Kohanim and Levites in Nehemiah’s Day

9 So all Israel were registered by genealogies—behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel.

Judah was carried away captive to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness. ² The first to settle on their property in their towns were Israelites, kohanim, Levites and the Temple servants. ³ Those from the children of Judah, the children of Benjamin, and the children of Ephraim and Manasseh who settled in Jerusalem were: ⁴ Uthai son of Ammihud, son of Omri, son of Imri, son of Bani, who was a descendant of Perez son of Judah.

⁵ From the Shilonites:

Asaiah the firstborn and his sons.

⁶ From the sons of Zerah: Jeuel and their kinsmen—690.

⁷ From the sons of Benjamin:

Sallu son of Meshullam, son of Hodaviah, son of Hassenuah; ⁸ Ibneiah son of Jeroham; and Elah son of Uzzi, son of Michri; and Meshullam son of Shephatiah, son of Reuel, son of Ibneiah, ⁹ and their kinsmen, according to their genealogies—956. All these men were leaders of their clans.

¹⁰ From the kohanim:

Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, Jachin, ¹¹ Azariah son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, the ruler of the House of God; ¹² Adaiah son of Jeroham, son of Pashhur, son of Malchijah and Maasai son of Adiel, son of Jahzerah, son of Meshullam, son of Meshillemith, son of Immer, ¹³ and their kinsmen, heads of their clans 1,760 very able men for the work of avodah in the House of God.

¹⁴ From the Levites:

Shemaiah son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah, from the sons of Merari; ¹⁵ Bakbakkar, Heresh, Galal, and Mattaniah son of Mica, son of Zichri, son of Asaph; ¹⁶ Obadiah son of Shemaiah, son of Galal, son of Jeduthun; and Berechiah son of Asa, son of Elkanah, who lived in the villages of the Netophathites.

¹⁷ The gatekeepers:

Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman and their brothers. Shallum was the leader; ¹⁸ he serves to this day at the king’s gate to the east. These were the gatekeepers for the camp of the descendants of Levi. ¹⁹ Shallum son of Kore, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah, and his kinsmen from his ancesteral clan, the Korahites, were assigned to guard the gates of the Tent. Their ancestors had been responsible for guarding the entrance to the dwelling of Adonai ²⁰ when Phinehas, son of Eleazar had been ruler over them in time past and Adonai was with him. ²¹ Zechariah the son of Meshelemiah was gatekeeper of the door of the Tent of Meeting.

²² All these chosen to be gatekeepers at the gates were 212. These were registered in the genealogical records of their villages. David and Samuel the seer had appointed them to their offices. ²³ They and their sons were guards of the gates of the House of Adonai, that is, the Tabernacle. ²⁴ The gatekeepers were posted on the four sides, toward the east, west, north, and south. ²⁵ Their kinsmen in their villages were to come from time to time and serve with them for seven days. ²⁶ For the four chief gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted over the chambers and over the treasuries in the House of God. ²⁷ They would spend the night around the House of God, because they were assigned to guard it and were in charge of opening it morning by morning.

²⁸ Now some of them had charge of the utensils for avodah, for by count they brought them in and by count they took them out. ²⁹ Some of them were appointed over the equipment and over all the utensils of the sanctuary, as well as over the fine flour, the wine, the oil, the frankincense and the spices. ³⁰ But some of the sons of the kohanim prepared the mixture of spices. ³¹ Mattithiah, one of the Levites, the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite, was in charge of preparing the flat cakes. ³² Some of the relatives of Kohathites were in charge of preparing the rows of bread every Shabbat.

³³ Now these were the singers, patriarchal leaders of the Levites, who stayed in the chambers and were exempt from other service, for they were on duty day and night. ³⁴ These were heads of the Levite families, chiefs in their geneaological records. These lived in Jerusalem.

³⁵ Jeiel, the father of Gibeon, lived in Gibeon. His wife’s name was Maacah. ³⁶ His firstborn son was Abdon, then Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab, ³⁷ Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah and Mikloth. ³⁸ Mikloth fathered Shimeam. They also lived with their kinsmen in Jerusalem, opposite their kinsmen.

