The Daily Audio Bible

9 The names of all the people of Israel were listed in their family histories. Those family histories were put in the book of the kings of Israel.

The People in Jerusalem

The people of Judah were captured and forced to go to Babylon. This is because they were not faithful to God. ² The first people to come back and live in their own lands and towns were some Israelites, priests, Levites and Temple servants.

³ People from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh lived in Jerusalem. This is a list of those people.

⁴ There was Uthai son of Ammihud. (Ammihud was Omri’s son. Omri was Imri’s son. Imri was Bani’s son. Bani was a descendant of Perez. Perez was Judah’s son.)

⁵ Of the Shilonite people there were Asaiah and his sons. Asaiah was the oldest son in his family.

⁶ Of the Zerahite people there were Jeuel and other relatives of Zerah. There were 690 of them in all.

⁷ From the tribe of Benjamin there was Sallu son of Meshullam. (Meshullam was Hodaviah’s son. Hodaviah was Hassenuah’s son.) ⁸ There was also Ibneiah son of Jeroham and Elah son of Uzzi. (Uzzi was Micri’s son.) And there was Meshullam son of Shephatiah. (Shephatiah was Reuel’s son, and Reuel was Ibnijah’s son.) ⁹ The family history of Benjamin lists 956 people living in Jerusalem. All these men were leaders of their families.

¹⁰ Of the priests there were Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, Jakin and ¹¹ Azariah son of Hilkiah. (Hilkiah was Meshullam’s son. Meshullam was Zadok’s son. Zadok was Meraioth’s son. Meraioth was Ahitub’s son. Ahitub was the officer who was responsible for the Temple of God.) ¹² Also there was Adaiah son of Jeroham. (Jeroham was Pashhur’s son, and Pashhur was Malkijah’s son.) And there was Maasai son of Adiel. (Adiel was Jahzerah’s son. Jahzerah was Meshullam’s son. Meshullam was Meshillemith’s son, and Meshillemith was Immer’s son.) ¹³ There were 1,760 priests. They were leaders of their families. They were responsible for serving in the Temple of God.

¹⁴ Of the Levites there was Semaiah son of Hasshub. (Hasshub was Azrikam’s son. Azrikam was Hashabiah’s son. Hashabiah was from the family of Merari.) ¹⁵ There were also Bakbakkar, Heresh, Galal and Mattaniah son of Mica. (Mica was Zicri’s son. Zicri was Asaph’s son.) ¹⁶ There was also Obadiah son of Shemaiah. (Shemaiah was Galal’s son, and Galal was Jeduthun’s son.) And there was Berekiah son of Asa. (Asa was Elkanah’s son. Elkanah lived in the villages of the Netophathite people.)

¹⁷ Of the gatekeepers there were Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman and their relatives. Shallum was their leader. ¹⁸ These gatekeepers from the tribe of Levi still stand next to the King’s Gate on the east side of the city. ¹⁹ Shallum was Kore’s son. Kore was Ebiasaph’s son. Ebiasaph was Korah’s son. Shallum and his relatives from the family of Korah were gatekeepers. They were responsible for guarding the gates of the Temple. Their ancestors had also been responsible for guarding the entrance to the Temple. ²⁰ In the past Phinehas was in charge of the gatekeepers. He was Eleazar’s son. The Lord was with Phinehas. ²¹ Zechariah was the gatekeeper at the entrance to the Temple. He was the son of Meshelemiah.

²² In all, 212 men were chosen to guard the gates. Their names were written in their family histories in their villages. David and Samuel the seer chose these men because they were dependable. ²³ The gatekeepers and their descendants had the responsibility of guarding the gates of the Temple of the Lord. (The Temple took the place of the Holy Tent.) ²⁴ There were gatekeepers on all four sides of the Temple: east, west, north and south. ²⁵ The gatekeepers’ relatives who lived in the villages had to come and help them at certain times. Each time they came they helped the gatekeepers for seven days. ²⁶ Because they were dependable, four gatekeepers were made the leaders of all the gatekeepers. They were Levites. They were responsible for the rooms and treasures in the Temple of God. ²⁷ They stayed up all night guarding the Temple of God. And they opened it every morning.

²⁸ Some of the gatekeepers were responsible for the tools and dishes used in the Temple services. They counted these tools and dishes when people took them out. And they counted them when people brought them back. ²⁹ Other gatekeepers were chosen to take care of the things in the Holy Place. They also took care of the flour, wine, oil, incense and spices. ³⁰ But some of the priests took care of mixing the spices. ³¹ There was a Levite named Mattithiah. Because he was dependable, he had the job of baking the bread used for the offerings. He was Shallum’s first son. Shallum was from the family of Korah. ³² Some of the gatekeepers had the job of preparing the special bread. This was the bread that was put on the table every Sabbath. These people were from the Kohath family.

³³ Some of the Levites were musicians in the Temple. The leaders of these families stayed in the rooms of the Temple. They were on duty day and night. So they did not do other work in the Temple.

³⁴ These are the leaders of the Levite families. Their names were listed in their family histories. They lived in Jerusalem.

The Family History of King Saul

³⁵ Jeiel lived in the town of Gibeon, where he was the leader. His wife was named Maacah. ³⁶ Jeiel’s first son was Abdon. His other sons were Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab, ³⁷ Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah and Mikloth. ³⁸ Mikloth was Shimeam’s father. Jeiel’s family lived near their relatives in Jerusalem.

