2 Samuel 23
23
The Last Words of David
1Now these be the last words of David.
David the son of Jesse said,
and the man who was raised up on high,
the anointed of the God of Jacob,
and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,
2The Spirit of the Lord spake by me,
and his word was in my tongue.
3The God of Israel said,
the Rock of Israel spake to me,
He that ruleth over men must be just,
ruling in the fear of God.
4And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth,
even a morning without clouds;
as the tender grass springing out of the earth
by clear shining after rain.
5Although my house be not so with God;
yet 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 he make it not to grow.
6But the sons of Be´li-al shall be all of them as thorns thrust away,
because they cannot be taken with hands:
7but the man that shall touch them
must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear;
and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place.
David's Mighty Men
(1 Chronicles 11.10-47)
8These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tach´monite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Ad´ino the Eznite: he lifted up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.
9And after him was Ele-a´zar the son of Dodo the Aho´hite, 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 Agee the Ha´rarite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentils: and the people fled from the Philistines. 12But he stood in the midst of the ground, 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 Adul´lam: and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Reph´a-im. 14And David was then in a hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. 15And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, 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 Bethlehem, 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. 17And he said, Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men.
18And Ab´ishai, the brother of Jo´ab, the son of Zeru-i´ah, was chief among three. And he lifted up his spear against three hundred, and slew them, and had the name among three. 19Was he not most honorable of three? therefore he was their captain: howbeit he attained not unto the first three.
20And Benai´ah the son of Jehoi´ada, the son of a valiant man, of Kab´zeel, who had done many acts, he slew two lionlike men 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 Benai´ah the son of Jehoi´ada, and had the name among three mighty men. 23He was more honorable than the thirty, but he attained not to the first three. And David set him over his guard.
24As´ahel the brother of Jo´ab was one of the thirty; Elha´nan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, 25Shammah the Ha´rodite, Eli´ka the Ha´rodite, 26Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Teko´ite, 27Abi-e´zer the Anetho´thite, Mebun´nai the Hu´shathite, 28Zalmon the Aho´hite, Ma´harai the Netoph´athite, 29Heleb the son of Ba´anah, a Netoph´athite, It´tai the son of Ri´bai out of Gib´e-ah of the children of Benjamin, 30Benai´ah the Pira´thonite, Hid´dai of the brooks of Ga´ash, 31Ab´i–al´bon the Ar´bathite, Azma´veth the Bar´humite, 32Eli´ahba the Sha-al´bonite, of the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, 33Shammah the Ha´rarite, Ahi´am the son of Sharar the Ha´rarite, 34Eliph´elet the son of Ahas´bai, the son of the Ma-ach´athite, Eli´am the son of Ahith´ophel the Gi´lonite, 35Hez´rai the Car´melite, Pa´arai the Arbite, 36Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, 37Zelek the Ammonite, Na´hari the Beer´othite, armor-bearer to Jo´ab the son of Zeru-i´ah, 38Ira an Ithrite, Gareb an Ithrite, 39Uri´ah the Hittite: thirty and seven in all.
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2 Samuel 23: KJVAE
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.
2 Samuel 23
23
David's Last Words
1These are the last words of David the son of Jesse.
The God of Jacob chose David
and made him a great king.
The Mighty God of Israel
loved him.#23.1 The Mighty … him: Or “He wrote Israel's favorite songs.”
When God told him to speak,
David said:
2The Spirit of the Lord
has told me what to say.
3Our Mighty Rock,#23.3 Mighty Rock: See the note at 22.2.
the God of Jacob, told me,
“A ruler who obeys God
and does right
4is like the sunrise
on a cloudless day,
or like rain that sparkles
on the grass.”#23.4 sparkles … grass: Or “makes the grass grow.”
5I have ruled this way,
and God will never break
his promise to me.
God's promise is complete
and unchanging;
he will always help me
and give me what I hope for.
6But evil people are pulled up
like thornbushes.
They are not dug up by hand,
7but with a sharp spear
and are burned on the spot.
The Three Warriors
(1 Chronicles 11.10-19)
8These are the names of David's warriors:
Ishbosheth#23.8 Ishbosheth: Hebrew “Josheb Bashebeth,” which seems to be another spelling of Ishbosheth. See the note at 2.8, although this is a different Ishbosheth. the son of Hachmon#23.8 the son of Hachmon: Or “the Tahchemonite” (see 1 Chronicles 11.11). was the leader of the Three Warriors.#23.8 the Three Warriors: The most honored group of warriors. They may have been part of the Thirty Warriors. “Three” and “thirty” are spelled almost the same in Hebrew, so there is some confusion in the manuscripts as to which group is being talked about in some places in the following lists. In one battle, he killed 800 men with his spear.#23.8 with … spear: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text (see 1 Chronicles 11.11).
