The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁴ Sheva went through all the tribes of Isra’el, to Avel and Beit-Ma‘akhah, and to all the Berim; they assembled and followed him. ¹⁵ Yo’av’s troops came and put him under siege in Avel of Beit-Ma‘akhah — they put up a ramp in the moat against the city wall; and all the people with Yo’av battered the wall in order to bring it down. ¹⁶ Then a wise woman in the city shouted, “Listen! Listen! Please tell Yo’av, ‘Come over here, so that I can speak with you.’” ¹⁷ He approached her, and the woman asked, “Are you Yo’av?” He answered, “I am.” She said to him, “Listen to what your servant has to say.” He answered, “I’m listening.” ¹⁸ Then she said, “In the old days they used to say, ‘They will ask advice at Avel’; and that would end the discussion. ¹⁹ We are among those in Isra’el who are peaceful and faithful. Why are you destroying a city and a mother in Isra’el? Why swallow up the inheritance of Adonai?” ²⁰ Yo’av answered, “Heaven forbid! Heaven forbid that I should swallow or destroy anything! ²¹ That’s not how it is. Rather, a man from the hills of Efrayim, Sheva the son of Bikhri, has raised his hand against the king, against David. Just turn him over to me, and I will leave the city.” The woman said to Yo’av, “All right, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.” ²² Then the woman went to all the people with her wise plan. They cut off the head of Sheva the son of Bikhri and threw it out to Yo’av. So he sounded the shofar, and they left the city, sending each man to his tent; while Yo’av returned to the king in Yerushalayim.

²³ Once again Yo’av was commander over the whole army of Isra’el, while B’nayah the son of Y’hoyada was over the K’reti and P’leti, ²⁴ Adoram was in charge of forced labor, Y’hoshafat the son of Achilud was secretary of state, ²⁵ Sh’va was recorder, Tzadok and Evyatar were cohanim, ²⁶ and ‘Ira the Ya’iri was David’s cohen.

21 In David’s time there was a famine that lasted three years, and David consulted Adonai. Adonai said, “It is because of Sha’ul and his bloodstained house, because he put to death the people of Giv‘on.” ² The king summoned the Giv‘onim and said to them — these Giv‘onim were not part of the people of Isra’el but from the remnant of the Emori; and the people of Isra’el had sworn to them; but Sha’ul, in his zeal for the people of Isra’el and Y’hudah, had sought to exterminate them — ³ David said to the Giv‘onim, “What should I do for you? With what should I make atonement, so that you will be able to bless Adonai’s heritage?” ⁴ The Giv‘onim said to him, “Our dispute with Sha’ul can’t be resolved with silver or gold; and we don’t have the right to put anyone in Isra’el to death.” He said, “So, what do you say that I should do for you?” ⁵ They answered the king, “The man who ruined us, who schemed against us so that we would cease to exist anywhere in Isra’el’s territory — ⁶ have seven of his male descendants handed over to us, and we will put them to death by hanging before Adonai in Giv‘ah of Sha’ul, whom Adonai chose.” The king said, “I will hand them over.” ⁷ But the king spared M’fivoshet, the son of Y’honatan the son of Sha’ul, because of the oath before Adonai between David and Y’honatan the son of Sha’ul. ⁸ The king took the two sons of Ritzpah the daughter of Ayah, whom she bore to Sha’ul, Armoni and M’fivoshet; and the five sons of Mikhal the daughter of Sha’ul, whom she bore to Adri’el the son of Barzillai the Mecholati; ⁹ and handed them over to the Giv‘onim, who hanged them on the hill before Adonai. All seven died; they were put to death during the first days of the harvest season, at the beginning of the barley harvest. ¹⁰ Ritzpah the daughter of Ayah took sackcloth, spread it out toward a cliff for herself and stayed there from the beginning of the harvest until water was poured out on the bodies from the sky, not letting the birds land on them during the day or the wild animals at night.

¹¹ David was told what Ritzpah the daughter of Ayah, the concubine of Sha’ul, had done. ¹² So David went and took the bones of Sha’ul and the bones of Y’honatan his son from the men of Yavesh-Gil‘ad, who had stolen them from the open square of Beit-Sh’an, where the P’lishtim had hanged them at the time the P’lishtim had killed Sha’ul at Gilboa; ¹³ and he brought up from there the bones of Sha’ul and the bones of Y’honatan his son. They also gathered the bones of those who had been hanged. ¹⁴ Then they buried the bones of Sha’ul and Y’honatan his son in the territory of Binyamin in Tzela, in the tomb of Kish his father; they did everything the king ordered. Only after that was God prevailed on to show mercy to the land.

