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The Transjordan Armies
18 The descendants of Reuben, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh had 44,760 men in their armies, warriors armed with shields and swords, as well as archers, trained for war, ready to go out to battle. 19 They made war with the Hagraites, with Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab. 20 These tribes received help against the Hagraites, so the Hagraites were delivered into their hands, along with all who were with them, because Israel cried out to God during the battle, and he answered them, because they put their trust in him. 21 They took away their livestock: fifty thousand of their camels, two hundred fifty thousand sheep, two thousand donkeys, and one hundred thousand living people. 22 So many of the enemy were cut down in battle, because the war was from God. These tribes lived in their place until the captivity.
The Eastern Half Tribe of Manasseh
23 The people of the half tribe of Manasseh lived in the land from Bashan to Baal Hermon, Senir, and Mount Hermon. They increased in number. 24 These were the heads of their fathers’ houses: namely, Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel. They were strong, powerful warriors, famous men, heads of their fathers’ houses. 25 But they were unfaithful to the God of their fathers and prostituted themselves to the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. 26 So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, that is, the spirit of Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, and he carried away the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and he took them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and to the river of Gozan, where they are to this day.
The Tribe of Levi
6 The sons of Levi were Gershom,[a] Kohath, and Merari.[b]
The Family of the Priests
2 The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, and Hebron and Uzziel.
3 The children[c] of Amram were Aaron, Moses, and Miriam.
High Priests Until the Captivity
The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
4 Eleazar became the father of Phinehas.
Phinehas became the father of Abishua.
5 Abishua became the father of Bukki.
Bukki became the father of Uzzi.
6 Uzzi became the father of Zerahiah.
Zerahiah became the father of Meraioth.
7 Meraioth became the father of Amariah.
Amariah became the father of Ahitub.
8 Ahitub became the father of Zadok.
Zadok became the father of Ahima’az.
9 Ahima’az became the father of Azariah.
Azariah became the father of Johanan.
10 Johanan became the father of Azariah, who served as priest in the House[d] that Solomon built in Jerusalem.[e]
11 Azariah became the father of Amariah.
Amariah became the father of Ahitub.
12 Ahitub became the father of Zadok.
Zadok became the father of Shallum.
13 Shallum became the father of Hilkiah.
Hilkiah became the father of Azariah.
14 Azariah became the father of Seraiah.
Seraiah became the father of Jehozadak.
15 Jehozadak went into captivity, when the Lord carried Judah and Jerusalem away by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.[f]
The Families of the Levites
16 The sons of Levi were Gershom, Kohath, and Merari.[g]
17 These are the names of the sons of Gershom: Libni and Shimei.
18 The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
19 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi.
These are the clans of the Levites according to their fathers.
Gershom
20 The family line of Gershom was his son Libni, his son Jahath, his son Zimmah, 21 his son Joah, his son Iddo, his son Zerah, and his son Jeatherai.
22 The family line of Kohath was his son Amminadab, his son Korah, his son Assir, 23 his son Elkanah, and his son Ebiasaph, his son Assir, 24 his son Tahath, his son Uriel, his son Uzziah, and his son Shaul.
25 The sons of Elkanah were Amasai and Ahimoth. 26 As for Elkanah, the family line of Elkanah[h] was his son Zophai, his son Nahath, 27 his son Eliab, his son Jeroham, his son Elkanah, and his son Samuel.[i] 28 The sons of Samuel were Joel the firstborn and Abijah the second son.
Merari
29 The family line of Merari was Mahli, his son Libni, his son Shimei, his son Uzzah, 30 his son Shimea, his son Haggiah, his son Asaiah.
The Temple Musicians
31 These are the men David appointed to be the musicians in the Lord’s house from the time that the Ark came to rest there. 32 They ministered with music in front of the Dwelling, that is, the Tent of Meeting, until Solomon built the Lord’s house in Jerusalem. They performed their service according to the duties prescribed for them. 33 This is the list of those who served and their sons.
Musicians From Kohath
From the family line of the Kohathites came Heman the singer, who was the son of Joel, the son of Samuel, 34 the son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Toah, 35 the son of Zuph, the son of Elkanah, the son of Mahath, the son of Amasai, 36 the son of Elkanah, the son of Joel, the son of Azariah, the son of Zephaniah, 37 the son of Tahath, the son of Assir, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, 38 the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, the son of Israel.
