1 Chronicles 11:1-25

American Standard Version

11 Then all Israel gathered themselves to David unto Hebron, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. ² In times past, even when Saul was king, it was thou that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and Jehovah thy God said unto thee, Thou shalt be shepherd of my people Israel, and thou shalt be ^[a]prince over my people Israel. ³ So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Jehovah; and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of Jehovah by Samuel.

⁴ And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (the same is Jebus); and the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, were there. ⁵ And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come in hither. Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David. ⁶ And David said, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, and was made chief. ⁷ And David dwelt in the stronghold; therefore they called it the city of David. ⁸ And he built the city round about, from Millo even round about; and Joab ^[b]repaired the rest of the city. ⁹ And David waxed greater and greater; for Jehovah of hosts was with him.

¹⁰ Now these are the chief of the mighty men whom David had, who ^[c]showed themselves strong with him in his kingdom, together with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of Jehovah concerning Israel. ¹¹ And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had: Jashobeam, the son of a Hachmonite, the chief of the ^[d]thirty; he lifted up his spear against three hundred ^[e]and slew them at one time. ¹² And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighty men. ¹³ He was with David at ^[f]Pasdammim, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle, where was a plot of ground full of barley; and the people fled from before the Philistines. ¹⁴ And they stood in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and slew the Philistines; and Jehovah saved them by a great ^[g]victory.

¹⁵ And three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam; and the host of the Philistines were encamped in the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁶ And David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Beth-lehem. ¹⁷ And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me water to drink of the well of Beth-lehem, which is by the gate! ¹⁸ And the three brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Beth-lehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but David would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto Jehovah, ¹⁹ and said, My God forbid it me, that I should do this: shall I drink the blood of these men ^[h]that have put their lives in jeopardy? for with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.

²⁰ And ^[i]Abishai, the brother of Joab, he was chief of the three; for he lifted up his spear against three hundred ^[j]and slew them, and had a name among the three. ^21 [k]Of the three, he was more honorable than the two, and was made their captain: howbeit he attained not to the first three.

²² Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, he slew the two sons of Ariel of Moab: he went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow. ²³ And he slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits high; and in the Egyptian’s hand was a spear like a weaver’s beam; and he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and slew him with his own spear. ²⁴ These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had a name among the three mighty men. ²⁵ Behold, he was more honorable than the thirty, but he attained not to the first three: and David set him over his ^[l]guard.