Chapter 5

20:6. And David said to Abisai: Now will Seba the son of Bochri do us more harm than did Absalom: take thou therefore the servants of thy lord, and pursue after him, lest he find fenced cities, and escape us.

20:7. So Joab's men went out with him, and the Cerethi and the Phelethi: and all the valiant men went out of Jerusalem to pursue after Seba the son of Bochri.

20:8. And when they were at the great stone which is in Gabaon, Amasa coming met them. And Joab had on a close coat of equal length with his habit, and over it was girded with a sword hanging down to his flank, in a scabbard, made in such manner as to come out with the least motion and strike.

20:9. And Joab said to Amasa: God save thee, my brother. And he took Amasa by the chin with his right hand to kiss him.

20:10. But Amasa did not take notice of the sword, which Joab had, and he struck him in the side, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and gave him not a second wound, and he died. And Joab, and Abisai his brother pursued after Seba the son of Bochri.

20:11. In the mean time some men of Joab's company stopping at the dead body of Amasa, said: Behold he that would have been in Joab's stead the companion of David.

20:12. And Amasa imbrued with blood, lay in the midst of the way. A certain man saw this that all the people stood still to look upon him, so he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field, and covered him with a garment, that they who passed might, not stop on his account.

20:13. And when he was removed out of the way, all the people went on following Joab to pursue after Seba the son of Bochri.

20:14. Now he had passed through all the tribes of Israel unto Abela and Bethmaacha: and all the chosen men were gathered together unto him.

Abela and Bethmaacha... Cities of the tribe of Nephtali.

20:15. And they came, and besieged him in Abela, and in Bethmaacha, and they cast up works round the city, and the city was besieged: and all the people that were with Joab, laboured to throw down the walls.

20:16. And a wise woman cried out from the city: Hear, hear, and say to Joab: Come near hither, and I will speak with thee.

20:17. And when he was come near to her, she said to him: Art thou Joab? And he answered: I am. And she spoke thus to him: Hear the words of thy handmaid. He answered: I do hear.

20:18. And she again said: A saying was used in the old proverb: They that inquire, let them inquire in Abela: and so they made an end.

20:19. Am not I she that answer truth in Israel, and thou seekest to destroy the city, and to overthrow a mother in Israel? Why wilt thou throw down the inheritance of the Lord?

20:20. And Joab answering said: God forbid, God forbid that I should, I do not throw down, nor destroy.

20:21. The matter is not so, but a man of mount Ephraim, Seba the son of Bochri by name, hath lifted up his hand against king David: deliver him only, and we will depart from the city. And the woman said to Joab: Behold his head shall be thrown to thee from the wall.

20:22. So she went to all the people, and spoke to them wisely: and they cut off the head of Seba the son of Bochri, and cast it out to Joab. And he sounded the trumpet, and they departed from the city, every one to their home: and Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

20:23. So Joab was over all the army of Israel: and Banaias the son of Joiada was over the Cerethites and Phelethites,

20:24. But Aduram over the tributes: and Josaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder.

20:25. And Siva was scribe: and Sadoc and Abiathar, priests.

20:26. And Ira the Jairite was the priest of David.

2 Kings Chapter 21

A famine of three years, for the sin of Saul against the Gabaonites, at whose desire seven of Saul's race are crucified. War again with the Philistines.

21:1. And there was a famine in the days of David for three years successively: and David consulted the oracle of the Lord. And the Lord said: It is for Saul, and his bloody house, because he slow the Gabaonites.

21:2. Then the king, calling for the Gabaonites, said to them: (Now the Gabaonites were not of the children of Israel, but the remains of the Amorrhites: and the children of Israel had sworn to them, and Saul sought to slay them out of zeal, as it were for the children of Israel and Juda:)

21:3. David therefore said to the Gabaonites: What shall I do for you? and what shall be the atonement or you, that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord?

21:4. And the Gabaonites said to him: We have no contest about silver and gold, but against Saul and against his house: neither do we desire that any man be slain of Israel. And the king said to them: What will you then that I should do for you?

