1These are the men who joined David at Ziklag while he was banned from the presence of Saul son of Kish. They ranked among the warriors valiant in battle. 2They carried bows and could sling stones or shoot arrows with the left hand or the right; they were Benjamites, kinsmen of Saul. 3The foremost were Ahiezer and Joash, the sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite; Jeziel and Pelet, men of Beth-azmoth; Berachah and Jehu of Anathoth; 4Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a hero among the thirty and a chief among them; Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan, and Josabad of Gederah; 5Eluzai, Jerimoth, Bealiah, Shemariah, and Shephatiah the Haruphite; 6Elkanah, Isshiah, Azareel, Joezer, Jashobeam, the Korahites; 7and Joelah and Zebadiah sons of Jeroham, of Gedor.
8Some Gadites also joined David at the stronghold in the wilderness, valiant men trained for war, who could handle the heavy shield and spear, grim as lions and swift as gazelles on the hills. 9Ezer was their chief, Obadiah the second, Eliab the third; 10Mishmannah the fourth and Jeremiah the fifth; 11Attai the sixth and Eliel the seventh; 12Johanan the eighth and Elzabad the ninth; 13Jeremiah the tenth and Machbanai the eleventh. 14These were chiefs of the Gadites in the army, the least of them a match for a hundred, the greatest a match for a thousand. 15These were the men who in the first month crossed the Jordan, which was in full flood in all its reaches, and wrought havoc in the valleys, east and west.
16Some men of Benjamin and Judah came to David at the stronghold. 17David went out to them and said, 'If you come as friends to help me, join me and welcome; but if you come to betray me to my enemies, innocent though I am of any crime of violence, may the God of our fathers see and judge.'
18At that a spirit took possession of Amasai, the chief of the thirty, and he said:
23These are the numbers of the armed bands which joined David at Hebron to transfer Saul's sovereignty to him, as the LORD had said: 24men of Judah, bearing heavy shield and spear, six thousand eight hundred, drafted for active service; 25of Simeon, fighting men drafted for active service, seven thousand one hundred; 26of Levi, four thousand six hundred, 27together with Jehoiada prince of the house of Aaron and three thousand seven hundred men, 28and Zadok a valiant fighter, with twenty-two officers of his own clan; 29of Benjamin, Saul's kinsmen, three thousand, though most of them had hitherto remained loyal to the house of Saul, 30of Ephraim, twenty thousand eight hundred, fighting men, famous in their own clans; 31of the half tribe of Manasseh, eighteen thousand, who had been nominated to come and make David king; 32of Issachar, whose tribesmen were skilled in reading the signs of the times to discover what course Israel should follow, two hundred chiefs, with all their kinsmen under their command; 33of Zebulun, fifty thousand troops well-drilled for battle, armed with every kind of weapon, bold and single-minded; 34of Naphtali, a thousand officers with thirty-seven thousand men bearing heavy shield and spear; 35of the Danites, twenty-eight thousand six hundred well-drilled for battle; 36of Asher, forty thousand troops well-drilled for battle; 37of the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh east of Jordan, a hundred and twenty thousand, armed with every kind of weapon.
38All these warriors, bold men in battle, came to Hebron, loyally determined to make David king over the whole of Israel; the rest of Israel, too, had but one thought, to make him king. 39They spent three days there with David, eating and drinking, for their kinsmen made provision for them. 40Their neighbours also round about, as far away as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali, brought food on asses and camels, on mules and oxen, supplies of meal, fig-cakes, raisin-cakes, wine and oil, oxen and sheep, in plenty; for there was rejoicing in Israel.
| << | 1Chr:12 | >> |
|---|