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UST 1CH Chapter 12

12 David stayed in the city of Ziklag when he was escaping from King Saul (Kish’s son) and waiting to ascend the throne. While David was there, many warriors came and joined him, and they helped David when he fought battles. These warriors are listed below. 2 They carried bows. They were able to shoot arrows and to sling stones. They could use either their right arms or their left arms. They were relatives of Saul from the tribe of Benjamin.

3 Their leader was Ahiezer. Next in command was Joash. They were both Shemaah’s sons from the city of Gibeah. Others were:

Jeziel and Pelet, Azmaveth’s sons;

Berakah;

Jehu from the city of Anathoth;

4 Ishmaiah from the city of Gibeon, who was the leader of the thirty greatest warriors;

Jeremiah; Jahaziel; Johanan; Jozabad from the city of Gederah;

5 Eluzai; Jerimoth; Bealiah; Shemariah; Shephatiah from the city of Haruph;

6 Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, and Jashobeam, who were all descendants of Korah;

7 and Joelah and Zebadiah, Jeroham’s sons, from the city of Gedor.

8 Some men from the tribe of Gad east of the Jordan River joined David when he was at his garrison in the caves in the desert. They were brave warriors who were trained for fighting battles and able to use shields and spears well. They were as fierce as lions, and they could run as fast as deer on the hills.

9 Ezer was their leader.

Next in command was Obadiah.

Next was Eliab.

10 Next was Mishmannah.

Next was Jeremiah.

11 Next was Attai.

Next was Eliel.

12 Next was Johanan.

Next was Elzabad.

13 Next was another man whose name was Jeremiah.

The last was Macbannai.

14 Those men from the tribe of Gad were commanders in the army. The least warrior could fight 100, and the greatest could fight 1,000. 15 They crossed to the west side of the Jordan River during a certain month in spring, at the time of the year when the river floods. They chased from there all the people who lived in the valleys on both sides of the river.

16 Some other men from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah also came to David in his garrison. 17 David went out of the cave to meet them and said to them, “If you have come peacefully to help me, I am eager to have you join with me. But if you have come to enable my enemies to capture me, even though I have not done anything to harm you, I hope that the God whom our ancestors worshiped will see it and condemn you.”

18 Then God’s Spirit came on Amasai, who was the leader of the thirty greatest warriors, and Amasai said,

“David, we want to be with you;

you who are the son of Jesse, we will join you.

We do come in peace. We hope you will experience peace and that those helping you will experience peace,

because your God is helping you.” So David welcomed those men, and he appointed them to be leaders of his soldiers.

19 Some men from the tribe of Manasseh also joined David when he went with the soldiers of Philistia to fight against Saul’s army. But David and his men did not help the army of Philistia because the leaders of Philistia talked about David and his soldiers and sent David and his men away. The leaders of Philistia said, “If David joins his master Saul again, we will all be killed.” 20 When David went to Ziklag, these were the men from the tribe of Manasseh who went with him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, another man whose name was Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai. Each of them had been a commander of one thousand men from the tribe of Manasseh in Saul’s army. 21 They helped David to fight against the groups of men who roamed throughout the country robbing people because these men from the tribe of Manasseh were all brave soldiers and became commanders in David’s army. 22 Every day more men joined David’s men to support David, and his army became large, like the army of God.

23 These are the numbers of soldiers who were ready for battle who joined David at the city of Hebron. They came to help him to become the king of Israel instead of Saul, as Yahweh had promised would happen.

24 There were 6,800 men from Judah ready for battle, carrying shields and spears.

25 There were 7,100 men from the tribe of Simeon. They were all strong warriors trained to fight battles.

26 There were 4,600 men from the tribe of Levi.

27 Jehoiada, a leader descended from Aaron, was in that group of descendants of Levi, and there were 3,700 men with him.

28 Zadok, a strong young soldier, was also in that group, and there were 22 other leaders from his clan who came with him.

29 There were 3,000 men from the tribe of Benjamin who were Saul’s relatives. Most of them had previously given their allegiance to Saul and his descendants.

30 There were 20,800 men from the tribe of Ephraim who were all brave warriors and famous in their own clans.

31 There were 18,000 men from the half of the tribe of Manasseh who lived west of the Jordan River. Their half-tribe chose them to go and help David become the king.

32 There were 200 men who were leaders from the tribe of Issachar along with their relatives. They always knew what the Israelites should do, and they knew the right time to do it. The leaders commanded their relatives.

33 There were 50,000 men from the tribe of Zebulun. They were experienced warriors and knew how to use all kinds of weapons well. They were completely loyal to David.

34 There were 1,000 officers from the tribe of Naphtali with 37,000 soldiers, each carrying shields and spears.

35 There were 28,600 soldiers from the tribe of Dan, all trained to fight battles.

36 There were 40,000 soldiers from the tribe of Asher, all trained to fight battles.

37 There were also 120,000 soldiers from the area east of the Jordan River who joined David. They were from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the eastern half of the tribe of Manasseh. They had all kinds of weapons for battle.

38 All those men were soldiers who joined the ranks of David’s army. They came to Hebron wanting very much to enable David to be the king of all of the Israelite people. The remainer of the Israelite people were also united in wanting to make David their king. 39 The men spent three days there with David, eating and drinking, because their families gave them food to take with them. 40 Also, their fellow Israelites came from as far away as the area where the tribes of Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali lived, bringing food on donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen. They brought a lot of various types of food: flour, fig cakes, raisins, wine, olive oil, cattle and sheep. They brought so much because the people throughout Israel were very joyful.

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