9 All the people in all the tribes of Israel were quarreling and saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies. He saved us from the hand of the Philistines. Now he has fled out of the land from Absalom. 10 But Absalom, whom we anointed over us, has died in battle. Now why are you silent about bringing back the king?”
11 King David sent a message to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests. He said, “Speak to the elders of Judah. Ask them, ‘Why will you be the last to bring the king back to his palace?’ The plan that all Israel has been discussing has been reported to the king at his house. 12 You are my brothers. You are my flesh and blood. [1] Why will you be the last to bring back the king?”
13 He also said, “Say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my flesh and blood? May God punish me severely and double it, [2] if you are not the permanent commander of my army in place of Joab.’”
14 David turned the hearts of all the men of Judah as if they were one man. They sent to the king and said, “Return, you and all your servants.”
15 So the king returned and came to the Jordan. The men of Judah came out to Gilgal to meet the king and to bring the king across the Jordan.
16 Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David. 17 One thousand men from Benjamin were with him. Also, Ziba, the manager of the house of Saul, came, along with his fifteen sons and his twenty servants. They rushed down to the Jordan ahead of the king. 18 They crossed over the ford to escort the household of the king across and to make a good impression on the king.
Shimei son of Gera bowed down before the king when he was crossing over the Jordan. 19 He spoke to the king: “My lord, do not consider me guilty. Do not remember the wrong your servant did on the day that my lord the king went out from Jerusalem, and do not take it to heart, 20 for I, your servant, know that I have sinned. Look! I have come today, the first one from the whole house of Joseph to come down to welcome my lord the king.”
21 Abishai son of Zeruiah answered, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death because he cursed the anointed of the Lord?”
22 But David said, “What do we have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? For today you are my adversaries. Should any man in Israel be put to death today? Do I not know that today I am king over Israel?” 23 The king said to Shimei, “You will not die.” The king took an oath concerning him.
24 Mephibosheth, grandson of Saul, also came down to welcome the king. He had not taken care of his feet or his beard and had not washed his clothing from the day the king departed until the day he came back in safety. 25 When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, “Why didn’t you go with me, Mephibosheth?”
26 Mephibosheth answered, “Your servant said, ‘Because I am crippled, I need to have the donkey saddled so that I can ride on it and go with the king.’ But, my lord the king, my servant deceived me. 27 He has slandered your servant to my lord the king. However, my lord the king is like an angel of God. Do what is right in your eyes. 28 All the house of my father deserved death from my lord the king, but you included your servant among those who eat at your table. What further right do I have to cry out again to the king?”
29 The king said to him, “Why say more about your situation? I say that you and Ziba are to divide the land.”
30 Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him take everything, now that my lord the king has come safely to his house.”
31 Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim. He crossed over the Jordan, escorting the king back over the Jordan. 32 Barzillai was very old, eighty years old. He had provided food for the king during his stay at Mahanaim because he was a very wealthy man. 33 The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me. I will provide for you as my guest in Jerusalem.”
34 But Barzillai said to the king, “How many years am I going to be alive? Why should I go up with the king to Jerusalem? 35 Today I am eighty years old. Can I tell the difference between good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat and what I drink? Can I still hear the voice of the male and female singers? Why should your servant become a further burden to my lord the king? 36 Let your servant cross over the Jordan with the king for a short distance. Why will the king pay me back with such a reward? 37 Please, let your servant return and die in my own city near the grave of my father and my mother. But look! Here is your servant Kimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king. Do for him whatever seems good to you.”
38 So the king said, “Kimham shall go over with me, and I will do for him whatever seems good to you. All that you want from me, I will do for you.”
39 So all the people crossed over the Jordan, and the king also crossed over. Then he kissed Barzillai and blessed him. Barzillai then returned to his own home.
Footnotes
2 Samuel 19:12 Literally my bone and flesh
2 Samuel 19:13 Literally may God do this to me and even more
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1 David organized the troops who were with him. He appointed leaders over units of a thousand and units of a hundred. 2 Then David sent the troops out: one third under the command of Joab; one third under the command of Abishai, who was the son of Zeruiah and the brother of Joab; and one third under the command of Ittai from Gath.
The king said to the troops, “I myself will definitely also go with you.”
3 But the troops said, “You will not go, because if we flee, they will not target us. Even if half of us die, they will not target us, for there are ten thousand others like us. No. It is better now that you support us from the city.”
4 So the king said to them, “Whatever seems best to you, I will do.”
The king stood beside the city gate. All the troops marched out by units of a hundred and a thousand. 5 The king gave orders to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai: “For my sake, act gently with the young man Absalom.” All the troops heard the king giving orders to the leaders concerning Absalom.
6 The troops went out into the countryside to confront Israel. The battle took place in the Forest of Ephraim. 7 The men of Israel were defeated there by the followers of David. There was a great slaughter there on that day—twenty thousand. 8 The battle was spread over the entire area. The forest devoured more people than the sword did on that day.
9 Absalom encountered the forces of David. As Absalom was riding on his mule, the mule went under the thick branches of a large terebinth tree, and Absalom’s head caught in the terebinth. He was caught between heaven and earth, and the mule he was riding kept going.
10 A man noticed Absalom and told Joab, “Listen! I saw Absalom hanging in a terebinth tree!” 11 Joab said to the man who had told him, “What! You saw him! Why didn’t you strike him to the ground right there? Then I would have given you ten shekels of silver and a belt.”
12 But the man said to Joab, “Even if I had one thousand shekels of silver weighed out into my hands, I would not reach my hand out against the king’s son. We heard the king command you, Abishai, and Ittai, ‘Watch out for the young man Absalom for me.’ 13 If I had acted irresponsibly with my life [1]—and nothing is hidden from the king—you would not have stood by me.”
14 Joab said, “I will not waste time with you like this.” He took three small spears in his hand, and he hurled them into Absalom’s heart while he was still alive in the middle of the terebinth tree. 15 Ten young men, the ones carrying Joab’s armor and weapons, surrounded Absalom and struck and killed him.
16 Then Joab blew the ram’s horn, and the people turned back from pursuing Israel, because Joab restrained them. 17 They took Absalom and threw him into a large pit in the forest. They raised a huge pile of stones over him.
All Israel fled, everyone to his own tent. [2]
18 During his lifetime Absalom had set up a monument for himself in the Valley of the King, because he said, “I do not have a son to keep my name alive in people’s memory.” He named the monument after himself, and it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day.
19 Ahima’az son of Zadok said, “Let me run and carry the good news to the king that the Lord has delivered him from the power of his enemies.”
20 But Joab said to him, “You are not the man to carry the news today. You may carry the news some other day, but today you should not carry the news, because the king’s son is dead.”
21 Joab then told a Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you saw.”
The Cushite bowed down to Joab and then set out running.
22 But Ahima’az son of Zadok said to Joab again, “No matter what, I really want to run behind the Cushite.”
Joab said, “Why do you want to do this? My son, there is no good news that will bring you any gain for running.” 23 But Ahima’az said, “No matter what, let me run.” So Joab said to him “All right, run then.” Ahima’az ran on the road that followed the plain, and he passed the Cushite.
24 David was sitting between the inner and outer gates of the city. The watchman went up onto the roof of the gatehouse next to the wall. While he was standing watch, he saw a man running all by himself. 25 The watchman called out and told the king. The king said, “If he is alone, he is bringing good news.” The man kept coming and got closer.
26 Then the watchman saw another man running. The watchman called down to the gatekeeper, “Look! There is another man running all by himself!”
The king said, “This one also is bringing good news.” 27 The watchman said, “The way the first man is running looks like the way Ahima’az son of Zadok runs.” The king said, “He is a good man. He is coming with good news.”
28 Ahima’az called out to the king, “Peace.” Then he bowed down to the king with his face to the ground and said, “Blessed is the Lord your God, who delivered up the men who raised their hand against my lord the king.”
29 The king asked, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”
Ahima’az said, “I saw a great uproar at the time when Joab sent the other servant of the king and me, your servant. I do not know what it was about.”
30 The king said, “Step aside. Stay here.” So he stepped aside and just stood there.
31 The Cushite arrived and said, “There is good news for my lord the king, because the Lord has delivered you this day from the power of all who rose up against you.”
32 The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”
The Cushite said, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up against you with evil intentions be like that young man.”
33 The king was shocked. He went up to the room over the gatehouse. As he was going, he wept and said, “My son Absalom, my son, my son! O Absalom, I wish I had died instead of you. O Absalom, my son, my son.”
The Aftermath of the Battle
2 Samuel 19
1 Joab was told, “The king is weeping and mourning over Absalom.” [3]2 The victory that day became an occasion for mourning for all the people, because that day the people heard that the king was mourning for his son. 3 That day the people were sneaking into the city quietly, the way people who are ashamed of fleeing from the battle would sneak in quietly. 4 The king covered his face and cried with a loud voice, “My son Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son.”
5 Joab came to the king at the house and said, “Today you have put to shame all your followers, who today have saved your life, the lives of your sons and daughters, and the lives of your wives and concubines. 6 You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have demonstrated clearly today that your officers and followers are nothing to you. Today I have no doubt that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead, you would be pleased. 7 Now get up. Go out. Speak to the hearts of your followers. For by the Lord, I swear that if you do not go out, not a man will remain with you tonight, and this disaster will be greater for you than all the disasters that have come upon you from your youth until now.”
8 So the king got up and took his seat by the gate. All the people were told, “Look! The king is sitting in the gate.” So all the people came into the presence of the king.
Israel had fled, every man to his own home.
Footnotes
2 Samuel 18:13 Alternate Hebrew reading his life
2 Samuel 18:17 This is an idiom for to his own home. It is used regardless of the form of the dwelling.
2 Samuel 19:1 In the Hebrew text, chapter 19 starts at English 18:33. In chapter 19, the Hebrew verse numbers are all one number higher than the English verse numbers.
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15 Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, arrived at Jerusalem. Ahithophel was with him.
16 When Hushai the Arkite, David’s confidant, came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”
17 Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your loyalty for your friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend?”
18 Hushai said to Absalom, “No. The person who has been chosen by the Lord, by this people, and by all the men of Israel—this is the one with whom I will be and with whom I will remain. 19 Besides, whom should I serve if not the king’s son? As I have served your father, so I will serve you.”
20 Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give us your advice. What should we do?”
21 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go to your father’s concubines, whom he has left to watch over the palace. Let all Israel hear that you have become disgusting to your father, so that the hands of all who are with you may be strengthened.”
22 So they pitched a tent on the roof for Absalom, and Absalom went to [1] his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.
23 In those days the advice that Ahithophel gave was viewed as if it had come from God. All the advice of Ahithophel was viewed that way, both by David and also by Absalom.
2 Samuel 17
1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men. I will set out to pursue David tonight. 2 I will come upon him when he is tired and weak and cause him to panic. All the people with him will flee. Then I will strike down only the king. 3 I will bring back the rest of the people to you. The life of the man whom you are seeking will gain the return of all of them. [2] All the rest of the people will be safe.” 4 Ahithophel’s plan seemed good to all the elders of Israel.
5 But Absalom said, “Call Hushai the Arkite. We should also hear what he has to say.” 6 So Hushai came to Absalom, and Absalom said to him, “This is what Ahithophel has said. Shall we do it? If you disagree, speak up.”
7 Hushai said to Absalom, “This time the advice Ahithophel has given is not good.” 8 Hushai continued, “You know your father and his men. They are fierce warriors, like an enraged bear in the open country who has lost her cubs. Your father is a fighter. He will not spend the night with the people. 9 Certainly, by now he has hidden himself in one of the caves or in some other place. What if he attacks and some of our men fall first? Whoever hears about it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the followers of Absalom.’ 10 Even the very brave, whose hearts are like the heart of a lion, will melt with fear, because all Israel knows that your father is a fierce warrior, and that those who are with him are brave men. 11 So, I advise you to gather all Israel to you from Dan to Beersheba, as many as the sand beside the sea, and that you personally lead them into battle. 12 We should attack the king in whatever place he is found. We will come down on him like the dew that falls upon the ground. There will not even be one survivor from him and from all the men with him. 13 If he withdraws into a city, all Israel should bring ropes to that city. We will drag it into the valley until there will not be even one pebble found there.”
14 Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite is better than the advice of Ahithophel.”
The Lord had arranged to defeat the good advice of Ahithophel, so that the Lord could bring disaster upon Absalom.
15 Then Hushai told Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, “This is what Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel. But this is what I have advised. 16 Now send a message quickly and tell David, ‘Do not stay tonight at the fords in the wilderness. Also, be sure to cross over the river, or the king and all the people who are with him will be swallowed up.’”
17 Jonathan and Ahima’az were to wait at En Rogel because they could not risk being seen going into the city. A female servant was to go out and inform them. Then they could go and tell King David. 18 However, a young man saw them and told Absalom. So the two of them quickly went to the house of a man at Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it. 19 His wife took a cover, spread it over the mouth of the well, and scattered grain on it. Nobody knew that she did it.
20 Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and said, “Where are Ahima’az and Jonathan?”
The woman said to them, “They have passed by toward the river.” [3] Absalom’s servants pursued them but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.
21 When they left, Ahima’az and Jonathan climbed out of the well. They went and reported to King David, and they said to him, “Get up and cross over the river quickly because this is what Ahithophel advised against you.” 22 So David and all the people who were with him set out and crossed the Jordan, beginning at the first light of day and continuing until everyone had crossed over the Jordan.
23 When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey, set out, went to his house in his hometown, and set his household in order. Then he hanged himself. He died, and he was buried in the tomb of his father.
24 David went to Mahanaim, and Absalom crossed over the Jordan with all the men of Israel. 25 Absalom had put Amasa in command of the army instead of Joab. (Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra, an Ishmaelite [4] who had gone to Abigal, [5] the daughter of Nahash, the sister of Zeruiah, the mother of Joab.)
26 Israel and Absalom set up camp in the land of Gilead.
27 When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Makir son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim 28 brought beds, basins, pottery, wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, [6]29 honey, cheese curds, sheep, and cheese from cow’s milk for David and for the people with him to eat, because they said, “The people are hungry, tired, and thirsty in the wilderness.”
Footnotes
2 Samuel 16:22 To go to is a euphemism for having sexual relations.
2 Samuel 17:3 Literally like the return of all, the man whom you are seeking
2 Samuel 17:20 Literally they have crossed the mical of the water. The meaning of mical is unknown, but the following verses suggest that flight toward the Jordan is what is being described.
2 Samuel 17:25 The translation follows the parallel reading from 1 Chronicles 2:17, where this man is called Jether the Ishmaelite. The Hebrew text in 2 Samuel 17:25 reads Ithra the Israelite.
2 Samuel 17:25 Also called Abigail
2 Samuel 17:28 The Hebrew text here repeats roasted grain.
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1 After this, Absalom acquired for himself a chariot, horses, and fifty men to run in front of him. 2 Absalom would get up early and stand beside the road by the gatehouse. Absalom would call out to every man who had a legal issue to bring before the king for judgment, and he would say, “What city are you from?” The person would say, “Your servant is from such-and-such of the tribes of Israel.” 3 Absalom would say to him, “Your claims are good and valid, but there is no one from the king to listen to you.” 4 Then Absalom would say, “I wish someone would make me a judge in the land. Then everyone who has a legal issue or needs a judgment could come to me, and I would give him justice.”
5 Whenever someone approached to bow down to him, he would reach out, take hold of him, and kiss him. 6 Absalom acted this way to everyone of Israel who came to the king for judgment. In this way Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
7 After four [1] years Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron and fulfill my vow, which I have made to the Lord, 8 because when I was at Geshur in Aram, your servant vowed, ‘If the Lord will really return me to Jerusalem, I will serve the Lord.’”
9 The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he set out and went to Hebron.
10 But Absalom sent agents throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “When you hear the sound of the ram’s horn, you are to say, ‘Absalom is king in Hebron.’” 11 Two hundred men from Jerusalem who had been invited went along with Absalom. They went innocently, since they did not know what was going on.
12 While he was offering sacrifices, Absalom summoned David’s advisor, Ahithophel of Giloh, to come from Giloh, his hometown. The conspiracy gained strength as more and more people were going over to Absalom.
13 A messenger came to David and said, “The hearts of the men of Israel are following Absalom.”
14 So David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Get ready. We must flee, or we will not escape from Absalom. Hurry up and go, so that he does not come quickly, overtake us, bring down disaster on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”
15 The officials of the king said to him, “Here we are. We, your servants, will do everything our lord the king decides.” 16 So the king set out with his entire household, but he left ten concubines [2] to watch over the house. 17 The king and all his people set out. They stopped at a house some distance away.
