1 Chronicles 10–12

Chapter 10

Defeat and Death of Saul and His Sons

^1aNow the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.

²The Philistines closely pursued Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan, ^1aAbinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul.

³The battle became heavy against Saul, and the archers ¹overtook him; and he was wounded by the archers.

⁴Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, otherwise these uncircumcised will come and abuse me.” But his armor bearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. ^aTherefore Saul took his sword and fell on it.

⁵When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword and died.

^6aThus Saul died with his three sons, and all those of his house died together.

⁷When all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that they had fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook their cities and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them.

⁸It came about the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.

^9aSo they stripped him and took his head and his armor and sent messengers around the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to their idols and to the people.

¹⁰They put his armor in the house of their gods and fastened his head in the house of Dagon.

Jabesh-gilead’s Tribute to Saul

¹¹When all Jabesh-gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul,

^12aall the valiant men arose and took away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons and brought them to Jabesh, and they buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

^13aSo Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the Lord, because of the word of the Lord which he did not keep; and also ^bbecause he asked counsel of a medium, making inquiry of it,

¹⁴and did not inquire of the Lord. Therefore He killed him and ^aturned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.

Chapter 11

David Made King over All Israel

^1aThen all Israel gathered to David at Hebron ¹and said, “Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.

²“In times past, even when Saul was king, you were the one who led out and brought in Israel; and the Lord your God said to you, ‘^aYou shall shepherd My people Israel, and you shall be prince over My people Israel.’ ”

³So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the Lord; and ^athey anointed David king over Israel, ^baccording to the word of the Lord through Samuel.

Jerusalem, Capital City

⁴Then David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (^athat is, Jebus); and the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, were there.

⁵The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You shall not enter here.” Nevertheless David captured the stronghold of Zion (that is, the city of David).

⁶Now David had said, “Whoever strikes down a Jebusite first shall be chief and commander.” ^aJoab the son of Zeruiah went up first, so he became chief.

⁷Then David dwelt in the stronghold; therefore it was called the city of David.

⁸He ¹built the city all around, from the ²Millo even to the surrounding area; and Joab ³repaired the rest of the city.

^9aDavid became greater and greater, for the Lord of hosts was with him.

David’s Mighty Men

^10aNow these are the heads of the mighty men whom David had, who gave him strong support in his kingdom, together with all Israel, to make him king, ^baccording to the word of the Lord concerning Israel.

¹¹These constitute the list of the mighty men whom David had: ^aJashobeam, the son of a Hachmonite, ^bthe chief of the thirty; he lifted up his spear against three hundred ¹whom he killed at one time.

¹²After him was Eleazar the son of ^aDodo, the Ahohite, who was ¹one of the three mighty men.

¹³He was with David at ¹Pasdammim ^awhen the Philistines were gathered together there to battle, and there was a plot of ground full of barley; and the people fled before the Philistines.

¹⁴They took their stand in the midst of the plot and defended it, and struck down the Philistines; and the Lord saved them by a great ¹victory.

¹⁵Now three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam, while ^athe army of the Philistines was camping in the valley of Rephaim.

¹⁶David was then in the stronghold, while ^athe garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.

¹⁷David had a craving and said, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!”

¹⁸So the three broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which 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;

¹⁹and he said, “Be it far from me before my God that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of these men who went ¹at the risk of their lives? For at the risk of their lives they brought it.” Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

²⁰As for ¹Abshai the brother of Joab, he was chief of the ²thirty, and he swung his spear against three hundred ³and killed them; and he had a name as well as the thirty.

²¹Of the three in the second rank he was the most honored and became their commander; however, he did not attain to the first three.

^22aBenaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, mighty in deeds, struck down the ¹two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and ²killed a lion inside a pit on a snowy day.

²³He ¹killed an Egyptian, a man of great stature five ²cubits tall. Now in the Egyptian’s hand was ^aa spear like a weaver’s beam, but he went down to him with a club and snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

²⁴These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and had a name as well as the three mighty men.

²⁵Behold, he was honored among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three; and David appointed him over his guard.

