Beginning

9 The family tree of every person in Israel was carefully recorded in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

Judah was exiled to Babylon because the people worshiped idols.

² The first to return and live again in their former cities were families from the tribes of Israel and also the priests, the Levites, and the Temple assistants.

³ Then some families from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh arrived in Jerusalem:

⁴ One family was that of Uthai (the son of Ammihud, son of Omri, son of Imri, son of Bani) of the clan of Perez (son of Judah).

⁵ The Shilonites were another family to return, including Asaiah (Shilon’s oldest son) and his sons; ⁶ there were also the sons of Zerah, including Jeuel and his relatives: 690 in all.

^7-8 Among the members of the tribe of Benjamin who returned were these:

⁹ These men were all chiefs of subclans. A total of 956 Benjaminites returned.

^10-11 The priests who returned were:

¹² Another of the returning priests was Adaiah (son of Jeroham, son of Pashhur, son of Malchijah).

Another priest was Maasai (son of Adiel, son of Jahzerah, son of Meshullam, son of Meshillemith, son of Immer).

¹³ In all, 1,760 priests returned.

¹⁴ Among the Levites who returned was Shemaiah (son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah, who was a descendant of Merari).

^15-16 Other Levites who returned included:

^17-18 The gatekeepers were Shallum (the chief gatekeeper), Akkub, Talmon, and Ahiman—all Levites. They are still responsible for the eastern royal gate. ¹⁹ Shallum’s ancestry went back through Kore and Ebiasaph to Korah. He and his close relatives the Korahites were in charge of the sacrifices and the protection of the sanctuary, just as their ancestors had supervised and guarded the Tabernacle. ²⁰ Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, was the first director of this division in ancient times. And the Lord was with him.

²¹ At that time Zechariah, the son of Meshelemiah, had been responsible for the protection of the entrance to the Tabernacle. ²² There were 212 doorkeepers in those days. They were chosen from their villages on the basis of their genealogies, and they were appointed by David and Samuel because of their reliability. ²³ They and their descendants were in charge of the Lord’s Tabernacle. ²⁴ They were assigned to each of the four sides: east, west, north, and south. ²⁵ And their relatives in the villages were assigned to help them from time to time, for seven days at a time.

²⁶ The four head gatekeepers, all Levites, were in an office of great trust, for they were responsible for the rooms and treasuries in the Tabernacle of God. ²⁷ Because of their important positions, they lived near the Tabernacle, and they opened the gates each morning. ²⁸ Some of them were assigned to care for the various vessels used in the sacrifices and worship; they checked them in and out to avoid loss. ²⁹ Others were responsible for the furniture, the items in the sanctuary, and the supplies such as fine flour, wine, incense, and spices.

³⁰ Other priests prepared the spices and incense.

³¹ And Mattithiah (a Levite and the oldest son of Shallum the Korahite) was entrusted with making the flat cakes for grain offerings.

³² Some members of the Kohath clan were in charge of the preparation of the special bread^[a] each Sabbath.

^33-34 The cantors were all prominent Levites. They lived in Jerusalem at the Temple and were on duty at all hours. They were free from other responsibilities and were selected by their genealogies.

^35-37 Jeiel (whose wife was Maacah) lived in Gibeon. He had many^[b] sons, including: Gibeon, Abdon (the oldest), Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab, Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah, Mikloth.

³⁸ Mikloth lived with his son Shimeam in Jerusalem near his relatives.

³⁹ Ner was the father of Kish, Kish was the father of Saul, Saul was the father of Jonathan, Malchi-shua, Abinadab, and Eshbaal.

⁴⁰ Jonathan was the father of Mephibosheth;^[c]

Mephibosheth was the father of Micah;

⁴¹ Micah was the father of Pithon, Melech, Tahrea, and Ahaz;

⁴² Ahaz was the father of Jarah;

Jarah was the father of Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri;

Zimri was the father of Moza.

⁴³ Moza was the father of Binea, Rephaiah, Eleasah, and Azel.

⁴⁴ Azel had six sons: Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, Hanan.

10 The Philistines attacked and defeated the Israeli troops, who turned and fled and were slaughtered on the slopes of Mount Gilboa.^{[d] 2} They caught up with Saul and his three sons, Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, and killed them all. ³ Saul had been hard pressed with heavy fighting all around him, when the Philistine archers shot and wounded him.

