1 Chronicles 10–12

The Death of King Saul

10The Philistines fought against Israel, and the Israelites ran away from them. Many Israelites were killed on Mount Gilboa. ²The Philistines fought hard against Saul and his sons, killing his sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua. ³The fighting was heavy around Saul, and the archers shot him with their arrows and wounded him.

⁴Then Saul said to the officer who carried his armor, “Pull out your sword and stab me. If you don’t, these Philistines who are not circumcised will come and hurt me.” But Saul’s officer refused, because he was afraid. So Saul took his own sword and threw himself on it. ⁵When the officer saw that Saul was dead, he threw himself on his own sword and died. ⁶So Saul and three of his sons died; all his family died together.

⁷When the Israelites living in the valley saw that their army had run away and that Saul and his sons were dead, they left their towns and ran away. Then the Philistines came and settled in them.

⁸The next day when the Philistines came to strip the dead soldiers, they found Saul and his sons dead on Mount Gilboa. ⁹The Philistines stripped Saul’s body and took his head and his armor. Then they sent messengers through all their country to tell the news to their idols and to their people. ¹⁰The Philistines put Saul’s armor in the temple of their idols and hung his head in the temple of Dagon.

¹¹All the people in Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul. ¹²So the brave men of Jabesh went and got the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their bones under the large tree in Jabesh. Then the people of Jabesh fasted for seven days.

¹³Saul died because he was not faithful to the Lord and did not obey the Lord. He even went to a medium and asked her for advice ¹⁴instead of asking the Lord. This is why the Lord put Saul to death and gave the kingdom to Jesse’s son David.

David Becomes King

11Then the people of Israel came to David at the town of Hebron and said, “Look, we are your own family. ²Even when Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel in battle. The Lord your God said to you, ‘You will be the shepherd for my people Israel. You will be their leader.’ ”

³So all the elders of Israel came to King David at Hebron. He made an agreement with them in Hebron in the presence of the Lord. Then they poured oil on David to make him king over Israel. The Lord had promised through Samuel that this would happen.

David Captures Jerusalem

⁴David and all the Israelites went to the city of Jerusalem. At that time Jerusalem was called Jebus, and the people living there were named Jebusites. ⁵They said to David, “You can’t get inside our city.” But David did take the city of Jerusalem with its strong walls, and it became the City of David.

⁶David had said, “The person who leads the attack against the Jebusites will become the commander over all my army.” Joab son of Zeruiah led the attack, so he became the commander of the army.

⁷Then David made his home in the strong, walled city, which is why it was named the City of David. ⁸David rebuilt the city, beginning where the land was filled in and going to the wall that was around the city. Joab repaired the other parts of the city. ⁹David became stronger and stronger, and the Lord All-Powerful was with him.

David’s Mighty Warriors

¹⁰This is a list of the leaders over David’s warriors who helped make David’s kingdom strong. All the people of Israel also supported David’s kingdom. These heroes and all the people of Israel made David king, just as the Lord had promised.

¹¹This is a list of David’s warriors:

Jashobeam was from the Hacmonite people. He was the head of the Three, ⁿ David’s most powerful soldiers. He used his spear to fight three hundred men at one time, and he killed them all.

¹²Next was Eleazar, one of the Three. Eleazar was Dodai’s son from the Ahohite people. ¹³Eleazar was with David at Pas Dammim when the Philistines came there to fight. There was a field of barley at that place. The Israelites ran away from the Philistines, ¹⁴but they stopped in the middle of that field and fought for it and killed the Philistines. The Lord gave them a great victory.

¹⁵Once, three of the Thirty, David’s chief soldiers, came down to him at the rock by the cave near Adullam. At the same time the Philistine army had camped in the Valley of Rephaim.

¹⁶At that time David was in a stronghold, and some of the Philistines were in Bethlehem. ¹⁷David had a strong desire for some water. He said, “Oh, I wish someone would get me water from the well near the city gate of Bethlehem!” ¹⁸So the Three broke through the Philistine army and took water from the well near the city gate in Bethlehem. Then they brought it to David, but he refused to drink it. He poured it out before the Lord, ¹⁹saying, “May God keep me from drinking this water! It would be like drinking the blood of the men who risked their lives to bring it to me!” So David refused to drink it.

These were the brave things that the three warriors did.

²⁰Abishai brother of Joab was the captain of the Three. Abishai fought three hundred soldiers with his spear and killed them. He became as famous as the Three ²¹and was more honored than the Three. He became their commander even though he was not one of them.

