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9 So all Israel was listed in the official records of Israel’s kings.
Restored Jerusalem community
Judah was carried into exile in Babylon because of their unfaithfulness. 2 The first to resettle their property in their towns were the Israelite people, the priests, the Levites, and the temple servants. 3 Those settling in Jerusalem included some from Judah, some from Benjamin, and some from Ephraim and Manasseh:
Judah and Benjamin
4 Uthai son of Ammihud son of Omri son of Imri son of Bani from the family of Perez, Judah’s son.
5 From the Shilonites: Asaiah the oldest son and his family.
6 From Zerah’s family: Jeuel and their relatives—690 in all.
7 From Benjamin’s family: Sallu son of Meshullam son of Hodaviah son of Senaah;[a] 8 Ibneiah, Jeroham’s son; Elah son of Uzzi son of Michri; Meshullam son of Shephatiah son of Reuel son of Ibnijah; 9 and their relatives in their line of descent—956 in all. All of these were heads of their households.
Priests and Levites
10 From the priests: Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, Jachin, 11 and Azariah son of Hilkiah son of Meshullam son of Zadok son of Meraioth son of Ahitub the leader of God’s house; 12 Adaiah son of Jeroham son of Pashhur son of Malchijah; Maasai son of Adiel son of Jahzerah son of Meshullam son of Meshillemith son of Immer; 13 and their relatives, heads of their households, 1,760 capable men for the religious work of God’s house.
14 From the Levites: Shemaiah son of Hasshub son of Azrikam son of Hashabiah, from Merari’s family; 15 Bakbakkar, Heresh, Galal, and Mattaniah son of Mica son of Zichri son of Asaph; 16 Obadiah son of Shemaiah son of Galal son of Jeduthun; and Berechiah son of Asa son of Elkanah, who lived in the settlements of the Netophathites.
Gatekeepers
17 The gatekeepers: Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, and Ahiman. Their brother Shallum was the leader, 18 stationed until now in the King’s Gate on the east side. These were the gatekeepers belonging to the Levites’ camp.
19 Shallum, Kore’s son, Ebiasaph’s grandson, and Korah’s great-grandson, and his relatives belonging to his household, the Korahites, served as gatekeepers at the tent’s entrances, as their ancestors had been gatekeepers at the entrance to the Lord’s camp.
20 Phinehas, Eleazar’s son, the Lord be with him, was their leader in former times.
21 Zechariah, Meshelemiah’s son, was gatekeeper at the meeting tent’s entrance.
22 All those selected as gatekeepers at the entrances were two hundred twelve. They were listed in the family records by their settlements. David and Samuel the seer assigned them to their trusted position. 23 So they and their descendants were the gatekeepers guarding the Lord’s house, that is, the tent.[b] 24 The gatekeepers were on the four sides: east, west, north, and south. 25 Their relatives came in from their settlements, from time to time, to assist them for a period of seven days. 26 Due to their trustworthiness, the four master gatekeepers, who were Levites, were in charge of the rooms and the treasuries of God’s house. 27 They would spend the night patrolling God’s house since they had guard duty and were responsible for unlocking it every morning. 28 Some of them were responsible for the worship objects; they counted them when they were brought in and taken out. 29 Others were appointed over the furniture, the holy equipment, the flour, wine, oil, incense, and spices. 30 Some of the priests blended the ointment for the spices; 31 and Mattithiah, one of the Levites, the oldest son of Shallum the Korahite, was entrusted with baking the flat cakes. 32 Also some of their Kohathite relatives were responsible for preparing the stacks of bread for each Sabbath. 33 The singers were the heads of the households of the Levites. They lived in temple rooms and were free from other service because they were on duty day and night. 34 These were the heads of the households of the Levites, according to descent. They lived in Jerusalem.
Saul’s family
35 Jeiel, Gibeon’s father, lived in Gibeon. His wife’s name was Maacah. 36 His oldest son was Abdon, followed by Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab, 37 Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah, and Mikloth. 38 Mikloth was the father of Shimeam. They too lived near their relatives in Jerusalem.[c] 39 Ner was the father of Kish, Kish of Saul, Saul of Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab, and Esh-baal.
40 Jonathan’s son was Merib-baal, and Merib-baal was the father of Micah.
41 Micah’s family were Pithon, Melech, Tahrea, and Ahaz.[d]
42 Ahaz was the father of Jarah; and Jarah of Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri.
Zimri was the father of Moza. 43 Moza was the father of Binea; Rephaiah was his son, Eleasah was his son, and Azel was his son. 44 Azel had six sons whose names were Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. This was Azel’s family.