⁴ He cried out to his bodyguard, “Quick, kill me with your sword before these uncircumcised heathen capture and torture me.”

But the man was afraid to do it, so Saul took his own sword and fell against its point; and it pierced his body. ⁵ Then his bodyguard, seeing that Saul was dead, killed himself in the same way. ⁶ So Saul and his three sons died together; the entire family was wiped out in one day.

⁷ When the Israelis in the valley below the mountain heard that their troops had been routed and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and lived in them. ⁸ When the Philistines went back the next day to strip the bodies of the men killed in action and to gather the booty from the battlefield, they found the bodies of Saul and his sons. ⁹ So they stripped off Saul’s armor and cut off his head; then they displayed them throughout the nation and celebrated the wonderful news before their idols. ¹⁰ They fastened his armor to the walls of the Temple of the Gods and nailed his head to the wall of Dagon’s temple.

¹¹ But when the people of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹² their heroic warriors went out to the battlefield^[e] and brought back his body and the bodies of his three sons. Then they buried them beneath the oak tree at Jabesh and mourned and fasted for seven days.

¹³ Saul died for his disobedience to the Lord and because he had consulted a medium,^{[f] 14} and did not ask the Lord for guidance. So the Lord killed him and gave the kingdom to David, the son of Jesse.

11 Then the leaders of Israel went to David at Hebron and told him, “We are your relatives,^{[g] 2} and even when Saul was king, you were the one who led our armies to battle and brought them safely back again. And the Lord your God has told you, ‘You shall be the shepherd of my people Israel. You shall be their king.’”

³ So David made a contract with them before the Lord, and they anointed him as king of Israel, just as the Lord had told Samuel. ⁴ Then David and the leaders went to Jerusalem (or Jebus, as it used to be called) where the Jebusites—the original inhabitants of the land—lived. ^5-6 But the people of Jebus refused to let them enter the city. So David captured the fortress of Zion, later called the City of David, and said to his men, “The first man to kill a Jebusite shall be made commander-in-chief!” Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was the first, so he became the general of David’s army. ⁷ David lived in the fortress and that is why that area of Jerusalem is called the City of David. ⁸ He extended the city out around the fortress while Joab rebuilt the rest of Jerusalem. ⁹ And David became more and more famous and powerful, for the Lord of the heavens was with him.

¹⁰ These are the names of some of the bravest of David’s warriors (who also encouraged the leaders of Israel to make David their king, as the Lord had said would happen):

¹¹ Jashobeam (the son of a man from Hachmon) was the leader of The Top Three—the three greatest heroes among David’s men. He once killed 300 men with his spear.

¹² The second of The Top Three was Eleazar, the son of Dodo, a member of the subclan of Ahoh. ¹³ He was with David in the battle against the Philistines at Pasdammim. The Israeli army was in a barley field and had begun to run away, ¹⁴ but he held his ground in the middle of the field, and recovered it and slaughtered the Philistines; and the Lord saved them with a great victory.

¹⁵ Another time, three of The Thirty^[h] went to David while he was hiding in the cave of Adullam. The Philistines were camped in the valley of Rephaim, ¹⁶ and David was in the stronghold at the time; an outpost of the Philistines had occupied Bethlehem. ¹⁷ David wanted a drink from the Bethlehem well beside the gate, and when he mentioned this to his men, ^18-19 these three broke through to the Philistine camp, drew some water from the well, and brought it back to David. But he refused to drink it! Instead he poured it out as an offering to the Lord and said, “God forbid that I should drink it! It is the very blood of these men who risked their lives to get it.”

²⁰ Abishai, Joab’s brother, was commander of The Thirty. He had gained his place among The Thirty by killing 300 men at one time with his spear. ²¹ He was the chief and the most famous of The Thirty, but he was not as great as The Three.

²² Benaiah, whose father was a mighty warrior from Kabzeel, killed the two famous giants^[i] from Moab. He also killed a lion in a slippery pit when there was snow on the ground. ²³ Once he killed an Egyptian who was seven and a half feet tall, whose spear was as thick as a weaver’s beam. But Benaiah went up to him with only a club in his hand, and pulled the spear away from him and used it to kill him. ^24-25 He was nearly as great as The Three, and he was very famous among The Thirty. David made him captain of his bodyguard.

^26-47 Other famous warriors among David’s men were: