Beginning

9 So all Isra’el was listed by genealogies, and these were recorded in the book of the kings of Isra’el. Then Y’hudah was carried away captive to Bavel because of their unfaithfulness. ² The first people to return to their possessions in the cities were the Isra’elim, the cohanim, the L’vi’im and the temple servants. ³ In Yerushalayim lived some descendants of Y’hudah, some descendants of Binyamin and some descendants of Efrayim and of M’nasheh: ⁴ ‘Utai the son of ‘Ammihud, the son of ‘Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Bani, from the descendants of Peretz the son of Y’hudah. ⁵ Of the Shiloni: ‘Asayah the firstborn and his sons. ⁶ Of the descendants of Zerach: Ye‘u’el and their kinsmen, 690. ⁷ Of the descendants of Binyamin: Salu the son of Meshulam the son of Hodavyah the son of Hasnu’ah, ⁸ Yivneyah the son of Yerocham, Elah the son of ‘Uzi the son of Mikhri, Meshulam the son of Sh’fatyah the son of Re‘u’el the son of Yivneyah, ⁹ and their kinsmen, according to their generations — altogether 956. All these men were leaders of fathers’ clans.

¹⁰ Of the cohanim: Y’da‘yah, Y’hoyariv, Yakhin, ¹¹ ‘Azaryah the son of Hilkiyah the son of Meshulam the son of Tzadok the son of M’rayot the son of Achituv the ruler of the house of God, ¹² ‘Adayah the son of Yerocham the son of Pash’chur the son of Malkiyah, Ma‘asai the son of ‘Adi’el the son of Yachzerah the son of Meshulam the son of Meshilmit the son of Immer, ¹³ and their kinsmen, leaders of their fathers’ clans, 1,760 very competent men available for serving in the house of God.

¹⁴ Of the L’vi’im: Sh’ma‘yah the son of Hashuv the son of ‘Azrikam the son of Hashavyah, from the descendants of M’rari; ¹⁵ Bakbakar; Heresh; Galal; Matanyah the son of Mikha the son of Zikhri the son of Asaf; ¹⁶ ‘Ovadyah the son of Sh’ma‘yah the son of Galal the son of Y’dutun; and Berekhyah the son of Asa the son of Elkanah, who lived in the towns of the N’tofati.

¹⁷ The gatekeepers: Shalum, ‘Akuv, Talmon, Achiman and their kinsmen; Shalum was the chief. ¹⁸ Previously they had guarded the king’s gate to the east; they were gatekeepers for the camp of the descendants of Levi. ¹⁹ Shalum the son of Kore the son of Evyasaf the son of Korach and his kinsmen from his father’s clan the Korchim were in charge of the work of the service, keepers of the gates of the tent. Their ancestors had been in charge of the camp of Adonai, keepers of the entryway. ²⁰ Pinchas the son of El‘azar had been ruler over them long before; Adonai had been with him. ²¹ Z’kharyah the son of Meshelemyah guarded the entryway to the tent of meeting. ²² All these chosen to be gatekeepers numbered 212. Their genealogies were recorded in their towns; they had been appointed to their positions by David and Sh’mu’el the seer. ²³ They and their descendants supervised the gates of the house of Adonai, that is, the house of the tent, by periods of duty. ²⁴ The gatekeepers served on the four sides, east, west, north and south. ²⁵ From time to time their kinsmen had to come in from their towns to help them for seven days.

²⁶ For the four chief gatekeepers were on permanent duty; they were the L’vi’im in charge of accommodations and supplies in the house of God. ²⁷ They spent their nights in the vicinity of the house of God, because they were in charge of it; they were responsible for opening it up each morning.

²⁸ Some of [the L’vi’im] were in charge of the articles used for the service; they had to keep records of them when bringing them in and out. ²⁹ Others were in charge of the equipment, the holy utensils, the fine flour, the wine, the olive oil, the frankincense and the spices. ³⁰ Some of the sons of the cohanim mixed together the ingredients for the perfumes. ³¹ Mattityah, one of the L’vi’im, who was the firstborn of Shalum the Korchi, was permanently in charge of baking operations. ³² Some of their kinsmen, from the descendants of the K’hati, were in charge of preparing the showbread every Shabbat. ³³ Also there were the singers, heads of fathers’ clans among the L’vi’im. They lived in the accommodations and were free from other kinds of service, for they were employed in their own work day and night. ³⁴ These were heads of fathers’ clans among the L’vi’im, according to their generations, and they were leaders; they lived in Yerushalayim.

³⁵ In Giv‘on lived the father of Giv‘on, Ye‘i’el, whose his wife’s name was Ma‘akhah; ³⁶ and his firstborn son ‘Avdon, Tzur, Kish, Ba‘al, Ner, Nadav, ³⁷ G’dor, Achyo, Z’kharyah and Miklot. ³⁸ Miklot fathered Shim’am. In contrast with some of their kinsmen, they and their families lived in Yerushalayim.

³⁹ Ner fathered Kish; Kish fathered Sha’ul; and Sha’ul fathered Y’honatan, Malkishua, Avinadav and Eshba‘al. ⁴⁰ The son of Y’honatan was M’riv-Ba‘al, and M’riv-Ba‘al fathered Mikhah. ⁴¹ The sons of Mikhah were: Piton, Melekh and Ta’rea. ⁴² Achaz fathered Ya‘ra; Ya‘ra fathered ‘Alemet, ‘Azmavet and Zimri; Zimri fathered Motza; ⁴³ and Motza fathered Bin‘a. His son was Rafah, his son El‘asah and his son Atzel. ⁴⁴ Atzel had six sons, whose names were: ‘Azrikam, Bokhru, Yishma‘el, Sh‘aryah, ‘Ovadyah and Hanan; all these were sons of Atzel.