David’s Flight
18 All his troops were passing by in front of David. All the Kerethites, Pelethites, and Gittites—six hundred men from Gath who had come under his command—were passing by in front of the king. 19 The king said to Ittai from Gath, “Why are you going with us? Go back and stay with King Absalom, because you are a foreigner and an exile from your home. 20 You arrived just yesterday. Today should I cause you to wander with us, when I myself do not have a plan as to where I am going? Go back and take your fellow soldiers with you. May the Lord’s mercy and faithfulness be with you.” [3]
21 Ittai answered the king, “As the Lord lives and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king will be, whether it leads to death or life, there your servant will be.”
22 David said to Ittai, “Go ahead then. March on.” So Ittai from Gath and all his men and all the dependents who were with them marched by.
23 All the people of the land wept loudly as all the troops were marching by. The king crossed over the stream bed of the Kidron. All the people kept marching by in the direction of the wilderness.
24 Next came Zadok and all the Levites with him, who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant of God. They set down the Ark of God, and Abiathar offered up sacrifices until all the people finished passing by, as they left the city. 25 The king said to Zadok, “Return the Ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back and let me see it in its proper dwelling place. 26 But if he says, ‘I have no pleasure in you,’ look, here I am. Let him do to me whatever is good in his eyes.”
27 The king said to Zadok the priest, “Aren’t you a seer? [4] Go back to the city in peace. You two priests, take your sons with you—your son Ahima’az and Abiathar’s son Jonathan. 28 Listen, I will be waiting at the fords in the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.” 29 So Zadok and Abiathar carried the Ark of God back to Jerusalem, and they remained there.
30 David went up along the ascent to the top of the Mount of Olives. As he walked along with his head covered, he was weeping, and he was walking barefoot. All the people who were with him also covered their heads. As they went up, they were weeping as they walked along.
31 David had been told, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David said, “Please, Lord, make the advice of Ahithophel foolish.”
32 David arrived at the summit, where he worshipped God. [5]
Hushai the Arkite was there to meet him. His robe was torn, and he had dirt on his head. 33 David said to him, “If you cross over with me, you will become a burden to me. 34 But if you return to the city and you say to Absalom, ‘Let me be your servant, O King. In the past I was a servant of your father. Now I will be your servant,’ then you can defeat the advice of Ahithophel for me. 35 Are not Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, with you there? Tell every word that you hear in the house of the king to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests. 36 Their two sons, Zadok’s son Ahima’az and Abiathar’s son Jonathan, are there with them. Through those two, the three of you will be able to send me every word that you hear.” 37 Hushai, the friend and advisor of David, went to the city, just as Absalom also was entering into Jerusalem.
2 Samuel 16
1 David moved a little beyond the summit. There Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, met him with a string of saddled donkeys. On them there were two hundred loaves of bread, one hundred cakes of raisins, one hundred cakes of summer fruit, and a container [6] of wine.
2 The king said to Ziba, “Why do you have these?”
Ziba said, “The donkeys are for the household of the king to ride on. The bread and fruit are for the young men to eat. The wine is to provide something to drink for those who become exhausted in the wilderness.”
3 The king said, “So where is the grandson of your master?”
Ziba said to the king, “Well, he is staying in Jerusalem because he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will return the kingdom of my grandfather to me.’”
4 The king said to Ziba, “All right then. Everything that was Mephibosheth’s belongs to you.”
Ziba said, “I bow down before you. May I find favor in your sight, my lord the king.”
5 King David came to Bahurim. There he was confronted by a man from the family of the house of Saul. His name was Shimei son of Gera. He was rushing out and calling down curses. 6 He threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David, as well as at all the people and all the warriors on David’s right and on his left. 7 This is what Shimei said as he cursed: “Get out! Get out, you bloody, worthless man! 8 The Lord has avenged upon you all the blood of the house of Saul, whom you replaced as king. The Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. Just look at you now, sunk in disaster, because you are a bloody man.”
9 Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please let me go over and take off his head.”
10 The king said, “What do you and I have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord has told him, ‘Curse David,’ then who can say, ‘Why have you done this?’” 11 Then David said to Abishai and to all his followers, “Listen to me! My son, who came from my own body, is seeking my life. How much more now, this Benjaminite! Leave him alone. Let him curse. Perhaps the Lord has told him to do so. 12 Perhaps the Lord will look on my misery and will return something good to me in exchange for his cursing this day.”
13 So David and his men kept traveling down the road, and Shimei kept following along, on the side of the hill opposite him, walking along, cursing, throwing stones, and flinging dirt at him.
14 The king and all the people who were with him traveled until they became exhausted, and then they stopped in order to recover.
Footnotes
2 Samuel 15:7 The translation four years follows the ancient versions. The Hebrew text reads forty years, but it is not possible to fit that time span into the chronology of David’s reign.
2 Samuel 15:16 Or wives of secondary status
2 Samuel 15:20 The last part of the verse is difficult.
2 Samuel 15:27 Or you are a seer. The exact implications of the statement are uncertain, and interpretations vary. Most likely it means that David needs men of war with him, not non-soldiers.
2 Samuel 15:32 The translation is literal. Many translations take it as a more general statement: where God is worshipped.
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38 Absalom fled and went to Geshur. He stayed there for three years. 39 King David longed to reach out to Absalom, because he was no longer mourning for his deceased son Amnon.
2 Samuel 14
1 Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the heart of the king was attached to Absalom. 2 So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought a wise woman from there. He said to her, “Please act like a mourner and wear mourning clothes. Do not anoint yourself with lotion. Make it look as if you are a woman who has been mourning for the dead for a long time. 3 Go to the king and tell him whatever I tell you to say.” Then Joab put the words in her mouth.
4 The woman from Tekoa spoke to the king. She fell down with her face to the ground. She bowed down and said, “Help me, O King.”
5 The king said to her, “What is wrong?”
She said, “It’s terrible. I am a widow. My husband is dead. 6 Your servant had two sons. The two of them had a fight out in the field, and there was no one there to separate them. The one struck the other and killed him. 7 Now the entire family has risen up against your servant. They are saying, ‘Turn over the one who struck down his brother, so we can put him to death because of the life of his brother whom he killed. In this way we will destroy the heir also.’ They will put out the fire of the one burning coal that is left for me. My husband will not have a name or anything left on the face of the earth.”
8 The king said to the woman, “Go to your house. I will issue orders on your behalf.”
9 The woman from Tekoa said to the king, “On me, my lord the king—let the guilt be on me and on the house of my father. The king and his throne will be guiltless.”
10 The king said, “Bring to me anyone who speaks against you about this, and he will not contact you again.”
11 She said, “Please, the king should remember the Lord your God and stop the avenger of blood from multiplying the killing, so that they do not destroy my son.”
David said, “As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son will fall to the ground.”
12 The woman said, “Please allow your servant to speak a word to my lord the king.”
He said, “Speak up.”
13 The woman said, “Why have you planned something like this against the people of God? By his own words the king convicts himself for not returning his own banished one. 14 We will certainly die. We are like water spilled onto the ground that cannot be gathered up again. But God does not take life. He devises means to restore to himself the one who has been banished. 15 Now I have come to say this to my lord the king, because the people have made me afraid. Your servant said, ‘I will speak to the king. Perhaps the king will fulfill the request of his servant, 16 for the king will listen and deliver his servant from the hand of the man who is trying to destroy both me and my son, to remove us from our inheritance from God.’ 17 Your servant said, ‘Please let the word of my lord the king give me rest, because he is like the angel of God—that is what my lord the king is like. He is able to distinguish good and evil.’ The Lord your God will be with you.”
18 The king answered the woman, “Please, do not withhold the answer to what I am about to ask you.”
The woman said, “My lord the king, please speak.”
19 The king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?”
The woman answered, “As your soul lives, my lord the king, nothing veers off to the right or to the left from everything my lord the king has said, for your servant Joab is the one who gave me orders. He also put all these words into the mouth of your servant. 20 Your servant Joab did this in order to change the way things were going. My lord has wisdom, like the wisdom of the Angel of God. He knows everything that goes on in the land.”
21 The king said to Joab, “All right! I will do this. Go and bring back the young man Absalom.”
22 Joab fell down with his face to the ground. He bowed down and blessed the king and said, “Today your servant has become aware that I have found favor in your sight, my lord the king, because the king has carried out the request of his servant.”
23 So Joab got up and went to Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem.
24 But the king said, “He must go to his own house. He is not to see me face-to-face.” So Absalom went to his own house, and he did not see the face of the king.
25 There was not a man in all Israel as handsome as Absalom and so greatly praised. From the sole of his foot to the top of his head there was not a blemish on him. 26 When he shaved the hair on his head (periodically he cut it off because it became too heavy for him), the hair weighed five pounds. [1]
27 Three sons and one daughter were born to Absalom. The daughter’s name was Tamar. She was an attractive woman.
28 Absalom lived in Jerusalem for two years, but he did not see the king face-to-face. 29 Absalom sent to Joab in order to ask him to go to the king on his behalf, but Joab was not willing to come to him. Absalom sent again, a second time, but Joab was still not willing to come. 30 So Absalom said to his servants, “See that field of Joab next to mine, where he has barley. Go and set it on fire.” So Absalom’s servants set the field on fire. ⎣Joab’s servants came to him with their clothing torn and said to him, “The servants of Absalom have set your field on fire.”⎦ [2]
31 Joab got up and went to Absalom’s house. He said to him, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?”
32 Absalom said to Joab, “I sent this message to you: Come here. I want to send you to speak to the king and to say for me, ‘Why did I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to still be there.’ Now I want to see the king face-to-face. If I am guilty of anything, let him put me to death.” 33 So Joab went to the king and gave him the message.
Then the king summoned Absalom, and he came to the king. He bowed down to the king with his face to the ground, and the king kissed Absalom.
Footnotes
2 Samuel 14:26 Hebrew two hundred shekels by the royal standard
2 Samuel 14:30 The sentence in half-brackets in verse 30 is not included in the Hebrew text but is in the Greek. An omission from the Hebrew text may have occurred as the eye of the Hebrew copyist skipped from the first occurrence of on fire to the second one.
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1 So the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came and told him this:
There were two men in a city. One was rich and one poor. 2 The rich man had a large number of flocks and herds. 3 The poor man did not own anything except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He raised it so that it grew up together with him and his children. It ate from his food and drank from his cup. It slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. 4 When a traveler came to the rich man, the rich man was unwilling to take an animal from his flock or from his herd to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. So he took the lamb from the poor man and prepared it for the man who had come to him.
5 David’s anger flared up against that man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this is as good as dead. 6 In place of that lamb, he will restore four lambs, because he did this and had no pity.”
7 Nathan told David, “You are the man. This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says.”
The Message of Judgment Against David
I anointed you king over Israel. I rescued you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave the house of your master to you, and I gave the wives of your master into your embrace. I gave you the house of Israel and the house of Judah. If this was too little, I would have added even more. 9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in his eyes? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword. You have taken his wife as your own wife. You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 So now the sword will not depart from your house forever, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.
11 This is what the Lord says. Look! I am raising up disaster against you from your own house. Right in front of your eyes I will take your wives and give them to your neighbor, and he will lie down with your wives in the sight of the sun. 12 Because you acted in secret, I will do this in front of all Israel in broad daylight.
13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan said to David, “The Lord himself has put away your sin. You will not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have treated the Lord with utter contempt, [1] the child that is born to you shall surely die.” 15 Then Nathan went to his house.
The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne for David, and the child became sick. 16 David sought the Lord’s mercy for the child. David fasted and spent the night lying on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him to pick him up off the ground, but he was not willing, and he would not eat food with them.
18 On the seventh day the child died. The servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, because they said, “Look! When the child was living, we spoke to David, but he did not listen to what we said. How will we speak to him now when the child is dead? He might do something harmful.”
19 When David saw that his servants were whispering together, he understood that the child was dead. So David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “Yes, he is dead.”
20 Then David got up from the ground, washed, put on lotion, and changed his clothes. He went to the House of the Lord and worshipped. He then went back to his house and asked for food. So they prepared a meal for him, and he ate.
21 His servants said to him, “What are you doing? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept. But when the child died, you got up and ate food.”
22 He said, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept because I said, ‘Who knows? Will the Lord be gracious to me and let my child live?’ 23 Now he has died. Why should I fast? Am I able to return him to life again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
24 David comforted Bathsheba, his wife. He went to her and lay down with her. She gave birth to a son. David called him Solomon. The Lord loved him, 25 and the Lord sent a message by the hand of Nathan the prophet that he should be called Jedidiah [2] because of the Lord.
The Defeat of the Ammonites
26 Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal city.
27 He sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah. I have also captured the city’s water supply. 28 Now gather the rest of the troops, set up camp against the city, and take it. If you do not, I might take the city, and it will be named after me.” 29 So David gathered all the troops and went to Rabbah. He fought against it and took it.
30 He removed the gold crown of their king [3] from his head. It weighed seventy-five pounds, [4] and it had a precious stone. It was placed on [5] the head of David.
He brought out large quantities of plunder from the city. 31 He also brought the people out from it and made them work with saws, with iron picks and axes, and at brickmaking. He did the same to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the troops returned to Jerusalem.
Amnon and Tamar
2 Samuel 13
1 David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar. Some time after this, David’s son Amnon fell in love with her. 2 Amnon was so worked up that he made himself sick because of his sister Tamar. She was a virgin, and it seemed impossible for Amnon to do anything with her.
3 Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, who was a son of David’s brother Shimeah. [6] Jonadab was a very clever man. 4 Jonadab said to Amnon, “Why do you, the king’s son, look so tired every morning? Won’t you tell me?”
Amnon said to him, “I am in love with Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom.”
5 Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick. Your father will come to see you. Then you are to say to him, ‘Please! Have my sister Tamar come and give me some food to eat. Have her prepare the food in my presence so that I can watch and eat it from her hand.’”
6 So Amnon went to bed and pretended to be sick, and the king came to see him. Amnon said to the king, “Please! Have my sister Tamar come and make special flatbread while I am watching. She should make two of them and let me eat them from her hand.”
7 So David sent a message to Tamar’s house: “Please, go to the house of your brother Amnon and make food for him.” 8 Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, where he was lying down. She took dough, kneaded it, made the flatbread as he was watching, and baked the loaves. 9 She took the pan and placed it before him, but he refused to eat.
Amnon said, “Send everyone away from me.” So everyone left.
10 Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the bedroom and let me eat from your hand.”
Tamar took the flatbread that she had made and brought it into the room to Amnon her brother. 11 She brought it to him so he could eat.
He grabbed her and said to her, “Come, lie down with me, my sister.”
12 She said to him, “No, my brother. Do not force me, for such a thing is not done in Israel. Do not do such a foolish thing. 13 And I—how will I get rid of my shame? And you will be like one of the fools in Israel. Now, please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.”
14 But he would not listen to her. He was stronger than she was, and he forced her to lie down with him.
15 Then Amnon’s hatred for her was even more intense than the love he had felt for her. Amnon said to her, “Get up. Get out.”
16 She said to him, “There is no excuse for that. To send me away is a greater wrong than what you already did to me.”
But he was not willing to listen to her. 17 He called the young man who was his servant and said, “Send this woman outside, away from me, and bolt the door behind her.”
18 She was wearing a special long robe that covered her arms and legs. [7] The virgin daughters of the king wore such robes. His servant put her outside and bolted the door after her. 19 Tamar put ashes on her head and ripped the robe that she was wearing. She placed her hand on her head, and she went away, weeping loudly as she walked.
20 Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? Now my sister, do not say anything. He is your brother. Do not take this matter to heart.”
So Tamar, a devastated woman, stayed in the house of her brother Absalom. 21 King David heard about all these things, and he was very angry. [8]
22 Absalom did not speak with Amnon at all, neither anything bad nor anything good. Absalom hated Amnon because he had raped Tamar, his sister.
David and Absalom
23 Two years passed. Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal Hazor, which is near Ephraim. Absalom invited all the king’s sons. 24 Absalom also came to the king and said, “Look! The sheepshearers are now at work for your servant. Will the king and his servants join your servant, please?”
25 The king said to Absalom, “No, my son. Not all of us will go. We do not want to be a burden to you.”
Absalom pressured him, but David was not willing to go, though he did give Absalom a blessing. 26 So Absalom said, “If not, can Amnon my brother join us, please?” The king said to him, “Why should he go with you?” 27 But Absalom kept pressuring him, so David sent Amnon and all the sons of the king with him. [9]
28 Absalom commanded his servants, “Pay attention to me, and when Amnon is feeling good because of the wine, I will say to you, ‘Strike Amnon.’ Then you are to kill him. Do not be afraid. I am the one who has given you the order. Be strong. Be brave.”
29 Absalom’s servants did to Amnon exactly what Absalom had commanded. Then all the sons of the king got up. Each of them got on his mule and fled.
30 While they were on the way, news reached David: “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons. There is not one of them left.” 31 The king got up, ripped his clothing, and lay down on the ground. All his servants who were standing nearby also ripped their clothing.