21:5. And they said to the king: The man that crushed us and oppressed us unjustly, we must destroy in such manner that there be not so much as one left of his stock in all the coasts of Israel.

21:6. Let seven men of his children be delivered unto us, that we may crucify them to the Lord in Gabaa of Saul, once the chosen of the Lord. And the king said: I will give them.

21:7. And the king spared Miphiboseth the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the oath of the Lord, that had been between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

21:8. So the king took the two sons of Respha the daughter of Aia, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni, and Miphiboseth: and the five sons of Michol the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Hadriel the son of Berzellai, that was of Molathi:

Of Michol... They were the sons of Merob, who was married to Hadriel: but they are here called the sons of Michol, because she adopted them, and brought them up as her own.

21:9. And gave them into the hands of the Gabaonites: and they crucified them on a hill before the Lord: and these seven died together in the first days of the harvest, when the barley began to be reaped.

21:10. And Respha the daughter of Aia took haircloth, and spread it under her upon the rock from the beginning of the harvest, till water dropped upon them out of heaven: and suffered neither the birds to tear them by day, nor the beasts by night.

21:11. And it was told David, what Respha the daughter of Aia, the concubine of Saul, had done.

21:12. And David went, and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabes Galaad, who had stolen them from the street of Bethsan, where the Philistines had hanged them when they had slain Saul in Gelboe.

21:13. And he brought from thence the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, and they gathered up the bones of them that were crucified,

21:14. And they buried them with the bones of Saul, and of Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin, in the side, in the sepulchre of Cis his father: and they did all that the king had commanded, and God shewed mercy again to the land after these things.

21:15. And the Philistines made war again against Israel, and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. And David growing faint,

21:16. Jesbibenob, who was of the race of Arapha, the iron of whose spear weighed three hundred ounces, being girded with a new sword, attempted to kill David.

21:17. And Abisai the son of Sarvia rescued him, and striking the Philistine killed him. Then David's men swore unto him saying: Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, lest thou put out the lamp of Israel.

21:18. There was also a second battle in Gob against the Philistines: then Sobochai of Husathi slew Saph of the race of Arapha of the family of the giants.

21:19. And there was a third battle in Gob against the Philistines, in which Adeodatus the son of the Forrest an embroiderer of Bethlehem slew Goliath the Gethite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

Adeodatus the son of the Forrest... So it is rendered in the Latin Vulgate, by giving the interpretation of the Hebrew names, which are Elhanan the son of Jaare.

21:20. A fourth battle was in Geth: where there was a man of great stature, that had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, four and twenty in all, and he was of the race of Arapha.

21:21. And he reproached Israel: and Jonathan the son of Samae the brother of David slew him.

21:22. These four were born of Arapha in Geth, and they fell by the hand of David, and of his servants.

2 Kings Chapter 22

King David's psalm of thanksgiving for his deliverance from all his enemies.

22:1. And David spoke to the Lord the words of this canticle, in the day that the Lord delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul,

22:2. And he said: The Lord is my rock, and my strength, and my saviour.

22:3. God is my strong one, in him will I trust: my shield, and the horn of my salvation: he lifteth me up, and is my refuge: my saviour, thou wilt deliver me from iniquity.

22:4. I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised: and I shall be saved from my enemies.

22:5. For the pangs of death have surrounded me: the floods of Belial have made me afraid.

22:6. The cords of hell compassed me: the snares of death prevented me.

22:7. In my distress I will call upon the Lord, and I will cry to my God: and he will hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry shall come to his ears.

22:8. The earth shook and trembled, the foundations of the mountains were moved, and shaken, because he was angry with them.

22:9. A smoke went up from his nostrils, and a devouring fire out of his mouth: coals were kindled by it.

22:10. He bowed the heavens, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.

22:11. And he rode upon the cherubims, and flew: and slid upon the wings of the wind.

22:12. He made darkness a covering round about him: dropping waters out of the clouds of the heavens.

