2 Samuel 23

¹These are the final words of David:“The oracle of David son of Jesse,the oracle of the man raised up asthe ruler chosen by the God of Jacob,Israel’s beloved singer of songs:

²The Lord’s spirit spoke through me;his word was on my tongue.

³The God of Israel spoke,the protector of Israel spoke to me.The one who rules fairly among men,the one who rules in the fear of God,

⁴is like the light of morning when the sun comes up,a morning in which there are no clouds.He is like the brightness after rainthat produces grass from the earth.

⁵My dynasty is approved by God,for he has made a perpetual covenant with me,arranged in all its particulars and secured.He always delivers me,and brings all I desire to fruition.

⁶But evil people are like thorns –all of them are tossed away,for they cannot be held in the hand.

⁷The one who touches themmust use an iron instrumentor the wooden shaft of a spear.They are completely burned up right where they lie!”

David’s Warriors

⁸These are the names of David’s warriors: Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was head of the officers. He killed eight hundred men with his spear in one battle.

⁹Next in command was Eleazar son of Dodo, the son of Ahohi. He was one of the three warriors who were with David when they defied the Philistines who were assembled there for battle. When the men of Israel retreated,

¹⁰he stood his ground and fought the Philistines until his hand grew so tired that it seemed stuck to his sword. The Lord gave a great victory on that day. When the army returned to him, the only thing left to do was to plunder the corpses.

¹¹Next in command was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines assembled at Lehi, where there happened to be an area of a field that was full of lentils, the army retreated before the Philistines.

¹²But he made a stand in the middle of that area. He defended it and defeated the Philistines; the Lord gave them a great victory.

¹³At the time of the harvest three of the thirty leaders went down to David at the cave of Adullam. A band of Philistines was camped in the valley of Rephaim.

¹⁴David was in the stronghold at the time, while a Philistine garrison was in Bethlehem.

¹⁵David was thirsty and said, “How I wish someone would give me some water to drink from the cistern in Bethlehem near the gate!”

¹⁶So the three elite warriors broke through the Philistine forces and drew some water from the cistern in Bethlehem near the gate. They carried it back to David, but he refused to drink it. He poured it out as a drink offering to the Lord

¹⁷and said, “O Lord, I will not do this! It is equivalent to the blood of the men who risked their lives by going.” So he refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three elite warriors.

¹⁸Abishai son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, was head of the three. He killed three hundred men with his spear and gained fame among the three.

¹⁹From the three he was given honor and he became their officer, even though he was not one of the three.

²⁰Benaiah son of Jehoida was a brave warrior from Kabzeel who performed great exploits. He struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in a cistern on a snowy day.

²¹He also killed an impressive-looking Egyptian. The Egyptian wielded a spear, while Benaiah attacked him with a club. He grabbed the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

²²Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoida, who gained fame among the three elite warriors.

²³He received honor from the thirty warriors, though he was not one of the three elite warriors. David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

²⁴Included with the thirty were the following: Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem,

²⁵Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite,

²⁶Helez the Paltite, Ira son of Ikkesh from Tekoa,

²⁷Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite,

²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite,

²⁹Heled son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai son of Ribai from Gibeah in Benjamin,

³⁰Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai from the wadis of Gaash,

³¹Abi-Albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite,

³²Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan

³³son of Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam son of Sharar the Hararite,

³⁴Eliphelet son of Ahasbai the Maacathite, Eliam son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,

³⁵Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite,

³⁶Igal son of Nathan from Zobah, Bani the Gadite,

³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite (the armor-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah),

³⁸Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite

³⁹and Uriah the Hittite. Altogether there were thirty-seven.