“Your glory and splendor, O Israel, is slain upon your high places!
How the mighty have fallen!

“O mountains of Gilboa,
Let not dew or rain be upon you, nor fields with offerings;
For there the shield of the mighty was defiled,
The shield of Saul, [dry, cracked] not anointed with oil.

“From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty,
The bow of Jonathan did not turn back,
And the sword of Saul did not return empty.

“How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle!
Jonathan lies slain upon your high places.

“How the mighty have fallen,
And the weapons of war have perished!”

Meanwhile, David and all the house of Israel were celebrating and dancing before the Lord with all kinds of instruments made of fir or cypress wood, with lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals.

And David was dancing before the Lord with great enthusiasm, and David was wearing a linen ephod [a priest’s upper garment].

When David heard about it, he sent Joab and the entire army, the strong and brave men.

But he placed the rest of the men in the hand of his brother Abishai, and he placed them in battle formation to meet the Ammonites.

Moreover Absalom would say, “Oh, that I were appointed judge in the land! Then every man who had a dispute could come to me and I would get justice for him.”

He threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David; yet all the people and all the warriors remained on his right and on his left.

And Hushai said, “You know your father and his men, that they are brave men, and they are enraged and fierce, like a bear deprived of her cubs in the field. Your father is a [shrewd] man of war, and will not spend the night with the people [knowing that you seek his life].

And even the one who is brave, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will completely lose heart and melt away; for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and that those who are with him are brave men.

Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than that of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had ordained to thwart the good advice of Ahithophel, so that the Lord could bring disaster upon Absalom.

So Joab’s men went after him, along with [David’s bodyguards] the Cherethites and Pelethites and all the warriors; they went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

“He rescued me from my strong enemy,
From those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.

“You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me [in retreat],
And I destroyed those who hated me.

These are the names of the mighty men (warriors) whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth, a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains, also called Adino the Eznite (spear) because of the eight hundred men killed [by him] at one time.

Next to him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the son of Ahohi. He was one of the three mighty men with David when they taunted and defied the Philistines assembled there for battle, and the men of Israel had gone.

So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem by the gate, and carried and brought it to David. But he would not drink it, but poured it out [in worship] to the Lord.

And he said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should drink this. [Is it not the same as] the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” So he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and gained a reputation beside the three mighty men.