²⁶Now the mighty men of the armies were Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,

²⁷¹Shammoth the Harorite, Helez the ²Pelonite,

²⁸Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, Abiezer the Anathothite,

²⁹¹Sibbecai the Hushathite, ²Ilai the Ahohite,

³⁰Maharai the Netophathite, ¹Heled the son of Baanah the Netophathite,

³¹Ithai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin, Benaiah the Pirathonite,

³²¹Hurai of the brooks of Gaash, ²Abiel the Arbathite,

³³Azmaveth the Baharumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite,

³⁴the sons of ¹Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan the son of Shagee the Hararite,

³⁵Ahiam the son of ¹Sacar the Hararite, ²Eliphal the son of Ur,

³⁶Hepher the Mecherathite, Ahijah the Pelonite,

³⁷Hezro the Carmelite, ¹Naarai the son of Ezbai,

³⁸Joel the brother of Nathan, Mibhar the son of Hagri,

³⁹Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite, the armor bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah,

⁴⁰Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,

⁴¹Uriah the Hittite, Zabad the son of Ahlai,

⁴²Adina the son of Shiza the Reubenite, a chief of the Reubenites, and thirty with him,

⁴³Hanan the son of Maacah and Joshaphat the Mithnite,

⁴⁴Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and Jeiel the sons of Hotham the Aroerite,

⁴⁵Jediael the son of Shimri and Joha his brother, the Tizite,

⁴⁶Eliel the Mahavite and Jeribai and Joshaviah, the sons of Elnaam, and Ithmah the Moabite,

⁴⁷Eliel and Obed and Jaasiel the Mezobaite.

Chapter 12

David’s Supporters in Ziklag

^1aNow these are the ones who came to David at Ziklag, while he was still restricted because of Saul the son of Kish; and they were among the mighty men who helped him in war.

²They were equipped with bows, ^ausing both the right hand and the left to sling stones and to shoot arrows from the bow; ^bthey were Saul’s kinsmen from Benjamin.

³The chief was Ahiezer, then Joash, the sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite; and Jeziel and Pelet, the sons of Azmaveth, and Beracah and Jehu the Anathothite,

⁴and Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty man among the thirty, and over the thirty. ¹Then Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan, Jozabad the Gederathite,

⁵¹Eluzai, Jerimoth, Bealiah, Shemariah, Shephatiah the Haruphite,

⁶Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, Jashobeam, the Korahites,

⁷and Joelah and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham of Gedor.

⁸From the Gadites there ¹came over to David in the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for war, who could handle shield and spear, and whose faces were like the faces of lions, and ^athey were as swift as the gazelles on the mountains.

⁹Ezer was the first, Obadiah the second, Eliab the third,

¹⁰Mishmannah the fourth, Jeremiah the fifth,

¹¹Attai the sixth, Eliel the seventh,

¹²Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the ninth,

¹³Jeremiah the tenth, Machbannai the eleventh.

¹⁴These of the sons of Gad were ¹captains of the army; ^ahe who was least was equal to a hundred and the greatest to a thousand.

^15aThese are the ones who crossed the Jordan in the first month when it was overflowing all its banks and they put to flight all those in the valleys, both to the east and to the west.

¹⁶Then some of the sons of Benjamin and Judah came to the stronghold to David.

¹⁷David went out to meet them, and said to them, “If you come peacefully to me to help me, my heart shall be united with you; but if to betray me to my adversaries, since there is no ¹wrong in my hands, may the God of our fathers look on it and decide.”

¹⁸Then ^athe Spirit ¹came upon ^bAmasai, who was the chief of the thirty, and he said,

“We are yours, O David,

And with you, O son of Jesse!

^cPeace, peace to you,

And peace to him who helps you;

Indeed, your God helps you!”

Then David received them and made them ²captains of the band.

^19aFrom Manasseh also some defected to David when he was about to go to battle with the Philistines against Saul. But they did not help them, for the lords of the Philistines after consultation sent him away, saying, “At the cost of our heads he may defect to his master Saul.”

²⁰As he went to Ziklag there…