The Pillars of Three Faiths: Tanakh, Bible & Qu'ran. Various Authors

up his spear] against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.

      ⁹And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the son of an Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they jeoparded their lives against the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away; ¹⁰he stood firm, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand did cleave unto the sword; and the Lord wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to strip the slain.

      ¹¹And after him was Shammah the son of Age the Ararite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the people fled from the Philistines. ¹²But he stood in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and slew the Philistines; and the Lord wrought a great victory.

      ¹³And three of the thirty chief went down, and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adullam; and the troop of the Philistines were encamped in the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴And David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Beth-lehem. ¹⁵And David longed, and said: 'Oh that one would give me water to drink of the well of Beth-lehem, which is by the gate! ' ¹⁶And the three mighty men broke through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Beth-lehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David; but he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord. ¹⁷And he said: 'Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this; shall I drink the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives?' therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.

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

      ²⁰And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, he smote the two altar-hearths of Moab; he went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow; ²¹and he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man; 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. ²²These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had a name among the three mighty men. ²³He was more honourable than the thirty, but he attained not to the first three. And David set him over his guard.

      ²⁴Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Beth-lehem; ²⁵Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite; ²⁶Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite; ²⁷Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite; ²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite; ²⁹Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin; ³⁰Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai of Nahale-gaash; ³¹Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite; ³²Eliahba the Shaalbonite, of the sons of Jashen, Jonathan; ³³Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite; ³⁴Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maacathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite; ³⁵Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite; ³⁶Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite; ³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, armour-bearer to Joab the son of Zeruiah; ³⁸Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite; ³⁹Uriah the Hittite. Thirty and seven in all.

      24And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He moved David against them, saying: 'Go, number Israel and Judah.' ²And the king said to Joab the captain of the host that was with him: 'Go now to and fro through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the sum of the people.' ³And Joab said unto the king: 'Now the Lord thy God add unto the people, how many soever they may be, a hundredfold, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it; but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?' ⁴Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel. ⁵And they passed over the Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and unto Jazer; ⁶then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi; and they came to Dan-jaan, and round about to Zidon, ⁷and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of Judah, at Beer-sheba. ⁸So when they had gone to and fro through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people unto the king; and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

      ¹⁰And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord: 'I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, O Lord, put away, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of Thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.' ¹¹And when David rose up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying: ¹²'Go and speak unto David: Thus saith the Lord: I lay upon thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.' ¹³So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him: 'Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thy foes while they pursue thee? or shall there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise thee, and consider what answer I shall return to Him that sent Me.' ¹⁴And David said unto Gad: 'I am in a great strait; let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for His mercies are great; and let me not fall into the hand of man.'

      ¹⁵So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men. ¹⁶And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented Him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people: 'It is enough; now stay thy hand.' And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷And David spoke unto the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said: 'Lo, I have sinned, and I have done iniquitously; but these sheep, what have they done? let Thy hand, I pray Thee, be against me, and against my father's house.'

      ¹⁸And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him: 'Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.' ¹⁹And David went up according to the saying of Gad, as the Lord commanded. ²⁰And Araunah looked forth, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him; and Araunah went out, and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground. ²¹And Araunah said: 'Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant?' And David said: 'To buy the threshing-floor of thee, to build an altar unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people.' ²²And Araunah said unto David: 'Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him; behold the oxen for the burnt-offering, and the threshing-instruments and the furniture of the oxen for the wood.' ²³All this did Araunah the king give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king: 'The Lord thy God accept thee.' ²⁴And the king said unto Araunah: 'Nay; but I will verily buy it of thee at a price; neither will I offer burnt-offerings unto the Lord my God which cost me nothing.' So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. ²⁵And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

      1. That is, The field of the sharp knives.

      2. That is, The possessor of breaches.

      3. That is, The Breach of Uzzah.

      4. Heb. Abshai.