As for God, his way is perfect. The word of LORD is tried. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.

He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of brass.

Thou have also given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy gentleness has made me great.

Thou have also made my enemies turn their backs to me that I might cut off those who hate me.

Then I beat them small as the dust of the earth. I crushed them as the mire of the streets, and spread them abroad.

Thou have also delivered me from the strivings of my people. Thou have kept me to be the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known shall serve me.

The foreigners shall submit themselves to me. As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me.

The foreigners shall fade away, and shall come trembling out of their hiding places.

LORD lives. And blessed be my rock. And exalted be God, the rock of my salvation,

Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse says, and the man who was raised on high says, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel:

The Spirit of LORD spoke by me, and his word was upon my tongue.

The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me. He who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God,

[he shall be] as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, [when] the tender grass [springs] out of the earth, through clear shining after rain.

But the worthless shall be as thorns to be thrust away, all of them, because they cannot be taken with the hand.

But the man who touches them must be armed with iron and the staff of a spear, and they shall be utterly burned with fire in [their] place.

These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains, the same was Adino the Eznite, against eight hundred slain at one time.

And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodai the son of an Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away.

And after him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop where was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines.

But he stood in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and killed the Philistines. And LORD wrought a great victory.

And three of the thirty chief men went down, and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam, and the troop of the Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim.

And David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.

And David longed, and said, Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!

And the three mighty men broke through the army of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it, but poured it out to LORD.

And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this, [to drink] the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the three. And he lifted up his spear against three hundred and killed them, and had a name among the three.

Was he not most honorable of the three? Therefore he was made their captain. However he did not attain to the [first] three.

And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, he killed the two [sons of] Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow.

And he killed an Egyptian, a good-looking man. And the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and killed him with his own spear.

These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and had a name among the three mighty men.

Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty, [also] Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,

Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite,

Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin,

Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash.

Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan,

Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite,

Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maacathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,

Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite,

Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, armorbearers to Joab the son of Zeruiah,

And again the anger of LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah.

And the king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with him, Go now to and fro through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the sum of the people.

And Joab said to the king, Now LORD thy God add to the people, however many they may be, a hundredfold, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?

Notwithstanding, the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the army. And Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel.

And they passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Jazer.

Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi. And they came to Dan-jaan, and round about to Sidon,

and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites. And they went out to the south of Judah, at Beersheba.

So when they had gone to and from through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king. And there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

And David's heart smote him after he had numbered the people. And David said to LORD, I have sinned greatly in that which I have done, but now, O LORD, put away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foo

And when David rose up in the morning, the word of LORD came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,

Go and speak to David, Thus says LORD, I offer thee three things. Choose thee one of them, that I may do it to thee.

So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, Shall seven years of famine come to thee in thy land? Or will thou flee three months before thy foes while they pursue thee? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in thy land?

And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait. Let us fall now into the hand of LORD, for his mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hand of man.

So LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed. And there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.

And when the [heavenly] agent stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, LORD relented of the evil, and said to the agent who destroyed the people, It is enough. Now stay thy hand. And the agent of LORD was by the thres

And Gad came that day to David, and said to him, Go up, rear an altar to LORD in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

And David went up according to the saying of Gad, as LORD commanded.

And Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, the oxen for the burnt-offering, and the threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.

And the king said to Araunah, No, but I will truly buy it from thee at a price. Neither will I offer burnt-offerings to LORD my God which cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver