Study Desk

So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he tarried more than the appointed time which he had set for him.

Then David said to Abishai, "Now Sheba the son of Bicri will do us more harm than Absalom. You take the servants of your lord and pursue after him, lest he find fortified cities for himself and escape from us."

A young man stood over him, from the young men of Joab, and he said, "Whoever takes delight in Joab and whoever is for David, follow after Joab."

Also Ira the Jairite was priest for David.

There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David inquired of Yahweh, and Yahweh said, "The bloodguilt is on Saul and on his household, because he killed the Gibeonites."

So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not from the Israelites; they were from the remainder of the Amorites. Now the Israelites had sworn to them, but Saul tried to wipe them out in his zeal for the Israelites and Judah.

So David asked the Gibeonites, "What can I do for you, and with what can I make amends that you may bless the inheritance of Yahweh?"

Then the Gibeonites said to him, "It is not a matter for us of silver or gold with Saul or with his household. It is not for us to put to death anyone in Israel." He asked, "What are you saying that I should do for you all?"

Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took the sackcloth, and she spread it for herself on the rock at the beginning of the harvest until water gushed forth on them from heaven, but she did not allow the birds of heaven to rest on them by day nor the animals of the field by night.

And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin at Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. They did all that the king had commanded, and afterward God was entreated for the land.

There was war again for the Philistines with Israel, and David and his servants with him went down, and they fought the Philistines, and David grew weary.

These four were born for the Raphah in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

For the breaker waves of death engulfed me; the currents of chaos overwhelmed me.

In my distress I called upon Yahweh, and to my God I called. He heard my voice from his temple, and my cry for help was to his ears.

He delivered me from my strong enemies, from those who hate me, for they were mightier than I.

For I have kept the ways of Yahweh; I have not acted wickedly against my God.

For all of his ordinances were before me, and I did not turn aside from his statutes.

For you, O Yahweh are my lamp, and Yahweh lightens my darkness.

For by you I can run a raid; by my God I can leap over a wall.

For who is God apart from Yahweh? And who is a rock apart from our God?