12:1 These were the men who joined David in Ziklag, when he was banished 1 from the presence of Saul son of Kish. (They were among the warriors who assisted him in battle. 12:2 They were armed with bows and could shoot arrows or sling stones right or left-handed. They were fellow tribesmen of Saul from Benjamin. 2 ) These were: 3
12:3 Ahiezer, the leader, and Joash, the sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite; Jeziel and Pelet, the sons of Azmaveth;
Berachah,
Jehu the Anathothite,
12:4 Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, one of the thirty warriors and their leader,
(12:5)4 Jeremiah,
Jahaziel,
Johanan,
Jozabad the Gederathite,
12:5 (12:6) Eluzai,
Jerimoth,
Bealiah,
Shemariah,
Shephatiah the Haruphite,
12:6 Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, and Jashobeam, who were Korahites,
12:7 and Joelah and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham from Gedor.
12:8 Some of the Gadites joined David at the stronghold in the desert. They were warriors who were trained for battle; they carried shields and spears. They were as fierce as lions and could run as quickly as gazelles across the hills. 5 12:9 Ezer was the leader, Obadiah the second in command, Eliab the third, 12:10 Mishmannah the fourth, Jeremiah the fifth, 12:11 Attai the sixth, Eliel the seventh, 12:12 Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the ninth, 12:13 Jeremiah the tenth, and Machbannai the eleventh. 12:14 These Gadites were military leaders; the least led a hundred men, the greatest a thousand. 6 12:15 They crossed the Jordan River 7 in the first month, 8 when it was overflowing its banks, and routed those living in all the valleys to the east and west. 9
12:16 Some from Benjamin and Judah also came to David’s stronghold.
1 tn Heb “kept from.”
2 tn Heb “ones armed with bow[s], using the right hand and the left hand with stones and with arrows with the bow, from the brothers of Saul from Benjamin.”
3 tn The words “These were” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons, because of the length of the intervening material since the beginning of the verse.
4 sn In the Hebrew text (BHS) a verse division occurs at this point, and for the remainder of the chapter the verse numbers of the Hebrew Bible differ by one from the English Bible. Thus 1 Chr 12:4b ET = 12:5 HT, and 12:5-40 ET = 12:6-41 HT. Beginning with 13:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
5 tn Heb “warriors, men of battle for war, prepared with shield and spear, and [like] the face of a lion were their faces, and like gazelles on the hills to hurry.”
6 tn Heb “one for a hundred the small, and the great for a thousand.” Another option is to translate the preposition -לְ (lamed) as “against” and to understand this as a hyperbolic reference to their prowess: “the least could stand against a hundred, the greatest against a thousand.”
7 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied for clarity.
8 sn That is, March-April.
9 tn Heb “and they chased all the valleys to the east and to the west.”