2 Samuel 23
Water from Bethlehem’s Well, Poured Out to the Lord
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The Last Words of David
23:1These are David’s last words: “Faithful is David son of Jesse, and faithful the man whom the Lord raised up as the anointed of the God of Jacob;
beautiful are Israel’s psalms.
23:2The Lord’s Spirit spoke within me;
His word was upon my tongue.
23:3The God of Israel says;
the Guard of Israel spoke to me: ‘Speak a parable: How will you strengthen the fear of God in a human being?
23:4May the sun rise in God’s morning light;
the morning did not pass away from brightness, and like grass from rain out of the earth.’
23:5For is not my house so with the Mighty One?
He established an everlasting covenant with me, ready at every time, guarded;
for all my salvation and every desire—surely the lawless one will not sprout.
23:6All of them are like a thorn cast out, for they will not be taken in the hand,
23:7and a man will not toil among them—and full of iron and a spear’s shaft;
they will be utterly burned with fire in their shame.”
The Three Mighty Men
23:8These are the names of David’s mighty men: Jebosthe the Canaanite is chief of the third, Adinon the Asonite. He drew his sword against eight hundred who were slain at one time.
23:9After him was Eleazar, son of his paternal uncle, son of a Sousite, among the three mighty men. He was with David in Serran, and when he defied the foreigners, they gathered there for battle. The men of Israel went up,
23:10but he stood and struck the foreigners until his hand grew weary and clung to the sword. The Lord brought about a great deliverance that day; the people sat behind him, except to strip the slain.
23:11After him was Shammah son of Asa the Arouchite. The foreigners gathered at Theria, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the people fled before the foreigners.
23:12He stood firm in the middle of the plot, rescued it, and struck the foreigners. The Lord brought about a great deliverance.
The Water from the Well of Bethlehem
23:13Three of the thirty went down and came to Kason, to David at the cave of Adullam, while a company of foreigners camped in the Valley of Rephaim.
23:14David was then in the enclosed place, and the foreigners’ outpost was then in Bethlehem.
23:15David longed and said, “Who will give me water to drink from the cistern in Bethlehem by the gate?” The foreigners’ company was then in Bethlehem.
23:16The three mighty men broke through the foreigners’ camp, drew water from the cistern in Bethlehem by the gate, and took it and came to David. He refused to drink it and poured it out to the Lord,
23:17and said, “Far be it from me, Lord, to do this! Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” He refused to drink it. These things the three mighty men did.
Abishai and Benaiah
23:18Abishai, Joab’s brother, son of Zeruiah, was chief among the three. He raised his spear against three hundred who were slain, and he had a name among the three.
23:19He was renowned among those three and became their commander, but he did not attain to the Three.
23:20Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a man of many deeds, from Kabzeel. He struck the two sons of Ariel of Moab; he also went down and struck the lion inside the cistern on a snowy day.
23:21He struck the Egyptian, a conspicuous man. In the Egyptian’s hand was a spear like the timber of a gangway. Benaiah went down against him with a staff, snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with his own spear.
23:22These things Benaiah son of Jehoiada did, and he had a name among the three mighty men.
23:23He was renowned among the three, but he did not attain to the Three. David appointed him to receive his instructions.
The Thirty
23:24These are the names of King David’s mighty men: Asahel, Joab’s brother—he was among the thirty; Elhanan son of Dodi, his paternal uncle, in Bethlehem;
23:25Shammah the Aroudite; Elika the Arodite;
23:26Elles the Phelothite; Ira son of Ikkesh the Tekoite;
23:27Abiezer the Anathothite, from the sons of the Asothite;
23:28Zalmon the Aoite; Moore the Netophathite;
23:29Ela son of Baanah the Netophathite; Ittai son of Riba, from Gabaeth, a son of Benjamin;
23:30Benaiah the Pirathonite; Ouri from Nachaligaia;
23:31Abiel son of the Arabothite; Azmaveth the Barsamite;
23:32Eliasou the Salabonite; the sons of Jashen; Jonathan;
23:33Shammah the Arodite; Achian son of Sarad the Araourite;
23:34Eliphelet son of the Asbite, son of the Maacathite; Eliab son of Ahithophel the Gilonite;
23:35Asarai the Carmelite; Paarai the Erchite;
23:36Igal son of Nathan, from the force, son of Gaddi;
23:37Elie the Ammonite; Gelorai the Beerothite, bearing the equipment of Joab son of Zeruiah;
23:38Ira the Ithrite; Gareb the Ithrite;
23:39Uriah the Hittite—thirty-seven in all.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V2 · working draft awaiting specialist review.