rsv 2Samuel:2:8-3 SEEK
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*
Now Abner the son of Ner ,
commander of Saul '
s army ,
had taken Ish-bo '
sheth the son of Saul ,
and brought him over to Mahana '
im ;
*
and he made him king over Gilead and the Ash '
urites and Jezreel and E '
phraim and Benjamin and all Israel .
*
Ish-bo '
sheth ,
Saul '
s son ,
was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel ,
and he reigned two years .
But the house of Judah followed David .
*
And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months .
*
Abner the son of Ner ,
and the servants of Ish-bo '
sheth the son of Saul ,
went out from Mahana '
im to Gibeon .
*
And Jo '
ab the son of Zeru '
iah ,
and the servants of David ,
went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon ;
and they sat down ,
the one on the one side of the pool ,
and the other on the other side of the pool .
*
And Abner said to Jo '
ab , "
Let the young men arise and play before us ."
And Jo '
ab said , "
Let them arise ."
*
Then they arose and passed over by number ,
twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bo '
sheth the son of Saul ,
and twelve of the servants of David .
*
And each caught his opponent by the head ,
and thrust his sword in his opponent '
s side ;
so they fell down together .
Therefore that place was called Hel '
kath-hazzu '
rim ,
which is at Gibeon .
*
And the battle was very fierce that day ;
and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David .
*
And the three sons of Zeru '
iah were there ,
Jo '
ab ,
Abi '
shai ,
and As '
ahel .
Now As '
ahel was as swift of foot as a wild gazelle ;
*
and As '
ahel pursued Abner ,
and as he went he turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner .
*
Then Abner looked behind him and said , "
Is it you ,
As '
ahel ?"
And he answered , "
It is I ."
*
Abner said to him , "
Turn aside to your right hand or to your left ,
and seize one of the young men ,
and take his spoil ."
But As '
ahel would not turn aside from following him .
*
And Abner said again to As '
ahel , "
Turn aside from following me ;
why should I smite you to the ground ?
How then could I lift up my face to your brother Jo '
ab ?"
*
But he refused to turn aside ;
therefore Abner smote him in the belly with the butt of his spear ,
so that the spear came out at his back ;
and he fell there ,
and died where he was .
And all who came to the place where As '
ahel had fallen and died ,
stood still .
*
But Jo '
ab and Abi '
shai pursued Abner ;
and as the sun was going down they came to the hill of Ammah ,
which lies before Gi '
ah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon .
*
And the Benjaminites gathered themselves together behind Abner ,
and became one band ,
and took their stand on the top of a hill .
*
Then Abner called to Jo '
ab , "
Shall the sword devour for ever ?
Do you not know that the end will be bitter ?
How long will it be before you bid your people turn from the pursuit of their brethren ?"
*
And Jo '
ab said , "
As God lives ,
if you had not spoken ,
surely the men would have given up the pursuit of their brethren in the morning ."
*
So Jo '
ab blew the trumpet ;
and all the men stopped ,
and pursued Israel no more ,
nor did they fight any more .
*
And Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah ;
they crossed the Jordan ,
and marching the whole forenoon they came to Mahana '
im .
*
Jo '
ab returned from the pursuit of Abner ;
and when he had gathered all the people together ,
there were missing of David '
s servants nineteen men besides As '
ahel .
*
But the servants of David had slain of Benjamin three hundred and sixty of Abner '
s men .
*
And they took up As '
ahel ,
and buried him in the tomb of his father ,
which was at Bethlehem .
And Jo '
ab and his men marched all night ,
and the day broke upon them at Hebron .
*
Now there happened to be there a worthless fellow ,
whose name was Sheba ,
the son of Bichri ,
a Benjaminite ;
and he blew the trumpet ,
and said , "
We have no portion in David ,
and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse ;
every man to his tents ,
O Israel !"
*
So all the men of Israel withdrew from David ,
and followed Sheba the son of Bichri ;
but the men of Judah followed their king steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem .
*
And David came to his house at Jerusalem ;
and the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to care for the house ,
and put them in a house under guard ,
and provided for them ,
but did not go in to them .
So they were shut up until the day of their death ,
living as if in widowhood .
*
Then the king said to Ama '
sa , "
Call the men of Judah together to me within three days ,
and be here yourself ."
*
So Ama '
sa went to summon Judah ;
but he delayed beyond the set time which had been appointed him .
*
And David said to Abi '
shai , "
Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Ab '
salom ;
take your lord '
s servants and pursue him ,
lest he get himself fortified cities ,
and cause us trouble ."
*
And there went out after Abi '
shai ,
Jo '
ab and the Cher '
ethites and the Pel '
ethites ,
and all the mighty men ;
they went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri .
*
When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon ,
Ama '
sa came to meet them .
Now Jo '
ab was wearing a soldier '
s garment ,
and over it was a girdle with a sword in its sheath fastened upon his loins ,
and as he went forward it fell out .
*
And Jo '
ab said to Ama '
sa , "
Is it well with you ,
my brother ?"
And Jo '
ab took Ama '
sa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him .
*
But Ama '
sa did not observe the sword which was in Jo '
ab '
s hand ;
so Jo '
ab struck him with it in the body ,
and shed his bowels to the ground ,
without striking a second blow ;
and he died .
Then Jo '
ab and Abi '
shai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri .
*
And one of Jo '
ab '
s men took his stand by Ama '
sa ,
and said , "
Whoever favors Jo '
ab ,
and whoever is for David ,
let him follow Jo '
ab ."
*
And Ama '
sa lay wallowing in his blood in the highway .
And any one who came by ,
seeing him ,
stopped ;
and when the man saw that all the people stopped ,
he carried Ama '
sa out of the highway into the field ,
and threw a garment over him .
*
When he was taken out of the highway ,
all the people went on after Jo '
ab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri .
*
And Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth-ma '
acah ;
and all the Bichrites assembled ,
and followed him in .
*
And all the men who were with Jo '
ab came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-ma '
acah ;
they cast up a mound against the city ,
and it stood against the rampart ;
and they were battering the wall ,
to throw it down .
*
Then a wise woman called from the city , "
Hear !
Hear !
Tell Jo '
ab , `
Come here ,
that I may speak to you .'"
*
And he came near her ;
and the woman said , "
Are you Jo '
ab ?"
He answered , "
I am ."
Then she said to him , "
Listen to the words of your maidservant ."
And he answered , "
I am listening ."
*
Then she said , "
They were wont to say in old time , `
Let them but ask counsel at Abel ';
and so they settled a matter .
*
I am one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel ;
you seek to destroy a city which is a mother in Israel ;
why will you swallow up the heritage of the LORD ?"
*
Jo '
ab answered , "
Far be it from me ,
far be it ,
that I should swallow up or destroy !
*
That is not true .
But a man of the hill country of E '
phraim ,
called Sheba the son of Bichri ,
has lifted up his hand against King David ;
give up him alone ,
and I will withdraw from the city ."
And the woman said to Jo '
ab , "
Behold ,
his head shall be thrown to you over the wall ."
*
Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom .
And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri ,
and threw it out to Jo '
ab .
So he blew the trumpet ,
and they dispersed from the city ,
every man to his home .
And Jo '
ab returned to Jerusalem to the king .
*
Now Jo '
ab was in command of all the army of Israel ;
and Benai '
ah the son of Jehoi '
ada was in command of the Cher '
ethites and the Pel '
ethites ;
*
and Ador '
am was in charge of the forced labor ;
and Jehosh '
aphat the son of Ahi '
lud was the recorder ;
*
and Sheva was secretary ;
and Zadok and Abi '
athar were priests ;
*
and Ira the Ja '
irite was also David '
s priest .
*
Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years ,
year after year ;
and David sought the face of the LORD .
And the LORD said , "
There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house ,
because he put the Gib '
eonites to death ."
*
So the king called the Gib '
eonites .
Now the Gib '
eonites were not of the people of Israel ,
but of the remnant of the Amorites ;
although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them ,
Saul had sought to slay them in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah .
*
And David said to the Gib '
eonites , "
What shall I do for you ?
And how shall I make expiation ,
that you may bless the heritage of the LORD ?"
*
The Gib '
eonites said to him , "
It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house ;
neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel ."
And he said , "
What do you say that I shall do for you ?"
*
They said to the king , "
The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us ,
so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel ,
*
let seven of his sons be given to us ,
so that we may hang them up before the LORD at Gibeon on the mountain of the LORD ."
And the king said , "
I will give them ."
*
But the king spared Mephib '
osheth ,
the son of Saul '
s son Jonathan ,
because of the oath of the LORD which was between them ,
between David and Jonathan the son of Saul .
*
The king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Ai '
ah ,
whom she bore to Saul ,
Armo '
ni and Mephib '
osheth ;
and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul ,
whom she bore to A '
dri-el the son of Barzil '
lai the Meho '
lathite ;
*
and he gave them into the hands of the Gib '
eonites ,
and they hanged them on the mountain before the LORD ,
and the seven of them perished together .
They were put to death in the first days of harvest ,
at the beginning of barley harvest .