32 Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, responded, “My lord should not say they have killed all the young men who are sons of the king, for only Amnon is dead. This is what Absalom has been planning from the day Amnon raped Tamar, his sister. 33 Now my lord the king should pay no attention to the report that says, ‘All the king’s sons are dead,’ because only Amnon is dead.”
34 Absalom fled.
The young man who was serving as the watchman looked up and saw many people coming down the road west of him, [10] along the side of the mountain. ⎣The watchman came and reported to the king, “I see men on the Horonaim road, along the side of the mountain.”⎦ [11]
35 Jonadab said to the king, “Look. The king’s sons have come. It is just as your servant said.”
36 When he was finished speaking, the king’s sons arrived. They raised their voices and wept loudly. The king and all his servants also wept very bitterly.
37 Absalom fled. He went to Talmai son of Ammihud, [12] the king of Geshur. King David mourned every day because of his son.
Footnotes
2 Samuel 12:14 The translation follows an alternate Hebrew reading. The main Hebrew text reads You caused the enemies of the Lord to speak scornfully about the Lord. This reading lessens the offense by David.
2 Samuel 12:25 Jedidiah means loved by the Lord.
2 Samuel 12:30 Or perhaps their idol Milcom. The weight of the crown seems too heavy for a person to wear, at least for any length of time
2 Samuel 12:30 A talent
2 Samuel 12:30 Or over
2 Samuel 13:3 There are at least four different Hebrew forms of the name of this brother of David, also known as Shimea, Shimei, and Shammah. Such irregularity in the spelling of personal names is very common.
2 Samuel 13:18 The exact meaning of the Hebrew term pas is uncertain. It may refer to the length of the garment, but it may also refer to elaborate decoration. This is the same type of garment as Joseph’s “coat of many colors” in Genesis 37.
2 Samuel 13:21 A Dead Sea Scroll and the Greek text include some words that are not present in the main Hebrew manuscripts: But he would not rebuke his son Amnon, because he loved him, since he was his firstborn.
2 Samuel 13:27 The Greek text adds the words: and Absalom prepared a feast like a royal feast.
2 Samuel 13:34 Or behind him
2 Samuel 13:34 The sentence in half-brackets is present in the Greek text, but not in the Hebrew text. An omission from the Hebrew text may have occurred when the Hebrew copyist’s eye jumped from the first occurrence of along the side of the mountain to the second occurrence.
2 Samuel 13:37 Ammihud is the reading of many Hebrew manuscripts. The main Hebrew text has Ammihur. The Hebrew equivalents of d and r look alike.
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1 After this, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun became king in his place.
2 David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent his officials to express condolences to Hanun concerning his father. David’s officials arrived in the land of the Ammonites.
3 But the officials of the Ammonites said to Hanun their master, “Do you really think David was honoring your father when he sent messengers to express his sympathy to you? No, David sent his officials to you in order to gather information about the city and to spy on it, in order to overthrow it.”
4 So Hanun seized the officials of David, shaved off half of each one’s beard, cut off their clothing up to their buttocks, and sent them away.
5 David was told about this, and he sent messengers to meet them because the men were deeply humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown. Then return.”
6 The Ammonites saw that they had become a digusting stench to David, so they sent and hired twenty thousand foot soldiers from Aram Beth Rehob and Aram Zobah, one thousand men from the king of Ma’akah, and twelve thousand men from Tob. [1]
7 When David heard about it, he deployed Joab and the entire army, the strong warriors.
8 The Ammonites went out and lined up in battle formation in front of the entrance to the city gate. Aram Zobah and Aram Rehob, as well as the men of Tob and Ma’akah, were lined up by themselves in the open country.
9 Joab saw that the battle lines were drawn up against him both in front of him and behind him, so he chose some of the best troops of Israel and lined them up to confront the Arameans. 10 The rest of the men he placed under the command of his brother Abishai and lined them up to face the Ammonites. 11 He said, “If Aram is too strong for me, then you are to rescue me. If the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will come to rescue you. 12 Be strong. We must show ourselves to be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his eyes.”
13 Joab and all the people with him advanced to join battle against the Arameans, and the Arameans fled from him. 14 When the Ammonites saw that Aram had fled, they also fled from Abishai and entered the city. Then Joab returned from fighting against the Ammonites and came back to Jerusalem.
15 When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they regrouped. 16 Hadadezer sent for Arameans from beyond the Euphrates. They came to Helam with Shobak, who was the commander of the army of Hadadezer, at their head.
17 When David was informed, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan, and came to Helam. The Arameans lined up to confront David and fought against him. 18 The Arameans fled from Israel. David killed seven hundred Aramean charioteers and forty thousand foot soldiers. [2] Shobak, the commander of their army, was wounded, and he died there. 19 All the kings who were the subjects of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, so they made peace with Israel and became subject to them. Then the Arameans were afraid to try to rescue the Ammonites anymore.
David and Bathsheba
2 Samuel 11
1 Springtime arrived, the time when kings go out to war. David sent Joab out with his officers and with all Israel. They ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed in Jerusalem.
2 One evening David had gotten up from his couch and was walking around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very good looking. 3 David sent to inquire about the woman, and he was told, “Isn’t this Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
4 David sent messengers to bring her. She came to him, and he lay down with her. (She had been purifying herself from her ceremonial uncleanness.) [3] She then returned to her house.
5 The woman became pregnant, so she sent a message and told David, “I am pregnant.”
6 David sent a message to Joab, “Send Uriah the Hittite to me.” So Joab sent Uriah to David, 7 and Uriah came to him.
David asked how Joab and the troops were doing, and how the war effort was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.”
When Uriah went out from the palace, the king sent a gift to him. 9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all the servants of his master. He did not go down to his own house.
10 David was informed, “Uriah has not gone down to his house.” So David said to Uriah, “Haven’t you come a long distance? Why didn’t you go down to your house?”
11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are living in shelters, and my master Joab and the servants of my master are camped on the bare ground in the open countryside. Should I go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie down with my wife? By your life, as surely as you live, I will not do such a thing.”
12 Then David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also. Tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 David summoned him, and Uriah ate as his guest, and David got him drunk. But in the evening he went and slept on his mat where the servants of his master were. He did not go to his own house.
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and he sent it in the hands of Uriah. 15 In the letter he wrote, “Station Uriah opposite the fiercest fighting. Then withdraw from behind him so that he will be struck down and die.”
16 So when Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew that the enemy’s strongest warriors were. 17 The men of the city came out and fought against Joab, and some of the troops of David fell. Uriah the Hittite also died.
18 Joab sent a message to inform David about all the events of the war. 19 He instructed the messenger, “As you are finishing reporting all the events of the war to the king, 20 if the king becomes angry and says to you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know that they would be shooting from on top of the wall? 21 Who killed Abimelek son of Jerubbesheth? [4] Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone from the wall on him, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ Then you are to say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.’”
22 The messenger set out. He came and told David everything that Joab had sent him to say. 23 The messenger said to David, “Their men gained an advantage over us and drove us back into the open country. But then we gained the upper hand and drove them back all the way to the entrance of the city gate. 24 The archers shot at your troops from the wall. Some of the servants of the king died. And your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.”
25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Do not take this too hard, because the sword devours people at random. Strengthen your attack against the city, and overthrow it.’ Encourage Joab.”
26 The wife of Uriah the Hittite heard that her husband was dead, so she mourned for her husband. 27 When her mourning was completed, David sent for her and brought her to his house, and she became his wife. She gave birth to a son for him. But what David had done was evil in the eyes of the Lord.
Footnotes
2 Samuel 10:6 Or from Ish Tob
2 Samuel 10:18 The Hebrew text reads seven hundred chariots and forty thousand charioteers or horsemen. However, 1 Chronicles 19:18 states that David killed seven thousand charioteers and forty thousand foot soldiers. The reading foot soldiers, which is also supported by some Greek manuscripts, is followed above.
2 Samuel 11:4 That Bathsheba was purifying herself after her period shows that the child was David’s and that David and Bathsheba were more careful about keeping pure from the ceremonial contamination caused by contact with blood than they were about keeping pure from the moral pollution caused by adultery.
2 Samuel 11:21 The Greek and the Latin Old Testament read Jerubbaal, which is another name for Gideon. The Hebrew text of Samuel regularly replaces the word –baal with a form of the Hebrew word for shame (bosheth) when -baal occurs as part of a personal name.
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1 After this, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. David took Metheg Ha’ammah [1] from the control of the Philistines.
2 He defeated Moab and measured the men with a length of rope after making them lie down on the ground. He measured two lengths to be put to death and one full length to live. The Moabites became subject to David and brought tribute.
3 David also defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when he went to restore his control [2] at the river Euphrates. 4 David captured seventeen hundred charioteers and twenty thousand foot soldiers [3] from him. David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but he left enough horses for a hundred chariots. 5 Arameans from Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, but David killed twenty-two thousand men in Aram. 6 Then David put garrisons in Damascus in the land of Aram, [4] and the Arameans became subject to David and brought tribute.
The Lord gave victory to David everywhere he went.
7 David took the gold shields that belonged to the officials of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. 8 From Betah and Berothai, [5] cities of Hadadezer, King David took large amounts of bronze.
9 Toi [6] king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer. 10 So Toi sent his son Joram [7] to King David to petition him for peace and to bless him because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him, because Toi had been at war with Hadadezer. In his hand he brought items made of silver and items of gold and items of bronze.
11 King David dedicated these things to the Lord along with the silver and gold that he had dedicated from all the nations he had subdued: 12 from Aram, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, from Amalek, and from the spoils of Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah.
13 David made a name for himself when he returned from striking eighteen thousand Edomites [8] in the Valley of Salt. 14 He put garrisons in Edom, in all of it, and all the Edomites became subject to David.
The Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. 15 David was king over all Israel, and he treated all his people with justice and fairness.
David’s Officials
16 Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army. Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the record keeper. [9]17 Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelek son of Abiathar were priests. Seraiah was the secretary. 18 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was in charge of the Kerethites and the Pelethites. The sons of David were government ministers. [10]
David and Mephibosheth
2 Samuel 9
1 David said, “Is there anyone still left from the house of Saul, to whom I may show kindness for the sake of Jonathan?”
2 There was a servant of Saul’s house named Ziba, so they summoned him to come to David.
The king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” He said, “I am.”
3 The king said, “Isn’t there still a man left who belongs to the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of God?”
Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan. He has crippled feet.”
4 The king said to him, “Where is he?”
Ziba said to the king, “He is in the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”
5 So King David sent and brought him from the house of Makir son of Ammiel from Lo Debar.
6 When Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, came to David, he bowed facedown to the ground.
David said, “Mephibosheth?” He said, “I am.”
7 David said to him, “Do not be afraid. I will certainly show kindness to you because of Jonathan, your father. I will return to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat bread at my table.”
8 He bowed down and said, “What is your servant that you have paid attention to a dead dog like me?”
9 The king called Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “Everything that belonged to Saul and to his entire house I am giving to your master’s son. 10 You are to work the soil for him, you and your sons and your servants. You are to bring in the crops, so your master’s son will have food to eat. Mephibosheth, your master’s son, will always eat bread at my table.”
(Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)
11 Ziba said to the king, “Everything that my lord the king commands his servant, your servant will do.”
So Mephibosheth began eating at the king’s table [11] like one of the king’s sons.
12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. Everyone living in Ziba’s house became servants of Mephibosheth. 13 So Mephibosheth took up residence in Jerusalem because he was always to eat at the table of the king. He was crippled in both his feet.
Footnotes
2 Samuel 8:1 This name, which may mean bridle of the mother city, seems to be a name for Gath. See 1 Chronicles 18:1.
2 Samuel 8:3 Literally his hand. The Hebrew word for hand can also mean monument.
2 Samuel 8:4 In 1 Chronicles 18:4 different statistics are reported.
2 Samuel 8:6 The land of Aram and the Aramean kingdoms occupied the territory of present-day Syria.
2 Samuel 8:8 The parallel in 1 Chronicles 18:8 has different names for these cities.
2 Samuel 8:9 Also called Tou in 1 Chronicles 18
2 Samuel 8:10 Also called Hadoram in 1 Chronicles 18:10
2 Samuel 8:13 The translation Edomites follows the reading of a few Hebrew manuscripts and some ancient versions. Most Hebrew manuscripts have the reading Arameans. In Hebrew script Edom and Aram look almost alike. The parallel text in 1 Chronicles 18:12 also identifies these enemies as Edomites.
2 Samuel 8:16 This official also served as a spokesman and chief of protocol. Like the secretary, he was the equivalent of a cabinet-level official.
2 Samuel 8:18 The Hebrew word cohen usually means priest, that is, a spiritual minister. David’s sons could not legitimately serve as priests since they were not Levites, so the term ministers here must be used in the European sense, to refer to ministers of state. In 1 Chronicles 18:17 these officials are called chief advisors at the side of the king.
2 Samuel 9:11 The ancient versions read the king’s table. This reading makes this a narrative sentence outside the quotation marks. The Hebrew text reads my table, but Mephibosheth would not be eating at Ziba’s table. If the reading my table is adopted, verse 11b must be spoken by David. David said, “Mephibosheth will eat at my table as one of the king’s sons.”
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1 It happened that when the king was living in his palace, and when the Lord had given him rest from his enemies all around, 2 the king said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I live in a house of cedar, but the Ark of God sits under tent curtains.”
3 Nathan said to the king, “Go and do everything that is in your heart, because the Lord is with you.”
4 But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan. He said, 5 “Go and tell my servant David all these things.”
The Covenant
This is what the Lord says. Are you the one to build a house for me to live in? 6 I have not lived in a house from the day I brought the people of Israel up from Egypt until today. I have been moving around in the Tent and the Dwelling. 7 I have traveled everywhere with all the people of Israel. Did I ever speak a word to any of the judges [1] of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, or ask them, “Why have you not built a house of cedar for me?”
8 You are also to say the following to my servant David.
This is what the Lord of Armies says. I took you from the pasture, from following sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you went. I have cut off all your enemies from before you. I will make your reputation great, like that of the great ones on the earth. 10 I will set up a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them there. They will dwell there, and they will not be disturbed again. Violent men will not afflict them again as they did at the beginning 11 and ever since the day I appointed judges over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies.
The Lord also declares to you that the Lord himself will make a house for you. 12 When your days are complete and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up after you your seed, [2] who will come from your own body. I will establish his kingdom. 13 He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he sins, I will discipline him with a rod used by men and with blows of the sons of men. 15 My faithful mercy will not depart from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I removed to make room for you. 16 Your house will stand firm, and your kingdom will endure forever before you. [3] Your throne will be established forever.
17 Nathan told David all the words that had been revealed in this vision.
David’s Response to the Covenant
18 Then King David went and sat before the Lord and said:
Who am I, Lord God? And what is my house that you have brought me to this point? 19 Yet this was a small thing in your eyes, Lord God. You have also spoken about the house of your servant for a long time into the future. Is this the law for the man, Lord God? [4]
20 What more can David say to you? You know your servant, Lord God. 21 Because of your word and according to the plan of your heart, you have carried out this great thing in order to make your servant aware of it. 22 Therefore, you are great, Lord God, because there is none like you. There is no God except you, in keeping with everything we have heard with our ears.
23 Who is like your people Israel, the one people on earth whom God went out to redeem for himself, to make them his people and to make a name for himself? You yourself did great and awe-inspiring things for your land in the presence of your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, in the presence of the nations and their gods. [5]24 You established your people Israel for yourself to be your people forever. You, Lord, became their God.
25 Now, Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. 26 Your name will be great forever. People will say, “The Lord of Armies is God over Israel.” The house of your servant David will be established before you.
27 You, Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, have whispered into the ear [6] of your servant, saying, “I will build a house for you.” Therefore, your servant has found the heart to pray to you this prayer. 28 Now, Lord God, you are God. Your words are truth. You have promised this good thing to your servant. 29 Now, therefore, please bless the house of your servant, so that it will endure forever in your presence. For you, Lord God, have spoken. With your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever.
Footnotes
2 Samuel 7:7 The translation follows the parallel reading in 1 Chronicles 17:6. Here the Hebrew reads tribes. In Hebrew script the words for tribes and judges look almost identical.
2 Samuel 7:12 Or your offspring or your descendent. The literal term seed is retained to point out the continuity of the messianic promises from Eve, through Abraham, David, and the kings of Judah, until they reach their fulfillment in Christ, the Seed of the Woman. To agree with the singular noun seed, the pronouns are singular throughout (he not they).
2 Samuel 7:16 The reading before you is the reading of the main Hebrew text. A few Hebrew manuscripts and the Greek Old Testament read before me.