10 Now the P’lishtim pressed their attack on Isra’el; and the men of Isra’el fled before the P’lishtim, leaving their dead on Mount Gilboa. ² The P’lishtim pursued Sha’ul; overtook him and his sons; and the P’lishtim killed Y’honatan, Avinadav and Malkishua, the sons of Sha’ul. ³ The fighting went hard against Sha’ul; then the archers overtook and wounded him, so that he was in agony. ⁴ Sha’ul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it. Otherwise, these uncircumcised men will come and make sport of me.” But his armor-bearer refused; he was too frightened. So Sha’ul took his sword and fell on it. ⁵ When his armor-bearer saw that Sha’ul was dead, he too fell on his own sword and died. ⁶ Thus Sha’ul, his three sons and all his household died together.

⁷ When all the men of Isra’el who were in the valley saw them fleeing and that Sha’ul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled; then the P’lishtim came and lived in them.

⁸ The following day, when the P’lishtim came to strip the dead, they found Sha’ul and his sons lying dead on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ They stripped him, then took his head and his armor and sent them all over the territory of the P’lishtim to carry the news to their idols and to the people. ¹⁰ They put his armor in the temple of their gods and fastened his skull to the temple of Dagon. ¹¹ When everyone in Yavesh-Gil‘ad heard all that the P’lishtim had done to Sha’ul, ¹² all their warriors set out, took away the body of Sha’ul and the bodies of his sons, brought them to Yavesh, buried their bones under the pistachio tree in Yavesh and fasted seven days.

¹³ So Sha’ul died for the transgression he committed against Adonai, because of the word of Adonai that he did not keep and because he sought the counsel of a spirit ¹⁴ instead of consulting Adonai. Therefore Adonai put him to death and turned the rulership over to David the son of Yishai.

11 Then all Isra’el gathered themselves to David in Hevron and said, “Here, we are your own flesh and bone. ² In the past, even when Sha’ul was king, it was you who led Isra’el’s military campaigns; and Adonai your God said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Isra’el, and you will be chief over my people Isra’el.’” ³ So all the leaders of Isra’el came to the king in Hevron; and David made a covenant with them in Hevron in the presence of Adonai. Then they anointed David king over Isra’el, as Adonai had said through Sh’mu’el.

⁴ David and all Isra’el went to Yerushalayim, also known as Y’vus; and the Y’vusi, the inhabitants of that region, were there. ⁵ The inhabitants of Y’vus taunted David by saying, “You won’t get in here!” Nevertheless, David captured the stronghold of Tziyon, also known now as the City of David. ⁶ David said, “Whoever attacks the Y’vusi first will be commander-in-chief.” Yo’av the son of Tz’ruyah attacked first and was made commander.

⁷ David lived in the stronghold; therefore they called it the City of David. ⁸ David built up the city around it, starting at the Millo [earth rampart] and going on around; while Yo’av repaired the rest of the city. ⁹ David grew greater and greater, because Adonai-Tzva’ot was with him.

¹⁰ These are David’s chief warriors, who, under his rulership, joined forces with him and with all Isra’el to make him king, as Adonai had said concerning Isra’el; ¹¹ here is the list of David’s warrior-heroes:

Yashov‘am son of a Hakhmoni, the chief officer; he is the one who raised his spear against 300 men and killed them in a single encounter.

¹² After him was El‘azar the son of Dodo the Achochi, one of the three warriors. ¹³ He was with David at Pas-Damim, where the P’lishtim had assembled for battle. There was a plot of ground full of barley; and when the people fled from the P’lishtim, ¹⁴ they stood in the middle of the plot and defended it, killing the P’lishtim; and Adonai saved them with a great victory.

¹⁵ Three of the thirty leaders went down to the rock and came to David during harvest season at the cave of ‘Adulam when the army of the P’lishtim had set up camp in the Refa’im Valley. ¹⁶ At that time David was in the fortress, and the garrison of the P’lishtim was in Beit-Lechem. ¹⁷ David had a craving and said, “I wish someone could give me water to drink from the well by the gate of Beit-Lechem!” ¹⁸ The three broke through the army of the P’lishtim, drew water from the well by the gate of Beit-Lechem, took it and brought it to David. But David would not drink it; instead, he poured it out to Adonai ¹⁹ and said, “My God forbid that I should do such a thing! Am I to drink the blood of these men who went and put their lives in jeopardy? They risked their lives to bring it!” — and he would not consent to drink it. These are the things the three warrior-heroes did.

²⁰ Avishai the brother of Yo’av was chief of these three. He raised his spear against 300 men and killed them; thus he had a reputation even among the three. ²¹ Of the three in the second rank he had the most honor and was therefore made their leader; however, he did not achieve the status of the first three.

²² B’nayah the son of Y’hoyada, the son of a valiant man of Kavtze’el, was a man of many exploits. He struck down two lion-hearted men of Mo’av. One day when it was snowing, he went down into a pit and killed a lion. ²³ Here is how he killed an Egyptian, a man who was very tall, seven-and-a-half feet: the Egyptian had a spear in his hand the size of a weaver’s beam; he went down to him with only a stick, seized the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. ²⁴ These are things that B’nayah the son of Y’hoyada did that earned him a name among the three warrior-heroes. ²⁵ He had more honor than the thirty, but he did not achieve the status of the first three. David put him in command of his personal guard.

²⁶ There were also these warrior-heroes: