[23:1] Now these are the last words of David.
David the son of Jesse says, the man who was raised on high says, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel: [23:2] The Spirit of Yahweh spoke by me. His word was on my tongue. [23:3] The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, one who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God, [23:4] He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, When the tender grass springs out of the earth, Through clear shining after rain. [23:5] Most certainly my house is not so with God, yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, for it is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he doesn't make it grow. [23:6] But all of the ungodly shall be as thorns to be thrust away, because they can't be taken with the hand, [23:7] But the man who touches them must be armed with iron and the staff of a spear. They shall be utterly burned with fire in their place.
[23:8] These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb Basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite, against eight hundred slain at one time. [23:9] After him was Eleazar the son of Dodai the son of an Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines who were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away. [23:10] He arose, and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand froze to the sword; and Yahweh worked a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to take spoil. [23:11] After him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite. The Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the people fled from the Philistines. [23:12] But he stood in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and killed the Philistines; and Yahweh worked a great victory. [23:13] Three of the thirty chief men went down, and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam; and the troop of the Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim. [23:14] David was then in the stronghold; and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. [23:15] David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me water to drink of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! [23:16] The three mighty men broke through the army of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but he would not drink of it, but poured it out to Yahweh. [23:17] He said, Be it far from me, Yahweh, that I should do this: shall I drink the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men. [23:18] Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the three. He lifted up his spear against three hundred and killed them, and had a name among the three. [23:19] Wasn't he most honorable of the three? therefore he was made their captain: however he didn't attain to the first three. [23:20] Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, he killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab: he went down also and killed a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow. [23:21] He killed an Egyptian, a goodly man: and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and killed him with his own spear. [23:22] These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had a name among the three mighty men. [23:23] He was more honorable than the thirty, but he didn't attain to the first three. David set him over his guard. [23:24] Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, [23:25] Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, [23:26] Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, [23:27] Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, [23:28] Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, [23:29] Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin, [23:30] Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash. [23:31] Abialbon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, [23:32] Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, [23:33] Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite, [23:34] Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maacathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, [23:35] Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, [23:36] Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, [23:37] Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, armor bearers to Joab the son of Zeruiah, [23:38] Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, [23:39] Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.
[24:1] Again the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah. [24:2] The king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with him, Go now back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number you the people, that I may know the sum of the people. [24:3] Joab said to the king, Now Yahweh your God add to the people, however many they may be, one hundred times; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it: but why does my lord the king delight in this thing? [24:4] Notwithstanding, the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the army. Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel. [24:5] They passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Jazer: [24:6] then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; and they came to Dan Jaan, and around to Sidon, [24:7] and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of Judah, at Beersheba. [24:8] So when they had gone back and forth through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. [24:9] Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. [24:10] David's heart struck him after that he had numbered the people. David said to Yahweh, I have sinned greatly in that which I have done: but now, Yahweh, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly. [24:11] When David rose up in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, [24:12] Go and speak to David, Thus says Yahweh, I offer you three things: choose one of them, that I may do it to you. [24:13] So 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 foes while they pursue you? or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? now advise you, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me. [24:14] David said to Gad, I am in distress. Let us fall now into the hand of Yahweh; for his mercies are great; and let me not fall into the hand of man. [24:15] So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the time appointed; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. [24:16] When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, It is enough; now stay your hand. The angel of Yahweh was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. [24:17] David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who struck the people, and said, Behold, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me, and against my father's house. [24:18] Gad came that day to David, and said to him, Go up, rear an altar to Yahweh in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. [24:19] David went up according to the saying of Gad, as Yahweh commanded. [24:20] Araunah looked forth, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. [24:21] Araunah said, Why is my lord the king come to his servant? David said, To buy the threshing floor of you, to build an altar to Yahweh, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people. [24:22] Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him: behold, the cattle for the burnt offering, and the threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood: [24:23] all this, king, does Araunah give to the king. Araunah said to the king, Yahweh your God accept you. [24:24] The king said to Araunah, No; but I will most certainly buy it of you at a price. Neither will I offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God which cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. [24:25] David built there an altar to Yahweh, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So Yahweh was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.
