From the Greek Septuagint text as was used by First Century Christians.
Likely written by the Scribe Ezra around 455-BCE, covering the history from the creation of Adam (about 5509-BCE) and ending with the death of King David (about 1037-BCE).
Chapter 1
1 Adam, Seth, Enosh, 2 Kainan, MaHalaleEl, Jared, 3 Enoch, MethuSelah, Lamech, 4 Noah.
Noah’s sons were Shem, Ham, and JaPheth.
5 JaPheth’s sons were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, EliSha, Tubal, MeShech, and Thiras.
6 Gomer’s sons were AshKenaz, RiPhath, and TogarMah.
7 Javan’s sons were EliSha, Tharsis, KitTim, and Rodanim.
8 Ham’s sons were Kush, Mesraim, Put, and CanaAn.
9 Kush’s sons were Saba, HaviLah, SaBatha, RegMa, and SebethAha.
RegMa’s sons were Sheba and Dedan.
10 It was Kush who fathered NimRod, who became a giant on the earth.
17 Shem’s
descendants were Elam, AsSur, and ArphaxAd.
18
- 23 24 ArphaxAd’s [son was Kainan.
Kainan’s] son was Shelah (Sala).
25
[Shelah’s son was] Heber, [whose son was] Peleg, [whose son was] Ragau, 26 [whose son was] Seruk, [whose son was]
Nahor, [whose son was] Terah.
27
AbraHam’s sons were 28 IsaAc
and IshMaEl.
29 These
are the genealogies:
The firstborn of IshMaEl was NabayOth, then Kedar, NabDeEl, MabSam, 30 MasMa, IdoUma, MasSe, Adad, ThaIman, 31 JetTur, Naphes, and Kedma.
They were
the sons of IshMaEl.
32 The sons of KeTurAh (AbraHam’s concubine) were
ZemBram, Jexan, Midian, MeDan, Sobak, and Soe.
The sons of JexAn were DeDan and Sheba.
33 The sons of Midian were
GaiPhar, Opher, Enok, AviDa, and ElLada.
These were the sons of KeTurAh.
34 AbraHam fathered IsaAc, and IsaAc’s sons were Jacob and Esau.
35 Esau’s
sons were EliPhaz, RagouEl, JeSous, JegLam, and Koreh.
36 The sons of EliPhaz were ThaiMan, Omar,
ZepPhoue, GoOtham, and Kanez; and through ThamNa, he had a son named Amalec.
37 The sons of RagouEl were NaCheth, Zare,
SamMah, and Mazeh.
38 The sons
of SeEir were Lotan, Soubal, SebeGon, Ana, Deson, Asar, and Disan.
39 Lotan’s sons were ChorRei and Imam.
Lotan also had a sister named ThamNa.
40 Soubal’s sons were AlouAm,
ManaAth, Oubal, SapPhei, and Onam.
SebeGon’s sons were Aia and Ana.
41 Ana’s son was Deson, and
Deson’s sons were Amadan, EseBan, JeThran, and CharRan.
42 Asar’s sons were BalaAn,
ZaAn, and JoKan. Deson’s sons were Uz and Aran.
43
These are the kings that ruled in Edom before there were any kings in IsraEl:
First, there was Balak (the son of BeOr), [who ruled from] DenNaba.
44 When he died, Jobab (the son
of Zara) started reigning from BozRah.
45
After Jobab died, Asom (who was from the land of the Temanites) became the
king.
46 Then after Asom died,
Adad (the son of BarAd) started to rule – he’s the one that captured Midian in
the plains of Moab – and the name of his city was GetThaim.
47 Then Adad died and SebLa from MasekKah
became the king.
48 After Sebla
died, Saul from RobOth by the River became the king.
49 Then Saul died and BelaEnNor (the son
of AchObor) became the king.
50
And when BelaEnNor died, Adad (the son of Barad) started ruling after him.
The
name of his city was Phogor.
51 These
were the Governors of Edom:
Governor ThamNa, Governor GolaDa, Governor JeTher, 52 Governor EliBamah, Governor ElAs, Governor PhiNon, 53 Governor Kenez, Governor ThaIman,
Governor MabSar, 54 Governor
MagediEl, and Governor ZaphoIn.
These were the Governors of Edom.
Chapter 2
1 These are the names of the sons and Lords of IsraEl: ReuBen, SimeOn, Levi, Judah, IsSachar, ZebuLun, 2 Dan, JoSeph, BenJamin, NaphTali, Gad, and Asher.
3 The sons
of Judah were Er, Onan, and Selom.
All three were born to him through the
daughter of Shua the CanaAnite.
Er was his firstborn, but he proved to be
wicked before Jehovah, so He killed him.
4 Then through his daughter-in-law Tamar,
he fathered Perez and Zerah.
So, all five were the sons of Judah.
5 The sons
of Perez were HezRon and JemouEl.
6
The sons of Zerah were ZamBri, AiThan, HeMan, KalChal, and Darad… five sons.
7 The son of CharMi was Achar, who brought
trouble on IsraEl by breaking the agreement [with God] and was then destroyed.
8 The son of AiThan was AzariJah.
9
The sons of HezRon that were born to him through JaRameEl were Aram and ChelubAi.
10
Then Aram fathered AmiNadab, and AmiNadab fathered NahShon, who became the head
of the house of Judah.
11 NahShon
fathered SalMon, SalMon fathered BoAz, 12
BoAz fathered Obed, and Obed fathered JesSe.
