2 Samuel 20: 1 - 22: 51
| 1There happened to be there a wicked fellow, 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, Israel!” |
| 2So all the men of Israel went up from following David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah joined with their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem. 3David 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 custody, and provided them with sustenance, but didn’t go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood. |
| 4Then the king said to Amasa, “Call me the men of Judah together within three days, and be here present.” |
| 5So Amasa went to call the men of Judah together; but he stayed longer than the set time which he had appointed him. 6David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom did. Take your lord’s servants, and pursue after him, lest he get himself fortified cities, and escape out of our sight.” |
| 7Joab’s men went out after him, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men; and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. 8When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab was clothed in his apparel of war that he had put on, and on it was a sash with a sword fastened on his waist in its sheath; and as he went along it fell out. 9Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” 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 struck him with it in the body, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and didn’t strike him again; and he died. Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri. 11One of Joab’s young men stood by him, and said, “He who favours Joab, and he who is for David, let him follow Joab!” |
| 12Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway. 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 everyone who came by him stood still. 13When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab, to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. 14He went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and to Beth Maacah, and all the Berites. They were gathered together, and went also after him. 15They came and besieged him in Abel of Beth Maacah, and they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart; and all the people who were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down. 16Then a wise woman cried out of the city, “Hear, hear! Please say to Joab, ‘Come near here, that I may speak with you.’” 17He came near to her; and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” |
| He answered, “I am.” |
| Then she said to him, “Hear the words of your servant.” |
| He answered, “I’m listening.” |
| 18Then she spoke, saying, “They used to say in old times, ‘They shall surely ask counsel at Abel;’ and so they settled a matter. 19I am amongst those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the LORD’s inheritance?” |
| 20Joab answered, “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, has lifted up his hand against the king, even against David. Just deliver him, and I will depart from the city.” |
| The woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.” |
| 22Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. They cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. He blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. Then Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king. 23Now Joab was over all the army of Israel, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites, 24Adoram was over the men subject to forced labour, Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder, 25Sheva was scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar were priests, 26and Ira the Jairite was chief minister to David. |
| 1There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of the LORD. The LORD said, “It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” |
| 2The king called the Gibeonites, and said to 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 to them; and Saul sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah); 3and David said to the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? And with what should I make atonement, that you may bless the LORD’s inheritance?” |
| 4The Gibeonites said to 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.” |
| He said, “I will do for you whatever you say.” |
| 5They said to the king, “The man who consumed us, and who 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 to us, and we will hang them up to the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” |
| 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 bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. 9He delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the LORD, and all seven of them fell together. They were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest. 10Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water poured on them from the sky. She allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day, nor the animals of the field by night. 11David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. 12So David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh Gilead, who had stolen them from the street of Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, in the day that the Philistines killed Saul in Gilboa; 13and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son. They also gathered the bones of those who were hanged. 14They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. After that, God answered prayer for the land. |
| 15The Philistines had war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. David grew faint; 16and Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of bronze in weight, he being armed with a new sword, thought he would kill David. 17But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “Don’t go out with us to battle any more, so that you don’t quench the lamp of Israel.” |
