He then handed out to each Israelite man and woman a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake.

He let no one oppress them, he disciplined kings for their sake,

The descendants of Moses the man of God were considered Levites.

Now the Philistines fought against Israel. The Israelites fled before the Philistines and many of them fell dead on Mount Gilboa.

Then all the people returned to their homes, and David went to pronounce a blessing on his family.

So the Lord sent a plague through Israel, and 70,000 Israelite men died.

These were the leaders of their families: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel. They were skilled warriors, men of reputation, and leaders of their families.

He even killed an Egyptian who was seven and a half feet tall. The Egyptian had a spear as big as the crossbeam of a weaver’s loom; Benaiah attacked him with a club. He grabbed the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

Joab reported to David the number of warriors. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 sword-wielding soldiers; Judah alone had 470,000 sword-wielding soldiers.

Eshton was the father of Beth-Rapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah, the father of Ir Nahash. These were the men of Recah.

Five hundred men of Simeon, led by Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi, went to the hill country of Seir

Their relatives, listed in their genealogical records, numbered 956. All these men were leaders of their families.

From Ephraim there were 20,800 warriors, who had brought fame to their families.

The Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, but David killed 22,000 of the Arameans.

In a battle in Gath there was a large man who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot – twenty-four in all! He too was a descendant of Rapha.

David and the army officers selected some of the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to prophesy as they played stringed instruments and cymbals. The following men were assigned this responsibility:

All these were the descendants of Obed-Edom. They and their sons and relatives were respected men, capable of doing their responsibilities. There were sixty-two of them related to Obed-Edom.

Jonathan, David’s uncle, was a wise adviser and scribe; Jehiel son of Hacmoni cared for the king’s sons.

But God said to me, ‘You must not build a temple to honor me, for you are a warrior and have spilled blood.’

All these were the descendants of Asher. They were the leaders of their families, the most capable men, who were warriors and served as head chiefs. There were 26,000 warriors listed in their genealogical records as capable of doing battle.