2 Samuel 21-24
New Catholic Bible
Appendices[a]
Chapter 21
Gibeonite Vengeance.[b] 1 During the reign of David there was a famine for three successive years. Therefore, David consulted the Lord, who said: “Saul and his family have incurred bloodguilt because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2 Thereupon the king summoned the Gibeonites and conferred with them. (Now the Gibeonites were not Israelites; rather they were a remnant of the Amorites. Although the Israelites had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to exterminate them in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)
3 David said to the Gibeonites: “What can I do for you? How shall I atone for our treatment of you so that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?” 4 The Gibeonites replied: “We have no right to demand silver or gold from Saul and his family, nor do we have the right to put anyone to death.” “Then what do you want me to do for you?” asked David.
5 They said to the king: “We cannot forget that man who destroyed us and planned to annihilate us so that we would never be able to have a place in the territory of Israel. 6 Please hand over to us seven of his male descendants, so that we may dismember them before the Lord at Gibeon on the mountain of the Lord.” The king replied: “I will hand them over to you.”
7 However, the king spared Meribbaal, the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, because of the oath of the Lord that bound together David and Saul’s son Jonathan. 8 But the king took Armoni and Meribbaal, the two sons that Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, had borne to Saul, and the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab whom she had borne to Adriel, the son of Barzillai of Meholah. 9 He surrendered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, who dismembered them on the mountain before the Lord. All seven of them perished together. They were put to death during the first days of the harvest, just as the barley harvest was beginning.
10 Then Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took sackcloth and spread it out on a rock for herself, from the beginning of the harvest until the rain fell from the heavens upon the bodies. She kept the birds of the sky away from the bodies by day and the wild beasts by night.
11 When David was informed about what Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, the concubine of Saul, had done, 12 he went forth and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the people of Jabesh-gilead, who had absconded with them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them up after they had killed Saul on Gilboa.
13 After David had removed from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan, he also gathered up the bones of those who had been slain and dismembered. 14 The bones of Saul and his son Jonathan were buried at Zela, in the territory of Benjamin, in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. After all of the king’s commands had been carried out, God answered prayers that were offered up on behalf of the country.
15 Exploits in Philistine Wars.[c] Once again the Philistines went to war against Israel. David went down with his men to fight against the Philistines, but he began to grow weary. 16 Ishbi-benob one of the descendants of the Rephaim, whose bronze spear weighed three hundred shekels and who was wielding new weapons, boasted that he would have no difficulty in slaying David.
17 However, Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, came to David’s rescue, attacking the Philistine and slaying him. Then David’s men swore to him this oath: “Never again must you go forth with us to engage in battle, lest the lamp of Israel be extinguished.”
18 After this, war again broke out with the Philistines in Gob. On that occasion, Sibbecai of Husha killed Saph, one of the Rephaim. 19 Shortly afterward there was another battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan, the son of Jair from Bethlehem killed Goliath of Gath, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
20 There was yet another battle which took place at Gath, where a giant appeared with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He too was descended from the Rephaim. 21 When he started to taunt Israel, Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimei, killed him.
22 These four giants were descendants of the Rephaim in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his servants.
Chapter 22[d]
Song of Thanksgiving. 1 David sang to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hands of all his enemies and from the hands of Saul. 2 He sang:
“The Lord is my rock,
my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock in whom I take refuge.
3 You are my shield and my saving strength,
my stronghold and my refuge,
my savior who delivers me from violence.
4 I call upon the Lord
who is worthy of all praise;
then I shall be saved from my enemies.
5 The waves of death encompassed me,
and the destructive torrents assailed me.
6 The bonds of Sheol enmeshed me;
the snares of death confronted me.
7 In my distress I called out to the Lord;
I called to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
8 “The earth quaked and shook;
the foundations of the heavens trembled,
quaking because of his blazing anger.
9 Smoke rose from his nostrils,
while a devouring fire poured forth from his mouth
that kindled coals into flame.
10 “He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds lay under his feet.
11 He descended on the back of a cherub and flew,
soaring swiftly on the wings of the wind.
12 “He used the darkness as his covering;
dense thunderclouds were his canopy.
13 From the radiance before him
coals were kindled into burning fire.
14 “The Lord thundered from the heavens,
and the Most High caused his voice to resound.