*
Then Rizpah the daughter of Ai '
ah took sackcloth ,
and spread it for herself on the rock ,
from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens ;
and she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day ,
or the beasts of the field by night .
*
When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Ai '
ah ,
the concubine of Saul ,
had done ,
*
David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Ja '
besh-gil '
ead ,
who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan ,
where the Philistines had hanged them ,
on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilbo '
a ;
*
and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan ;
and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged .
*
And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela ,
in the tomb of Kish his father ;
and they did all that the king commanded .
And after that God heeded supplications for the land .
*
The Philistines had war again with Israel ,
and David went down together with his servants ,
and they fought against the Philistines ;
and David grew weary .
*
And Ish '
bi-be '
nob ,
one of the descendants of the giants ,
whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze ,
and who was girded with a new sword ,
thought to kill David .
*
But Abi '
shai the son of Zeru '
iah came to his aid ,
and attacked the Philistine and killed him .
Then David '
s men adjured him , "
You shall no more go out with us to battle ,
lest you quench the lamp of Israel ."
*
After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob ;
then Sib '
becai the Hu '
shathite slew Saph ,
who was one of the descendants of the giants .
*
And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob ;
and Elha '
nan the son of Ja '
areor '
egim ,
the Bethlehemite ,
slew Goliath the Gittite ,
the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver '
s beam .
*
And there was again war at Gath ,
where there was a man of great stature ,
who had six fingers on each hand ,
and six toes on each foot ,
twenty-four in number ;
and he also was descended from the giants .
*
And when he taunted Israel ,
Jonathan the son of Shim '
e-i ,
David '
s brother ,
slew him .
*
These four were descended from the giants in Gath ;
and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants .
*
And David spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies ,
and from the hand of Saul .
*
He said , "
The LORD is my rock ,
and my fortress ,
and my deliverer ,
*
my God ,
my rock ,
in whom I take refuge ,
my shield and the horn of my salvation ,
my stronghold and my refuge ,
my savior ;
thou savest me from violence .
*
I call upon the LORD ,
who is worthy to be praised ,
and I am saved from my enemies .
* "
For the waves of death encompassed me ,
the torrents of perdition assailed me ;
*
the cords of Sheol entangled me ,
the snares of death confronted me .
* "
In my distress I called upon the LORD ;
to my God I called .
From his temple he heard my voice ,
and my cry came to his ears .
* "
Then the earth reeled and rocked ;
the foundations of the heavens trembled and quaked ,
because he was angry .
*
Smoke went up from his nostrils ,
and devouring fire from his mouth ;
glowing coals flamed forth from him .
*
He bowed the heavens ,
and came down ;
thick darkness was under his feet .
*
He rode on a cherub ,
and flew ;
he was seen upon the wings of the wind .
*
He made darkness around him his canopy ,
thick clouds ,
a gathering of water .
*
Out of the brightness before him coals of fire flamed forth .
*
The LORD thundered from heaven ,
and the Most High uttered his voice .
*
And he sent out arrows ,
and scattered them ;
lightning ,
and routed them .
*
Then the channels of the sea were seen ,
the foundations of the world were laid bare ,
at the rebuke of the LORD ,
at the blast of the breath of his nostrils .
* "
He reached from on high ,
he took me ,
he drew me out of many waters .
*
He delivered me from my strong enemy ,
from those who hated me ;
for they were too mighty for me .
*
They came upon me in the day of my calamity ;
but the LORD was my stay .
*
He brought me forth into a broad place ;
he delivered me ,
because he delighted in me .
* "
The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness ;
according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me .
*
For I have kept the ways of the LORD ,
and have not wickedly departed from my God .
*
For all his ordinances were before me ,
and from his statutes I did not turn aside .
*
I was blameless before him ,
and I kept myself from guilt .
*
Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness ,
according to my cleanness in his sight .
* "
With the loyal thou dost show thyself loyal ;
with the blameless man thou dost show thyself blameless ;
*
with the pure thou dost show thyself pure ,
and with the crooked thou dost show thyself perverse .
*
Thou dost deliver a humble people ,
but thy eyes are upon the haughty to bring them down .
*
Yea ,
thou art my lamp ,
O LORD ,
and my God lightens my darkness .
*
Yea ,
by thee I can crush a troop ,
and by my God I can leap over a wall .
*
This God--his way is perfect ;
the promise of the LORD proves true ;
he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him .
* "
For who is God ,
but the LORD ?
And who is a rock ,
except our God ?
*
This God is my strong refuge ,
and has made my way safe .
*
He made my feet like hinds '
feet ,
and set me secure on the heights .
*
He trains my hands for war ,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze .
*
Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation ,
and thy help made me great .
