The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁸ And Caleb the son of Hezron had sons by his wife Azubah and by Jerioth. Azubah’s sons were: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon. ¹⁹ Azubah died, and Caleb married Ephrath, who bore him Hur. ²⁰ Hur became the father of Uri, and Uri became the father of Bezalel [the skillful craftsman who made the furnishings of the tabernacle].^(A)

²¹ Later, when Hezron was sixty years old, he married the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead, and she bore him Segub. ²² Segub became the father of Jair, who [later] had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead. ²³ But Geshur and Aram took from them Havvoth-jair, with Kenath and its villages, sixty towns in all. All these were the sons (descendants) of Machir, the father of Gilead. ²⁴ After Hezron died in Caleb-ephrathah, Abijah, Hezron’s wife, bore him Ashhur the father of Tekoa.

²⁵ The sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron: Ram the firstborn, Bunah, Oren, Ozem, and Ahijah. ²⁶ Jerahmeel had another wife, named Atarah; she was the mother of Onam. ²⁷ The sons of Ram the firstborn of Jerahmeel were: Maaz, Jamin, and Eker. ²⁸ The sons of Onam: Shammai and Jada. The sons of Shammai: Nadab and Abishur. ²⁹ The name of Abishur’s wife was Abihail; she bore him Ahban and Molid. ³⁰ The sons of Nadab: Seled and Appaim. Seled died childless. ³¹ The son of Appaim: Ishi. The son of Ishi: Sheshan. The son of Sheshan: Ahlai. ³² The sons of Jada the brother of Shammai: Jether and Jonathan. Jether died childless. ³³ The sons of Jonathan: Peleth and Zaza. These were the sons (descendants) of Jerahmeel. ³⁴ Sheshan had no sons—only daughters. But Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha. ³⁵ So Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant as a wife; she bore him Attai. ³⁶ Attai became the father of Nathan, and Nathan became the father of Zabad. ³⁷ Zabad became the father of Ephlal, and Ephlal became the father of Obed. ³⁸ Obed became the father of Jehu, and Jehu became the father of Azariah. ³⁹ Azariah became the father of Helez, and Helez became the father of Eleasah. ⁴⁰ Eleasah became the father of Sismai, and Sismai became the father of Shallum. ⁴¹ Shallum became the father of Jekamiah, and Jekamiah became the father of Elishama.

⁴² The sons of Caleb, the brother of Jerahmeel: Mesha his firstborn was the father of Ziph; and his son Mareshah was the father of Hebron. ⁴³ The sons of Hebron: Korah, Tappuah, Rekem, and Shema. ⁴⁴ Shema became the father of Raham, the father of Jorkeam. And Rekem became the father of Shammai. ⁴⁵ The son of Shammai was Maon; Maon became the father of Bethzur. ⁴⁶ Ephah, Caleb’s ^[a]concubine, gave birth to Haran, Moza, and Gazez; Haran became the father of Gazez. ⁴⁷ The sons of Jahdai: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah, and Shaaph. ⁴⁸ Maacah, Caleb’s concubine, gave birth to Sheber and Tirhanah. ⁴⁹ She also bore Shaaph the father of Madmannah and Sheva the father of Machbena and of Gibea; and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah. ⁵⁰ These were the sons (descendants) of Caleb.

The sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah: Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim, ⁵¹ Salma the father of Bethlehem and Hareph the father of Beth-gader. ⁵² Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim had [other] sons (descendants): Haroeh, half of the Manahathites [in Judah], ⁵³ and the families of Kiriath-jearim: the Ithrites, Puthites, Shumathites, and Mishraites. From these came the Zorathites and the Eshtaolites. ⁵⁴ The sons (descendants) of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab, and half of the Manahathites, the Zorites. ⁵⁵ The families of scribes who lived at Jabez: the Tirathites, Shimeathites, and Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.

Family of David

3 These were the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; second, Daniel (Chileab), by Abigail the Carmelitess; ² third, Absalom the son of Maacah, daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; fourth, Adonijah, the son of Haggith; ³ fifth, Shephatiah, by Abital; sixth, Ithream, by his wife Eglah. ⁴ These six were born to David in Hebron; he reigned there seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years. ⁵ These were born to David in Jerusalem: ^[b]Shimea (Shammua), Shobab, Nathan, Solomon—four by Bath-shua (Bathsheba) daughter of Ammiel (Eliam); ⁶ then Ibhar, Elishama (Elishua), Eliphelet (Elpelet), ⁷ Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, ⁸ Elishama, Eliada (Beeliada), and Eliphelet—nine in all. ⁹ All these were the sons of David, besides the sons of the ^[c]concubines; and Tamar was their sister.

