2 Samuel 23:14

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

2 Samuel 23:15

David had a craving and said, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate!”

2 Samuel 23:16

So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the LORD;

2 Samuel 23:17

and he said, “Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this. Shall I 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.

2 Samuel 23:18

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.

2 Samuel 23:19

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

2 Samuel 23:20

Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day.

2 Samuel 23:21

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.

2 Samuel 23:22

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

2 Samuel 23:23

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

2 Samuel 23:24

Asahel the brother of Joab was among the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,

2 Samuel 23:25

Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite,

2 Samuel 23:26

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

2 Samuel 23:27

Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite,

2 Samuel 23:28

Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite,

2 Samuel 23:29

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

2 Samuel 23:30

Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash,

2 Samuel 23:31

Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite,

2 Samuel 23:32

Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan,

2 Samuel 23:33

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

2 Samuel 23:34

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

2 Samuel 23:35

Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite,

2 Samuel 23:36

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

2 Samuel 23:37

Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, armor bearers of Joab the son of Zeruiah,

2 Samuel 23:38

Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,

2 Samuel 23:39

Uriah the Hittite; thirty-seven in all.

2 Samuel 24:1

Now again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”

2 Samuel 24:2

The king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Go about now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and register the people, that I may know the number of the people.”

2 Samuel 24:3

But Joab said to the king, “Now may the LORD your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?”

2 Samuel 24:4

Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to register the people of Israel.

2 Samuel 24:5

They crossed the Jordan and camped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad and toward Jazer.

2 Samuel 24:6

Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon,

2 Samuel 24:7

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

2 Samuel 24:8

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

2 Samuel 24:9

And Joab gave the number of the registration 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.

2 Samuel 24:10

Now David’s heart troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”

2 Samuel 24:11

When David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,

2 Samuel 24:12

“Go and speak to David, ‘Thus the LORD says, “I am offering you three things; choose for yourself one of them, which I will do to you.”’”

2 Samuel 24:14

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 the hand of man.”

2 Samuel 24:15

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

2 Samuel 24:16

When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now relax your hand!” And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

2 Samuel 24:17

Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, “Behold, it is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done wrong; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”

2 Samuel 24:18

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.”

2 Samuel 24:19

David went up according to the word of Gad, just as the LORD had commanded.

2 Samuel 24:20

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

2 Samuel 24:21

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, that the plague may be held back from the people.”

2 Samuel 24:22

Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.

2 Samuel 24:23

Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.”

2 Samuel 24:24

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

2 Samuel 24:25

David built there an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Thus the LORD was moved by prayer for the land, and the plague was held back from Israel.