Your Name, O Lord, Endures Forever
1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the name of the Lord,
xgive praise, O servants of the Lord,
2 ywho stand in the house of the Lord,
in the courts of the house of our God!
3 Praise the Lord, zfor the Lord is good;
asing to his name, bfor it is pleasant!1
4 For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself,
Israel as chis own possession.
5 For I know that dthe Lord is great,
and that our Lord is eabove all gods.
6 fWhatever the Lord pleases, he does,
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all deeps.
7 He it is who gmakes the clouds rise at the end of the earth,
who makes lightnings for the rain
and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
8 hHe it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
both of man and of beast;
9 who in your midst, O Egypt,
sent isigns and wonders
against Pharaoh and all his servants;
10 jwho struck down many nations
and killed mighty kings,
11 kSihon, king of the Amorites,
and lOg, king of Bashan,
and mall the kingdoms of Canaan,
12 and gave their land as a heritage,
a heritage to his people Israel.
13 nYour name, O Lord, endures forever,
your renown,2 O Lord, throughout all ages.
14 For othe Lord will vindicate his people
and have compassion on his servants.
15 pThe idols of the nations are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
16 qThey have mouths, but do not speak;
they have eyes, but do not see;
17 they have ears, but do not hear,
rnor is there any breath in their mouths.
18 sThose who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.
19 O house of Israel, bless the Lord!
O house of Aaron, bless the Lord!
20 O house of Levi, bless the Lord!
You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord!
21 Blessed be the Lord from Zion,
he who dwells in Jerusalem!
Praise the Lord!
The Last Words of David
1 Now these are the last words of David:
The oracle of David, the son of Jesse,
the oracle of the man who was raised on high,
the lanointed of the mGod of Jacob,
the sweet psalmist of Israel:1
2 “The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me;
his word is on my tongue.
3 The God of Israel has spoken;
the Rock of Israel has said to me:
When one rules njustly over men,
ruling in the fear of God,
4 he dawns on them like the morning light,
like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning,
like rain2 that makes grass to sprout from the earth.
5 “For does not my house stand so with God?
For he has made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and secure.
For will he not cause to prosper
all my help and my desire?
6 But worthless men3 are all like thorns that are thrown away,
for they cannot be taken with the hand;
7 but the man who touches them
arms himself with iron and the shaft of a spear,
and they are utterly consumed with fire.”4
David’s Mighty Men
8 oThese are the names of the mighty men whom David had: pJosheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite; he was chief of the three.5 He wielded his spear6 against eight hundred whom he killed at one time.
9 And next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar the son of Dodo, son of Ahohi. He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel withdrew. 10 He rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clung to the sword. And the Lord qbrought about a great victory that day, and the men returned after him only to strip the slain.
11 And next to him was Shammah, the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at rLehi,7 where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the men fled from the Philistines. 12 But he took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines, and the Lord worked a great victory.
13 And three of the thirty chief men went down and came about harvest time to David at the cave of Adullam, when a band of Philistines was encamped sin the Valley of Rephaim. 14 David was then in the tstronghold, and the ugarrison of the Philistines was then at vBethlehem. 15 And David said longingly, “Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” 16 Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and carried and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it. He wpoured it out to the Lord 17 and said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.
18 Now xAbishai, the brother of yJoab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the thirty.8 And he wielded his spear against three hundred men9 and killed them and won a name beside the three. 19 He was the most renowned of the thirty10 and became their commander, but he did not attain to the three.
20 And zBenaiah the son of aJehoiada was a valiant man11 of bKabzeel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two ariels12 of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen. 21 And he struck down an Egyptian, a handsome man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but Benaiah went down to him with a staff and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. 22 These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and won a name beside the three mighty men. 23 He was renowned among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David set him over his bodyguard.
24 cAsahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, 25 Shammah of Harod, Elika of Harod, 26 Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh of Tekoa, 27 Abiezer of Anathoth, Mebunnai the Hushathite, 28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai of Netophah, 29 Heleb the son of Baanah of Netophah, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the people of Benjamin, 30 Benaiah of Pirathon, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash, 31 Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth of Bahurim, 32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, 33 Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Hararite, 34 Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai of Maacah, Eliam the son of dAhithophel the Gilonite, 35 Hezro13 of Carmel, Paarai the Arbite, 36 Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, 37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai of Beeroth, the armor-bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah, 38 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, 39 eUriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.
