Second Book of Samuel, Chapter 23
2 Samuel 23 NWT - New World TranslationChapter 23 of 2 Samuel—New World Translation (NWT)
- ¶ And these are the last words of David:1
¶ “The utterance of David the son of Jesʹse,2
And the utterance of the able-bodied man[a] that was raised up on high,3
¶ The anointed4 of the God of Jacob,
And the pleasant one of the melodies[b]5 of Israel.[c] - ¶ The spirit of Jehovah it was that spoke by me,6
And his word[d] was upon my tongue.7 - ¶ The God of Israel said,
To me the Rock of Israel spoke,8
¶ ‘When one ruling over mankind is righteous,9
Ruling in the fear of God,10 - ¶ Then it is as the light of morning, when the sun shines forth,11
A morning without clouds.
From brightness, from rain, there is grass out of the earth.’12 - ¶ For is not my household like that with God?[e]13
Because it is an indefinitely lasting covenant[f]14 that he has assigned to me,
Nicely put in order in everything and secured.15
¶ Because it is all my salvation16 and all my delight,
Is that not why he will make it grow?17 - ¶ But good-for-nothing persons18 are chased away,19 like thornbushes,20 all of them;
For it is not by the hand that they should be taken. - ¶ When a man touches them
He should be fully armed with iron and the shaft of a spear,
And with fire they will thoroughly be burned up.”[g]21 - ¶ These are the names of the mighty22 men that belonged to David: Joʹsheb-bas·sheʹbeth23 a Tah·cheʹmo·nite, the head of the three.[h] He was brandishing his spear[i] over eight hundred slain at one time.
- Next to him El·e·aʹzar24 the son of Doʹdo25 the son of A·hoʹhi was among the three mighty men with David when they taunted the Phi·lisʹtines. They[j] had gathered themselves there for the battle, and so the men of Israel retreated.26
- He it was that rose up and kept striking down the Phi·lisʹtines until his hand wearied and his hand kept cleaving to the sword,27 so that Jehovah performed a great salvation on that day;28 and as for the people, they returned behind him only to strip [those struck down].29
- ¶ And next to him was Shamʹmah the son of Aʹgee the Harʹa·rite.30 And the Phi·lisʹtines proceeded to gather themselves to Leʹhi, where there then happened to be a tract of the field full of lentils;31 and the people themselves fled because of the Phi·lisʹtines.
- But he took his stand in the middle of the tract and delivered it and kept striking down the Phi·lisʹtines, so that Jehovah performed a great salvation.32
- ¶ And three of the thirty head ones33 proceeded to go down and come at [the] harvest,[k] to David at the cave of A·dulʹlam;34 and a tent village of the Phi·lisʹtines was encamped in the low plain of the Rephʹa·im.[l]35
- And David was then in the place hard to approach;36 and an outpost37 of the Phi·lisʹtines was then in Bethʹle·hem.
- After a while David expressed his craving and said: “O that I might have a drink of the water from the cistern of Bethʹle·hem that is at the gate!”38
- At that the three mighty men forced their way into the camp of the Phi·lisʹtines and drew water from the cistern of Bethʹle·hem that is at the gate and came carrying and bringing it to David;39 and he did not consent to drink it, but poured40 it out to Jehovah.
- And he went on to say: “It is unthinkable on my part,41 O Jehovah, that I should do this! [Shall I drink][m] the blood42 of the men going at the risk of their souls?” And he did not consent to drink it.