³⁹ Ner fathered Kish and Kish fathered Saul. Saul fathered Jonathan, Malchi-shua, Abinadab and Eshbaal.

⁴⁰ The son of Jonathan was Merib-baal and Merib-baal fathered Micah.

⁴¹ The sons of Micah were Pithon, Melech, Taharea and Ahaz.

⁴² Ahaz fathered Jarah and Jarah fathered Alemeth, Azmaveth and Zimri.

Zimri fathered Moza ⁴³ and Moza fathered Binea; Rephaiah was his son, Eleasah his son and Azel his son.

⁴⁴ Azel had six sons:

Azrikam, Bocru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah and Hanan. These were the sons of Azel.

Saul Dies on Mount Gilboa

10 Now the Philistines fought against Israel. The men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. ² The Philistines pursued Saul and his sons. The Philistines killed Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malchi-shua. ³ The battle raged around Saul and the archers spotted him and he was wounded by the archers.

⁴ Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, so that these uncircumcised will not come and torture me.”

But his armor-bearer refused to do it, because he was terrified. Therefore Saul took the sword and fell on it. ⁵ When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died. ⁶ So Saul and his three sons died; his whole household died together. ⁷ Now when all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that they had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their towns and fled. The Philistines then came and lived in them.

⁸ The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ They stripped him and took his head and his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines proclaiming the good news to their idols and to the people. ¹⁰ They put his armor in the house of their gods, and hung his head in the house of Dagon.

¹¹ Now when all Jabesh Gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹² all the valiant men arose and retrieved the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their bones under the oak tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

¹³ So Saul died because of his unfaithful acts that he committed against the word of Adonai, which he did not keep, and he even consulted a medium for guidance ¹⁴ rather than inquire of Adonai. So He put him to death and transferred the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.

²¹ As they had long been without food, Paul stood up in their midst and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not sailed from Crete, to avoid this disaster and loss. ²² Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you—but only of the ship. ²³ For this very night, there came to me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve. ²⁴ He said, ‘Do not fear, Paul. You must stand before Caesar; and indeed, God has granted you all who are sailing with you.’ ²⁵ So take heart, men, for I trust God that it will be exactly as I have been told. ²⁶ But we must run aground on some island.”

²⁷ Now when the fourteenth night had come, as we were drifting across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to sense that they were nearing some land. ²⁸ So they took soundings and found the water was twenty fathoms deep.^[a] A bit farther along, they took another sounding and found it was fifteen fathoms deep. ²⁹ Fearing that we might run aground on the rocks, they threw out four anchors from the stern. They were longing for day to come.

³⁰ Now the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had lowered the dinghy into the sea, pretending they were going to put out anchors from the bow. ³¹ Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain on the ship, you cannot be saved!”

³² Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the dinghy and let it drift away. ³³ As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have kept waiting and going without food, having taken nothing. ³⁴ Therefore, I urge you to take some food—for this is for your survival, since not one of you will lose a hair from his head.”

³⁵ And when he had said these things, he took bread, gave thanks to God before them all, broke it, and began to eat. ³⁶ Then all were encouraged and took some food themselves. ³⁷ (In all we were 276 persons on the ship.)

³⁸ When they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship, throwing the wheat into the sea. ³⁹ Then when daylight came, they did not recognize the land; but they noticed a bay with a beach, where they planned to run the ship aground if they could. ⁴⁰ So they cut off the anchors and left them in the sea, while loosening the ropes of the rudders at the same time. Then, hoisting the forward sail to the wind, they made for the beach. ⁴¹ But they struck a sandbar between the seas and ran the ship aground. The bow stuck fast and remained immovable, and the stern began to break up by the pounding of the waves.

⁴² The plan of the soldiers was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would escape by swimming away. ⁴³ But the centurion, wanting to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those able to swim to throw themselves overboard first and get to land— ⁴⁴ and the rest to get there on boards and pieces of the ship. And in this way all were brought safely to land.

Humanity is God’s Splendor

Psalm 8