Beginning
The people who returned to Jerusalem
9 All the Israelites' names were included in the lists of their ancestors. Those lists are written in the history book about Israel's kings.
The people of Judah had turned away from the Lord. Their enemies took them away to Babylon as their prisoners. 2 The first people who returned to their home towns after that were some priests, Levites, servants in the temple and other Israelites.
3-4 Some people from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh lived in Jerusalem.
Those people included: Uthai, son of Ammihud and grandson of Omri. Omri was Imri's son. Imri was Bani's son. Bani was a descendant of Judah's son, Perez.
5 From the clan of Judah's son Shelah, there were Asaiah and his sons. Asaiah was the oldest son in his family.
6 From the clan of Judah's son Zerah, there was Jeuel.
There were 690 people from Judah's tribe who returned.
7 From Benjamin's tribe, there was: Sallu, the son of Meshullam and grandson of Hodaviah, who was Hassenuah's son. 8 There was also Jeroham's son Ibneiah, Elah the son of Uzzi and grandson of Mikri's, and Meshullam, son of Shephatiah and grandson of Reuel, who was Ibnijah's son.
9 There were 956 people from Benjamin's tribe who returned. Their names are written in the lists of their ancestors. All those men were leaders of their clans.
The priests who returned
10 The priests who returned to live in Jerusalem were: Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, Jakin and Azariah.[a] 11 Azariah was Hilkiah's son. Hilkiah was Meshullam's son. Meshullam was Zadok's son. Zadok was Meraioth's son. Meraioth was Ahitub's son. Ahitub was the most important officer in God's temple. 12 There was also Adaiah, the son of Jeroham and grandson of Pashhur, who was Malkijah's son. And there was Maasai, the son of Adiel and grandson of Jahzerah. Jahzerah was Meshullam's son. Meshullam was Meshillemith's son, and Meshillemith was Immer's son.
13 There were 1,760 priests and their relatives who returned. They were leaders of their clans. They were able to do their jobs well as they served God in his temple.
The Levites
14 From the Levites, there were: Shemaiah, the son of Hasshub and grandson of Azrikam, who was Hashabiah's son. Hashabiah belonged to Merari's clan. 15 There was Bakbakkar, Heresh, Galal and Mattaniah, the son of Mica and grandson of Zikri, who was a descendant of Asaph. 16 There was also Obadiah, the son of Shemaiah and grandson of Galal, who was Jeduthun's son. And there was Berekiah, the son of Asa and grandson of Elkanah. Elkanah had lived in the villages of the Netophath people.
Levites who were temple guards
17 The Levite guards at the gates of the temple were: Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman and their relatives. Shallum was their leader. 18 Those guards stood at the King's Gate on the east side of the temple.
19 Shallum was the son of Kore and grandson of Ebiasaph, who belonged to Korah's clan. Shallum and his relatives from Korah's clan were guards at the entrance of the Lord's Holy Place. Their ancestors had also been guards at the entrance of the Lord's special tent. 20 Eleazar's son Phinehas had been the leader of the guards at one time. The Lord was with Phinehas to help him. 21 Meshelemiah's son Zechariah was also a guard at the entrance of the tent where the Lord met with his people.
22 There were 212 guards for the gates of the temple. Their names were written in the lists of their ancestors, for each village where they lived. King David and the prophet Samuel had chosen their ancestors to do this important work as guards. 23 Those men and their descendants had to stand as guards at the gates of the Lord's Holy Place, which had been a special tent. 24 The guards stood on the four sides of the Lord's house: the east, west, north and south sides. 25 Their relatives lived in their villages. They came to Jerusalem to help with the work as guards. Each time that they came, they worked there for seven days. 26 There were four faithful Levite guards who led the work. They kept safe the rooms in God's house where they stored valuable things and money. 27 They stayed at their places around God's house during each night. It was their work to keep it safe. Each morning they would use their key to open the gates.
28 Some of the guards kept safe the valuable things that the priests used when they served the Lord. The guards counted those things when the priests brought them in. They counted them again when the priests took them out.
29 Some other guards kept safe the tools and the valuable things that were in the Holy Place. Some guards took care of the flour, wine, olive oil, incense and spices. 30 But it was the work of some of the priests to mix the spices. 31 Mattithiah was a Levite who belonged to Korah's clan. His work was to prepare the bread that they used as offerings. 32 Other Levites who belonged to Kohath's clan prepared the bread for the special table. The priests put this bread on the special table in the Holy Place each Sabbath day.