15 He shot his arrows and scattered them;
he hurled forth his lightning bolts and routed them.
16 “Then the depths of the sea were exposed,
and the earth’s foundations ware laid bare.
This occurred at the rebuke of the Lord,
at the blast of breath from his nostrils.
17 “He reached down from on high and snatched me up;
he drew me out of the watery depths.
18 He delivered me from my mighty enemy,
from my foes who were too powerful for me.
19 “They confronted me in my hour of calamity,
but the Lord came forward to support me.
20 He set me free in a spacious field;
he rescued me because he loves me.
21 “The Lord has rewarded me for my righteousness;
because my hands were pure he has recompensed me.
22 [e]For I have kept the ways of the Lord
and have not followed the path of wickedness.
23 “His laws are clearly known to me,
and I have not failed to observe his decrees.
24 I was blameless in his sight,
and I kept myself free from sin.
25 Therefore, the Lord has rewarded my righteousness,
the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
26 “To the faithful you show yourself faithful;
to the blameless you show yourself blameless.
27 To the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the perverse you show yourself to be shrewd.
28 Those who are humble you save,
but you ignore those who are haughty.
29 “You, O Lord, are my lamp;
my God will enlighten my darkness.
30 With your help I can storm a rampart;
with my God to aid me I can scale any wall.
31 The way of God is blameless;
the Lord’s promise has proved true.
He is a shield to all
who take refuge in him.
32 “For who is God except the Lord?
Who is a rock aside from our God?
33 The God who girds me with strength
has kept my feet free of obstacles.
34 This God has made my feet swift as a deer’s
and set me securely on the heights.
35 He trains my hands for war
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
36 “You have given me the shield of salvation;
you stoop down to make me great.
37 You broaden the path for my steps,
and my feet have not slipped.
38 “I pursued my enemies and destroyed them;
I did not turn back until I made an end of them.
39 I crushed them completely and they did not rise;
they fell under my feet.
40 “You girded me with strength for the battle;
you subdued my assailants beneath me.
41 You caused my enemies to retreat before me,
and those who hated me I destroyed.
42 “They cried out for help,
but there was no one to save them.
They cried out to the Lord,
but he did not answer them.
43 I ground them as fine as the dust of the earth;
I trampled them down like dust in the streets.
44 “You have delivered me from the strife of my people;
you made me the head of the nations;
a people I did not know became my subjects.
45 Foreigners came forth cringing before me;
as soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me.
46 Having become disheartened,
they came forth trembling from their strongholds.
47 “The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock.
Exalted be the God of my salvation
48 O God, you granted me vengeance
and subjected entire nations to me.
49 You freed me from my enemies
and exalted me above my adversaries,
delivering me from violent men.
50 “For this I will praise you among the nations, O Lord,
and sing praise to your name.
51 You have given great victories to your king,
and you have shown steadfast love to your anointed,
to David and his descendants forever.”
Chapter 23
The Last Words of David[f] 1 These are the last words of David:
“The oracle of David, the son of Jesse,
the oracle of the man whom the Most High exalted,
the anointed of the God of Jacob
and the beloved of the Mighty One of Israel:
2 “The Spirit of the Lord has spoken through me;
his word is on my tongue.
3 The God of Israel has spoken;
the Rock of Israel has said of me:
‘He who rules people justly,
who rules in the fear of God
4 is like the morning light at sunrise
on a cloudless morning after rainfall
that causes the grass of the earth to sparkle.’
5 “My house stands firm with God,
for he has made an everlasting covenant with me,
well ordered in all things and secure.
Will he not bring to fruition
my salvation and my every desire?
6 “But the ungodly are all like thorns
that must be cast aside,
for they cannot be grasped by the hand.
7 No one dares to touch them
except with an iron bar or the shaft of a spear,
and then only to consume them by fire.”
David’s Warriors. 8 These are the names of David’s warriors. Ishbaal, a Hachamonite, was the leader of the Three. It was he who brandished his spear over eight hundred men and slew all of them at one time.
9 Next to him among the Three was Eleazar, the son of Dodo the Ahohite. He was with David at Pas-dammim when the Philistines had assembled there for battle. When the Israelites withdrew, 10 he stood his ground and struck down the Philistines until his hand became so stiff that he was unable to release it from the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day. Afterward the people rallied around him, but only so that they might be able to strip the dead.