22:13. By the brightness before him, the coals of fire were kindled.

22:14. The Lord shall thunder from heaven: and the most high shall give forth his voice.

22:15. He shot arrows and scattered them: lightning, and consumed them.

22:16. And the overflowings of the sea appeared, and the foundations of the world were laid open at the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of the spirit of his wrath.

22:17. He sent from on high, and took me, and drew me out of many waters.

22:18. He delivered me from my most mighty enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.

22:19. He prevented me in the day of my affliction, and the Lord became my stay.

22:20. And he brought me forth into a large place, he delivered me, because I pleased him.

22:21. The Lord will reward me according to my justice: and according to the cleanness of my hands he will render to me.

22:22. Because I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

22:23. For all his judgments are in my sight: and his precepts I have not removed from me.

22:24. And I shall be perfect with him: and shall keep myself from my iniquity.

22:25. And the Lord will recompense me according to my justice: and according to the cleanness of my hands in the sight of his eyes.

22:26. With the holy one thou wilt be holy: and with the valiant perfect.

22:27. With the elect thou wilt be elect: and with the perverse thou wilt be perverted.

22:28. And the poor people thou wilt save: and with thy eyes thou shalt humble the haughty.

22:29. For thou art my lamp O Lord: and thou, O Lord, wilt enlighten my darkness.

22:30. For in thee I will run girded: in my God I will leap over the wall.

22:31. God, his way is immaculate, the word of the Lord is tried by fire: he is the shield of all that trust in him.

22:32. Who is God but the Lord: and who is strong but our God?

22:33. God who hath girded me with strength, and made my way perfect.

22:34. Making my feet like the feet of harts, and setting me upon my high places.

22:35. He teacheth my hands to war: and maketh my arms like a bow of brass.

22:36. Thou hast given me the shield of my salvation: and thy mildness hath multiplied me.

22:37. Thou shalt enlarge my steps under me: and my ankles shall not fail.

22:38. I will pursue after my enemies, and crush them: and will not return again till I consume them.

22:39. I will consume them and break them in pieces, so that they shall not rise: they shall fall under my feet.

22:40. Thou hast girded me with strength to battle: thou hast made them that resisted me to bow under me.

22:41. My enemies thou hast made to turn their back to me: them that hated me, and I shall destroy them.

22:42. They shall cry, and there shall be none to save: to the Lord, and he shall not hear them.

22:43. I shall beat them as small as the dust of the earth: I shall crush them and spread them abroad like the mire of the streets.

22:44. Thou wilt save me from the contradictions of my people: thou wilt keep me to be the head of the Gentiles: the people which I know not, shall serve me,

22:45. The sons of the stranger will resist me, at the hearing of the ear they will obey me.

22:46. The strangers are melted away, and shall be straitened in their distresses.

22:47. The Lord liveth, and my God is blessed: and the strong God of my salvation shall be exalted:

22:48. God who giveth me revenge, and bringest down people under me,

22:49. Who bringest me forth from my enemies, and liftest me up from them that resist me: from the wicked man thou shalt deliver me.

22:50. Therefore will I give thanks to thee, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and will sing to thy name.

22:51. Giving great salvation to his king, and shewing mercy to David his anointed, and to his seed for ever.

2 Kings Chapter 23

The last words of David. A catalogue of his valiant men.

23:1. Now these are David's last words. David the son of Isai said: The man to whom it was appointed concerning the Christ of the God of Jacob, the excellent psalmist of Israel said:

23:2. The spirit of the Lord hath spoken by me and his word by my tongue.

23:3. The God of Israel said to me, the strong one of Israel spoke, the ruler of men, the just ruler in the fear of God.

23:4. As the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, shineth in the morning without clouds, and as the grass springeth out of the earth by rain.

As the light, etc... So shall be the kingdom of Christ.

23:5. Neither is my house so great with God, that he should make with me an eternal covenant, firm in all things and assured. For he is all my salvation, and all my will: neither is there ought thereof that springeth not up.