¹⁵ Once again the P’lishtim made war on Isra’el. David went down with his servants and fought against the P’lishtim, but David began to get tired. ¹⁶ Yishbi-B’nov, one of the sons of the giant, said that he would kill David; his spear weighed seven pounds, and he was wearing new armor. ¹⁷ But Avishai the son of Tz’ruyah came to David’s rescue by striking the P’lishti and killing him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must no longer go out with us to battle, in order not to quench the lamp of Isra’el.” ¹⁸ A while after this there was again war with the P’lishtim, at Gov. Sibkhai the Hushati killed Saf, one of the sons of the giant. ¹⁹ There was more war with the P’lishtim at Gov; and Elchanan the son of Ya‘arei-Orgim, the Beit-Lachmi, killed Golyat the Gitti, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s beam. ²⁰ There was again war at Gat, where there was a belligerent man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot — twenty-four in all — and he too was a son of the giant. ²¹ When he mocked Isra’el, Y’honatan the son of Shim‘ah David’s brother killed him. ²² These four were sons of the giant in Gat; they fell at the hands of David and his servants.

1 Dear Theophilos:

In the first book, I wrote about everything Yeshua set out to do and teach, ² until the day when, after giving instructions through the Ruach HaKodesh to the emissaries whom he had chosen, he was taken up into heaven.

³ After his death he showed himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. During a period of forty days they saw him, and he spoke with them about the Kingdom of God.

⁴ At one of these gatherings, he instructed them not to leave Yerushalayim but to wait for “what the Father promised, which you heard about from me. ⁵ For Yochanan used to immerse people in water; but in a few days, you will be immersed in the Ruach HaKodesh!”

⁶ When they were together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore self-rule to Isra’el?” ⁷ He answered, “You don’t need to know the dates or the times; the Father has kept these under his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Ruach HaKodesh comes upon you; you will be my witnesses both in Yerushalayim and in all Y’hudah and Shomron, indeed to the ends of the earth!”

⁹ After saying this, he was taken up before their eyes; and a cloud hid him from their sight. ¹⁰ As they were staring into the sky after him, suddenly they saw two men dressed in white standing next to them. ¹¹ The men said, “You Galileans! Why are you standing, staring into space? This Yeshua, who has been taken away from you into heaven, will come back to you in just the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

¹² Then they returned the Shabbat-walk distance from the Mount of Olives to Yerushalayim. ¹³ After entering the city, they went to the upstairs room where they were staying. The names of the emissaries were Kefa, Ya‘akov, Yochanan, Andrew, Philip, T’oma, Bar-Talmai, Mattityahu, Ya‘akov Ben-Halfai, Shim‘on “the Zealot,” and Y’hudah Ben-Ya‘akov. ¹⁴ These all devoted themselves single-mindedly to prayer, along with some women, including Miryam (Yeshua’s mother), and his brothers.

¹⁵ During this period, when the group of believers numbered about 120, Kefa stood up and addressed his fellow-believers: ¹⁶ “Brothers, the Ruach HaKodesh spoke in advance through David about Y’hudah, and these words of the Tanakh had to be fulfilled. He was guide for those who arrested Yeshua — ¹⁷ he was one of us and had been assigned a part in our work.” ¹⁸ (With the money Y’hudah received for his evil deed, he bought a field; and there he fell to his death. His body swelled up and burst open, and all his insides spilled out. ¹⁹ This became known to everyone in Yerushalayim, so they called that field Hakal-D’ma — which in their language means “Field of Blood”). ²⁰ “Now,” said Kefa, “it is written in the book of Psalms,

²¹ Therefore, one of the men who have been with us continuously throughout the time the Lord Yeshua traveled around among us, ²² from the time Yochanan was immersing people until the day Yeshua was taken up from us — one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.”

²³ They nominated two men — Yosef Bar-Sabba, surnamed Justus, and Mattityahu. ²⁴ Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen ²⁵ to take over the work and the office of emissary that Y’hudah abandoned to go where he belongs.” ²⁶ Then they drew lots to decide between the two, and the lot fell to Mattityahu. So he was added to the eleven emissaries.