Study Desk

For thy servant doth know, that, I, sinned, - lo! therefore, I have arrived to-day, as the first of all the house of Joseph, to come down to meet my lord the king.

Then responded Abishai, son of Zeruiah, and said, For this, shall not Shimei be put to death, for that he cursed the Anointed of Yahweh?

But David said, What have I in common with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, for ye would become to me, to-day, a very traitor! Shall there, to-day, be put to death a man in Israel? for do I not know, that, to-day, I, am king over Israel?

And he said, My lord, O king, my servant, betrayed me, - for thy servant said - I will even saddle me mine ass, that I may ride thereon, and go with the king, for, lame, is thy servant.

For, when all the house of my father were nothing better than dead men, unto my lord the king, then didst thou set thy servant among them that used to eat at thy table, - what then have I further, by way of right, or to cry out any further unto the king?

Now, Barzillai, was very aged, eighty years old, - and, he himself, had sustained the king, throughout his sojourn in Mahanaim, for he was, an exceeding great man.

Then said the king, With me, shall Chimham pass over, and, I, will do unto him that which shall be good in thine eyes, - and, whatsoever thou shalt choose to lay upon me, I will do for thee.

And there came to be a famine, in the days of David, for three years, year after year, so then David sought the face of Yahweh, - and Yahweh said - It respecteth Saul and his house, as to bloodshed, in that he put to death the Gibeonites.

The king therefore called the Gibeonites, and said unto them (now, the Gibeonites, were, not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, with whom, the sons of Israel, had entered into an oath, and Saul had sought to smite them, in his jealousy for the sons of Israel and Judah) -

wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites - What shall I do for you, and wherewith shall I make propitiation, so that ye may bless the inheritance of Yahweh?

And the Gibeonites said unto him - It is not a matter with us of silver or gold, with Saul or with his house, neither would we have a man put to death in Israel. And he said, - What do ye say I should do for you?

Then Rizpah daughter of Aiah, took sackcloth, and spread it out for herself, on the rock, from the beginning of harvest, until water poured out upon them from the heavens, - and suffered neither the birds of the heavens to rest on them by day, nor the wild beasts of the field, to devour them by night.

so they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin, in Zelah, in the grave of Kish his father, thus did they all that the king commanded, - and God suffered himself to be entreated for the land, after this.

In my distress, called I on Yahweh, Yea, unto my God, did I call, - and he hearkened, out of his temple, unto my voice, and, my cry for help, was in his ears!

He rescued me from my foe, in his might, - from them who hated me, because they were too strong for me:

For I had kept the ways of Yahweh, - and not broken away from my God;

For, all his regulations, were before me, - and, as for his statutes, I turned not from them.

For, thou, wast my lamp, O Yahweh, - and, Yahweh, enlightened my darkness;

For, by thee, I ran through a troop, - by my God, I leapt over a wall.

As for God, blameless is his way, - the speech of Yahweh, hath been proved, a shield, he is to all who seek refuge in him.