¹⁸ The sons of Reuben and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh had 44,760 warriors ready for war—men who carried shield and sword and drew the bow, and were skilled in battle. ¹⁹ So they made war with the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish and Nodab. ²⁰ They received help against them, so that the Hagrites and all who were with them were delivered into their hand, for they cried out to God during the battle. He answered their supplications, because they put their trust in Him. ²¹ They took away their livestock: 50,000 of their camels, 250,000 sheep, and 2,000 donkeys, as well as 100,000 people. ²² For many fell slain, because the war was of God. So they dwelt in their place until the exile.

Manesseh East of Jordan

²³ Now the children of the half-tribe of Manasseh settled in the land from Bashan to Baal-hermon, Senir and Mount Hermon. They were numerous. ²⁴ These were the heads of their clans: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, Jahdiel. They were mighty men of valor, famous men, heads of their clans.

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 King Pul of Assyria—the spirit of Tillegath-pilneser king of Assyria—and he carried away the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara and to the river of Gozan, to this day.

Descendants of Levi

²⁷ The sons of Levi:

Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

²⁸ The sons of Kohath:

Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.

²⁹ The children of Amram:

Aaron, Moses and Miriam.

The sons of Aaron:

Nadav and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

³⁰ Eleazar fathered Phinehas and Phinehas fathered Abishua. ³¹ Abishua fathered Bukki, and Bukki fathered Uzzi. ³² Uzzi fathered Zerahiah and Zerahiah fathered Meraioth. ³³ Meraioth fathered Amariah and Amariah fathered Ahitub. ³⁴ Ahitub fathered Zadok and Zadok fathered Ahimaaz. ³⁵ Ahimaaz fathered Azariah and Azariah fathered Johanan. ³⁶ Johanan fathered Azariah, who served as kohen in the House that Solomon built in Jerusalem. ³⁷ Azariah fathered Amariah, and Amariah fathered Ahitub. ³⁸ Ahitub fathered Zadok, and Zadok fathered Shallum. ³⁹ Shallum fathered Hilkiah, and Hilkiah fathered Azariah, ⁴⁰ and Azariah fathered Seraiah, and Seraiah fathered Jehozadak. ⁴¹ Jehozadak went into captivity when Adonai exiled Judah and Jerusalem by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.

6 The sons of Levi:

Gershom, Kohath and Merari.

² These are the names of the sons of Gershom:

Libni and Shimei.

³ The sons of Kohath:

Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.

⁴ The sons of Merari:

Mahli and Mushi.

These are the families of the Levites according to their clans.

⁵ Of Gershom:

Libni his son, Jahath his son, Zimmah his son, ⁶ Joah his son, Iddo his son, Zerah his son and Jeatherai his son.

⁷ The sons of Kohath:

Amminadab his son, Korah his son, Assir his son, ⁸ Elkanah his son, and Ebiasaph his son, Assir his son, ⁹ Tahath his son, Uriel his son, Uzziah his son and Shaul his son.

¹⁰ The sons of Elkanah:

Amasai and Ahimoth, ¹¹ his son Elkanah, Zophai his son, Nahath his son, ¹² Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elkanah his son.

¹³ The sons of Samuel:

his first-born Vashni, then Abiah.

¹⁴ The sons of Merari:

Mahli, Libni his son, Shimei his son, Uzzah his son, ¹⁵ Shimea his son, Haggiah his son, Asaiah his son.

¹⁶ Now these are the men David appointed to be in charge of the singing in the House of Adonai, after the Ark came to rest. ¹⁷ They ministered with song in front of the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting, until Solomon built the House of Adonai in Jerusalem. They carried out their avodah according to their regulations.

¹⁸ These are the ones who took their station, with their sons.

Of the sons of the Kohathites:

Heman the singer, son of Joel, son of Samuel, ¹⁹ son of Elkanah, son of Jeroham, son of Eliel, son of Toah, ²⁰ son of Zuph, son of Elkanah, son of Mahath, son of Amasai, ²¹ son of Elkanah, son of Joel, son of Azariah, son of Zephaniah, ²² son of Tahath, son of Assir, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah, ²³ son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, son of Israel.

²⁴ His kinsman Asaph stood on his right—Asaph son of Berechiah, son of Shimea, ²⁵ son of Michael, son of Baaseiah, son of Malchijah, ²⁶ son of Ethni, son of Zerah, son of Adaiah, ²⁷ son of Ethan, son of Zimmah, son of Shimei, ²⁸ son of Jahath, son of Gershom, son of Levi.

²⁹ On the left hand their kinsmen the sons of Merari: Ethan son of Kishi, son of Abdi, son of Malluch, ³⁰ son of Hashabiah, son of Amaziah, son of Hilkiah, ³¹ son of Amzi, son of Bani, son of Shemer, ³² son of Mahli, son of Mushi, son of Merari, son of Levi.

³³ Their fellow Levites were appointed for all the avodah of the tabernacle of the House of God. ³⁴ But Aaron and his sons were the ones presenting offerings on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense, for all the service of the Holy of Holies and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.

³⁵ Now these are the sons of Aaron:

Eleazar his son, Phineas his son, Abishua his son, ³⁶ Bukki his son, Uzzi his son, Zerahiah his son, ³⁷ Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, Ahitub his son, ³⁸ Zadok his son, Ahimaaz his son.

