The Daily Audio Bible

9 So all Isra’el was listed by genealogies, and these were recorded in the book of the kings of Isra’el. Then Y’hudah was carried away captive to Bavel because of their unfaithfulness. ² The first people to return to their possessions in the cities were the Isra’elim, the cohanim, the L’vi’im and the temple servants. ³ In Yerushalayim lived some descendants of Y’hudah, some descendants of Binyamin and some descendants of Efrayim and of M’nasheh: ⁴ ‘Utai the son of ‘Ammihud, the son of ‘Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Bani, from the descendants of Peretz the son of Y’hudah. ⁵ Of the Shiloni: ‘Asayah the firstborn and his sons. ⁶ Of the descendants of Zerach: Ye‘u’el and their kinsmen, 690. ⁷ Of the descendants of Binyamin: Salu the son of Meshulam the son of Hodavyah the son of Hasnu’ah, ⁸ Yivneyah the son of Yerocham, Elah the son of ‘Uzi the son of Mikhri, Meshulam the son of Sh’fatyah the son of Re‘u’el the son of Yivneyah, ⁹ and their kinsmen, according to their generations — altogether 956. All these men were leaders of fathers’ clans.

¹⁰ Of the cohanim: Y’da‘yah, Y’hoyariv, Yakhin, ¹¹ ‘Azaryah the son of Hilkiyah the son of Meshulam the son of Tzadok the son of M’rayot the son of Achituv the ruler of the house of God, ¹² ‘Adayah the son of Yerocham the son of Pash’chur the son of Malkiyah, Ma‘asai the son of ‘Adi’el the son of Yachzerah the son of Meshulam the son of Meshilmit the son of Immer, ¹³ and their kinsmen, leaders of their fathers’ clans, 1,760 very competent men available for serving in the house of God.

¹⁴ Of the L’vi’im: Sh’ma‘yah the son of Hashuv the son of ‘Azrikam the son of Hashavyah, from the descendants of M’rari; ¹⁵ Bakbakar; Heresh; Galal; Matanyah the son of Mikha the son of Zikhri the son of Asaf; ¹⁶ ‘Ovadyah the son of Sh’ma‘yah the son of Galal the son of Y’dutun; and Berekhyah the son of Asa the son of Elkanah, who lived in the towns of the N’tofati.

¹⁷ The gatekeepers: Shalum, ‘Akuv, Talmon, Achiman and their kinsmen; Shalum was the chief. ¹⁸ Previously they had guarded the king’s gate to the east; they were gatekeepers for the camp of the descendants of Levi. ¹⁹ Shalum the son of Kore the son of Evyasaf the son of Korach and his kinsmen from his father’s clan the Korchim were in charge of the work of the service, keepers of the gates of the tent. Their ancestors had been in charge of the camp of Adonai, keepers of the entryway. ²⁰ Pinchas the son of El‘azar had been ruler over them long before; Adonai had been with him. ²¹ Z’kharyah the son of Meshelemyah guarded the entryway to the tent of meeting. ²² All these chosen to be gatekeepers numbered 212. Their genealogies were recorded in their towns; they had been appointed to their positions by David and Sh’mu’el the seer. ²³ They and their descendants supervised the gates of the house of Adonai, that is, the house of the tent, by periods of duty. ²⁴ The gatekeepers served on the four sides, east, west, north and south. ²⁵ From time to time their kinsmen had to come in from their towns to help them for seven days.

²⁶ For the four chief gatekeepers were on permanent duty; they were the L’vi’im in charge of accommodations and supplies in the house of God. ²⁷ They spent their nights in the vicinity of the house of God, because they were in charge of it; they were responsible for opening it up each morning.

²⁸ Some of [the L’vi’im] were in charge of the articles used for the service; they had to keep records of them when bringing them in and out. ²⁹ Others were in charge of the equipment, the holy utensils, the fine flour, the wine, the olive oil, the frankincense and the spices. ³⁰ Some of the sons of the cohanim mixed together the ingredients for the perfumes. ³¹ Mattityah, one of the L’vi’im, who was the firstborn of Shalum the Korchi, was permanently in charge of baking operations. ³² Some of their kinsmen, from the descendants of the K’hati, were in charge of preparing the showbread every Shabbat. ³³ Also there were the singers, heads of fathers’ clans among the L’vi’im. They lived in the accommodations and were free from other kinds of service, for they were employed in their own work day and night. ³⁴ These were heads of fathers’ clans among the L’vi’im, according to their generations, and they were leaders; they lived in Yerushalayim.

³⁵ In Giv‘on lived the father of Giv‘on, Ye‘i’el, whose his wife’s name was Ma‘akhah; ³⁶ and his firstborn son ‘Avdon, Tzur, Kish, Ba‘al, Ner, Nadav, ³⁷ G’dor, Achyo, Z’kharyah and Miklot. ³⁸ Miklot fathered Shim’am. In contrast with some of their kinsmen, they and their families lived in Yerushalayim.

