⁸These are the names of David’s famous soldiers: the first was Josheb Basshebeth from Tachemon, who was the leader of “The Three”;^m he fought with his spearⁿ against 800 men and killed them all in one battle.

⁹The second of the famous three was Eleazar son of Dodo, of the clan of Ahoh. One day he and David challenged the Philistines who had gathered for battle. The Israelites fell back, ¹⁰but he stood his ground and fought the Philistines until his hand was so stiff that he could not let go of his sword. The Lord won a great victory that day. After it was over, the Israelites returned to where Eleazar was and stripped the armour from the dead.

¹¹The third of the famous three was Shammah son of Agee, from Harar. The Philistines had gathered at Lehi, where there was a field of peas. The Israelites fled from the Philistines, ¹²but Shammah stood his ground in the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. The Lord won a great victory that day.

¹³Near the beginning of harvest time^o three of “The Thirty” went down to the cave of Adullam, where David was, while a band of Philistines was camping in the Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴At that time David was on a fortified hill, and a group of Philistines had occupied Bethlehem. ¹⁵David felt homesick and said, “How I wish someone would bring me a drink of water from the well by the gate at Bethlehem!” ¹⁶The three famous soldiers forced their way through the Philistine camp, drew some water from the well, and brought it back to David. But he would not drink it; instead he poured it out as an offering to the Lord ¹⁷and said, “Lord, I could never drink this! It would be like drinking the blood of these men who risked their lives!” So he refused to drink it.

Those were the brave deeds of the three famous soldiers.

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Footnotes

mOne ancient translation “The Three”; Hebrew the third.
nProbable text (see 1 Chr 11:11) he fought with his spear; Hebrew unclear.
oProbable text Near the beginning of harvest time; Hebrew unclear.