*
Thou didst give a wide place for my steps under me ,
and my feet did not slip ;
*
I pursued my enemies and destroyed them ,
and did not turn back until they were consumed .
*
I consumed them ;
I thrust them through ,
so that they did not rise ;
they fell under my feet .
*
For thou didst gird me with strength for the battle ;
thou didst make my assailants sink under me .
*
Thou didst make my enemies turn their backs to me ,
those who hated me ,
and I destroyed them .
*
They looked ,
but there was none to save ;
they cried to the LORD ,
but he did not answer them .
*
I beat them fine as the dust of the earth ,
I crushed them and stamped them down like the mire of the streets .
* "
Thou didst deliver me from strife with the peoples ;
thou didst keep me as the head of the nations ;
people whom I had not known served me .
*
Foreigners came cringing to me ;
as soon as they heard of me ,
they obeyed me .
*
Foreigners lost heart ,
and came trembling out of their fastnesses .
* "
The LORD lives ;
and blessed be my rock ,
and exalted be my God ,
the rock of my salvation ,
*
the God who gave me vengeance and brought down peoples under me ,
*
who brought me out from my enemies ;
thou didst exalt me above my adversaries ,
thou didst deliver me from men of violence .
* "
For this I will extol thee ,
O LORD ,
among the nations ,
and sing praises to thy name .
*
Great triumphs he gives to his king ,
and shows steadfast love to his anointed ,
to David ,
and his descendants for ever ."
*
Now these are the last words of David :
The oracle of David ,
the son of Jesse ,
the oracle of the man who was raised on high ,
the anointed of the God of Jacob ,
the sweet psalmist of Israel :
* "
The Spirit of the LORD speaks by me ,
his word is upon my tongue .
*
The God of Israel has spoken ,
the Rock of Israel has said to me :
When one rules justly over men ,
ruling in the fear of God ,
*
he dawns on them like the morning light ,
like the sun shining forth upon a cloudless morning ,
like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth .
*
Yea ,
does not my house stand so with God ?
For he has made with me an everlasting covenant ,
ordered in all things and secure .
For will he not cause to prosper all my help and my desire ?
*
But godless men are all like thorns that are thrown away ;
for they cannot be taken with the hand ;
*
but the man who touches them arms himself with iron and the shaft of a spear ,
and they are utterly consumed with fire ."
*
These are the names of the mighty men whom David had :
Josheb-basshe '
beth a Tah-che '
monite ;
he was chief of the three ;
he wielded his spear against eight hundred whom he slew at one time .
*
And next to him among the three mighty men was Elea '
zar the son of Dodo ,
son of Aho '
hi .
He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle ,
and the men of Israel withdrew .
*
He rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary ,
and his hand cleaved to the sword ;
and the LORD wrought a great victory that day ;
and the men returned after him only to strip the slain .
*
And next to him was Shammah ,
the son of Agee the Har '
arite .
The Philistines gathered together at Lehi ,
where there was a plot of ground full of lentils ;
and the men fled from the Philistines .
*
But he took his stand in the midst of the plot ,
and defended it ,
and slew the Philistines ;
and the LORD wrought a great victory .
*
And three of the thirty chief men went down ,
and came about harvest time to David at the cave of Adullam ,
when a band of Philistines was encamped in the valley of Reph '
aim .
*
David was then in the stronghold ;
and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem .
*
And David said longingly , "
O that some one would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate !"
*
Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines ,
and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate ,
and took and brought it to David .
But he would not drink of it ;
he poured it out to the LORD ,
*
and said , "
Far be it from me ,
O LORD ,
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 did the three mighty men .
*
Now Abi '
shai ,
the brother of Jo '
ab ,
the son of Zeru '
iah ,
was chief of the thirty .
And he wielded his spear against three hundred men and slew them ,
and won a name beside the three .
*
He was the most renowned of the thirty ,
and became their commander ;
but he did not attain to the three .
*
And Benai '
ah the son of Jehoi '
ada was a valiant man of Kabzeel ,
a doer of great deeds ;
he smote two ariels of Moab .
He also went down and slew a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen .
*
And he slew an Egyptian ,
a handsome man .
The Egyptian had a spear in his hand ;
but Benai '
ah went down to him with a staff ,
and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian '
s hand ,
and slew him with his own spear .
*
These things did Benai '
ah the son of Jehoi '
ada ,
and won a name beside the three mighty men .
*
He was renowned among the thirty ,
but he did not attain to the three .
And David set him over his bodyguard .