| 18After this, there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was of the sons of the giant. 19There was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan the son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite’s brother, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 20There was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on every hand, and six toes on every foot, twenty four in count; and he also was born to the giant. 21When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, killed 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. |
| 1David spoke to 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, |
| my fortress, |
| and my deliverer, even mine; |
| 3God is my rock in whom I take refuge; |
| my shield, and the horn of my salvation, |
| my high tower, and my refuge. |
| My saviour, you save me from violence. |
| 4I call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; |
| So shall I be saved from my enemies. |
| 5For the waves of death surrounded me. |
| The floods of ungodliness made me afraid. |
| 6The cords of Sheol were around me. |
| The snares of death caught me. |
| 7In my distress, I called on the LORD. |
| Yes, I called to my God. |
| He heard my voice out of his temple. |
| My cry came into his ears. |
| 8Then the earth shook and trembled. |
| The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, |
| because he was angry. |
| 9Smoke went up out of his nostrils. |
| Consuming fire came out of his mouth. |
| Coals were kindled by it. |
| 10He bowed the heavens also, and came down. |
| Thick darkness was under his feet. |
| 11He rode on a cherub, and flew. |
| Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind. |
| 12He made darkness a shelter around himself: |
| gathering of waters, and thick clouds of the skies. |
| 13At the brightness before him, |
| coals of fire were kindled. |
| 14The LORD thundered from heaven. |
| The Most High uttered his voice. |
| 15He sent out arrows and scattered them, |
| lightning and confused them. |
| 16Then the channels of the sea appeared. |
| The foundations of the world were laid bare by the LORD’s rebuke, |
| at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. |
| 17He sent from on high and he took me. |
| He drew me out of many waters. |
| 18He delivered me from my strong enemy, |
| from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. |
| 19They came on me in the day of my calamity, |
| but the LORD was my support. |
| 20He also brought me out into a large place. |
| He delivered me, because he delighted in me. |
| 21The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness. |
| He rewarded me according to the cleanness of my hands. |
| 22For I have kept the LORD’s ways, |
| and have not wickedly departed from my God. |
| 23For all his ordinances were before me. |
| As for his statutes, I didn’t depart from them. |
| 24I was also perfect towards him. |
| I kept myself from my iniquity. |
| 25Therefore the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, |
| According to my cleanness in his eyesight. |
| 26With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. |
| With the perfect man you will show yourself perfect. |
| 27With the pure you will show yourself pure. |
| With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd. |
| 28You will save the afflicted people, |
| But your eyes are on the arrogant, that you may bring them down. |
| 29For you are my lamp, LORD. |
| The LORD will light up my darkness. |
| 30For by you, I run against a troop. |
| By my God, I leap over a wall. |
| 31As for God, his way is perfect. |
| The LORD’s word is tested. |
| He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him. |
| 32For who is God, besides the LORD? |
| Who is a rock, besides our God? |
| 33God is my strong fortress. |
| He makes my way perfect. |
| 34He makes his feet like hinds’ feet, |
| and sets me on my high places. |
| 35He teaches my hands to war, |
| so that my arms bend a bow of bronze. |
| 36You have also given me the shield of your salvation. |
| Your gentleness has made me great. |
| 37You have enlarged my steps under me. |
| My feet have not slipped. |
| 38I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them. |
| I didn’t turn again until they were consumed. |
| 39I have consumed them, |
| and struck them through, |
| so that they can’t arise. |
| Yes, they have fallen under my feet. |
| 40For you have armed me with strength for the battle. |
| You have subdued under me those who rose up against me. |
| 41You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, |
| that I might cut off those who hate me. |
| 42They looked, but there was no one to save; |
| even to the LORD, but he didn’t answer them. |
| 43Then I beat them as small as the dust of the earth. |
| I crushed them as the mire of the streets, and spread them abroad. |
| 44You also have delivered me from the strivings of my people. |
| You have kept me to be the head of the nations. |
| A people whom I have not known will serve me. |
| 45The foreigners will submit themselves to me. |
| As soon as they hear of me, they will obey me. |
| 46The foreigners will fade away, |
| and will come trembling out of their close places. |
| 47The LORD lives! |
| Blessed be my rock! |
| Exalted be God, the rock of my salvation, |
| 48even the God who executes vengeance for me, |
| who brings down peoples under me, |
| 49who brings me away from my enemies. |
| Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. |
| You deliver me from the violent man. |
| 50Therefore I will give thanks to you, LORD, amongst the nations, |
| and will sing praises to your name. |
| 51He gives great deliverance to his king, |
| and shows loving kindness to his anointed, |
| to David and to his offspring, forever more.” |
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