The Daily Audio Bible

^24 (A)Asahel the brother of Joab was among the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, ^25 (B)Shammah the ^(C)Harodite, Elika the Harodite, ²⁶ Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the ^(D)Tekoite, ²⁷ Abiezer the ^(E)Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, ²⁸ Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the ^(F)Netophathite, ^29 (G)Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of ^(H)Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin, ³⁰ Benaiah a ^(I)Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of ^(J)Gaash, ³¹ Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the ^(K)Barhumite, ³² Eliahba the ^(L)Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, ^33 (M)Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite, ³⁴ Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of ^(N)the Maacathite, ^(O)Eliam the son of ^(P)Ahithophel the Gilonite, ^35 (Q)Hezro the ^(R)Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, ³⁶ Igal the son of Nathan of ^(S)Zobah, Bani the Gadite, ³⁷ Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the ^(T)Beerothite, armor bearers of Joab the son of Zeruiah, ³⁸ Ira the ^(U)Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ^39 (V)Uriah the Hittite; thirty-seven in all.

David Sins in Taking a Census

24 ^(W)And ^(X)again the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “^(Y)Go, number Israel and Judah.” ² So the king said to Joab the commander of the military force who was with him, “Go about now through all the tribes of Israel, ^(Z)from Dan to Beersheba, and ^[a]take a census of the people, that I may know the total count of the people.” ³ But Joab said to the king, “^(AA)Now may Yahweh your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” ⁴ Nevertheless, the king’s word stood strong against Joab and against the commanders of the military force. So Joab and the commanders of the military force went out from the presence of the king to ^[b]take a census of the people of Israel. ⁵ And they crossed the Jordan and camped in ^(AB)Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad and toward ^(AC)Jazer. ⁶ Then they came to Gilead and to ^[c]the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to ^(AD)Sidon, ⁷ and came to the ^(AE)fortified city of Tyre and to all the cities of the ^(AF)Hivites and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to ^(AG)Beersheba. ⁸ So they had gone about through the whole land, and they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹ And Joab gave ^(AH)the total count of the ^[d]census of the people to the king; and there were in Israel ^(AI)800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000 men.

¹⁰ Then ^(AJ)David’s heart struck him after he had counted the people. So David said to Yahweh, “^(AK)I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Yahweh, please ^[e]take away the iniquity of Your slave, for ^(AL)I have acted very foolishly.” ¹¹ Then David arose in the morning, and the word of Yahweh came to ^(AM)the prophet Gad, David’s ^(AN)seer, saying, ¹² “Go and speak to David, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “I am offering you three things; choose for yourself one of them, and I will do that to you.”’” ¹³ So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall ^(AO)seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your adversaries while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now, know and see what word I should return to Him who sent me.” ¹⁴ Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of Yahweh, ^(AP)for His compassions are abundant. But do not let me fall into the hand of man.”

¹⁵ So ^(AQ)Yahweh ^[f]sent a pestilence against Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and 70,000 men of the people ^(AR)from Dan to Beersheba died. ^16 (AS)Then the angel sent forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, and ^(AT)Yahweh ^[g]relented of the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now relax your hand!” And the angel of Yahweh was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷ Then David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, “Behold, ^(AU)it is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done unrighteousness; but ^(AV)these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and my father’s house.”

David Erects an Altar

¹⁸ So Gad came to David that day and said to him, “^(AW)Go up, erect an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of ^[h]Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹ So David went up according to the word of Gad, just as Yahweh had commanded. ²⁰ And Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; and Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king. ²¹ Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to Yahweh, ^(AX)that the plague may be checked from being upon the people.” ²² And Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, ^(AY)the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. ²³ Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May Yahweh your God ^(AZ)accept you.” ²⁴ However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for ^(BA)I will not offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God ^[i]which cost me nothing.” So ^(BB)David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty ^[j]shekels of silver. ²⁵ Then David built there an altar to Yahweh and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. ^(BC)Thus Yahweh was moved by the entreaty for the land, and the plague was checked from being upon Israel.

The Lame Beggar Healed

3 Now ^(A)Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ^[a]ninth hour, ^(B)the hour of prayer. ² And ^(C)a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried, whom they ^(D)used to set down daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, ^(E)in order to beg ^[b]alms of those who were entering the temple. ³ When he saw ^(F)Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. ⁴ But when Peter, along with John, ^(G)fixed his gaze on him, he said, “Look at us!” ⁵ And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶ But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: ^(H)In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” ⁷ And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. ^8 (I)And leaping up, he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. ⁹ And ^(J)all the people saw him walking and praising God; ¹⁰ and they were recognizing him, that he was the one who used to ^(K)sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Peter’s Sermon in Solomon’s Portico

¹¹ And while he was clinging to ^(L)Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the ^[c](M)portico called Solomon’s, full of wonder. ¹² But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? ^13 (N)The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ^(O)the God of our fathers, has glorified His ^(P)Servant Jesus, whom ^(Q)you delivered and denied in the presence of ^(R)Pilate, when he had ^(S)decided to release Him. ¹⁴ But you denied ^(T)the Holy and Righteous One and ^(U)asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵ but put to death the ^(V)Author of life, whom ^(W)God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are ^(X)witnesses. ¹⁶ And on the basis of faith ^(Y)in His name, it is ^[d]the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which is through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.

¹⁷ “And now, brothers, I know that you acted ^(Z)in ignorance, just as your ^(AA)rulers did also. ¹⁸ But the things which ^(AB)God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, ^(AC)that His ^[e]Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. ¹⁹ Therefore ^(AD)repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that ^[f](AE)times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; ²⁰ and that He may send Jesus, the ^[g]Christ appointed for you, ^21 (AF)whom heaven must receive until the ^[h]period of ^(AG)restoration of all things about which ^(AH)God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. ²² Moses said, ‘^(AI)The ^[i]Lord God will raise up for you a prophet ^[j]like me from your brothers; to Him you shall listen to everything He says to you. ^23 (AJ)And it will be that every ^(AK)soul that does not heed that prophet ^(AL)shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ ²⁴ And likewise, ^(AM)all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also proclaimed these days. ²⁵ It is you who are ^(AN)the sons of the prophets and of the ^(AO)covenant which God ^[k]made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘^(AP)And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ ²⁶ For you ^(AQ)first, God ^(AR)raised up His ^[l]Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

To You I Lift Up My Eyes

A Song of Ascents.