'Army' in the Bible

David continued questioning him, "How did things go? Please tell me!" He replied, "The army has fled the battlefield, many of the army are wounded or have died, and Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead."

They mourned and wept, and then decided to fast until dusk for Saul, for his son Jonathan, for the army of the LORD, and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen in battle.

David brought his army with him, each soldier accompanied by his household, and they settled in the cities of Hebron.

After this, the army of Judah arrived, and they anointed David king over the house of Judah. There they informed David, "The men of Jabesh-gilead buried Saul."

Meanwhile, Ner's son Abner, the commander of Saul's army, had taken Saul's son Ish-bosheth and brought him to Mahanaim.

Then Abner called out to Joab, "Must the battle sword keep on devouring forever? Don't you realize that the end result is bitterness? How long will it take for you to order your army to stop pursuing their own relatives?"

Joab answered, "As God lives, if you hadn't spoken up, by morning my army would have broken off their pursuit of their own relatives."

So Joab sounded his battle trumpet, his entire army stopped pursuing Israel any longer, and they quit fighting.

Abner and his army traveled through the Arabah by night, crossed the Jordan, and arrived at Mahanaim after marching all morning.

Joab returned from his pursuit of Abner, and when he had mustered his entire army, nineteen of David's soldiers were missing besides Asahel.

When Joab returned with his entire army, Joab was informed, "Ner's son Abner visited the king, and he has dismissed him. He has left in peace."

As a result, the entire army and all of Israel understood that day that the king had nothing to do with the murder of Ner's son Abner.

Later, the king and his army marched on Jerusalem against the Jebusites, who were inhabiting the territory at that time and who had told David, "You're not coming in here! Even the blind and the lame could turn you away!" because they were thinking "David can't come here."

The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his army carried them off.

When you hear the sound of marching coming from the tops of the balsam trees, then be sure to act quickly, since the LORD will have gone out ahead of you to cut down the Philistine army."

When King Tou of Hamath learned that David had conquered the entire army of King Hadadezer of Zobah,

Zeruiah's son Joab served in charge of the army, Ahilud's son Jehoshaphat was his personal archivist,

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

The Ammonites went out in battle formation at the entrance to the city gate, while the Arameans from Zobah and Rehob, along with the army from Tob and Maacah, were out by themselves in the open fields.

Hadadezer sent for the Arameans who lived beyond the Euphrates River, and they set out for Helam, with Shobach leading them as commander of Hadadezer's army.

But the Arameans retreated from Israel, and David's forces killed 700 of their charioteers, 40,000 soldiers, and mortally wounded Shobach, the commander of their army. As a result, Shobach died there.

One spring day, during the time of year when kings go off to war, David sent out Joab, along with his personal staff and all of Israel's army. They utterly destroyed the Ammonites and then attacked Rabbah while David remained in Jerusalem.

When Uriah arrived, David inquired about how Joab was doing, how the army was doing, and how the war was progressing.

When the men of the city came out to fight Joab, some of David's army staff members fell, and Uriah the Hittite died, too.

""Why did you despise what the LORD has promised by doing what is detestable in his sight? ""You struck down Uriah the Hittite with a battle sword. ""You took his wife to be your own. ""You killed him with the sword of the Ammonite army.

so call out the rest of the army, attack the city, and capture it. Otherwise, I'll take the city myself and name it after me."

So David mustered his entire army and marched on Rabbah, attacked it, and captured it.

brought back the people who had lived in it, placing them under conscripted labor with saws, iron picks, and axes. He did this to every Ammonite city, and then David and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.

"You know how strong your father and his men are. They're as mad as a bear robbed of her cubs! Furthermore, your father is a skilled warrior. He won't stay with his army at night.

Look! He's probably already hiding in a cave or someplace like that. If the first attack fails, people will hear about it and think, "Absalom's army is losing!'

So here's my advice: Muster everybody from one end of the country to the other! You'll have an army in number like the sand on the seashore! Then you'll go into battle!

Absalom had installed Amasa in place of Joab over the army. (Amasa was the son of a man named Jether the Ishmaelite. His mother was Abigail, a daughter of Nahash and a sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother.)

Dividing his forces into three groups, he set Joab as commander of one third of his army, Zeruiah's son Abishai, Joab's brother, as commander of another third, and Ittai from Gath as commander of another third. The king informed the army, "I'm going out to battle with you, too."

"No way!" his army responded. "If we have to retreat from the battle, Absalom's men won't care about us. Even if half of us die, they won't care about us. But you are worth 10,000 of us. The best thing you can do for us is to remain in the city."

So David responded, "I'll do what you think best." Then he stood alongside the city gate as the army went out in battle array by hundreds and thousands.

David's army left for the battlefield to fight Absalom and his Israeli followers, and they also fought in the Ephraim forest,

where David's army of servants defeated the Israelis. Many died that day 20,000 men.

Meanwhile, Joab's army grabbed Absalom's body, tossed it into a large pit in the forest, and filled it up with a huge pile of rocks. Then the Israelis ran away back to their homes.

The victory had become an occasion for the army to mourn, because on that very day the troops heard the announcement, "The king is grieving for his son!"

Joab went up to the palace and rebuked the king: "Today you've humiliated your entire army who just saved your life, the lives of your sons and daughters, and the lives of your wives and mistresses!

Now get up and restore the morale of your army. I swear by the LORD that if you don't get out there, you won't have a single man left in your army by nightfall! You'll be in more trouble today than all the disasters you've been through from your boyhood until now!"

So the king got up and took his seat in the gateway. When the army was informed, "The king is sitting in the gateway!" they all gathered together in his presence.

Then ask Amasa, "Aren't you my own flesh and blood? So may God deal with me, no matter how severely, if from this day forward you don't take Joab's place as commander of my army.'

By doing things like this, he persuaded all the men of Judah to unite in support of him. They sent the king this message: "Come on back, you and all of your army!"

Not long afterward, all the men of Israel started coming to the king, complaining to him, "Why did our relatives in Judah's army sneak you away, taking the king and his household over the Jordan River, along with David's army?"

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.

Meanwhile, David ordered Amasa, "Muster the army of Judah here within three days, and be here yourself!"

But when Amasa went out to muster the army of Judah, he delayed to act within the time allotted to him.

While Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway, everybody who passed by was stopping to stare at him, so when the soldier saw that all of the army was stopping, he carried Amasa off the highway into a nearby field and covered him with a garment.

After Amasa had been removed from the highway, the rest of the army followed Joab in pursuit of Bichri's son Sheba.

Joab commanded the entire army of Israel, Jehoiada's son Benaiah commanded the special forces and mercenaries,

But Zeruiah's son Abishai came to David's aid, attacked the Philistine, and killed him. After this, David's army told him, "You're not going out anymore with us to battle, so Israel's beacon won't be extinguished!"

Next was Dodai the Ahohite's son Eleazar. Eleazar, who also was one of the Three, was with David when they challenged the Philistines. When the Philistines had assembled in battle array, the Israeli army retreated,

Next was Shammah, Agee the Hararite's son. One time the Philistines assembled to fight in a field where lentils had been growing. Israel's army retreated from the Philistines,

One day while the Philistine army was camping in the valley of giants, three of the 30 leaders joined David at the cave of Adullam.

Later, David's conscience bothered him after he had numbered the army, so David told the LORD, "I have sinned greatly by what I did. But now I am asking you, please remove the guilt of your servant, since I have acted very foolishly."