¹⁰ Solomon’s son was Rehoboam. Abijah was his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son, ^11 [d]Joram (Jehoram) his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son, ¹² Amaziah his son, Azariah his son, Jotham his son, ¹³ Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son, ¹⁴ Amon his son, Josiah his son. ¹⁵ The sons of Josiah: firstborn, Johanan; second, Jehoiakim (Eliakim); third, Zedekiah; fourth, Shallum (Jehoahaz). ¹⁶ The sons (descendants) of Jehoiakim: Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) his son, Zedekiah his son. ¹⁷ The sons (descendants) of Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) the prisoner: Shealtiel his son, ¹⁸ Malchiram, Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama and Nedabiah. ¹⁹ The sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel and Shimei. The sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam and Hananiah, and Shelomith was their sister; ²⁰ and Hashubah, Ohel, Berechiah, Hasadiah, and Jushab-hesed—five in all. ²¹ The sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah and Jeshaiah, the sons of Rephaiah, the sons of Arnan, the sons of Obadiah, the sons of Shecaniah. ²² The sons (descendants) of Shecaniah: Shemaiah. The sons of Shemaiah: Hattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah, and Shaphat—six in all. ²³ The sons of Neariah: Elioenai, Hizkiah, and Azrikam—three in all. ²⁴ The sons of Elioenai: Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah, and Anani—seven in all.

Descendants of Judah

4 The sons of Judah: Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal. ² Reaiah the son of Shobal became the father of Jahath, and Jahath became the father of Ahumai and Lahad. These were the families of the Zorathites. ³ These were the sons of ^[e]Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash; and the name of their sister was Hazzelelponi. ⁴ Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer the father of Hushah. These were the sons of Hur, the eldest of Ephrathah (Ephrath), the father of Bethlehem.

Paul before Felix

24 Five days later, the high priest Ananias came down [from Jerusalem to Caesarea] with some elders and an attorney named Tertullus [acting as spokesman and counsel]. They presented to the governor their [formal] charges against Paul. ² After Paul had been summoned, Tertullus began the complaint [against him], saying to the governor:

“Since through you we have attained great peace, and since by your foresight reforms are being carried out for this nation, ³ in every way and in every place, most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with all gratitude. ⁴ But so that I do not weary you further, I beg you to grant us, by your kindness, a brief hearing. ⁵ For we have found this man to be a public menace and one who ^[a]instigates dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the [heretical] ^[b]sect of the Nazarenes. ⁶ He even tried to desecrate the temple, but we took him into custody ^[c][and we intended to judge him by our Law, ⁷ but Lysias the commander came, and with great force took him out of our hands, ⁸ and ordered his accusers to come before you.] By interrogating him yourself concerning all these matters you will be able to determine [the truth about] these things with which we charge him.” ⁹ The Jews also joined in the attack, declaring and insisting that these things were so.

¹⁰ When the governor nodded for him to speak, Paul answered,

“Knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this nation, I make my defense cheerfully and with good courage. ¹¹ As you can easily verify, it has been no more than twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship. ¹² Neither in the temple, nor in the synagogues, nor elsewhere in the city did they find me carrying on a discussion or disputing with anybody or causing a crowd to gather. ¹³ Nor can they present evidence to you to prove what they now bring against me. ¹⁴ But I confess this to you, that according to ^[d]the Way, which they call a [divisive and heretical] sect, I do worship and serve the God of our fathers, [confidently] believing everything that is in accordance with the Law [of Moses] and that is written in the Prophets; ¹⁵ having [the same] hope in God which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of [the dead], both of the righteous and of the wicked. ¹⁶ In view of this, I also do my best and strive always to have a clear conscience before God and before men. ¹⁷ Now after several years I came [to Jerusalem] to bring to my people charitable contributions and offerings. ¹⁸ They found me in the temple presenting these offerings, after I had undergone [the rites of] purification, without any crowd or uproar. But there were some Jews from [the west coast province of] Asia [Minor], ¹⁹ who ought to have been here before you to present their charges, if they have anything against me. ²⁰ Or else let these men tell what crime they found [me guilty of] when I stood before the Council (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court), ²¹ other than for this one statement which I had shouted out as I stood among them, ‘For the resurrection of the dead I am on trial before you today.’”

²² But Felix, having a rather accurate understanding about the Way, put them off, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.” ²³ Then he ordered the centurion to keep Paul in custody, but to let him have some freedom, and [he told the centurion] not to stop any of his friends from providing for his needs.

²⁴ Several days later Felix came with his wife ^[e]Drusilla, who was a Jewess. He sent for Paul and listened to him talk about faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁵ But as he was discussing righteousness, self-control [honorable behavior, personal integrity], and the judgment to come, Felix became frightened and said, “Go away for now, and when I find [a convenient] time I will send for you.” ²⁶ At the same time he was also hoping to get money from Paul [as a bribe]; so he continued to send for him quite often and talked with him. ²⁷ But after two years had passed, Felix was succeeded [in office] by ^[f]Porcius Festus; and wishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul imprisoned.

Evening Prayer of Trust in God.

To the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.