13
JesSe’s sons were EliAb (the firstborn), AmiNadab
(the second), SamaAh (the third), 14
NathaniEl (the fourth), ZadDai (the fifth), 15
Asom (the sixth), and David (the seventh).
16
Their sisters were ZeruJah and AbiGail.
The three sons of ZeruJah were AbiShai,
JoAb, and AsahEl.
17 AbiGail
gave birth to AmaSa (whose father was JoThor the IshMaElite) 18 and Caleb (the son of HezRon).
He then
took Azouba (the daughter of JeriOth) as his woman, and these are her sons:
JaSar, Soubab, and Orna.
19
Then Azouba died and Caleb married EphRath, who gave birth to Or.
20 Or then fathered Ouri, and Ouri
fathered BeseleEl.
21 It was
after this that Lord HezRon [had sex with] the daughter of MachIr (who was the
father of GileAd);
Then he married her when he was sixty-five years old and she
gave birth to SegUb.
22 Then
SegUb fathered JaIr, who [ruled over] twenty-three cities in GileAd.
23 Then GedSur and Aram took JaIr’s
villages (including KaNath – some sixty villages all together), which belonged
to the sons of MachIr, the father of GileAd.
24
It was after HezRon died that Lord Caleb moved to EphRatha.
HezRon’s woman was
AbiJah, and she gave birth to AsChod, who became the father of ThekoE.
25 These are
the sons of JaRameEl (HezRon’s firstborn):
His firstborn was Ram, then BaAna,
and then Aran and his brother Asom.
26
But JaRameEl also had another woman whose name was Atara, and she was the
mother of Ozom.
27 These were
the sons of Ram:
His firstborn was JaRameEl, then MaAs, JaMin, and Akor.
28 Ozom’s sons were SamAi and JaDae.
The
sons of Samai were NaDab and AbiShur.
29
Then AbiShur married AbiHail and she gave birth to AchAbar and ModDi.
30 The sons
of NaDab were Seled and AphaIn.
Then Lord Seled died without any children, 31 but [his brother] AphaIn fathered
IshEmiEl, who fathered SoSan, and SoSan fathered AadAi.
32 The sons of AadAi were AchiSamas, JeTher,
and JoNathan.
Then Lord JeTher died without having any children.
33 But the sons of JoNathan were PhalEd
and Ozam.
These were all descendants of JaRameEl.
34 Now, no
sons were born to SoSan, just daughters.
But SoSan was given an Egyptian slave
named JochEl, 35 and he gave
his daughter [to this slave] as his woman, then she gave birth to Ethi.
36 Thereafter, Ethi fathered Nathan,
Nathan fathered Zabed, 37 Zabed
fathered AphamEl, AphamEl fathered Obed, 38
Obed fathered JeOu, JeOu fathered AzariJah, 39
AzariJah fathered HelLes, HelLes fathered EliaAsa, 40 EliaAsa fathered SosomAi, SosomAi fathered SaloUm, 41 SaloUm fathered JechemiJah, JechemiJah
fathered EliShama, and EliShama fathered IshMaEl.
42 The
firstborn son of Caleb (JaRameEl’s brother) was MariSha, 43 who fathered Ziph and Hebron.
43 Hebron’s sons were KorAh, ThaPhous,
Rekom, and SamaAh.
44 SamaAh
fathered RaEm, and he fathered JekLan.
JekLan then fathered SamAi, 45 and SamAi’s son was MaOn, who founded
BethZur.
46 Caleb’s concubine
GaiPha gave birth to ArRan, Mosa, and GezoWe.
47
The sons of Caleb’s concubine AdDai were Ragem, JoAtham, Sogar, Phalek, GaiPha,
and SagaE.
48 And his sons
through his concubine Mocha were Saber, ThaRam, 49 and SagaE, who fathered MarMena, MachaMena, and GaiBaAh.
Caleb also had a daughter named AshChah.
50 These were the descendants of Caleb.
The sons of Or were:
EphRatha (his firstborn), Sobal (who
founded KiriAth JaiRim), 51 and
Arim (who founded BethGedor).
52
These are the sons of Sobal (the founder of KiriAth JaiRim, AraAh, AiSi,
AmManith, 53 OumasPhae, and the
city of JaIr):
AiThalim, MiphiThim, EsamaThim, and EmaSaraim.
They were the
ones that fathered the SaraThaeans and the sons of EsthaAm.
54 Salma’s [descendants] founded BethLehem, as well as the NetoPhathites, AtarOth of the house of JoAb, half of the houses of MaLathi and EsAri, 55 the families of the scribes that live in JaBish, the TharGathiIm, the SamathiIm, the Sochathim (the KinaEans), those that come from MeSema, and he was the father of the house of Rechab.
Chapter 3
1 These are
the sons of David that were born to him in Hebron:
The firstborn was AmNon, whose
mother was AchinaAm the JezreElite.
The second was DaniEl, the son of AbiGail
the CarMelite.
2 The third was
AbSalom, the son of Mocha, who was the daughter of TholMai the king of GedsoUr.
The fourth was AdoniJah, the son of HagGith.
3
The fifth was ShaphatiYa.
4
These sons were born to him in Hebron, where he reigned for seven years and six
months.
After that, he reigned in JeruSalem for thirty-three years, 5 and four sons were born to him there
through BathSheba (the daughter of AmiEl).
They were KamaAh, SoBab, Nathan, and
Solomon.