2 Samuel 7:19 Literally this law of the man, Adonai Yahweh. This statement is cryptic, and the meaning is much debated. Most translations take it to mean something like Is this your usual way of dealing with mankind, Lord God? Martin Luther understood it to be a direct reference to Christ: This is the way of the Man (adam), who is the Lord God. Compare 1 Chronicles 17:17.
2 Samuel 7:23 The word order and agreement of the nouns in this verse is unusual and requires some rearranging in English.
2 Samuel 7:27 Or revealed into the ear. Literally you have uncovered the ear.
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17 The Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel. So all the Philistines went up to search for David. David, however, heard about it and went down to the stronghold. 18 The Philistines came and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. 19 David asked the Lord, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?”
The Lord said to David, “Go up, because I will certainly deliver the Philistines into your hand.”
20 So David went to Baal Perazim and defeated them there. He said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like a wall of water.” That is why he named that place Baal Perazim. [1]21 The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men carried them away.
22 The Philistines came up again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. 23 David inquired of the Lord, who said, “Do not go directly at them. Go around to their rear. Come upon them opposite the balsam trees. [2]24 When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then get ready, because then the Lord has gone out in front of you to strike the army of the Philistines.” 25 So David did as the Lord commanded him. He struck the Philistines from Gibeon [3] all the way to Gezer.
David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem
2 Samuel 6
1 David once again gathered all of the thirty thousand specially chosen men of Israel. 2 Then David and all the people who were with him set out and went to Baale Judah [4] to bring up the Ark of God, who is called by the name “The Lord of Armies, who sits above the cherubim.”
3 They transported the Ark of God on a new cart. They brought it out from Abinadab’s house, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 ⎣⎦ [5] with the Ark of God on it. Ahio was walking in front of the ark.
5 David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with all kinds of instruments, castanets, [6] lyres, harps, hand drums, rattles, [7] and cymbals.
6 But when they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out for the Ark of God and grabbed it because the oxen stumbled. 7 The anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his irreverence. So he died there beside the Ark of God.
8 David was angry because the Lord had burst out so violently against Uzzah, and he called that place Perez Uzzah, [8] as it is called to this day. 9 David was afraid of the Lord on that day. He said, “How can the Ark of the Lord come to me?” 10 David was not willing to move the Ark of the Lord to himself in the City of David.
So David diverted the ark to the house of Obed Edom the Gittite. 11 The Ark of the Lord remained at the house of Obed Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed Edom and his whole household. 12 David was told, “Because of the Ark of God, the Lord has blessed the house of Obed Edom and all that belongs to him.” [9]
With rejoicing, David went and brought up the Ark of God from the house of Obed Edom to the City of David. 13 When those carrying the Ark of the Lord had gone six paces, David sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf. 14 David danced with all his might before the Lord. He was wearing a linen vest. [10]15 David and the entire house of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of a ram’s horn.
16 When the Ark of the Lord arrived at the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked out the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.
17 They brought the Ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. 18 When David finished presenting the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of Armies. 19 He distributed one loaf of bread, one cake of dates, [11] and one cake of raisins to all the people, to the whole crowd from Israel, to men and women, to each and every person. Then all the people left. All of them went to their own houses, 20 and David returned to bless his house.
Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David. She said, “How the king of Israel has brought honor to himself today by exposing himself in the sight of his female servants, just as a vulgar person exposes himself!”
21 David said to Michal, “I did this before the Lord, who chose me above your father and all his house, when he appointed me leader over the people of the Lord, over Israel. I will rejoice before the Lord, 22 and I will make myself even more lowly than this. I will be humble in my own eyes, but among the servant girls you have spoken about, among them I will be honored.”
23 Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day of her death.
Footnotes
2 Samuel 5:20 Baal Perazim means lord of breakthroughs.
2 Samuel 5:23 The identification of the trees is uncertain. Other suggestions are mulberry trees, aspens, or mastic trees.
2 Samuel 5:25 The reading Gibeon is supported by the Greek Old Testament, by the parallel text in 1 Chronicles 14:16, and by the geography of the campaign. The reading of the Hebrew text is Geba.
2 Samuel 6:2 Also called Baalah Judah. It is another name for Kiriath Jearim.
2 Samuel 6:4 At the point marked by half-brackets, the main Hebrew text has additional words: 4 They brought it with the Ark of God out of Abinadab’s house, which was on the hill. These words seem to be an accidental duplication from verse 3. Some Hebrew and Greek manuscripts do not include these words.
2 Samuel 6:5 Literally woods of fir trees. Such instruments are not mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament.
2 Samuel 6:5 Or sistrums. A sistrum is a loop with metal rattlers on it. It is played like a tambourine.
2 Samuel 6:8 Perez Uzzah means outburst against Uzzah.
2 Samuel 6:12 Some manuscripts of the ancient versions add a sentence here: And David said, “I will bring back the blessing to my house.”
2 Samuel 6:14 Hebrew ephod. The ephod was usually a vest-like garment for priests.
2 Samuel 6:19 The meaning of the term is uncertain.
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1 When Saul’s son heard that Abner had died at Hebron, he lost his courage, and all Israel panicked.
2 Saul’s son had two men who were commanders of raiding bands. One was named Ba’anah; [1] the second was Rekab. They were Benjaminites, sons of Rimmon from Be’eroth. (Be’eroth is considered part of Benjamin. 3 The Be’erothites fled to Gittaim. They have lived there as aliens until the present time.)
4 Jonathan, the son of Saul, had a son with crippled feet. This son had been five years old when the report had come from Jezre’el about Saul and Jonathan. His caregiver picked him up and fled. While she was hurrying to escape, he fell and became crippled. His name was Mephibosheth. [2]
5 Ba’anah and Rekab, the sons of Rimmon from Be’eroth, went out during the heat of the day and came to the house of Ishbosheth while he was lying down for his midday rest. 6 ⎣The doorkeeper of the house had been cleaning wheat, but she had grown drowsy and fallen asleep. So Rekab and his brother Ba’anah slipped in.⎦ [3] They came into the inner part of the house as if they were coming to get wheat. They stabbed Ishbosheth in the stomach. Then Rekab and his brother Ba’anah escaped. 7 They had gone into the house while Ishbosheth was lying on his bed in the room where he rested. They struck him, killed him, and cut off his head. Taking his head with them, they traveled on the Arabah Road all night.
8 They brought the head of Ishbosheth to David at Hebron, and they said to the king, “Look! Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life. This day the Lord has given my lord the king vengeance on Saul and his offspring.”
9 David answered Rekab and his brother Ba’anah, the sons of Rimmon from Be’eroth, “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from every evil, 10 the man who told me, ‘Look! Saul is dead,’ thought that he was bringing good news, but I seized him and killed him at Ziklag. That is what I gave him for his ‘good news.’ 11 So now that wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his own bed, will I not require his blood from your hand! I will wipe you off the face of the earth.” 12 Then David gave the orders to his young men, and they killed them, cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them beside the pool at Hebron. They took the head of Ishbosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner in Hebron.
David Becomes King of All Israel
2 Samuel 5
1 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron. They said, “Look, we are your flesh and blood. [4]2 Day after day, even when Saul was king, you were the one leading Israel out to battle and back again. And you are the one to whom the Lord said, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel. You will become leader over Israel.’”
3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron in the presence of the Lord. They anointed David king over Israel. 4 David was thirty years old when he became king, and he ruled as king for forty years. 5 He was king over Judah at Hebron for seven years and six months. For thirty-three years he was king over all Israel and Judah at Jerusalem.
The Capture of Jerusalem
6 The king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, who were living in the land. The Jebusites said to David, “You will not get in here, because you could be kept out even by the blind and lame, who say, ‘David will not come in here.’” 7 Nevertheless, David captured the stronghold of Zion, which became the City of David.
8 David said on that day, “Anyone who attacks the Jebusites must go up through the water shaft [5] to get at those lame and blind enemies of David.” Therefore the saying came about, “The blind and the lame will not come into the house.”
9 David lived in the stronghold and called it the City of David. David built up all sides of the stronghold from the Millo [6] inward. 10 David kept getting greater and greater, because the Lord, the God of Armies, was with him.
Events of David’s Reign
11 Hiram king of Tyre sent representatives to David with cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David. 12 David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had lifted up his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.
13 David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he had come from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to David. 14 These are the names of those born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 16 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
Footnotes
2 Samuel 4:2 The stop mark ′ is inserted into some Hebrew names as a pronunciation guide. The double vowel should not be read as one syllable, Bay-nah, but as two syllables, Bay-a-nah.
2 Samuel 4:4 His name was originally Meribbaal or Memphibaal, but the books of Samuel substitute –bosheth, which means shame, for –baal in personal names. See 1 Chronicles 8:33-34.
2 Samuel 4:6 The sentence in half-brackets is not included in the Hebrew text but appears in the Greek Old Testament.
2 Samuel 5:1 Literally your bone and flesh
2 Samuel 5:8 The meaning of this term is uncertain.
2 Samuel 5:9 Millo appears to be derived from the Hebrew word for fill. It probably refers to the stone rampart that supported the palace area.
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1 After this, David asked the Lord, “Should I go up into one of the cities of Judah?”
The Lord said to him, “Go up.”
David said, “Where shall I go up?”
The Lord said, “To Hebron.”
2 So David went there with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezre’el and Abigail of Carmel, who was Nabal’s widow. 3 David also brought along the men who were with him, each man together with his household, and they settled in the towns around Hebron.
4 The men of Judah came there and anointed David to be king over the house of Judah.
David was told, “The men of Jabesh Gilead are the ones who buried Saul.” 5 So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead and said to them, “You are blessed by the Lord because you performed this act of mercy and faithfulness for your master Saul by burying him. 6 Now may the Lord deal with you with mercy and faithfulness. I also will treat you well because you have done this. 7 Now let your hands be strong and courageous, for your master Saul is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me to be king over them.”
8 However, Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ishbosheth, [1] the son of Saul, to Mahanaim 9 and made him king over Gilead, Ashuri, [2] and Jezre’el, and over Ephraim, Benjamin, and all Israel. 10 Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned for two years.
But the house of Judah followed David. 11 David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah for seven years and six months.
12 Abner son of Ner and the followers of Ishbosheth son of Saul went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. 13 Joab son of Zeruiah and the followers of David went out and confronted them at the pool [3] of Gibeon. They took up positions on the opposite sides of the pool.
14 Abner said to Joab, “The young men should get up and compete in front of us.”
Joab said, “Yes, let them do so.”
15 So twelve representatives for Benjamin and Ishbosheth son of Saul got up and crossed over to confront twelve representatives for David. 16 Each one grabbed his opponent’s head and thrust his sword into his side. Together, they all fell. So that place, which is near Gibeon, was called Helkath Hatsurim. [4]17 A fierce battle took place that day. Abner and the men of Israel were beaten by the followers of David.
18 Three sons of Zeruiah were there, namely, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel was a fast runner, like one of the gazelles out in the fields. 19 Asahel pursued Abner and did not turn aside to the right or to the left from his pursuit.
20 Abner looked behind him and said, “Is that you, Asahel?”
He said, “Yes, it is.”
21 Abner said to him, “Turn to your right hand or to your left and capture one of the young men for yourself and strip off his equipment for yourself.” But Asahel would not turn aside.
22 So Abner warned him again, “Turn aside. Stop following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How could I face Joab your brother?” 23 But Asahel refused to turn aside, so Abner struck him in the stomach with the pointed butt of his spear. The spear came out his back, and he fell down and died right there. Everyone stopped and just stood there when they came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died.
24 But Joab and Abishai keep pursuing Abner. The sun was going down when they came to the hill of Ammah in front of Giah, on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. 25 The Benjaminites rallied together behind Abner, joined in one formation, and took their stand on the top of one hill.
26 Abner called to Joab, “Will the sword continue to devour? Do you not know that it will be bitter when all this is over? How long will you delay telling the people to stop pursuing their brothers?”
27 Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely it would have been morning before the people would have given up pursuing their brothers.” 28 So Joab blew the ram’s horn, and all the people stopped pursuing Israel. They did not continue to fight.
29 Abner and his men traveled through the Arabah all that night. They crossed the Jordan, marched through the entire region of Bithron, [5] and came to Mahanaim.
30 Joab returned from pursuing Abner and gathered together all his troops. Besides Asahel, nineteen of David’s men were missing. 31 The followers of David had struck dead three hundred sixty of Abner’s men from the tribe of Benjamin. 32 The men of Judah picked up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father at Bethlehem.
Joab and his men marched all night and arrived at Hebron as it was becoming light.
2 Samuel 3
1 The war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time. David kept getting stronger, and the house of Saul kept getting weaker.
David’s Sons
2 Sons were born to David at Hebron. His firstborn was Amnon, who was born to Ahinoam from Jezre’el. 3 His second was Kileab, who was born to Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel. The third was Absalom, who was the son of Ma’akah, the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur. 4 The fourth was Adonijah, the son of Haggith. The fifth was Shephatiah, the son of Abital. 5 The sixth, Ithream, was born to David’s wife Eglah. These were born to David in Hebron.
Abner and Ishbosheth
6 While the war was going on between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner kept gaining power within the house of Saul.
7 Saul had a concubine named Rizpah daughter of Aiah. Ishbosheth said to Abner, “Why have you gone to the concubine of my father?”
8 Abner became very angry because of the words of Ishbosheth and said, “Am I a dog’s head that belongs to Judah? To this day I have acted with loyalty toward the house of your father Saul, to his relatives, and to his friends. In addition, I have not handed you over to David, but today you make accusations against me concerning this woman! 9 May God punish me severely and double it, [6] if I do not do for David what the Lord has sworn about him 10 by transferring the kingdom from the house of Saul and establishing the throne of David over both Israel and Judah, from Dan to Beersheba.” 11 Ishbosheth was not able to say anything to Abner anymore because he was afraid of him.
Abner and David
12 Abner sent messengers on his behalf to David. They said, “Whose land is it? Make a covenant with me. Look, my hand is with you to turn the allegiance of all Israel to you.”
13 David said, “Good. I will make a covenant with you, but I require one thing from you. You will not see my face unless you bring to me Michal, the daughter of Saul, when you come.”
14 David sent messengers to Ishbosheth, Saul’s son. They delivered this demand: “Give me my wife Michal, whom I obtained as my wife with a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.”
15 Ishbosheth sent and took her away from her husband, Paltiel son of Laish. 16 Her husband accompanied her to Bahurim, weeping all the way, but Abner told him, “Go back,” so he went home.
17 Abner also delivered the following message to the elders of Israel: “Day after day you have been seeking to have David as king over you. 18 Now do it, because the Lord said to David, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will rescue [7] my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.’”
19 Abner also spoke to the tribe of Benjamin. Then he spoke to David in Hebron about everything that Israel and all the house of Benjamin had approved.
20 Abner and twenty men along with him came to David at Hebron, and David held a feast for Abner and his men. 21 Abner said to David, “I will go and gather all Israel to my lord the king. They will make a covenant with you. You will rule over all that your heart desires.” David sent Abner away in peace.
Abner and Joab
22 Just then the soldiers of David and Joab came back from a raid. They brought a large amount of plunder with them. Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, because David had sent him away in peace. 23 When Joab and all the army with him arrived, Joab was informed that Abner son of Ner had come to the king and that David had sent him away in peace.
24 So Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Abner came to you. Why have you sent him away? You let him get away! 25 You know that Abner son of Ner came to deceive you and to learn about your comings and goings and everything that you are doing.”
26 Joab left David and sent messengers after Abner. They brought him back from the cistern at Sirah without David’s knowledge. 27 So Abner returned to Hebron, and Joab took him aside into the gatehouse to speak with him. There he stabbed him in the stomach. So Abner was killed because of the blood of Joab’s brother Asahel.
28 Afterward David heard about it and said, “I and my kingdom are guiltless before the Lord forever concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner. 29 May his blood splash down on the head of Joab and on the entire house of his father. May the house of Joab never lack a man who has an oozing sore, who is a leper, who holds a spindle, [8] who falls by the sword, or who has no bread.”
30 Joab and his brother Abishai killed Abner because he had caused the death of their brother Asahel during the battle at Gibeon.
31 David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothing. Put on sackcloth and mourn for Abner.” King David walked behind the stretcher [9] that was carrying his body. 32 They buried Abner at Hebron, and the king wept loudly at the grave of Abner. All the people also wept. 33 The king lamented over Abner, “Should Abner have died as a fool dies? 34 Your hands were not tied up, and your feet were not bound with iron shackles. You have fallen as one falls before the wicked.” All the people continued to weep over him.
35 All the people came to try to persuade David to eat on that day, but David swore, “May God punish me severely and double it, if I taste bread or anything else before the sun goes down.”