³⁹ Ner fathered Kish; Kish fathered Sha’ul; and Sha’ul fathered Y’honatan, Malkishua, Avinadav and Eshba‘al. ⁴⁰ The son of Y’honatan was M’riv-Ba‘al, and M’riv-Ba‘al fathered Mikhah. ⁴¹ The sons of Mikhah were: Piton, Melekh and Ta’rea. ⁴² Achaz fathered Ya‘ra; Ya‘ra fathered ‘Alemet, ‘Azmavet and Zimri; Zimri fathered Motza; ⁴³ and Motza fathered Bin‘a. His son was Rafah, his son El‘asah and his son Atzel. ⁴⁴ Atzel had six sons, whose names were: ‘Azrikam, Bokhru, Yishma‘el, Sh‘aryah, ‘Ovadyah and Hanan; all these were sons of Atzel.

10 Now the P’lishtim pressed their attack on Isra’el; and the men of Isra’el fled before the P’lishtim, leaving their dead on Mount Gilboa. ² The P’lishtim pursued Sha’ul; overtook him and his sons; and the P’lishtim killed Y’honatan, Avinadav and Malkishua, the sons of Sha’ul. ³ The fighting went hard against Sha’ul; then the archers overtook and wounded him, so that he was in agony. ⁴ Sha’ul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it. Otherwise, these uncircumcised men will come and make sport of me.” But his armor-bearer refused; he was too frightened. So Sha’ul took his sword and fell on it. ⁵ When his armor-bearer saw that Sha’ul was dead, he too fell on his own sword and died. ⁶ Thus Sha’ul, his three sons and all his household died together.

⁷ When all the men of Isra’el who were in the valley saw them fleeing and that Sha’ul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled; then the P’lishtim came and lived in them.

⁸ The following day, when the P’lishtim came to strip the dead, they found Sha’ul and his sons lying dead on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ They stripped him, then took his head and his armor and sent them all over the territory of the P’lishtim to carry the news to their idols and to the people. ¹⁰ They put his armor in the temple of their gods and fastened his skull to the temple of Dagon. ¹¹ When everyone in Yavesh-Gil‘ad heard all that the P’lishtim had done to Sha’ul, ¹² all their warriors set out, took away the body of Sha’ul and the bodies of his sons, brought them to Yavesh, buried their bones under the pistachio tree in Yavesh and fasted seven days.

¹³ So Sha’ul died for the transgression he committed against Adonai, because of the word of Adonai that he did not keep and because he sought the counsel of a spirit ¹⁴ instead of consulting Adonai. Therefore Adonai put him to death and turned the rulership over to David the son of Yishai.

²¹ It was then, when they had gone a long time without eating, that Sha’ul stood up in front of them and said, “You should have listened to me and not set out from Crete; if you had, you would have escaped this disastrous loss. ²² But now, my advice to you is to take heart; because not one of you will lose his life — only the ship will be lost. ²³ For this very night, there stood next to me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve. ²⁴ He said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Sha’ul! you have to stand before the Emperor. Look! God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’ ²⁵ So, men, take heart! For I trust God and believe that what I have been told will come true. ²⁶ Nevertheless, we have to run aground on some island.”

²⁷ It was the fourteenth night, and we were still being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, when around midnight the sailors sensed that we were nearing land. ²⁸ So they dropped a plumbline and found the water one hundred and twenty feet deep. A little farther on, they took another sounding and found it ninety feet. ²⁹ Fearing we might run on the rocks, they let out four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight to come.

³⁰ At this point, the crew made an attempt to abandon ship — they lowered the lifeboat into the sea, pretending that they were about to let out some anchors from the bow. ³¹ Sha’ul said to the officer and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain aboard the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.” ³² Then the soldiers cut the ropes holding the lifeboat and let it go.

³³ Just before daybreak, Sha’ul urged them all to eat, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have been in suspense, going hungry, eating nothing. ³⁴ Therefore I advise you to take some food; you need it for your own survival. For not one of you will lose so much as a hair from his head.” ³⁵ When he had said this, he took bread, said the b’rakhah to God in front of everyone, broke it and began to eat. ³⁶ With courage restored, they all ate some food themselves. ³⁷ Altogether there were 276 of us on board the ship. ³⁸ After they had eaten all they wanted, they lightened the ship by dumping the grain into the sea.

³⁹ When day broke, they didn’t recognize the land; but they noticed a bay with a sand beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. ⁴⁰ So they cut away the anchors and left them in the sea; at the same time, they loosened the ropes that held the rudders out of the water. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and headed for the beach. ⁴¹ But they encountered a place where two currents meet, and ran the vessel aground on the sandbar there. The bow stuck and would not move, while the pounding of the surf began to break up the stern.

⁴² At this point the soldiers’ thought was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim off and escape. ⁴³ But the officer, wanting to save Sha’ul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to throw themselves overboard first and head for shore, ⁴⁴ and the rest to use planks or whatever they could find from the ship. Thus it was that everyone reached land safely.