¶ These are the things the three mighty men did. - ¶ As for A·bishʹai43 the brother of Joʹab the son of Ze·ruʹiah,44 he was the head of the thirty,[n] and he was brandishing his spear over three hundred slain ones, and he had a reputation like the three.45
- Although he was distinguished even more than the rest of the thirty,[o] and he came to be their chief, to the rank of the [first] three he did not come.46
- ¶ As for Be·naiʹah[p]47 the son of Je·hoiʹa·da48 the son of a valiant man, who did many deeds in Kabʹze·el,49 he himself struck down the two sons of Arʹi·el of Moʹab; and he himself descended and struck down a lion[q]50 inside a waterpit on a day of snowfall.51
- And he it was that struck down the Egyptian man that was of extraordinary size.[r]52 Though there was a spear in the hand of the Egyptian, yet he went on down to him with a rod and snatched the spear away from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.53
- These things Be·naiʹah54 the son of Je·hoiʹa·da did; and he had a reputation like the three mighty men.55
- Although he was distinguished even more than the thirty, to the rank of the three he did not come; but David appointed him to his own bodyguard.56
- ¶ Asʹa·hel57 the brother of Joʹab was among the thirty; El·haʹnan58 the son of Doʹdo of Bethʹle·hem,
- Shamʹmah59 the Haʹrod·ite, E·liʹka the Haʹrod·ite,
- Heʹlez60 the Palʹtite, Iʹra61 the son of Ikʹkesh62 the Te·koʹite,
- Abi-eʹzer63 the Anʹa·thoth·ite,64 Me·bunʹnai the Huʹshath·ite,65
- Zalʹmon the A·hoʹhite,66 Maʹha·rai67 the Ne·tophʹa·thite,
- Heʹleb68 the son of Baʹa·nah the Ne·tophʹa·thite, Itʹtai69 the son of Riʹbai of Gibʹe·ah of the sons of Benjamin,
- Be·naiʹah70 a Pirʹa·thon·ite, Hidʹdai of the torrent valleys of Gaʹash,71
- Aʹbi-alʹbon the Arʹbath·ite, Azʹma·veth72 the Bar-huʹmite,
- E·liʹah·ba the Sha·alʹbo·nite, the sons of Jaʹshen, Jonʹa·than,73
- Shamʹmah the Harʹa·rite, A·hiʹam74 the son of Shaʹrar the Harʹa·rite,
- E·liphʹe·let the son of A·hasʹbai the son of the Ma·acʹa·thite, E·liʹam the son of A·hithʹo·phel75 the Giʹlon·ite,
- Hezʹro76 the Carʹmel·ite, Paʹa·rai the Arʹbite,
- Iʹgal the son of Nathan77 of Zoʹbah, Baʹni the Gadʹite,
- Zeʹlek78 the Amʹmon·ite, Naʹha·rai the Be·erʹoth·ite, armor-bearers of Joʹab the son of Ze·ruʹiah,
- Iʹra the Ithʹrite,79 Gaʹreb80 the Ithʹrite,
- U·riʹah81 the Hitʹtite—thirty-seven in all.
FOOTNOTES
- ^ “The able-bodied man.” Heb., hag·geʹver.
- ^ “Melodies of.” Heb., zemi·rohthʹ, that is, musically accompanied songs.
- ^ Or, “and the pleasant singer of Israel.”
- ^ “And his word.” Heb., u·mil·la·thohʹ (from mil·lahʹ), a word used only in poetry, as in Ps 19:4; Ps 139:4; Pr 23:9 and 34 times in Job.
- ^ “God.” Heb., ʼEl; Lat., Deʹum; LXX, “the Strong One.”
- ^ Or, “a covenant of indefinite time.”
- ^ M adds, “in the dwelling,” but this expression seems to have been inserted inadvertently because of the similar Heb. expression bash·sheʹveth in the next line.
- ^ “Three,” LXXL.
- ^ “He was brandishing his spear,” by a correction of M in agreement with 1Ch 11:11; M, “He was Adino the Eznite.”
- ^ “With David at Pas-dammim, where the Philistines,” in 1Ch 11:13.
- ^ “At [the] harvest,” M; LXXL and 1Ch 11:15, “to the rock.”
- ^ “Rephaim.” Heb., Repha·ʼimʹ; Gr., Rha·pha·imʹ; SyVg, “the giants.”
- ^ “Shall I drink?” LXX; missing from M as an aposiopesis (sudden silence).
- ^ “Thirty,” Sy and two Heb. mss; MLXXVg, “three.”
- ^ “Thirty,” in agreement with vs 18; MLXXVg, “three.”
- ^ Lit., “Benaiahu.”
- ^ Lit., “the lion.” Heb., ha·ʼarihʹ, the African lion.
- ^ “Of extraordinary size,” in agreement with 1Ch 11:23; MLXX, “of appearance.”