Saul’s death
10 When the Philistines attacked the Israelites, the Israelites ran away from the Philistines, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua. 3 The battle was fierce around Saul, and when the archers located him, he trembled in fear. 4 Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and kill me with it! Otherwise, these uncircumcised men will come and kill me or torture me.” But his armor-bearer refused because he was terrified. So Saul took the sword and impaled himself on it. 5 When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also impaled himself on his sword and died with Saul. 6 So Saul and his three sons died; his whole household died together. 7 When all the Israelites who were in the valley saw that the army had run away and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their towns and fled. So the Philistines came to live in them.
8 The next day when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his sons lying dead on Mount Gilboa. 9 They stripped him, carried off his head and armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to spread the news to their idols and to the people. 10 They placed his armor in their god’s temple and displayed his skull on a pole in the temple of Dagon.
11 When all the people of Jabesh-gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all their warriors arose and recovered the corpses of Saul and his sons. They brought them back to Jabesh, buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted for seven days.
13 Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord and hadn’t followed the Lord’s word. He even consulted a medium for guidance. 14 He didn’t consult the Lord, so the Lord killed him and gave the kingdom to David, Jesse’s son.
21 For a long time no one had eaten. Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have complied with my instructions not to sail from Crete. Then we would have avoided this damage and loss. 22 Now I urge you to be encouraged. Not one of your lives will be lost, though we will lose the ship. 23 Last night an angel from the God to whom I belong and whom I worship stood beside me. 24 The angel said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul! You must stand before Caesar! Indeed, God has also graciously given you everyone sailing with you.’ 25 Be encouraged, men! I have faith in God that it will be exactly as he told me. 26 However, we must run aground on some island.”
27 On the fourteenth night, we were being carried across the Adriatic Sea. Around midnight the sailors began to suspect that land was near. 28 They dropped a weighted line to take soundings and found the water to be about one hundred twenty feet deep. After proceeding a little farther, we took soundings again and found the water to be about ninety feet deep. 29 Afraid that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they hurled out four anchors from the stern and began to pray for daylight. 30 The sailors tried to abandon the ship by lowering the lifeboat into the sea, pretending they were going to lower anchors from the bow. 31 Paul said to the centurion and his soldiers, “Unless they stay in the ship, you can’t be saved from peril.” 32 The soldiers then cut the ropes to the lifeboat and let it drift away.
33 Just before daybreak, Paul urged everyone to eat. He said, “This is the fourteenth day you’ve lived in suspense, and you’ve not had even a bite to eat. 34 I urge you to take some food. Your health depends on it. None of you will lose a single hair from his head.” 35 After he said these things, he took bread, gave thanks to God in front of them all, then broke it and began to eat. 36 Everyone was encouraged and took some food. (37 In all, there were two hundred seventy-six of us on the ship.) 38 When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.
39 In the morning light they saw a bay with a sandy beach. They didn’t know what land it was, but they thought they might possibly be able to run the ship aground. 40 They cut the anchors loose and left them in the sea. At the same time, they untied the ropes that ran back to the rudders. They raised the foresail to catch the wind and made for the beach. 41 But they struck a sandbar and the ship ran aground. The bow was stuck and wouldn’t move, and the stern was broken into pieces by the force of the waves. 42 The soldiers decided to kill the prisoners to keep them from swimming to shore and escaping. 43 However, the centurion wanted to save Paul, so he stopped them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and head for land. 44 He ordered the rest to grab hold of planks or debris from the ship. In this way, everyone reached land safely.
Psalm 8
For the music leader. According to the Gittith.[a] A psalm of David.
8 Lord, our Lord, how majestic
is your name throughout the earth!
You made your glory higher than heaven![b]
2 From the mouths of nursing babies
you have laid a strong foundation
because of your foes,
in order to stop vengeful enemies.
3 When I look up at your skies,
at what your fingers made—
the moon and the stars
that you set firmly in place—
4 what are human beings
that you think about them;
what are human beings
that you pay attention to them?
5 You’ve made them only slightly less than divine,
crowning them with glory and grandeur.
6 You’ve let them rule over your handiwork,
putting everything under their feet—
7 all sheep and all cattle,
the wild animals too,
8 the birds in the sky,
the fish of the ocean,
everything that travels the pathways of the sea.
9 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the earth!
23 The poor plead for help,
but the wealthy answer harshly.
24 There are persons for companionship,
but then there are friends who are more loyal than family.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible