The Daily Audio Bible

David Becomes King of Israel and Judah

11 Then all Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “See, we are your bone and your flesh. ² In times past, even when Saul was king, you were the one who led out and brought in Israel. The Lord your God said to you, ‘You will be the shepherd of My people Israel. And you will be king over My people Israel.’” ³ So all the leaders of Israel came to the king at Hebron. And David made an agreement with them in Hebron before the Lord. Then they poured oil on David to be the king of Israel, just as the Lord had said through Samuel. ⁴ David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (that is, Jebus). And the Jebusites, the people of the land, were there. ⁵ The people of Jebus said to David, “You will not come in here.” But David took the strong-place of Zion (that is, the city of David). ⁶ Now David had said, “Whoever kills a Jebusite first will be captain and leader.” Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, so he became captain. ⁷ Then David lived in the strong-place. So it was called the city of David. ⁸ He built the city all around, from the Millo and then around. And Joab built the rest of the city up again. ⁹ David became greater and greater, for the Lord of All was with him.

David’s Strong Men

¹⁰ These are the leaders of David’s strong men. They gave him much help in his nation, together with all Israel, to make him king. It was just as the Lord had said would happen with Israel. ¹¹ These are the names of David’s strong men. There was Jashobeam the son of Hachmonite, the head of the thirty. He killed 300 men with his spear at one time. ¹² Then there was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite. He was one of the three powerful soldiers. ¹³ He was with David at Pasdammim when the Philistines were gathered there to battle, where there was a piece of ground full of grain. And the people ran away from the Philistines. ¹⁴ But he and his men stood on the piece of ground and fought for it, and killed the Philistines. The Lord saved them by His great power.

¹⁵ Three of the thirty leaders went down to the rock and into the cave of Adullam where David was staying. The Philistine army was staying in the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁶ David was in a strong-place, while the Philistine soldiers had their place in Bethlehem. ¹⁷ David had a strong desire. He said, “O, if only someone would give me water to drink from the well by the gate of Bethlehem!” ¹⁸ So the three men broke through the Philistine army. They took water from the well by the gate of Bethlehem, and brought it to David. But David would not drink it. He poured it out to the Lord, ¹⁹ and said, “Far be it from me that I should do this before my God. Should I drink the blood of these men? For they put their lives in danger to bring it.” So he would not drink it. These things are what the three powerful soldiers did.

²⁰ As for Abishai the brother of Joab, he was the head of the thirty. He fought and killed 300 men with his spear. And his name became well-known like the three. ²¹ He was the best known of the thirty. But he was not as important as the three.

²² Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a powerful soldier from Kabzeel, did great things. He killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He went down and killed a lion inside a deep hole on a day when there was snow. ²³ And he killed an Egyptian who was very tall, five cubits tall. The Egyptian held a spear as big as the cross-piece of a cloth-maker. But Benaiah went down to him with a heavy stick and took the spear from the Egyptian’s hand. Then he killed him with his own spear. ²⁴ These are the things Benaiah the son of Johoiada did. His name was well-known like the three powerful soldiers. ²⁵ He was respected among the thirty. But he was not as important as the three. David chose him to be the head of his house soldiers.

