1 Chronicles 12

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. 4With them were Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan and Jozabad the Gederathite. 5Also with them were Eluzai, Jerimoth, Bealiah, Shemariah and Shephatiah the Haruphite. 6Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer and Jashobeam, who were Korahites, were there too. 7So did Joelah and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham from Gedor. 8Some 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.

9Ezer was the chief, Obadiah second, Eliab third, 10Mishmannah fourth, Jeremiah fifth, 11Attai sixth, Eliel seventh, 12Johanan eighth, Elzabad ninth, 13Jeremiah tenth and Machbannai eleventh. 14These Gadites were army officers. The least of them could stand against a hundred, and the greatest against a thousand. 15These 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.

16Some men of Benjamin and Judah also came to David at the stronghold. 17David 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.”

18Then the Spirit clothed 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 whoever helps you, for your God helps you.” So David welcomed them and made them leaders of his band.

19Some 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.” 20As 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. 21They helped David against the band of raiders, for all of them were mighty warriors, and they became commanders in the army. 22Day after day men came to help David, until he had a great army, like the army of God.

23These 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.

24From Judah: men carrying shield and spear, 6,800 armed for war.

25From Simeon: mighty warriors ready for war, 7,100.

26From Levi: 4,600.

27Jehoiada was leader of the house of Aaron, and 3,700 came with him.

28There was also Zadok, a young man and a mighty warrior, with twenty-two commanders from his father’s family.

29From Benjamin, Saul’s own kinsmen: 3,000. Until then most of them had stayed loyal to the house of Saul.

30From Ephraim: 20,800 mighty warriors, men famous in their ancestral families.

31From the half-tribe of Manasseh: 18,000, who had been named one by one to come and make David king.

32From Issachar: 200 chiefs, men with insight into the times, who knew what Israel ought to do, and all their kinsmen took orders from them.

33From 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.

34From Naphtali: 1,000 commanders, and with them 37,000 men carrying shield and spear.

35From Dan: 28,600 men drawn up for battle.

36From Asher: 40,000 men ready for service in the army, to be drawn up for battle.

37From across the Jordan, from Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh: 120,000 men with every kind of weapon for battle. 38All 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. 39They stayed there with David for three days, eating and drinking, because their kinsmen had provided for them. 40Their 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.