22 And David spake aunto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: 2 bAnd he said,

The Lord is cmy rock, and dmy fortress, and my deliverer;

3  The God eof my rock; fin him will I trust:

He is my gshield, and the hhorn of my salvation, my ihigh tower, and my krefuge,

My saviour; thou savest me from violence.

4  I will call on the Lord, lwho is worthy to be praised:

So shall I be saved from mine enemies.

5  When the ||waves of death compassed me,

The floods of †ungodly men made me afraid;

6  The ||sorrows of hell compassed me about;

The snares of death prevented me;

7  In my distress mI called upon the Lord,

And cried to my God:

And he did hear my voice out of his temple,

And my cry ndid enter into his ears.

8  Then othe earth shook and trembled;

pThe foundations of heaven moved

And shook, because he was wroth.

9  There went up a smoke †out of his nostrils,

And fire out of his mouth devoured:

Coals were kindled by it.

10  He qbowed the heavens also, and came down;

And rdarkness was under his feet.

11  And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly:

And he was seen supon the wings of the wind.

12  And he made darkness tpavilions round about him,

†Dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies.

13  Through the brightness before him

Were coals of fire kindled.

14  The Lord uthundered from heaven,

And the most High uttered his voice.

15  And he sent out xarrows, and scattered them;

Lightning, and ydiscomfited them.

16  And the channels of the sea appeared,

The foundations of the world were discovered,

At the zrebuking of the Lord,

At the blast of the breath of his ||nostrils.

17  aHe sent from above, he took me;

bHe drew me out of ||many waters;

18  cHe delivered me from my strong enemy,

And from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.

19  They dprevented me in the day of my calamity:

But the Lord was my stay.

20  He brought me forth also einto a large place:

He delivered me, because he fdelighted in me.

21  gThe Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness:

According to the hcleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

22  For I have ikept the ways of the Lord,

And have not wickedly departed from my God.

23  For all his jjudgments were before me:

And as for his statutes, I did not depart from them.

24  I was also kupright †before him,

And have kept myself from mine iniquity.

25  Therefore lthe Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness;

According to my cleanness †in his eye sight.

26  With mthe merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful,

And with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.

27  With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure;

And with the froward thou wilt ||shew thyself unsavoury.

28  And the nafflicted people thou wilt save:

But thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down.

29  For thou art my ||lamp, O Lord:

And the Lord will lighten my darkness.

30  For by thee I have ||run through a troop:

By my God have I leaped over a wall.

31  As for God, his way is perfect;

oThe word of the Lord is ||tried:

He is pa buckler to all them that trust in him.

32  For qwho is God, save the Lord?

And who is a rock, save our God?

33  God is my rstrength and power:

And he †maketh my way sperfect.

34  He †maketh my feet tlike hinds’ feet:

And setteth me uupon my high places.

35  xHe teacheth my hands †to war;

So that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.

36  Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation:

And thy gentleness hath †made me great.

37  Thou hast enlarged ymy steps under me;

So that my †feet did not slip.

38  I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them;

And turned not again until I had consumed them.

39  And I have consumed them, and wounded them, that they could not arise:

Yea, they are fallen under my feet.

40  For thou hast zgirded me with strength to battle:

aThem that rose up against me hast thou †subdued under me.

41  Thou hast also given me the bnecks of mine enemies,

That I might destroy them that hate me.

42  cThey looked, but there was none to save;

Even unto the Lord, but he answered them not.

43  Then ddid I beat them as small eas the dust of the earth,

I did stamp them fas the mire of the street, and gdid spread them abroad.

44  Thou also hast delivered me hfrom the strivings of my people,

iThou hast kept me to be head of the heathen:

A jpeople which I knew not shall serve me.

45  †Strangers shall ||submit themselves unto me:

As soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me.

46  Strangers shall fade away,

And they kshall be afraid lout of their close places.

47  The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock;

And exalted be the God of the mrock of my salvation.

48  It is God that †avengeth me,

And that nbringeth down the people under me,

49  And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies:

oThou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me:

Thou hast delivered me from the pviolent man.

50  qTherefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen,

And I will sing praises unto thy name.

51  He is the tower of rsalvation for his king:

And sheweth mercy to his sanointed,

Unto David, and tto his seed for evermore.

23 Now these be the last words of David.

aDavid the son of Jesse said,

bAnd the man who was raised up on high,

cThe anointed of the God of Jacob,

And the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,

2  dThe Spirit of the Lord spake by me,

And his word was in my tongue.

