2nd Samuel 23:1-17

¹Forsooth these be the last words, which David, the son of Jesse, said. The words that the man said, to whom it is ordained of Christ, of the God of Jacob, the noble psalm-maker of Israel;

²The spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word by my tongue.

³David said, God of Israel spake to me, the strong help of Israel, the just or rightwise Lord of men, is Lord in the dread of God.

⁴As the light of the morrowtide, when the sun riseth early, is bright without clouds; and as an herb cometh forth of the earth by rains.

⁵And mine house is not so great with God, that he should make with me everlasting covenant, steadfast and made strong in all things; for all mine health is of him, and all my will, that is, all my desire, goeth into him, and nothing is thereof, that maketh not fruit.

⁶Forsooth all trespassers shall be drawn out as thorns, that be not taken with hands.

⁷And if any man will touch those or them, he shall be armed with iron, and with a piece of wood formed into a spear; and the thorns shall be kindled, and shall be burnt till to nought.

⁸These be the names of the strong men of David. David sitteth in the chair, the wisest prince among the three; he is as a most tender worm of a tree, that killed eight hundred with one fierceness.

⁹After him was Eleazar, the son of his father’s brother, Ahohite; he was among the three strong men, that were with David, when they said shame to the Philistines, and were gathered thither into battle. And when the men of Israel had gone up,

¹⁰he/Eleazar stood in battle, when his fellows went aback, and smote the Philistines, till that his hand failed, and was stark with or fixed to the sword. And the Lord made great health or victory in that day; and the people that fled turned again, to draw away the spoils of the slain men.

¹¹And after him was Shammah, the son of Agee, of Hararites. And Philistines were gathered in the station; and there was a field full of lentils, or vetches; and when the people of Israel had fled from the face of Philistines,

¹²he stood in the midst of the field, and beheld it, for he defended the field; and he smote the Philistines, and the Lord made there a great health.

¹³Also and three men went down before, that were princes among the thirty, and came to David in the time of reaping into the den of Adullam. And the tents of Philistines were set in the valley of giants.

¹⁴And David was in a stronghold; and the station of Philistines was then in Bethlehem.

¹⁵Then David desired water of the well, and said, If any man would give to me drink of the water of the cistern, which is in Bethlehem, beside the gate.

¹⁶Therefore the three strong men brake into the tents of Philistines, and drew water of the cistern of Beth-lehem, that was beside the gate, and they brought it to David; and he would not drink, but offered it to the Lord,

¹⁷and said, The Lord be merciful to me, that I do not this; whether I shall drink the blood of these men, that went forth, and the peril of their lives? Therefore he would not drink. The Three full strong men did these things.