The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁴ Now he went on through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, that is, Beth-maacah, and all the Berites; and they assembled and went after him as well. ¹⁵ And they came and besieged him in ^(A)Abel Beth-maacah, and ^(B)they ^[a]built up an assault ramp against the city, and it stood against the outer rampart; and all the people who were with Joab were wreaking destruction in order to topple the wall. ¹⁶ Then ^(C)a wise woman called out from the city, “Listen, listen! Please tell Joab, ‘Come here that I may speak with you.’” ¹⁷ So he approached her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” And he answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your slave.” And he said, “I am listening.” ¹⁸ Then she spoke, saying, “In the past they used to say, ‘They will undoubtedly ask advice at Abel,’ and that is how they ended a dispute. ¹⁹ I am one of those who are ready for peace and faithful in Israel. ^(D)You are trying to destroy a city, even a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up ^(E)the inheritance of the Lord?” ²⁰ Joab replied, “Far be it, far be it from me that I would consume or destroy! ²¹ Such is not the case. But a man from ^(F)the hill country of Ephraim, ^(G)Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has raised his hand against King David. Only turn him over, and I will depart from the city.” And the woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.” ²² Then the woman ^(H)wisely came to all the people. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So ^(I)he blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, each to his tent. Joab also returned to the king at Jerusalem.

^23 (J)Now Joab was in command of the entire army of Israel, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; ²⁴ and Adoram was over the forced labor, and ^(K)Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the secretary; ²⁵ and Sheva was scribe, and Zadok and ^(L)Abiathar were priests; ²⁶ Ira the Jairite also was a priest to David.

Gibeonite’s Revenge

21 Now there was ^(M)a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and ^(N)David sought the presence of the Lord. And the Lord said, “It is because of Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” ² So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, and ^(O)the sons of Israel had ^[b]made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to ^[c]kill them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah). ³ David said to the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? And how can I make amends, so that you will bless ^(P)the inheritance of the Lord?” ⁴ Then the Gibeonites said to him, “^(Q)For us it is not a matter of silver or gold with Saul or his house, nor is it for us to put anyone to death in Israel.” Nevertheless David said, “I will do for you whatever you say.” ⁵ So they said to the king, “^(R)The man who destroyed us and who planned ^[d]to eliminate us so that we would not exist within any border of Israel— ⁶ let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will ^[e]hang them ^(S)before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, ^(T)the chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

⁷ But the king spared ^(U)Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, ^(V)because of the oath of the Lord which was between them, between David and Saul’s son Jonathan. ⁸ So the king took the two sons of ^(W)Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, Armoni and Mephibosheth whom she had borne to Saul, and the five sons of ^[f](X)Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the ^(Y)Meholathite. ⁹ Then he handed them over to the Gibeonites, and they ^[g]hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, so that the seven of them fell together; and they were put to death in the first days of harvest at ^(Z)the beginning of barley harvest.

^10 (AA)And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until ^[h]it rained on them from the sky; and ^(AB)she ^[i]allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day nor the wild animals by night. ¹¹ When it was reported to David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, ¹² then David went and took ^(AC)the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of ^(AD)Beth-shan, ^(AE)where the Philistines had hanged them on the day ^(AF)the Philistines struck and killed Saul in Gilboa. ¹³ He brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan, and they gathered the bones of those who had been ^[j]hanged. ¹⁴ Then they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the country of Benjamin in ^(AG)Zela, in the grave of his father Kish; So they did everything that the king commanded, and after that ^(AH)God responded to prayer for the land.

¹⁵ Now when ^(AI)the Philistines were at war with Israel again, David went down, and his servants with him; and when they fought against the Philistines, David became weary. ¹⁶ Then Ishbi-benob, who was ^(AJ)among the descendants of the ^[k]giant, the weight of whose spear was ^[l]three hundred shekels of bronze in weight, ^[m]had strapped on a new sword, and he ^[n]intended to kill David. ¹⁷ But ^(AK)Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, saying, “^(AL)You shall not go out again with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish ^(AM)the lamp of Israel.”