6 There was also Ebar,
EliSha, EliPhaleth, 7 NagAi and NaPhek, HeAphie, 8 EliSama, EliAda, and EliPhala…
Nine sons that were born to
David, 9 in addition to the
sons of his
concubines and his sister, Tamar.
10 The descendants of Solomon were RehoBoam, then his son AbiJah, then his son Asa, then his son JehoShaphat, then his son 11 JehoRam, then his son AhaziJah, then his son JehoAsh, then his son 12 AmaziJah, then his son AzariJah, then his son JoTham, then his son 13 Ahaz, then his son HezekiJah, then his son ManasSeh, then his son 14 Amon, then his son JosiAh.
15 The sons
of JosiAh were JoHanan (his firstborn); the second was JehoiAkim; the third was
ZedekiAh; and the fourth was ShalLum.
16
The sons of JehoiAkim were JeconiJah and ZedekiAh.
17 Then the sons of JeconiJah were Asir, ShalathiEl, 18 MelchiRam, PhadiJah, SaneSar, JeKemYa,
OsamAth, and NabadYas.
19 The
sons of ShalathiEl were ZerubBabel and ShiMei.
The sons of ZerubBabel were
MosolLam, HananiJah, and their sister SalomEth.
20 He also had five more sons:
AsoUbe, Ool, BarachiAh,
AsadiJah, and AsoBed.
21 The
descendants of HananiJah were PhaletTiJah, his son JesiJah, his son Raphal, his
son Orna, his son AbDiJah; his son ShecheniJah, 22 and his son ShemaiJah.
ShemaiJah had six sons, HatTush,
Igal, BeriJah, NeaJah, and ShaPhat.
23
NeaJah had three sons:
EliOnai, HezekiJah, and EzriKam.
24 EliOnai had seven sons:
OdolJa,
EliAsEbon, PhadaJa, AkoUb, JoHanan, DalaiJa, and Hanan.
Chapter 4
1 The sons
of Judah were Perez, HezRon, Carmi, Or, Soubal, 2 and his son Rada.
Soubal fathered Jeth, and Jeth fathered
AchiMai and LaAd.
These are genealogies of SaraThi:
3 The sons of AiTam were JezreEl, JesMan,
and IdBash.
Their sister’s name was EselebBon.
4 PhanouEl was the father of Gedor, and Azer was the father
of Osan.
The firstborn son of Or was EphRatha, who was the founder of
BethLehem.
5 And AsoUr (whose
father was ThekoE) had two women, Aoda and ThoAda.
6 Aoda gave birth to OchaiJa, Ephal, ThaIman, and HaAsther
(those were all her sons), 7
and the sons of ThoAda were Serek, SaAr, and EthNan.
8 Kos
fathered Enob and SabaTha.
They’re related to the brother of ReChab, the son of
JaRin.
9 JaBez was
the most honorable among all his brothers, and his mother named him JaBez,
because she said:
‘I have given birth in pain (heb. JaBez).’
10 And it was JaBez that called on the God
of IsraEl, saying:
‘O please bless me, expand my borders, and may Your hand be
with me… teach me Your wisdom so I don’t [make a fool] of myself.’
And God gave
him everything that he asked for.
11 Caleb
(the father of AsCha) fathered MachIr, who became the father of AshSathon.
12 Then AshSathon fathered BathRaiAn,
BesSee, and Thana, who was the founder of the city of NaHash and a relative of
Eselom the Kenezite, who lived in Repha.
13
The sons of Kenez were GothoniEl and SaraJa.
GothoniEl’s sons were AthAth 14 and ManAthi (who fathered GoPhera).
SaraJa
fathered JoAb, who was the father of the Harashim, who were craftsmen.
15 The
descendants of Caleb (the son of JePhonNe) were Era, ElAh, and NoOm;
And the
son of ElAh was Kenez.
16 The sons of GeseEl were Ziph, Zepha, ThephiJa, and EseraEl.
17 The sons
of EseraEl were JeTher, Morad, Apher, and JaMon.
JeTher was the father of
MaRon, SemAi, and MaReth… who was the father of EsthaIMon.
18 Then his Judean woman gave birth to
JaRed the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Socho, and JechoutiEl the father
of ZaNoe.
These are the sons of BethThouiJah (the daughter of PharaOh)
that was taken by Marod, 19 and
the sons of his woman Hodia, the sister of Nahum ([who was also] the father of
KeiLa the GarMite and EsthaIMon the Nochathite):
20 Simon, AmNon, Rena (whose sons were HanNan and ThiLon),
and Ishi, whose descendants were ZoHath and the ZoHathites.
21 The son
of Selom (Judah’s son) was Er.
He became the father of LeChab and LaAda, who
was the father of MariSha, as well as to all the descendants of the families of
EphraDabak, the house of Esoba, 22
JoAkim, the men of ChozEba, JoAs, and ShaPhat (who lived in Moab and returned
[with Moabite women named] AbeDerin and Athoukiim).
23 This [family] became the potters who
live in Ataim and GadeRa;
And since they were supporters of the king, they
became very powerful in these cities.
24 The sons
of SimeOn were NamouEl, JaMin, JaRib, Zare, Saul, 25 and Salem, whose son was MabaSam.
His son was MasMa; his
son was 26 AmJaRameElouEl; his
son was SaboUd; his son was ZakChour; and his son was ShiMei.
27 ShiMei had sixteen sons and three
daughters.
And since there were so few daughters, their families didn’t grow as
large in Judah as did those of their brothers.