Neither is my house, etc... As if he should say: This everlasting covenant was not due to my house: but purely owing to his bounty; who is all my salvation, and my will: that is, who hath always saved me, and granted me what I beseeched of him; so that I and my house, through his blessing, have sprung up, and succeeded in all things.

23:6. But transgressors shall all of them be plucked up as thorns: which are not taken away with hands.

23:7. And if a man will touch them, he must be armed with iron and with the staff of a lance: but they shall be set on fire and burnt to nothing.

23:8. These are the names of the valiant men of David: Jesbaham sitting in the chair was the wisest chief among the three, he was like the most tender little worm of the wood, who killed eight hundred men at one onset.

Jesbaham... The son of Hachamoni. For this was the name of this hero, as appears from 1 Chron. or Paralip. 11.-Ibid. Most tender, etc... He appeared like one tender and weak, but was indeed most valiant and strong. It seems the Latin has here given the interpretation of the Hebrew name of the hero, to whom Jesbaham was like, instead of the name itself, which was Adino the Eznite, one much renowned of old for his valour.

23:9. After him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three valiant men that were with David when they defied the Philistines, and they were there gathered together to battle.

Dodo... In Latin, Patrui ejus, which is the interpretation of the Hebrew name Dodo. The same occurs in ver. 24.

23:10. And when the men of Israel were gone away, he stood and smote the Philistines till his hand was weary, and grew stiff with the sword: and the Lord wrought a great victory that day: and the people that were fled away, returned to take spoils of them that were slain.

23:11. And after him was Semma the son of Age of Arari. And the Philistines were gathered together in a troop: for there was a field full of lentils. And when the people were fled from the face of the Philistines,

23:12. He stood in the midst of the field, and defended it, and defeated the Philistines: and the Lord gave a great victory.

23:13. Moreover also before this the three who were princes among the thirty, went down and came to David in the harvest time into the cave of Odollam: and the camp of the Philistines was in the valley of the giants.

23:14. And David was then in a hold: and there was a garrison of the Philistines then in Bethlehem.

23:15. And David longed, and said: O that some man would get me a drink of the water out of the cistern, that is in Bethlehem, by the gate.

23:16. And the three valiant men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water out of the cistern of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and brought it to David: but he would not drink, but offered it to the Lord,

23:17. Saying: The Lord be merciful to me, that I may not do this: shall I drink the blood of these men that went, and the peril of their lives? therefore he would not drink. These things did these three mighty men.

23:18. Abisai also the brother of Joab, the son of Sarvia, was chief among three: and he lifted up his spear against three hundred whom he slew, and he was renowned among the three,

23:19. And the noblest of three, and was their chief, but to the three first he attained not.

23:20. And Banaias the son of Joiada a most valiant man, of great deeds, of Cabseel: he slew the two lions of Moab, and he went down, and slew a lion in the midst of a pit, in the time of snow.

23:21. He also slew an Egyptian, a man worthy to be a sight, having a spear in his hand: but he went down to him with a rod, and forced the spear out of the hand of the Egyptian, and slew him with his own spear.

23:22. These things did Banaias the son of Joiada.

23:23. And he was renowned among the three valiant men, who were the most honourable among the thirty: but he attained not to the first three: and David made him of his privy council.

23:24. Asael the brother of Joab was one of the thirty, Elehanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem.

23:25. Semma of Harodi, Elica of Harodi,

23:26. Heles of Phalti, Hira the son of Acces of Thecua,

23:27. Abiezer of Anathoth, Mobonnai of Husati,

23:28. Selmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite,

23:29. Heled the son of Baana, also a Netophathite, Ithai the son of Ribai of Gabaath of the children of Benjamin,

23:30. Banaia the Pharathonite, Heddai of the torrent Gaas,

23:31. Abialbon the Arbathite, Azmaveth of Beromi,

23:32. Eliaba of Salaboni. The sons of Jassen, Jonathan,

23:33. Semma of Orori, Aliam the son of Sarar the Arorite,

23:34. Eliphelet the son of Aasbai the son of Machati, Eliam the son of Achitophel the Gelonite,

23:35. Hesrai of Carmel, Pharai of Arbi,

23:36. Igaal the son of Nathan of Soba, Bonni of Gadi,

23:37. Selec of Ammoni, Naharai the Berothite, armourbearer of Joab the son of Sarvia,

23:38. Ira the Jethrite, Gareb also a Jethrite;

23:39. Urias the Hethite, thirty and seven in all.

