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¹Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse declares, The man who was raised on high declares, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel,

²"The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, And His word was on my tongue.

³"The God of Israel, The Rock of Israel spoke to me, 'He who rules over men righteously, Who rules in the fear of God,

⁴Is like the morning light when the sun rises, A morning without clouds, When the fresh grass springs out of the earth Through sunshine after rain.'

⁵"Truly is not my house so [blessed] with God? For He has made an everlasting covenant with me, Ordered in all things, and secured. For will He not cause to grow and prosper All my salvation and my every wish? Will He not make it grow and prosper?

⁶"But the wicked and worthless are all to be thrown away like thorns, Because they cannot be taken with the hand;

⁷"But the man who touches them Must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear, And they are utterly burned and consumed by fire in their place."

⁸These are the names of the mighty men (warriors) whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth, a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains, also called Adino the Eznite (spear) because of the eight hundred men killed [by him] at one time.

⁹Next to him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the son of Ahohi. He was one of the three mighty men with David when they taunted and defied the Philistines assembled there for battle, and the men of Israel had gone.

¹⁰Eleazar stood up and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary and clung to the sword. The LORD brought about a great victory that day; the people returned after him only to take the spoil [of the slain].

¹¹Next to Eleazar was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines were gathered into an army where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the people [of Israel] fled from the Philistines.

¹²But he took his stand in the center of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines; and the LORD brought about a great victory.

¹³Then three of the thirty chief men went down and came to David at harvest time in the cave of Adullam, while an army of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.

¹⁴David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.

¹⁵And David had a craving and said, "Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!"

¹⁶So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem by the gate, and carried and brought it to David. But he would not drink it, but poured it out [in worship] to the LORD.

¹⁷And he said, "Far be it from me, O LORD, that I should drink this. [Is it not the same as] the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?" So he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

¹⁸Now Abishai the brother of Joab the son of Zeruiah was chief of the thirty. He wielded his spear against three hundred men and killed them, and gained a reputation beside the three.

¹⁹He was the most honored of the thirty, so he became their commander; however, he did not attain to the [greatness of the] three.

²⁰Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done many notable acts, killed two [famous] warriors of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day.

²¹And he killed an Egyptian, an impressive and handsome man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but Benaiah went down to him with a club, snatched the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and killed the man with his own spear.

²²These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and gained a reputation beside the three mighty men.

²³He was honored among the thirty, but he did not attain to the [greatness of the] three. David appointed him over his guard.

²⁴Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; then Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,

²⁵Shammah of Harod, Elika of Harod,

²⁶Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh of Tekoa,

²⁷Abiezer of Anathoth, Mebunnai the Hushathite,

²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai of Netophah,

²⁹Heleb the son of Baanah of Netophah, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the Benjamites,

³⁰Benaiah of Pirathon, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash,

³¹Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite,

³²Eliahba of Shaalbon, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan,

³³Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite,

³⁴Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai the son of Maacah, Eliam the son of Ahithophel of Giloh,

³⁵Hezro (Hezrai) of Carmel, Paarai the Arbite,

³⁶Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite,

³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai of Beeroth, armor bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah,

³⁸Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,

³⁹Uriah the Hittite—thirty-seven in all.

¹Now again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He incited David against them to say, "Go, count [the people of] Israel and Judah."

²So the king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, "Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan [in the north] to Beersheba [in the south], and conduct a census of the people, so that I may know the number of the people."

³But Joab said to the king, "May the LORD your God add to the people a hundred times as many as there are, and let the eyes of my lord the king see it; but why does my lord the king want to do this thing?"

⁴Nevertheless, the king's word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So they went from the king's presence to take a census of the people of Israel.

⁵They crossed over the Jordan and camped in Aroer, on the south side of the city which is in the middle of the river valley [of the Arnon] toward Gad, and on toward Jazer.

⁶Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon,

⁷and they came to the stronghold of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to Beersheba.

⁸So when they had gone about through all the land [taking the census], they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

⁹And Joab gave the sum of the census of the people to the king. In Israel there were 800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000.

¹⁰But David's heart (conscience) troubled him after he had counted the people. David said to the LORD, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, please take away the sin of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly."

¹¹When David got up in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,

¹²"Go and say to David, 'Thus says the LORD, "I am giving you three choices; select one of them for yourself, and I will do it to you."'"

¹³So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, "Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your enemies as they pursue you? Or shall there be three days of pestilence (plague) in your land? Now consider this and decide what answer I shall return to Him who sent me."

¹⁴Then David said to Gad, "I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for His mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hands of man."

¹⁵So the LORD sent a pestilence (plague) [lasting three days] upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand men of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.

¹⁶When the [avenging] angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the disaster and said to the angel who destroyed the people, "It is enough! Now relax your hand." And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁷When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he spoke to the LORD and said, "Behold, I [alone] am the one who has sinned and done wrong; but these sheep (people of Israel), what have they done [to deserve this]? Please let Your hand be [only] against me and my father's house (family)."

¹⁸Then Gad [the prophet] came to David that day and said to him, "Go up, set up an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite [where you saw the angel]."

¹⁹So David went up according to Gad's word, as the LORD commanded.

²⁰Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; and he went out and bowed before the king with his face toward the ground.

²¹Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" And David said, "To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the LORD, so that the plague may be held back from the people."

²²Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. Look, here are oxen for the burnt offering, and threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.

²³All of this, O king, Araunah gives to the king." And Araunah said to the king, "May the LORD your God be favorable to you."

²⁴But the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing." So David purchased the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

²⁵David built an altar to the LORD there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was moved [to compassion] by [David's] prayer for the land, and the plague was held back from Israel.