.

¹⁶And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough; now stay thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁷And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done perversely: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house.

¹⁸And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁹And David went up according to the saying of Gad, as the LORD commanded.

²⁰And 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.

²¹And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshing-floor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.

²²And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, the oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing instruments and the furniture of the oxen for the wood:

²³all this, O king, doth Araunah give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee.

²⁴And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will verily buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God which cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

²⁵And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.