The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁴ Sheba passed through all the families of Israel to Abel Bethmaacah. Then all the Berites gathered together and followed him into the city. ¹⁵ And all the men who were with Joab came and gathered their armies around him in Abel Bethmaacah. They built up a hill of dirt against the wall of the city. And they were trying their best to make the wall fall down. ¹⁶ Then a wise woman called from the city, “Listen! I beg you, tell Joab to come here that I may speak with him.” ¹⁷ So he came to her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your woman servant.” And he answered, “I am listening.” ¹⁸ Then she said, “In the past they used to say, ‘Let them ask for words of wisdom at Abel.’ And so they would stop fighting. ¹⁹ I am one of peace and faith in Israel. You want to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up the gift of the Lord?” ²⁰ Joab answered, “Far be it from me! Far be it that I should swallow up or destroy! ²¹ That is not true. But a man from the hill country of Ephraim has turned against King David. His name is Sheba the son of Bichri. Give up only him, and I will leave the city.” And the woman said to Joab, “See, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.” ²² Then the woman went to all the people with her plan. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he sounded the horn and they left the city, every man going to his home. Joab returned to the king at Jerusalem.

²³ Now Joab was the captain of the whole army of Israel. Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was captain of the Cherethites and the Pelethites. ²⁴ Adoram was captain of those who were made to work. Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud wrote down the things that happened. ²⁵ Sheva was the teacher. Zadok and Abiathar were religious leaders. ²⁶ And Ira the Jairite was a religious leader to David also.

The Gibeonites Kill Seven of Saul’s Grandsons

21 While David was king there was a time without food for three years. David went to the Lord. The Lord said, “It is because of Saul and his house of blood, for he put the Gibeonites to death.” ² So the king called the Gibeonites. (Now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel, but of the people who were left of the Amorites. The sons of Israel had made an agreement with them. But Saul had wanted to kill them because he thought so much of the sons of Israel and Judah.) ³ David said to the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? How can I pay for the sin, so you may bring good to the land of the Lord?” ⁴ The Gibeonites said to him, “We will take no silver or gold from Saul or his family. And it is not for us to put any man to death in Israel.” David said, “I will do for you whatever you say.” ⁵ So they said to the king, “Saul destroyed us and planned to keep us from staying in any land of Israel. ⁶ Let seven men from his sons be given to us. We will hang them before the Lord at Gibeon on the Lord’s mountain.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

⁷ But the king kept alive Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because David had made a promise to Saul’s son Jonathan before the Lord. ⁸ The king took the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, Armoni and Mephibosheth, whom she had born to Saul. And he took the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab, whom she had born to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. ⁹ He gave them to the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord. The seven of them died together. They were put to death in the first days of gathering time, when the barley was ready to gather.

¹⁰ Aiah’s daughter Rizpah spread cloth made from hair on the rock for herself to lie upon, from the beginning of gathering time until the rain fell from the sky upon the bodies. She would not let the birds of the sky rest on them during the day, or the animals of the field during the night. ¹¹ David was told what Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, Saul’s woman, had done. ¹² Then he went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead. They had stolen them from the open space in the center of Bethshan. That was where the Philistines had hanged them on the day they killed Saul in Gilboa. ¹³ David brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan. They gathered the bones of those who had been hanged. ¹⁴ And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the grave of Kish his father. They did all that the king told them to do. After that, God heard and answered when they prayed for the land.

¹⁵ The Philistines were at war again with Israel. David went down with his servants and they fought the Philistines. And David became tired. ¹⁶ Then Ishbi-benob wanted to kill David. He was one of the sons of the very tall and strong people. His spear weighed as much as 300 pieces of brass, and he had a new sword. ¹⁷ But Zeruiah’s son Abishai helped David and killed the Philistine. Then David’s men promised him, “You will not go out again with us to battle. You might put out the lamp of Israel.”