28 The
families [of ShiMei] lived in BeerSheba, Sama,
MoLada, EserSouAl, 29 BalaAh,
BoAsom, ThoUlad, 30 BathOuEl,
Erma, ZikLag, 31 BethMariMoth,
EmiSouseOsin, and BethBarouseOrim, where they lived until the reign of King
David.
32 They also owned
AiTan, En, RemMon, ThokKan, and AiSan (five cities), 33 as well as the land all around these
cities all the way to BaAl.
They owned it all, and it was distributed among the
families of 34 MosoBab, Amalek,
JosiJah, the sons of AmasiJah, 35
JoEl (the son of AsAbiJah; the son of SaraiJa; the son of AsiEl), 36 EliOnai, JakAba, JasouJah, AsaiJah,
JediEl, IsMaEl, BenaiJah, 37
ZoUza (the son of SaphAi; the son of Alon; the son of JediJah; the son of
SemRi; the son of SamiJah).
38 These
were the names of the rulers of their generations and the heads of their
families (which grew in great numbers).
39
Their land ran from GeraRa to east of Gai, because they needed a lot of pasture
for all their animals.
40 This
land had good pasture, and it was large enough for all their animals.
It was
also a peaceful, restful land… it was where the sons of Ham had lived
previously.
41 But it was
during the reign of HezekiAh (the king of Judah)
that an edict was passed and they attacked the houses there (as well as all the
Minaeans whom they found there), and they’ve been wiped out until this day.
So,
[the family of Judah] moved in and claimed the pastures for their animals.
42 Also,
five hundred of the descendants of SimeOn moved there, near Mount SeIr.
They
were led by PhalaEtiJah, NoAdiJah, RaphiJah, and OziEl, who were the sons of
JesSie.
43 They killed the rest
of the Amalechites who lived there, and they still live in that land to this
day.
Chapter 5
1 These
are the sons of ReuBen, the firstborn of IsraEl.
Although he was the firstborn; because he climbed onto the marriage-bed of his
father, [his father] gave the blessing to his son JoSeph (the son of IsraEl).
So, the rights of the firstborn aren’t traced through [ReuBen’s] family line.
2 Also, since Judah was the most powerful among his brothers, a leader came from him, though the blessing [of the firstborn] went to JoSeph.
3 The sons
of ReuBen (the firstborn of IsraEl) were Enoch, PalLu, AsRom, and Charmi.
4
The son of JoEl was ShiMei, and his son was BenaiJah. GoUg was [also] the son
of ShiMei, 5 and his son was
Micha, whose son was Recha, whose son was JoEl, 6 whose son was BeEl.
BeEl was
relocated by Tiglath
Pileser (the king of Assyria), and he’s the leader of the ReuBenites.
7 These are
the genealogies of BeEl’s brothers and countrymen who
were also resettled [by Tiglath-Pileser]:
The first was JoEl, then ZachariJah, 8 Balek, his son AzoUz, his son Sama, his son JoEl (who
lived in AroEr, Nebo, and BelMasSon).
9
This family [was relocated] to the east and lived along the edge of the desert
near the EuPhrates River.
But, back in the land of GileAd, they had owned many
cattle.
10 And during the time
of Saul, they were known to attack and kill travelers from their tents that
were located to the east of GileAd.
11 The
territory of the sons of Gad bordered theirs, which ran from the land of BaShan
to SelCha.
12 JoEl was his
firstborn, then ShaPham and JaNin (who was the scribe in BaShan).
13 The seven heads of their family lines
were MichaEl, MosolLam, SebeE, JoReE, JoAchan, ZouE, and Heber.
14 They were the sons of AbiChiJah, who
was the son of Ouri, who was the son of JaRoAh, who was the son of GileAd, who
was the son of MichaEl, who was the son of JeSai, who was the son of JedDai,
who was the son of ZabouCham, 15
who was the son of AbDiEl, who was the son of GoUni, the head of the house of
those family lines.
16 They
lived in the towns all around GileAd in the land of BaShan and in places all
the way to the end of ShaRon.
17
However, they were relocated in the days of JoTham the king of Judah and
JeroBoam the king of IsraEl.
18 The sons
of ReuBen, Gad, and the half-tribe of ManasSeh [had taken their land] with
their army of trained swordsmen and bowmen…
Forty-four thousand, seven hundred
and sixty men, who were fully prepared for battle.
19 They went to war with the Hagareans, Itoureans,
NaphiSeans, and NaDabeans, 20
and beat them.
The Hagareans were all given into their hands, along with their
tents, because, during the battle they called out to God – putting their hope in
Him – and He listened to them.
21
So they captured all their belongings… five thousand camels, two hundred and
fifty-thousand sheep, two thousand burros, and the lives of a hundred-thousand
men.
22 That many were killed,
because God was fighting the war.
So, they lived in their land until they were
relocated.
23 The large half-tribe of ManasSeh lived in the land that ran from BaShan, to BaAl Hermon, to SenIr, to Mount HerMon, and into Lebanon.
24 Here are the
heads of their family lines:
Opher, Sei, EliEl, JeremiJah, OdouJah, and JediEl.
They were all great, mighty, and famous men… the heads of their family lines.
25 However, they annulled their allegiance
with the God of their fathers and prostituted themselves with the gods of the
peoples of the land that God had removed from before them.
26 So, the God of IsraEl caused the spirit of Pul, the king of Assyria (who was also known
as Tiglath-Pileser),
to become enraged with them.
