Wasnât he most honorable of the three? therefore he was made their captain. However he wasnât included as one of the three.
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit in a time of snow.
He killed a huge Egyptian, and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptianâs hand, and killed him with his own spear.
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did these things, and had a name among the three mighty men.
He was more honorable than the thirty, but he didnât attain to the three. David set him over his guard.
Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty: Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,
Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite,
Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite,
Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, armor bearers to Joab the son of Zeruiah,
and Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.
âI am going the way of all the earth. You be strong therefore, and show yourself a man;
Benaiah came to Yahwehâs Tent, and said to him, âThus says the king, âCome out!ââ He said, âNo; but I will die here.â Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, âThus said Joab, and thus he answered me.â
âIf your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to Yahweh toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name;
He gathered men to himself, and became captain over a troop, when David killed them of Zobah. They went to Damascus, and lived there, and reigned in Damascus.
When Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men, who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.
The people who were encamped heard that Zimri had conspired, and had also killed the king. Therefore all Israel made Omri, the captain of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp.
Elijah said to her, âDonât be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me a little cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for you and for your son.
Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria.
for when Jezebel cut off Yahwehâs prophets, Obadiah took one hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)
As Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. He recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, âIs it you, my lord Elijah?â
He answered him, âIt is I. Go, tell your lord, âBehold, Elijah is here!ââ
Wasnât it told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed Yahwehâs prophets, how I hid one hundred men of Yahwehâs prophets with fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
Elijah said, âAs Yahweh of Armies lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.â
Then Elijah said to the people, âI, even I only, am left as a prophet of Yahweh; but Baalâs prophets are four hundred fifty men.
You call on the name of your god, and I will call on Yahwehâs name. The God who answers by fire, let him be God.â All the people answered, âWhat you say is good.â
Yahwehâs hand was on Elijah; and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
He came to a cave there, and camped there; and behold, Yahwehâs word came to him, and he said to him, âWhat are you doing here, Elijah?â
When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. Behold, a voice came to him, and said, âWhat are you doing here, Elijah?â
Ben Hadad the king of Syria gathered all his army together; and there were thirty-two kings with him, with horses and chariots. He went up and besieged Samaria, and fought against it.
All the elders and all the people said to him, âDonât listen, and donât consent.â
Therefore he said to the messengers of Ben Hadad, âTell my lord the king, âAll that you sent for to your servant at the first I will do; but this thing I cannot do.ââ The messengers departed, and brought him back the message.
Ben Hadad sent to him, and said, âThe gods do so to me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria will be enough for handfuls for all the people who follow me.â
The king of Israel answered, âTell him, âDonât let him who puts on his armor brag like he who takes it off.ââ
Then he mustered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty-two. After them, he mustered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand.
The young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Ben Hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, âMen are coming out from Samaria.â
So these went out of the city, the young men of the princes of the provinces, and the army which followed them.
They each killed his man. The Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them. Ben Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen.
The king of Israel went out, and struck the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter.
At the return of the year, Ben Hadad mustered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel.
The children of Israel were mustered and given provisions, and went against them. The children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of young goats; but the Syrians filled the country.
Naboth said to Ahab, âMay Yahweh forbid me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!â
He said to Jehoshaphat, âWill you go with me to battle to Ramoth Gilead?â Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, âI am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.â
Micaiah said, âAs Yahweh lives, what Yahweh says to me, that I will speak.â
So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead.
When the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, âSurely that is the king of Israel!â and they came over to fight against him. Jehoshaphat cried out.
A cry went throughout the army about the going down of the sun, saying, âEvery man to his city, and every man to his country!â
Elijah answered to the captain of fifty, âIf I am a man of God, then let fire come down from the sky, and consume you and your fifty!â Then fire came down from the sky, and consumed him and his fifty.
Again he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. He answered him, âMan of God, the king has said, âCome down quickly!ââ
Again he sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. The third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, and said to him, âMan of God, please let my life, and the life of these fifty of your servants, be precious in your sight.
Yahwehâs angel said to Elijah, âGo down with him. Donât be afraid of him.â Then he arose, and went down with him to the king.
Elijah said to him, âPlease wait here, for Yahweh has sent me to the Jordan.â He said, âAs Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.â Then they both went on.
