2 Samuel 23:1-5

David’s Final Words

23:1 These are the final words of David:

“The oracle of David son of Jesse,

the oracle of the man raised up as

the ruler chosen by the God of Jacob, ¹ 

Israel’s beloved ²  singer of songs:

23:2 The Lord’s spirit spoke through me;

his word was on my tongue.

23:3 The God of Israel spoke,

the protector ³  of Israel spoke to me.

The one who rules fairly among men,

the one who rules in the fear of God,

23:4 is like the light of morning when the sun comes up,

a morning in which there are no clouds.

He is like the brightness after rain

that produces grass from the earth.

23:5 My dynasty is approved by God, ⁴ 

for he has made a perpetual covenant with me,

arranged in all its particulars and secured.

He always delivers me,

and brings all I desire to fruition. ⁵ 

[23:1]  ¹ tn Heb “the anointed one of the God of Jacob.”

[23:1]  ² tn Or “pleasant.”

[23:3]  ³ tn Heb “rock,” used as a metaphor of divine protection.

[23:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “For not thus [is] my house with God?”

[23:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “for all my deliverance and every desire, surely does he not make [it] grow?”