1 Chronicles 12:7-17

7 And there were Joelah and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham, from the town of Gedor.

8 Part of the people of Gad joined David at his stronghold in the desert. They were brave warriors trained for war and skilled with shields and spears. They were as fierce as lions and as fast as gazelles over the hills.

9 Ezer was the leader of Gad's army, and Obadiah was second in command. Eliab was third,

10 Mishmannah was fourth, Jeremiah was fifth,

11 Attai was sixth, Eliel was seventh,

12 Johanan was eighth, Elzabad was ninth,

13 Jeremiah was tenth, and Macbannai was eleventh in command.

14 They were the commanders of the army from Gad. The least of these leaders was in charge of a hundred soldiers, and the greatest was in charge of a thousand.

15 They crossed the Jordan River and chased away the people living in the valleys, to the east and to the west. This happened in the first month of the year when the Jordan floods the valley.

16 Other people from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah also came to David at his stronghold.

17 David went out to meet them and said to them, "If you have come peacefully to help me, I welcome you. Join me. But if you have come to turn me over to my enemies, even though I have done nothing wrong, the God of our fathers will see this and punish you."

1 Chronicles 12:7-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 CHRONICLES 12

This chapter gives an account of those that came to David at different times, and joined and assisted him both before the death of Saul, and when persecuted by him, and after he was made king of Judah in Hebron, and before he was king of all Israel, in order to it; of the Benjaminites that came to him when at Ziklag, 1Ch 12:1-7 of the Gadites that came to him when in the hold, 1Ch 12:8-15 of some of Judah and Benjamin, who came to him in the same place, 1Ch 12:16-18, and of the Manassites at the time he came with the Philistines against Saul, 1Ch 12:19-22 and the number of the several tribes are given, that came to him at Hebron to make him king over all Israel, 1Ch 12:23-40.