²⁶ The strong men of the armies were Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, ²⁷ Shammoth the Harorite, and Helez the Pelonite. ²⁸ And there were Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, Abiezer the Anathothite, ²⁹ Sibbecai the Hushathite, and Ilai the Ahohite. ³⁰ There were Maharai the Netophathite, Heled the son of Baanah the Netophathite, ³¹ Ithai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin, and Benaiah the Pirathonite. ³² There were Hurai of the rivers of Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite, ³³ Azmaveth the Baharumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite, ³⁴ the sons of Hashem the Gizonite. There were Jonathan the son of Shagee the Hararite, ³⁵ Ahiam the son of Sachar the Hararite, Eliphal the son of Ur, ³⁶ Hepher the Mecherathite, and Ahijah the Pelonite. ³⁷ There were Hezro the Carmelite, Naarai the son of Ezbai, ³⁸ Joel the brother of Nathan, Mibhar the son of Hagri, ³⁹ Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite. Naharai was the one who carried the battle-clothes of Joab the son of Zeruiah. ⁴⁰ There were Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ⁴¹ Uriah the Hittite, Zabad the son of Ahlai, ⁴² and Adina the son of Shiza the Reubenite. Adina was a leader of the Reubenites, and had thirty men with him. ⁴³ Then there were Hanan the son of Maacah, Joshaphat the Mithnite, ⁴⁴ Uzzia the Ashterathite, and Shama and Jeiel the sons of Hotham the Aroerite. ⁴⁵ There were Jediael the son of Shimri, his brother Joha the Tizite, ⁴⁶ Eliel the Mahavite, and Jeribai and Joshaviah the sons of Elnaam. And there were Ithmah the Moabite, ⁴⁷ Eliel, Obed, and Jaasiel the Mezobaite.

David’s Army Gets Larger

12 These are the men who came to David at Ziklag, while David was still hidden because of Saul the son of Kish. They were among the strong men who helped him in war. ² They fought with the bow. They could also throw stones or shoot arrows with both the right and left hand. They were Saul’s brothers from Benjamin. ³ The leader was Ahiezer, then Joash. Both of them were sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite. And there were Jeziel and Pelet, the sons of Azmaveth, Beracah, Jehu the Anathothite, ⁴ and Ishmaiah the Gibeonite. He was a strong man among the thirty, and a leader over them. There were Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan, Jozabad the Gederathite, ⁵ Eluzai, Jerimoth, Bealiah, Shemariah, and Shephatiah the Haruphite. ⁶ There were Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, Jashobeam, the Korahites. ⁷ And there were Joelah and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham of Gedor.

⁸ Powerful soldiers came from the Gadites to David in the strong-place in the desert. They had been taught how to fight in war, and could use the battle-covering and spear. Their faces were like the faces of lions. And they were as fast as the deer on the mountains. ⁹ Ezer was the first. Obadiah was the second. Eliab was the third. ¹⁰ Mishmannah was the fourth. Jeremiah was the fifth. ¹¹ Attai was the sixth. Eliel was the seventh. ¹² Johanan was the eighth. Elzabad was the ninth. ¹³ Jeremiah was the tenth. Machbannai was the eleventh. ¹⁴ These Gadites were captains of the army. He who was least led 100. And he who was greatest led 1,000. ¹⁵ These are the ones who crossed the Jordan in the first month when the water was flowing over its sides. They drove away all those in the valleys, to the east and to the west.

¹⁶ Then some of the sons of Benjamin and Judah came to David at his strong-place. ¹⁷ David went out to meet them. He said to them, “If you come in peace to help me, my heart will be joined to you. But if you have come to hand me over to those who hate me, may the God of our fathers see it and speak strong words to you. For I have done nothing wrong.” ¹⁸ Then the Spirit came upon Amasai the captain of the thirty. Amasai said, “We are yours, O David! We are with you, O son of Jesse! Peace, peace to you, and peace to those who help you! For your God helps you!” Then David received them and made them captains of his soldiers.

The Powerful Work of Paul

28 After we were safe on the island, we knew that it was Malta. ² The people on the island were very kind to us. It was raining and cold. They made a fire so we could get warm. ³ Paul had gathered some wood. As he laid it on the fire, a snake came out because of the heat. It held fast to Paul’s hand. ⁴ When the people of the island saw the snake holding to his hand, they said to each other, “This man is a killer. He was saved from the sea and yet it is not right for him to live.” ⁵ Paul shook off the snake into the fire. He was not hurt in any way. ⁶ The people waited. They thought his hand would get large and he would fall over dead. After watching for a long time, they saw nothing happen to him. Then they changed their minds and said that Paul was a god.

The Father of Publius Is Healed

⁷ Publius was the head man of the island. He owned land around there. For three days he took us in and gave us everything we needed. ⁸ The father of Publius was sick with a stomach sickness. Paul went to see him. He prayed and laid his hands on him and the man was healed. ⁹ Because of this, other people of the island who were sick came to Paul and were healed. ¹⁰ They had great respect for us. When we got into a ship to leave, they gave us everything we needed.

