1 Chronicles 11:10-19

Contemporary English Version

The Three Warriors

(2 Samuel 23.8-17)

¹⁰The Lord had promised that David would become king, and so everyone in Israel gave David their support. Certain warriors also helped keep his kingdom strong.

¹¹The first of these warriors was Jashobeam the son of Hachmoni, the leader of the Three Warriors.^[a] In one battle he killed 300 men with his spear.

¹²Another one of the Three Warriors was Eleazar son of Dodo the Ahohite. ¹³During a battle against the Philistines at Pas-Dammim, all the Israelite soldiers ran away, ¹⁴except Eleazar, who stayed with David. They took their positions in a nearby barley field and defeated the Philistines! The Lord gave Israel a great victory that day.

¹⁵One time the Three Warriors^[b] went to meet David among the rocks at Adullam Cave. The Philistine army had set up camp in Rephaim Valley ¹⁶and had taken over Bethlehem. David was in a fortress, ¹⁷and he said, “I'm very thirsty. I wish I had a drink of water from the well by the gate to Bethlehem.”

¹⁸The Three Warriors sneaked through the Philistine camp and got some water from the well near Bethlehem's gate. They took it back to David, but he refused to drink it. Instead, he poured out the water as a sacrifice to the Lord ¹⁹and said, “Drinking this water would be like drinking the blood of these men who risked their lives to get it for me.”

The Three Warriors did these brave deeds.

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Footnotes

11.11 the Three Warriors: One ancient translation and 2 Samuel 23.8; Hebrew “the Thirty Warriors.” The “Three Warriors” was the most honored group of warriors and may have been part of the “Thirty Warriors.” “Three” and “thirty” are spelled almost the same in Hebrew, so there is some confusion in the manuscripts as to which group is being talked about in some places in the following lists.
11.15 the Three Warriors: Hebrew “three of the thirty most important warriors.”