The Daily Audio Bible

11 Then all Isra’el gathered themselves to David in Hevron and said, “Here, we are your own flesh and bone. ² In the past, even when Sha’ul was king, it was you who led Isra’el’s military campaigns; and Adonai your God said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Isra’el, and you will be chief over my people Isra’el.’” ³ So all the leaders of Isra’el came to the king in Hevron; and David made a covenant with them in Hevron in the presence of Adonai. Then they anointed David king over Isra’el, as Adonai had said through Sh’mu’el.

⁴ David and all Isra’el went to Yerushalayim, also known as Y’vus; and the Y’vusi, the inhabitants of that region, were there. ⁵ The inhabitants of Y’vus taunted David by saying, “You won’t get in here!” Nevertheless, David captured the stronghold of Tziyon, also known now as the City of David. ⁶ David said, “Whoever attacks the Y’vusi first will be commander-in-chief.” Yo’av the son of Tz’ruyah attacked first and was made commander.

⁷ David lived in the stronghold; therefore they called it the City of David. ⁸ David built up the city around it, starting at the Millo [earth rampart] and going on around; while Yo’av repaired the rest of the city. ⁹ David grew greater and greater, because Adonai-Tzva’ot was with him.

¹⁰ These are David’s chief warriors, who, under his rulership, joined forces with him and with all Isra’el to make him king, as Adonai had said concerning Isra’el; ¹¹ here is the list of David’s warrior-heroes:

Yashov‘am son of a Hakhmoni, the chief officer; he is the one who raised his spear against 300 men and killed them in a single encounter.

¹² After him was El‘azar the son of Dodo the Achochi, one of the three warriors. ¹³ He was with David at Pas-Damim, where the P’lishtim had assembled for battle. There was a plot of ground full of barley; and when the people fled from the P’lishtim, ¹⁴ they stood in the middle of the plot and defended it, killing the P’lishtim; and Adonai saved them with a great victory.

¹⁵ Three of the thirty leaders went down to the rock and came to David during harvest season at the cave of ‘Adulam when the army of the P’lishtim had set up camp in the Refa’im Valley. ¹⁶ At that time David was in the fortress, and the garrison of the P’lishtim was in Beit-Lechem. ¹⁷ David had a craving and said, “I wish someone could give me water to drink from the well by the gate of Beit-Lechem!” ¹⁸ The three broke through the army of the P’lishtim, drew water from the well by the gate of Beit-Lechem, took it and brought it to David. But David would not drink it; instead, he poured it out to Adonai ¹⁹ and said, “My God forbid that I should do such a thing! Am I to drink the blood of these men who went and put their lives in jeopardy? They risked their lives to bring it!” — and he would not consent to drink it. These are the things the three warrior-heroes did.

²⁰ Avishai the brother of Yo’av was chief of these three. He raised his spear against 300 men and killed them; thus he had a reputation even among the three. ²¹ Of the three in the second rank he had the most honor and was therefore made their leader; however, he did not achieve the status of the first three.

²² B’nayah the son of Y’hoyada, the son of a valiant man of Kavtze’el, was a man of many exploits. He struck down two lion-hearted men of Mo’av. One day when it was snowing, he went down into a pit and killed a lion. ²³ Here is how he killed an Egyptian, a man who was very tall, seven-and-a-half feet: the Egyptian had a spear in his hand the size of a weaver’s beam; he went down to him with only a stick, seized the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. ²⁴ These are things that B’nayah the son of Y’hoyada did that earned him a name among the three warrior-heroes. ²⁵ He had more honor than the thirty, but he did not achieve the status of the first three. David put him in command of his personal guard.

²⁶ There were also these warrior-heroes:

12 Following are the men who joined David at Ziklag while he was still being kept away from Sha’ul the son of Kish; they were among the warriors who helped him fight his battles. ² They were archers who could use either hand to sling stones or shoot arrows from a bow; they were Sha’ul’s kinsmen from Binyamin. ³ Their leader was Achi‘ezer, then Yo’ash, the sons of Sh’ma‘ah the Giv‘ati, Y’zi’el, Pelet, the sons of ‘Azmavet, B’rakhah, Yehu from ‘Anatot, ⁴ Yishma‘yah the Giv‘oni, one of the strongest of the thirty and commander of the thirty, ^5 (4b) Yirmeyah, Yachzi’el, Yochanan, Yozavad from G’derah, ^6 (5) El‘uzai, Yerimot, B‘alyah, Sh’maryah, Sh’fatyah the Harufi, ^7 (6) Elkanah, Yishiyahu, ‘Azar’el, Yo‘ezer, Yashov‘am the Korchi, ^8 (7) and Yo‘elah and Z’vadyah the sons of Yerocham from G’dor.