33 Some of the Levites were musicians in the temple. The leaders of those clans lived in rooms at the temple. They needed to do their work as musicians during the night, as well as during the day. So they did not have other jobs to do in the temple. 34 Those men were the leaders of the Levite clans. Their names are written in the lists of their clans' ancestors. They lived in Jerusalem.
The descendants of Jeiel
35 Gibeon's father, Jeiel, lived in Gibeon town. His wife's name was Maakah. 36 His firstborn son was Abdon. His other sons were Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab, 37 Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah and Mikloth.
38 Mikloth became the father of Shimeam. They lived near their relatives in Jerusalem.
39 Ner became the father of Kish. Kish became the father of Saul. Saul became the father of Jonathan, Malki-Shua, Abinadab and Esh-Baal.
40 Jonathan's son was Merib-Baal. Merib-Baal became the father of Micah.
41 Micah's sons were: Pithon, Melech, Tahrea and Ahaz.
42 Ahaz became the father of Jadah.
Jadah became the father of Alemeth, Azmaveth and Zimri.
Zimri became the father of Moza.
43 Moza became the father of Binea. Binea's son was Rephaiah. Rephaiah's son was Eleasah. Eleasah's son was Azel. 44 Azel had six sons: Azrikam, Bokeru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah and Hanan. That is the list of Azel's sons.
Saul and his sons die in war
10 The Philistines fought against the Israelites.[b] The Israelites ran away, and the Philistines killed many of them on Gilboa mountain. 2 The Philistines chased after Saul and his sons to catch them. They killed Saul's sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. 3 The Philistines were fighting the battle all around Saul. Some of their soldiers saw Saul and they shot their arrows at him. The arrows hurt Saul very much.
4 Saul said to the young man who carried his armour, ‘Kill me now with your sword. I do not want these foreign men to come and be cruel to me.’ But the young man would not agree to kill Saul because he was too afraid. So Saul took his own sword and he threw himself onto it so that he died. 5 The young man saw that Saul was dead. So he threw himself onto his own sword and he died too. 6 So Saul died there, with his three sons. His whole family died together.
7 All the Israelites who lived in Jezreel valley saw that their army had run away from the Philistines. They also saw that Saul and his sons were dead. So they left their towns and they ran away. Then the Philistines came to live in those towns.
8 On the day after the battle, the Philistines came to take all the valuable things from the dead soldiers. They found the dead bodies of Saul and his sons on Gilboa mountain. 9 They removed everything from Saul's dead body. They took away his head and his weapons. Then they sent men through all the country of the Philistines with the news of Saul's death. These men told the news to all their people and to their idols as well. 10 They put Saul's weapons in the temple of their gods. They hung his head in the temple of their god, Dagon.
11 All the Israelites who lived in Jabesh Gilead heard about what the Philistines had done to Saul's body. 12 So all their brave soldiers went to fetch the dead bodies of Saul and his sons. They took them to Jabesh Gilead. They buried the bones under the large tree there. The people in Jabesh Gilead did not eat any food for seven days because they were so sad.
13 Saul died because he turned away from the Lord. He did not obey the Lord's commands. He even tried to get advice from the spirits of dead people. 14 He did not ask the Lord to tell him what he should do. So the Lord punished him with death. The Lord gave the kingdom of Israel to Jesse's son, David, instead.
David becomes king[c]
11 Then all the Israelites came to David at Hebron. They said to him, ‘We all belong to the same family as you do. 2 In the past, even when Saul was our king, you led the Israelites in war. The Lord your God said to you, “You will take care of my people, as a shepherd takes care of his sheep. You will rule over my people, Israel.” ’
3 So King David made an agreement with the leaders of Israel when they came to him at Hebron. They made promises in the Lord's name. Then they anointed David to be king over Israel. The Lord had told Samuel that this would happen.
David and his men attack Jerusalem
4 David and the whole Israelite army marched to attack Jerusalem. At that time, the city was called Jebus. The people who lived there were called Jebusites. 5 The Jebusites said to David, ‘You will never get into our city.’ But David did get in and he took Zion, the city's strong place. It is now called the City of David.
6 David had said to his soldiers, ‘The man who attacks the Jebusites first will become the captain of my army.’ Zeruiah's son Joab attacked first. So he became the captain of the army.
7 David went to live in the strong place of the city. So people called it ‘The City of David’. 8 David built more houses all around it, from the edge of the hill to the city's walls. Joab built up again the other buildings in the city. 9 David became more and more powerful because the Lord Almighty was with him.
