Chapter 12

David’s First Followers. ¹ These were the men who came to David while he was at Ziklag, a fugitive from Saul, the son of Kish. They were the brave warriors who helped him in battle. ² They were armed with bows, and they could sling stones or shoot arrows from a bow with their right hand or their left. They were kinsmen of Saul from Benjamin.

³ Ahiezer was their leader, and then Joash, who were the sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite. There were Jeziel and Pelet, the sons of Azmaveth; Beracah; Jehu the Anathothite; ⁴ Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a brave warrior from among the Thirty and the leader of the Thirty; Jeremiah; Jahaziel; Johanan; Jozabad the Gederathite; ⁵ Eluzai; Jerimoth; Bealiah; Shemariah; Shephatiah the Haruphite; ⁶ Elkanah; Isshiah; Azarel; Joezer; Jashobeam the Korahite; ⁷ and Joelah and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham from Gedor.

⁸ Some Gadites joined David in the wilderness. They were brave men, warriors ready for battle, able to handle the shield and the spear. Their faces were as fierce as the faces of lions, and they were as swift as gazelles upon the mountains. ⁹ Ezer was the first; Obadiah was the second; Eliab was the third; ¹⁰ Mishmannah was the fourth; Jeremiah was the fifth; ¹¹ Attai was the sixth; Eliel was the seventh; ¹² Johanan was the eighth; Elzabad was the ninth; ¹³ Jeremiah the tenth; and Machbannai the eleventh. ¹⁴ These Gadites were captains of the army. The weakest of them was worth a hundred, the strongest was worth a thousand. ¹⁵ They were crossing over the Jordan during the first month when it was overflowing its banks, and they put to flight everyone who was living in the valleys to the east and the west.

¹⁶ Some other Benjaminites and Judahites also went out to David in his stronghold. ¹⁷ David went out to meet them and he said to them, “If you have come to me in peace, to help me, then your heart will be one with my heart. But if you are here to betray me to my enemies even though my hands are innocent, may the God of our fathers see it and rebuke you.”

¹⁸ The Spirit then came upon Amasai, the leader of the captains, and he said,

David received them and made them captains of his raiding parties.

¹⁹ Some men from Manasseh went over to David when he went to the Philistines to fight against Saul. He, however, did not help them because the lords of the Philistines had discussed it and sent him away saying, “It would cost us our heads if he were to defect to his master Saul.”

²⁰ These were the men of Manasseh who went over to him in Ziklag: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai. They were captains of the thousands in Manasseh. ²¹ They helped David fight against the raiding parties, and they were brave warriors, all of them captains of the army.

²² From that time on, more men would arrive daily to help David until he had a large army, like an army of God.^[a]

²³ Assembly at Hebron. These are the numbers of the bands of those who came to David in Hebron ready for battle. They turned Saul’s kingdom over to him, according to the word of the Lord.

²⁴ From Judah, there were six thousand, eight hundred men bearing shield and spear, ready for battle. ²⁵ From Simeon there were seven thousand, one hundred brave warriors, ready for battle. ²⁶ From Levi there were four thousand, six hundred men. ²⁷ These included Jehoiada, the leader of the Aaronites, and with him there were three thousand, seven hundred men. ²⁸ There was Zadok, a young man who was a brave warrior, with twenty-two captains from his father’s household. ²⁹ From Benjamin, Saul’s kinsmen, there were three thousand men, most of whom had remained faithful to the house of Saul until then. ³⁰ From Ephraim there were twenty thousand, eight hundred brave warriors who were famous in their ancestral clans. ³¹ There were eighteen thousand men from one-half of the tribe of Manasseh. They were designated by name to go and make David king. ³² From Issachar there were two hundred leaders with their brethren under them. They understood well the time and what Israel should do.^{[b] 33} From Zebulun there were fifty thousand experienced fighters ready to go into battle. They had every different type of weapon, and they were of undivided loyalty. ³⁴ From Naphtali there were one thousand captains along with thirty-seven thousand men armed with shield and spear. ³⁵ From Dan there were twenty-eight thousand, six hundred men, ready for battle. ³⁶ From Asher there were forty thousand experienced fighters ready for battle. ³⁷ From the eastern side of the Jordan, there were one hundred and twenty thousand men armed with every different type of weapon from Reuben, Gad, and one-half of the tribe of Manasseh.

³⁸ All of these were well-trained fighting men. They came to Hebron for they wholeheartedly wanted to make David king over all of Israel. The rest of Israel was in agreement to make David king.^{[c] 39} They spent three days eating and drinking with David (for their brethren had provided provisions for them). ⁴⁰ Their neighbors from as far away as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali brought food on their donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen: plentiful supplies of flour, fig cakes, raisin cakes, wine, oil, oxen, and sheep, for joy had spread throughout Israel.