36 All the people took notice and approved of this, as they approved of everything that the king did. 37 All the people, all Israel, knew on that day that it was not the king’s idea to kill Abner son of Ner. 38 The king said to his servants, “Do you not know that a great commander has fallen this day in Israel? 39 Today I am weak, even though I am the anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too hard for me. I pray that the Lord will pay back the evildoer in proportion to his wickedness.”
Footnotes
2 Samuel 2:8 Ishbosheth means man of shame. There is evidence (1 Chronicles 8:33-34) that his name originally was Ishbaal, man of Baal or man of the lord. In 2 Samuel bosheth, which means shame, is sometimes substituted for baal in personal names.
2 Samuel 2:9 Ashuri is the reading of the Hebrew. Ashuri is not the name of a known place. Perhaps this is a reference to the tribe of Asher. The Syriac and Latin read Geshur, a reading that makes geographic sense.
2 Samuel 2:13 Or reservoir
2 Samuel 2:16 The meaning of this name is uncertain. It may mean Place of Sides or Place of Opponents or Field of Blades.
2 Samuel 2:29 The meaning of the Hebrew word bithron is uncertain. It may refer to a geographic region, or it may mean all morning long.
2 Samuel 3:9 Literally may God do this to Abner and even more
2 Samuel 3:18 The translation follows the ancient versions. The Hebrew reads he will rescue.
2 Samuel 3:29 That is, one who does spinning, which was typically women’s work
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1 After the death of Saul, when David had returned from defeating the Amalekites, he stayed at Ziklag for two days. 2 Then, on the third day, a man arrived from Saul’s camp. His clothing was torn, and there was dirt on his head. When he approached David, he fell to the ground and bowed down to him.
3 David said to him, “Where are you coming from?”
He answered, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.”
4 David said to him, “What was the outcome? Tell me!”
The man said, “The people fled from the battle. Many of the people were struck down and died. Even Saul and his son Jonathan have died.”
5 David said to the young man who was talking to him, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”
6 The young man who was talking to him said, “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa. There I saw Saul, leaning on his spear. The chariots and charioteers [1] were closing in on him. 7 When Saul looked behind him, he saw me and called to me and I answered, ‘I am here.’
8 “He said to me, ‘Who are you?’
“I said to him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’
9 “Saul said to me, ‘Please stand beside me and put me to death. I am losing consciousness, but I am still alive.’ [2]10 So I stood beside him and ended his life, because I knew that he could not live after being so severely wounded. I took the crown on his head and the armlet on his arm, and I brought them here to my lord.”
11 David and all the men with him grabbed their clothing and tore it. 12 Until evening they mourned, wept, and fasted for Saul, for his son Jonathan, for the people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
13 David asked the young man who had told him about Saul, “Where are you from?”
He said, “I am an Amalekite, who lives here as an alien.”
14 David asked him, “Why were you not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?”
15 David called to one of the young men, “Come here. Kill him!” He struck him down, and he died.
16 David said to him, “Your blood will be on your own head, because your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I have killed the Lord’s anointed.’”
David’s Lament
17 David mourned with this funeral song about Saul and his son Jonathan. 18 He gave orders to teach the men of Judah this song, which was named “The Bow,” so it was recorded in the Book of Jashar. [3]
19 The splendor of Israel has been slain upon your high places. How the mighty warriors have fallen! 20 You must not tell about it in Gath. You must not publish it in the streets of Ashkelon. If you do, the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice. The daughters of the uncircumcised will celebrate.
21 You mountains of Gilboa, may no dew or rain fall on you. May your fields produce no special offerings. [4] For there the shield of the mighty was desecrated. The shield of Saul was not anointed with oil.
22 From the blood of the slain, from the fat [5] of the mighty warriors, the bow of Jonathan did not turn back, and the sword of Saul never returned empty.
23 Saul and Jonathan were the most loved and admired during their lives, and in their deaths they were not separated. They were swifter than eagles. They were stronger than lions. 24 Daughters of Israel, weep over Saul. He clothed you in scarlet and luxury. He provided gold ornaments for your clothing.
25 How the mighty warriors have fallen in the midst of battle! Jonathan lies slain on your high places! 26 I grieve over you, my brother Jonathan! You were very dear to me. Your love was more wonderful to me than the love of women. 27 How the mighty warriors have fallen! The weapons of war have perished!
Footnotes
2 Samuel 1:6 Many translate this word horsemen, but since there is no evidence that cavalry was used in battle at this time, the term likely refers to the occupants of the chariots.
2 Samuel 1:9 The meaning of the word translated losing consciousness is uncertain.
2 Samuel 1:18 Or the Book of the Upright
2 Samuel 1:21 The whole line reads fields of special offerings.
2 Samuel 1:22 Fat is sometimes a term for strength in Hebrew. The combination of blood and fat may picture the fallen warriors as sacrifices.
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Heading
For the choir director. A psalm by David.
When Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone to Bathsheba. [1]
David’s Plea for Forgiveness
1 Be gracious to me, God, according to your mercy. Erase my acts of rebellion according to the greatness of your compassion. 2 Scrub me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.
David’s Confession
3 For I admit my rebellious acts. My sin is always in front of me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned, and I have done this evil in your eyes. So you are justified when you sentence me. You are blameless when you judge. 5 Certainly, I was guilty when I was born. I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
David’s Need for Renewal
6 Since you desire truth on the inside, in my hidden heart you teach me wisdom.
7 Remove my sin with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones you have crushed celebrate. 9 Hide your face from my sins. Erase all my guilty deeds. 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God. Renew an unwavering spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence. Do not take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Sustain me with a willing spirit.
David’s Pledge of Renewed Service
13 I will teach rebels your ways, and sinners will turn to you. 14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, the God who saves me. My tongue will shout for joy about your righteousness. 15 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 For you do not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it. You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 The sacrifices God wants are a broken spirit. A broken and crushed heart, O God, you will not despise.
David’s Prayer for the People
18 As it pleases you, do good for Zion. Build up the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then you will be pleased with righteous sacrifices, burnt offerings and whole offerings. Then bulls will be offered up on your altar.
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1 God, God the Lord, has spoken. He calls to the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. 2 From Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined. 3 Our God comes and he will not be silent. Fire devours in front of him. Around him a storm rages. 4 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth to judge his people. 5 “Gather to me my favored ones, who make a covenant with me by sacrifice.” 6 So the heavens proclaim his righteousness, because God himself is judge. Interlude
The Lord’s Charges Against Them
7 Listen, my people, and let me speak, O Israel. Then I will testify against you: I am God, your God.
Hypocritical Sacrifices Are Useless
8 It is not because of your sacrifices that I rebuke you or because of your burnt offerings that are always in front of me. 9 I do not need to take a bull from your barn or goats from your pens, 10 because every animal in the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand mountains. 11 I know every bird in the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is with me. 12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, because the world is mine, and all that fills it. 13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or do I drink the blood of goats?
Sincere Sacrifices Bring Blessing
14 Sacrifice a thank offering to God, and fulfill your vows to the Most High. 15 Call on me in the day of distress. I will deliver you, and you will honor me.
Treacherous Deeds Bring Destruction
16 But to the wicked, God says: What right do you have to recite my statutes or to take up my covenant with your mouth? 17 As for you—you hate discipline, and you throw my words behind your back. 18 If you see a thief, you approve of him, and you cast your lot with adulterers. 19 You devote your mouth to evil, and your tongue weaves deceit. 20 You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother’s son.
The Verdict
21 These things you have done, and I kept silent. You thought I was just like you. I will indict you and accuse you to your face. 22 Now consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, and there will be no one to rescue you.
The Way to Escape
23 The one who sacrifices a thank offering honors me, and he sets up the way by which I will show him the salvation of God.
Footnotes
Psalm 50:1 Asaph, a leading musician, was a contemporary of David.
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Heading
For the choir director. By the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
Introduction
1 Hear this, all you peoples. Pay attention, all you inhabitants of this world, 2 all you children of Adam, all mankind, rich and poor alike. 3 My mouth will speak wisdom. The meditation of my heart will give understanding. 4 I will listen carefully to wise teaching. With a lyre I will explain deep truths.
The Limitations of Riches
5 Why should I fear days of trouble, days when the wickedness of my pursuers surrounds me? [1] 6 They trust in their wealth. They place their confidence in the abundance of their riches. 7 But no one can by any means redeem himself. [2] He cannot give God a ransom for himself— 8 (Yes, the ransom for their souls is costly. Any payment would fall short.) [3] 9 —so that he could live on forever and not see the pit. 10 Yes, we can see that wise men die. The fool and the senseless alike perish, and they leave their wealth to others. 11 They think their houses will remain forever, their dwellings for generation after generation [4] because they named lands after themselves. 12 But man, though he has riches, does not even spend a night here. He is like the animals that perish. 13 This way of theirs is foolishness, but their followers approve of what they say. Interlude 14 They are like a flock destined for the grave. Death will be their shepherd. The upright will rule over them in the morning. Their bodies will be consumed by the grave, far from their mansions. [5]
The Limitless Power of God
15 But surely God will redeem my life from the power of the grave. Yes, he will take me to himself. Interlude
Review and Conclusion
16 Do not be afraid when a man grows rich, when the glory of his house increases, 17 because when he dies, he cannot take anything along. His glory will not go down with him. 18 Throughout his life he congratulates himself: “People praise you because you have done so well for yourself.” 19 He will go to the gathering place of his fathers. They will never see the light! 20 A man who has riches but does not understand is like the animals that perish.
Footnotes
Psalm 49:5 The line is unclear. The Hebrew reads the wickedness of my heels surrounds me.
Psalm 49:7 The translation follows a few Hebrew manuscripts. Many Hebrew manuscripts read he cannot redeem a brother.
Psalm 49:8 The line is cryptic: it/he ceases forever. This may mean that no payment is ever enough or that at death the man’s earthly life ends forever.
Psalm 49:11 The translation follows the Hebrew. Ancient versions read their tombs will remain their houses forever.
Psalm 49:14 The Hebrew of this line reads their form for consuming of Sheol, from a lofty residence to him. The meaning is unclear.
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Heading
For the choir director. By the Sons of Korah.
According to alamoth. [1] A song.
The Earth Shaken
1 God is our refuge and strength, a helper who can always be found in times of trouble. 2 That is why we will not fear when the earth dissolves and when the mountains tumble into the heart of the sea. 3 Its waters roar and foam. The mountains quake when it rises. Interlude
A City Unshaken
4 There is a river—its streams bring joy to the city of God, to the holy dwelling of the Most High. 5 God is in her. She will not fall. God will help her at daybreak. 6 Nations are in turmoil. Kingdoms fall. God raises his voice. The earth melts. 7 The Lord of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is a fortress for us. Interlude 8 Come, look at the works of the Lord. What a wasteland he has made of the earth! 9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He shatters the bow. He cuts up the spear. He burns the carts [2] with fire. 10 “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted on the earth.”
11 The Lord of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is a fortress for us. Interlude
Psalm 47
The King’s Empire
Heading
For the choir director. By the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
Praise the Great King of All the Earth!
1 All you peoples, clap your hands! Shout to God! Sing a loud song!
2 Yes, the Lord Most High is awesome. He is the great King over all the earth! 3 He subdues peoples under us and nations under our feet. 4 He chooses our inheritance for us. It is the pride of Jacob, whom he loves. Interlude 5 God has ascended with a joyful shout. The Lord goes up with the sound of the ram’s horn.
6 Make music for God! Make music! Make music for our King! Make music! 7 For God is the King of all the earth. Make music for him with a wise song.
8 God reigns as king over the nations. God is seated on his holy throne. 9 The nobles of the peoples come together as the people of the God of Abraham. Yes, the shields of the earth [3] belong to God. He is greatly exalted.
Psalm 48
The Security of the King’s Holy City
Heading
A song. A psalm by the Sons of Korah.
Call to Praise
1 The Lord is great. He deserves to be praised in the city of our God, on his holy mountain. 2 His mountain is lofty and beautiful, the joy of the whole earth. Mount Zion, the northern mountain, is the city of the Great King. 3 God is in her citadels. He is famous as her fortress.
Defeat of the Enemies
4 Look! See! The kings came together. They advanced together. 5 They saw. Yes, they were amazed. They were terrified. They were put to flight. 6 Trembling seized them there, pain like a woman giving birth. 7 You shattered them with an east wind, like ships of Tarshish.
Thanksgiving
8 What we have heard, we now have also seen: In the city of the Lord of Armies, in the city of our God, Interlude God establishes her forever. 9 Inside your temple, O God, we meditate on your mercy. 10 Your praise, O God, reaches to the ends of the earth, just as your fame does. Righteousness fills your right hand. 11 Mount Zion rejoices. The daughters of Judah [4] celebrate because of your judgments. 12 Go around Zion. Yes, go all the way around her. Count her towers. 13 Consider her rampart. [5] View her citadels, so that you may tell the next generation about them. 14 For this God is our God forever and ever. He will guide us beyond death. [6]
Footnotes
Psalm 46:1 Alamoth is a musical term of uncertain meaning. It probably refers to a method of tuning the instruments.
Psalm 46:9 Or shields. If we keep the reading carts, it refers to the two-wheeled supply carts, not to the war chariots.
Psalm 47:9 Or, less literally, the rulers of the earth
Psalm 48:11 That is, the towns around Jerusalem and their inhabitants
Psalm 48:13 Or moat
Psalm 48:14 Some Hebrew manuscripts read guide us forever.
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For the choir director. According to “Lilies.” [1]
By the Sons of Korah. A maskil. A love song.
Introduction
1 My heart is bubbling over with a beautiful theme. I am reciting my works for the King. My tongue is the pen of a rapid writer.
The Glory of the Royal Groom
2 You are the most beautiful of the sons of Adam. Grace is poured out on your lips. Therefore God has blessed you forever.
3 Strap your sword on your thigh, you mighty warrior, in your splendor and your majesty. 4 In your majesty advance successfully. Ride forward in the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness. Let your right hand teach you awesome deeds. 5 Your arrows are sharpened. Let peoples fall beneath you. Your arrows are in the heart of the king’s enemies.
6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice. 7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy more than any of your companions.
8 Myrrh, aloes, and cassia perfume all your garments. From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad. 9 Daughters of kings are among your honored attendants. The royal wife [2] stands at your right hand in gold from Ophir.
The Beauty of the Bride
10 Hear, O daughter, look and listen. Forget your people and your father’s house, 11 because the king desires your beauty. Because he is your lord, bow down to him. 12 Then the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift. The richest people will seek your favor. 13 The princess, who waits inside, is all glorious. Her dress is interwoven with gold. 14 In embroidered garments she is led to the king. Virgins who follow her as attendants are brought to you. 15 They are brought with joyful celebration. They enter the palace of the king.
The Glory of the King’s Children
16 Your sons will take the place of your fathers. You will make them princes in all the earth. 17 I will preserve the memory of your name through all generations. Therefore peoples will praise you forever and ever.
Footnotes
Psalm 45:1 This may be the name of the tune.
Psalm 45:9 This may refer to the queen mother (Song 3:11). The next section is addressed to the King’s bride.
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Heading
For the choir director. By the Sons of Korah. A maskil.
Past Victory
1 God, our ears have heard. Our fathers have told us the work you performed in their days, in days long ago. 2 By your hand you drove out the nations, but you planted your people. You crushed the peoples, but you sent your people forward. 3 For it was not by their sword that they took possession of the land. It was not their arm that saved them. It was your right hand and your arm, and the light from your face, because you took pleasure in them.
Present Trust
4 You are the one who is my King, O God. Command victories for Jacob. 5 Through you we drive back our foes. Through your name we trample our adversaries. 6 For I do not trust in my bow, and my sword does not save me. 7 But you save us from our foes, and you put those who hate us to shame. 8 In God we make our boast all day, and we will praise your name forever. Interlude
Present Defeat
9 But now you have rejected and humbled us, and you do not go out with our armies. 10 You made us turn back before the foe, and those who hate us have taken plunder for themselves. 11 You give us up for food like sheep, and you have scattered us among the nations. 12 You sold your people for no great price, and you have not profited from their sale. 13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, scorn and ridicule to those around us. 14 You have made us a laughingstock among the nations, a reason for the peoples to shake their heads. 15 All day my disgrace is right in front of me, and the shame on my face covers me, 16 because of the voice of the slanderer and reviler, because of the enemy and avenger. 17 All this came on us, though we had not forgotten you. We had not been false to your covenant. 18 Our hearts had not turned back. Our steps had not slipped off your path. 19 But you crushed us and made us a home for jackals, and you covered us with the shadow of death. 20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, 21 would not God have discovered this, since he knows the secrets of the heart? 22 Yet for your sake we are killed all day long. We are considered sheep to be slaughtered.
Present Plea
23 Get up! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Wake up! Do not reject us forever. 24 Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our misery and our oppression? 25 For our souls bow down to the dust. Our bellies cling to the earth. 26 Stand up! Help us! Redeem us because of your mercy.
