1 Chronicles 12:1-22 ▼

1 NOW these are all the mighty men of David, who stood by him in the battle, and they came with David to the city of Zinklag, when he fled from Saul the son of Kish; and they were among the mighty men who stood before David. If David had wished, they would have slain Saul the son of Kish, for they were mighty men of war, but David would not permit them to slay Saul.

2 They held the bows with their left hand and the swords with their right, and their bows were filled with arrows, but David was unwilling to slay Saul, because he was the chief, the prince of the tribe of Benjamin.

3 These are the names of the mighty men who were with David: Ahiezer and his son Joash; Joel of Macsite; Shemaiah the Gibeathite; Pelet and Berachiah, the sons of Arboth; and Jehu the Anatothite;

4 And Shemaiah the Gibeonite, who was captain over thirty men, and fought equal to all of them; and Jeremiah, Nahaziel, Zabor, Azar,

5 Gadai, Jermoth, Bealiah, Shemariah, Shephatiah, Habar,

6 Elkanah, Jesiah, Azariel, Shebnah, Asaph,

7 Joah and Zechariah, the sons of Jeroham of Gadar.

8 And those of the tribe of the Gadites separated themselves to David to go out with him to the stronghold in the wilderness; mighty men and men of stature and fit for battle, who could handle sword and shield, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and who were swift for war upon the mountains:

9 Ezra the chief of the mighty men, Obadiah the second, Eliab the third,

10 Ashur the fourth, Jeremiah the fifth,

11 Athar the sixth, Eliel the seventh,

12 Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the ninth,

13 Jeremiah the tenth, Shepatiah the eleventh.

14 These were of the descendants of Gad, commanders of the army; one of them was captain over a hundred, and the others were over a thousand.

15 These are they who crossed the Jordan in the month of Nisan, when it had overflowed all its banks; and they put to flight all the army that was encamped in the valley, both toward the east and toward the west. And these are the numbers of the commanders of the army who gathered together and came to David to Hebron to give him the kingdom of Saul, so that the word of Samuel the prophet might be fulfilled, who spoke by the command of the LORD.

16 And there came some of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the camp to David.

17 And David went out to meet them and blessed them, and said to them, If you have come peaceably to me to help us, then may the LORD grant you a double portion of that which you have in your heart; but if you have come to betray me and to deliver me to my adversaries, seeing that I have not sinned against you and there is no wrong in my hands, the God of my fathers knows it, and he will rebuke whoever is wrong among us.

18 Then the spirit of might came upon Amasa, the son of Jatar, chief of the thirty, and he answered and said to David, Come on, David, come on, O son of Jesse! I am also with you, peace be to you, be not afraid, and peace will be given to you from your helpers; for your God is your helper in every hour. Then David received them, and made them captains of the army.

19 And some of the men of the tribe of Manasseh went over to David when he went to war with the Philistines against Saul to battle; but they would not go with Saul to war to help him, because they hated him, for they had gone and made a secret treaty with the princes of the Philistines, saying, Let us go first and fall on Saul our master;

20 And as he goes to Zinklag, we will besiege him and capture him alive. These are their names: Ada, Zabor, Jediael, Michael, Elihu, and Jozabad, commanders of thousands of the house of Manasseh.

21 And they helped David when he went against the band of raiders; for they were all mighty men of valor and commanders over all the army, and they did as they pleased through him.

22 For every day they went into the presence of David to eat food before him, for he loved them exceedingly.