³⁹ Ner was Kish’s father. Kish was Saul’s father. And Saul was the father of Jonathan, Malki-Shua, Abinadab and Esh-Baal.

⁴⁰ Jonathan’s son was Merib-Baal. Merib-Baal was Micah’s father.

⁴¹ Micah’s sons were Pithon, Melech, Tahrea and Ahaz. ⁴² Ahaz was Jadah’s father. Jadah was the father of Alemeth, Azmaveth and Zimri. Zimri was Moza’s father. ⁴³ Moza was Binea’s father. Rephaiah was Binea’s son. Eleasah was Rephaiah’s son, and Azel was Eleasah’s son.

⁴⁴ Azel had six sons. Their names were Azrikam, Bokeru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah and Hanan. They were Azel’s sons.

The Death of King Saul

10 The Philistine people fought against the people of Israel. The Israelites ran away from them. And many Israelites were killed on Mount Gilboa. ² The Philistines continued chasing Saul and his sons. And they killed Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. ³ The fighting became heavy around Saul. The archers shot him with their arrows and wounded him.

⁴ Then Saul said to the officer who carried his armor, “Pull out your sword and kill me. If you don’t, these men who are not circumcised will come and hurt me.” But the officer was afraid. So he refused to kill Saul. Then Saul took his own sword and fell on it. ⁵ The officer saw that Saul was dead. So he fell on his own sword and died. ⁶ So Saul and three of his sons died. All his family died together.

⁷ The Israelites living in the valley saw that their army had run away. And they saw that Saul and his sons were dead. So they left their towns and ran away. Then the Philistines came and lived in those towns.

⁸ The next day the Philistines came to take valuable things from the dead bodies. On Mount Gilboa they found the bodies of Saul and his sons. ⁹ The Philistines stripped Saul’s body. And they took his head and his armor. They sent messengers through all their country to tell the news to their idols and their people. ¹⁰ The Philistines put Saul’s armor in the temple of their idols. And they hung his head in the temple of Dagon.

¹¹ All the people living in Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul. ¹² So all the brave men from Jabesh Gilead went and got the bodies of Saul and his sons. They brought them to Jabesh Gilead. Then they buried the bones of Saul and his sons under the large tree in Jabesh. And they gave up eating for seven days.

¹³ Saul died because he was not faithful to the Lord. He did not obey the Lord. He even went to a medium and asked her for advice. ¹⁴ He did this instead of asking the Lord for help. This is why the Lord put Saul to death and gave the kingdom to Jesse’s son David.

²¹ The men had gone without food for a long time. Then one day Paul stood up before them and said, “Men, I told you not to leave Crete. You should have listened to me. Then you would not have all this trouble and loss. ²² But now I tell you to cheer up. None of you will die! But the ship will be lost. ²³ Last night an angel from God came to me. This is the God I worship. I am his. ²⁴ God’s angel said, ‘Paul, do not be afraid! You must stand before Caesar. And God has given you this promise: He will save the lives of all those men sailing with you.’ ²⁵ So men, be cheerful! I trust in God. Everything will happen as his angel told me. ²⁶ But we will crash on an island.”

²⁷ On the fourteenth night we were floating around in the Adriatic Sea.^[a] The sailors thought we were close to land. ²⁸ They threw a rope into the water with a weight on the end of it. They found that the water was 120 feet deep. They went a little farther and threw the rope in again. It was 90 feet deep. ²⁹ The sailors were afraid that we would hit the rocks, so they threw four anchors into the water. Then they prayed for daylight to come. ³⁰ Some of the sailors wanted to leave the ship, and they lowered the lifeboat. These sailors wanted the other men to think that they were throwing more anchors from the front of the ship. ³¹ But Paul told the officer and the other soldiers, “If these men do not stay in the ship, your lives cannot be saved!” ³² So the soldiers cut the ropes and let the lifeboat fall into the water.

³³ Just before dawn Paul began persuading all the people to eat something. He said, “For the past 14 days you have been waiting and watching. You have not eaten. ³⁴ Now I beg you to eat something. You need it to stay alive. None of you will lose even one hair off your heads.” ³⁵ After he said this, Paul took some bread and thanked God for it before all of them. He broke off a piece and began eating. ³⁶ All the men felt better. They all started eating too. ³⁷ (There were 276 people on the ship.) ³⁸ We ate all we wanted. Then we began making the ship lighter by throwing the grain into the sea.

The Ship Is Destroyed

³⁹ When daylight came, the sailors saw land. They did not know what land it was, but they saw a bay with a beach. They wanted to sail the ship to the beach, if they could. ⁴⁰ So they cut the ropes to the anchors and left the anchors in the sea. At the same time, they untied the ropes that were holding the rudders. Then they raised the front sail into the wind and sailed toward the beach. ⁴¹ But the ship hit a sandbank. The front of the ship stuck there and could not move. Then the big waves began to break the back of the ship to pieces.

⁴² The soldiers decided to kill the prisoners so that none of them could swim away and escape. ⁴³ But Julius, the officer, wanted to let Paul live. He did not allow the soldiers to kill the prisoners. Instead he ordered everyone who could swim to jump into the water and swim to land. ⁴⁴ The rest used wooden boards or pieces of the ship. And this is how all the people made it safely to land.

God’s Greatness and Man’s Worth

For the director of music. By the gittith. A song of David.