^18 (AN)Now it came about after this that there was war again with the Philistines at Gob; then ^(AO)Sibbecai the Hushathite struck and killed Saph, who was among the descendants of the ^[o]giant. ¹⁹ And there was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite ^[p]killed ^[q]Goliath the Gittite, ^(AP)the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. ²⁰ And there was war at Gath again, where there was a man of great stature who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also had been born ^(AQ)to the ^[r]giant. ²¹ When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck and killed him. ^22 (AR)These four were born to the ^[s]giant at Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

Introduction

1 The first account I ^[a]composed, ^(A)Theophilus, about all that Jesus ^(B)began to do and teach, ² until the day when He ^(C)was taken up to heaven, after He ^(D)had given orders ^[b]by the Holy Spirit to ^(E)the apostles whom He had ^(F)chosen. ³ To ^[c]these ^(G)He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of ^(H)things regarding the kingdom of God. ^4 [d]Gathering them together, He commanded them ^(I)not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for ^[e](J)what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; ⁵ for ^(K)John baptized ^[f]with water, but you will be baptized ^[g]with the Holy Spirit ^[h](L)not many days from now.”

⁶ So, when they had come together, they began asking Him, saying, “Lord, ^(M)is it at this time that You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ But He said to them, “It is not for you to know periods of time or appointed times which ^(N)the Father has set by His own authority; ⁸ but you will receive power ^(O)when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be ^(P)My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and ^(Q)Samaria, and as far as ^(R)the remotest part of the earth.”

The Ascension

⁹ And after He had said these things, ^(S)He was lifted up while they were watching, and a cloud took Him up, out of their sight. ¹⁰ And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, then behold, ^(T)two men in white clothing stood beside them, ¹¹ and they said, “^(U)Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who ^(V)has been taken up from you into heaven, will ^(W)come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

The Upper Room

¹² Then they ^(X)returned to Jerusalem from the ^[i](Y)mountain called ^[j]Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a ^[k]Sabbath day’s journey away. ¹³ When they had entered the city, they went up to ^(Z)the upstairs room where they were staying, that is, ^(AA)Peter, John, ^[l]James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, ^[m]James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and ^(AB)Judas the ^[n]son of ^[o]James. ¹⁴ All these ^(AC)were continually devoting themselves with one ^[p]mind to prayer, along with ^(AD)the women, and Mary the ^(AE)mother of Jesus, and with His ^(AF)brothers.

^15 [q]At this time Peter stood up among ^(AG)the brothers and sisters (a group of about 120 ^[r]people was there together), and said, ¹⁶ “^[s]Brothers, ^(AH)the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, ^(AI)who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. ¹⁷ For he was ^(AJ)counted among us and received his share in ^(AK)this ministry.” ¹⁸ (Now this man ^(AL)acquired a field with ^(AM)the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. ¹⁹ And it became known to all the residents of Jerusalem; as a result that field was called Hakeldama in ^(AN)their own language, that is, Field of Blood.) ²⁰ “For it is written in the book of Psalms:

and,

²¹ Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that ^(AQ)the Lord Jesus went in and out ^[u]among us— ^22 (AR)beginning ^[v]with the baptism of John until the day that He ^(AS)was taken up from us—one of these must become a ^(AT)witness with us of His resurrection.” ²³ So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and ^(AU)Matthias. ²⁴ And they ^(AV)prayed and said, “You, Lord, who ^(AW)know the hearts of all people, show which one of these two You have chosen ²⁵ to ^[w]occupy ^(AX)this ministry and ^(AY)apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” ²⁶ And they ^[x](AZ)drew lots for them, and the lot fell ^[y]to ^(BA)Matthias; and he was added to ^(BB)the eleven apostles.

The Lord, the Keeper of Israel.

A Song of Ascents.