The Daily Audio Bible
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The People Who Lived in Jerusalem
9 All Israel was recorded in the genealogies in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. The Israelites were taken away to Babylon as captives because they had sinned. 2 The first to settle again on their property in their own cities were ⌞some⌟ Israelites, the priests, the Levites, and the temple servants.
3 Jerusalem was settled by descendants of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh:
4 From the descendants of Perez, son of Judah, was Uthai, who was the son of Ammihud, grandson of Omri, and great-grandson of Imri. (Imri’s father was Bani.) 5 From the descendants of Shilah were Asaiah (the firstborn) and his sons. 6 And from the descendants of Zerah were Jeuel and their relatives, 690 in all.
7 From the descendants of Benjamin were Sallu (son of Meshullam, grandson of Hodaviah, and great-grandson of Hassenuah), 8 Ibneiah (son of Jeroham), Elah (son of Uzzi and grandson of Michri), and Meshullam (son of Shephatiah, grandson of Reuel, and great-grandson of Ibniah), 9 and their relatives according to their ancestry. All of these men were heads of their families. A total of 956 of them lived in Jerusalem.
10 From the priests were Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, Jachin, 11 and Azariah. Azariah was the son of Hilkiah, grandson of Meshullam, and great-grandson of Zadok. Zadok’s father was Meraioth, the son of Ahitub (the official in charge of God’s temple). 12 Also from the priests were Adaiah (son of Jeroham, grandson of Pashhur, and great-grandson of Malchiah) and Maasai (son of Adiel, grandson of Jahzerah, and great-grandson of Meshullam, whose father was Meshillemith, son of Immer). 13 Their relatives who were heads of their families totaled 1,760 soldiers. They served in God’s temple and settled in Jerusalem.
14 From the Levites descended from Merari were Shemaiah (son of Hasshub, grandson of Azrikam, and great-grandson of Hashabiah), 15 Bakbakkar, Heresh, Galal, Mattaniah (son of Mica, grandson of Zichri, and great-grandson of Asaph), 16 Obadiah (son of Shemaiah, grandson of Galal, and great-grandson of Jeduthun), and Berechiah (son of Asa and grandson of Elkanah, who lived in the villages belonging to the Netophathites).
17 The gatekeepers were Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their relatives. (Shallum was in charge.) 18 Formerly, they were stationed at the king’s gate on the east side. They were the gatekeepers for the Levite quarters.
19 Shallum (son of Kore, grandson of Ebiasaph, great-grandson of Korah) and the members of his family (Korah’s descendants) were responsible for serving as watchmen at the entrances to the tent, as their ancestors had been in charge of guarding the entrances to the Lord’s camp. 20 (Phinehas, Eleazar’s son, had been the official in charge of the gatekeepers, and the Lord was with him.) 21 Zechariah, son of Meshelemiah, was the keeper at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 22 The men chosen to be gatekeepers at the entrances totaled 212. Their genealogies were recorded in their villages. David and the seer [a] Samuel appointed them to these positions because they were trustworthy. 23 So they and their descendants were assigned to be gatekeepers for the Lord’s house, that is, the tent.
24 The gatekeepers were on the four sides (east, west, north, and south). 25 Their relatives had to come from their villages from time to time. They would come to serve under the gatekeepers’ supervision for a period of seven days. 26 The four chief Levite gatekeepers were in charge of the rooms and treasures in God’s temple because of their faithfulness. 27 They would spend the night stationed around God’s temple because they had to guard it and open it every morning.
28 Some of them were in charge of the utensils for worship. They would count them when they brought them in and when they took them out. 29 Other descendants of Korah were placed in charge of the utensils, the holy utensils, the flour, wine, olive oil, incense, and spices. 30 Some of the priests’ sons prepared the mixture of spices. 31 Mattithiah, a Levite, the firstborn son of Shallum, Korah’s descendant, was entrusted with preparing the flat bread. 32 Some of their Kohathite relatives were responsible for setting the bread out in rows every day of rest—a holy day.
33 These were the musicians who were the heads of the Levite families. They lived in rooms in the temple and were free from other duties because they were on duty day and night. 34 They were the heads of the Levite families according to their ancestry. These head Levites lived in Jerusalem.
Saul’s Descendants
35 Jeiel, who first settled Gibeon, lived in Gibeon, and his wife’s name was Maacah. 36 His firstborn son was Abdon, then Zur, Kish, Baal, Nadab, 37 Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah, and Mikloth. 38 Mikloth was the father of Shimeam. They lived next to their relatives in Jerusalem. 39 Ner was the father of Kish. Kish was the father of Saul. Saul was the father of Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab, and Eshbaal. 40 Jonathan’s son was Meribbaal, and Meribbaal was the father of Micah. 41 Micah’s sons were Pithon, Melech, and Tarea. 42 Ahaz was the father of Jarah. Jarah was the father of Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri. Zimri was the father of Moza. 43 Moza was the father of Binea. Binea’s son was Rephaiah. Rephaiah’s son was Eleasah. Eleasah’s son was Azel. 44 Azel had six sons. Their names were Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. All of these men were Azel’s sons.