39 Heman’s colleague,[j] who stood at his right hand, was Asaph, namely, Asaph the son of Berekiah, the son of Shimea, 40 the son of Michael, the son of Ba’aseiah, the son of Malkijah, 41 the son of Ethni, the son of Zerah, the son of Adaiah, 42 the son of Ethan, the son of Zimmah, the son of Shimei, 43 the son of Jahath, the son of Gershom, the son of Levi.
44 On the left hand of Heman and Asaph was their colleague from the descendants of Merari, namely, Ethan the son of Kishi, the son of Abdi, the son of Malluk, 45 the son of Hashabiah, the son of Amaziah, the son of Hilkiah, 46 the son of Amzi, the son of Bani, the son of Shemer, 47 the son of Mahli, the son of Mushi, the son of Merari, the son of Levi.
48 Their brothers, the other Levites, were appointed for all the other forms of service at the Dwelling, God’s house.
The Priests Till the Time of David
49 But it was Aaron and his sons who presented offerings on the altar for burnt offerings and on the altar for incense, to carry out all the work of the Most Holy Place and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.
50 This is the family line from Aaron: his son Eleazar, his son Phinehas, his son Abishua, 51 his son Bukki, his son Uzzi, his son Zerahiah, 52 his son Meraioth, his son Amariah, his son Ahitub, 53 his son Zadok, and his son Ahima’az.
The Cities for the Tribe of Levi
54 Now the following are the places they lived according to their settlements within their borders.
The first lot was for the sons of Aaron, from the families of the Kohathites. 55 To them they gave Hebron in the land of Judah and its surrounding pastureland, 56 but the fields of the city and its villages, they gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh. 57 To the sons of Aaron they gave Hebron, the city of refuge, and also Libnah with its surrounding pastures, Jattir, Eshtemoa with its surrounding pastures, 58 Hilen with its surrounding pastures, Debir with its surrounding pastures, 59 Ashan with its surrounding pastures, and Juttah and Beth Shemesh with their surrounding pastures. 60 In the territory of the tribe of Benjamin they received Gibeon, Geba with its surrounding pastures, Allemeth with its surrounding pastures, and Anathoth with its surrounding pastures. All their cities for all their families totaled thirteen cities.[k]
61 To the rest of the sons of Kohath from the families of the tribe who remained without land, ten cities were given by lot from the territory of the half tribe of Manasseh.[l]
62 To the sons of Gershom, according to their families, from the territory of the tribe of Issachar and the tribe of Asher and the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities were given.
63 To the sons of Merari, according to their families, from the territory of the tribe of Reuben and the tribe of Gad and the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities were given.
64 So the people of Israel gave the Levites these cities with their surrounding pastures. 65 They assigned to them by lot these cities which are mentioned by name from the territory of the tribe of the sons of Judah and the tribe of the sons of Simeon and the tribe of the sons of Benjamin.
66 Some of the families of the sons of Kohath had cities of their inheritance within the borders of the tribe of Ephraim. 67 They gave to them the city of refuge, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim with its surrounding pastures, also Gezer with its surrounding pastures, 68 Jokmeam[m] with its surrounding pastures, Beth Horon with its surrounding pastures, 69 Aijalon with its surrounding pastures, Gath Rimmon with its surrounding pastures, 70 and in the territory of the half tribe of Manasseh, for the rest of the family of the sons of Kohath, they gave Aner[n] with its surrounding pastures and Bileam[o] with its surrounding pastures.[p]
71 To the sons of Gershom, from the clan of the half tribe of Manasseh, these cities were given: Golan in Bashan with its surrounding pastures and Ashtaroth with its surrounding pastures, 72 and in the territory of the tribe of Issachar, Kedesh[q] with its surrounding pastures, Daberath with its surrounding pastures, 73 Ramoth[r] with its surrounding pastures, and Anem[s] with its surrounding pastures, 74 and in the territory of the tribe of Asher, Mashal with its surrounding pastures, Abdon with it surrounding pastures, 75 Hukok[t] with its surrounding pastures, and Rehob with its surrounding pastures, 76 and in the territory of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its surrounding pastures, Hammon with its surrounding pastures, and Kiriathaim with its surrounding pastures.
