Then
all Israel gathered together to David at Hebron and said, “Behold,
we are your bone and flesh.
In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led
out and brought in Israel. And the Lord your God said to you, ‘You
shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over
my people Israel.’”
So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and
David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord. And they
anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the Lordby
Samuel.
And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, that is, Jebus,
where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land.
The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You will not come
in here.” Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that
is, the city of David.
David said, “Whoever strikes the Jebusites first shall be
chief and commander.” And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first,
so he became chief.
And David lived in the stronghold; therefore it was called
the city of David.
And he built the city all around from the Millo in complete
circuit, and Joab repaired the rest of the city.
And David became greater and greater, for the Lord of hosts
was with him.
Now
these are the chiefs of David's mighty men, who gave him strong
support in his kingdom, together with all Israel, to make him king,
according to the word of the Lord concerning Israel.
This is an account of David's mighty men: Jashobeam, a
Hachmonite, was chief of the three. He wielded his spear against 300
whom he killed at one time.
And next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar the
son of Dodo, the Ahohite.
He was with David at Pas-dammim when the Philistines were
gathered there for battle. There was a plot of ground full of
barley, and the men fled from the Philistines.
But he took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended
it and killed the Philistines. And the Lordsaved them by a great
victory.
Three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David
at the cave of Adullam, when the army of Philistines was encamped in
the Valley of Rephaim.
David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the
Philistines was then at Bethlehem.
And David said longingly, “Oh that someone would give me
water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!”
Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the
Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by
the gate and took it and brought it to David. But David would not
drink it. He poured it out to the Lord
and said, “Far be it from me before my God that I should do
this. Shall I drink the lifeblood of these men? For at the risk of
their lives they brought it.” Therefore he would not drink it.
These things did the three mighty men.
Now Abishai, the brother of Joab, was chief of the thirty.
And he wielded his spear against 300 men and killed them and won a
name beside the three.
He was the most renowned of the
thirty and became their commander, but he did not attain to the
three.
And
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man of Kabzeel, a doer of
great deeds. He struck down two heroes of Moab. He also went down
and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen.
And he struck down an Egyptian,
a man of great stature, five cubits tall. The Egyptian had in his
hand a spear like a weaver's beam, but Benaiah went down to him with
a staff and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and killed
him with his own spear.
These things did Benaiah the son
of Jehoiada and won a name beside the three mighty men.
He was renowned among the thirty, but he did not attain to
the three. And David set him over his bodyguard.
