19 Sha’ul told Y’honatan his son and all his servants that they should have David killed. But because Y’honatan was very fond of David, ² he told him, “My father Sha’ul is out to have you killed. Therefore you must be very cautious tomorrow morning. Find a well-concealed place to hide in. ³ I will go out and stand next to my father in the countryside where you’re hiding. I will talk with my father about you; and if I learn anything, I’ll tell you.”

⁴ Y’honatan spoke well of David to Sha’ul his father and said to him, “The king shouldn’t sin against his servant David, because he hasn’t sinned against you. On the contrary, his work for you has been very good indeed. ⁵ He put his life in his hands to attack the P’lishtim, and Adonai accomplished a great victory for all Isra’el. You yourself saw it, and you were happy about it. So why do you want to sin against innocent blood by killing David without any reason?” ⁶ Sha’ul heeded Y’honatan’s advice and swore, “As Adonai lives, he will not be put to death.” ⁷ Y’honatan called David and told him all these things. Then Y’honatan brought David to Sha’ul to be in attendance on the king, as before.

⁸ War broke out again, and David went and fought the P’lishtim. He defeated them with a great slaughter, and they fled before him. ⁹ Then an evil spirit from Adonai came upon Sha’ul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. David was playing his lyre, ¹⁰ when Sha’ul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear. But he dodged it and moved out of Sha’ul’s way, so that the spear stuck in the wall. David fled, so that night he escaped.

¹¹ But Sha’ul sent messengers to David’s house to watch for him and kill him in the morning. Mikhal David’s wife told him, “If you don’t save your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be dead.” ¹² So Mikhal let David down through the window; and he left, fled and escaped. ¹³ Mikhal took the household idol, laid it on the bed, put a goat’s-hair quilt at its head and covered it with a cloth. ¹⁴ When Sha’ul sent messengers to capture David, she said, “He’s ill.” ¹⁵ Sha’ul sent the messengers to see David with the order, “Bring him up to me, bed and all, so that I can kill him.” ¹⁶ But when the messengers entered, there before them was the household idol in the bed, with the goat’s-hair quilt at its head. ¹⁷ Sha’ul asked Mikhal, “Why did you deceive me this way and let my enemy go and escape?” Mikhal answered Sha’ul, “He threatened me, ‘Let me go, or I’ll kill you.’”

¹⁸ David fled and escaped, then came to Sh’mu’el in Ramah and told him everything Sha’ul had done to him. So he and Sh’mu’el went and stayed in the prophets’ dormitory. ¹⁹ The news reached Sha’ul that David had been seen at the prophets’ dormitory in Ramah. ²⁰ Sha’ul sent messengers to capture David. But when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, with Sh’mu’el standing and leading them, the Spirit of God fell on Sha’ul’s messengers; and they too began prophesying. ²¹ When Sha’ul was told, he sent other messengers; but they too began prophesying. Sha’ul sent messengers a third time, and they also prophesied. ²² Then he himself went to Ramah. When he arrived at the big cistern in Sekhu, he asked, “Where are Sh’mu’el and David?” Someone answered, “They’re at the prophets’ dormitory in Ramah.” ²³ While on his way to the prophets’ dormitory in Ramah, the Spirit of God fell on him too; and he went on, prophesying, until he arrived at the prophets’ dormitory in Ramah. ²⁴ He also stripped off his clothes, prophesied in Sh’mu’el’s presence and lay there naked all that day and all that night. Hence it continues to be an expression, “Is Sha’ul a prophet, too?”

7 The sons of Yissakhar were: Tola, Pu’ah, Yashuv and Shimron — four.

² The sons of Tola were: ‘Uzi, Refayah, Yeri’el, Yachmai, Yivsam and Sh’mu’el. They were heads of their fathers’ clans, descended from Tola; they were strong, brave men in their generations. In the time of David they numbered 22,600.

³ The son of ‘Uzi was Yizrachyah, and the sons of Yizrachyah were: Mikha’el, ‘Ovadyah, Yo’el and Yishiyah — five, all of them leaders. ⁴ With them, by their generations, in their fathers’ clans, were army troops organized for war, 36,000 of them, because they had many women and children. ⁵ Their kinsmen among all the clans of Yissakhar, strong, brave men, numbered 87,000, listed in genealogical records.

⁶ [The sons of] Binyamin were: Bela, Bekher and Y’dia‘el — three.

⁷ The sons of Bela were: Etzbon, ‘Uzi, ‘Uzi’el, Yerimot and ‘Iri — five; they were leaders of fathers’ clans, strong, brave men. They numbered 22,034, listed in genealogical records.

⁸ The sons of Bekher were: Z’mirah, Yo’ash, Eli‘ezer, Elyo‘enai, ‘Omri, Yeremot, Aviyah, ‘Anatot and ‘Alemet; all these were sons of Bekher. ⁹ Listed in genealogical records by generations under leaders of fathers’ clans, who were strong, brave men, were 20,200.

¹⁰ The son of Y’dia‘el was Bilhan. The sons of Bilhan were: Ye‘ush, Binyamin, Ehud, Kena‘anah, Zeitan, Tarshish and Achishachar. ¹¹ All these were descendants of Y’dia‘el, leaders of their fathers’ clans, who were brave, strong men; they numbered 17,200, all fit to fight with the army.

¹² [More descendants of Binyamin:] Shupim, Hupim, the sons of ‘Ir.

Hushim, the son of another [of Isra’el’s sons, namely, Dan].

