2 Samuel 23:8–23

His Mighty Men

^8aThese are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the ¹captains, he was called Adino the Eznite, because of eight hundred slain by him at one time;

⁹and after him was Eleazar the son of ^aDodo the ^bAhohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they ¹defied the Philistines who were gathered there to battle and the men of Israel had ²withdrawn.

^10aHe arose and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary and ¹clung to the sword, and ^bthe Lord brought about a great ²victory that day; and the people returned after him only to strip the slain.

¹¹Now after him was Shammah the son of Agee a ^aHararite. And the Philistines were gathered ¹into a troop where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines.

¹²But he took his stand in the midst of the plot, defended it and struck the Philistines; and ^athe Lord brought about a great ¹victory.

¹³Then three of the thirty chief men went down and came to David in the harvest time to the ^acave of Adullam, while the troop of the Philistines was camping in ^bthe valley of Rephaim.

¹⁴David was then ^ain the stronghold, while the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.

^15aDavid had a craving and said, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate!”

^16aSo the three mighty men 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 he would not drink it, but ^bpoured it out to the Lord;

¹⁷and he said, “Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this. ^aShall I drink the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

^18aAbishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was ^bchief of the ¹thirty. And he swung his spear against three hundred ²and killed them, and had a name as well as the three.

¹⁹He was most honored of the thirty, therefore he became their commander; however, he did not attain to the three.

²⁰Then ^aBenaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of ^bKabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, ¹killed the ²two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day.

²¹He ¹killed an Egyptian, ²an impressive man. Now the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, 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.

²²These things ^aBenaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and had a name as well as the three mighty men.

²³He was honored among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David appointed him over his guard.