1 Chronicles 11-12New King James Version (NKJV)
David Made King over All Israel
11 Then all Israel came together to David at
Hebron, saying, “Indeed we are your bone and your flesh. 2 Also,
in time past, even when Saul was king, you were the one who
led Israel out and brought them in; and the Lord your God said to
you, ‘You shall shepherd My people Israel, and be ruler over My people
Israel.’” 3 Therefore all the elders of Israel came
to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them at Hebron before
the Lord. And they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word
of the Lord by Samuel.
The City of David
4 And David and all Israel went to
Jerusalem, which is Jebus, where the Jebusites were, the
inhabitants of the land. 5 But the inhabitants of
Jebus said to David, “You shall not come in here!” Nevertheless David took the
stronghold of Zion (that is, the City of David). 6 Now
David said, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain.”
And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, and became chief. 7 Then
David dwelt in the stronghold; therefore they called it the City of
David. 8 And he built the city around it, from the
Millo[a] to the surrounding
area. Joab repaired the rest of the city. 9 So
David went on and became great, and the Lord of hosts was with
him.
The Mighty Men of David
10 Now these were the
heads of the mighty men whom David had, who strengthened themselves with him in
his kingdom, with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of
the Lord concerning Israel.
11 And this is the
number of the mighty men whom David had: Jashobeam the son of a Hachmonite,
chief of the captains;[b] he had lifted up his
spear against three hundred, killed by him at one time.
12 After him was Eleazar
the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighty
men. 13 He was with David at Pasdammim. Now there
the Philistines were gathered for battle, and there was a piece of ground full
of barley. So the people fled from the Philistines. 14 But
they stationed themselves in the middle of that field,
defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a
great victory.
15 Now three of the thirty chief men
went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam; and the army of the
Philistines encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 16 David was then
in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then
in Bethlehem. 17 And David said with longing, “Oh,
that someone would give me a drink of water from the well of Bethlehem, which
is by the gate!” 18 So the three broke through the
camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by
the gate, and took it and brought it to David.
Nevertheless David would not drink it, but poured it out to
the Lord. 19 And he said, “Far be it from me,
O my God, that I should do this! Shall I drink the blood of these men who
have put their lives in jeopardy? For at the risk of
their lives they brought it.” Therefore he would not drink it. These things
were done by the three mighty men.
20 Abishai the brother of Joab was
chief of another three.[c] He had lifted up his
spear against three hundred men, killed them, and
won a name among these three. 21 Of
the three he was more honored than the other two men. Therefore he became their
captain. However he did not attain to the first three.
22 Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada,
the son of a valiant man from Kabzeel, who had done many deeds. He had killed
two lion-like heroes of Moab. He also had gone down and killed a lion in the
midst of a pit on a snowy day. 23 And he killed an
Egyptian, a man of great height, five cubits tall. In the
Egyptian’s hand there was a spear like a weaver’s beam; and he
went down to him with a staff, wrested the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand,
and killed him with his own spear. 24 These things Benaiah
the son of Jehoiada did, and won a name among three mighty men. 25 Indeed
he was more honored than the thirty, but he did not attain to the first three.
And David appointed him over his guard.
26 Also the mighty warriors were Asahel
the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, 27 Shammoth
the Harorite,[d] Helez the Pelonite,[e] 28 Ira
the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, Abiezer the Anathothite, 29 Sibbechai
the Hushathite, Ilai the Ahohite, 30 Maharai the
Netophathite, Heled[f] the son of Baanah the
Netophathite, 31 Ithai[g] the son of Ribai of
Gibeah, of the sons of Benjamin, Benaiah the Pirathonite, 32 Hurai[h] of the brooks of
Gaash, Abiel[i] the Arbathite, 33 Azmaveth
the Baharumite,[j] Eliahba the
Shaalbonite, 34 the sons of Hashem the Gizonite,
Jonathan the son of Shageh the Hararite, 35 Ahiam
the son of Sacar the Hararite, Eliphal the son of Ur, 36 Hepher
the Mecherathite, Ahijah the Pelonite, 37 Hezro the
Carmelite, Naarai the son of Ezbai, 38 Joel the
brother of Nathan, Mibhar the son of Hagri, 39 Zelek
the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite[k] (the armorbearer of
Joab the son of Zeruiah), 40 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb
the Ithrite, 41 Uriah the Hittite, Zabad the son of
Ahlai, 42 Adina the son of Shiza the Reubenite (a
chief of the Reubenites) and thirty with him, 43 Hanan
the son of Maachah, Joshaphat the Mithnite, 44 Uzzia
the Ashterathite, Shama and Jeiel the sons of Hotham the Aroerite, 45 Jediael
the son of Shimri, and Joha his brother, the Tizite, 46 Eliel
the Mahavite, Jeribai and Joshaviah the sons of Elnaam, Ithmah the
Moabite, 47 Eliel, Obed, and Jaasiel the Mezobaite.
