The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁸ The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had valiant warriors who carried shield and sword and drew the bow, expert in war, forty-four thousand seven hundred sixty, ready for service. ¹⁹ They made war on the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab,^{(A) 20} and when they received help against them, the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hands, for they cried to God in the battle, and he granted their entreaty because they trusted in him.^{(B) 21} They captured their livestock: fifty thousand of their camels, two hundred fifty thousand sheep, two thousand donkeys, and one hundred thousand captives. ²² Many fell slain because the war was of God. And they lived in their territory until the exile.^(C)

The Half-Tribe of Manasseh

²³ The members of the half-tribe of Manasseh lived in the land; they were very numerous from Bashan to Baal-hermon, Senir, and Mount Hermon. ²⁴ These were the heads of their clans: Epher,^[a] Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty warriors, famous men, heads of their clans. ²⁵ But they transgressed against the God of their ancestors and prostituted themselves to the gods of the peoples of the land whom God had destroyed before them.^{(D) 26} So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of King Pul of Assyria, the spirit of King Tiglath-pileser^[b] of Assyria, and he carried them away, namely, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the River Gozan, to this day.^(E)

Descendants of Levi

6 ^[c]The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.^{(F) 2} The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. ³ The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.^{(G) 4} Eleazar became the father of Phinehas, Phinehas of Abishua, ⁵ Abishua of Bukki, Bukki of Uzzi, ⁶ Uzzi of Zerahiah, Zerahiah of Meraioth, ⁷ Meraioth of Amariah, Amariah of Ahitub, ⁸ Ahitub of Zadok, Zadok of Ahimaaz,^{(H) 9} Ahimaaz of Azariah, Azariah of Johanan, ¹⁰ and Johanan of Azariah (it was he who served as priest in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem). ¹¹ Azariah became the father of Amariah, Amariah of Ahitub, ¹² Ahitub of Zadok, Zadok of Shallum, ¹³ Shallum of Hilkiah, Hilkiah of Azariah, ¹⁴ Azariah of Seraiah, Seraiah of Jehozadak;^{(I) 15} and Jehozadak went into exile when the Lord sent Judah and Jerusalem into exile by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.^(J)

^16 [d]The sons of Levi: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari.^{(K) 17} These are the names of the sons of Gershom: Libni and Shimei. ¹⁸ The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. ¹⁹ The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their ancestry. ²⁰ Of Gershom: Libni his son, Jahath his son, Zimmah his son,^{(L) 21} Joah his son, Iddo his son, Zerah his son, Jeatherai his son. ²² The sons of Kohath: Amminadab his son, Korah his son, Assir his son, ²³ Elkanah his son, Ebiasaph his son, Assir his son, ²⁴ Tahath his son, Uriel his son, Uzziah his son, and Shaul his son. ²⁵ The sons of Elkanah: Amasai and Ahimoth,^{(M) 26} Elkanah his son, Zophai his son, Nahath his son,^{(N) 27} Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elkanah his son, Samuel his son.^{[e] 28} The sons of Samuel: Joel^[f] his firstborn, the second Abijah.^{[g] 29} The sons of Merari: Mahli, Libni his son, Shimei his son, Uzzah his son, ³⁰ Shimea his son, Haggiah his son, and Asaiah his son.

Musicians Appointed by David

³¹ These are the men whom David put in charge of the service of song in the house of the Lord, after the ark came to rest there.^{(O) 32} They ministered with song before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting until Solomon had built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they performed their service in due order. ³³ These are the men who served, and their sons were: Of the Kohathites: Heman, the singer, son of Joel, son of Samuel, ³⁴ son of Elkanah, son of Jeroham, son of Eliel, son of Toah, ³⁵ son of Zuph, son of Elkanah, son of Mahath, son of Amasai, ³⁶ son of Elkanah, son of Joel, son of Azariah, son of Zephaniah, ³⁷ son of Tahath, son of Assir, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah,^{(P) 38} son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, son of Israel; ³⁹ and his kinsman Asaph, who stood on his right, namely, Asaph son of Berechiah, son of Shimea, ⁴⁰ son of Michael, son of Baaseiah, son of Malchijah, ⁴¹ son of Ethni, son of Zerah, son of Adaiah,^{(Q) 42} son of Ethan, son of Zimmah, son of Shimei, ⁴³ son of Jahath, son of Gershom, son of Levi. ⁴⁴ On the left were their kindred the sons of Merari: Ethan son of Kishi, son of Abdi, son of Malluch, ⁴⁵ son of Hashabiah, son of Amaziah, son of Hilkiah, ⁴⁶ son of Amzi, son of Bani, son of Shemer, ⁴⁷ son of Mahli, son of Mushi, son of Merari, son of Levi; ⁴⁸ and their kindred the Levites were appointed for all the service of the tabernacle of the house of God.

⁴⁹ But Aaron and his sons made offerings on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense, doing all the work of the most holy place, to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.^{(R) 50} These are the sons of Aaron: Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son, Abishua his son,^{(S) 51} Bukki his son, Uzzi his son, Zerahiah his son, ⁵² Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, Ahitub his son, ⁵³ Zadok his son, Ahimaaz his son.

Settlements of the Levites

⁵⁴ These are their dwelling places according to their settlements within their territories: to the sons of Aaron of the families of Kohathites—for the lot fell to them first^(T)— ⁵⁵ to them they gave Hebron in the land of Judah and its surrounding pasturelands,^{(U) 56} but the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh.^{(V) 57} To the sons of Aaron they gave the cities of refuge: Hebron, Libnah with its pasturelands, Jattir, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands,^{(W) 58} Hilen^[h] with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands, ⁵⁹ Ashan with its pasturelands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands. ⁶⁰ From the tribe of Benjamin, Geba with its pasturelands, Alemeth with its pasturelands, and Anathoth with its pasturelands. All their towns throughout their families were thirteen.

⁶¹ To the rest of the Kohathites were given by lot out of the family of the tribe, out of the half-tribe, the half of Manasseh, ten towns.^{(X) 62} To the Gershomites according to their families were allotted thirteen towns out of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Manasseh in Bashan. ⁶³ To the Merarites according to their families were allotted twelve towns out of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.^{(Y) 64} So the people of Israel gave the Levites the towns with their pasturelands.^{(Z) 65} They also gave them by lot out of the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin these towns that are mentioned by name.^(AA)

⁶⁶ And some of the families of the sons of Kohath had towns of their territory out of the tribe of Ephraim.^{(AB) 67} They were given the cities of refuge: Shechem with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasturelands,^{(AC) 68} Jokmeam with its pasturelands, Beth-horon with its pasturelands,^{(AD) 69} Aijalon with its pasturelands, Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands; ⁷⁰ and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Aner with its pasturelands, and Bileam with its pasturelands, for the rest of the families of the Kohathites.

⁷¹ To the Gershomites: out of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan with its pasturelands and Ashtaroth with its pasturelands; ⁷² and out of the tribe of Issachar: Kedesh with its pasturelands, Daberath^[i] with its pasturelands, ⁷³ Ramoth with its pasturelands, and Anem with its pasturelands;^{(AE) 74} out of the tribe of Asher: Mashal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands, ⁷⁵ Hukok with its pasturelands, and Rehob with its pasturelands; ⁷⁶ and out of the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its pasturelands, Hammon with its pasturelands, and Kiriathaim with its pasturelands.^{(AF) 77} To the rest of the Merarites out of the tribe of Zebulun: Rimmono with its pasturelands, Tabor with its pasturelands,^{(AG) 78} and across the Jordan from Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan, out of the tribe of Reuben: Bezer in the steppe with its pasturelands, Jahzah with its pasturelands, ⁷⁹ Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands; ⁸⁰ and out of the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, Mahanaim with its pasturelands, ⁸¹ Heshbon with its pasturelands, and Jazer with its pasturelands.

Paul Defends Himself before Agrippa

26 Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began to defend himself:^(A)

² “I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, ³ because you are especially familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews; therefore I beg of you to listen to me patiently.^(B)

⁴ “All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, a life spent from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem.^{(C) 5} They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I have belonged to the strictest sect of our religion and lived as a Pharisee.^{(D) 6} And now I stand here on trial on account of my hope in the promise made by God to our ancestors,^{(E) 7} a promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship day and night. It is for this hope, Your Excellency,^[a] that I am accused by Jews!^{(F) 8} Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?^(G)

⁹ “Indeed, I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth.^{[b](H) 10} And that is what I did in Jerusalem; with authority received from the chief priests, I not only locked up many of the saints in prison, but I also cast my vote against them when they were being condemned to death.^{(I) 11} By punishing them often in all the synagogues I tried to force them to blaspheme, and since I was so furiously enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.^(J)

Paul Tells of His Conversion

¹² “With this in mind, I was traveling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests,^{(K) 13} when at midday along the road, Your Excellency,^[c] I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. ¹⁴ When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew^[d] language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.’^{(L) 15} I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The Lord answered, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. ¹⁶ But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and testify to the things in which you have seen me^[e] and to those in which I will appear to you.^{(M) 17} I will rescue you from your people and from the gentiles—to whom I am sending you^{(N) 18} to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’^(O)

Paul Tells of His Preaching

¹⁹ “After that, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision ²⁰ but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea, and also to the gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance.^{(P) 21} For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.^{(Q) 22} To this day I have had help from God, and so I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place:^{(R) 23} that the Messiah^[f] must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the gentiles.”^(S)

Paul Appeals to Agrippa to Believe

²⁴ While he was making this defense, Festus exclaimed, “You are out of your mind, Paul! Too much learning is driving you insane!”^{(T) 25} But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking the sober truth.^{(U) 26} Indeed, the king knows about these things, and to him I speak freely, for I am certain that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this was not done in a corner. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” ²⁸ Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you so quickly persuading me to become a Christian?”^{(V) 29} Paul replied, “Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that not only you but also all who are listening to me today might become such as I am—except for these chains.”^(W)

³⁰ Then the king got up and with him the governor and Bernice and those who had been seated with them, ³¹ and as they were leaving they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.”^{(X) 32} Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to the emperor.”^(Y)

Psalm 6

Prayer for Recovery from Grave Illness

To the leader: with stringed instruments; according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.