1 Chronicles 12–14

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 defected to him from Manasseh: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu and Zillethai, ¹captains of thousands who belonged to Manasseh.

²¹They helped David against ^athe band of raiders, for they were all mighty men of valor, and were captains in the army.

²²For day by day men came to David to help him, until there was a great army ^alike the army of God.

Supporters Gathered at Hebron

²³Now these are the numbers of the ¹divisions equipped for war, ^awho came to David at Hebron, ^bto turn the kingdom of Saul to him, ^caccording to the ²word of the Lord.

²⁴The sons of Judah who bore shield and spear were 6,800, equipped for war.

²⁵Of the sons of Simeon, mighty men of valor for war, 7,100.

²⁶Of the sons of Levi 4,600.

²⁷Now Jehoiada was the leader of the house of Aaron, and with him were 3,700,

²⁸also ^aZadok, a young man mighty of valor, and of his father’s house twenty-two captains.

²⁹Of the sons of Benjamin, ^aSaul’s kinsmen, 3,000; for until now ^bthe greatest part of them had kept their allegiance to the house of Saul.

³⁰Of the sons of Ephraim 20,800, mighty men of valor, famous men in their fathers’ households.

³¹Of the half-tribe of Manasseh 18,000, who were designated by name to come and make David king.

³²Of the sons of Issachar, ^amen who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their kinsmen were at their command.

³³Of Zebulun, there were 50,000 who went out in the army, who could draw up in battle formation with all kinds of weapons of war and helped David ¹with ^aan undivided heart.

³⁴Of Naphtali there were 1,000 captains, and with them 37,000 with shield and spear.

³⁵Of the Danites who could draw up in battle formation, there were 28,600.

³⁶Of Asher there were 40,000 who went out in the army to draw up in battle formation.

³⁷From the other side of the Jordan, of the Reubenites and the Gadites and of the half-tribe of Manasseh, there were 120,000 with all kinds of weapons of war for the battle.

³⁸All these, being men of war who could draw up in battle formation, came to Hebron with ^aa perfect heart to make David king over all Israel; and all the rest also of Israel were of one mind to make David king.

³⁹They were there with David three days, eating and drinking, for their kinsmen had prepared for them.

⁴⁰Moreover those who were near to them, even as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, ^abrought food on donkeys, camels, mules and on oxen, great quantities of flour cakes, fig cakes and bunches of raisins, wine, oil, oxen and sheep. There was joy indeed in Israel.

Chapter 13

Peril in Transporting the Ark

¹Then David consulted with the captains of the thousands and the hundreds, even with every leader.

²David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if it is from the Lord our God, let us send everywhere to our kinsmen who remain in all the land of Israel, also to the priests and Levites who are with them in their cities with pasture lands, that they may meet with us;

³and let us bring back the ark of our God to us, ^afor we did not seek it in the days of Saul.”

⁴Then all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.

^5aSo David assembled all Israel together, from the Shihor of Egypt even to the entrance of Hamath, ^bto bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.

^6aDavid and all Israel went up to ^bBaalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim, which belongs to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, the Lord ^cwho is enthroned above the cherubim, where His name is called.

⁷They ¹carried the ark of God on a new cart from ^athe house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart.

⁸David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, ^aeven with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals and with trumpets.

⁹When they came to ^athe threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, because the oxen nearly upset it.

¹⁰The anger of the Lord burned against Uzza, so He struck him down ^abecause he put out his hand to the ark; ^band he died there before God.

¹¹Then David became angry because ¹of the Lord’s outburst against Uzza; and he called that place ²Perez-uzza to this day.

¹²David was afraid of God that day, saying, “How can I bring the ark of God home to me?”

¹³So David did not take the ark with him to the city of David, but took it aside ^ato the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

¹⁴Thus the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months; and ^athe Lord blessed the family of Obed-edom with all that he had.

Chapter 14

David’s Family Enlarged

^1aNow Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David with cedar trees, masons and carpenters, to build a house for him.

²And David realized that the Lord had established him as king over Israel, and that his kingdom was highly exalted, for the sake of His people Israel.

³Then David took more wives at Jerusalem, and David ¹became the father of more sons and daughters.

^4aThese are the names of the children ¹born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,

⁵Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet,

⁶Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia,

⁷Elishama, Beeliada and Eliphelet.

Philistines Defeated

⁸When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up in search of David; and David heard of it and went out against them.

⁹Now the Philistines had come and ^amade a raid in the valley of Rephaim.

¹⁰David inquired of God, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? And will You give them into my hand?” Then the Lord said to him, “Go up, for I will give them into your hand.”

¹¹So they came up to Baal-perazim, and David ¹defeated them there; and David said, “God has broken through my enemies by my hand, like the breakthrough of waters.” Therefore they named that place ²Baal-perazim.

¹²They abandoned their gods there; so David gave the order and they were burned with fire.

¹³The Philistines made ^ayet another raid in the valley.

¹⁴David inquired again of God, and God said to him, “You shall not go up after them; circle around ¹behind them and come at them in front of the ²balsam trees.

¹⁵“It shall be when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then you shall go out to battle, for God will have gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines.”

¹⁶David did just as God had commanded him, and they struck down the army of the Philistines from ¹Gibeon even as far as Gezer.

¹⁷Then the fame of David went out into all the lands; and ^athe Lord brought the fear of him on all the nations.