So, he sent fifty thousand men and they relocated
[the tribes of] ReuBen, Gad, and the half-tribe of ManasSeh.
He moved them to
Chalak and Mabor along the Gozan River, where they
still are today.
Chapter 6
1 The sons of Levi were GedSon, KoHath, and MeraRi.
2 KoHath’s sons were AmBram, IsSaAr, Hebron, and OziEl.
3 AmBram’s sons were Aaron, Moses, and their sister Miriam.
Aaron’s sons were NaDab, AbiHu, EliEzer,
and IthaMar.
4 EliEzer fathered
Phinehas, Phinehas fathered AbiSou;
5
AbiSou fathered BokAi; BokAi fathered Ozi;
6
Ozi fathered ZariJah; ZariJah fathered MariOth;
7 MariOth fathered AmariJah; AmariJah fathered AhiTub;
8 AhiTub fathered ZaDok; ZaDok fathered
AchimaAs;
9 AchimaAs fathered
AzarYan; AzarYan fathered JoHanan;
10
JoHanan fathered AzariJah (who was the Priest in the Temple
that Solomon built in JeruSalem);
11
AzariJah fathered AmariJah; AmariJah fathered AhiTub;
12 AhiTub fathered ZaDok;
ZaDok fathered
SelLum;
13 SelLum fathered
HelkiJah;
HelkiJah fathered AzariJah;
14
AzariJah fathered SaraiJah;
SaraiJah fathered JoSadak;
15 And JoSadak was carried off when Judah
and JeruSalem were relocated to Babylon by NebuChadnezzar.
16 The sons
of Levi were GedSon, KoHath, and MeraRi.
17
The names of the sons of GedSon were LoBeni and ShiMei.
18 The sons
of KoHath were AmBram, IsSaAr, Hebron, and OziEl.
19 And the sons of MeraRi were MoOli and OmoUsi.
These are the descendants of Levi by their families:
20 GedSon’s son was LoBeni; his son was
Jeth; his son was SamMa; his son 21
was JoAb; his son was AdDo; his son was Zara; and his son was JethRi.
22 The descendants of KoHath were
AmiNadab; his son Kor; his son Aser; his son 23
ElKana; his son AbiSaph, his son Aser; his son 24 ThaAth; his son OureEl; and his son OziJa.
25 The sons
of ElKana were Amasi, AchimOth, 26
and SoUphi.
[SoUphi’s] son was NaAth; his son 27
was EliAb; his son was JereAm; his son was ElKana; and his son was SamuEl.
28 These are
the sons of SamuEl:
His firstborn was JoEl and his second was AbiJah.
29 The sons
of MeraRi were MoOli and LoBeni.
His son was ShiMei; his son was OziJah; his
son 30 was SamaAh; his son was
AgGiJah; and his son was AsaiJah.
31 These are
the ones whom David put in charge of the chorus that sang at the Temple of
Jehovah when the [Sacred] Chest was brought there.
32 They were also the ones that officiated at the Tent of
Proofs until Solomon built the Temple of Jehovah in JeruSalem, and they each
handled their own assigned duties.
33
And these are the ones that served there and their [assistants]:
From the sons of
KoHath there was HeMan, who was the lead singer.
He was the son of JoEl, who
was the son of SamuEl, 34 who
was the son of ElKana, who was the son of JerEbam, who was the son of EliEl,
who was the son of Thou, 35 who
was the son of SoUph, who was the son of ElKana, who was the son of MaAth, who
was the son of Amathi, 36 who
was the son of ElKana, who was the son of JoEl, who was the son of AzariJa, who
was the son of SaphaniJah, 37
who was the son of ThaAth, who was the son of Aser, who was the son of
AbiAsaph, who was the son of KorAh, 38
who was the son of IsaAr, who was the son of KoHath, who was the son of Levi,
who was the son of IsraEl.
39
His assistant was Asaph, (who stood on his right) who was the son of BarachiJah, who was the son of SamaAh, 40 the son of MichaEl, the son of
BaAsiJah, the son of MelchiJah, 41
the son of Athani, the son of ZarAi, the son of AdAi, 42 the son of Ethan, the son of ZemMa, the
son of ShiMei, 43 the son of
JeEth, the son of GerShon, the son of Levi.
44 The assistant of MeraRi (the one who stood on his left) was Ethan, who was the son of Kisa, the son of AbDi, the son of MaOch, 45 the son of AsEbi, 46 the son of AmasiJah, the son of HelkiJah, the son of AmasiJah, the son of Bani, the son of Semer, 47 the son of MoOli, the son of MoUsi, the son of MeraRi, the son of Levi.
48 And these
were their brothers that were assigned responsibilities over the Tent and the
Temple of God by Levite family lines:
49
There was Aaron and his sons that offered whole burnt offerings on the Altar and
burned incense on the incense Altar, working inside the Holy of Holies to atone
for [the sins] of IsraEl, just as God’s servant Moses had instructed them.
50 These are
the sons of Aaron:
EliEzer, his son Phinehas, his son AbiSou, his son 51 BokAi, his son Ozi, his son ZaraiJah,
his son 52 MariOth, his son
AmariJah, his son AhiTub, his son 53
ZaDok, and his son AchimaAs.
54 These are
the places where the sons of Aaron that descended from KoHath lived, by towns
and borders, which were assigned by a lottery:
55 They were given towns in the land of Judah that
surrounded Hebron.
