David’s Mighty Men

^10 (A)Now these are the heads of the mighty men whom David had, who gave him strong support in his kingdom, together with all Israel, to make him king, ^(B)according to the word of Yahweh concerning Israel. ¹¹ These constitute the list of the mighty men whom David had: ^(C)Jashobeam, the son of a Hachmonite, ^(D)the chief of the thirty; he lifted up his spear against three hundred ^[a]slain by him at one time.

¹² And after him was Eleazar the son of ^(E)Dodo, the Ahohite, who was ^[b]one of the three mighty men. ¹³ He was with David at ^[c]Pasdammim. ^(F)Now the Philistines had gathered together there to battle, and there was a portion of the field full of barley; and the people fled from before the Philistines. ¹⁴ But they took their stand in the midst of that portion and delivered it, and struck down the Philistines. So Yahweh saved them by a great salvation.

¹⁵ Then three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David, to the cave of Adullam, while ^(G)the camp of the Philistines was camping in the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁶ And David was then in the fortress, while ^(H)the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. ¹⁷ Then 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!” ¹⁸ So the three broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and carried it and brought it to David. Nevertheless, David was not willing to drink it, but poured it out to Yahweh; ¹⁹ and he said, “Be it far from me before my God that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of these men who went ^[d]at the risk of their lives? For at the risk of their lives they brought it.” Therefore he was not willing to drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

²⁰ Now ^[e]Abshai, the brother of Joab, was chief of the ^[f]thirty. And he swung his spear against three hundred ^[g]who were slain by him; and he had a name as well as the ^[h]thirty. ²¹ Of the three in the second rank he was the most honored and became their commander; however, he did not attain to the first three.

^22 (I)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, mighty in deeds, struck down the ^[i]two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. ²³ He had also struck down an Egyptian, ^[j]an impressive man, ^[k]five cubits tall. Now in the Egyptian’s hand was ^(J)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. ²⁴ These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and had a name as well as the three mighty men. ²⁵ Behold, he was honored among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David appointed him over his guard.

²⁶ Now the mighty men of the military forces were