¹⁸ After this there was war again with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the sons of the very tall and strong people. ¹⁹ There was war with the Philistines again at Gob. And Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite. Goliath’s spear was like the heavy piece of wood used by a cloth-maker. ²⁰ There was war at Gath again. There was a very tall man there who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number. He was one of the sons of the very tall and strong people also. ²¹ When he spoke against Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, killed him. ²² These four were sons of the very tall and strong people in Gath. They were killed by David and his servants.

Luke Writes to Theophilus

1 Dear Theophilus, in my first writings I wrote about all the things Jesus did and taught from the beginning ² until the day He went to heaven. He spoke to the missionaries through the Holy Spirit. He told those whom He had chosen what they should do. ³ After He had suffered much and then died, He showed Himself alive in many sure ways for forty days. He told them many things about the holy nation of God.

Jesus Speaks Before He Goes to Be with the Father

⁴ As they were gathered together with Him, He told them, “Do not leave Jerusalem. Wait for what the Father has promised. You heard Me speak of this. ⁵ For John the Baptist baptized with water but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

⁶ Those who were with Him asked, “Lord, is this the time for You to give the nation back to the Jews?” ⁷ He said, “It is not for you to know the special days or the special times which the Father has put in His own power.

⁸ “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes into your life. You will tell about Me in the city of Jerusalem and over all the countries of Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus Goes to Be with the Father

⁹ When Jesus had said this and while they were still looking at Him, He was taken up. A cloud carried Him away so they could not see Him. ¹⁰ They were still looking up to heaven, watching Him go. All at once two men dressed in white stood beside them. ¹¹ They said, “You men of the country of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus Who was taken from you into heaven will return in the same way you saw Him go up into heaven.”

Matthias Is Chosen to Take the Place of Judas

¹² The followers went back to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is close to Jerusalem. ¹³ When they came into the city, they went up to a room on the second floor where they stayed. The followers were Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Canaanite, and Judas the brother of James. ¹⁴ These all agreed as they prayed together. The women and Mary the mother of Jesus and His brothers were there.

¹⁵ On one of those days Peter got up in front of the followers. (There were about 120 people there.) He said, ¹⁶ “Men and brothers, it happened as the Holy Writings said it would happen which the Holy Spirit spoke through David. They told about Judas who would hand Jesus over to those who wanted to take Him. ¹⁷ Judas was one of our group and had a part in our work. ¹⁸ This man bought a field with the money he received for his sin. And falling down head first, his body broke open and his insides ran out. ¹⁹ All the people of Jerusalem knew about this. They called the place Field of Blood. ²⁰ For it is written in the Book of Psalms, ‘Let his place of living be empty and let no one live there,’ and, ‘Let another person take over his work.’ ^(A)

²¹ “The man to take the place of Judas should be one of these men who walked along with us when the Lord Jesus was with us. ²² He must have been with Jesus from the day He was baptized by John to the day He was taken up from us. So one of these should be added to our group who will tell others that he saw Jesus raised from the dead.”

²³ They brought two men in front of them. They were Joseph, also called Barsabbas Justus, and Matthias. ²⁴ Then the followers prayed, saying, “Lord, You know the hearts of all men. Show us which of these two men You have chosen. ²⁵ He is to take the place of Judas in this work and be a missionary. Judas lost his place and went where he belonged because of sin.” ²⁶ Then they drew names and the name of Matthias was chosen. He became one with the eleven missionaries.

The Lord—Our Helper

121 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains. Where will my help come from? ² My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. ³ He will not let your feet go out from under you. He Who watches over you will not sleep. ⁴ Listen, He Who watches over Israel will not close his eyes or sleep.

⁵ The Lord watches over you. The Lord is your safe cover at your right hand. ⁶ The sun will not hurt you during the day and the moon will not hurt you during the night. ⁷ The Lord will keep you from all that is sinful. He will watch over your soul. ⁸ The Lord will watch over your coming and going, now and forever.

¹⁸ Pride comes before being destroyed and a proud spirit comes before a fall.