¹³ The sons of Naftali were: Yachtzi’el, Guni, Yetzer, Shalum, the sons of Bilhah.

¹⁴ The descendants of M’nasheh: his concubine the woman from Aram bore Makhir the father of Gil‘ad; Asri’el [Gil‘ad’s son] was descended from her. ¹⁵ Makhir’s wife was from the families of Hupim and Shupim, and his sister’s name was Ma‘akhah. M’nasheh’s second son was Tz’lof’chad, and Tz’lof’chad had daughters. ¹⁶ Ma‘akhah the wife of Makhir bore a son whom she named Peresh, the name of his brother was Sheresh, and his sons were Ulam and Rekem. ¹⁷ The son of Ulam was B’dan. These were the descendants of Gil‘ad the son of Makhir the son of M’nasheh. ¹⁸ His sister Hammolekhet [the governor] bore Ish-Hod, Avi‘ezer and Machlah. ¹⁹ The sons of Sh’mida were Achyan, Sh’khem, Lik’chi and Ani‘am.

²⁰ The descendants of Efrayim were: Shutelach, his son Bered, his son Tachat, his son El‘adah, his son Tachat, ²¹ his son Zavad and his son Shutelach; also ‘Ezer and El‘ad, whom the men of Gat born in the land killed when they came down to raid their cattle. ²² Efrayim their father mourned for a long time, and his kinsmen came to comfort him. ²³ Then he had sexual relations with his wife, and she conceived and bore a son whom he called B’ri‘ah [in calamity], because his household had suffered a calamity. ²⁴ His daughter was She’erah, who built upper and lower Beit-Horon and Uzen-She’erah. ²⁵ Refach was his son, and Reshef, then his son Telach, his son Tachan ²⁶ his son La‘dan, his son ‘Ammihud, his son Elishama, ²⁷ his son Nun and his son Y’hoshua.

²⁸ Their possessions and settlements were Beit-El with its towns; Na‘aran to the east; and to the west, Gezer with its towns; also Sh’khem with its towns, as far as ‘Ayah and its towns; ²⁹ and, near the territory of the descendants of M’nasheh, Beit-Sh’an with its towns, Ta‘nakh with its towns, Megiddo with its towns and Dor with its towns. In these places lived the descendants of Yosef the son of Isra’el.

³⁰ The children of Asher were: Yimnah, Yishvah, Yishvi, B’ri‘ah and their sister Serach. ³¹ The sons of B’ri‘ah were: Hever and Malki’el, who fathered Birzayit. ³² Hever fathered Yaflet, Shomer, Hotam and their sister Shua. ³³ The sons of Yaflet were: Pasakh, Bimhal and ‘Ashvat; these were the sons of Yaflet. ³⁴ The sons of Shemer were: Achi, Rohgah, Hubah and Aram. ³⁵ The sons of his brother Helem were: Zofach, Yimnah, Shelesh and ‘Amal. ³⁶ The sons of Zofach were: Suach, Harnefer, Shu‘al, Beri, Yimrah, ³⁷ Betzer, Hod, Shama, Shilshah, Yitran and Be’era. ³⁸ The sons of Yeter were: Y’funeh, Pispah and Ara. ³⁹ The sons of ‘Ula were: Arach, Hani’el and Ritzya. ⁴⁰ All these were descendants of Asher, leaders of their fathers’ clans, elite, strong, brave men, the most important of the princes. Those fit for battle service, listed in genealogies, numbered 26,000 men.

4 Then the Spirit led Yeshua up into the wilderness to be tempted by the Adversary. ² After Yeshua had fasted forty days and nights, he was hungry. ³ The Tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, order these stones to become bread.” ⁴ But he answered, “The Tanakh says,

⁵ Then the Adversary took him to the holy city and set him on the highest point of the Temple. ⁶ “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “jump! For the Tanakh says,

⁷ Yeshua replied to him, “But it also says, ‘Do not put Adonai your God to the test.’”^[c]

⁸ Once more, the Adversary took him up to the summit of a very high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in all their glory, ⁹ and said to him, “All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me.” ¹⁰ “Away with you, Satan!” Yeshua told him, “For the Tanakh says,

¹¹ Then the Adversary let him alone, and angels came and took care of him.

¹² When Yeshua heard that Yochanan had been put in prison, he returned to the Galil; ¹³ but he left Natzeret and came to live in K’far-Nachum, a lake shore town near the boundary between Z’vulun and Naftali. ¹⁴ This happened in order to fulfill what Yesha‘yahu the prophet had said,

¹⁷ From that time on, Yeshua began proclaiming, “Turn from your sins to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near!”

¹⁸ As Yeshua walked by Lake Kinneret, he saw two brothers who were fishermen — Shim‘on, known as Kefa, and his brother Andrew — throwing their net into the lake. ¹⁹ Yeshua said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men!” ²⁰ At once they left their nets and went with him.

²¹ Going on from there, he saw two other brothers — Ya’akov Ben-Zavdai and Yochanan his brother — in the boat with their father Zavdai, repairing their nets; and he called them. ²² At once they left the boat and their father and went with Yeshua.

²³ Yeshua went all over the Galil teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing people from every kind of disease and sickness. ²⁴ Word of him spread throughout all Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill, suffering from various diseases and pains, and those held in the power of demons, and epileptics and paralytics; and he healed them. ²⁵ Huge crowds followed him from the Galil, the Ten Towns, Yerushalayim, Y’hudah, and ‘Ever-HaYarden.