2 Kings Chapter 24

David numbereth the people: God sendeth a pestilence, which is stopt by David's prayer and sacrifice.

24:1. And the anger of the Lord was again kindled against Israel, and stirred up David among them, saying: Go, number Israel and Juda.

Stirred up, etc... This stirring up was not the doing of God, but of Satan; as it is expressly declared, 1 Chron. or Paralip. 21.1.

24:2. And the king said to Joab the general of his army: Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Bersabee, and number ye the people that I may know the number of them.

24:3. And Joab said to the king: The Lord thy God increase thy people, and make them as many more as they are now, and again multiply them a hundredfold in the sight of my lord the king: but what meaneth my lord the king by this kind of thing?

24:4. But the king's words prevailed over the words of Joab, and of the captains of the army: and Joab, and the captains of the soldiers went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.

24:5. And when they had passed the Jordan, they came to Aroer to the right side of the city, which is in the vale of Gad.

24:6. And by Jazer they passed into Galaad, and to the lower land of Hodsi, and they came into the woodlands of Dan. And going about by Sidon,

24:7. They passed near the walls of Tyre, and all the land of the Hevite, and the Chanaanite, and they came to the south of Juda into Bersabee:

24:8. And having gone through the whole land, after nine months and twenty days, they came to Jerusalem.

24:9. And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people to the king, and there were found of Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword: and of Juda five hundred thousand fighting men.

24:10. But David's heart struck him, after the people were numbered: and David said to the Lord: I have sinned very much in what I have done: but I pray thee, O Lord, to take away the iniquity of thy servant, because I have done exceeding foolishly.

David's heart struck him, after the people were numbered... That is he was touched with a great remorse for the vanity and pride which had put him upon numbering the people.

24:11. And David arose in the morning, and the word of the Lord came to Gad the prophet and the seer of David, saying:

24:12. Go, and say to David: Thus saith the Lord: I give thee thy choice of three things, choose one of them which thou wilt, that I may do it to thee.

24:13. And when Gad was come to David, he told him, saying: Either seven years of famine shall come to thee in thy land: or thou shalt flee three months before thy adversaries, and they shall pursue thee: or for three days there shall be a pestilence in thy land. Now therefore deliberate, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

24:14. And David said to Gad: I am in a great strait: but it is better that I should fall into the hands of the Lord (for his mercies are many) than into the hands of men.

24:15. And the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, from the morning unto the time appointed, and there died of the people from Dan to Bersabee seventy thousand men.

24:16. And when the angel of the Lord had stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord had pity on the affliction, and said to the angel that slew the people: It is enough: now hold thy hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the thrashingfloor of Areuna the Jebusite.

24:17. And David said to the Lord, when he saw the angel striking the people: It is I; I am he that have sinned, I have done wickedly: these that are the sheep, what have they done? let thy hand, I beseech thee, be turned against me, and against my father's house.

24:18. And Gad came to David that day, and said: Go up, and build an altar to the Lord in the thrashingfloor of Areuna the Jebusite.

24:19. And David went up according to the word of Gad which the Lord had commanded him.

24:20. And Areuna looked, and saw the king and his servants coming towards him:

24:21. And going out he worshipped the king, bowing with his face to the earth, and said: Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said to him: To buy the thrashingfloor of thee, and build an altar to the Lord, that the plague, which rageth among the people, may cease.

24:22. And Areuna said to David: Let my lord the king take, and offer, as it seemeth good to him: thou hast here oxen for a holocaust, and the wain, and the yokes of the oxen for wood.