Chronological Plan

¹Now David spoke the words of this song to the LORD on the day that the LORD had saved him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

²He said, “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;

³My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; My savior, You save me from violence.

⁴I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from my enemies.

⁵For the waves of death encompassed me; The floods of destruction terrified me;

⁶The ropes of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.

⁷In my distress I called upon the LORD, Yes, I called out to my God; And from His temple He heard my voice, And my cry for help came into His ears.

⁸Then the earth shook and quaked, The foundations of heaven were trembling And were shaken, because He was angry.

⁹Smoke went up out of His nostrils, And fire from His mouth was devouring; Coals were kindled by it.

¹⁰He also bowed the heavens down low, and came down With thick darkness under His feet.

¹¹He rode on a cherub and flew; He appeared on the wings of the wind.

¹²He made darkness canopies around Him, A mass of waters, thick clouds of the sky.

¹³From the brightness before Him Coals of fire were kindled.

¹⁴The LORD thundered from heaven, And the Most High uttered His voice.

¹⁵And He shot arrows and scattered them, Lightning, and routed them.

¹⁶Then the channels of the sea appeared, The foundations of the world were exposed By the rebuke of the LORD, From the blast of the breath of His nostrils.

¹⁷He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.

¹⁸He rescued me from my strong enemy, From those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.

¹⁹They confronted me on the day of my disaster, But the LORD was my support.

²⁰He also brought me out into an open place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me.

²¹The LORD has treated me in accordance with my righteousness; In accordance with the cleanliness of my hands He has repaid me.

²²For I have kept the ways of the LORD, And have not acted wickedly against my God.

²³For all His ordinances were before me, And as for His statutes, I did not deviate from them.

²⁴I was also blameless toward Him, And I have kept myself from my wrongdoing.

²⁵So the LORD has repaid me in accordance with my righteousness, In accordance with my cleanliness before His eyes.

²⁶With the one who is faithful You show Yourself faithful, With the blameless one You prove Yourself blameless;

²⁷With the one who is pure You show Yourself pure, But with the perverted You show Yourself astute.

²⁸And You save an afflicted people; But Your eyes are on the haughty whom You humiliate.

²⁹For You are my lamp, LORD; And the LORD illuminates my darkness.

³⁰For by You I can run at a troop of warriors; By my God I can leap over a wall.

³¹As for God, His way is blameless; The word of the LORD is refined; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.

³²For who is God, except the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?

³³God is my strong fortress; And He sets the blameless on His way.

³⁴He makes my feet like deer’s feet, And sets me on my high places.

³⁵He trains my hands for battle, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

³⁶You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, And Your help makes me great.

³⁷You enlarge my steps under me, And my feet have not slipped.

³⁸I pursued my enemies and eliminated them, And I did not turn back until they were finished off.

³⁹And I have devoured them and smashed them, so that they would not rise; And they fell under my feet.

⁴⁰For You have encircled me with strength for battle; You have forced those who rose up against me to bow down under me.

⁴¹You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, And I destroyed those who hated me.

⁴²They looked, but there was no one to save them; Even to the LORD, but He did not answer them.

⁴³Then I pulverized them as the dust of the earth; I crushed and trampled them like the mud of the streets.

⁴⁴You have also saved me from the contentions of my people; You have kept me as head of the nations; A people I have not known serve me.

⁴⁵Foreigners pretend to obey me; As soon as they hear, they obey me.

⁴⁶Foreigners lose heart, And come trembling out of their fortresses.

⁴⁷The LORD lives, and blessed be my Rock; And exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation,

⁴⁸The God who executes vengeance for me, And brings down peoples under me,

⁴⁹Who also brings me out from my enemies; You also raise me above those who rise up against me; You rescue me from the violent person.

⁵⁰Therefore I will give thanks to You, LORD, among the nations, And I will sing praises to Your name.

⁵¹He is a tower of salvation to His king, And shows favor to His anointed, To David and his descendants forever.”

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

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

³The God of Israel said it; The Rock of Israel spoke to me: ‘He who rules over mankind righteously, Who rules in the fear of God,

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

⁵Is my house not indeed so with God? For He has made an everlasting covenant with me, Properly ordered in all things, and secured; For will He not indeed make All my salvation and all my delight grow?

⁶But the worthless, every one of them, are like scattered thorns, Because they cannot be taken in hand;

⁷Instead, the man who touches them Must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear, And they will be completely burned with fire in their place.”

⁸These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth, a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains; he was called Adino the Eznite because of eight hundred who were killed by him at one time.

⁹And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there to battle and the men of Israel had withdrawn.

¹⁰He rose up and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary and it clung to the sword, and the LORD brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to plunder the dead.

¹¹Now after him was Shammah the son of Agee, a Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered into an army where there was a plot of land full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines.

¹²But he took his stand in the midst of the plot, defended it, and struck 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 to the cave of Adullam, while the army of the Philistines was camping in the Valley of Rephaim.

¹⁴David was then in the stronghold, while 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 forced their way into the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and carried it and brought it to David. Yet he would not drink it, but poured it out as an offering to the LORD;

¹⁷and he said, “Far be it from me, LORD, that I would do this! Should I drink 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. And he swung his spear against three hundred and killed them, and had a name as well as the three.

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

²⁰Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done great deeds, killed the two sons of Ariel 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 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.

²²These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and had a name as well as the three mighty men.

²³He was honored among the thirty, but he did not attain the reputation of the three. And David appointed him over his bodyguard.

²⁴Asahel the brother of Joab was among the thirty; and there was Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,

²⁵Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite,

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

²⁷Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite,

²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite,

²⁹Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin,

³⁰Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash,

³¹Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite,

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

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

³⁴Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maacathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,

³⁵Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite,

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

³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, armor bearers of Joab the son of Zeruiah,

³⁸Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,

³⁹and Uriah the Hittite; thirty-seven in all.