1Therefore all Israel was gathered to David in Hebron, and said, We be thy bone and thy flesh;

2also yesterday and the third day ago, when Saul reigned yet upon Israel, thou it was that leddest out and leddest in Israel; for the Lord thy God said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be prince upon it.

3Therefore all the greater men in birth of Israel came to the king in Hebron; and David made with them a bond of peace before the Lord, and they anointed him king upon Israel, by the word of the Lord, which he spake in the hand of Samuel.

4Therefore David went, and all Israel, into Jerusalem; this Jerusalem is Jebus, where Jebusites, inhabiters of the land, were.

5And they that dwelled at Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not enter hither. Forsooth David took the high tower of Zion, which is the city of David;

6and he said, Each man that slayeth the first Jebusite, shall be prince and duke. Therefore Joab, the son of Zeruiah, went up first, and was made prince.

7And David dwelled in the high tower, and therefore it was called the city of David;

8and he builded the city in compass, from Millo till to the compass about; and Joab builded the tother part of the city.

9And David profited going and waxing, and the Lord of hosts was with him.

10These be the princes of the strong men of David, that helped him, that he should be king upon all Israel, by the word of the Lord which he spake to Israel.

11And this is the number of the strong men of David; Jashobeam, the son of Hachmoni, was prince among thirty; this raised up his shaft, either spear, upon three hundred, and wounded these men in one time.

12And after him was Eleazar, the son of his father’s brother, that was of Ahohites, the which Eleazar was among [the] three mighty men.

13This was with David in Pasdam-mim, when Philistines were gathered to one place into battle; and a field of that country was full of barley, and the people fled from the face of Philistines.

14This Eleazar stood in the midst of the field, and defended it; and when he had slain the Philistines, the Lord gave great health to his people ⁸.

15Soothly three of [the] thirty princes went down to the stone, wherein David was, to the den of Adullam, when the Philistines setted tents in the valley of Rephaim.

16And David was in a stronghold, and the station, that is, the host gather-ed, of Philistines was in Bethlehem.

17Therefore David desired water, and said, I would, that some man gave to me water of the cistern of Bethlehem, which is in the gate.

18Therefore these three went through the middle of the castles [or tents], or of the hosts, of [the] Philistines, and drew water of the cistern of Bethle-hem, that was in the gate, and they brought to David, that he should drink; and David would not drink it, but rather he offered it to the Lord,

19and said, Far be it, that I do this thing in the sight of my God, and that I drink the blood of these men, for in the peril of their lives they brought water to me; and for this cause he would not drink. [The] Three strongest men did these things.

20Also Abishai, the brother of Joab, he was the prince of the second three men, and he raised up his spear against three hundred, and wounded those men; and he was most named among these three,

21[and] among the second three, he was noble, and the prince of them; nevertheless he came not to the first three.

22Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, the strongest man of Kabzeel, that did many works; he killed two strong men of Moab; and he went down, and killed a lion in the midst of a cistern, in the time of snow;

23and he killed a man of Egypt, whose stature was of five cubits, and he had a spear as the beam of webs or weaver’s; therefore Benaiah went down to him with a rod, and ravished the spear, which he held in his hand, and killed him with his own spear.

24Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, did these things, he that was most named among the second three strong men,

25and he was the first among [the] thirty; nevertheless he came not to the first three; and David set him at his ear for a good counsellor.

26Forsooth the strongest men in the host were Asahel, the brother of Joab, and Elhanan, the son of his father’s brother of Bethlehem,

27Shammoth the Harorite, Helez the Pelonite,

28Ira, the son of Ikkesh of Tekoa, Abiezer of Anathoth,

29Sibbecai the Hushathite, Ilai the Ahohite,

30Maharai the Netophathite, Heled, the son of Baanah the Netophathite,

31Ithai, the son of Ribai of Gibeah, of the sons of Benjamin; Benaiah the Pirathonite,

32men of the strand [or stream of] Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite,

33Azmaveth the Baharumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite,

34the sons of Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan, the son of Shage the Hararite,

35Ahiam, the son of Sacar the Harar-ite, Eliphal, the son of [Ur],

36Hepher the Mecherathite, Ahijah the Pelonite,

37Hezro the Carmelite, Naarai, the son of Ezbai,

38Joel, the brother of Nathan, Mibhar, the son of Haggeri,

39Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite, the squire of Joab, son of Zeruiah,

40Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,

41Uriah the Hittite, Zabad, the son of Ahlai,

42Adina, the son of Shiza the Reuben-ite, prince of Reubenites, and thirty men with him;

43Hanan, the son of Maachah, and Joshaphat the Mithnite,

44Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and Jehiel, the sons of Hothan the Aroerite,

45Jediael, the son of Shimri, and Joha, his brother, Tizite,

46Eliel the Mahavite, Jeribai, and Joshaviah, the sons of Elnaam, Ithmah the Moabite,

47Eliel, and Obed, and Jasiel of Mesobaites.