The Growth of David’s Army
12 Now these were the men who
came to David at Ziklag while he was still a fugitive from Saul the son of
Kish; and they were among the mighty men, helpers in the
war, 2 armed with bows, using both the right hand
and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows
with the bow. They were of Benjamin, Saul’s brethren.
3 The chief was Ahiezer,
then Joash, the sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite; Jeziel and Pelet the sons of
Azmaveth; Berachah, and Jehu the Anathothite; 4 Ishmaiah
the Gibeonite, a mighty man among the thirty, and over the thirty; Jeremiah,
Jahaziel, Johanan, and Jozabad the Gederathite; 5 Eluzai,
Jerimoth, Bealiah, Shemariah, and Shephatiah the Haruphite; 6 Elkanah,
Jisshiah, Azarel, Joezer, and Jashobeam, the Korahites; 7 and
Joelah and Zebadiah the sons of Jeroham of Gedor.
8 Some Gadites joined
David at the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for
battle, who could handle shield and spear, whose faces were like the
faces of lions, and were as swift as gazelles on the
mountains: 9 Ezer the first, Obadiah the second,
Eliab the third, 10 Mishmannah the fourth, Jeremiah
the fifth, 11 Attai the sixth, Eliel the
seventh, 12 Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the
ninth, 13 Jeremiah the tenth, and Machbanai the
eleventh. 14 These were from the
sons of Gad, captains of the army; the least was over a hundred, and the
greatest was over a thousand. 15 These are the
ones who crossed the Jordan in the first month, when it had overflowed all its
banks; and they put to flight all those in the valleys, to the
east and to the west.
16 Then some of the sons of Benjamin
and Judah came to David at the stronghold. 17 And
David went out to meet them, and answered and said to them, “If you have come
peaceably to me to help me, my heart will be united with you; but if to betray
me to my enemies, since there is no wrong in my hands, may the
God of our fathers look and bring judgment.” 18 Then
the Spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the captains, and he said:
“We are yours, O David;
We are on your side, O son of Jesse!
Peace, peace to you,
And peace to your helpers!
For your God helps you.”
We are on your side, O son of Jesse!
Peace, peace to you,
And peace to your helpers!
For your God helps you.”
So David received them, and made them captains of the troop.
19 And some from
Manasseh defected to David when he was going with the Philistines to battle
against Saul; but they did not help them, for the lords of the Philistines sent
him away by agreement, saying, “He may defect to his master Saul and
endanger our heads.” 20 When he went to
Ziklag, those of Manasseh who defected to him were Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael,
Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, captains of the thousands who were from
Manasseh. 21 And they helped David against the bands of
raiders, for they were all mighty men of valor, and
they were captains in the army. 22 For at that time
they came to David day by day to help him, until it was a
great army, like the army of God.
David’s Army at Hebron
23 Now these were the
numbers of the divisions that were equipped for war, and came
to David at Hebron to turn over the kingdom of Saul to him,
according to the word of the Lord: 24 of the
sons of Judah bearing shield and spear, six thousand eight hundred armed for
war; 25 of the sons of Simeon, mighty men of valor
fit for war, seven thousand one hundred; 26 of the
sons of Levi four thousand six hundred; 27 Jehoiada,
the leader of the Aaronites, and with him three thousand seven hundred; 28 Zadok,
a young man, a valiant warrior, and from his father’s house twenty-two
captains; 29 of the sons of Benjamin, relatives of
Saul, three thousand (until then the greatest part of them had remained loyal
to the house of Saul); 30 of the sons of Ephraim
twenty thousand eight hundred, mighty men of valor, famous men throughout their
father’s house; 31 of the half-tribe of Manasseh
eighteen thousand, who were designated by name to come and make David
king; 32 of the sons of Issachar who had
understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were
two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command; 33 of
Zebulun there were fifty thousand who went out to battle, expert in war with
all weapons of war, stouthearted men who could keep ranks; 34 of
Naphtali one thousand captains, and with them thirty-seven thousand with shield
and spear; 35 of the Danites who could keep battle
formation, twenty-eight thousand six hundred; 36 of
Asher, those who could go out to war, able to keep battle formation, forty
thousand; 37 of the Reubenites and the Gadites and
the half-tribe of Manasseh, from the other side of the Jordan, one hundred and
twenty thousand armed for battle with every kind of weapon of
war.
38 All these men of war, who could
keep ranks, came to Hebron with a loyal heart, to make David king over all
Israel; and all the rest of Israel were of one mind to make
David king. 39 And they were there with David three
days, eating and drinking, for their brethren had prepared for them. 40 Moreover
those who were near to them, from as far away as Issachar and Zebulun and
Naphtali, were bringing food on donkeys and camels, on mules and
oxen—provisions of flour and cakes of figs and cakes of raisins, wine and oil
and oxen and sheep abundantly, for there was joy in Israel.
