Study Desk

"In my distress I called upon the LORD, Yes, I called out to my God; And from His temple He heard my voice, And my cry for help came into His ears.

"Smoke went up out of His nostrils, And fire from His mouth was devouring; Coals were kindled by it.

"He also bowed the heavens down low, and came down With thick darkness under His feet.

"The LORD thundered from heaven, And the Most High uttered His voice.

"Then the channels of the sea appeared, The foundations of the world were exposed By the rebuke of the LORD, From the blast of the breath of His nostrils.

"For all His ordinances were before me, And as for His statutes, I did not deviate from them.

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

"As for God, His way is blameless; The word of the LORD is refined; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.

"God is my strong fortress; And He sets the blameless on His way.

"He is a tower of salvation to His king, And shows favor to His anointed, To David and his descendants forever."

"The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me, And His word was on my tongue.

He rose up and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary and it clung to the sword, and the LORD brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to plunder the dead.

But he took his stand in the midst of the plot, defended it, and struck the Philistines; and the LORD brought about a great victory.

Now Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the thirty. And he swung his spear against three hundred and killed them, and had a name as well as the three.

And he killed an Egyptian, an impressive man. Now the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but he went down to him with a club and snatched the spear from the Egyptian's hand, and killed him with his own spear.

He was honored among the thirty, but he did not attain the reputation of the three. And David appointed him over his bodyguard.

Then David said to Gad, "I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into human hands."

When the angel extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented of the disaster and said to the angel who destroyed the people, "It is enough! Now drop your hand!" And the angel of the LORD was by 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."