1 Chronicles 12:1-15

Warriors Who Joined David at Ziklag

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 

[12:1]  ¹ tn Heb “kept from.”

[12:2]  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.”

[12:2]  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.

[12:4]  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.

[12:8]  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.”

[12:14]  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.”

[12:15]  ⁷ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied for clarity.

[12:15]  ⁸ sn That is, March-April.

[12:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “and they chased all the valleys to the east and to the west.”