The Death of Saul(A)
10 When the Philistines fought against Israel, the men of Israel fled from the Philistines and were killed in battle on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines caught up to Saul and his sons. They killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons. 3 The heaviest fighting was against Saul. When the archers got him in their range, he was wounded by them.
4 Saul told his armorbearer, “Draw your sword! Stab me, or these godless men will come and make fun of me.” But his armorbearer refused because he was terrified. So Saul took the sword and fell on it. 5 When the armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on the sword and died. 6 So Saul, his three sons, and his dynasty died together.
7 When all the people of Israel in the valley saw that ⌞their army⌟ had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities. So the Philistines came to live in these cities.
8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his sons lying on Mount Gilboa. 9 They stripped him and took his head and his armor. Then they sent men throughout Philistine territory to tell their idols and the people this good news. 10 They put his armor in the temple of their gods and fastened his head to the temple of Dagon.
11 When all the people of Jabesh Gilead heard about everything the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all the fighting men came and took away the dead bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh. They buried the bones under the oak tree in Jabesh. Then they fasted seven days.
13 So Saul died because of his unfaithfulness to the Lord: He did not obey the Lord’s word. He asked a medium to request information ⌞from a dead person⌟. 14 He didn’t request information from the Lord. So the Lord killed him and turned the kingship over to David, Jesse’s son.
21 Since hardly anyone wanted to eat, Paul stood among them and said, “Men, you should have followed my advice not to sail from Crete. You would have avoided this disaster and loss. 22 Now I advise you to have courage. No one will lose his life. Only the ship will be destroyed. 23 I know this because an angel from the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood by me last night. 24 The angel told me, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul! You must present your case to the emperor. God has granted safety to everyone who is sailing with you.’ 25 So have courage, men! I trust God that everything will turn out as he told me. 26 However, we will run aground on some island.”
The Shipwreck
27 On the fourteenth night we were still drifting through the Mediterranean Sea. About midnight the sailors suspected that we were approaching land. 28 So they threw a line with a weight on it into the water. It sank 120 feet. They waited a little while and did the same thing again. This time the line sank 90 feet. 29 Fearing we might hit rocks, they dropped four anchors from the back of the ship and prayed for morning to come.
30 The sailors tried to escape from the ship. They let the lifeboat down into the sea and pretended they were going to lay out the anchors from the front of the ship. 31 Paul told the officer and the soldiers, “If these sailors don’t stay on the ship, you have no hope of staying alive.” 32 Then the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away.
33 Just before daybreak Paul was encouraging everyone to have something to eat. “This is the fourteenth day you have waited and have had nothing to eat. 34 So I’m encouraging you to eat something. Eating will help you survive, since not a hair from anyone’s head will be lost.” 35 After Paul said this, he took some bread, thanked God in front of everyone, broke it, and began to eat. 36 Everyone was encouraged and had something to eat. 37 (There were 276 of us on the ship.) 38 After the people had eaten all they wanted, they lightened the ship by dumping the wheat into the sea.
39 In the morning they couldn’t recognize the land, but they could see a bay with a beach. So they decided to try to run the ship ashore. 40 They cut the anchors free and left them in the sea. At the same time they untied the ropes that held the steering oars. Then they raised the top sail to catch the wind and steered the ship to the shore. 41 They struck a sandbar in the water and ran the ship aground. The front of the ship stuck and couldn’t be moved, while the back of the ship was broken to pieces by the force of the waves.
42 The soldiers had a plan to kill the prisoners to keep them from swimming away and escaping. 43 However, the officer wanted to save Paul, so he stopped the soldiers from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and swim ashore. 44 Then he ordered the rest to follow on planks or some other pieces ⌞of wood⌟ from the ship. In this way everyone got to shore safely.
For the choir director; on the gittith; [a] a psalm by David.
8 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the earth!
Your glory is sung above the heavens.
2 From the mouths of little children and infants,
you have built a fortress against your opponents
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens,
the creation of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have set in place—
4 what is a mortal that you remember him
or the Son of Man that you take care of him?
5 You have made him a little lower than yourself.
You have crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have made him rule what your hands created.
You have put everything under his control:
7 all the sheep and cattle, the wild animals,
8 the birds, the fish,
whatever swims in the currents of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the earth!
23 A poor person is timid when begging,
but a rich person is blunt when replying.
24 Friends can destroy one another,[a]
but a loving friend can stick closer than family.
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