1 Chroniques 12

Those who joined David at Ziklag

¹These are the men who came to David at Ziklag while he still could not move about freely because of Saul son of Kish. They were among the warriors who helped him in battle. ²They were armed with bows, and they could sling stones and shoot arrows with either the right hand or the left. They were kinsmen of Saul from Benjamin. ³Their chief was Ahiezer, and next came Joash, both sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite. There were also Jeziel and Pelet the sons of Azmaveth, and Beracah and Jehu the Anathothite. ⁴Ishmaiah the Gibeonite was a mighty warrior among the Thirty and a leader over the Thirty.^{a 5}With them were Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan and Jozabad the Gederathite. ⁶Also with them were Eluzai, Jerimoth, Bealiah, Shemariah and Shephatiah the Haruphite. ⁷Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer and Jashobeam, who were Korahites, were there too. ⁸So did Joelah and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham from Gedor. ⁹Some Gadites broke away and went over to David at the stronghold in the wilderness. They were mighty warriors, trained soldiers ready for battle, skilled with shield and spear. Their faces were the faces of lions, and on the mountains they ran as swiftly as gazelles.

¹⁰Ezer was the chief, Obadiah second, Eliab third, ¹¹Mishmannah fourth, Jeremiah fifth, ¹²Attai sixth, Eliel seventh, ¹³Johanan eighth, Elzabad ninth, ¹⁴Jeremiah tenth and Machbannai eleventh. ¹⁵These Gadites were army officers. The least of them could stand against a hundred, and the greatest against a thousand.^{b 16}These men crossed the Jordan in the first month, while the river was flooding over all its banks, and they put to flight everyone in the valleys, east and west.

¹⁷Some men of Benjamin and Judah also came to David at the stronghold. ¹⁸David went out to meet them and said to them, “If you have come to me in peace to help me, then my heart is one with yours. But if you are here to betray me to my enemies, though I have done no wrong, may the God of our ancestors see it and rebuke you.”

¹⁹Then the Spirit clothed Amasai, chief of the Thirty, and he said, \q “We are yours, David! We are with you, son of Jesse! \q Peace, peace to you, and peace to whoever helps you, \q for your God helps you.” \q So David welcomed them and made them leaders of his band.^c

²⁰Some men of Manasseh also went over to David when he came with the Philistines to fight against Saul. But David and his men did not help the Philistines, because the rulers of the Philistines talked it over and sent him away. “He will go back to his master Saul,” they said, “and it will cost us our heads.” ²¹As he went back to Ziklag, these men of Manasseh went over to him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu and Zillethai, commanders of thousands in Manasseh. ²²They helped David against the band of raiders, for all of them were mighty warriors, and they became commanders in the army. ²³Day after day men came to help David, until he had a great army, like the army of God.

The troops who came to David at Hebron

²⁴These are the counts of the divisions armed for war that came to Hebron, to David, to turn the kingdom of Saul over to him, as the LORD had said.

²⁵From Judah: men carrying shield and spear, 6,800 armed for war.

²⁶From Simeon: mighty warriors ready for war, 7,100.

²⁷From Levi: 4,600.

²⁸Jehoiada was leader of the house of Aaron, and 3,700 came with him.

²⁹There was also Zadok, a young man and a mighty warrior, with twenty-two commanders from his father’s family.

³⁰From Benjamin, Saul’s own kinsmen: 3,000. Until then most of them had stayed loyal to the house of Saul.

³¹From Ephraim: 20,800 mighty warriors, men famous in their ancestral families.

³²From the half-tribe of Manasseh: 18,000, who had been named one by one to come and make David king.

³³From Issachar: 200 chiefs, men with insight into the times, who knew what Israel ought to do, and all their kinsmen took orders from them.

³⁴From Zebulun: 50,000 men ready for service in the army, drawn up for battle with every kind of weapon, who came to help with hearts that were not divided.

³⁵From Naphtali: 1,000 commanders, and with them 37,000 men carrying shield and spear.

³⁶From Dan: 28,600 men drawn up for battle.

³⁷From Asher: 40,000 men ready for service in the army, to be drawn up for battle.

³⁸From across the Jordan, from Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh: 120,000 men with every kind of weapon for battle. ³⁹All these fighting men, drawn up in battle order, came to Hebron with an undivided heart to make David king over all Israel. All the rest of Israel too were of one mind to make David king. ⁴⁰They stayed there with David for three days, eating and drinking, because their kinsmen had provided for them. ⁴¹Their neighbors too, from as far away as Issachar, Zebulun and Naphtali, brought food on donkeys, camels, mules and oxen: plenty of flour, fig cakes, raisin cakes, wine, oil, cattle and sheep. For there was joy in Israel.