King Jehoram went out of Samaria at that time, and mustered all Israel.
He went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, âThe king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me against Moab to battle?â He said, âI will go up. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.â
Now when all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, they gathered themselves together, all who were able to put on armor, young and old, and stood on the border.
When they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and struck the Moabites, so that they fled before them; and they went forward into the land attacking the Moabites.
When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too severe for him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew a sword, to break through to the king of Edom; but they could not.
Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, âDrive, and go forward! Donât slow down for me, unless I ask you to.â
Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Yahweh had given victory to Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.
When the servant of the man of God had risen early, and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was around the city. His servant said to him, âAlas, my master! What shall we do?â
He answered, âDonât be afraid; for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.â
The king of Israel said to Elisha, when he saw them, âMy father, shall I strike them? Shall I strike them?â
They rose up in the twilight, to go to the camp of the Syrians. When they had come to the outermost part of the camp of the Syrians, behold, no man was there.
Therefore they took two chariots with horses; and the king sent them out to the Syrian army, saying, âGo and see.â
Then Joram passed over to Zair, and all his chariots with him: and he rose up by night, and struck the Edomites who surrounded him, and the captains of the chariots; and the people fled to their tents.
Then they hurried, and each man took his cloak, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew the trumpet, saying, âJehu is king.â
The watchman said, âHe came to them, and isnât coming back. The driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.â
He lifted up his face to the window, and said, âWho is on my side? Who?â Two or three eunuchs looked out at him.
But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the kingâs sons who were slain, even him and his nurse, and put them in the bedroom; and they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not slain.
You shall surround the king, every man with his weapons in his hand; and he who comes within the ranks, let him be slain. Be with the king when he goes out, and when he comes in.â
The guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, around the king.
Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, arenât they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Joash struck him three times, and recovered the cities of Israel.
He killed ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, and took Sela by war, and called its name Joktheel, to this day.
Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, arenât they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, for Israel, arenât they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
Yahweh was with him. Wherever he went, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria, and didnât serve him.
He struck the Philistines to Gaza and its borders, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.
But the people stayed quiet, and answered him not a word; for the kingâs commandment was, âDonât answer him.â
Isaiah said to them, âTell your master this: âYahweh says, âDonât be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
When he heard it said of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, âBehold, he has come out to fight against you, he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,
I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant Davidâs sake.âââ
Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the kingâs garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city around it); and the king went by the way of the Arabah.
These written by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and struck their tents. The Meunim who were found there, and they destroyed them utterly to this day, and lived in their place; because there was pasture there for their flocks.
They struck the remnant of the Amalekites who escaped, and have lived there to this day.
In the days of Saul, they made war with the Hagrites, who fell by their hand; and they lived in their tents throughout all the land east of Gilead.
The sons of Reuben, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, of valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skillful in war, were forty-four thousand seven hundred sixty, that were able to go out to war.
They were helped against them, and the Hagrites were delivered into their hand, and all who were with them; for they cried to God in the battle, and he answered them, because they put their trust in him.
These were the heads of their fathersâ houses: even Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty men of valor, famous men, heads of their fathersâ houses.
The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their fathersâ houses, of Tola; mighty men of valor in their generations. Their number in the days of David was twenty-two thousand six hundred.
They were listed by genealogy, after their generations, heads of their fathersâ houses, mighty men of valor, twenty thousand two hundred.
All these were the children of Asher, heads of the fathersâ houses, choice and mighty men of valor, chief of the princes. The number of them listed by genealogy for service in war was twenty-six thousand men.
Then Saul said to his armor bearer, âDraw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me.â But his armor bearer would not; for he was terrified. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell on it.
When all Jabesh Gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul,
all the valiant men arose, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (also called Jebus); and the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, were there.
The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, âYou will not come in here.â Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion. The same is Davidâs city.
David said, âWhoever strikes the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain.â Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, and was made chief.
David lived in the stronghold; therefore they called it Davidâs city.
David grew greater and greater; for Yahweh of Armies was with him.
Now these are the chief of the mighty men whom David had, who showed themselves strong with him in his kingdom, together with all Israel, to make him king, according to Yahwehâs word concerning Israel.












