221 And David made a song to the Lord in these words, on the day when the Lord made him free from the hands of all his haters, and from the hand of Saul:
2 And he said, The Lord is my Rock, my walled town, and my saviour, even mine; 3 My God, my Rock, in him will I put my faith; my breastplate, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my safe place; my saviour, who keeps me safe from the violent man. 4 I will send up my cry to the Lord, who is to be praised; so will I be made safe from those who are against me. 5 For the waves of death came round me, and the seas of evil put me in fear; 6 The cords of hell were round me: the nets of death came on me. 7 In my trouble my voice went up to the Lord, and my cry to my God: my voice came to his hearing in his holy Temple, and my prayer came to his ears. 8 Then the earth was moved with a violent shock; the bases of heaven were moved and shaking, because he was angry. 9 There went up a smoke from his nose, and a fire of destruction from his mouth: coals were lighted by it. 10 The heavens were bent, so that he might come down; and it was dark under his feet. 11 And he went through the air, seated on a storm-cloud: going quickly on the wings of the wind. 12 And he made the dark his tent round him, a mass of waters, thick clouds of the skies. 13 Before his shining light his dark clouds went past, raining ice and coals of fire. 14 The Lord made thunder in the heavens, and the voice of the Highest was sounding out. 15 And he sent out his arrows, driving them in all directions; by his flames of fire they were troubled. 16 Then the deep beds of the sea were seen, and the bases of the world were uncovered, because of the Lord's wrath, because of the breath of his mouth. 17 He sent from on high, he took me, pulling me out of great waters. 18 He made me free from my strong hater, from those who were against me, because they were stronger than I. 19 They came on me in the day of my trouble: but the Lord was my support. 20 He took me out into a wide place; he was my saviour because he had delight in me. 21 The Lord gives me the reward of my righteousness, because my hands are clean before him. 22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I have not been turned away in sin from my God. 23 For all his decisions were before me, and I did not put away his laws from me. 24 And I was upright before him, and I kept myself from sin. 25 Because of this the Lord has given me the reward of my righteousness, because my hands are clean in his eyes. 26 On him who has mercy you will have mercy; to the upright you will be upright; 27 He who is holy will see that you are holy; but to the man whose way is not straight you will be a hard judge. 28 For you are the saviour of those who are in trouble; but your eyes are on men of pride, to make them low. 29 For you are my light, O Lord; and the Lord will make the dark bright for me. 30 By your help I have made a way through the wall which was shutting me in: by the help of my God I have gone over a wall. 31 As for God, his way is all good: the word of the Lord is tested; he is a safe cover for all those who put their faith in him. 32 For who is God but the Lord? and who is a Rock but our God? 33 God puts a strong band about me, guiding me in a straight way. 34 He makes my feet like roes' feet, and puts me on high places. 35 He makes my hands expert in war, so that a bow of brass is bent by my arms. 36 You have given me the breastplate of your salvation, and your mercy has made me great. 37 You have made my steps wide under me, so that my feet make no slip. 38 I go after my haters and overtake them; not turning back till they are all overcome. 39 I have sent destruction on them and given them wounds, so that they are not able to get up: they are stretched under my feet. 40 For I have been armed by you with strength for the fight: you have made low under me those who came out against me. 41 By you their backs are turned in flight, so that my haters are cut off. 42 They were crying out, but there was no one to come to their help: even to the Lord, but he gave them no answer. 43 Then they were crushed as small as the dust of the earth, stamped down under my feet like the waste of the streets. 44 You have made me free from the fightings of my people; you have made me the head of the nations: a people of whom I had no knowledge will be my servants. 45 Men of other countries will, with false hearts, put themselves under my authority: from the time when my name comes to their ears, they will be ruled by me. 46 They will be wasted away, they will come out of their secret places shaking with fear. 47 The Lord is living; praise be to my Rock, and let the God of my salvation be honoured: 48 It is God who sends punishment on my haters, and puts peoples under my rule. 49 He makes me free from my haters: I am lifted up over those who come up against me: you have made me free from the violent man. 50 Because of this I will give you praise, O Lord, among the nations, and will make a song of praise to your name. 51 Great salvation does he give to his king; he has mercy on the king of his selection, David, and on his seed for ever.
231 Now these are the last words of David. David, the son of Jesse, says, the man who was lifted up on high, the man on whom the God of Jacob put the holy oil, the loved one of Israel's songs, says: 2 The spirit of the Lord had voice through me, his word was on my tongue. 3 The God of Israel said, the word of the Rock of Israel came to me: When an upright king is ruling over men, when he is ruling in the fear of God, 4 It is as the light of the morning, when the sun comes up, a morning without clouds; making young grass come to life from the earth. 5 For is not my house so with God? For he has made with me an eternal agreement, ordered in all things and certain: as for all my salvation and all my desire, will he not give it increase? 6 But the evil-doers, all of them, will be like thorns to be pushed away, because they may not be gripped in the hand: 7 But anyone touching them has to be armed with iron and the rod of a spear; and they will be burned with fire, every one of them.
