David Becomes King of All Israel

11 Then all Israel gathered before David at Hebron and told him, “We are your own flesh and blood. ² In the past,^[a] even when Saul was king, you were the one who really led the forces of Israel. And the Lord your God told you, ‘You will be the shepherd of my people Israel. You will be the leader of my people Israel.’”

³ So there at Hebron, David made a covenant before the Lord with all the elders of Israel. And they anointed him king of Israel, just as the Lord had promised through Samuel.

David Captures Jerusalem

⁴ Then David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (or Jebus, as it used to be called), where the Jebusites, the original inhabitants of the land, were living. ⁵ The people of Jebus taunted David, saying, “You’ll never get in here!” But David captured the fortress of Zion, which is now called the City of David.

⁶ David had said to his troops, “Whoever is first to attack the Jebusites will become the commander of my armies!” And Joab, the son of David’s sister Zeruiah, was first to attack, so he became the commander of David’s armies.

⁷ David made the fortress his home, and that is why it is called the City of David. ⁸ He extended the city from the supporting terraces^[b] to the surrounding area, while Joab rebuilt the rest of Jerusalem. ⁹ And David became more and more powerful, because the Lord of Heaven’s Armies was with him.

David’s Mightiest Warriors

¹⁰ These are the leaders of David’s mighty warriors. Together with all Israel, they decided to make David their king, just as the Lord had promised concerning Israel.

¹¹ Here is the record of David’s mightiest warriors: The first was Jashobeam the Hacmonite, who was leader of the Three—the mightiest warriors among David’s men.^[c] He once used his spear to kill 300 enemy warriors in a single battle.

¹² Next in rank among the Three was Eleazar son of Dodai,^[d] a descendant of Ahoah. ¹³ He was with David when the Philistines gathered for battle at Pas-dammim and attacked the Israelites in a field full of barley. The Israelite army fled, ¹⁴ but Eleazar and David^[e] held their ground in the middle of the field and beat back the Philistines. So the Lord saved them by giving them a great victory.

¹⁵ Once when David was at the rock near the cave of Adullam, the Philistine army was camped in the valley of Rephaim. The Three (who were among the Thirty—an elite group among David’s fighting men) went down to meet him there. ¹⁶ David was staying in the stronghold at the time, and a Philistine detachment had occupied the town of Bethlehem.

¹⁷ David remarked longingly to his men, “Oh, how I would love some of that good water from the well by the gate in Bethlehem.” ¹⁸ So the Three broke through the Philistine lines, drew some water from the well by the gate in Bethlehem, and brought it back to David. But David refused to drink it. Instead, he poured it out as an offering to the Lord. ¹⁹ “God forbid that I should drink this!” he exclaimed. “This water is as precious as the blood of these men^[f] who risked their lives to bring it to me.” So David did not drink it. These are examples of the exploits of the Three.

David’s Thirty Mighty Men

²⁰ Abishai, the brother of Joab, was the leader of the Thirty.^[g] He once used his spear to kill 300 enemy warriors in a single battle. It was by such feats that he became as famous as the Three. ²¹ Abishai was the most famous of the Thirty and was their commander, though he was not one of the Three.

²² There was also Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant warrior from Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two champions^[h] of Moab. Another time, on a snowy day, he chased a lion down into a pit and killed it. ²³ Once, armed only with a club, he killed an Egyptian warrior who was 7 1⁄2 feet^[i] tall and who was armed with a spear as thick as a weaver’s beam. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with it. ²⁴ Deeds like these made Benaiah as famous as the three mightiest warriors. ²⁵ He was more honored than the other members of the Thirty, though he was not one of the Three. And David made him captain of his bodyguard.

²⁶ David’s mighty warriors also included:

Warriors Join David’s Army

12 The following men joined David at Ziklag while he was hiding from Saul son of Kish. They were among the warriors who fought beside David in battle. ² All of them were expert archers, and they could shoot arrows or sling stones with their left hand as well as their right. They were all relatives of Saul from the tribe of Benjamin. ³ Their leader was Ahiezer son of Shemaah from Gibeah; his brother Joash was second-in-command. These were the other warriors:

⁸ Some brave and experienced warriors from the tribe of Gad also defected to David while he was at the stronghold in the wilderness. They were expert with both shield and spear, as fierce as lions and as swift as deer on the mountains.