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For the choir director. A maskil [2] by the Sons of Korah. [3]
Longing for the Temple
1 As a doe pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and appear before God? [4] 3 My tears have been food for me day and night, while people are saying to me all day, “Where is your God?”
4 I am overcome by my emotions whenever I remember these things: how I used to arrive with the crowd, as I led the procession to the house of God, with loud shouts of thanksgiving, with the crowd celebrating the festival.
Refrain
5 Why are you so depressed, [5] O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I will again praise him for salvation from his presence. [6]
Remembrance of the Lord
6 My God, my soul is depressed within me. Therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, from the heights of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your rapids. All your breakers and your waves have swept over me. 8 By day the Lord commands his mercy, and at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go around mourning because of oppression by the enemy?” 10 It is like breaking my bones when my foes taunt me. All day long they say to me, “Where is your God?”
Refrain
11 Why are you so depressed, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I will again praise him for my salvation from the face of my God. [7]
Psalm 43
A Plea for Vindication
1 Judge me justly, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation. Rescue me from the deceitful, wicked man. 2 I know you are God, my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go around mourning because of oppression by the enemy? 3 Send out your light and your truth. Let them guide me. Let them bring me to your holy mountain, to your dwelling. 4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and gladness. Then I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.
Refrain
5 Why are you so depressed, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I will again praise him for my salvation from the face of my God. [8]
Footnotes
Psalm 42:1 These two psalms are treated as a unit since they are united by a common theme, a common refrain, and a single heading.
Psalm 42:1 Maskil is a musical term of uncertain meaning. It may be a skillful song or a song that gives wisdom. This form is used also in Psalms 44 and 45.
Psalm 42:1 The Sons of Korah were a group of levitical musicians, who apparently were descendants of the Korah who rebelled against Moses. In this section of Psalms, Psalms 42–49 were written by them.
Psalm 42:2 A different reading of the Hebrew verb yields the translation see the face of God.
Psalm 42:5 Literally bowed down or cast down
Psalm 42:5 Many translations emend this verse to agree with verses 42:11 and 43:5.
Psalm 42:11 Literally the salvation of my face and my God
Psalm 43:5 Literally the salvation of my face and my God
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7 After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger burns against you and your two friends, because none of you have spoken correctly about me, as my servant Job did. 8 So now, take seven bulls and seven rams for yourselves, go to my servant Job, and offer up a whole burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, so that I will look upon him with favor and not deal with you on the basis of your foolishness, for none of you have spoken correctly about me, as my servant Job did.”
9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Na’amathite went and did as the Lord had told them, and the Lord looked on Job with favor.
10 Then the Lord restored Job’s fortunes, after he had prayed on behalf of his friends. The Lord gave Job twice as much of everything as he had before.
11 Then all his brothers and sisters and all his acquaintances came to Job. They dined with him in his house, and they showed him sympathy and comforted him concerning the tragedy that the Lord had brought on him. Each of them gave him one qesitah [1] of silver and one gold ring.
12 The Lord blessed the last part of Job’s life more than the first part, so he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.
13 He had seven sons and three daughters. 14 He named his first daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren Happuk. 15 In the whole land there were no women as beautiful as the daughters of Job. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
16 After this, Job lived one hundred forty years and saw his sons and their children to the fourth generation.
17 Job died, old and fulfilled by a long life.
Footnotes
Job 42:11 A qesitah is an ancient unit for measuring weight. Its value is unknown.
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6 Then the Lord answered Job from the violent storm. He said:
7 Get ready for action like a man! Then I will ask you questions, and you will inform me.
8 Will you really deny that I am just? Will you convict me, so that you can be acquitted? 9 Do you have an arm like God’s arm? Does your voice thunder like his? 10 Go ahead, please. Adorn yourself with dignity and honor. Clothe yourself with splendor and majesty. 11 Pour out your overflowing anger. Look at every proud man and bring him low. 12 Look at every proud man and humble him. Trample the wicked where they stand. 13 Bury them all together in the dust. Cover their faces in the hidden place. 14 Then I will praise you and admit that your right hand can save you.
Behemoth
15 Take a look at Behemoth, [1] which I made just as I made you. He eats grass like cattle. 16 Would you look at the power of his hips and the strength of the muscles of his belly! 17 He stiffens his tail [2] like a cedar. The tendons of his thighs [3] are tight. 18 His bones are tubes of bronze. His skeleton is like bars of iron. 19 He stands at the head of God’s creatures, but his Maker draws near with his sword. [4] 20 Yes, the mountains carry their floodwaters [5] to him. All the wild animals play there. 21 He lies under the lotus plants, hidden among the reeds in the marsh. 22 The lotus plants cover him with their shadows. Poplars by the stream surround him. 23 The river rages, but he is not frightened. He remains calm even if the Jordan bursts into his mouth. 24 Can people capture him by his eyes? Can they pierce his nose with a hook?
Leviathan
Job 41
1 Can you pull out Leviathan [6] with a fishhook? [7]
Can you tie down his tongue with a rope?
2 Can you put a reed in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? 3 Will he keep asking for your favor or speak tender words to you? 4 Will he sign a contract with you so that you keep him as your servant forever? 5 Can you play with him like a bird? Can you put him on a leash for your girls? 6 Do the merchants barter for Leviathan’s meat? Do they divide it up with the other tradesmen? 7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons and his head with fishing spears? 8 If you lay your hand on him, you will never forget the battle and won’t do it again. 9 Listen! Any hope you have of overcoming him is unfounded. Wouldn’t you be knocked down by the mere sight of him? 10 No one is fierce enough to risk stirring him up. [8]
Who then can stand before me? 11 Who can confront me and demand that I repay him? Everything under the whole sky belongs to me.
12 I will tell about the parts of his body. I will describe his power and his beautiful design. 13 Who can strip off his outer covering? Who can touch his double layer of armor? 14 Who dares to open the doors to his mouth, which is surrounded with terrifying teeth? 15 His back [9] is like rows of shields, which are tightly joined together. 16 They are so close together not even a breath of air can pass between them. 17 They are fastened to each other, so they stick together and cannot be separated. 18 His snorts are flashes of light. His eyes are like the eyelids of dawn. 19 Blazing torches come out of his mouth. Sparks of fire shoot out. 20 Smoke pours out from his nostrils like a pot boiling over a reed fire. 21 His breath sets coals on fire, and flames come out of his mouth. 22 Strength dwells in his neck. Despair dances ahead of him. 23 The folds of his flesh are compact, solid and immovable. 24 His heart is as hard as rock, as hard as a lower millstone. 25 When he rises up, the mighty are afraid. When he thrashes around, they retreat. 26 If someone strikes him with a sword, it has no effect. Neither do spears, arrows, or javelins. 27 To him iron is like straw; bronze is like rotten wood. 28 Arrows do not make him flee. To him sling stones are like chaff; 29 clubs are like stubble. He laughs at the shaking of a javelin. 30 His underbelly is like sharp pieces of broken pottery. It leaves marks in the mud like a threshing sledge. 31 He makes the depths boil like a cooking pot. He makes the sea like a cauldron of ointment. 32 He leaves a shiny wake behind him. The deep looks like a white-haired man. 33 There is nothing at all like him on earth, a creature without fear. 34 He looks down on everything that is lofty. He is king over every proud creature!
Job’s Confession
Job 42
1 Job responded to the Lord. He said:
2 I know that you can do all things. No purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 You asked, “Who is this who spreads darkness over my plans with his ignorant words?” I have made statements about things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. 4 You said, “Listen now and I will speak. I will ask you questions, and you will inform me.” 5 My ear heard about you. Now my eyes see you. 6 So I despise myself. I repent in dust and ashes.
Footnotes
Job 40:15 Or the Beast. This is a poetic description, which does not exactly match any known animal, though the hippopotamus has been suggested as the closest match. Other suggestions are the elephant or some form of dinosaur.
Job 40:17 Or penis. The Hebrew word zanav, which most often means tail, can be used as a euphemism for penis.
Job 40:17 Or testicles. The Targum, the Vulgate, Luther, and the King James Version all support the interpretation testicles.
Job 40:19 Or his Maker provided him with his sword
Job 40:20 Or food. The word occurs only here. The translation accepts the view that it is derived from a verb that means flow violently. Many translations accept a derivation from a verb that means produce.
Job 41:1 Or the Dragon. This is a poetic description that does not exactly match any animal, though the crocodile is the closest match. Another suggestion that has been made is some form of dinosaur. Dragon (Greek: drakon) is the translation of the Greek Old Testament. The term has satanic overtones. See Revelation 12.
Job 41:1 English 41:1-8 is equivalent to Hebrew 40:25-32. English 41:9 is Hebrew 41:1.
Job 41:10 Or He is fierce. No one stirs him up.
Job 41:15 The translation follows the ancient versions. The Hebrew reading is his pride.
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1 Then the Lord responded to Job out of a violent storm. He said:
2 Who is this who spreads darkness over my plans with his ignorant words? 3 Get ready for action [1] like a man! Then I will ask you questions, and you will inform me.
4 Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you understand anything about it. 5 Who determined its dimensions? I am sure you know. Who stretched out the surveying line over it? 6 What supports its foundation? Who set its cornerstone in place, 7 when the morning stars sang loud songs together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? [2] 8 Who locked up the sea behind doors when it burst out of the womb? 9 When I clothed the sea with clouds, when I wrapped it with thick darkness as its swaddling cloths, 10 when I broke its power with my decree, when I locked it up behind barred, double doors, 11 I said, “You may come this far, but no farther. Here is the barrier for your proud waves.”
12 Have you ever in all your days given a command to the morning? Have you ever set a time for the sun to rise, 13 so it may grab the earth by its edges and shake the wicked out of it? 14 The earth’s shapes become visible like designs impressed on clay, and its decorations can be seen like those on a garment. 15 Their light is withheld from the wicked, and an uplifted arm is broken.
16 Have you ever traveled to the sources of the sea or walked around in the dark depths of the ocean?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? [3]
18 Do you comprehend the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.
19 How can someone get to the dwelling of light? Where is the place for darkness? 20 Could you lead it to its property? Do you know the way to its house? 21 You must know that, since you were born before it, and you have lived for so many days!
22 Have you visited the warehouses where the snow is kept? Have you seen the warehouses [4] where the hail is stored? 23 I have reserved them for troubled times, for days of battle and war.
24 What is the way to the place where the lightning divides, [5] where the east wind is scattered over the earth? 25 Who has excavated a channel for the floodwaters and a road for the rolling thunder? 26 They bring rain to lands where no one lives, to a wilderness without a person in it. 27 The rain satisfies the wilderness and wasteland and causes the dry ground to produce green plants. 28 Does the rain have a father? Who is the father of the drops of dew? 29 Whose womb produces the ice? Who gives birth to the heavy frost from the sky? 30 The water is disguised as stone, and the surface of the deep is trapped under ice.
31 Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loosen the belt of Orion? 32 Can you lead out the constellations at the right season and guide the Bear with her cubs? [6] 33 Do you know the laws that govern the skies? Can you establish God’s rule on earth? 34 Can you raise your voice to the clouds, so that a flood of water submerges you? 35 Can you unleash the lightning bolts, so that they come and say to you, “Here we are”?
36 Who has placed wisdom in the human heart and given understanding to the mind? [7]
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds and to empty the water jars of the sky, 38 when the loose dust has been poured into molds to harden, and the clods of dirt are cemented together?
39 Can you hunt prey for a lioness? Can you satisfy the appetite of the young lions, 40 when they crouch in their dens, or they lie in wait in the thicket?
41 Who prepares its provisions for the raven, when its young are screaming to God, while they thrash around in the nest waiting for food?
Job 39
1 Do you know the time when the antelope on the cliffs gives birth? Do you keep watch over the doe as she is in labor? 2 Do you count how many months they carry their young? Do you know when it is time for them to give birth? 3 They crouch down. They give birth to their fawns. Their labor pains are over. 4 Their young are lively and live in the open countryside. They go out, and they do not return to them. 5 Who set the wild donkey free? Who untied the restraints on the onager? [8] 6 I have given it the wasteland [9] as its home, the salt flats as its dwelling place. 7 It brays at the commotion in a town. It does not listen to the shouting of the driver. 8 It explores the mountains as its pasture, while it searches for anything green.
9 Is a wild ox willing to serve you? Will it spend the night at your manger? 10 Can you lead the wild ox down a furrow with a rope? Will it work the fields in the valleys behind you? 11 Will you depend on it because it is so strong? Will you rely on it to labor for you? 12 Will you trust it to return your seed grain and to bring it to your threshing floor?
13 The wings of a screeching ostrich flap wildly, but they do not have feathers and plumage like a stork’s. 14 She leaves her eggs on the ground. She keeps them warm in the dust. 15 She forgets that a foot may crush them, or a wild animal may trample them. 16 She is hard-hearted toward her children. It is as if they were not hers. It does not bother her if her labor is for nothing, 17 because God made her forget wisdom, and he has not given her any understanding. 18 But as soon as she jumps up to run, she laughs at the horse and the rider.
19 Did you give strength to the horse? Did you clothe its neck with a flowing mane? 20 Did you give it the ability to jump like a locust? Its snorting and neighing are frightening. 21 It paws at the ground in the valley. [10] It rejoices in its strength. It goes out to meet the weapons of war. 22 It laughs at danger and is not afraid. It does not turn away from the sword. 23 A quiver rattles against it. A spear and a javelin [11] flash. 24 Shaking with excitement, it swallows up ground. It doesn’t just stand there when the ram’s horn sounds. 25 As often as the horn sounds, it neighs and snorts! From a distance it smells the battle, the thunder of the commanders and the war cries.
26 Did you teach the hawk how to soar, as it spreads out its wings to the south? 27 Is it at your command that the eagle flies high and makes its nest in a lofty place? 28 On a rocky cliff it settles down to spend the night, on a pinnacle of rock in a mountain stronghold. 29 From there it spies its food. Its eyes spot it far away. 30 Its young ones drink up the blood. Wherever the carcasses are—there it is.
The Lord Confronts Job
Job 40
1 The Lord responded to Job and said:
2 Will the one who makes charges against the Almighty dare to correct him? The one who accuses God should make his case!
3 Job answered the Lord and said:
4 No, I am insignificant. [12] How could I reply to you? I will put my hand over my mouth. 5 I spoke once, but I cannot defend it. Twice, but I will not go any further.
Footnotes
Job 38:3 Or hitch up your robes with a belt
Job 38:7 It is not certain whether the terms morning stars and sons of God refer to stars, angels, or both.
Job 38:17 The scribes of the Hebrew text consistently spell this word as shadow of death. Many recent translations alter the spelling to a very similar word that means deep darkness. The EHV in many cases retains the traditional reading.
Job 38:22 Or armories
Job 38:24 Or light is distributed
Job 38:32 The identification of these constellations is uncertain.
Job 38:36 The meanings of the words translated heart and mind are unknown. Some interpret them as names of birds, the ibis and rooster. Others interpret them as names of celestial phenomena, meteors or clouds.
Job 39:5 Onager is the name for several species of wild donkeys found in Asia.
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2 Be patient with me a little longer. I intend to inform you further, since I have more to say on God’s behalf. 3 I will provide you with comprehensive knowledge, and I will justify my Maker. 4 You can be sure that none of my words are false. A man with complete knowledge is here with you. 5 Yes, God is mighty, but he does not despise people. He is mighty and has great understanding. [1] 6 He does not keep a wicked man alive, but he does give justice to the oppressed. 7 He does not turn his eyes away from the righteous. He seats them on thrones with kings and exalts them forever. 8 But if people are bound in chains, and they are held captive by cords of affliction, 9 he declares to them what they have done— how arrogantly they have committed rebellious deeds. 10 He opens their ears to accept discipline, [2] and he tells them to turn back from wickedness. 11 If they listen and serve him, they will complete their days in prosperity, and their years will end in pleasure. 12 But if they do not listen, they will be overwhelmed by a stream. [3] They will breathe their last without knowledge. 13 Godless hearts nourish anger. They do not cry out for help even when he imprisons them. 14 Their souls die while they are still young, and they end their lives among the male prostitutes at their shrines.