11 Next to him was Shammah, the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had gathered together at Lehi where there was a field with an abundant crop of lentils. When the Israelites fled upon being confronted by the Philistines, 12 Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field, defended it, and cut down the Philistines. Thus the Lord brought about a great victory.
13 At the beginning of the harvest, three of the Thirty went down to join David at the cave of Adullam, while a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 14 David was then in the stronghold, and there was a garrison of Philistines in Bethlehem.
15 One day David said longingly: “Oh, if only someone would give me some water to drink from the well that is by the gate of Bethlehem!” 16 On hearing this, the Three forced their way through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well by the gate of Bethlehem, and presented it to David. However, he refused to drink it, and instead, he poured it out to the Lord, 17 saying: “The Lord forbid that I should do this. How can I drink the blood of the men who went forth to obtain it and thereby placed their lives at risk?” Therefore, he would not drink it.
18 Abishai, the brother of Joab and the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the Thirty. It was he who brandished his spear over three hundred men whom he had killed. 19 He was the most illustrious member of the Thirty and he became their commander. However, he never became one of the Three.
20 Benaiah of Kabzeel was the son of Jehoiada and a valiant warrior who was renowned for many great exploits. It was he who slaughtered two of Moab’s most renowned warriors. On one occasion he also lowered himself into a pit and killed a lion on a day when snow had fallen. 21 Further-more, he was the one who slew an Egyptian, a man of striking stature who was armed with a spear. Benaiah went against him with a club, wrested the spear from the Egyptian’s hand, and slew him with his own spear. 22 Such exploits of Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, won for him a name among the Thirty warriors. 23 Although he commanded greater respect than the rest of the Thirty, he was not equal to the Three. David appointed him to be the commander of his bodyguard.
24 Among the Thirty were Asahel, the brother of Joab; Elhanan, the son of Dodo, from Bethlehem; 25 Shammah from Harod; Elika from Harod; 26 Helez from Beth-pelet; Ira, the son of Ikkesh, from Tekoa; 27 Abiezer from Anathoth; Mebunnai the Hushathite; 28 Zalmon the Ahohite; Maharai from Netophah; 29 Heled, the son of Baanah, from Netophah; Ittai, the son of Ribai, from Gibeah in Benjamin; 30 Benaiah from Pira-thon; Hiddai from the torrents of Gaash; 31 Ali-albon from Beth-arabah; Azmaveth from Bahurim; 32 Eliahba from Shaalbon; the sons of Jashen; 33 Jonathan, the son of Shammah, from Harar; Ahiam, the son of Sharar, from Harar; 34 Eliphelet, the son of Abishai, from Bath-maacah; Eliam, the son of Ahithophel, from Gilo; 35 Hezro from Carmel; Paarai the Arbite; 36 Igal, the son of Nathan, from Zobah; Bani the Gadite; 37 Zelek the Ammonite; Nahari from Beeroth, the armor-bearer of Joab, the son of Zeruiah; 38 Ira the Ithrite; Gareb the Ithrite; 39 Uriah the Hittite—thirty-seven in all.
Chapter 24[g]
Census of the People. 1 Once again the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying: “Go forth and take a census of Israel and Judah.” 2 Therefore, the king said to Joab and to all the army commanders who were with him: “Go throughout all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba and take a census of the people so that I may know how many there are.”
3 Joab said to the king in response: “May the Lord, your God, increase the number of your people a hundredfold, and may the eyes of my lord the king live to see it. But why does my lord the king want to undertake this task?” 4 However, the king was determined to follow through on this enterprise, and he overruled Joab and the army commanders. Therefore, they departed from the presence of the king in order to take the census.
5 After crossing the Jordan, they began at Aroer and the town in the middle of the valley, and then they moved on toward Gad and Jazer. 6 After that, they proceeded to Gilead and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites. Next they came to Dan, and from Dan they cut across to Sidon 7 and arrived at the fortress of Tyre, moving on afterward to all the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites, and then to the Negeb of Judah, at Beer-sheba.