¹¹ We had stayed on the island three months. Then we left on a ship that had stayed there during the winter. It was from the city of Alexandria. This ship was called the Twin Brothers. ¹² We came to Syracuse and stayed there three days. ¹³ From there we went by ship around to the city of Rhegium. After a day a south wind started to blow. On the second day we came to the city of Puteoli. ¹⁴ We found some Christians there, and they asked us to stay with them. We were there seven days and then went on to the city of Rome.

¹⁵ When the Christians heard of our coming, they came to meet us. They came as far as the town of Appius and to a place to stay called the Three Stores. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.

Paul Tells Why and How He Has Come

¹⁶ When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live where he wanted to. But a soldier was always by his side to watch him. ¹⁷ Three days later Paul asked the leaders of the Jews to come to him. When they had gathered together, he said, “Brothers, I have done nothing against our people or the way our early fathers lived. And yet, I was tied with chains in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. ¹⁸ I was put on trial, but they found no reason to put me to death. They would have let me go free. ¹⁹ But the Jews did not like this. So I had to ask to be sent to Caesar. It was not because I had anything against my people. ²⁰ The reason I have asked you to come is to tell you this. It is because of the hope of the Jewish nation that I am tied in these chains.”

²¹ They said to Paul, “We have had no letters from Judea about you. No Jew who has come here has ever said anything bad about you. ²² We would like to hear from you what you believe. As for this new religion, all we know is that everyone is talking against it.”

²³ They planned to meet him on a certain day. Many people came to the place where he stayed. He preached to them about the holy nation of God. He tried to get them to put their trust in Jesus Christ by preaching from the Law of Moses and from the writings of the early preachers. From morning until night he spoke to them. ²⁴ Some of them believed his teaching. Others did not believe.

²⁵ As they left, they did not agree with each other. Then Paul said, “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your early fathers through the early preacher Isaiah. ²⁶ He said, ‘Go to these people and say, “You will hear and never understand, you will look and never see, ²⁷ because these people have hearts that have become fat. They do not hear well with their ears. They have closed their eyes so their eyes do not see and their ears do not hear and their minds do not understand and they do not turn to Me and let Me heal them.”’ ^(A)

²⁸ “I want you to know that the Good News of God of knowing how to be saved from the punishment of sin has been sent to the people who are not Jews. And they will listen to it!” ²⁹ *After he had said these things, the Jews went away and argued with each other.

³⁰ Paul paid money to live in a house by himself for two years. He was happy for all who came to see him. ³¹ He kept on preaching about the holy nation of God. He taught about the Lord Jesus Christ without fear. No one stopped him.

Thanks to God for the Way He Judges

9 I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart. I will tell of all the great things You have done. ² I will be glad and full of joy because of You. I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High. ³ When those who hate me turn away, they fall and are lost from You. ⁴ For You have stood by my right actions. You sit on Your throne, and are right in how You judge. ⁵ You have spoken sharp words to the nations and have destroyed the sinful. You have thrown out their name forever and ever. ⁶ Those who fight against You are finished forever. You have destroyed their cities. They will be remembered no more. ⁷ But the Lord lives forever. He has set up His throne to say who is guilty or not. ⁸ He will punish the world by what is right. He will be fair as He rules the people.

⁹ The Lord also keeps safe those who suffer. He is a safe place in times of trouble. ¹⁰ Those who know Your name will put their trust in You. For You, O Lord, have never left alone those who look for You. ¹¹ Sing praises to the Lord, Who lives in Zion! Tell all the nations what He has done! ¹² For He Who punishes for the blood of another remembers them. He does not forget the cry of those who suffer.

19 A poor man who walks with honor is better than a fool who is sinful in his speaking.

² It is not good for a person to be without much learning, and he who hurries with his feet rushes into sin.

³ The foolish acts of man make his way bad, and his heart is angry toward the Lord.