15 God delivers the afflicted by means of their affliction, and he gets their attention through their suffering. 16 Certainly he is drawing you out of the jaws of distress to a wide-open place, where you will not be hemmed in. You will be comfortable at your table covered with rich food. 17 But now you are caught up with the judgment of the wicked, and judgment and justice have taken hold of you. 18 Watch out, so that no one lures you with luxury. Do not let a large payment turn you aside. 19 Can your affluence arrange for your security, so that you do not suffer want? Can even your strongest efforts accomplish that? 20 Do not long for night time, when nations vanish from their place. [4] 21 Watch out. Do not turn to evil, because that is why you have been tested by affliction. [5] 22 Listen to me. God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him? 23 Who has dictated his way for him? Who has said, “You have done wrong”? 24 Remember that you should praise his work, which people have celebrated in song. 25 All mankind has observed it. People can look at it from a distance. 26 Yes, God is exalted far beyond our comprehension. The number of his years is beyond investigation. 27 He draws up drops of water from the sea, and he distills the raindrops to form mist, 28 which flow down from the clouds and pour down abundantly on mankind. 29 Indeed, who understands how the clouds spread out? Who understands how the thunder rumbles out from his shelter? 30 Look how he spreads his light [6] all around him, and he covers the bottom [7] of the sea. 31 He uses this to bring judgment on peoples and to provide abundant food. 32 With his hands he grasps the lightning, and he gives it orders as it advances. 33 Through the thunder he sounds his war cry. The herds sense the coming of the rising storm. [8]
Job 37
1 When I hear this, my heart races and leaps from its place. 2 Listen! Listen to the booming thunder of his voice, to the rumble that goes out from his mouth. 3 He turns it loose across the whole sky, and his light reaches the ends of the earth. 4 After the lightning, a voice roars. He thunders with his majestic voice. He does not restrain the lightning. Then his voice is heard! 5 God thunders with his voice in wonderful ways. He does great things that we do not understand. 6 To the snow he says, “Fall on the earth.” To the pouring rain, the torrential downpours of rain, he says, “Be strong.” [9] 7 He brings an end to all the work of men’s hands, so that they recognize his work. 8 The wild animals take shelter in their lairs. They remain in their dens. 9 A winter wind comes out from its room, and driving winds bring icy cold. 10 The breath of God produces ice. The wide surface of the water turns solid. 11 Yes, he loads dark clouds with moisture, and he fills the clouds with his light. 12 The clouds swirl around at his direction. They do whatever he commands them over the face of the whole inhabited world. 13 Whether their purpose is to bring punishment or mercy to the world, he makes them achieve their goal.
14 Listen to this, Job! Stand still and recognize the wonders of God! 15 Do you know how God arranges them? Do you know how he makes his light shine out from his clouds? 16 Do you know how the clouds float in the sky, those marvels produced by perfect knowledge? 17 You, whose clothing is too hot for you when the land rests quietly because of the hot south wind, 18 can you help him spread out the clouds when the sky is as hard as a metal mirror? 19 Teach us what we should say to him! We are not able to prepare our case because of the darkness. 20 Should he be notified that I want to speak? Or would a man who said that be swallowed up?
21 But no one can look at the sun. It is too bright when the wind has cleared the sky of the clouds. 22 God’s golden splendor comes from the north. God is surrounded by awesome majesty. 23 As for the Almighty, we cannot comprehend him. He is exalted in power, but he does not violate justice and great righteousness. 24 Therefore men should revere him, because he has regard for all those who are wise in heart. [10]
Footnotes
Job 36:5 Or resolve
Job 36:10 Or correction
Job 36:12 Or weapon
Job 36:20 The meaning of this verse is uncertain.
Job 36:21 Or though you seem to prefer it to affliction. The meaning of this verse is uncertain.
Job 36:30 Or lightning. In Job the same word is used for both light and lightning.
Job 36:30 Literally the roots
Job 36:33 The meaning of this line is uncertain.
Job 37:6 This line is difficult.
Job 37:24 Or, reading with the Greek, those who are wise in heart fear him
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2 Hear my words, you wise men. You learned men, pay attention to me. 3 It is true that the ear tests words as the mouth tastes food. 4 So now we should choose for ourselves what is just. We should determine among ourselves what is good.
5 This is what Job said: “I am in the right, but God has deprived me of justice. 6 Would I lie about what is just for me? [2] His arrow has inflicted an incurable wound on me, though I did not rebel.”
7 Who is like Job? He drinks down derision against God like water. 8 He travels the road with evildoers, and he walks with wicked men, 9 because he said, “It is no benefit to a man when he takes pleasure in God.” 10 So then, you men with understanding, listen to me. I swear that God never does anything wicked. The Almighty is far from wrongdoing. 11 He repays a man for what he does. He causes the consequences of his ways to catch up with him. 12 God would absolutely not do anything evil. The Almighty does not pervert justice. 13 Did anyone put him in charge of the earth? Did anyone place the whole world under his control? 14 If God resolved in his heart to recall his spirit and breath to himself, 15 all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.
16 But if you have understanding, listen to this. Hear the sound of my words: 17 Is it possible that one who hates justice could govern? Will you condemn the Righteous One, who is mighty? 18 He says to kings, “You are worthless,” and tells nobles, “You are evil.” 19 He shows no favoritism to high officials, and he shows no more regard for the rich than for the poor, because they are all the work of his hands. 20 In a moment they die, in the middle of the night. People are shaken, and they pass away. Even the mighty are taken away effortlessly, without a human hand, 21 because God’s eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps. 22 There is no darkness, and there is no dark shadow where evildoers can hide, 23 for God does not need to investigate further or to set a time of judgment for a person. 24 He breaks mighty rulers without further inquiry, and he sets up others in their place. 25 Because he knows their deeds, he overthrows them at night, and they lie crushed. 26 Because of their wickedness, he strikes them in plain sight of everyone. 27 He does this because they turned aside from following him, and they were not wise enough to follow all his ways. 28 They caused the poor to cry out to God, so he heard the cry of the afflicted.
29 But if God remains quiet, who can condemn him? If he hides his face, who can observe him? But even if he does, he still rules over both nations and individuals, 30 to prevent a godless man from ruling, so that the godless man does not lay snares for the people. 31 What if someone says to God, “I have accepted my punishment. I will not keep sinning. 32 Teach me about what I do not see. If I have done evil, I will not do it again.” 33 Would God then be obligated to repay you on your terms, when you refuse to repent? [3]
But, Job, it is your decision, not mine. So tell me what you know.
34 Men who have understanding say this to me, and any wise person who listens tells me the same thing: 35 “Job speaks without knowledge, and his words reveal a lack of understanding.” 36 I wish that Job would be tested to the limit, because he responds like a wicked man. 37 Yes, he even adds rebellion to his sin. Among us he shows his contempt by clapping his hands, and he multiplies his words against God.
Job 35
1 Then Elihu continued:
2 Do you really think it is right when you say, “My righteousness is greater than God’s”? [4] 3 You even say, “What use will this be to me? How will it profit me more than if I sinned?”
4 But I will respond to your words—and to your friends with you! 5 Look at the heavens and you will see. Take a good look at the clouds. They are high above you! 6 If you have sinned, how does that affect God? If your rebellious deeds are many, what harm can you do to him? 7 If you are righteous, what are you giving to him? What does he receive from your hand? 8 Your wickedness only affects a man like you, and your righteousness only impacts other people. 9 They cry out because of severe oppression. They scream for relief from the arm of the powerful. 10 But no one asks, “Where is God my Maker, who provides songs in the night, 11 who teaches us more than the wild animals on the earth, who makes us wiser than the birds in the sky?”
12 Then the wicked cry out, but he does not answer, because of their arrogant pride. [5] 13 Certainly God will not listen to an insincere [6] cry, and the Almighty will not pay attention to it. 14 How much less when you say that you do not see him, that your case has been presented to him, and that you are waiting for him! 15 Besides that, you say that his anger has not demanded an accounting, and that he does not fully understand sin. [7] 16 Job opens his mouth pointlessly, and he heaps up words without knowledge.
Footnotes
Job 34:1 After pausing to give Job a chance to respond, Elihu resumes his monologue.
Job 34:6 Or I am unjustly treated like a liar
Job 34:33 Or just because you reject the charges
Job 35:2 Or my righteousness will come from God. The line is cryptic.
Job 35:12 Or then they cry out because of the arrogant pride of the wicked, but he does not answer. The word order is difficult.
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1 These three men gave up trying to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.
2 So Elihu son of Barakel, the Buzite from the clan of Ram, burned with anger. His anger burned against Job because Job had justified himself rather than God. 3 His anger also burned against his three companions, because they had no answer for Job, but they nevertheless had condemned him.
4 Up to this point, Elihu had held back, and he had not spoken to Job, because the others were older and more experienced than he was.
5 When Elihu saw that the three men had no ready answer, his anger burned. 6 So Elihu son of Barakel, the Buzite, responded. He said:
I am young and inexperienced, and you are aged. That is why I held back, and I was afraid to tell you what I know. 7 I thought that experience should speak. Many years should give a man wisdom. 8 However, it is the spirit [1] in a man and the breath of the Almighty that give a man understanding. 9 It is not just the important men who are wise. The elderly are not the only ones who know how to judge cases. 10 That is why I now say, “Listen to me.” I will declare what I know—yes, I will. 11 Notice that I waited for you to finish your words. I have listened carefully to your conclusions. The whole time you were searching for the right words, 12 I paid attention to you. But look, not one of you showed Job that he was wrong or came up with an answer for Job. 13 So do not say, “We have found wisdom, but it is God, not a man, who will have to refute him.” 14 Job has not drawn up his speeches against me, so I will not respond to him with arguments like yours.
15 Those three are shattered. They no longer respond. They have run out of words. 16 I have waited patiently, but since they no longer speak, and they just stand there and do not answer anymore, 17 I will now respond with my contribution. I will now declare what I know, 18 for I am full of words. A wind [2] in my belly is building up pressure. 19 My belly is like unvented wine. I am like a new wineskin ready to burst. 20 I intend to speak, so that I can find relief for myself. Let me open my lips and answer. 21 I will certainly not show favoritism to any man. I will not address any man with flattering titles, 22 because I do not know how to pass out flattering titles. If I did so, my Maker would quickly carry me away.
Job 33
1 But now, Job, listen to my speech. Pay close attention to all my words. 2 Listen, because I have opened my mouth. See how my tongue shapes words in my mouth. 3 My speech will reveal my upright heart. My lips express my knowledge plainly. [3] 4 The spirit [4] of God made me. The breath of the Almighty gave me life.
5 Refute me if you are able. Lay out your case before me! Take your stand! 6 Look, my mouth belongs to God, just as your mouth does. Like you I was snipped off from a lump of clay. 7 Look, you should not be terrified by how awesome I am. Pressure from me should not intimidate you.
8 However, you said this in my hearing, and I did hear the sound of these words: 9 “I am pure, without any sinful rebellion. I am clean. I have no guilt. 10 But look how God finds pretexts to oppose me. He treats me like his enemy. 11 He has put my feet in stocks. He patrols all my paths.”
12 Job, listen to this! You are not right. I must refute you! Certainly, God is greater than a man. 13 Why do you bring charges against him, just because he does not answer all of a man’s questions? 14 God does speak, sometimes one way, sometimes another, but people do not pay attention to it. 15 In a dream, in a vision in the night, when people are falling into a deep sleep, while they slumber on their beds, 16 he whispers a revelation into people’s ears, and he confirms his warnings to them, 17 in order to turn a man from his course of action and to suppress a person’s pride. 18 He spares his life from the pit. He spares his life from crossing the stream of death. [5] 19 Or a person may be disciplined on his bed by pain and by continual agony in his bones, 20 so that his life makes food disgusting to him, and he has no appetite for delicious food. 21 His flesh wastes away and disappears, and his bones, which were hidden, now stick out. 22 Then his soul draws near to destruction, and his life to those who bring death. 23 If there is a messenger at his side to mediate, one out of a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him, 24 if he is gracious to him, if he says, “Spare him from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom for him,” 25 then his flesh would become more vigorous than it was in his youth. He would return to days of youthful vitality. 26 Then he would pray to God, and God would be pleased with him. With a joyful cry he would see God’s face, and God would restore his righteousness to the man. 27 Then the man would turn to people and say, [6] “I have sinned, and I have perverted what is right, yet I was not punished as much as I deserved. 28 God has redeemed my soul from passing into the pit, and my life will see the light.”
29 Look, God does all these things with a man— two times, or even three times— 30 to bring back his soul from the pit, so that light shines on him among the living. 31 Pay attention, Job. Listen to me. Be silent, so that I may speak. 32 If you have anything to say, answer me. Speak up, for I would be delighted to declare you innocent. 33 If you have nothing to say, listen to me Be silent, so I may teach you wisdom.
Footnotes
Job 32:8 Or Spirit
Job 32:18 Or spirit. There is unintended irony in Elihu’s words.
Job 33:3 Or sincerely
Job 33:4 Or Spirit
Job 33:18 Or spares him from being killed by a weapon
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1 But those far younger than I am now laugh at me— men whose fathers I would not have allowed to serve with my sheepdogs. 2 The strength of their hands was useless to me. [1] Their vigor had failed. 3 Emaciated from famine and hunger, they gnawed desert plants in the desolate wasteland. 4 They picked marsh plants among the brush, and their food was the roots of broom bushes. 5 They were driven out of the community. People shouted at them like thieves. 6 They lived in dry streambeds, in holes among the dust and the rocks. 7 They brayed between shrubs, and they huddled under thorn bushes. 8 Sons of fools and nameless nobodies, they were driven out of the land with whips.
9 But now I am the target of their mocking songs, and my name has become proverbial as a term of scorn. 10 They despise me and keep their distance. They do not hesitate to spit in my face.
11 God has unhooked my bowstring, [2] and he has afflicted me, so they throw off all restraint in my presence. 12 At my right hand this rabble rises up like a mob. They trip my feet. They besiege me with their plans to destroy me. 13 They cut off my path to escape. They try to benefit from my destruction. They need no one to help them. 14 They pour through the breach in my wall. They roll in through the ruins. 15 Terrors are unleashed against me. My prestige is blown away by the wind. My security has passed by like a cloud. 16 Now my soul is being poured out within me. Days of suffering have seized me. 17 Night pierces my bones with pain. The pain gnawing at me never stops. 18 God tugs violently at my clothing. He chokes me like the collar of my robe. 19 He has thrown me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes. 20 I cry to you for help, but you do not answer me. Whenever I stand up, you pay no attention to me. [3] 21 You have become cruel to me. With a strong hand you assault me. 22 You lift me up with the wind, and it carries me away. You scatter me in the raging storm. 23 Yes, I know that you are bringing me down to death, to the home where all the living meet.
24 Will he really stretch out his hand against a pile of ruins, when the ruined man screams for help? [4] 25 Didn’t I weep for those who live through hard days? Didn’t my soul grieve for the needy? 26 But when I waited for good, evil came. When I hoped for light, darkness came. 27 My emotions [5] are boiling over. They are never quiet. Days of suffering confront me. 28 I walk around darkened, but not by the sun. I stand in the assembly and cry for help. 29 I have become a brother to jackals, a companion for screeching ostriches. 30 My skin turns black and falls off, and my bones burn with fever. 31 My lyre plays only sad songs. My flute accompanies only the sound of weeping.
Job’s Morality
Job 31
1 I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I stare at a virgin with desire? 2 If I did, what reward would I receive from God above? What inheritance from the Almighty on high? 3 Is not ruin the reward for the wicked, and misfortune the reward for evildoers? 4 But doesn’t God see my ways? Doesn’t he count my every step? 5 Have I walked with deceit and lies? Has my foot hurried to pursue fraud? 6 If God weighs me on an honest scale, he will know my integrity.
7 If my footsteps have slipped off the path, if my heart has pursued things desired by my eyes, if anything corrupt has stuck to my palms, 8 then let someone else eat what I have sown. Let my crops be uprooted.
9 If my heart has been enticed by a woman, if I have lurked at my neighbor’s doorway, 10 let my wife grind for another, and let other men crouch down over her. 11 For that would have been shameful behavior, a guilty deed worthy of judgment. 12 There is a fire that consumes all the way to hell, [6] that would completely burn up all my harvest.
13 If I have denied justice to my male servants or to my female servants in their disputes with me, 14 then what would I do when God arises, when he comes to call me to account? How could I respond to him? 15 Didn’t he who made me in the womb also make my servant? Didn’t the same God fashion us both in the womb?
16 If I have withheld from the poor what they desired, if I have darkened the eyes of the widow, 17 if I have eaten my food all by myself and have not shared it with the fatherless— 18 no, from the time of my youth, the fatherless child grew up with me, and I was like a father to him. From the womb of my mother I guided the widow. 19 If I saw anyone perishing from lack of clothing, if the needy had nothing to wear, 20 his very body blessed me, as he was warmed by the wool from my sheep.
21 If I raised my hand against the fatherless child, because I had influence in the court at the city gate, 22 then let my shoulder be knocked out of its socket, and let my upper arm be broken. 23 Now doom from God terrifies me, and I cannot endure his majesty.
24 If I placed my confidence in gold, and if I said to pure gold, “You are my security,” 25 if I rejoiced because I was so rich and because my hand had obtained so much, 26 if I saw the shining sun and the moon moving in its splendor, 27 if my heart was gullible enough to worship them in secret, and I kissed my hand to honor them, 28 that would have made me guilty and deserving of judgment, for I would have denied God above.
