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1 Then all Israel gathered themselves to David unto Hebron, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh.

2 And moreover in time past, even when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the Lord thy God said unto thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel.

3 Therefore came all the elders of Israel to the king to Hebron; and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the Lord; and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the Lord by Samuel.

4 And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus; where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land.

5 And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither. Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David.

6 And David said, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. So Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up, and was chief.

7 And David dwelt in the castle; therefore they called it the city of David.

8 And he built the city round about, even from Millo round about: and Joab repaired the rest of the city.

9 So David waxed greater and greater: for the Lord of hosts was with him.

10 These also are the chief of the mighty men whom David had, who strengthened themselves with him in his kingdom, and with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of the Lord concerning Israel.

11 And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had; Jashobeam, an Hachmonite, the chief of the captains: he lifted up his spear against three hundred slain by him at one time.

12 And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighties.

13 He was with David at Pasdammim, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle, where was a parcel of ground full of barley; and the people fled from before the Philistines.

14 And they set themselves in the midst of that parcel, and delivered it, and slew the Philistines; and the Lord saved them by a great deliverance.

15 Now three of the thirty captains went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam; and the host of the Philistines encamped in the valley of Rephaim.

16 And David was then in the hold, and the Philistines' garrison was then at Bethlehem.

17 And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, that is at the gate!

18 And the three brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but David would not drink of it, but poured it out to the Lord.

19 And said, My God forbid it me, that I should do this thing: shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy? for with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mightiest.

20 And Abishai the brother of Joab, he was chief of the three: for lifting up his spear against three hundred, he slew them, and had a name among the three.

21 Of the three, he was more honourable than the two; for he was their captain: howbeit he attained not to the first three.

22 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done many acts; he slew two lionlike men of Moab: also he went down and slew a lion in a pit in a snowy day.

23 And he slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits high; and in the Egyptian's hand was a spear like a weaver's beam; and he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear.

24 These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had the name among the three mighties.

25 Behold, he was honourable among the thirty, but attained not to the first three: and David set him over his guard.

26 Also the valiant men of the armies were, Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,

27 Shammoth the Harorite, Helez the Pelonite,

28 Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, Abiezer the Antothite,

29 Sibbecai the Hushathite, Ilai the Ahohite,

30 Maharai the Netophathite, Heled the son of Baanah the Netophathite,

31 Ithai the son of Ribai of Gibeah, that pertained to the children of Benjamin, Benaiah the Pirathonite,

32 Hurai of the brooks of Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite,

33 Azmaveth the Baharumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite,

34 The sons of Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan the son of Shage the Hararite,

35 Ahiam the son of Sacar the Hararite, Eliphal the son of Ur,

36 Hepher the Mecherathite, Ahijah the Pelonite,

37 Hezro the Carmelite, Naarai the son of Ezbai,

38 Joel the brother of Nathan, Mibhar the son of Haggeri,

39 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite, the armourbearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah,

40 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,

41 Uriah the Hittite, Zabad the son of Ahlai,

42 Adina the son of Shiza the Reubenite, a captain of the Reubenites, and thirty with him,

43 Hanan the son of Maachah, and Joshaphat the Mithnite,

44 Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and Jehiel the sons of Hothan the Aroerite,

45 Jediael the son of Shimri, and Joha his brother, the Tizite,

46 Eliel the Mahavite, and Jeribai, and Joshaviah, the sons of Elnaam, and Ithmah the Moabite,

47 Eliel, and Obed, and Jasiel the Mesobaite.

<html><b>You shall shepherd My people</b> Concerning this, David said, (Ps. 23:1): “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” “You say to me: You shall shepherd. How can I shepherd? The matter does not depend on me, but the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want, and I, too, shall not be wanting to you.” A similar instance is found in Samuel (II 21:17): “Then the men of David swore to him, saying, ‘You shall no longer go out with us in battle, so that you extinguish not the lamp of Israel.’” David replied (ibid. 22:29): “For You are my lamp, O Lord; and the Lord does light my darkness.”</html>

<html><b>and David made with them a covenant</b> Like the covenant that Jehoiada made, as it is written (II Kings 11:17): “And Jehoiada enacted the covenant between the Lord and between the king and between the people, to be the people of the Lord.” The meaning is [that they agreed] to be servants of the Lord, and also “between the king and between the people,” to be his servants according to the king’s judgment, and also that the king should do according to the law for his servants; to wage their wars. <b>before the Lord</b> But is it not so that the Tabernacle was not in Hebron? What then is the meaning of “before the Lord”? Wherever people make a stipulation or enact a covenant, the Omnipresent is there. A similar instance [is found] in [the case of] Jephthah: (Jud. 11:11): “before the Lord in Mizpah.” [Another] similar instance (Lev. 5:21): “and commits an act of treachery against the Lord by making a denial to his neighbor,” as is explained in <i>Torath Kohanim</i> (ad loc.).</html>

<html><b>And David… went, etc.</b> He went immediately to war when all Israel crowned him, so that Israel should not say [that in] all the wars that David waged in the days of Saul and was victorious it was Saul’s luck, and that he was now afraid to fight. Therefore he immediately went to war.</html>

<html><b>And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You shall not come here”</b> He does not explain here why, but in Samuel (II 5:6), Scripture explains: “… and they said to David, saying: You shall not come here unless you remove the blind and the lame.” They saw that they were unable to withstand David. They therefore stationed blind and lame persons before the city gate, “as if to say: David shall not come here,” unless he wages war with these blind people, for they knew that it is disgraceful for a king to wage war against blind men, and because of this, he would turn back and not wage war with them. David said to himself, however, “It is true that it is neither right nor proper for me to wage war with the blind and with the lame, but ‘whoever smites the Jebusites’ in a way that he ‘reaches the tower’ shall pull them and cast them away from there, viz. the blind.” “Therefore they say: The blind and the lame shall not come into the house;” into the house of David, because it will be a disgrace for him, lest they say that David waged war with these [handicapped people].</html>