8 These are the names of David's men of war: Ishbaal the Hachmonite, chief of the three; his axe was lifted up against eight hundred put to death at one time. 9 After him was Eleazar, the son of Dodai the Ahohite, one of the three great fighters, who was with David in Pas-dammim when the Philistines came together there for the fight; and when the men of Israel had gone in flight, 10 He was with David and went on fighting the Philistines till his hand became tired and stiff from gripping his sword: and that day the Lord gave a great salvation, and the people came back after him only to take the goods of the Philistines. 11 After him was Shammah, the son of Ela the Hararite. And the Philistines came together in Lehi, where there was a bit of land full of seed; and the people went in flight from the Philistines. 12 But he kept his place in the middle of the bit of land, and kept back their attack and overcame the Philistines: and the Lord gave a great salvation. 13 And three of the thirty went down at the start of the grain-cutting, and they came to David at the strong place of Adullam; and the band of Philistines had taken up their position in the valley of Rephaim. 14 And at that time David had taken cover in the strong place, and an armed force of the Philistines was in Beth-lehem. 15 And David, moved by a strong desire, said, If only someone would give me a drink of water from the water-hole of Beth-lehem, by the doorway into the town! 16 And the three men, forcing their way through the Philistine army, got water from the water-hole of Beth-lehem, by the doorway into the town, and took it back to David: but he would not take it, but, draining it out, made an offering of it to the Lord. 17 And he said, Far be it from me, O Lord, to do this; how may I take as my drink the life-blood of men who have put their lives in danger? So he would not take it. These things did the three great men of war. 18 And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the thirty. He put to death three hundred with his spear, and he got for himself a name among the thirty. 19 Was he not the noblest of the thirty? so he was made their captain: but he was not equal to the first three. 20 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, a fighting man of Kabzeel, had done great acts; he put to death the two sons of Ariel of Moab: he went down into a hole and put a lion to death in time of snow: 21 And he made an attack on an Egyptian, a tall man: and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a stick, and pulling the spear out of the hands of the Egyptian, put him to death with that same spear. 22 These were the acts of Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, who had a great name among the thirty men of war. 23 He was honoured over the rest of the thirty, but he was not equal to the first three. And David put him over the fighting men who kept him safe. 24 Asahel, the brother of Joab, was one of the thirty; and Elhanan, the son of Dodai, of Beth-lehem, 25 Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, 26 Helez the Paltite, Ira, the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, 27 Abiezer the Anathothite, Sibbecai the Hushathite, 28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, 29 Heldai, the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai, the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin, 30 Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai of the valleys of Gaash, 31 Abiel the Arbathite, Azmaveth of Bahurim, 32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite, Jashen the Gunite, 33 Jonathan, the son of Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam, the son of Sharar the Hararite, 34 Eliphelet, the son of Ahasbai the Maacathite, Eliam, the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, 35 Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Archite, 36 Igal, the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, 37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, who had the care of the arms of Joab, son of Zeruiah, 38 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, 39 Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in number.
241 Again the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and moving David against them, he said, Go, take the number of Israel and Judah. 2 And the king said to Joab and the captains of the army, who were with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan as far as Beer-sheba, and have all the people numbered, so that I may be certain of the number of the people. 3 And Joab said to the king, Whatever the number of the people, may the Lord make it a hundred times as much, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it: but why does my lord the king take pleasure in doing this thing? 4 But the king's order was stronger than Joab and the captains of the army. And Joab and the captains of the army went out from the king, to take the number of the children of Israel. 5 And they went over Jordan, and starting from Aroer, from the town which is in the middle of the valley, they went in the direction of the Gadites, and on to Jazer; 6 Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of the Hittites under Hermon; and they came to Dan, and from Dan they came round to Zidon, 7 And to the walled town of Tyre, and to all the towns of the Hivites and the Canaanites: and they went out to the South of Judah at Beer-sheba. 8 So after going through all the land in every direction, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 And Joab gave the king the number of all the people: there were in Israel eight hundred thousand fighting men able to take up arms; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand.
10 And after the people had been numbered, David's heart was troubled. And David said to the Lord, Great has been my sin in doing this; but now, O Lord, be pleased to take away the sin of your servant, for I have done very foolishly 11 And David got up in the morning; now the word of the Lord had come to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, 12 Go and say to David, The Lord says, Three things are offered to you: say which of them you will have, and I will do it to you. 13 So Gad came to David, and gave him word of this and said to him, Are there to be three years when there is not enough food in your land? or will you go in flight from your haters for three months, while they go after you? or will you have three days of violent disease in your land? take thought and say what answer I am to give to him who sent me. 14 And David said to Gad, This is a hard decision for me to make: let us come into the hands of the Lord, for great are his mercies: let me not come into the hands of men. 15 So David made selection of the disease; and the time was the days of the grain-cutting, when the disease came among the people, causing the death of seventy thousand men from Dan as far as Beer-sheba. 16 And when the hand of the angel was stretched out in the direction of Jerusalem, for its destruction, the Lord had regret for the evil, and said to the angel who was sending destruction on the people, It is enough; do no more. And the angel of the Lord was by the grain-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 And when David saw the angel who was causing the destruction of the people, he said to the Lord, Truly, the sin is mine; I have done wrong: but these are only sheep; what have they done? let your hand be against me and against my family.
18 And that day Gad came to David and said to him, Go up, and put up an altar to the Lord on the grain-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 19 So David went up, as Gad had said and as the Lord had given orders. 20 And Araunah, looking out, saw the king and his servants coming to him: and Araunah went out, and went down on his face to the earth before the king. 21 And Araunah said, Why has my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To give you a price for your grain-floor, so that I may put up an altar to the Lord, and the disease may be stopped among the people. 22 And Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take whatever seems right to him, and make an offering of it: see, here are the oxen for the burned offering, and the grain-cleaning instruments and the ox-yokes for wood: 23 All this does the servant of my lord the king give to the king. And Araunah said, May the Lord your God be pleased with your offering! 24 And the king said to Araunah, No, but I will give you a price for it; I will not give to the Lord my God burned offerings for which I have given nothing. So David got the grain-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 And there David put up an altar to the Lord, making burned offerings and peace-offerings. So the Lord gave ear to his prayer for the land, and the disease came to an end in Israel.
