Study Desk

Then they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the grave of his father Kish; so they did everything that the king commanded, and after that God responded to prayer for the land.

But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then David's men swore to him, saying, "You shall not go out again with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish the lamp of Israel."

"So the LORD has repaid me in accordance with my righteousness, In accordance with my cleanliness before His eyes.

"He trains my hands for battle, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

"And I have devoured them and smashed them, so that they would not rise; And they fell under my feet.

"Is my house not indeed so with God? For He has made an everlasting covenant with me, Properly ordered in all things, and secured; For will He not indeed make All my salvation and all my delight grow?

So the three mighty men forced their way into the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and carried it and brought it to David. Yet he would not drink it, but poured it out as an offering to the LORD;

and he said, "Far be it from me, LORD, that I would do this! Should I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?" So he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

He was the most honored among the thirty, so he became their commander; however, he did not attain to the reputation of the three.

So the king said to Joab the commander of the army, who was with him, "Roam about now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and conduct a census of the people, so that I may know the number of the people."

Nevertheless, the king's order prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army left the presence of the king to conduct a census of the people of Israel.

So when they had roamed about through the whole land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

Now David's heart troubled him after he had counted the people. So David said to the LORD, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, LORD, please overlook the guilt of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly."

So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, "Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee for three months before your enemies while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days of plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me."

So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand men of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.

So Gad came to David that day and said to him, "Go up, erect an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."

And Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; so Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king.

Then Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" And David said, "To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the LORD, so that the plague may be withdrawn from the people."

However, the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will certainly buy it from you for a price; for I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

So his servants said to him, "Have them search for a young virgin for my lord the king, and have her attend the king and become his nurse; and have her lie on your chest, so that my lord the king may keep warm."