56 However,
the cities themselves and their fields were given to Caleb (the son of
JePhonNe).
57 The sons of Aaron
were also given the refuge cities of Hebron, LobNa and its outskirts, SelNa and
its outskirts, EsThamo and its outskirts, 58
JeThar and its outskirts, DabIr and its outskirts, 59 Asan and its outskirts, and BasaMus and its outskirts.
60 Then in the tribe of BenJamin there was
GabaE and its outskirts, GalemEth and its outskirts, and AnathOth and its
outskirts.
These thirteen cities were assigned to their families.
61 The rest
of the family of KoHath was assigned ten cities in the half-tribe of ManasSeh
by lottery, 62 and the
descendants of GedSon were assigned thirteen cities in the tribes of IsSachar,
Asher, NaphTali, and ManasSeh (in BaShan).
63
The descendants of MeraRi were assigned twelve cities (by lottery) in the
tribes of ReuBen, Gad, and ZebuLun.
64
In addition, the sons of IsraEl gave cities along their borders to the rest of
the Levites.
65 They assigned
them by lottery in the tribes of the sons of Judah, SimeOn, and BenJamin.
66 The descendants of KoHath were given cities and refuge cities along the borders of Ephraim, 67 in and around SheChem, in the hills of Ephraim, in and around Gazer, 68 in and around JekmaAn, in and around BethOron, 69 in and around AiLon, and in and around GethRemMon.
70 The
half-tribe of ManasSeh gave Anar and its outskirts as well as JemblaAn and its
outskirts to the rest of the descendants of KoHath.
71 They also gave Golan in BaShan and its
outskirts and AstarOth and its outskirts to the rest of the descendants of
GedSon.
72 The tribe of IsSachar gave them KaDesh and its outskirts, DaBor and its outskirts, 73 RamOth and its surrounding towns, and AiNan and its outskirts.
74 The tribe of Asher gave them MaAsal and its outskirts, AbDon and its outskirts, 75 Akak and its outskirts, and RoOb and its outskirts.
76 The tribe of NaphTali gave them KaDesh in Galilee and its outskirts, HamOth and its outskirts, and KiriAth JaiRim and its outskirts.
77 The tribe of ZebuLun gave RemMon and its outskirts and ThalLia and its outskirts to the remaining descendants of MeraRi.
78 On the other side of the Jordan, from Jericho to the east of the Jordan, the tribe of ReuBen gave them Bosor (in the desert) and its outskirts, Jasa and its outskirts, 79 KadMoth and its outskirts, and MaEphla and its outskirts.
80 The tribe of Gad gave them RamOth GileAd and its outskirts, MaAnaim and its outskirts, 81 HeshBon and its outskirts, and JaZer and its outskirts.
Chapter 7
1 The four
sons of IsSachar were Thola, Phua, JasoUb, and SomBran.
2 The sons of Thola were Ozi, RaphiJah, JeriEl, JaMai, JeBasam, and SamuEl, who were
each rulers of their houses and family lines.
Thola’s descendants were renowned
for their greatness and strength through their generations.
And during the time
of David, their [army] was numbered at twenty-two thousand, six hundred.
3 The five sons
of Ozi were JezRaiJah, MichaEl, AbDiOu, JoEl, and JesiJah, who were all rulers.
4 Each generation, as well as
their houses and families, were renowned warriors.
For [they were once]
numbered at thirty-six thousand, because they had many women and many sons.
5 In fact, there were
eighty-seven-thousand mighty men listed in the genealogy of their family line.
6 The three
sons of BenJamin were Bale, BachIr, and JaDiEl.
7 Bale’s five sons were AsEbon, Ozi,
OziEl, JeriMoth, and Ouri, who were all the rulers of their houses and family
lines.
They were also mighty warriors, for in their genealogy there are
twenty-two thousand and thirty-four listed.
8 The sons of
BachIr were ZemirAh, JoAs, EliEzer, ElioEnai, AmariJah, JeriMoth, AbiJah,
AnathOth, and ElMemeth.
9
According to their genealogies, these were the rulers of their houses and
family lines, among whom twenty-thousand two hundred are listed as mighty warriors.
10 The son
of JadiEl was BalaAn, and his sons were JaOus, BenJamin, AOth, ChenaAnah,
ZaiThan, Tharsi, and AchiSaAr.
11
All these sons of JadiEl were rulers of their families, and seventeen-thousand
two hundred are listed as mighty warriors.
12
They include Saphin, Aphin, and the sons of RaOm… especially his son Aer.
13 The sons of NaphTali through BalaA were JasiEl, Goni, IsSaEr, and SalLour.
14 The sons
of ManasSeh were AseriEl (who was born through ManasSeh’s Syrian concubine) and
MachIr, who was the father of GileAd.
15
MachIr took women [for GileAd] from among the Amphin and Mamphin, who were
sisters.
One was named MoOcha, and the second was SalpaAd.
Now, SalpaAd only
had daughters, 16 but MoOcha
provided MachIr [a male heir] named Perez, and another that was named Soros.
His
sons were OuLam and Rokom; 17
and OuLam had a son named Badan.
These were all the descendants of GileAd (the
son of MachIr and grandson of ManasSeh).
18 [GileAd]
also had sisters.
The one named MalechEth gave birth to IsAdek, AbiEzer, and
MaEla.
19 And the sons of
SemiRa were JaAim, SheChem, Lachim, and AniAn.
20 The sons
of Ephraim were SothAla, Barad, ThaAth, EliaAda, NomeE, 21 Zabed, and SothEle.