The First Book of Kings
[1:1] Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat. [1:2] Therefore his servants said to him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and cherish him; and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may keep warm. [1:3] So they sought for a beautiful young lady throughout all the borders of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. [1:4] The young lady was very beautiful; and she cherished the king, and ministered to him; but the king didn't know her intimately. [1:5] Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. [1:6] His father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why have you done so? and he was also a very goodly man; and he was born after Absalom. [1:7] He conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest: and they following Adonijah helped him. [1:8] But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah. [1:9] Adonijah killed sheep and cattle and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En Rogel; and he called all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the men of Judah, the king's servants: [1:10] but Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he didn't call. [1:11] Then Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, Haven't you heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith reigns, and David our lord doesn't know it? [1:12] Now therefore come, please let me give you counsel, that you may save your own life, and the life of your son Solomon. [1:13] Go and get you in to king David, and tell him, Didn't you, my lord, king, swear to your handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne? why then does Adonijah reign? [1:14] Behold, while you yet talk there with the king, I also will come in after you, and confirm your words. [1:15] Bathsheba went in to the king into the chamber: and the king was very old; and Abishag the Shunammite was ministering to the king. [1:16] Bathsheba bowed, and did obeisance to the king. The king said, What would you? [1:17] She said to him, My lord, you swore by Yahweh your God to your handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne. [1:18] Now, behold, Adonijah reigns; and you, my lord the king, don't know it: [1:19] and he has slain cattle and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the army; but he hasn't called Solomon your servant. [1:20] You, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, that you should tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. [1:21] Otherwise it will happen, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders. [1:22] Behold, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet came in. [1:23] They told the king, saying, Behold, Nathan the prophet. When he was come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. [1:24] Nathan said, My lord, king, have you said, Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne? [1:25] For he is gone down this day, and has slain cattle and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has called all the king's sons, and the captains of the army, and Abiathar the priest; and behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and say, Long live king Adonijah. [1:26] But he hasn't called me, even me your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon. [1:27] Is this thing done by my lord the king, and you haven't shown to your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him? [1:28] Then king David answered, Call to me Bathsheba. She came into the king's presence, and stood before the king. [1:29] The king swore, and said, As Yahweh lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity, [1:30] most certainly as I swore to you by Yahweh, the God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place; most certainly so will I do this day. [1:31] Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did obeisance to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live forever. [1:32] King David said, Call to me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. They came before the king. [1:33] The king said to them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon: [1:34] and let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel; and blow you the trumpet, and say, Long live king Solomon. [1:35] Then you shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne; for he shall be king in my place; and I have appointed him to be prince over Israel and over Judah. [1:36] Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen: Yahweh, the God of my lord the king, say so too. [1:37] As Yahweh has been with my lord the king, even so be he with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David. [1:38] So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride on king David's mule, and brought him to Gihon. [1:39] Zadok the priest took the horn of oil out of the Tent, and anointed Solomon. They blew the trumpet; and all the people said, Long live king Solomon. [1:40] All the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth shook with the sound of them. [1:41] Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, Why is this noise of the city being in an uproar? [1:42] While he yet spoke, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came: and Adonijah said, Come in; for you are a worthy man, and bring good news. [1:43] Jonathan answered Adonijah, Most certainly our lord king David has made Solomon king: [1:44] and the king has sent with him Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and they have caused him to ride on the king's mule; [1:45] and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon; and they are come up from there rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that you have heard. [1:46] Also Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom. [1:47] Moreover the king's servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, Your God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne: and the king bowed himself on the bed. [1:48] Also thus said the king, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne this day, my eyes even seeing it. [1:49] All the guests of Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and went every man his way. [1:50] Adonijah feared because of Solomon; and he arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. [1:51] It was told Solomon, saying, Behold, Adonijah fears king Solomon; for, behold, he has laid hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let king Solomon swear to me first that he will not kill his servant with the sword. [1:52] Solomon said, If he shall show himself a worthy man, there shall not a hair of him fall to the earth; but if wickedness be found in him, he shall die. [1:53] So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. He came and did obeisance to king Solomon; and Solomon said to him, Go to your house.