3  The God of Israel said,

eThe Rock of Israel spake to me,

||He that ruleth over men must be just,

Ruling fin the fear of God.

4  And he shall be as the light of the morning, when gthe sun riseth,

Even a morning without clouds;

As the tender grass springing out of the earth

By clear shining after rain.

5  Although my house be not so with God;

hYet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,

Ordered in all things, and sure:

For this is all my salvation, and all my desire,

Although ihe make it not to grow.

6  But the sons of jBelial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away,

Because they cannot be taken with hands:

7  But the man that shall touch them must be †fenced with iron and kthe staff of a spear;

And they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place.

8 lThese be the names of the mighty men whom David had: ||The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among mthe captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: ||he lift up his spear against eight hundred, †whom he slew at one time. 9 And after him was nEleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when othey defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away: 10 He arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword: and the Lord wrought a great pvictory that day; and the people returned after him only to spoil. 11 And after him was qShammah the son of Agee the Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together ||into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentiles: and the people fled from the Philistines. 12 But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines: and the Lord wrought a great pvictory. 13 And ||three of the thirty chief went down, and came to David in the harvest time unto rthe cave of Adullam: and the troop of the Philistines pitched in sthe valley of Rephaim. 14 And David was then in tan hold, and uthe garrison of the Philistines was then in Beth-lehem. 15 And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Beth-lehem, which is by the gate! 16 And 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: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord. 17 And he said, Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this: is not this wthe blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men. 18 And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief among three. And he lifted up his spear against three hundred, †and slew them, and had the name among three. 19 Was he not most honourable of three? therefore he was their captain: howbeit he attained not unto the xfirst three. 20 And yBenaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, of zKabzeel, †who had done many acts, he slew two †lionlike men of aMoab: he went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow: 21 And 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. 22 These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had the name among three mighty men. 23 He was ||more honourable than the thirty, but he attained not to the bfirst three. And David set him over his ||guard.

24 cAsahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Beth-lehem, 25 Shammah the dHarodite, Elika the Harodite, 26 Helez ethe Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh fthe Tekoite, 27 Abiezer gthe Anethothite, Mebunnai hthe Hushathite, 28 Zalmon ithe Ahohite, Maharai the jNetophathite, 29 Heleb the son of Baanah, a jNetophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai out of kGibeah of the children of Benjamin, 30 Benaiah lthe Pirathonite, Hiddai of the ||brooks of mGaash, 31 Abi-albon nthe Arbathite, Azmaveth othe Barhumite, 32 Eliahba pthe Shaalbonite, of the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, 33 qShammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Hararite, 34 Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the rMaachathite, sEliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, 35 Hezrai tthe Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, 36 Igal the son of Nathan of uZobah, Bani the Gadite, 37 Zelek vthe Ammonite, Naharai wthe Beerothite, armourbearer to Joab the son of Zeruiah, 38 xIra an yIthrite, Gareb an Ithrite, 39 zUriah the Hittite: thirty and seven in all.

24 *aAnd bagain the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and ||he moved David against them to say, cGo, number Israel and Judah. 2 For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, ||Go now through all the tribes of Israel, dfrom Dan even to Beer-sheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people. 3 And Joab said unto the king, Now ethe Lord thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing? 4 Notwithstanding 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. 5 And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in fAroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the ||river of Gad, and toward gJazer: 6 Then they came to Gilead, and to the ||land of Tahtim-hodshi; and they came to hDan-jaan, and about to iZidon, 7 And came to the jstrong hold of Tyre, and to all the cities of kthe Hivites, and of kthe Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beer-sheba. 8 So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: land there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men mthat drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

10 And nDavid’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, oI have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have pdone very foolishly. 11 For when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet qGad, David’s rseer, saying, 12 Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. 13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall sseven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. 14 And 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. 15 So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people tfrom Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men.

16 And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, uthe Lord repented him of the evil, and said to wthe angel that xdestroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshingplace of †Araunah the Jebusite. 17 And David spake unto the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I yhave done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house. 18 And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of †Araunah the Jebusite. 19 And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. 20 And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground. 21 And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, zTo buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the Lord, that athe plague may be stayed from the people. 22 And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what bseemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and cthreshing instruments and other dinstruments of the oxen for wood. 23 All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The Lord thy God eaccept thee. 24 And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for ffifty shekels of silver. 25 And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and goffered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So hthe Lord was intreated for the land, and ithe plague was stayed from Israel.