All Israel makes David king

11 All the Israelites gathered around David at Hebron. “We’re your own flesh and blood,” they said. ² “In the past, even when Saul ruled over us, you were the one who led Israel. The Lord your God told you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become a leader over my people Israel.’” ³ So all of Israel’s elders came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them before the Lord. They anointed David to make him king over Israel, just as the Lord had promised through Samuel.

David captures Jerusalem

⁴ Then David and all Israel marched to Jerusalem, that is, Jebus, where the Jebusites lived. ⁵ The people who lived in Jebus told David, “You’ll never get in here!”

But David captured the mountain fortress of Zion, which became David’s City. ⁶ David had said, “The first one to kill a Jebusite will become commander in chief!” Joab, Zeruiah’s son, was the first to attack and so became commander in chief. ⁷ David occupied the fortress, so it was renamed David’s City. ⁸ He also built up the city on all sides, including its own foundations and the surrounding areas, while Joab restored the rest of the city. ⁹ David grew increasingly powerful, and the Lord of heavenly forces was with him.

David and his warriors

¹⁰ These are the commanders of David’s warriors who continued to support him while he was king. Together with all Israel, they made him king, as the Lord had promised Israel. ¹¹ This is the list of David’s warriors:

Jashobeam, a Hacmonite, was commander of the Thirty. He raised his spear against eight hundred, killing them on a single occasion.

¹² Next in command came Eleazar, Dodo’s son the Ahohite, who was one of the three warriors. ¹³ He was with David at Pas-dammim. The Philistines were gathered there for battle, where part of a field was full of barley. When the people ran away from the Philistines, ¹⁴ he and David stood in the middle of the field, held their ground, and defeated the Philistines. So the Lord achieved a great victory.

¹⁵ Three of the thirty commanders went down from the rock to David at the fortress^[a] of Adullam, while the army of the Philistines camped in the Rephaim Valley. ¹⁶ At that time David was in the fortress, and a Philistine fort was in Bethlehem. ¹⁷ David had a craving and said, “If only someone could give me a drink of water from the well by the gate in Bethlehem.” ¹⁸ So the three warriors broke through the Philistine camp and drew water from the well by the gate in Bethlehem and brought it back to David. But he refused to drink it and poured it out to the Lord.

¹⁹ “God forbid that I should do that,” he said. “Isn’t this the blood of men who risked their lives?” So he refused to drink it. Since they had brought it at the risk of their lives, David refused to drink it.

These were the kinds of things the three warriors did.

²⁰ Abishai, Joab’s brother, was chief of the Thirty.^[b] He raised his spear against the three hundred men he had slain, but he wasn’t considered one of the Three. ²¹ He was the most famous of the Thirty. He became their commander, but he wasn’t among the Three.

²² Benaiah, Jehoiada’s son from Kabzeel, was a hero who performed great deeds. He killed two of Moab’s leaders,^[c] and on a snowy day went down into a pit where he killed a lion. ²³ He also killed an Egyptian seven and a half feet tall, who was holding a spear like a weaver’s beam. Benaiah went down to him with a club, grabbed the spear from the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with it. ²⁴ These were the exploits of Benaiah, Jehoiada’s son; he wasn’t considered one of the three warriors. ²⁵ He was famous among the Thirty, but didn’t become one of the Three. David placed him in command of his own bodyguard.

²⁶ The mighty warriors:

David’s desert army

12 The following persons came to David at Ziklag while he was banished from the presence of Saul, Kish’s son. They were some of the warriors who helped him in battle, ² armed with bows, and they could use either hand to shoot arrows or sling stones. They were Saul’s relatives from Benjamin:

³ Ahiezer was the leader, then Joash, both Shemaah’s sons from Gibeah; Jeziel and Pelet, Azmaveth’s sons; Beracah; Jehu of Anathoth; ⁴ Ishmaiah from Gibeon, a warrior in the Thirty and a leader over the Thirty;^[e] Jeremiah; Jahaziel; Johanan; Jozabad from Gederah; ^5 [f] Eluzai; Jerimoth; Bealiah; Shemariah; Shephatiah the Haruphite; ⁶ Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, and Jashobeam the Korahites; ⁷ Joelah; and Zebadiah, Jeroham’s son from Gedor.

⁸ Some left Gad to join David at the desert fortress, brave warriors trained for battle, armed with shield and spear, who looked like lions and who were swift as gazelles on the mountains: ⁹ Ezer the leader, Obadiah second, Eliab third, ¹⁰ Mishmannah fourth, Jeremiah fifth, ¹¹ Attai sixth, Eliel seventh, ¹² Johanan eighth, Elzabad ninth, ¹³ Jeremiah tenth, Machbannai eleventh.

¹⁴ These Gadites were military officers, the least of them ready to fight a hundred and the greatest a thousand. ¹⁵ These are the ones who crossed the Jordan in the first month, when it was overflowing all its banks, and chased away everyone living in the valleys to the east and the west.

¹⁶ Some Benjaminites and Judahites also came to David at the fortress. ¹⁷ David went out to meet them and said to them, “If you’ve come to me with good intentions in order to help me, then we will join forces. But if you’ve come to betray me to my enemies, though I’ve done no wrong, then may our ancestors’ God see it and punish you.”

¹⁸ Then a spirit took hold of Amasai, the leader of the Thirty:

Then David received them, and put them at the head of his troops.

¹⁹ Some of the Manassites also joined David when he came with the Philistines for the battle against Saul. But he^[g] didn’t help them, because after considering the matter, the Philistine rulers sent him away. “He’ll rejoin his master Saul,” they said, “and it will cost us our heads.” ²⁰ When he went to Ziklag some joined him from Manasseh: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, leaders of units of a thousand in Manasseh. ²¹ They helped David against the raiding bands because they were all warriors and officers in the army. ²² Reinforcements came to David daily until there was an army as mighty as God’s army.

²³ These are the numbers of the commanders of those armed for battle who came to David in Hebron to make sure he took over Saul’s kingdom, according to the Lord’s word:

³⁸ All these men of war, armed^[h] for battle, came to Hebron determined to make David king over all Israel, and all the rest of Israel were fully agreed to make David king. ³⁹ They were there with David for three days, eating and drinking, while their relatives provided food for them. ⁴⁰ Even their neighbors from as far away as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali were bringing food by donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen. There was an abundance of flour, fig cakes, clusters of raisins, wine, oil, oxen, and sheep, because Israel was joyful.