*
As '
ahel the brother of Jo '
ab was one of the thirty ;
Elha '
nan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem ,
*
Shammah of Harod ,
Eli '
ka of Harod ,
*
Helez the Paltite ,
Ira the son of Ikkesh of Teko '
a ,
*
Abi-e '
zer ,
of An '
athoth ,
Mebun '
nai the Hu '
shathite ,
*
Zalmon the Aho '
hite ,
Ma '
harai of Netoph '
ah ,
*
Heleb the son of Ba '
anah of Netoph '
ah ,
It '
tai the son of Ri '
bai of Gib '
e-ah of the Benjaminites ,
*
Benai '
ah of Pira '
thon ,
Hid '
dai of the brooks of Ga '
ash ,
*
Abi-al '
bon the Ar '
bathite ,
Az '
maveth of Bahu '
rim ,
*
Eli '
ahba of Sha-al '
bon ,
the sons of Jashen ,
Jonathan ,
*
Shammah the Har '
arite ,
Ahi '
am the son of Sharar the Har '
arite ,
*
Eliph '
elet the son of Ahas '
bai of Ma '
acah ,
Eli '
am the son of Ahith '
ophel of Gilo ,
*
Hezro of Carmel ,
Pa '
arai the Arbite ,
*
Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah ,
Bani the Gadite ,
*
Zelek the Ammonite ,
Na '
harai of Be-er '
oth ,
the armor-bearer of Jo '
ab the son of Zeru '
iah ,
*
Ira the Ithrite ,
Gareb the Ithrite ,
*
Uri '
ah the Hittite :
thirty-seven in all .
*
Again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel ,
and he incited David against them ,
saying , "
Go ,
number Israel and Judah ."
*
So the king said to Jo '
ab and the commanders of the army ,
who were with him , "
Go through all the tribes of Israel ,
from Dan to Beer-sheba ,
and number the people ,
that I may know the number of the people ."
*
But Jo '
ab said to the king , "
May the LORD your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are ,
while the eyes of my lord the king still see it ;
but why does my lord the king delight in this thing ?"
*
But the king '
s word prevailed against Jo '
ab and the commanders of the army .
So Jo '
ab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel .
*
They crossed the Jordan ,
and began from Aro '
er ,
and from the city that is in the middle of the valley ,
toward Gad and on to Jazer .
*
Then they came to Gilead ,
and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites ;
and they came to Dan ,
and from Dan they went around to Sidon ,
*
and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites ;
and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beer-sheba .
*
So when they had gone through all the land ,
they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days .
*
And Jo '
ab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king :
in Israel there were eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword ,
and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand .
*
But David '
s heart smote him after he had numbered the people .
And David said to the LORD , "
I have sinned greatly in what I have done .
But now ,
O LORD ,
I pray thee ,
take away the iniquity of thy servant ;
for I have done very foolishly ."
*
And when David arose in the morning ,
the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad ,
David '
s seer ,
saying ,
* "
Go and say to David , `
Thus says the LORD ,
Three things I offer you ;
choose one of them ,
that I may do it to you ."
*
So Gad came to David and told him ,
and said to him , "
Shall three 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 consider ,
and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me ."
*
Then David said to Gad , "
I am in great distress ;
let us fall into the hand of the LORD ,
for his mercy is great ;
but let me not fall into the hand of man ."
*
So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time ;
and there died of the people from Dan to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men .
*
And when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it ,
the LORD repented of the evil ,
and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people , "
It is enough ;
now stay your hand ."
And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Arau '
nah the Jeb '
usite .
*
Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was smiting the people ,
and said , "
Lo ,
I have sinned ,
and I have done wickedly ;
but these sheep ,
what have they done ?
Let thy hand ,
I pray thee ,
be against me and against my father '
s house ."
*
And Gad came that day to David ,
and said to him , "
Go up ,
rear an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Arau '
nah the Jeb '
usite ."
*
So David went up at Gad '
s word ,
as the LORD commanded .
*
And when Arau '
nah looked down ,
he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him ;
and Arau '
nah went forth ,
and did obeisance to the king with his face to the ground .
*
And Arau '
nah said , "
Why has my lord the king come to his servant ?"
David said , "
To buy the threshing floor of you ,
in order to build an altar to the LORD ,
that the plague may be averted from the people ."
*
Then Arau '
nah said to David , "
Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him ;
here are the oxen for the burnt offering ,
and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood .
*
All this ,
O king ,
Arau '
nah gives to the king ."
And Arau '
nah said to the king , "
The LORD your God accept you ."
*
But the king said to Arau '
nah , "
No ,
but I will buy it of you for a price ;
I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing ."
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver .
*
And David built there an altar to the LORD ,
and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings .
So the LORD heeded supplications for the land ,
and the plague was averted from Israel .