Day 98 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

2 Samuel 22

1 And David spoke to the Lord the words of this song, in the day in which the Lord rescued him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul. 2 And the song was thus: O Lord, my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, 3 my God; he shall be to me my guard, I will trust in him: [he is] my protector, and the horn of my salvation, my helper, and my sure refuge; thou shalt save me from the unjust man. 4 I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, and I shall be saved from my enemies. 5 For the troubles of death compassed me, the floods of iniquity amazed me: 6 the pangs of death surrounded me, the agonies of death prevented me. 7 When I am afflicted I will call upon the Lord, and will cry to my God, and he shall hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry shall come into his ears. 8 And the earth was troubled and quaked, and the foundations of heaven were confounded and torn asunder, because the Lord was wroth with them. 9 There went up a smoke in his wrath, and fire out of his mouth devours: coals were kindled at it. 10 And he bowed the heavens, and came down, and [there was] darkness under his feet. 11 And he rode upon the cherubs and did fly, and was seen upon the wings of the wind. 12 And he made darkness his hiding-place; his tabernacle round about him was the darkness of waters, he condensed it with the clouds of the air. 13 At the brightness before him coals of fire were kindled. 14 The Lord thundered out of heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice. 15 And he sent forth arrows, and scattered them, and he flashed lightning, and dismayed them. 16 And the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of his anger. 17 He sent from above and took me; he drew me out of many waters. 18 He delivered me from my strong enemies, from them that hated me, for they were stronger than I. 19 The days of my affliction prevented me; but the Lord was my stay. 20 And he brought me into a wide place, and rescued me, because he delighted in me. 21 And the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness; even according to the purity of my hands did he recompense me. 22 Because I kept the ways of the Lord, and did not wickedly depart from my God. 23 For all his judgments and his ordinances [were] before me: I departed not from them. 24 And I shall be blameless before him, and will keep myself from my iniquity. 25 And the Lord will recompense me according to my righteousness, and according to the purity of my hands in his eye-sight. 26 With the holy thou wilt be holy, and with the perfect man thou wilt be perfect, 27 and with the excellent thou wilt be excellent, and with the froward thou wilt be froward. 28 And thou wilt save the poor people, and wilt bring down the eyes of the haughty. 29 For thou, Lord, [art] my lamp, and the Lord shall shine forth to me in my darkness. 30 For by thee shall I run [as] a girded man, and by my God shall I leap over a wall. 31 As for the Mighty One, his way [is] blameless: the word of the Lord [is] strong [and] tried in the fire: he is a protector to all that put their trust in him. 32 Who [is] strong, but the Lord? and who will be a Creator except our God? 33 [It is] the Mighty One who strengthens me with might, and has prepared my way without fault. 34 He makes my feet like harts' feet, and sets me upon the high places. 35 He teaches my hands to war, and has broken a brazen bow by my arm. 36 And thou hast given me the shield of my salvation, and thy propitious dealing has increased me, 37 so as to make room under me for my going, and my legs did not totter. 38 I will pursue my enemies, and will utterly destroy them; and I will not turn again till I have consumed them. 39 And I will crush them, and they shall not rise; and they shall fall under my feet. 40 And thou shalt strengthen me with power for the war; thou shalt cause them that rise up against me to bow down under me. 41 And thou hast caused mine enemies to flee before me, even them that hated me, and thou hast slain them. 42 They shall cry, and there shall be no helper; to the Lord, but he hearkens not to them. 43 And I ground them as the dust of the earth, I beat them small as the mire of the streets. 44 And thou shalt deliver me from the striving of the peoples, thou shalt keep me [to be] the head of the Gentiles: a people which I knew not served me. 45 The strange children feigned [obedience] to me; they hearkened to me as soon as they heard. 46 The strange children shall be cast away, and shall be overthrown out of their hiding-places. 47 The Lord lives, and blessed [be] my guardian, and my God, my strong keeper, shall be exalted. 48 The Lord who avenges me [is] strong, chastening the nations under me, 49 and bringing me out from my enemies: and thou shalt set me on high from among those that rise up against me: thou shalt deliver me from the violent man. 50 Therefore will I confess to thee, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and sing to thy name. 51 He magnifies the salvation of his king, and works mercy for his anointed, even for David and for his seed for ever.