[2:1] Now the days of David drew near that he should die; and he commanded Solomon his son, saying, [2:2] I am going the way of all the earth: be you strong therefore, and show yourself a man; [2:3] and keep the instruction of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself. [2:4] That Yahweh may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, If your children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you (said he) a man on the throne of Israel. [2:5] Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his sash that was about his waist, and in his shoes that were on his feet. [2:6] Do therefore according to your wisdom, and don't let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace. [2:7] But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those who eat at your table; for so they came to me when I fled from Absalom your brother. [2:8] Behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by Yahweh, saying, I will not put you to death with the sword. [2:9] Now therefore don't hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood. [2:10] David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. [2:11] The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty-three years reigned he in Jerusalem. [2:12] Solomon sat on the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly. [2:13] Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. She said, Come you peaceably? He said, Peaceably. [2:14] He said moreover, I have somewhat to tell you. She said, Say on. [2:15] He said, You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign: however the kingdom is turned about, and is become my brother's; for it was his from Yahweh. [2:16] Now I ask one petition of you; don't deny me. She said to him, Say on. [2:17] He said, "Please speak to Solomon the king (for he will not tell you 'no'), that he give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife." [2:18] Bathsheba said, Well; I will speak for you to the king. [2:19] Bathsheba therefore went to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself to her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand. [2:20] Then she said, I ask one small petition of you; don't deny me. The king said to her, Ask on, my mother; for I will not deny you. [2:21] She said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife. [2:22] King Solomon answered his mother, Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah. [2:23] Then king Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life. [2:24] Now therefore as Yahweh lives, who has established me, and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death this day. [2:25] King Solomon sent by Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell on him, so that he died. [2:26] To Abiathar the priest said the king, Get you to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of death: but I will not at this time put you to death, because you bear the ark of the Lord Yahweh before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted. [2:27] So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest to Yahweh, that he might fulfill the word of Yahweh, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. [2:28] The news came to Joab; for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he didn't turn after Absalom. Joab fled to the Tent of Yahweh, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. [2:29] It was told king Solomon, Joab is fled to the Tent of Yahweh, and behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall on him. [2:30] Benaiah came to the Tent of Yahweh, and said to him, Thus says the king, Come forth. He said, No; but I will die here. Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me. [2:31] The king said to him, Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him; that you may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father's house. [2:32] Yahweh will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David didn't know it, to wit, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah. [2:33] So shall their blood return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his seed forever: but to David, and to his seed, and to his house, and to his throne, shall there be peace for ever from Yahweh. [2:34] Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell on him, and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. [2:35] The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his room over the army; and Zadok the priest did the king put in the room of Abiathar. [2:36] The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and don't go forth from there any where. [2:37] For on the day you go out, and pass over the brook Kidron, know you for certain that you shall surely die: your blood shall be on your own head. [2:38] Shimei said to the king, The saying is good: as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do. Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days. [2:39] It happened at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, Behold, your servants are in Gath. [2:40] Shimei arose, and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to seek his servants; and Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath. [2:41] It was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and was come again. [2:42] The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, Didn't I adjure you by Yahweh, and protest to you, saying, Know for certain, that on the day you go out, and walk abroad any where, you shall surely die? and you said to me, The saying that I have heard is good. [2:43] Why then have you not kept the oath of Yahweh, and the commandment that I have instructed you with? [2:44] The king said moreover to Shimei, You know all the wickedness which your heart is privy to, that you did to David my father: therefore Yahweh shall return your wickedness on your own head. [2:45] But king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before Yahweh forever. [2:46] So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out, and fell on him, so that he died. The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.