77 The rest of the Levites, the sons of Merari, were given Jokneam with its surrounding pastures, Rimmono with its surrounding pastures, Tabor with its surrounding pastures, and Nahalal with its surrounding pastures[u] in the territory of the tribe of Zebulun. 78 Across the Jordan from Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan, they were given cities in the territory of the tribe of Reuben: Bezer in the wilderness with its surrounding pastures, Jahzah with its surrounding pastures, 79 Kedemoth with its surrounding pastures, and Mepha’ath with its surrounding pastures. 80 And in the territory of the tribe of Gad they received Ramoth in Gilead with its surrounding pastures, Mahanaim with its surrounding pastures, 81 Heshbon with its surrounding pastures, and Jazer with its surrounding pastures.
26 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.”
Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense. 2 “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that I am going to make my defense before you today concerning all the things about which I am being accused by the Jews, 3 especially because you are an expert in all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.
4 “All the Jews know the way I have lived from the earliest days of my youth, among my own people and in Jerusalem. 5 They have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest party of our religion.
6 “And now I stand on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, 7 the promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve God night and day. I am being accused by the Jews concerning this hope, O King. 8 Why does it seem unbelievable to any of you that God raises the dead?
9 “I too was convinced that it was necessary to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus the Nazarene. 10 And that is what I did in Jerusalem. After receiving authority from the chief priests, I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 I often tried to make them blaspheme by punishing them throughout all the synagogues. Because I was so insanely angry with them, I even pursued them to foreign cities.
12 “That is how I came to be traveling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 At noon along the road, O King, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect,[a] ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’[b]
15 “Then I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
“The Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 16 Now get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things you have seen[c] and to the things I will reveal to you. 17 I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you. 18 You are to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
19 “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20 Rather, I first told those in Damascus and Jerusalem about it, and then throughout the entire country of Judea and also the Gentiles. I told them that they should repent and turn to God, while also doing works that are consistent with repentance. 21 These are the reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.
22 “But I have had help from God right up to this day, and so I stand testifying to both small and great. I am saying nothing other than what the prophets and Moses said would happen, 23 that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”
24 While Paul was saying these things in his defense, Festus shouted, “Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you insane.”
25 But Paul replied, “I am not insane, most excellent Festus, but I am clearly speaking words that are true and sensible. 26 Certainly the king to whom I am freely speaking knows about these things. Indeed, I cannot believe that any of these things has escaped his notice, because this has not been done in a corner. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.”
28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “In such a short time are you going to persuade me to become[d] a Christian?”
29 Paul replied, “I pray God, that whether in a short time or a long time, not only you, but also all those who are listening to me today would become what I am, except for these chains.”
30 After he had said these things,[e] the king stood up, along with the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them. 31 After they had left, they said to one another in private, “This man is doing nothing worthy of death or chains.”
32 Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”
Psalm 6
Do Not Rebuke Me in Your Anger
Heading
For the choir director. With stringed instruments.
According to sheminith.[a] A psalm by David.
Anxious Prayer
1 Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger.
Do not discipline me in your wrath.
2 Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am fading away.
Heal me, Lord, for my bones are trembling,
3 and my soul is terrified.
But you, O Lord—how long?
4 Turn, O Lord, and deliver my soul.
Save me because of your mercy.
5 For in death no one remembers you.
In the grave who praises you?
6 I am worn out from my groaning.
I flood my bed all night long.
With my tears I drench my couch.
7 My eyes are blurred by sorrow.
They are worn out because of all my foes.
Confident Trust
8 Turn away from me, all you evildoers,
because the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my cry for mercy.
The Lord accepts my prayer.
10 They will be put to shame.
All my enemies will be terrified.
They will turn back.
They will be put to shame in an instant.
20 From the fruit of a man’s mouth, his stomach is satisfied.
He is satisfied with the harvest of his lips.
21 Life and death lie in the power of a tongue,
and those who love to use it will eat its fruit.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.