8 Having traveled throughout the entire country, they returned to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 Joab then reported to the king the number of those who had been recorded in the census. In Israel there were eight hundred thousand men who were fit for military service, and in Judah there were five hundred thousand.[h]
10 The Pestilence. However, after the census had been taken, David was stricken with remorse, and he said to the Lord: “I have committed a grievous sin in what I have done. I beseech you, Lord, to forgive the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.” 11 When David arose the following morning, the word of the Lord had come to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying: 12 “Go forth and say to David: ‘This is the word of the Lord: “I offer you three alternatives.” Choose one of them, and I will inflict it upon you.” ’ ”
13 Therefore, Gad came to David and reported what the Lord had said. Then he asked him: “Which do you choose? Do you prefer three years of famine to afflict your land? Or do you prefer to take flight for three months while your enemies pursue you? Or do you prefer to have your land afflicted with three days of pestilence? Consider carefully the choices you have been offered and decide what answer I am to take back to the one who sent me.”
14 David said to Gad: “I am in a desperate plight. It is far better to fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great. Let me not fall into the hands of men.” 15 Therefore, David chose the option of the pestilence. Then the Lord sent a pestilence throughout Israel from that morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand of the people died, from Dan to Beer-sheba.
16 However, when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord regretted the terrible calamity that he had approved, and he said to the angel who was afflicting the people: “That is enough! Stay your hand!” The angel of the Lord was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the Lord: “I was the one who sinned. I was the one who acted wickedly. What have these sheep done? Let your hand fall upon me and my family.”
18 Sacrifice of Atonement. On that day Gad came to David and said to him: “Go up and erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 Therefore, David obeyed Gad’s instructions and went up as the Lord had commanded.
20 When Araunah looked down and beheld the king and his retinue coming toward him, he went forth and prostrated himself before the king with his face to the ground. 21 Then Araunah asked: “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David replied: “I have come to purchase the threshing floor from you in order to build an altar to the Lord so that the plague may be lifted from the people.”
22 In reply, Araunah said to David: “I beseech my lord the king to take and offer up whatever he wishes. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering, as well as the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for wood. 23 All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” Then he added: “May the Lord, your God, look favorably upon your offering.”
24 However, the king said to Araunah: “No. I insist on paying you for this. Under no circumstances will I offer up to the Lord, my God, burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” Therefore, David purchased the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.[i]
25 Then David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, the Lord answered David’s supplications for the land, and the plague was lifted from Israel.
Footnotes
- 2 Samuel 21:1 A series of conjoined passages interrupts the history of the Davidic succession; the final act in this history will be found at the beginning of the First Book of Kings.
- 2 Samuel 21:1 In accordance with the idea then current, that every misfortune is a result of sin, the famine is attributed to an atrocity of Saul. The descendants of the guilty person must, therefore, be put to death. Perhaps David takes the occasion to rid himself of some rivals; the son of Jonathan is spared (see 2 Sam 9:1ff).
- 2 Samuel 21:15 A story that is epic and legendary in character.
- 2 Samuel 22:1 This passage and Ps 18 are essentially the same with a few differences. David’s musical talents as composer and harpist are evident in this hymn of thanksgiving.
- 2 Samuel 22:22 This section seems to deny David’s sinfulness, but is more of a tribute to God’s forgiveness and faithfulness (i.e., in God’s eyes, all is forgiven and David is “whiter than snow;” Ps 51:7).
- 2 Samuel 23:1 This canticle is paired with the preceding chapter. It can be compared with the final words of Jacob (Gen 49) and Moses (Deut 33).
- 2 Samuel 24:1 A parallel to the famine reported in chapter 21. In this case, the wicked act that causes it is the census taken of men capable of bearing arms and the reliance on this human might. In fact, God alone is master of life and of victory. In the understanding of the ancients, who did not distinguish between what God simply tolerates and what he commands, he gave the order for the famine. In fact, the first Book of Chronicles (ch. 21) substitutes the name Satan for that of the Lord. The underlying historical fact is difficult to explain.
- 2 Samuel 24:9 The census result gave a population of about seven million, which was impossible. The numerical system used in the Bible often escapes us.
- 2 Samuel 24:24 The price is a small one. In 1 Chr 21:25 David pays 600 shekels of gold. The price is solely for the oxen and the threshing floor where David builds an altar.