9The next one of the Three Warriors was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite. One time when the Philistines were at war with Israel, he and David dared the Philistines to fight them. Every one of the Israelite soldiers turned and ran, 10except Eleazar. He killed Philistines until his hand was cramped, and he couldn't let go of his sword. When Eleazar finished, all the Israelite troops had to do was come back and take the enemies' weapons and armor. The Lord gave Israel a great victory that day.
11Next was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. One time the Philistines brought their army together to destroy a crop of peas growing in a field near Lehi. The rest of Israel's soldiers ran away from the Philistines, 12but Shammah stood in the middle of the field and killed the Philistines. The crops were saved, and the Lord gave Israel a great victory.
13One year at harvest time, the Three Warriors#23.13 the Three Warriors: Or “three warriors.” Hebrew “three of the thirty most important.” went to meet David at Adullam Cave.#23.13 Adullam Cave: This may have happened during the time that David was an outlaw (see 1 Samuel 22.1-6). The Philistine army had set up camp in Rephaim Valley 14and had taken over Bethlehem. David was in his fortress, 15and he was very thirsty. He said, “I wish I had a drink from the well by the gate at Bethlehem.”
16The Three Warriors#23.16 the Three Warriors: Or “three warriors.” sneaked into the Philistine camp and got some water from the well near Bethlehem's gate. But after they brought the water back to David, he refused to drink it. Instead, he poured it out as a sacrifice 17and said to the Lord, “I can't drink this water! It's like the blood of these men who risked their lives to get it for me.”
The Three Warriors did these brave deeds.
The Thirty Warriors
(1 Chronicles 11.20-47)
18Joab's brother Abishai was the leader of the Thirty Warriors,#23.18 the Thirty Warriors: The second most honored group of warriors. They may have also been officers in the army (see the note at 23.8). and in one battle he killed 300 men with his spear. He was as famous as the Three Warriors 19and certainly just as famous as the rest of the Thirty Warriors. He was the commander of the Thirty Warriors, but he still did not become one of the Three Warriors.
20Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a brave man from Kabzeel who did some amazing things. He killed two of Moab's best fighters,#23.20 Moab's best fighters: Or “big lions in Moab;” one ancient translation “sons of Ariel from Moab.” and on a snowy day he went down into a pit and killed a lion. 21Another time, he killed an Egyptian, as big as a giant.#23.21 Egyptian … giant: First Chronicles 11.23; in this verse the Hebrew text has “good-looking Egyptian.” The Egyptian was armed with a spear, but Benaiah only had a club. Benaiah grabbed the spear from the Egyptian and killed him with it. 22-23Benaiah did these things. He never became one of the Three Warriors, but he was just as famous as they were and certainly just as famous as the rest of the Thirty Warriors. David made him the leader of his bodyguard.
24-39Some of the Thirty Warriors were:
Asahel the brother of Joab
Elhanan the son of Dodo from Bethlehem
Shammah from Harod
Elika from Harod
Helez the Paltite
Ira the son of Ikkesh from Tekoa
Abiezer from Anathoth
Mebunnai#23.24-39 Mebunnai: Or “Sibbecai” (see 1 Chronicles 11.26-47). the Hushathite
Zalmon the Ahohite
Maharai from Netophah
Heleb the son of Baanah from Netophah
Ittai the son of Ribai from Gibeah of the tribe of Benjamin
Benaiah from Pirathon
Hiddai from the streams on Mount Gaash
Abialbon from Beth-Arabah
Azmaveth from Bahurim#23.24-39 Bahurim: Or “Barhum.”
Eliahba from Shaalbon
Jashen#23.24-39 Jashen: Hebrew “sons of Jashen.”
Jonathan the son of Shammah the Hararite#23.24-39 Jonathan … Hararite: Some manuscripts of one ancient translation (see 1 Chronicles 11.26-47). In the Hebrew text Jonathan and Shammah are separate members of the list.
Ahiam the son of Sharar the Hararite
Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai from Maacah
Eliam the son of Ahithophel from Gilo
Hezro from Carmel
Paarai the Arbite
Igal the son of Nathan from Zobah
Bani the Gadite
Zelek from Ammon
Naharai from Beeroth, who carried the weapons of Joab the son of Zeruiah
Ira the Ithrite
Gareb the Ithrite
Uriah the Hittite
There were 37 in all.
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