<html><b>and Joab restored the rest of the city</b> Heb. יְחַיֶּה. He built and strengthened [it] by building [i.e., repairing] the cracks in the wall. A similar instance [is found] with Ezra (Neh. 3:34): “Will they revive (הַיְּחַיּוּ) the stones from the heaps of dust?”</html>

<html><b>the head of the mighty men</b> רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁלִישִׁים like (Exod. 14:7): “and mighty men וְשָׁלִשִׁים over them all.” <b>he stirred his spear</b> When he was engaged in battle, he would not return from the battle until he had slain three hundred men with his spear. <b>the son of Hachmoni</b> In Samuel (II 23:8), it is written: “Tahkemoni.” He is his father, and the father was stronger than the son, for it is written concerning him: “against eight hundred slain at one time.”</html>

<html><b>he was among the three mighty men</b> He was included in the three mighty men; he was one of them. And these three were mightier than the rest of the thirty three mentioned nearby. Here he counts only two: Jashobeam and Eleazar, but in Samuel (II 23:11), it mentions the third one as well, as it is written: “and after him [came] Shammah the son of Agei the mountaineer”</html>

<html><b>in Pas-Dammim</b> a name of a place, and in Samuel (I 17:1): “in Ephes-Dammim.” <b>and the Philistines gathered there for war</b> they were eager to avenge themselves upon Israel and those mighty men who reviled them, as delineated in Samuel (II 23:9): “…when they reviled the Philistines.” <b>full of barley</b> and the Philistines wished to reap it and to set it afire.</html>

<html><b>And three of the thirty</b> These three were the heads of the entire thirty.</html>

<html><b>and a Philistine governor was then in Bethlehem</b> for they had already taken Bethlehem and stationed a governor therein, who judged [the region]. This was at the beginning of his reign, for the Philistines were still ruling over them, for so we find that prior to David’s arrival, they ruled over Israel in the days of Samson and Samuel, as it is written (I Samuel 4:9): “Strengthen yourselves and be valiant, Philistines, lest you serve the Hebrews, etc.”</html>

<html><b>If only someone would give me to drink water from the cistern of Bethlehem</b> This was David’s place, as it is written (I Sam. 17:58): “The son of your servant, Jesse the Bethlehemite,” and because he was accustomed and used to that water, he desired it; any water or air that a person is accustomed to is beneficial to him, and that which he is not used to is harmful to him. A similar case is [found] in the beginning of Josiphon about a queen who became ill because she was carried away from the land of her birth, and all the physicians said, “She has no cure until she bathes and derives benefit from the water of her place,” and they did this for her.</html>

<html><b>And the three broke through the Philistine camp</b> (In German, <i>durchbrechen die schare</i>) <b>drew</b> When the Philistines were standing before the cistern, the three mighty men of Israel broke through between them and drew [water] against their will. <b>and he poured it out as a libation to the Lord</b> Bar Kappara says: It was the festival of Succoth, and he poured them [the waters] out for a libation on the altar.</html>

<html><b>for they brought it with their lives</b> for they risked being killed for the water.</html>

<html><b>And Abshai, the brother of Joab, was the chief of the three</b> of those three who broke through the Philistine camp and drew the water. The reason he does not mention Joab with the chiefs of the mighty men is that it is beneath his dignity to count him with these men, because he was the general of the army, the chief of them all. <b>and he had a name among the three</b> It was reputed (lit., he had that name) that his heroism equaled all the heroic acts of them all, but it was an error.</html>

<html><b>Of the three, he was honored like two</b> He was not honored like those three. His heroism equalled that of the two, but he did not attain the amount of heroism of the three, and that is the meaning of “but to the three he did not come.”</html>

<html><b>a valiant man</b> בֶּן אִישׁ חַַיִל, similar to בֶּן בְּלִיַּעַל, an unscrupulous man, and in Samuel (II 23:20) it is written: בֶּן אִישׁ חַי for it is customary for people, when they see an agile person, to say, “This one is full of life.” <b>mighty men</b> אֲרִיאֵל mighty men, possessing strength of a lion, a mighty man, and [it] is also an expression of (Ezek. 17: 20): “…and he took the mighty (אֵילֵי) of the land.” <b>who accomplished many feats</b> He accomplished many feats of heroism. <b>and he descended and smote the lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day</b> and he did not fear the cold, and some say [that the heroism] of the snowy day is that throughout the whole year the lion is not as dangerous as on a snowy day. When a person comes against him, he throws the snow with his feet between the person’s eyes until he is unable to see, and he kills him. I heard this [meaning] of this [verse].</html>

<html><b>a man of great stature</b> Other people do not require to be measured, as [their height] can be determined by estimate; a similar case is (Num. 13:32): “… whom we saw in its midst are men of a measure.” <b>like a weavers’ beam</b> the pole upon which the cloth is wrapped.</html>

<html><b>Of the thirty, he was the most honored, but to the three he did not come</b> To the heroic feats of the three he did not reach; i.e., to those three mentioned above (verse 20). Therefore, לא is written above with an “aleph.” <b>over his guard</b> עַל מִשְׁמַעְתּוֹ, an expression of appointment, and likewise, (Isa. 11:14): “… and the children of Ammon will be their appointees מִשְׁמַעְתָּם.”</html>

<html><b>And the mighty warriors</b> but not like those above.</html>