2 Samuel 23 (New American Standard)

David's Last Song

1 Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse declares, ¹The man who was raised on high declares, ²The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel, 2 "³The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, And His word was on my tongue. 3 "The God of Israel said, ⁴The Rock of Israel spoke to me, '⁵He who rules over men righteously, ⁶Who rules in the fear of God, 4 ⁷Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises, A morning without clouds, When the tender grass springs out of the earth, Through sunshine after rain.' 5 "Truly is not my house so with God ? For ⁸He has made an everlasting covenant with me, Ordered in all things, and secured ; For all my salvation and all my desire, Will He not indeed make it grow ? 6 "⁹But the worthless, every one of them will be thrust away like thorns, Because they cannot be taken in hand ; 7 But the man who touches them Must be ^aarmed with iron and the shaft of a spear, And ¹⁰they will be completely burned with fire in their ^bplace."

His Mighty Men

8 ¹¹These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the ^ccaptains, he was called Adino the Eznite, because of eight hundred slain by him at one time ; 9 and after him was Eleazar the son of ¹²Dodo the ¹³Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they ^ddefied the Philistines who were gathered there to battle and the men of Israel had ^ewithdrawn. 10 ¹⁴He arose and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary and ^fclung to the sword, and ¹⁵the LORD brought about a great ^gvictory that day ; and the people returned after him only to strip the slain. 11 Now after him was Shammah the son of Agee a ¹⁶Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered ^hinto a troop where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines. 12 But he took his stand in the midst of the plot, defended it and struck the Philistines ; and ¹⁷the LORD brought about a great ⁱvictory. 13 Then three of the thirty chief men went down and came to David in the harvest time to the ¹⁸cave of Adullam, while the troop of the Philistines was camping in ¹⁹the valley of Rephaim. 14 David was then ²⁰in the stronghold, while the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. 15 ²¹David had a craving and said, "Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate !" 16 ²²So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but ²³poured it out to the LORD ; 17 and he said, "Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this. ²⁴Shall I drink the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives ?" Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did. 18 ²⁵Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was ²⁶chief of the ^jthirty. And he swung his spear against three hundred ^kand killed them, and had a name as well as the three. 19 He was most honored of the thirty, therefore he became their commander ; however, he did not attain to the three. 20 Then ²⁷Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of ²⁸Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, ^lkilled the ^mtwo sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day. 21 He ⁿkilled an Egyptian, ^oan impressive man. Now the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but he went down to him with a club and snatched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear. 22 These things ²⁹Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and had a name as well as the three mighty men. 23 He was honored among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David appointed him over his guard. 24 ³⁰Asahel the brother of Joab was among the thirty ; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, 25 ³¹Shammah the ³²Harodite, Elika the Harodite, 26 Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the ³³Tekoite, 27 Abiezer the ³⁴Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, 28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the ³⁵Netophathite, 29 ³⁶Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of ³⁷Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin, 30 Benaiah a ³⁸Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of ³⁹Gaash, 31 Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the ⁴⁰Barhumite, 32 Eliahba the ⁴¹Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, 33 ⁴²Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite, 34 Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of ⁴³the Maacathite, ⁴⁴Eliam the son of ⁴⁵Ahithophel the Gilonite, 35 ⁴⁶Hezro the ⁴⁷Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, 36 Igal the son of Nathan of ⁴⁸Zobah, Bani the Gadite, 37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the ⁴⁹Beerothite, armor bearers of Joab the son of Zeruiah, 38 Ira the ⁵⁰Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, 39 ⁵¹Uriah the Hittite ; thirty-seven in all.