29 If I rejoiced at the misfortune of someone who hates me, or I was thrilled because trouble caught up with him— 30 but no, I have not savored sin by asking for a curse on his life. 31 Did the men in my tent ever have to say that there was someone who had not been filled with meat from Job? [7] 32 No stranger ever had to spend the night outside. I have opened my door to the traveler.
33 If I had covered up my sin like Adam, [8] and I had hidden my guilt in my heart, 34 because I was frightened of the crowd, and the contempt of the clans filled me with terror, so that I was silent and I did not go out of a door—
35 Oh how I wish I had someone to listen to me! Look, here is my seal on my testimony. Let the Almighty answer me! Let me see the written indictment from my accuser. 36 I would lift it up on my shoulder. I would place it on my head as a crown. 37 I would account to him for every single step. I would approach him like the chief of a tribe. 38 If my soil cries out against me, and its furrows weep because of me, 39 if I have consumed its wealth without paying for it, if I have caused the death of its owners, 40 then let a thorn bush grow up instead of wheat, and stinkweeds instead of barley.
The words of Job are concluded.
Footnotes
Job 30:2 The pronouns their and they in verses 2 to 7 may refer either to the men in verse 1, to their fathers, or to both. The tenses, therefore, could be either past or present.
Job 30:11 Or tent cord
Job 30:20 The translation follows some Hebrew manuscripts and ancient versions, as well as the parallelism. Other manuscripts read you direct your attention against me.
Job 30:24 This verse is difficult.
Job 30:27 Literally my intestines
Job 31:12 Or destruction. The Hebrew reads abaddon.
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1 Yes, there is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined. 2 Iron is taken from the ground, and copper is smelted out of stone.
3 A miner puts an end to darkness by exploring its farthest limits. He looks for ore in the gloom and in the deep darkness. [2] 4 He breaks open a mineshaft far from where settlers live, in places no one has walked before. Far away from other people, he dangles and sways. 5 The earth’s surface produces food, but its depths are overturned as if by fire, 6 in places where the stones are sapphires [3] and the dust is gold. 7 No scavenging bird knows the way there, and the eyes of vultures [4] have not seen it. 8 The king of beasts has not set foot on it. The lion has not prowled there. 9 The miner’s hand attacks the hard rock. He overturns the roots of the mountain. 10 He cuts tunnels into the rocks, and his eyes see every treasure. 11 He dams up even the trickling water from the rivers, and he brings light to the earth’s hidden places.
12 But wisdom—where can it be found? Where is the place for understanding? 13 Mankind does not know where it is kept. It is not found in the land of the living. 14 The deep ocean says, “It is not in me!” The sea says, “It is not with me!” 15 It cannot be purchased with the best gold, [5] and silver cannot be weighed out as its price. 16 It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir [6] or with precious onyx or sapphires. 17 Gold and crystal cannot be compared to it. The finest gold jewelry cannot be substituted for it. 18 Coral and quartz are not worth mentioning, and the value of wisdom is greater than a bag of rubies. 19 The chrysolite of Cush cannot be compared with it. It cannot be purchased even with pure gold.
20 But what about wisdom—where does it come from? And where is the place to find understanding? 21 It is hidden from the eyes of all the living. It is concealed from the birds of the sky. 22 Destruction and Death [7] say, “With our ears we have heard only a rumor about it.”
23 God understands the way to it, and he alone knows its place, 24 because he watches the ends of the earth, and he sees everything under the heavens. 25 He determines the weight of the wind, and he measures out the waters by volume. 26 He made a decree for the rain and established a path for the roaring thunderstorm. 27 He saw wisdom and appraised its value. He established it and also explored it. 28 Then he said to mankind: Listen carefully. The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.
Job’s Soliloquy [8] The Happiness of the Good Old Days
Job 29
1 Job resumed his discourse. He said:
2 Oh how I wish I could be as I used to be in the months gone by, in the days when God used to watch over me, 3 when his lamp was shining over my head, and I walked through darkness toward [9] his light, 4 when I was in my prime, and the friendly guidance of God was over my tent, 5 when the Almighty was still with me, and my children still surrounded me, 6 when my footsteps were washed in cream, and a rock poured out streams of oil for me, 7 when I went out to the gatehouse [10] of the city, and I took my customary seat in the public square. 8 The young men saw me and stepped aside. The elders rose and remained standing in my presence. 9 The officials held back their words. They placed their hands over their mouths. 10 The voices of the nobles fell silent. Their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
11 Every ear that heard what I said called me blessed. Every eye that saw what I did testified on my behalf. 12 Because I saved the poor when they cried for help and the fatherless when they had no helper, 13 the blessing of the dying rested upon me, and I made the heart of the widow happy. 14 I dressed myself with righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice clothed me like a robe and a turban. 15 I was eyes for the blind and feet for the lame. 16 I was a father for the needy. I investigated their cases for people I did not know. 17 I shattered the fangs of the wicked, and I snatched their prey from their teeth. 18 So I thought: “I will pass away in my own nest, after multiplying my days like grains of sand. 19 My roots will be soaked with water, and dew will settle on my branches at night. 20 My honor will always be fresh for me, and my bow in my hand will never wear out.” 21 People listened to me eagerly. They kept silent, waiting for my advice. 22 After I spoke, they did not keep speaking. [11] My words fell on them gently. 23 They waited for me the way people wait for rain. They opened their mouths the way people wait for spring showers. 24 When I laughed with them, they did not believe it. In the light from my face, they were never downcast. 25 I chose the way for them, and I was seated as their head, like a king among the troops, like one who comforts mourners.
Footnotes
Job 28:1 It is uncertain whether the speaker of this poem is Job or the author of the book. It seems likely that it is an intermission inserted by the author to mark the end of the three rounds of speeches.
Job 28:3 The Hebrew scribes regularly spell this word so that it means shadow of death. Here, however, it may be a similar word, deep darkness.
Job 28:6 Or lapis lazuli
Job 28:7 The identification of these birds is uncertain. They may be birds of prey like the falcon.
Job 28:15 Literally closed [gold]. The precise identification of the various types of gold and gemstones in this section is uncertain.
Job 28:16 Ophir is a source of gold in Arabia or Africa.
Job 28:22 Hebrew abaddon and maveth
Job 29:1 Chapter 29 begins a new section of the book, in which Job’s three friends no longer respond to him.
Job 29:3 Or by
Job 29:7 The gatehouse was the center for legal proceedings in a city.
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2 The power to rule and to inspire fear belongs to him. He makes peace on high. 3 Can anyone count his troops? Is there anyone on whom his light does not rise? 4 How then can a man be righteous with God? How can one born of a woman be pure? 5 If even the moon does not shine brightly for him, and if the stars are not pure in his eyes, 6 how much less a man, who is a maggot, and a son of man, who is a worm?
Round Three: Job’s Second Speech
Job 26
1 Then Job responded:
2 How marvelously you have helped the helpless! How wonderfully you have saved the arm that has no strength! 3 What great advice you have given to the one who lacks wisdom! What great insight you have revealed! 4 Who helped you proclaim these words? Whose breath [1] came out of your mouth? 5 The spirits of the dead writhe in pain underneath the waters, along with all those who dwell there. 6 Hell [2] is naked before God, and there is nowhere to hide in the place of destruction. [3]
7 He stretches out the northern sky across the emptiness. He suspends the earth on nothing. 8 He encloses water in his clouds, but the clouds are not broken apart by its weight. 9 He dims the face of the full moon by veiling it with his clouds. 10 He drew a circle around the surface of the waters. It marks the boundary of light and darkness. 11 The pillars of the heavens shake. They are stunned by his rebuke. 12 By his power he calmed [4] the sea. By his understanding he smashed Rahab. [5] 13 By his breath the skies became beautiful. His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. [6]
14 But all these are just the fringe of his ways! How faint a whisper we hear of him! Who understands his power, which is displayed in the thunder?
Round Three: Job’s Third Speech
Job 27
1 After a pause, [7] Job began to present this discourse:
2 As God lives, he has deprived me of justice. The Almighty has made my life [8] bitter. 3 Yes, as long as the breath of life is still in me, as long as the breath from God is still in my nostrils, 4 my lips will not speak wickedness, and my tongue will not murmur deception. 5 May I be cursed if I ever admit you are right. Until I die, I will never deny my integrity. 6 I have held tight to my righteousness, and I will not let it go. My conscience [9] will not accuse me as long as I live.
7 May my enemy be like the wicked. May the one who rises up against me be like the unjust. 8 For what hope is there for a godless person when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life? 9 Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him? 10 Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?
11 I will teach you about the hand of God. I will not hide what the Almighty is doing. 12 Listen, all of you have observed this. So why do you continue to spew forth such worthless vapor?
13 This is the allotment a wicked man receives from God, the inheritance that tyrants receive from the Almighty: 14 Although his children are many, they are sent to the sword. His offspring will not be satisfied with bread. 15 Those who survive will be buried by a plague. They will be buried, and their widows will not weep. 16 Though the wicked man piles up silver like dust, and he accumulates clothing like mounds of clay, 17 the righteous will wear what he accumulated, and the innocent will divide his silver. 18 He has built a house, but it will be like a moth’s cocoon, like a shack that a watchman has put up. 19 He goes to bed as a rich man, but his wealth does not remain. He opens his eyes, and it is all gone. 20 Terrors sweep over him like floodwaters. At night, a strong wind carries him away. 21 The east wind lifts him up, and off he goes. It blows him away from his place. 22 It hurls itself at him, and it does not spare him. He flees from its power as fast as he can. 23 It mockingly claps its hands at him and drives him from his place with hissing.
Footnotes
Job 26:4 Or spirit
Job 26:6 Or the grave or death. The Hebrew reads sheol.
Job 26:6 Hebrew abaddon
Job 26:12 Or stirred up
Job 26:12 Rahab is a monster that symbolizes the power of the sea.
Job 26:13 Perhaps this name for Leviathan here refers to a constellation like Draco, the dragon.
Job 27:1 The words after a pause are not in the Hebrew text, but this is the location for Zophar’s third turn to speak. Zophar, however, sits in silence, and the debate comes to an end. The next speaker to respond to Job will be Elihu son of Barakel, beginning at 32:5.
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2 Can a man benefit God? Can even a wise man be of any use to him? 3 Should the Almighty be delighted if you are righteous? Does he gain any advantage if your ways are blameless? 4 Is it because of your reverence that he rebukes you and comes against you in judgment? 5 Isn’t your wickedness great? Isn’t your guilt endless? 6 You have seized collateral from your brothers without cause, and you have stripped off clothing from the naked. 7 You have not given water to the weary, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8 The earth belongs to a forceful man, and a well-respected man dwells in it. [1]
9 You send widows away empty-handed. You crush the arms of the fatherless. 10 That is why snares are all around you, and sudden fear overwhelms you. 11 That is why you cannot see in the darkness, and floodwaters cover you.
12 Is not God in the heights of heaven? Look at [2] the highest stars, so high above! 13 But you say, “What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness? 14 Dark clouds are a veil around him, so he does not see us as he walks back and forth in heaven’s dome.”
15 Are you the guardian of the ancient way, the one traveled by wicked men? 16 They were snatched away before their time. [3] Their foundation was washed away by a river. 17 They said to God, “Keep away from us,” and “What can the Almighty do to us?” [4] 18 even though he had filled their houses with good. That is why the way of life of the wicked is far from me. 19 The righteous see this and are glad. The innocent mock them, saying, 20 “Surely our adversaries have been erased! Fire has eaten up their abundance.”
21 Be reconciled with God. Be at peace with him. Then good will come to you. 22 Accept teaching from his mouth, and set his words in your heart. 23 If you turn to the Almighty, you will be built up. If you want to put injustice far from your tent, 24 throw your purest gold [5] into the dust and your gold from Ophir upon the rocks in the ravines. 25 Then the Almighty will be your purest gold and your most precious silver. 26 Then you will find pleasure in the Almighty, and you will lift up your face to God. 27 You will pray to God, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows. 28 You will decide on a matter, and it will be done for you, and light will shine on your ways. 29 When people are brought low, and you say, “Lift them up,” God will save the downcast. 30 He will deliver even the person who is not innocent, who will escape by the purity of your hands.
Round Three: Job’s First Speech
Job 23
1 Then Job responded:
2 Even today my complaint is bitter. [6] His [7] hand weighs heavily on me despite my groaning. [8] 3 I wish I knew where I could find him, so that I could come to his place for judgment. 4 Then I would lay out my case before him, and I would fill my mouth with arguments. 5 I would know what words he would use to respond to me, and I would consider what he would say to me. 6 Would he use his great power to press charges against me? No, he will certainly give me a hearing. 7 There, an upright man could argue with him, and I would be delivered from my judge forever. 8 But if I walk to the east, he is not there. If I go back to the west, I find no sign of him. 9 When he is at work in the north, I do not detect him. When he turns to the south, I do not see him. 10 But I am sure he knows the way I take. When he has tested me, I will come out like gold. 11 My feet have followed his footsteps closely. I have kept to his way, and I have not turned aside. 12 I have not departed from the command from his lips. I have treasured the sayings from his mouth in my heart. [9]
13 He stands alone. Who can make him change? Whatever his soul desires, he will do. 14 He carries out his decrees against me, and he has so many of them! 15 That is why I am in a panic in his presence. When I think about this, I dread him. 16 God has made me lose heart. The Almighty has terrified me. 17 Nevertheless, I am not silenced by the darkness, by the dark cloud that covers my face.
Job 24
1 Why are appointments never scheduled by the Almighty? Why do those who know him never see such days? 2 People move boundary stones. They steal a flock and take it to pasture. 3 They drive away donkeys that belong to the fatherless. They seize the widow’s ox as collateral. 4 They shove the poor out of the way. The oppressed people of the land hide together. 5 They go out to their labor, like wild donkeys in the wilderness, looking for food. The wasteland is their only source of food for themselves and their children. 6 They gather their straw in the open countryside. They glean leftovers in the vineyard of the wicked. 7 They spend the night naked, without clothing. They have no covering from the cold. 8 They are soaked by heavy rain from the mountains. They cling to a cliff for shelter.
9 The wicked tear away a fatherless child from its mother’s breast. They take a poor mother’s nursing baby as collateral.
10 The poor walk around naked, without clothing. They pick up sheaves but are still hungry. 11 They press olive oil among the terraces of olive trees. They tread winepresses, but they remain thirsty. 12 The dying people [10] of the city groan, and wounded souls cry out for help, but God does not bring charges against anyone.
13 There are people who rebel against the light. They do not acknowledge its ways or dwell in its paths. 14 At the end of the daylight [11] a murderer arises, and he kills the poor and needy. At night he acts as a thief. 15 The eye of an adulterer keeps watch for twilight. He says, “No eye can get a good look at me.” He wears a mask over his face. 16 In the dark of night he digs into houses. By day such people hide inside. They keep away from the light. 17 For all of them, morning is their darkness. [12] They are familiar with the sudden terror of darkness. 18 They float by like foam on the surface of the water. Their portion of the land is cursed, so no one turns onto the road to their vineyards. 19 As drought and heat snatch away the water from the snow, the grave snatches away a sinner. 20 The womb forgets him. A worm finds him sweet. He will no longer be remembered. Wickedness is broken like a tree.
21 He feeds on [13] the childless woman, and he does nothing good for the widow.
22 But God drags away the mighty by his strength. He rises up, so the wicked have no confidence in their lives. 23 God lets them be secure, and they prop themselves up, but God’s eyes are on their ways. 24 They are high and mighty for a little while, but then they are gone. They are brought low like all the rest. They are gathered together, like ears of grain that have been cut off.
25 So then, who can make me out to be a liar? Who can reduce my words to nothing?
Footnotes
Job 22:8 The connection of this verse to the context is unclear. It may be an excuse that greedy rich people use for not helping the poor or an indirect accusation of Job.
Job 22:12 Or he sees
Job 22:16 Or with no time to get away
Job 22:17 The reading us follows the ancient versions. The Hebrew reads them.
Job 22:24 Or gold nuggets
Job 23:2 The translation bitter follows the ancient versions. The Hebrew reads rebellious.
Job 23:2 The translation his follows the ancient versions. The Hebrew reads my.
Job 23:2 Or my hand is weighed down by my groaning
Job 23:12 Or I have treasured the sayings from his mouth more than my allotted inheritance
Job 24:12 Variant the people
Job 24:14 The Hebrew reads at the light. The parallelisms in the following verses suggest that this refers to dusk rather than to dawn.
Job 24:17 This is the same Hebrew word often translated shadow of death. Here it seems to be the similar word that means darkness.
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