And David spoke the words of this  ¹song to Jehovah on the day when Jehovah delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

And he said: Jehovah is my crag and my fortress and my Deliverer;

 ¹My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my high retreat and my refuge;
My Savior, You save me from violence.

I called upon Jehovah, who is worthy of praise,
And from my enemies I was saved.

For the waves of death encompassed me;
The torrents of destruction assailed me.

The cords of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called upon Jehovah
And called to my God.
And He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry came to His ears.

Then the earth shook and quaked,
And the foundations of the heavens trembled and shook about,
For He was furious.

Smoke went up from His nostrils,
And fire from His mouth devoured;
Coals blazed forth from Him.

He bowed the heavens down and descended,
And deep darkness was under His feet.

He rode upon a cherub and did fly;
He was seen upon the wings of the wind.

And He made darkness pavilions around Him:
Dark waterclouds, thick clouds of the skies.

Out of the brightness before Him
Fiery coals were kindled.

Jehovah thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered His voice.

And He sent forth arrows and scattered  ¹my enemies;
Lightning bolts, and discomfited them.

The channels of the sea were seen,
The foundations of the habitable land were laid bare,
By the rebuke of Jehovah,
At the blast of the breath of His nostrils.

He reached forth from on high; He took me;
He drew me out of great waters.

He delivered me from my strong enemy
And from those who hate me, for they were too mighty for me.

They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
But Jehovah became my support.

He brought me forth to a place broad and free;
He rescued me, for He took delight in me.

Jehovah has recompensed me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands He has repaid me.

For I have kept the ways of Jehovah
And have not acted wickedly by turning away from my God.

For all His judgments were before me,
And as for His statutes, I did not turn away from them.

I was perfect toward Him,
And I kept myself from my iniquity.

Therefore Jehovah recompensed me according to my righteousness,
According to my cleanness in His sight.

With the faithful You show Yourself faithful,
With the perfect man You show Yourself perfect,

With the pure You show Yourself pure,
And with the perverse You show Yourself contrary.

And You save the afflicted people,
But Your eyes are upon the haughty that You may bring them down;

For You are my lamp, O Jehovah.
And Jehovah lights up my darkness;

For by You I can run up against a troop;
By my God I can leap over a wall.

As for God, His way is perfect;
The word of Jehovah is tried.
He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.

For who is God other than Jehovah,
And who is a rock except our God?

God is my strong fortress,
And He  ¹makes my way perfect;

He makes  ¹my feet like hinds' feet
And sets me on my high places;

He teaches my hands to wage war
So that my arms may bend a bronze bow.

And You have given me the shield of Your salvation,
And Your condescending gentleness has made me great.

You have broadened the places of my steps under me,
And my feet have not slipped.

I pursued my enemies and destroyed them,
And I did not turn back until they were consumed.

And I devoured them and shattered them, so that they did not rise up;
Indeed, they have fallen under my feet.

And You girded me with strength for war;
You brought down under me those who rose up against me.

You also made my enemies turn their back to me,
And I annihilated those who hated me.

They looked, but there was no one to save them;
They looked to Jehovah, but He did not answer them.

Then I beat them like the dust of the earth;
I pounded them, I stamped them, like the mud of the streets.

And You rescued me from the strivings of my people;
You have kept me as the head of the nations;
A people whom I have not known serves me.

Foreigners come cringing to me;
At the mere hearing of a report, they obey me;

Foreigners are discouraged
And  ¹come quaking out of their fortresses.

Jehovah lives; and blessed be my rock,
And exalted be God, the rock of my salvation,

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

And who brings me forth from my enemies.
Yes, You exalted me above those who rise up against me;
From the violent man You delivered me.

Therefore I give thanks to You among the nations, O Jehovah;
And I sing psalms to Your name.

It is He who magnifies salvation to His king
And executes lovingkindness to His anointed,
To David and to his seed forever.

Now these are the last words of David:
The declaration of David the son of Jesse,
And the declaration of the man who has been raised up on high,
The anointed of the God of Jacob,
The one lovely in the psalms of Israel.

The Spirit of Jehovah spoke through me,
And His word was on my tongue.

The God of Israel spoke,
The Rock of Israel spoke to me,
 ¹Who rules among men righteously,
Who rules with the fear of God,

And is like the light of the morning when the sun rises,
A morning without clouds,
As when the tender grass sprouts up from the earth
At the sun's shining after a rain.

For is not my house so with God?
For He has made an eternal covenant with me,
Ordered in all things and secure.
For all my salvation and all my desire,
Will He not indeed make them grow?

But the wicked, all of them, will be
Like thorns to be thrust away,
Because they cannot be taken with the hand.

But the man who touches them
Must arm himself with an iron rod or with the shaft of a spear;
And they will be burned with fire in their place.