David's brave soldiers
10 These were the leaders of David's brave soldiers. They helped to make David's kingdom strong, so that he ruled over all the people in Israel. That is what the Lord had promised. 11 This is the list of David's brave soldiers:
Jashobeam belonged to Hakmoni's clan. He was the leader of David's officers. He used his spear to fight against 300 men in one battle and he killed all of them.
12 Eleazar was also a leader among the ‘Three Brave Soldiers’. He was Dodo's son, who belonged to Ahoah's clan. 13 Eleazar was with David at Pas-Dammim. The Philistine soldiers were ready to attack the Israelites. There was a field there with a lot of barley. The Israelites ran away from the Philistines. 14 But David and Eleazar stood in the middle of the field to stop the Philistines taking it for themselves. They killed the Philistines. The Lord saved them. He caused them to win a great battle.
15 There were 30 leaders among David's soldiers. Three of them went to be with David at Adullam's cave where there was a big rock. A group of Philistine soldiers had made their camp in Rephaim valley. 16 David was in his strong safe place. A group of Philistine soldiers had made their home in Bethlehem. 17 David was very thirsty. He said, ‘I want someone to bring water from the well near Bethlehem's gate for me to drink.’ 18 So the three soldiers fought through the Philistine camp and they reached Bethlehem's gate. They took some water from the well there and they carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it. He poured it on the ground as an offering to the Lord. 19 He said, ‘God knows that it is not right for me to drink this water. It would seem like the blood of the brave men who fetched it for me. The Philistines might have killed them on the way.’ So David refused to drink it.
That was one of the great things that those three brave soldiers did.
20 Joab's brother Abishai was the leader of David's 30 great soldiers. One time, he used his spear to fight 300 men and he killed them all. So he became as famous as the ‘Three Brave Soldiers’. 21 He was not one of the ‘Three Brave Soldiers’ but he received more honour than the other 30 great soldiers. So he became their leader.
22 Jehoiada's son, Benaiah, was also one of David's brave soldiers. He came from Kabzeel and he did many great things. He killed two of Moab's best soldiers. He also went down into a deep hole to kill a lion when snow was on the ground. 23 Benaiah also killed a very big Egyptian man who was 2.3 metres tall. The Egyptian held a spear that was thick and heavy, like a big tree. Benaiah attacked him with a heavy stick. He took the spear from the Egyptian's hand and he used it to kill him. 24 Those were some things that Jehoiada's son Benaiah did. He became as famous as the ‘Three Brave Soldiers’. 25 He received more honour than the other 30 great soldiers, but he did not belong to the ‘Three Brave Soldiers’. David made him the leader of his own special soldiers who were his guards.
26 These men were also David's great soldiers:
Joab's brother Asahel.
Elhanan, Dodo's son, from Bethlehem.
27 Shammoth, from Harod's clan.
Helez, from Pelon's clan.
28 Ira, Ikkesh's son, from Tekoa.
Abiezer, from Anathoth.
29 Sibbekai, from Hushah's clan.
Ilai, from Ahoah's clan.
30 Maharai, from Netophah.
Heled, Baanah's son, also from Netophah.
31 Ithai, Ribai's son, from Gibeah, in the land that belonged to Benjamin's tribe.
Benaiah, from Pirathon.
32 Hurai, from the valleys near Gaash.
Abiel, from Arbah's clan.
33 Azmaveth, from Baharum.
Eliahba, from Shaalbon.
34 Hashem's sons, who were Gizonites.
Shagee's son Jonathan, from Harar.
35 Sachar's son Ahiam, also from Harar.
Ur's son Eliphal.
36 Hepher, from Mekerath.
Ahijah, from Pelon's clan.
37 Hezro, from Carmel.
Ezbai's son Naarai.
38 Nathan's brother Joel.
Hagri's son Mibhar.
39 Zelek, from Ammon.
Naharai, from Beeroth. He carried Joab's weapons. (Joab was the son of Zeruiah.)
40 Ira and Gareb, from Jattir.
41 Uriah, the Hittite.
Ahlai's son Zabad.
42 Shiza's son Adina, from Reuben's tribe. He was the leader of Reuben's soldiers. He had 30 brave soldiers with him.
43 Maakah's son Hanan.
Joshaphat, from Mithna.
44 Uzzia, from Ashterath.
Shama and Jeiel, sons of Hotham, from Aroer.
45 Shimri's son Jediael.
Jediael's brother Joha, from Tiz.
46 Eliel, from Mahavah.
Elnaam's sons, Jeribai and Joshaviah.
Ithmah, from Moab.
47 Eliel and Obed.
Jaasiel, from Zobah.
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