2 Samuel 23:8-17

Names of God Bible

David’s Three Fighting Men^(A)

⁸ These are the names of David’s fighting men: Josheb Basshebeth from Tahkemon’s family was leader of the three. He used a spear^[a] to kill 800 men on one occasion.

⁹ Next in rank to him was Eleazar, another one of the three fighting men. He was the son of Dodo and grandson of Aho. Eleazar was with David at Pas Dammim^[b] when the Philistines gathered there for battle. When the soldiers from Israel retreated, ¹⁰ he attacked and killed Philistines until his hand got tired and stuck to his sword. So Yahweh won an impressive victory that day. The army returned to Eleazar, but they only returned to strip the dead.

¹¹ Next in rank to him was Shammah, the son of Agee from Harar. The Philistines had gathered at Lehi, where there was a field of ripe lentils. When the troops fled from the Philistines, ¹² he stood in the middle of the field and defended it by killing Philistines. So Yahweh won an impressive victory.

¹³ At harvest time three of the thirty leading men came to David at the cave of Adullam when a troop from the Philistine army was camping in the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴ While David was in the fortified camp, Philistine troops were at Bethlehem. ¹⁵ When David became thirsty, he said, “I wish I could have a drink of water from the well at the city gate of Bethlehem.” ¹⁶ So the three fighting men burst into the Philistine camp and drew water from the well. They brought it to David, but he refused to drink it. He poured it out as an offering to Yahweh and said, ¹⁷ “It’s unthinkable that I would do this, Yahweh. This is the blood of men who risked their lives!” So he refused to drink it.

These are the things which the three fighting men did.