For we are resident foreigners and nomads in your presence, like all our ancestors; ¹  our days are like a shadow on the earth, without security. ² 

O Lord, there is none like you; there is no God besides you! What we heard is true! ¹ 

These divisions of the gatekeepers, corresponding to their leaders, had assigned responsibilities, like their relatives, as they served in the Lord’s temple.

So they marched against Baal Perazim and David defeated them there. David said, “Using me as his instrument, ¹  God has burst out against my enemies like water bursts out.” So that place is called Baal Perazim. ² 

And who is like your people, Israel, a unique nation ¹  in the earth? Their God ²  went to claim ³  a nation for himself! You made a name for yourself by doing great and awesome deeds ⁴  when you drove out ⁵  nations before your people whom you had delivered from the Egyptian empire and its gods. ⁶ 

Just like their relatives, the descendants of Aaron, they also cast lots before King David, Zadok, Ahimelech, the leaders of families, the priests, and the Levites. The families of the oldest son cast lots along with the those of the youngest. ¹ 

Each day men came to help David until his army became very large. ¹ 

Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters. But his brothers did not have many sons, so their whole clan was not as numerous as the sons of Judah.

I was with you wherever you went and I defeated ¹  all your enemies before you. Now I will make you as famous as the great men of the earth. ² 

There was another battle with the Philistines in which Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, ¹  whose spear had a shaft as big as the crossbeam of a weaver’s loom. ² 

He even killed an Egyptian who was seven and a half feet ¹  tall. The Egyptian had a spear as big as the crossbeam of a weaver’s loom; Benaiah attacked ²  him with a club. He grabbed the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

Some of the Gadites joined David at the stronghold in the desert. They were warriors who were trained for battle; they carried shields and spears. They were as fierce as lions and could run as quickly as gazelles across the hills. ¹ 

David did not count the males twenty years old and under, for the Lord had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars in the sky.

What more can David say ¹  to you? You have honored your servant; you have given your servant special recognition. ² 

When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the trees, then attack. ¹  For at that moment the Lord is going before you to strike down the army ²  of the Philistines.”

for gold and silver items, and for all the work of the craftsmen. Who else wants to contribute to the Lord today?”

Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a brave warrior from Kabzeel who performed great exploits. He struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab; ¹  he also went down and killed a lion inside a cistern on a snowy day.

The Lord God of Israel chose me out of my father’s entire family to become king over Israel and have a permanent dynasty. ¹  Indeed, ²  he chose Judah as leader, and my father’s family within Judah, and then he picked me out from among my father’s sons and made me king over all Israel. ³