¹And these are the last words of David: the utterance of David the son of Jesse, and the utterance of the man raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the lovely one of the songs of Israel.

²The breath of Yahweh spoke in me, and his speech is upon my tongue.

³The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spoke to me: one who rules over humankind is righteous, one who rules in the fear of God.

⁴And he is like the light of morning when the sun dawns, a morning without clouds, from the brightness after the rain, grass springs up from the land.

⁵For is my house not so with God? For he has set for me a covenant of forever, arranged in everything and kept; for it is all my salvation and every delight; indeed, will he not make it grow?

⁶And the worthless are like thorns cast away, all of them, for they cannot be taken by hand.

⁷And any man who touches them arms himself with iron and the wood of a spear, and with fire they will surely be burned right where they sit.

⁸These are the names of the mighty men who belonged to David: Josheb-basshebeth the Tahkemonite, head of the officers; he was Adino the Eznite, over eight hundred slain at one time.

⁹And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the son of the Ahohite, among the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for war, and the men of Israel went up.

¹⁰He rose and struck down the Philistines, until his hand grew weary and his hand clung to the sword; and Yahweh worked a great deliverance on that day. And the people returned after him, only to strip the slain.

¹¹And after him was Shamma the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines gathered into a pack, and there was in that place a portion of the field full of lentils, and the people fled from the face of the Philistines.

¹²And he took his stand in the middle of the portion and rescued it and struck down the Philistines, and Yahweh worked a great deliverance.

¹³Three of the thirty chiefs went down and came at harvest time to David, to the cave of Adullam, while a pack of Philistines was encamped in the valley of the Rephaites.

¹⁴And David was then in the stronghold, and a garrison of Philistines was then in Beth-lehem.

¹⁵And David longed and said, Who will give me a drink of water from the well of Beth-lehem which is at the gate?

¹⁶And the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water from the well of Beth-lehem that was at the gate, and carried it and brought it to David; but he was not willing to drink it, and poured it out as a libation to Yahweh.

¹⁷And he said, Far be it from me, Yahweh, to do this! Is it not the blood of the men who went at the risk of their living selves? And he was not willing to drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

¹⁸And Abishai the brother of Joab the son of Zeruiah, he was head of the three; and he roused his spear over three hundred slain, and he had a name among the three.

¹⁹Was he not honored above the three? He became their captain, but he did not come up to the three.

²⁰And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a man of strength, great in deeds, from Kabzeel—he struck down the two champions of Moab. And he went down and struck down the lion in the middle of the pit on the day of the snow.

²¹And he struck down an Egyptian man, a man of impressive appearance; in the hand of the Egyptian was a spear. And he went down to him with the staff, and seized the spear from the hand of the Egyptian, and killed him with his own spear.

²²These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and he had a name among the three mighty men.

²³He was honored above the thirty, but he did not come up to the three; and David set him over his bodyguard.

²⁴Asahel the brother of Joab was among the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem;

²⁵Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite;

²⁶Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite;

²⁷Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite;

²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite;

²⁹Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai from Gibeah of the children of Benjamin;

³⁰Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai from the wadis of Gaash;

³¹Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite;

³²Eliahba the Shaalbonite, of the children of Jashen, Jonathan;

³³Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Hararite;

³⁴Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai the son of the Maacathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite;

³⁵Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite;

³⁶Igal the son of Nathan from Zobah, Bani the Gadite;

³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, the bearer of the weapons of Joab the son of Zeruiah;

³⁸Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite;

³⁹Uriah the Hittite; all of them thirty and seven.