When they brought the kings out to Joshua, he ¹  summoned all the men of Israel and said to the commanders of the troops who accompanied him, “Come here ²  and put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came up ³  and put their feet on their necks.

The Lord handed them over to Israel and they struck them down and chased them all the way to Greater Sidon, ¹  Misrephoth Maim, ²  and the Mizpah Valley to the east. They struck them down until no survivors remained.

The Lord routed ¹  Sisera, all his chariotry, and all his army with the edge of the sword. ²  Sisera jumped out of ³  his chariot and ran away on foot.

‘No doubt they are gathering and dividing the plunder ¹  – a girl or two for each man to rape! ²  Sisera is grabbing up colorful cloth, ³  he is grabbing up colorful embroidered cloth, ⁴  two pieces of colorful embroidered cloth, for the neck of the plunderer!’ ⁵ 

The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to hand Midian over to you. ¹  Israel might brag, ²  ‘Our own strength has delivered us.’ ³ 

So he brought the men ¹  down to the water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, “Separate those who lap the water as a dog laps from those who kneel to drink.” ² 

The men ¹  who were chosen ²  took supplies ³  and their trumpets. Gideon ⁴  sent all the men of Israel back to their homes; ⁵  he kept only three hundred men. Now the Midianites ⁶  were camped down below ⁷  in the valley.

Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their armies. There were about fifteen thousand survivors from the army of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand sword-wielding soldiers had been killed. ¹ 

¹  All the men of Israel got up from their places and took their positions at Baal Tamar, while the Israelites hiding in ambush jumped out of their places west of Gibeah.

For the battle with Israel the Philistines had amassed 3,000 ¹  chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and an army as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Micmash, east of Beth Aven.

Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come on, let’s go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will intervene ¹  for us. Nothing can prevent the Lord from delivering, whether by many or by a few.”

So David set out and went to the place where Saul was camped. David saw the place where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the general in command of his army, were sleeping. Now Saul was lying in the entrenchment, and the army was camped all around him.

So David and Abishai approached the army at night and found Saul lying asleep in the entrenchment with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. Abner and the army were lying all around him.

Now Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, ¹  had a spear ²  that weighed three hundred bronze shekels, ³  and he was armed with a new weapon. ⁴  He had said that he would kill David.

Abishai son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, was head of the three. ¹  He killed three hundred men with his spear and gained fame among the three. ² 

He also killed an impressive-looking Egyptian. ¹  The Egyptian wielded a spear, while Benaiah attacked ²  him with a club. He grabbed the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: “He will not enter this city, nor will he shoot an arrow here. ¹  He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors, ²  nor will he build siege works against it.

He deported all the residents of Jerusalem, including all the officials and all the soldiers (10,000 people in all). This included all the craftsmen and those who worked with metal. No one was left except for the poorest among the people of the land.

So the three elite warriors ¹  broke through the Philistine forces and drew some water from the cistern in Bethlehem near the city gate. They carried it back to David, but David refused to drink it. He poured it out as a drink offering to the Lord

Joab reported to David the number of warriors. ¹  In all Israel there were 1,100,000 ²  sword-wielding soldiers; Judah alone had 470,000 sword-wielding soldiers. ³