Towns and Lands for Levites

³⁹ Now these are their dwelling places according to their encampments in their territories. To Aaron’s sons of the Kohathite families (for theirs was the first lot), ⁴⁰ to them they assigned Hebron in the land of Judah, and the open land around it; ⁴¹ but the fields of the city and the villages, they gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh. ⁴² To sons of Aaron they gave the cities of refuge: Hebron, also Libnah with its open land, Jattir, Eshtemoa with its open land, ⁴³ Hilen with its open land, Debir with its open land, ⁴⁴ Ashan with its open land, and Beth-shemesh with its open land. ⁴⁵ From the tribe of Benjamin: Geba with its open land, and Alemeth with its open land, and Anathoth with its open land. They had 13 cities in all among their families.

⁴⁶ To the rest of the sons of Kohath ten cities were assigned by lot from the family of the half-tribe of Manasseh. ⁴⁷ To the sons of Gershom, according to their families, 13 cities were assigned from the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from tribe of Naphtali and from the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan. ⁴⁸ To the sons of Merari 12 cities were assigned by lot, according to their families, from the tribe of Reuben, from the tribe of Gad and from the tribe of Zebulun.

⁴⁹ So Bnei-Yisrael gave to the Levites the cities with their open land. ⁵⁰ They also assigned by lot from the tribe of the children of Judah, from the tribe of the children of Simeon, and from the tribe of the children of Benjamin, these cities that were mentioned by name.

⁵¹ Some of the families of the sons of Kohath had cities of their territory from the tribe of Ephraim. ⁵² They assigned to them as cities of refuge: Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim with its open land, Gezer also with its open land, ⁵³ Jokmeam with its open land, Beth-horon with its open land ⁵⁴ Aijalon with its open land, and Gath-rimmon with its open land. ⁵⁵ Also from the half-tribe of Manasseh: Aner with its open land and Bileam with its open land, for the rest of the family of the sons of Kohath. ⁵⁶ To the sons of Gershom were assigned, from the family of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its open land and Ashtaroth with its open land, ⁵⁷ and from the tribe of Issachar, Kedesh with its open land, Dobrath with its open land, ⁵⁸ Ramoth with its open land, and Anem with its open land, ⁵⁹ and from the tribe of Asher, Mashal with its open land, Abdon with its open land, ⁶⁰ Hukok with its open land, Rehob with its open land, ⁶¹ and from the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its open land, Hammon with its open land and Kiriathaim with its open land. ⁶² To the rest—the sons of Merari—were assigned, from the tribe of Zebulun, Rimmono with its open land, Tabor with its open land, ⁶³ and beyond the Jordan at Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan, from the tribe of Reuben, Bezer in the wilderness with its open land, Jahaz with its open land, ⁶⁴ Kedemoth with its open land, and Mephaath with its open land ⁶⁵ and from the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its open land, Mahanaim with its open land, ⁶⁶ Heshbon with its open land, and Jazer with its open land.

Defense Before King Agrippa

26 Agrippa said to Paul, “It is permitted for you to speak for yourself.”

Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense. ² “Concerning all I am accused of by the Judean leaders, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that it is before you that I am about to make my defense today— ³ since you are especially knowledgeable about all Jewish customs and issues. Therefore I beg you to listen patiently to me.

⁴ “Now all the Jewish people have known my manner of life ever since my youth, starting from the beginning in my own nation and also in Jerusalem. ⁵ They have known about me for a long time—if they were willing to testify—that according to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee.

⁶ “Yet now I stand here being judged for the hope in the promise made by God to our fathers. ⁷ It is the promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jewish people, O King! ⁸ Why is it judged incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

⁹ “In fact, I myself thought it was necessary to do many things in opposition to the name of Yeshua ha-Natzrati. ¹⁰ And that is what I did in Jerusalem. Not only did I lock up many of the kedoshim in prisons by the authority I received from the ruling kohanim, but I cast my vote against them when they were being condemned to death. ¹¹ I tried to cause them to blaspheme by punishing them often in the synagogues. In furious rage against them, I persecuted them even in foreign cities.

¹² “While journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the ruling kohanim, ¹³ at midday, O King, I saw on the road a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me. ¹⁴ When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against goads!’

¹⁵ “Then I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

“And the Lord said, ‘I am Yeshua—whom you are persecuting. ¹⁶ But get up, and stand on your feet.^[a] For I have appeared to you for this purpose—to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things you have seen as well as to the things I will yet reveal to you. ¹⁷ I will rescue you^[b] from your own people, and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, ¹⁸ to open their eyes—so they may turn from darkness to light^[c] and from the power of satan to God, that they may receive release from sins as well as a place among those who are made holy through trusting in Me.’

¹⁹ “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. ²⁰ Rather, I kept declaring—first to those in Damascus, and then Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also the Gentiles—that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds consistent with that repentance.

²¹ “For this reason some Judeans seized me in the Temple and tried to put me to death. ²² Since I have had God’s help, to this day I have stood here testifying to both small and great. I am saying nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to happen— ²³ that the Messiah was to suffer and that, being first to rise from the dead, He would proclaim light both to our people and to the nations.^[d]”

²⁴ As Paul was thus making his defense, Festus says with a loud voice, “You’re crazy, Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane!”

²⁵ But Paul declares, “I am not insane, most noble Festus! Rather I am speaking the sober truth. ²⁶ For the king knows about these things, and I speak freely to him, since I am convinced that none of these things escape his notice—for this was not done in a corner. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the Prophets? I know that you do believe!”

²⁸ Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time you are trying to persuade me to be Messianic!”^[e]

²⁹ And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would pray to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today would be such as I am—except for these chains!”

³⁰ Then the king stood up, as well as the governor, Bernice, and those sitting with them. ³¹ When they had gone away, they began talking among themselves, saying, “This man is doing nothing deserving of death or chains.”

³² Then Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free, if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

Prayer for Mercy

Psalm 6