The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁴ He passed through all of the tribes of Israel toward Abel Beth Maakah, also passing by all of the Bikrites. Once assembled, they also came after him. ¹⁵ They came and besieged him in Abel Beth Maakah. They constructed a siege ramp against the city, standing it against the rampart. As all of the people who were with Joab were battering the city wall in order to bring it down, ¹⁶ a wise woman called from the city, “Listen! Listen! Say to Joab, ‘Come closer so that I may speak with you.’ ” ¹⁷ When he came near, the woman said, “Are you Joab?”

He said, “I am.”

She said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant,” and he said, “I’m listening.”

¹⁸ She said, “In former times, they would say, ‘Let them inquire carefully in Abel,’ and thus they would resolve an issue. ¹⁹ I am a trustworthy and faithful one of Israel. You are attempting to destroy a city, even a mother, in Israel. Why do you swallow up the inheritance of the Lord?”

²⁰ Joab responded, “Far be it, far be it from me to swallow up or destroy. ²¹ That is not true. But a man from the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bikri by name, has lifted his hand against King David. Only deliver him, and I will depart from the city.”

And the woman said to Joab, “His head will be thrown to you over the wall.”

²² The woman, with her wisdom, came to all of the people in the city, and they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bikri. When they threw it to Joab, he blew the horn, and they dispersed from the city, each going to his own tent. Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

David’s Officials

²³ Now Joab was over the entire army of Israel. Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites. ²⁴ Adoniram was over conscripted labor. Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was secretary. ²⁵ Sheva was scribe. Zadok and Abiathar were priests, ²⁶ and also Ira the Jairite was priest to David.

David Avenges the Gibeonites

21 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David called upon the Lord. The Lord said, “There is blood guilt upon Saul and upon his house because he put the Gibeonites to death.”

² So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not from the children of Israel. Instead they were a remnant of the Amorites. Although the children of Israel had made a pact with them, Saul attempted to destroy them in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. ³ David said to the Gibeonites, “What must I do for you, and with what may I appease you that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord?”

⁴ The Gibeonites said to him, “We have no concern for silver or gold from Saul or his household, nor is it for us to put any man in Israel to death.”

He said to them, “What are you saying I should do for you?”

⁵ They said to the king, “Regarding the man who put an end to us and planned to exterminate us from the entire territory of Israel, ⁶ let seven of his male descendants be handed over to us, and we will hang them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen one of the Lord.”

The king said, “I will hand them over.”

⁷ But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul on account of the oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. ⁸ So the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, Armoni and Mephibosheth, whom she had born to Saul, and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she had born to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. ⁹ He delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord; the seven of them fell together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, in the beginning of the barley harvest.

¹⁰ Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of the harvest until the rains poured on them from heaven. She did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the animals of the field by night. ¹¹ When it was reported to David that which Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, ¹² David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh Gilead who had secretly taken them from the plaza in Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hung them the day the Philistines struck down Saul on Gilboa. ¹³ He brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there, and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged.

¹⁴ They interred the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin at Zela, in the tomb of Kish, his father. They did everything that the king commanded. After that God was entreated regarding the land.

Wars With the Philistines^(A)

¹⁵ Now once again there was a battle between the Philistines and Israel. So David went down and his servants with him to fight the Philistines, and David grew weary. ¹⁶ Now Ishbi-Benob, who was among the descendants of the giant and was girded with new weaponry, had a spear weighing three hundred bronze shekels and had said that he would strike David down. ¹⁷ But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid. He struck down the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David made an oath with him, saying, “You shall no longer come out with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish the lamp of Israel.”

¹⁸ Now afterwards there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbekai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was among the descendants of the giant.

¹⁹ Once again, there was a battle with the Philistines at Gob. On this occasion, Elhanan the son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite struck down Goliath the Gittite, whose spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam.

²⁰ Once again, there was war at Gath. There was a man of stature who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number. Now he also was born to the giant. ²¹ When he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimeah, the brother of David, struck him down.

²² Now these four were born to the giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and teach, ² until the day when He was taken up, after He had given commandments through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen, ³ to whom He presented Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, appearing to them for forty days, and speaking concerning the kingdom of God. ⁴ Being assembled with them, He commanded them, “Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, of which you have heard from Me.^{[a] 5} For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

The Ascension

⁶ So when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷ He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or the dates, which the Father has fixed by His own authority. ⁸ But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

⁹ When He had spoken these things, while they looked, He was taken up. And a cloud received Him from their sight.

¹⁰ While they looked intently toward heaven as He ascended, suddenly two men stood by them in white garments. ¹¹ They said, “Men of Galilee, why stand looking toward heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you to heaven, will come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Judas’ Successor

¹² Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is a Sabbath day’s walk^[b] from Jerusalem. ¹³ When they had entered, they went up into the upper room, where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. ¹⁴ These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

¹⁵ In those days Peter stood up among the disciples (the number of people together was about a hundred and twenty), and said, ¹⁶ “Brothers, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit previously spoke by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became the guide to those who seized Jesus. ¹⁷ For he was numbered with us and took part in this ministry.”

¹⁸ (Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity. And falling headlong, he burst asunder in the middle and all his organs spilled out. ¹⁹ It became known to all the residents of Jerusalem. So this field is called in their dialect Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

²⁰ “For it is written in the Book of Psalms,

and,

²¹ Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us while the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²² beginning from the baptism of John until the very day that He was taken up from us, one of these men must become with us a witness of His resurrection.”

²³ So they proposed two, Joseph, called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. ²⁴ Then they prayed, “You, Lord, who knows the hearts of all men, show which of these two You have chosen ²⁵ to take the place in this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, to go to his own place.” ²⁶ Then they cast lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. So he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Psalm 121

A Song of Ascents.