Beginning

9 The names of all the people of Israel were listed in their family histories. Those family histories were put in the book of the kings of Israel.

The People in Jerusalem

The people of Judah were captured and forced to go to Babylon. This is because they were not faithful to God. ² The first people to come back and live in their own lands and towns were some Israelites, priests, Levites and Temple servants.

³ People from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh lived in Jerusalem. This is a list of those people.

⁴ There was Uthai son of Ammihud. (Ammihud was Omri’s son. Omri was Imri’s son. Imri was Bani’s son. Bani was a descendant of Perez. Perez was Judah’s son.)

⁵ Of the Shilonite people there were Asaiah and his sons. Asaiah was the oldest son in his family.

⁶ Of the Zerahite people there were Jeuel and other relatives of Zerah. There were 690 of them in all.

⁷ From the tribe of Benjamin there was Sallu son of Meshullam. (Meshullam was Hodaviah’s son. Hodaviah was Hassenuah’s son.) ⁸ There was also Ibneiah son of Jeroham and Elah son of Uzzi. (Uzzi was Micri’s son.) And there was Meshullam son of Shephatiah. (Shephatiah was Reuel’s son, and Reuel was Ibnijah’s son.) ⁹ The family history of Benjamin lists 956 people living in Jerusalem. All these men were leaders of their families.

¹⁰ Of the priests there were Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, Jakin and ¹¹ Azariah son of Hilkiah. (Hilkiah was Meshullam’s son. Meshullam was Zadok’s son. Zadok was Meraioth’s son. Meraioth was Ahitub’s son. Ahitub was the officer who was responsible for the Temple of God.) ¹² Also there was Adaiah son of Jeroham. (Jeroham was Pashhur’s son, and Pashhur was Malkijah’s son.) And there was Maasai son of Adiel. (Adiel was Jahzerah’s son. Jahzerah was Meshullam’s son. Meshullam was Meshillemith’s son, and Meshillemith was Immer’s son.) ¹³ There were 1,760 priests. They were leaders of their families. They were responsible for serving in the Temple of God.

¹⁴ Of the Levites there was Semaiah son of Hasshub. (Hasshub was Azrikam’s son. Azrikam was Hashabiah’s son. Hashabiah was from the family of Merari.) ¹⁵ There were also Bakbakkar, Heresh, Galal and Mattaniah son of Mica. (Mica was Zicri’s son. Zicri was Asaph’s son.) ¹⁶ There was also Obadiah son of Shemaiah. (Shemaiah was Galal’s son, and Galal was Jeduthun’s son.) And there was Berekiah son of Asa. (Asa was Elkanah’s son. Elkanah lived in the villages of the Netophathite people.)

¹⁷ Of the gatekeepers there were Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman and their relatives. Shallum was their leader. ¹⁸ These gatekeepers from the tribe of Levi still stand next to the King’s Gate on the east side of the city. ¹⁹ Shallum was Kore’s son. Kore was Ebiasaph’s son. Ebiasaph was Korah’s son. Shallum and his relatives from the family of Korah were gatekeepers. They were responsible for guarding the gates of the Temple. Their ancestors had also been responsible for guarding the entrance to the Temple. ²⁰ In the past Phinehas was in charge of the gatekeepers. He was Eleazar’s son. The Lord was with Phinehas. ²¹ Zechariah was the gatekeeper at the entrance to the Temple. He was the son of Meshelemiah.

²² In all, 212 men were chosen to guard the gates. Their names were written in their family histories in their villages. David and Samuel the seer chose these men because they were dependable. ²³ The gatekeepers and their descendants had the responsibility of guarding the gates of the Temple of the Lord. (The Temple took the place of the Holy Tent.) ²⁴ There were gatekeepers on all four sides of the Temple: east, west, north and south. ²⁵ The gatekeepers’ relatives who lived in the villages had to come and help them at certain times. Each time they came they helped the gatekeepers for seven days. ²⁶ Because they were dependable, four gatekeepers were made the leaders of all the gatekeepers. They were Levites. They were responsible for the rooms and treasures in the Temple of God. ²⁷ They stayed up all night guarding the Temple of God. And they opened it every morning.

