2 Samuel 23:1-7

Common English Bible

This is the declaration of Jesse’s son David,
    the declaration of a man raised high,
    a man anointed by the God of Jacob,
    a man favored by the strong one of Israel.^[a]
2 The Lord’s spirit speaks through me;
    his word is on my tongue.
³ Israel’s God has spoken,
    Israel’s rock said to me:
“Whoever rules rightly over people,
    whoever rules in the fear of God,
⁴     is like the light of sunrise
    on a morning with no clouds,
        like the bright gleam after the rain
        that brings grass from the ground.”
⁵ Yes, my house is this way with God!^[b]
    He has made an eternal covenant with me,
    laid out and secure in every detail.
Yes, he provides every one of my victories
    and brings my every desire to pass.
⁶ But despicable people are like thorns,
    all of them good for nothing,
    because they can’t be carried by hand.
⁷ No one can touch them,
except with iron bar or the shaft of a spear.
    They must be burned up with fire right on the spot!