Then he had two
sons named Azer and EliaAd, who were killed by the men of Gath (the natives of
the land) because they tried to take their cattle.
22 So, Ephraim (their father) mourned for them a very long
time, and their brothers came to comfort him.
23
Then he [had sex with] his woman and she got pregnant and gave birth to a son
whom he named BarAga (Son of Trouble), because of the bad things that had
happened to his house 24 and to
those that were left.
Then he built Upper and Lower BethOron, Ozan, and SeEra.
25
[Thereafter, he had a son] named Raphe, who had sons named Saraph and ThaleEs.
ThaleEs had a son named ThaEn, who had a son 26
named LaDan.
His son was AmiOud; his son was EliSamAi; his son 27 was NoUm; and his son was JesOue.
28 They lived in and owned BethEl and its surrounding villages, the villages east
of NoAran and to the west of Gazer, as well as SheChem and its villages and all
the villages up to Mount An.
29 The
borders of the sons of ManasSeh included BethSaAn and its villages, ThaAnak and
its villages, MegidDo and its villages, and Dor and its villages.
These are the
places where the descendants of JoSeph through ManasSeh lived.
30 The sons of Asher were JemNa, SouYa, IsoWi, and BeriJah… and SoRe was their sister.
31 The sons
of BeriJah were Chaber and MelchiEl, who was the father of BerZaith.
32 Chaber was
the father of JaPhlet, Samer, Chotham, and their sister Sola.
33 Japhlet’s sons were Phasek, BamaEl, and
Asith.
34 Samer’s sons were Achir, Rouga, Oba, and Aram.
35 The sons
of his brother ([who was also known as] Bane Elam) were SoPha, YamNa, SelLes,
and Amal.
36 The sons of SoPha
were SoWeh, ArnaPhar, SoUda, BarIn, ImRan, 37
Basar, JeoUd, SemMa, SaliSa, JethRan, and BeEra.
38 The sons of JethRan were JePhina, PhasPha, and Ara.
39 The sons of Oba were Orek, AniEl, and
RasJa.
40 These were all
descendants of Asher, and they were each rulers of their family lines.
They
were the best of their kind; strong, mighty men that were leaders and rulers,
and whose line of descent can be traced through war records… all twenty-six
thousand of them.
Chapter 8
1 BenJamin
fathered Baleh (his firstborn), then AsBel (his
second), Ara (his third), 2 Noa
(his fourth), and RaPheh (his fifth).
3
The sons of Baleh were Adir, Gera, AbiHud, 4
AbiShua, NoAma, AchiJah, 5 Gera, SephouPham, and OuRam.
6 These are
the sons of Ehud that were the family heads that lived in GabeE, but were
relocated to ManaHath:
7
NaAman, AchiA, Gera, JeglaAm (who fathered Aza and AhiHud), 8 and SaArin (who fathered children in the
plains of Moab after he sent his women Osin and BaAda away).
9 Through his woman Ada, he fathered
Jobab, SebJa, Misa, MelCham, 10
JoAs, SekiJah, and Marma.
These were his sons and the heads of their families.
11 But through Osin, he fathered AbiTol and
AlphaAl.
12 AlphaAl’s
sons were Obed, MisaAl, SemMer (who built Ono, Lod, and their surrounding
villages), 13 BeriJah, and
Sama.
These were the family heads of the people that lived in AiLam and who
drove out the people that lived in Gath.
14
They were related to SoSel, JeriMoth, 15
ZabadiJa, Ored, Eder, 16
MichaEl, JesPha, and Joda (who were the sons of BeriJah), 17 and to ZabadJa, MosoLam, Azaki, Abar, 18 IsAlmari, JezliAs, and Jobab (the sons
of ElPhaAl), 19 and to JaKim,
ZachRi, ZabDi, 20 EliOnai,
SalaThi, EliEl, 21 AdaiJah,
BaraiJah, and SamarAth (who were the sons of ShiMei), 22 and to JesPhan, Obed, EleEl, 23 AbDon, ZechRi, Hanan, 24 HananiJah, Ambri, AiLam, AnathOth, 25 JephadiJah, and PhanouEl (who were the
sons of SoSek), 26 and to
SamSari, SaAriJah, GotholiJa, 27
JarasiJah, EriJah, and ZechRi (who were the sons of JeroHam).
28 These are the heads of their families and their generations… the chiefs that lived in JeruSalem.
29 The woman
of JeEl (who was the founder of [the city of] GibeOn) was MaAcha.
30 His firstborn son was AbaDon, then
SoUr, Kish, BaAl, Ner, NaDab, 31 GedoUr, ZakChoUr, 32 and MakelOth (who was the father of
SamaiJah).
They all lived around their families in JeruSalem.
33 Ner fathered Kish, Kish fathered Saul, and Saul fathered JoNathan, MelchiShua, AmiNadab, and AsaBal.
34 JoNathan’s son was MeriBaAl,
MeriBaAl’s son was MiChah, 35 and MiChah’s sons were PhiThon, MelAk,
TharAk, and Ahaz.
36 Ahaz
fathered Jada, and Jada fathered SalaiMath, AsMoth, and ZamBri. ZamBri fathered
MaiSa, 37 and MaiSa fathered
BaAna and RaphaiJah. His son was ElAsa, and his son was EsEl.
38 EsEl had six sons:
EzriKam (his
firstborn), IsMaEl, SaraiJah, AbDiA, Hanan, and Asa… these were all the sons of
EsEl.
