God

He brings me out from my enemies. You raise me over those who rebel against me, you rescue me from violent men.

"So I give thanks to you, ADONAI, among the nations; I sing praises to your name.

He is a tower of salvation for his king; he displays grace to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever."

Here are David's last words: "This is the speech of David the son of Yishai, the speech of the man who has been raised up, the one anointed by the God of Ya'akov, the sweet singer of Isra'el.

"The Spirit of ADONAI spoke through me, his word was on my tongue.

The God of Isra'el spoke; the Rock of Isra'el said to me, 'A ruler over people must be upright, ruling in the fear of God;

"For my house stands firm with God -he made an everlasting covenant with me. It is in order, fully assured, that he will bring to full growth all my salvation and every desire.

He stood firm and attacked the P'lishtim until his hand went into spasm, so that he couldn't let go of his sword. ADONAI accomplished a great victory that day; but the people didn't return until he had finished, and then only to plunder the bodies of the dead.

But he stood in the middle of the plot and defended it, killing the P'lishtim; and ADONAI brought about a great victory.

The three warrior-heroes broke through the army of the P'lishtim, drew water from the well by the gate of Beit-Lechem, took it and brought it to David. But he wouldn't drink it. Instead, he poured it out to ADONAI

and said, "ADONAI! Heaven forbid that I should do such a thing! Am I to drink the blood of men who went and put their lives in jeopardy?"- and he would not consent to drink it. These are the things the three warrior-heroes did.

The anger of ADONAI blazed up against Isra'el, so he moved David to act against them by saying, "Go, take a census of Isra'el and Y'hudah."

Yo'av said to the king, "May ADONAI your God add to the people a hundredfold, no matter how many there are; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king take pleasure in doing this?"

But after he had taken the census, David was conscience-stricken. David said to ADONAI, "I have greatly sinned in what I have done. But now, ADONAI, please! Put aside your servant's sin, for I have done a very foolish thing."

When David got up in the morning, this word of ADONAI came to the prophet Gad, David's seer:

"Go and say to David that this is what ADONAI says: 'I am giving you a choice of three punishments. Choose one of them, and I will execute it against you."

Gad came to David and told him; he said: "Do you want seven years of famine in your land? or do you want to flee before your enemies for three months while they pursue you? or do you want three days of plague in your land? Think about it, and tell me what to answer the one who sent me."

David said to Gad, "This is very hard for me. Let us fall into the hand of ADONAI, because his mercies are great, rather than have me fall into the hand of man."

So ADONAI sent a plague on Isra'el from that morning until the end of the specified time; 70,000 of the people died between Dan and Be'er-Sheva.

But when the angel stretched out his hand toward Yerushalayim to destroy it, ADONAI changed his mind about causing such distress and said to the angel destroying the people, "Enough! Now withdraw your hand."The angel of ADONAI was at the threshing-floor of Aravnah the Y'vusi.

David spoke to ADONAI when he saw the angel striking the people; he said, "Here, I have sinned, I have done wrong. But these sheep, what have they done? Please! Let your hand be against me and against my father's family!"

Gad came to David that day and said to him, "Go, set up an altar to ADONAI on the threshing-floor of Aravnah the Y'vusi."

David went up and did what Gad had said, as ADONAI had ordered.

Then Aravnah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy your threshing-floor, in order to build an altar to ADONAI, so that the plague will be lifted from the people."

All this, O king, Aravnah gives to the king."Then Aravnah said to the king, "May ADONAI your God accept you."