2 Samuel 23

1 And these [are] the last words of David. Faithful [is] David the son of Jessæ, and faithful the man whom the Lord raised up to be the anointed of the God of Jacob, and beautiful [are] the psalms of Israel. 2 The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and his word [was] upon my tongue. 3 The God of Israel says, A watchman out of Israel spoke to me a parable: I said among men, How will ye strengthen the fear of the anointed? 4 And in the morning light of God, let the sun arise in the morning, from the light of which the Lord passed on, and as it were from the rain of the tender grass upon the earth. 5 For my house [is] not so with the Mighty One: for he has made an everlasting covenant with me, ready, guarded at every time; for all my salvation and all my desire [is], that the wicked should not flourish. 6 All these [are] as a thorn thrust forth, for they shall not be taken with the hand, 7 and a man shall not labour among them; and [one shall have] that which is fully armed with iron, and the staff of a spear, and he shall burn them with fire, and they shall be burnt in their shame. 8 These [are] the names of the mighty men of David: Jebosthe the Chananite is a captain of the third [part]: Adinon the Asonite, he drew his sword against eight hundred soldiers at once. 9 And after him Eleanan the son of his uncle, son of Dudi who was among the three mighty men with David; and when he defied the Philistines they were gathered there to war, and the men of Israel went up. 10 He arose and smote the Philistines, until his hand was weary, and his hand clave to the sword: and the Lord wrought a great salvation in that day, and the people rested behind him only to strip [the slain]. 11 And after him Samaia the son of Asa the Arachite: and the Philistines were gathered to Theria; and there was there a portion of ground full of lentiles; and the people fled before the Philistines. 12 And he stood firm in the midst of the portion, and rescued it, and smote the Philistines; and the Lord wrought a great deliverance. 13 And three out of the thirty went down, and came to Cason to David, to the cave of Odollam; and [there was] an army of the Philistines, and they encamped in the valley of Raphain. 14 And David [was] then in the strong hold, and the garrison of the Philistines [was] then in Bethleem. 15 And David longed, and said, Who will give me water to drink out of the well that is in Bethleem by the gate? now the band of the Philistines [was] then in Bethleem. 16 And the three mighty men broke through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well that was in Bethleem in the gate: and they took it, and brought it to David, and he would not drink it, but poured it out before the Lord. 17 And he said, O Lord, forbid that I should do this, that I should drink the blood of the men who went at [the risk of] their lives: and he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men. 18 And Abessa the brother of Joab the son of Saruia, he [was] chief among the three, and he lifted up his spear against three hundred whom he slew; and he had a name among three. 19 Of those three [he was] most honourable, and he became a chief over them, but he reached not to the [first] three. 20 And Banæas the son of Jodae, he was abundant in [mighty] deeds, from Cabeseel, and he smote the two sons of Ariel of Moab: and he went down and smote a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. 21 He smote an Egyptian, a wonderful man, and in the hand of the Egyptian [was] a spear as the side of a ladder; and he went down to him with a staff, and snatched the spear from the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear. 22 These things did Banæas the son of Jodae, and he had a name among the three mighty men. 23 He was honourable among the [second] three, but he reached not to the [first] three: and David made him his reporter. And these [are] the names of king David's mighty men. 24 Asael Joab's brother; he [was] among the thirty. Eleanan son of Dudi his uncle in Bethleem. 25 Sæma the Rudæan. 26 Selles the Kelothite: Iras the son of Isca the Thecoite. 27 Abiezer the Anothite, of the sons of the Anothite. 28 Ellon the Aoite; Noëre the Netophatite. 29 Esthai the son of Riba of Gabaeth, son of Benjamin the Ephrathite; Asmoth the Bardiamite; Emasu the Salabonite: 32 the sons of Asan, Jonathan; 33 Samnan the Arodite; Amnan the son of Arai the Saraurite. 34 Aliphaleth the son of Asbites, the son of the Machachachite; Eliab the son of Achitophel the Gelonite. 35 Asarai the Carmelite the son of Uræoerchi. 36 Gaal the son of Nathana. The son of much valour, [the son] of Galaaddi. 37 Elie the Ammanite. 37a Adroi of the brooks. 37b Gadabiel son of the Arabothæite. 37c Gelore the Bethorite, armour-bearer to Joab, son of Saruia. 38 Iras the Ethirite. Gerab the Ethenite. 39 Urias the Chettite: thirty-seven in all.

2 Samuel 24

1 And the Lord caused his anger to burn forth again in Israel, and [Satan] stirred up David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Juda. 2 And the king said to Joab commander of the host, who was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel and Juda, from Dan even to Bersabee, and number the people, and I will know the number of the people. 3 And Joab said to the king, Now may the Lord add to the people a hundred-fold as many as they are, and [may] the eyes of my lord the king see it: but why does my lord the king desire this thing? 4 Nevertheless the word of the king prevailed against Joab and the captains of the host: And Joab and the captains of the host went out before the king to number the people of Israel. 5 And they went over Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right of the city which is in the midst of the valley of Gad and Eliezer. 6 And they came to Galaad, and into the land of Thabason, which is Adasai, and they came to Danidan and Udan, and compassed Sidon. 7 And they came to Mapsar of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Evite and the Chananite: and they came by the south of Juda to Bersabee. 8 And they compassed the whole land; and they arrived at Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 And Joab gave in the number of the census of the people to the king: and Israel consisted of eight hundred thousand men of might that drew sword; and the men of Juda, five hundred thousand fighting men. 10 And the heart of David smote him after he had numbered the people; and David said to the Lord, I have sinned grievously, O Lord, [in] what I have now done: remove, I pray thee, the iniquity of thy servant, for I have been exceedingly foolish. 11 And David rose early in the morning, and the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, the seer, saying, Go, and speak to David, saying, 12 Thus saith the Lord, I bring [one of] three things upon thee: now choose thee one of them, and I will do [it] to thee. 13 And Gad went in to David, and told him, and said to him, Choose [one of these things] to befal thee, whether there shall come upon thee [for] three years famine in thy land; or that thou shouldest flee three months before thine enemies, and they should pursue thee; or that there should be [for] three days mortality in thy land. Now then decide, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. 14 And David said to Gad, On every side I am much straitened: let me fall now into the hands of the Lord, for his compassions [are] very many; and let me not fall into the hands of man. 15 So David chose for himself the mortality: and [they were] the days of wheat-harvest; and the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from morning till noon, and the plague began among the people; and there died of the people from Dan even to Bersabee seventy thousand men. 16 And the angel of the Lord stretched out his hand against Jerusalem to destroy it, and the Lord repented of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, [It is] enough now, withhold thine hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing-floor of Orna the Jebusite. 17 And David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel smiting the people, and he said, Behold, it is I that have done wrong, but these sheep what have they done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, be upon me, and upon my father's house. 18 And Gad came to David in that day, and said to him, Go up, and set up to the Lord an altar in the threshing-floor of Orna the Jebusite. 19 And David went up according to the word of Gad, as the Lord commanded him. 20 And Orna looked out, and saw the king and his servants coming on before him: and Orna went forth, and did obeisance to the king with his face to the earth. 21 And Orna said, Why has my lord the king come to his servant? and David said, To buy of thee the threshing-floor, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be restrained from off the people. 22 And Orna said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer to the Lord that which is good in his eyes: behold, [here are] oxen for a whole-burnt-offering, and the wheels and furniture of the oxen for wood. 23 Orna gave all to the king: and Orna said to the king, The Lord thy God bless thee. 24 And the king said to Orna, Nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a fair price, and I will not offer to the Lord my God a whole-burnt-offering for nothing. So David purchased the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered up whole-burnt-offerings and peace-offerings: and Solomon made an addition to the altar afterwards, for it was little at first. And the Lord hearkened to the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.