¹⁴ These warriors from Gad were army commanders. The weakest among them could take on a hundred regular troops, and the strongest could take on a thousand! ¹⁵ These were the men who crossed the Jordan River during its seasonal flooding at the beginning of the year and drove out all the people living in the lowlands on both the east and west banks.

¹⁶ Others from Benjamin and Judah came to David at the stronghold. ¹⁷ David went out to meet them and said, “If you have come in peace to help me, we are friends. But if you have come to betray me to my enemies when I am innocent, then may the God of our ancestors see it and punish you.”

¹⁸ Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, the leader of the Thirty, and he said,

So David let them join him, and he made them officers over his troops.

Paul on the Island of Malta

28 Once we were safe on shore, we learned that we were on the island of Malta. ² The people of the island were very kind to us. It was cold and rainy, so they built a fire on the shore to welcome us.

³ As Paul gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bit him on the hand. ⁴ The people of the island saw it hanging from his hand and said to each other, “A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live.” ⁵ But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. ⁶ The people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn’t harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god.

⁷ Near the shore where we landed was an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and treated us kindly for three days. ⁸ As it happened, Publius’s father was ill with fever and dysentery. Paul went in and prayed for him, and laying his hands on him, he healed him. ⁹ Then all the other sick people on the island came and were healed. ¹⁰ As a result we were showered with honors, and when the time came to sail, people supplied us with everything we would need for the trip.

Paul Arrives at Rome

¹¹ It was three months after the shipwreck that we set sail on another ship that had wintered at the island—an Alexandrian ship with the twin gods^[a] as its figurehead. ¹² Our first stop was Syracuse,^[b] where we stayed three days. ¹³ From there we sailed across to Rhegium.^[c] A day later a south wind began blowing, so the following day we sailed up the coast to Puteoli. ¹⁴ There we found some believers,^[d] who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome.

¹⁵ The brothers and sisters^[e] in Rome had heard we were coming, and they came to meet us at the Forum^[f] on the Appian Way. Others joined us at The Three Taverns.^[g] When Paul saw them, he was encouraged and thanked God.

¹⁶ When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to have his own private lodging, though he was guarded by a soldier.

Paul Preaches at Rome under Guard

¹⁷ Three days after Paul’s arrival, he called together the local Jewish leaders. He said to them, “Brothers, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Roman government, even though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors. ¹⁸ The Romans tried me and wanted to release me, because they found no cause for the death sentence. ¹⁹ But when the Jewish leaders protested the decision, I felt it necessary to appeal to Caesar, even though I had no desire to press charges against my own people. ²⁰ I asked you to come here today so we could get acquainted and so I could explain to you that I am bound with this chain because I believe that the hope of Israel—the Messiah—has already come.”

²¹ They replied, “We have had no letters from Judea or reports against you from anyone who has come here. ²² But we want to hear what you believe, for the only thing we know about this movement is that it is denounced everywhere.”

²³ So a time was set, and on that day a large number of people came to Paul’s lodging. He explained and testified about the Kingdom of God and tried to persuade them about Jesus from the Scriptures. Using the law of Moses and the books of the prophets, he spoke to them from morning until evening. ²⁴ Some were persuaded by the things he said, but others did not believe. ²⁵ And after they had argued back and forth among themselves, they left with this final word from Paul: “The Holy Spirit was right when he said to your ancestors through Isaiah the prophet,

²⁸ So I want you to know that this salvation from God has also been offered to the Gentiles, and they will accept it.”^[i]

³⁰ For the next two years, Paul lived in Rome at his own expense.^[j] He welcomed all who visited him, ³¹ boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him.

Psalm 9

For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be sung to the tune “Death of the Son.”