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.

The Census Taken

24 ^(W)Now ^(X)again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “^(Y)Go, number Israel and Judah.” ² The king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Go about now through all the tribes of Israel, ^(Z)from Dan to Beersheba, and ^[a]register the people, that I may know the number of the people.” ³ But Joab said to the king, “^(AA)Now may the Lord 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 prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to ^[b]register the people of Israel. ⁵ 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)fortress 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 when they had gone about through the whole land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹ And Joab gave ^(AH)the number of the ^[d]registration of the people to the king; and there were in Israel ^(AI)eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

¹⁰ Now ^(AJ)David’s heart ^[e]troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, “^(AK)I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please ^[f]take away the iniquity of Your servant, for ^(AL)I have acted very foolishly.” ¹¹ When David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to ^(AM)the prophet Gad, David’s ^(AN)seer, saying, ¹² “Go and speak to David, ‘Thus the Lord says, “I am offering you three things; choose for yourself one of them, which I will do 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 foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider and see what answer I shall 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 the Lord ^(AP)for His mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”

Pestilence Sent

¹⁵ So ^(AQ)the Lord ^[g]sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand men of the people ^(AR)from Dan to Beersheba died. ^16 (AS)When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, ^(AT)the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now relax your hand!” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷ Then David spoke to the Lord 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 wrong; but ^(AV)these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”

David Builds an Altar

¹⁸ So Gad came to David that day and said to him, “^(AW)Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of ^[h]Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹ David went up according to the word of Gad, just as the Lord had commanded. ²⁰ 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 the Lord, ^(AX)that the plague may be held back from the people.” ²² 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 the Lord 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 the Lord my God ^[i]which cost me nothing.” So ^(BB)David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. ²⁵ David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. ^(BC)Thus the Lord was moved by prayer for the land, and the plague was held back from Israel.

Healing the Lame Beggar

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 along, whom they ^(D)used to set down every day 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 Peter, along with John, ^(G)fixed his gaze on him and 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 [c](I)With a leap 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 taking note of him as being 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 Second Sermon

¹¹ While he was clinging to ^(L)Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called ^[d](M)portico of Solomon, full of amazement. ¹² But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed 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 ^[e](P)servant Jesus, the one whom ^(Q)you delivered and disowned in the presence of ^(R)Pilate, when he had ^(S)decided to release Him. ¹⁴ But you disowned ^(T)the Holy and Righteous One and ^(U)asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵ but put to death the ^[f](V)Prince of life, the one 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 ^[g]the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.

¹⁷ “And now, brethren, 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 ^[h]Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. ¹⁹ Therefore ^(AD)repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that ^(AE)times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; ²⁰ and that He may send Jesus, the ^[i]Christ appointed for you, ^21 (AF)whom heaven must receive until the ^[j]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 Lord God will raise up for you a prophet ^[k]like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed 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 announced these days. ²⁵ It is you who are ^(AN)the sons of the prophets and of the ^(AO)covenant which God ^[l]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 ^[m]Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

Prayer for the Lord’s Help.

A Song of Ascents.