'Soldiers' in the Bible

Then David called one of the soldiers and said, "Come here and strike him down!" So he struck him down, and he died.

Abner son of Ner and soldiers of Ish-bosheth son of Saul marched out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.

So Joab son of Zeruiah and David’s soldiers marched out and met them by the pool of Gibeon. The two groups took up positions on opposite sides of the pool.

Abner said to Joab, "Let the soldiers get up and fight before us." Joab said, "So be it!"

So they got up and were counted off—12 for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth son of Saul, and 12 from David’s soldiers.

The battle that day was extremely fierce, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated by David’s soldiers.

Abner said to him, “Turn to your right or left, seize one of the young soldiers, and take whatever you can get from him.” But Asahel would not stop chasing him.

When Joab had turned back from pursuing Abner, he gathered all the troops. In addition to Asahel, 19 of David’s soldiers were missing,

Meanwhile, other soldiers of David had killed 360 of Abner's men from the tribe of Benjamin.

Afterwards, Abner brought 20 soldiers to David at Hebron, and David threw a party for Abner and the men who were with him.

Just then David’s soldiers and Joab returned from a raid and brought a large amount of plundered goods with them. Abner was not with David in Hebron because David had dismissed him, and he had gone in peace.

Then the king said to his soldiers, “You must know that a great leader has fallen in Israel today.

So David issued orders to the soldiers and they put them to death. Then they cut off their hands and feet and hung them near the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner in Hebron.

David captured 1,700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers from him, and he hamstrung all the horses and kept 100 chariots.

When the Ammonites realized they had become repulsive to David, they hired 20,000 foot soldiers from the Arameans of Beth-rehob and Zobah, 1,000 men from the king of Maacah, and 12,000 men from Tob.

In response, David sent out Joab and his entire army of elite soldiers.

So Joab and the soldiers who were with him attacked the Arameans in battle formation, and the Arameans retreated in front of him.

But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed 700 of their charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobach commander of their army, who died there.

Uriah answered David, “The ark, Israel, and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camping in the open field. How can I enter my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live and by your life, I will not do this!”

When Joab was besieging the city, he put Uriah in the place where he knew the best enemy soldiers were.

Then the men of the city came out and attacked Joab, and some of the men from David’s soldiers fell in battle; Uriah the Hittite also died.

However, the archers shot down on your soldiers from the top of the wall, and some of the king’s soldiers died. Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.”

He threw stones at David and all of King David's servants, as well as all the people and the soldiers who were on his right and on his left.

Hushai went on to say, "You know your father and his men -- they are soldiers and are as dangerous as a bear out in the wild that has been robbed of her cubs. Your father is an experienced soldier; he will not stay overnight with the army.

But the soldiers replied, "You should not do this! For if we should have to make a rapid retreat, they won't be too concerned about us. Even if half of us should die, they won't be too concerned about us. But you are like ten thousand of us! So it is better if you remain in the city for support."

The people of Israel were defeated by David’s soldiers, and the slaughter there was vast that day—20,000 casualties.

The battle there was spread out over the whole area, and the forest consumed more soldiers than the sword devoured that day.

Absalom was riding on his mule when he happened to meet David’s soldiers. When the mule went under the tangled branches of a large oak tree, Absalom’s head was caught fast in the tree. The mule under him kept going, so he was suspended in midair.

When one of the soldiers saw what had happened, he told Joab, "I saw Absalom stuck in an oak tree!"

Then ten soldiers who were Joab's armor bearers struck Absalom and finished him off.

They took Absalom, threw him into a large pit in the forest, and stacked a huge pile of stones over him. In the meantime all the Israelite soldiers fled to their homes.

Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, “Today you have shamed all your soldiers—those who rescued your life and the lives of your sons and daughters, your wives, and your concubines.

You love your enemies and hate those who love you! Today you have made it clear that the commanders and soldiers mean nothing to you. In fact, today I know that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead, it would be fine with you!

“Now get up! Go out and encourage your soldiers, for I swear by the Lord that if you don’t go out, not a man will remain with you tonight. This will be worse for you than all the trouble that has come to you from your youth until now!”

But the Israelite soldiers had all fled to their own homes.

When the king crossed over to Gilgal, Kimham crossed over with him. Now all the soldiers of Judah along with half of the soldiers of Israel had helped the king cross over.

So all of the other Israeli soldiers abandoned David to follow Bichri's son Sheba, while the army of Judah remained with the king all the way from the Jordan River to Jerusalem.

So David said to Abishai, “Sheba son of Bichri will do more harm to us than Absalom. Take your lord’s soldiers and pursue him, or he will find fortified cities and elude us.”

One of Joab's soldiers stood by Amasa while he lay dying and announced, "Whoever is in favor of Joab and David, let him follow Joab."

Amasa was squirming in his own blood in the middle of the path, and this man had noticed that all the soldiers stopped. Having noticed that everyone who came across Amasa stopped, the man pulled him away from the path and into the field and threw a garment over him.

So Joab's men came and laid siege against him in Abel of Beth Maacah. They prepared a siege ramp outside the city which stood against its outer rampart. As all of Joab's soldiers were trying to break through the wall so that it would collapse,

The Philistines again waged war against Israel. David went down with his soldiers, and they fought the Philistines, but David became exhausted.

These four were descended from the giant in Gath and were killed by David and his soldiers.

but Eleazar remained standing right where he was and fought so hard against the Philistines that he became exhausted he couldn't even let go of his sword! The LORD magnificently delivered them that day. After Eleazar had won the battle, the other soldiers returned, but only to strip the weapons and armor from the dead.

Joab reported the number of warriors to the king. In Israel there were 800,000 sword-wielding warriors, and in Judah there were 500,000 soldiers.