²⁸ Some of the gatekeepers were responsible for the tools and dishes used in the Temple services. They counted these tools and dishes when people took them out. And they counted them when people brought them back. ²⁹ Other gatekeepers were chosen to take care of the things in the Holy Place. They also took care of the flour, wine, oil, incense and spices. ³⁰ But some of the priests took care of mixing the spices. ³¹ There was a Levite named Mattithiah. Because he was dependable, he had the job of baking the bread used for the offerings. He was Shallum’s first son. Shallum was from the family of Korah. ³² Some of the gatekeepers had the job of preparing the special bread. This was the bread that was put on the table every Sabbath. These people were from the Kohath family.

³³ Some of the Levites were musicians in the Temple. The leaders of these families stayed in the rooms of the Temple. They were on duty day and night. So they did not do other work in the Temple.

³⁴ These are the leaders of the Levite families. Their names were listed in their family histories. They lived in Jerusalem.

The Family History of King Saul

³⁵ Jeiel lived in the town of Gibeon, where he was the leader. His wife was named Maacah. ³⁶ Jeiel’s first son was Abdon. His other sons were Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab, ³⁷ Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah and Mikloth. ³⁸ Mikloth was Shimeam’s father. Jeiel’s family lived near their relatives in Jerusalem.

³⁹ Ner was Kish’s father. Kish was Saul’s father. And Saul was the father of Jonathan, Malki-Shua, Abinadab and Esh-Baal.

⁴⁰ Jonathan’s son was Merib-Baal. Merib-Baal was Micah’s father.

⁴¹ Micah’s sons were Pithon, Melech, Tahrea and Ahaz. ⁴² Ahaz was Jadah’s father. Jadah was the father of Alemeth, Azmaveth and Zimri. Zimri was Moza’s father. ⁴³ Moza was Binea’s father. Rephaiah was Binea’s son. Eleasah was Rephaiah’s son, and Azel was Eleasah’s son.

⁴⁴ Azel had six sons. Their names were Azrikam, Bokeru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah and Hanan. They were Azel’s sons.

The Death of King Saul

10 The Philistine people fought against the people of Israel. The Israelites ran away from them. And many Israelites were killed on Mount Gilboa. ² The Philistines continued chasing Saul and his sons. And they killed Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. ³ The fighting became heavy around Saul. The archers shot him with their arrows and wounded him.

⁴ Then Saul said to the officer who carried his armor, “Pull out your sword and kill me. If you don’t, these men who are not circumcised will come and hurt me.” But the officer was afraid. So he refused to kill Saul. Then Saul took his own sword and fell on it. ⁵ The officer saw that Saul was dead. So he fell on his own sword and died. ⁶ So Saul and three of his sons died. All his family died together.

⁷ The Israelites living in the valley saw that their army had run away. And they saw that Saul and his sons were dead. So they left their towns and ran away. Then the Philistines came and lived in those towns.

⁸ The next day the Philistines came to take valuable things from the dead bodies. On Mount Gilboa they found the bodies of Saul and his sons. ⁹ The Philistines stripped Saul’s body. And they took his head and his armor. They sent messengers through all their country to tell the news to their idols and their people. ¹⁰ The Philistines put Saul’s armor in the temple of their idols. And they hung his head in the temple of Dagon.

¹¹ All the people living in Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul. ¹² So all the brave men from Jabesh Gilead went and got the bodies of Saul and his sons. They brought them to Jabesh Gilead. Then they buried the bones of Saul and his sons under the large tree in Jabesh. And they gave up eating for seven days.

