1 Chronicles 12
1 Chronicles 12:1 The following were the men who came to David at Ziklag while he was still[1] banned from the face of Saul son of Kish. They were among the warriors who helped him in battle.
1 Chronicles 12:2 They were archers who could use either the right or left hand, both to sling stones and shoot arrows from a bow. They were Saul’s relatives from Benjamin:
1 Chronicles 12:3 Their chief was Ahiezer son of Shemaah the Gibeathite. Then there was his brother Joash; Jeziel and Pelet sons of Azmaveth; Beracah, Jehu the Anathothite;
1 Chronicles 12:4 Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a warrior among the Thirty and a leader over the Thirty; Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan, Jozabad the Gederathite;
1 Chronicles 12:5 Eluzai, Jerimoth, Bealiah, Shemariah, Shephatiah the Haruphite;
1 Chronicles 12:6 Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, and Jashobeam, the Korahites;
1 Chronicles 12:7 and Joelah and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham from Gedor.
1 Chronicles 12:8 Some Gadites separated[2] to David at his stronghold in the open country. They were efficient warriors, trained for the army, expert with shield and spear. Their faces were like the faces of lions, and they were as swift as gazelles on the mountains.
1 Chronicles 12:9 Ezer was the chief, Obadiah second, Eliab third,
1 Chronicles 12:10 Mishmannah fourth, Jeremiah fifth,
1 Chronicles 12:11 Attai sixth, Eliel seventh,
1 Chronicles 12:12 Johanan eighth, Elzabad ninth,
1 Chronicles 12:13 Jeremiah tenth, and Machbannai eleventh.
1 Chronicles 12:14 These Gadites were army commanders; the least of them was a match for a hundred, and the greatest of them for a thousand.
1 Chronicles 12:15 These are the men who crossed the Jordan in the first month when it was overflowing all its banks and drove out all those in the valleys to the east and to the west.
1 Chronicles 12:16 Other Benjaminites and men from Judah also went to David at the stronghold.
1 Chronicles 12:17 David went out to face them and said to them, “If you have come in peace to help me, my heart will be united with you, but if you have come to betray me to my enemies even though my hands have done no wrong, may the God of our ancestors look on it and judge.”
1 Chronicles 12:18 Then the Breath enveloped Amasai, chief of the Thirty, and he said: We are yours, David, we are with you, son of Jesse! Peace, peace to you, and peace to him who helps you, for your God helps you. So, David welcomed them and made them leaders of his troops.
1 Chronicles 12:19 Some Manassites defected to David when he went with the Philistines to fight against Saul. However, they did not help the Philistines because the Philistine rulers sent David away after a discussion. They said, “It will be our heads if he defects to his lord[3] Saul.”
1 Chronicles 12:20 When David went to Ziklag, some men from Manasseh defected to him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, chiefs of thousands in Manasseh.
1 Chronicles 12:21 They helped David against the raiders, for they were all efficient warriors and captains in the army.
1 Chronicles 12:22 At that time, men came day after day to help David until there was a great army, like an army of God.
1 Chronicles 12:23 The numbers of the army troops who came to David at Hebron to turn Saul’s kingdom over to him, according to Yahveh’s word, were as follows:
1 Chronicles 12:24 From the Judahites: 6,800 army troops bearing shields and spears.
1 Chronicles 12:25 From the Simeonites: 7,100 efficient warriors ready for the army.
1 Chronicles 12:26 From the Levites: 4,600
1 Chronicles 12:27 in addition to Jehoiada, leader of the house of Aaron, with 3,700 men;
1 Chronicles 12:28 and Zadok, a strong, efficient boy,[4] with 22 captains from his father’s house.
1 Chronicles 12:29 From the Benjaminites, the relatives of Saul: 3,000 (up to that time, the majority of the Benjaminites guarded their allegiance to the house of Saul).
1 Chronicles 12:30 From the Ephraimites: 20,800 efficient warriors who were famous men in their ancestral houses.
1 Chronicles 12:31 From half the tribe of Manasseh: 18,000 designated by name to come and make David king.
1 Chronicles 12:32 From the Issacharites, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do: 200 chiefs with all their relatives under their command.
1 Chronicles 12:33 From Zebulun: 50,000 who could serve in the army, trained for battle with all kinds of weapons of war, with one heart[5] to help David.
1 Chronicles 12:34 From Naphtali: 1,000 captains accompanied by 37,000 men with shield and spear.
1 Chronicles 12:35 From the Danites: 28,600 trained for battle.
1 Chronicles 12:36 From Asher: 40,000 who could serve in the army, trained for battle.
1 Chronicles 12:37 From across the Jordan– from the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh: 120,000 men equipped with all the army weapons of war.
1 Chronicles 12:38 All these warriors, lined up in battle formation, came to Hebron wholeheartedly determined to make David king over all Israel. All the rest of Israel was also of one mind to make David king.
1 Chronicles 12:39 They spent three days there consuming[6] and drinking with David, because their relatives had provided for them.
1 Chronicles 12:40 In addition, their neighbors from as far away as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali came and brought food on donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen — abundant provisions of flour, fig cakes, raisins, wine and oil, herds, and flocks. Indeed, there was joy in Israel.
[1] עוֹד = again, continually, still. 1 Chronicles 12:1; 14:3, 13, 14; 17:9, 18; 19:19; 20:5, 6; 29:3.
[2] בָּדָל = separate. 1 Chronicles 12:8; 23:13; 25:1.
[3] אָדוֹן = lord. 1 Chronicles 12:19; 21:3, 23.
[4] נָעַר = boy (young man, servant). 1 Chronicles 12:28; 22:5; 29:1.
[5] לֵב = heart. 1 Chronicles 12:33, 38; 15:29; 16:10; 17:19; 28:9; 29:9.
[6] אָכַל = consume. 1 Chronicles 12:39; 29:22.
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