^9 (8) From the Gadi a number of strong, brave, trained fighting men defected to David at the fortress in the desert. They could handle shield and spear, they were as fierce as lions, and they were as fast as deer on the hills: ^10 (9) ‘Ezer was the leader, ‘Ovadyah was second, Eli’av third, ^11 (10) Mishmanah fourth, Yirmeyah fifth, ^12 (11) ‘Atai sixth, Eli’el seventh, ^13 (12) Yochanan eighth, Elzavad ninth, ^14 (13) Yirmeyah tenth, and Makhbanai eleventh. ^15 (14) These descendants of Gad were army commanders; the least of them was worth a hundred, and the greatest worth a thousand. ^16 (15) These are the men who crossed the Yarden during the first month, when it had overflowed all its banks, and drove out all those who lived in the valleys, both to the east and to the west.

^17 (16) From the descendants of Binyamin and Y’hudah a number came to David at the fortress. ^18 (17) When David went out to meet them, he said, “If you are coming to me in peace to help me, my heart will be bonded to yours. But if you are coming to betray me to my enemies, then, since I have done nothing wrong, may the God of our fathers see it and judge.”

28 After our escape, we learned that the island was called Malta. ² Its people showed extraordinary kindness — it was cold and it had started to rain, so they lit a bonfire and welcomed us all. ³ Sha’ul had gathered a bundle of sticks and was adding them to the fire, when a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, fastened itself to his hand. ⁴ The islanders saw the creature hanging from Sha’ul’s hand and said to one another, “This man must be a murderer. Even though he escaped the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.” ⁵ But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm. ⁶ They waited, expecting him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing that nothing amiss was happening to him, they reversed their opinion and said he was a god.

⁷ Nearby were lands belonging to the governor of the island, whose name was Publius. He received us in a friendly manner and put us up for three days. ⁸ Now it so happened that Publius’ father was lying in bed, sick with fever attacks and dysentery. Sha’ul went in to him, prayed, placed his hands on him and healed him. ⁹ After this happened, the rest of those on the island who had ailments came and were healed. ¹⁰ They heaped honors on us; and when the time came for us to sail, they provided the supplies we needed.

¹¹ After three months, we sailed away on a ship from Alexandria called “Twin Gods,” which had passed the winter at the island. ¹² We landed at Syracuse and stayed three days. ¹³ From there, we arrived at Rhegium by tacking; but after one day, a south wind sprang up; so we made it to Puteoli the second day. ¹⁴ There we found brothers who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we went on toward Rome.

¹⁵ The brothers there had heard about us and came as far as Appian Market and Three Inns to meet us. When Sha’ul saw them, he thanked God and took courage. ¹⁶ And when we arrived at Rome, the officer allowed Sha’ul to stay by himself, though guarded by a soldier.

¹⁷ After three days Sha’ul called a meeting of the local Jewish leaders. When they had gathered, he said to them: “Brothers, although I have done nothing against either our people or the traditions of our fathers, I was made a prisoner in Yerushalayim and handed over to the Romans. ¹⁸ They examined me and were ready to release me, because I had done nothing to justify a death sentence. ¹⁹ But when the Judeans objected, I was forced to appeal to the Emperor — not that I had any charge to make against my own people. ²⁰ This is why I have asked to see you and speak with you, for it is because of the hope of Isra’el that I have this chain around me.”

²¹ They said to him, “We have not received any letters about you from Y’hudah, and none of the brothers who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. ²² But we do think it would be appropriate to hear your views from you, yourself; for all we know about this sect is that people everywhere speak against it.”

²³ So they arranged a day with him and came to his quarters in large numbers. From morning until evening he explained the matter to them, giving a thorough witness about the Kingdom of God and making use of both the Torah of Moshe and the Prophets to persuade them about Yeshua. ²⁴ Some were convinced by what he said, ²⁵ while others refused to believe.

So they left, disagreeing among themselves, after Sha’ul had made one final statement: “The Ruach HaKodesh spoke well in saying to your fathers through Yesha‘yahu the prophet,

²⁸ Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Goyim, and they will listen!” ^29 [b]

³⁰ Sha’ul remained two whole years in a place he rented for himself; and he continued receiving all who came to see him, ³¹ openly and without hindrance proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.