¹³ Saul died because he was not faithful to the Lord. He did not obey the Lord. He even went to a medium and asked her for advice. ¹⁴ He did this instead of asking the Lord for help. This is why the Lord put Saul to death and gave the kingdom to Jesse’s son David.

David Becomes King

11 All the people of Israel came to David at the town of Hebron. They said, “We are your people. ² Even when Saul was king, you were the man who led Israel in battle. The Lord your God spoke to you. He said, ‘David, you will be the shepherd of my people, the people of Israel. You will become their leader.’”

³ All the elders of Israel came to King David at Hebron. He made an agreement with them before the Lord in Hebron. The leaders poured olive oil on David to appoint him king over Israel. The Lord had promised this would happen. He had made this promise through Samuel.

David Defeats Jerusalem

⁴ David and all the Israelites went to the city of Jerusalem. At that time Jerusalem was called Jebus. The people living there were named Jebusites. ⁵ They said to David, “You can’t get inside our city.” But David captured their strong city of Jerusalem, the City of David.

⁶ David had said, “The person who leads the attack against the Jebusites will become the commander over all my army.” Joab son of Zeruiah led the attack. So he became the commander of the army.

⁷ Then David made his home in the strong, walled city. That is why it was named the City of David. ⁸ David rebuilt the city. He started where the land was filled in and went to the wall that was around the city. Joab repaired the other parts of the city. ⁹ David became more and more powerful. And the Lord of heaven’s armies was with him.

David’s Mighty Warriors

¹⁰ This is a list of the leaders over David’s warriors. These warriors helped make David’s kingdom strong. All the people of Israel also supported David’s kingdom. These heroes and all the people of Israel made David king. This happened as the Lord had promised.

¹¹ This is a list of David’s warriors:

Jashobeam was from the Hacmonite people. He was the leader of the Three,^[a] David’s most powerful soldiers. He used his spear to fight 300 men at one time. And he killed them all.

¹² Next was Eleazar. He was one of the Three. Eleazar was Dodai’s son. Dodai was from the Ahohite people. ¹³ Eleazar was with David at Pas-Dammim. The Philistines came there to fight the Israelites. There was a field of barley at that place. The Israelites ran away from the Philistines. ¹⁴ But they stopped in the middle of that field and fought the Philistines. And they killed the Philistines. The Lord gave Israel a great victory.

¹⁵ Three of the 30 leaders went to David. He was at the rock by the cave near Adullam. At the same time a group from the Philistine army was camped in the Valley of Rephaim.

¹⁶ David was in a protected place at that time. The Philistine army was staying in the town of Bethlehem. ¹⁷ David had a strong desire for some water. He said, “Oh, I wish someone would get me water from the well near the city gate of Bethlehem!” ¹⁸ So the Three fought their way through the Philistine army. And they took water out of the well near the city gate in Bethlehem. Then they took it back to David. But he refused to drink it. He poured it out before the Lord. ¹⁹ David said, “May God keep me from drinking this water! It would be like drinking the blood of the men who risked their lives to bring me this water.” So David refused to drink it.

These were the brave things the Three did.

²⁰ Abishai brother of Joab was the leader of the Three. Abishai fought 300 men with his spear and killed them. He became as famous as the Three. ²¹ He was more honored than the Three. He became their commander even though he was not one of them.

²² Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a brave fighter from Kabzeel. Benaiah did many brave things. He killed two of the best warriors from Moab. He also went down into a pit when it was snowing. There he killed a lion. ²³ Benaiah also killed an Egyptian who was about seven and a half feet tall. The Egyptian had a spear as large as a weaver’s rod. Benaiah had a club. But he grabbed the spear from the Egyptian’s hand. And he used the Egyptian’s own spear to kill him. ²⁴ These were the things Benaiah son of Jehoiada did. Benaiah became as famous as the Three. ²⁵ He received more honor than the Thirty, David’s most powerful soldiers. But he did not become a member of the Three. David chose Benaiah to be the leader of his bodyguards.

²⁶ These were also mighty warriors: