2 Samuel 23:8-23 - David's Faithful Soldiers

⁸ These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: he that sat in the seat of wisdom, chief among the three: Adino, the Eznite, who on one occasion slew eight hundred enemies.

⁹ And after him was Eleazar, the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men who were with David, when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle, and those of Israel were gone away. ¹⁰ He arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword; and the LORD wrought a great salvation that day, and the people returned after him only to spoil.

¹¹ And after him was Shammah, the son of Agee, the Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a community, where was an inheritance of land full of lentils, and the people had fled before the Philistines. ¹² But he stood in the midst of the inheritance and defended it and slew the Philistines, and the LORD wrought a great salvation.

¹³ These three, who were of the thirty chief, went down and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adullam, and the camp of the Philistines was pitched in the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴ And David was then in the fortress, and the garrison of the Philistines was in Bethlehem. ¹⁵ And David longed and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! ¹⁶ Then these three mighty men broke through the camp 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; nevertheless, he would not drink of it, but poured it out unto the LORD, saying, ¹⁷ Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this; is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? And he would not drink it. These three mighty men did this.

¹⁸ And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of three. And he lifted up his spear against three hundred and slew them and had a name among the three. ¹⁹ He was the most honourable of the three and captain among them; however, he did not attain unto the first three.

²⁰ Then, Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done many acts, slew two lions of Moab; he went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow. ²¹ He also slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but 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. ²² These things did Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and had a name among the three mighty men. ²³ He had more honour than the thirty, but he did not attain to the first three. And David put him in his council.