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¹Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from the Philistines but fell fatally wounded on Mount Gilboa.

²And the Philistines also overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul.

³The battle became severe against Saul, and the archers found him; and he was wounded by the archers.

⁴Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, otherwise these uncircumcised Philistines will come and abuse me.” But his armor bearer would not, for he was very afraid. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.

⁵When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword and died.

⁶So Saul died with his three sons, and all those of his house died together.

⁷When all the people of Israel who were in the valley saw that they had fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them.

⁸It came about the next day, when the Philistines came to strip those killed, that they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.

⁹So they stripped him and took his head and his armor and sent messengers around the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to their idols and to the people.

¹⁰They put his armor in the house of their gods and impaled his head in the house of Dagon.

¹¹When all Jabesh-gilead heard everything that the Philistines had done to Saul,

¹²all the valiant men got up and took away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh; and they buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted for seven days.

¹³So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he committed against the LORD, because of the word of the LORD which he did not keep; and also because he asked counsel of a medium, making inquiry of her,

¹⁴and did not inquire of the LORD. Therefore He killed him and turned the kingdom over to David, the son of Jesse.

¹Then all Israel gathered to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.

²In times past, even when Saul was king, you were the one who led out and brought in Israel; and the LORD your God said to you, ‘You shall shepherd My people Israel, and you shall be leader over My people Israel.’ ”

³So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD; and they anointed David king over Israel, in accordance with the word of the LORD through Samuel.

⁴Then David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (that is, Jebus); and the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, were there.

⁵The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You shall not enter here.” Nevertheless David took the mountain stronghold of Zion (that is, the city of David).

⁶Now David had said, “Whoever is first to kill a Jebusite shall be chief and commander.” Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, so he became chief.

⁷Then David lived in the stronghold; therefore it was called the city of David.

⁸He built the city all around, from the Millo to the surrounding area; and Joab repaired the rest of the city.

⁹And David became greater and greater, for the LORD of armies was with him.

¹⁰Now these are the heads of the mighty men whom David had, who remained faithful to him in his kingdom, together with all Israel, to make him king, in accordance with the word of the LORD concerning Israel.

¹¹These constitute the list of David’s mighty men: Jashobeam, the son of a Hachmonite, the chief of the thirty; he wielded his spear against three hundred whom he killed at one time.

¹²After him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighty men.

¹³He was with David at Pas-dammim when the Philistines were gathered together there to battle, and there was a plot of land full of barley; and the people fled from the Philistines.

¹⁴But they took their stand in the midst of the plot and defended it, and defeated the Philistines; and the LORD saved them with a great victory.

¹⁵Now three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam, while the army of the Philistines was camping in the Valley of Rephaim.

¹⁶David was then in the stronghold, while the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.

¹⁷And David had a craving and said, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!”

¹⁸So the three 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; however, David would not drink it, but poured it out to the LORD;

¹⁹and he said, “Far be it from me before my God that I would do this. Shall I drink the blood of these men who went at the risk of their lives? For they brought it at the risk of their lives.” Therefore he would not drink it. The three mighty men did these things.

²⁰As for Abshai the brother of Joab, he was chief of the thirty, and he wielded his spear against three hundred and killed them; and he had a name as well as the thirty.

²¹Of the three in the second rank he was the most honored, and he became their commander; however, he did not attain the reputation of the first three.

²²Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a warrior of Kabzeel, mighty in deeds, struck and killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and struck and killed a lion inside a pit on a snowy day.

²³And he killed an Egyptian, a man of great stature five cubits tall. Now in the Egyptian’s hand was a spear like a weaver’s beam, 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.

²⁴Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did these things, and had a name as well as the three mighty men.

²⁵Behold, he was honored among the thirty, but he did not attain the reputation of the first three; and David appointed him over his bodyguard.

²⁶Now the mighty men of the armies were Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,

²⁷Shammoth the Harorite, Helez the Pelonite,

²⁸Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, Abiezer the Anathothite,

²⁹Sibbecai the Hushathite, Ilai the Ahohite,

³⁰Maharai the Netophathite, Heled the son of Baanah the Netophathite,

³¹Ithai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin, Benaiah the Pirathonite,

³²Hurai of the brooks of Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite,

³³Azmaveth the Baharumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite,

³⁴the sons of Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan the son of Shagee the Hararite,

³⁵Ahiam the son of Sacar the Hararite, Eliphal the son of Ur,

³⁶Hepher the Mecherathite, Ahijah the Pelonite,

³⁷Hezro the Carmelite, Naarai the son of Ezbai,

³⁸Joel the brother of Nathan, Mibhar the son of Hagri,

³⁹Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite, the armor bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah,

⁴⁰Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,

⁴¹Uriah the Hittite, Zabad the son of Ahlai,

⁴²Adina the son of Shiza the Reubenite, a chief of the Reubenites, and thirty with him,

⁴³Hanan the son of Maacah and Joshaphat the Mithnite,

⁴⁴Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and Jeiel the sons of Hotham the Aroerite,

⁴⁵Jediael the son of Shimri and his brother Joha the Tizite,

⁴⁶Eliel the Mahavite, and Jeribai and Joshaviah, the sons of Elnaam, Ithmah the Moabite,

⁴⁷Eliel, Obed, and Jaasiel the Mezobaite.

¹Now these are the men 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, using both the right hand and the left to sling stones and shoot arrows with the bow; they 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 in charge of the thirty. Then Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan, Jozabad the Gederathite,

⁵Eluzai, 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 valiant mighty men went over to David at the stronghold in the wilderness, men trained for war who could handle a large shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they 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, and Machbannai, the eleventh.

¹⁴These men from the sons of Gad were captains of the army; the one who was least was equal to a hundred, and the greatest, to a thousand.

¹⁵These 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, 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 help me, my heart shall be united with you; but if to betray me to my enemies, since there is no wrong in my hands, may the God of our fathers look on it and decide.”

¹⁸Then the Spirit covered Amasai like clothing, the chief of the thirty; and he said, “We are yours, David, And are with you, son of Jesse! Peace, peace to you, And peace to him who helps you; Indeed, your God helps you!” Then David received them and made them captains of the troops.

¹⁹From Manasseh some also defected to David when he was about to go to battle with the Philistines against Saul. But they did not help them, because the governors of the Philistines sent him away after consultation, saying, “At the cost of our heads he might defect to his master Saul.”

²⁰As he was going to Ziklag, men from Manasseh defected to him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, captains of thousands who belonged to Manasseh.

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

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

²³Now these are the numbers of the divisions equipped for war, who came to David at Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of the LORD.

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

²⁵From the sons of Simeon, valiant mighty men of war, 7,100.

²⁶From the sons of Levi, 4,600.

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

²⁸also Zadok, a young valiant mighty man, and from his father’s house, twenty-two captains.

²⁹From the sons of Benjamin, Saul’s kinsmen, three thousand; for until now the majority of them had kept their allegiance to the house of Saul.

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

³¹From the half-tribe of Manasseh eighteen thousand, who were designated by name to come and make David king.

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

³³From Zebulun, there were fifty thousand who went out in the army, who could draw up in battle formation with all kinds of weapons of war and helped David with an undivided heart.

³⁴From Naphtali there were a thousand captains, and with them thirty-seven thousand with shield and spear.

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

³⁶From Asher there were forty thousand who went out in the army to draw up in battle formation.

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

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

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

⁴⁰Moreover, those who were near to them, as far as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali, brought 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.