REFERENCES
- ^ Ge 49:1; De 33:1
- ^ Ru 4:22; 1Sa 17:58; Mt 1:6
- ^ 2Sa 7:8
- ^ 1Sa 16:13; Ps 89:20
- ^ 1Ch 16:9; Am 6:5
- ^ Zc 7:12; Mr 12:36; 2Ti 3:16
- ^ Ac 1:16; 2Pe 1:21
- ^ De 32:4; Ps 144:1
- ^ Pr 29:2; Is 9:7; 32:1
- ^ Ex 18:21; 2Ch 19:7; Ne 5:15; Is 11:3
- ^ Ml 4:2; Mt 17:2; Re 1:16
- ^ De 32:2; 33:14; Ps 72:6; Is 55:10; Mc 5:7
- ^ 2Sa 7:19
- ^ 2Sa 7:16; 1Ki 9:5; 1Ch 17:11; Ps 89:3, 28; 132:11
- ^ 1Ki 11:38
- ^ Ps 62:2
- ^ Is 9:7; 11:1; Am 9:11
- ^ 2Sa 20:1; 22:5; Ps 18:4
- ^ Ps 37:10; Na 1:15
- ^ Is 33:12
- ^ Is 27:4; Mt 13:40; Jn 15:6; Heb 6:8
- ^ 2Sa 10:7; 20:7; 1Ch 11:10
- ^ 1Ch 11:11; 27:2
- ^ 1Ch 11:12
- ^ 1Ch 27:4
- ^ 1Ch 11:13
- ^ Jg 8:4
- ^ Jg 15:14; 1Sa 14:6; 19:5; 1Ch 11:14; Ps 144:10
- ^ Ps 68:12
- ^ 2Sa 23:33; 1Ch 11:34
- ^ Ge 25:34; 2Sa 17:28; Eze 4:9
- ^ Ps 3:8; 44:3; Pr 21:31
- ^ 1Ch 11:15
- ^ Jos 15:35; 1Sa 22:1; Mc 1:15
- ^ Jos 15:8; 2Sa 5:22; 1Ch 14:9
- ^ 1Sa 22:4; 1Ch 12:16
- ^ 1Sa 13:23; 14:4; 1Ch 11:16
- ^ 1Ch 11:17
- ^ 1Ch 11:18
- ^ Le 9:9; 17:13
- ^ 1Ch 11:19
- ^ Ge 9:4; Le 17:10; De 12:23; Ac 15:29
- ^ 1Sa 26:6; 2Sa 21:17
- ^ 2Sa 2:18; 1Ch 2:16
- ^ 1Ch 11:20
- ^ 1Ch 11:21
- ^ 2Sa 8:18; 20:23; 1Ki 1:8; 2:29; 1Ch 18:17
- ^ 1Ch 27:5
- ^ Jos 15:21
- ^ Pr 30:30
- ^ 1Ch 11:22
- ^ 1Ch 11:23
- ^ 1Sa 17:51
- ^ 2Sa 23:20; 1Ch 27:6
- ^ 1Ch 11:24
- ^ 1Ch 11:25
- ^ 2Sa 2:18, 23; 1Ch 2:16; 27:7
- ^ 1Ch 11:26
- ^ 1Ch 27:8
- ^ 1Ch 27:10
- ^ 1Ch 27:9
- ^ 1Ch 11:28
- ^ 1Ch 27:12
- ^ Jos 21:18; 1Ch 6:60; Je 1:1
- ^ 1Ch 27:11
- ^ 1Ch 11:29
- ^ 1Ch 27:13
- ^ 1Ch 11:30
- ^ 1Ch 11:31
- ^ 1Ch 27:14
- ^ Jg 2:9; 1Ch 11:32
- ^ 1Ch 11:33
- ^ 1Ch 11:34
- ^ 1Ch 11:35
- ^ 2Sa 15:31; 16:23; 17:23; 1Ch 27:33
- ^ 1Ch 11:37
- ^ 1Ch 11:38
- ^ 1Ch 11:39
- ^ 1Ch 2:53
- ^ 1Ch 11:40
- ^ 2Sa 11:3; 1Ki 15:5; 1Ch 11:41
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