1. These are the last words of David:The oracle of David, son of Jesse;the oracle of the man God raised up,Anointed of the God of Jacob,favorite of the Mighty One of Israel.
2. The spirit of the Lord spoke through me;his word was on my tongue.
3. The God of Israel spoke;of me the Rock of Israel said,“One who rules over humankind with justice,who rules in the fear of God,
4. Is like the light at sunriseon a cloudless morning,making the land’s vegetation glisten after rain.”
5. Is not my house firm before God?He has made an eternal covenant with me,set forth in detail and secured.Will he not bring to fruitionall my salvation and my every desire?
6. But the wicked are all like thorns to be cast away;they cannot be taken up by hand.
7. One wishing to touch themmust be armed with iron or the shaft of a spear.They must be utterly consumed by fire.
8. These are the names of David’s warriors. Ishbaal, the son of Hachamoni, chief of the Three. He brandished his spear over eight hundred whom he had slain in a single encounter.
9. Next to him was Eleazar, the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the Three warriors with David at Ephes-dammim, when they insulted the Philistines who had massed there for battle. The Israelites had retreated,
10. but he stood there and struck down the Philistines until his hand grew tired from clutching the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory on that day; the army turned back to rejoin Eleazar, but only to strip the slain.
11. Next to him was Shammah, son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had assembled at Lehi, where there was a plot of land full of lentils. The people were fleeing before the Philistines,
12. but he took his stand in the middle of the plot, kept it safe, and cut down the Philistines. Thus the Lord brought about a great victory. Such deeds as these the Three warriors performed.
13. Three of the Thirty chiefs went down to David in the cave of Adullam during the harvest, while a Philistine clan was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.
14. David was then in the stronghold, and there was a garrison of Philistines in Bethlehem.
15. Now David had a craving and said, “If only someone would give me a drink of water from the cistern by the gate of Bethlehem!”
16. Thereupon the three warriors broke through the encampment of the Philistines, drew water from the cistern by the gate of Bethlehem, and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it, and instead poured it out to the Lord,