These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite; he was the  ¹chief of the captains; the same is Adino the Eznite, who fought against eight hundred, who were slain at one time.

After him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the son of an Ahohite, one among the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines who were gathered  ¹there for battle, and the men of Israel went away.

He rose up and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary; and his hand clung to the sword, and Jehovah accomplished a great salvation that day; and the people returned after him, but only to strip the slain.

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

But he stationed himself in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck the Philistines, and Jehovah accomplished a great salvation.

Now three of the thirty chief men went down and came to David at harvest time in the cave of Adullam; and the Philistine troop was encamped in the valley of Rephaim.

Now at that time David was in the stronghold; and the garrison of the Philistines was at that time in Bethlehem.

And David said longingly, If only someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!

And the three mighty men burst through the camp of the Philistines and drew water from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate. And they carried it and brought it to David, but he would not drink it; rather he poured it out to Jehovah.

And he said, Far be it from me, O Jehovah, that I should do this! Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

And Abishai the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the three. And he brandished his spear against three hundred, who were slain; and he had a name among the three.

He was indeed the most honored among the  ¹thirty, and he became their leader; but he did not attain to the three.

And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from Kabzeel, was great in mighty deeds. He struck the two sons of Ariel the Moabite; he also went down and struck a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day.

And he struck an Egyptian, an imposing man. And the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but he went down to him with a staff and snatched the spear out of the hand of the Egyptian and slew him with his own spear.

These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and he had a name among the three mighty men.

He was more honored than the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David set him over his bodyguard.

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

Shammah the Harodite; Elika the Harodite;

Helez the Paltite; Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite;

Abiezer the Anathothite; Mebunnai the Hushathite;

Zalmon the Ahohite; Maharai the Netophathite;

Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite; Ittai the son of Ribai from Gibeah of the children of Benjamin;

Benaiah the Pirathonite; Hiddai from the brooks of Gaash;

Abi-albon the Arbathite; Azmaveth the Barhumite;

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

Shammah the Hararite; Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite;

Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai; the son of the Maachathite; Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite;

Hezrai the Carmelite; Paarai the Arbite;

Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah; Bani the Gadite;

Zelek the Ammonite; Naharai the Beerothite, the armor  ¹bearer to Joab the son of Zeruiah;

Ira the Ithrite; Gareb the Ithrite;

Uriah the Hittite. They were thirty-seven in all.

And again the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel; and  ¹he moved David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah.

And the king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with him, Go now throughout all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and count the people, that I may know the number of the people.

And Joab said to the king, Now may Jehovah your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king may see it. But why does my lord the king desire this thing?

Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the army. And Joab and the captains of the army went forth before the king to count the people of Israel.

And they crossed the Jordan and encamped at Aroer to the right of the city, which was in the midst of the river valley, toward Gad and unto Jazer.

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

And they came to the stronghold of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites, and they went on to the south of Judah at Beer-sheba.

And when they had gone about throughout all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

And Joab gave the number of the count 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.

And David's heart smote him after he had numbered the people. And David said to Jehovah, I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, O Jehovah, put away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.

And when David rose up in the morning, the word of Jehovah came to Gad the prophet, David's seer, saying,

Go and speak to David, Thus says Jehovah, I am offering you three things; choose one of them for Me to do for you.

So Gad went to David and told him these things. And he said to him, Shall seven years of famine come upon you in your land? Or shall you flee before your adversaries for three months while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days of pestilence in your land? Consider now and see what word I should return to Him who sent me.

And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait; let us fall into the hand of Jehovah, for His compassions are great; and do not let me fall into the hand of man.

So Jehovah sent a pestilence in Israel from the morning until the appointed time; and seventy thousand people died among the people from Dan to Beer-sheba.

And when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Jehovah repented of the harm. And He said to the angel who destroyed the people, It is enough; now hold back your hand. And the angel of Jehovah was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

And David spoke to Jehovah when he saw the angel striking the people and said, It is I who have sinned, and it is I who have acted wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against the house of my father.

And Gad came to David on that day; and he said to him, Go up and raise up an altar to Jehovah on the  ¹threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

And David went up according to Gad's word, as Jehovah had commanded.

And Araunah looked out and saw the king and his servants coming over toward him. And Araunah went forth and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.

And Araunah 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 Jehovah, that the plague may be stayed among the people.

And Araunah said to David, May my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good in his sight. Look, the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing instruments and the yokes for the oxen for the wood —

All this, O king, does Araunah give to the king. Then Araunah said to the king, May Jehovah your God accept you.

But the king said to Araunah, No; but I will surely buy it from you for a price, and I will not offer to Jehovah my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

And there David built an altar to Jehovah, and he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And Jehovah responded to the entreaty for the land, and the plague was stayed in Israel.