²²Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a brave fighter from Kabzeel who did mighty things. He killed two of the best warriors from Moab. He also went down into a pit and killed a lion on a snowy day. ²³Benaiah killed an Egyptian who was about seven and one-half feet tall and had a spear as large as a weaver’s rod. Benaiah had a club, but he grabbed the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. ²⁴These were the things Benaiah son of Jehoiada did. He was as famous as the Three. ²⁵He received more honor than the Thirty, but he did not become a member of the Three. David made him leader of his bodyguards.

The Thirty Chief Soldiers

²⁶These were also mighty warriors:

Asahel brother of Joab;

Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem;

²⁷Shammoth the Harorite;

Helez the Pelonite;

²⁸Ira son of Ikkesh from Tekoa;

Abiezer the Anathothite;

²⁹Sibbecai the Hushathite;

Ilai the Ahohite;

³⁰Maharai the Netophathite;

Heled son of Baanah the Netophathite;

³¹Ithai son of Ribai from Gibeah in Benjamin;

Benaiah the Pirathonite;

³²Hurai from the ravines of Gaash;

Abiel the Arbathite;

³³Azmaveth the Baharumite;

Eliahba the Shaalbonite;

³⁴the sons of Hashem the Gizonite;

Jonathan son of Shagee the Hararite;

³⁵Ahiam son of Sacar the Hararite;

Eliphal son of Ur;

³⁶Hepher the Mekerathite;

Ahijah the Pelonite;

³⁷Hezro the Carmelite;

Naarai son of Ezbai;

³⁸Joel brother of Nathan;

Mibhar son of Hagri;

³⁹Zelek the Ammonite;

Naharai the Berothite, the officer who carried the armor for Joab son of Zeruiah;

⁴⁰Ira the Ithrite;

Gareb the Ithrite;

⁴¹Uriah the Hittite;

Zabad son of Ahlai;

⁴²Adina son of Shiza the Reubenite, who was the leader of the Reubenites, and his thirty soldiers;

⁴³Hanan son of Maacah;

Joshaphat the Mithnite;

⁴⁴Uzzia the Ashterathite;

Shama and Jeiel sons of Hotham the Aroerite;

⁴⁵Jediael son of Shimri;

Joha, Jediael’s brother, the Tizite;

⁴⁶Eliel the Mahavite;

Jeribai and Joshaviah, Elnaam’s sons;

Ithmah the Moabite;

⁴⁷Eliel, Obed, and Jaasiel the Mezobaites.

Warriors Join David

12These were the men who came to David at Ziklag when David was hiding from Saul son of Kish. They were among the warriors who helped David in battle. ²They came with bows for weapons and could use either their right or left hands to shoot arrows or to sling rocks. They were Saul’s relatives from the tribe of Benjamin. ³Ahiezer was their leader, and there was Joash. (Ahiezer and Joash were sons of Shemaah, who was from the town of Gibeah.) There were also Jeziel and Pelet, the sons of Azmaveth. There were Beracah and Jehu from the town of Anathoth. ⁴And there was Ishmaiah from the town of Gibeon; he was one of the Thirty. In fact, he was the leader of the Thirty. There were Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan, and Jozabad from Gederah. ⁵There were Eluzai, Jerimoth, Bealiah, and Shemariah. There was Shephatiah from Haruph. ⁶There were Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, and Jashobeam from the family group of Korah. ⁷And there were Joelah and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham, from the town of Gedor.

⁸Part of the people of Gad joined David at his stronghold in the desert. They were brave warriors trained for war and skilled with shields and spears. They were as fierce as lions and as fast as gazelles over the hills.

⁹Ezer was the leader of Gad’s army, and Obadiah was second in command. Eliab was third, ¹⁰Mishmannah was fourth, Jeremiah was fifth, ¹¹Attai was sixth, Eliel was seventh, ¹²Johanan was eighth, Elzabad was ninth, ¹³Jeremiah was tenth, and Macbannai was eleventh in command.

¹⁴They were the commanders of the army from Gad. The least of these leaders was in charge of a hundred soldiers, and the greatest was in charge of a thousand. ¹⁵They crossed the Jordan River and chased away the people living in the valleys, to the east and to the west. This happened in the first month of the year when the Jordan floods the valley.

¹⁶Other people from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah also came to David at his stronghold. ¹⁷David went out to meet them and said to them, “If you have come peacefully to help me, I welcome you. Join me. But if you have come to turn me over to my enemies, even though I have done nothing wrong, the God of our ancestors will see this and punish you.”

¹⁸Then the Spirit entered Amasai, the leader of the Thirty, and he said:

“We belong to you, David.

We are with you, son of Jesse.

Success, success to you.

Success to those who help you,

because your God helps you.”

So David welcomed these men and made them leaders of his army.

¹⁹Some of the men from Manasseh also joined David when he went with the Philistines to fight Saul. But David and his men did not really help the Philistines. After talking about it, the Philistine leaders decided to send David away. They…