2 Samuel 23:8-24:25

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

David’s Mighty Men

⁸ These are the names of the warriors whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite; he was chief of the Three;^[a] he wielded his spear^[b] against eight hundred whom he killed at one time.

⁹ Next to him among the three warriors was Eleazar son of Dodo son of Ahohi. He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle. The Israelites withdrew, ¹⁰ but he stood his ground. He struck down the Philistines until his arm grew weary, though his hand clung to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day. Then the people came back to him—but only to strip the dead.

¹¹ Next to him was Shammah son of Agee, the Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the army fled from the Philistines. ¹² But he took his stand in the middle of the plot, defended it, and killed the Philistines; and the Lord brought about a great victory.

¹³ Towards the beginning of harvest three of the thirty^[c] chiefs 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 the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. ¹⁵ David said longingly, “O that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” ¹⁶ Then the three warriors broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it; he poured it out to the Lord, ¹⁷ for he said, “The Lord forbid that I should do this. Can I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. The three warriors did these things.

¹⁸ Now Abishai son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, was chief of the Thirty.^[d] With his spear he fought against three hundred men and killed them, and won a name beside the Three. ¹⁹ He was the most renowned of the Thirty,^[e] and became their commander; but he did not attain to the Three.

²⁰ Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a valiant warrior^[f] from Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds; he struck down two sons of Ariel^[g] of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen. ²¹ And he killed an Egyptian, a handsome man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but Benaiah went against him with a staff, snatched the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with his own spear. ²² Such were the things Benaiah son of Jehoiada did, and won a name beside the three warriors. ²³ He was renowned among the Thirty, but he did not attain to the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

²⁴ Among the Thirty were Asahel brother of Joab; Elhanan son of Dodo of Bethlehem; ²⁵ Shammah of Harod; Elika of Harod; ²⁶ Helez the Paltite; Ira son of Ikkesh of Tekoa; ²⁷ Abiezer of Anathoth; Mebunnai the Hushathite; ²⁸ Zalmon the Ahohite; Maharai of Netophah; ²⁹ Heleb son of Baanah of Netophah; Ittai son of Ribai of Gibeah of the Benjaminites; ³⁰ Benaiah of Pirathon; Hiddai of the torrents of Gaash; ³¹ Abi-albon the Arbathite; Azmaveth of Bahurim; ³² Eliahba of Shaalbon; the sons of Jashen: Jonathan ³³ son of^[h] Shammah the Hararite; Ahiam son of Sharar the Hararite; ³⁴ Eliphelet son of Ahasbai of Maacah; Eliam son of Ahithophel the Gilonite; ³⁵ Hezro^[i] of Carmel; Paarai the Arbite; ³⁶ Igal son of Nathan of Zobah; Bani the Gadite; ³⁷ Zelek the Ammonite; Naharai of Beeroth, the armor-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah; ³⁸ Ira the Ithrite; Gareb the Ithrite; ³⁹ Uriah the Hittite—thirty-seven in all.

David’s Census of Israel and Judah

24 Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, count the people of Israel and Judah.” ² So the king said to Joab and the commanders of the army,^[j] who were with him, “Go through 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 But Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God increase the number of the people a hundredfold, while the eyes of my lord the king can still see it! But why does my lord the king want to do this?” ⁴ But the king’s word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to take a census of the people of Israel. ⁵ They crossed the Jordan, and began from^[k] Aroer and from the city that is in the middle of the valley, toward Gad and on to Jazer. ⁶ Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites;^[l] and they came to Dan, and from Dan^[m] they went around to Sidon, ⁷ 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. ⁸ So when they had gone through all the land, they came back to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹ Joab reported to the king the number of those who had been recorded: in Israel there were eight hundred thousand soldiers able to draw the sword, and those of Judah were five hundred thousand.

Judgment on David’s Sin

¹⁰ But afterward, David was stricken to the heart because he had numbered the people. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, I pray you, take away the guilt of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.” ¹¹ When David rose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, ¹² “Go and say to David: Thus says the Lord: Three things I offer^[n] you; choose one of them, and I will do it to you.” ¹³ So Gad came to David and told him; he asked him, “Shall three^[o] years of famine come to you on 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 the one who sent me.” ¹⁴ 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 human hands.”

¹⁵ So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from that morning until the appointed time; and seventy thousand of the people died, from Dan to Beer-sheba. ¹⁶ But when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented concerning the evil, and said to the angel who was bringing destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” The angel of the Lord was then by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷ When David saw the angel who was destroying the people, he said to the Lord, “I alone have sinned, and I alone have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.”

David’s Altar on the Threshing Floor

¹⁸ 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 Following Gad’s instructions, David went up, as the Lord had commanded. ²⁰ When Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming toward him; and Araunah went out and prostrated himself before the king with his face to the ground. ²¹ Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you in order to build an altar to the Lord, so that the plague may be averted from the people.” ²² Then Araunah 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. ²³ All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God respond favorably to you.”

²⁴ But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy them from you for a price; I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. ²⁵ David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being. So the Lord answered his supplication for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.