39 And the
sons of EsEl’s brother EshEck were Ulam (his firstborn), Jas (his second), and
EliPhalet (his third).
40 These
were the strong and mighty bowmen of AiLam who produced a hundred and fifty
sons.
And these were all the sons of BenJamin.
Chapter 9
1 IsraEl can
trace its genealogy because {Look!} it’s all written in the scrolls of the
kings of IsraEl.
However, [the people of] Judah were among those that were
resettled in Babylon because they sinned by breaking their Sacred Agreement
[with God].
2 But in the land
that they owned prior to that, as well as in the cities of IsraEl, there were
the Priests and Levites that were in charge of everything.
3 In
JeruSalem there were mostly Judeans, along with some sons of BenJamin and some of the descendants of Ephraim and
ManasSeh.
4 There was also UthAi
the son of SamMiHud, who was the son of Omri, the son of BuNi, the son of
Perez, the son of Judah.
5
ShiLoh and his firstborn son AsaiJah and his family lived in JeruSalem too, 6 as did JeEl (the son of ZaRa) and six
hundred and ninety of that family line.
7 Among the descendants of BenJamin there was Salo, who was the son of MosolLam, the son of HoDaviJah, the son of SanaAn and 8 JebNa, who was the son of JeroBoam and Elo.
There were also the sons of Ozi (who was the son of MachIr
and MosolLam, the son of SaphatJa, the son of RagouEl, the son of JemNai) 9 and several generations of their
relatives, numbering nine hundred and fifty-six in all.
All the men were the
heads of their family lines and houses.
10 Then there were the Priests, JehoiAda, JoArim, JaChin, 11 and AzariJah (who was the son of HelkiJah, the son of MosSolLam, the son of ZaDok, the son of MaraiOth, the son of AhiTub), who was the leader in the Temple of God.
12 Then there
was AdaiJa (the son of JeroAm, the son of PhasChor, the son of MelchiJah) and
MaAsaJa (the son AdiEl, the son of EziRa, the son of MosolLam, the son of
MaselMoth, the son of EmMer) 13
and their families.
There were a thousand, seven hundred-and-sixty strong and
mighty men that were the heads of their family lines and houses, and that worked
at and oversaw everything in the Temple of God.
14 Among the
Levites there was SamaiJah (the son of Asob, the son of EzriKam, the son of
AsAbiJah) from the family line of MeraRi.
15
And there was BakBakar, Ares, GalaAl, and MatThaniJah, who were the sons of
Micha (the son of ZechRi, the son of Asaph), 16
and ObadiJah (the son of SamiJah, the son of GalaAl, the son of IdiThoun) and
BarachiJah (the son of OsSa, the son of ElKana), who lived in the courtyards of
the NetoPhathites.
17 Then
there were the gatekeepers:
Salom, AkoUm, TelMon, and AiMan, and their
families.
Salom was in charge 18
of everything to the eastern King’s Gate.
The gatekeepers for the camps of the
sons of Levi were 19 Salom (the
son of KorAh, the son of AbiAsaph, the son of Sore) and his brothers of the
paternal houses of the Korites.
They were in charge of the work and
administration of the watches for guarding the Sacred Tent, because their
ancestors were once in charge of the entire camp of Jehovah, and they served as
the guards to its entrances.
20
Back then, PhineHas (the son of EliEzer) stood as their leader before Jehovah, 21 and ZachariJah (the son of MasaLami)
was in charge of guarding the entrance to the Tent of Proofs.
22 Altogether, those that were chosen as
gatekeepers to stand at the entrances were numbered at two hundred and twelve.
The records of their genealogies and properties were all counted and
established by the trusted offices of David and the Seer SamuEl.
23 Now, it
was their sons that were in charge of the doors and that kept watch at the Temple
of Jehovah and the house of the Tent.
24
These gatekeepers were stationed as the four winds… in the east, west, north,
and south.
25 And their
brothers had to leave their homes in shifts every seven weeks and spend seven
days there.
26 There
were four mighty men that were in charge of the gatekeepers.
They were Levites,
and they were over everything, including the treasury of the Temple of God. For
this reason, they lived close to the Temple.
27
Their watch responsibility was to use the keys both morning and evening to
unlock and lock the Temple doors.
28
They were also responsible for the things that were used in the services.
They
had to count everything when it was taken out and when it was returned.
29 Also, some of them were over the
equipment and holy things, such as the fine flour, the wine, the oil, the
frankincense, and the aromatics.
30
In addition, some of the Priests’ sons were perfumers [who mixed] the fragrant
[oils and incense].
31 The
Levite MatTathiJah was the firstborn of Salom the Korite.
He was entrusted with
the work that had to do with the sacrifices of the pan of the High Priest.
32 BenaiJah the KoHathite was selected
from among his brothers to be in charge of the loaves of showbread, which had
to be prepared for each Sabbath.
33 When it
came to the singers;
The heads of the Levite families were in charge at the
central place of worship.
They worked on a daily rotation basis all day and all
night long to get everything done.
34
So, through the generations, the heads of the families of Levites lived in
JeruSalem.
35 The
founder of GibeOn (JeEl) lived in the town of GibeOn.
His woman’s name was
MaAcha.
36 His firstborn son
was AbaDon, then SoUr, then Kish, then BaAl, then Ner, then NaDab, 37 then GedoUr and his brothers ZakChour
and MakelOth.
38 MakelOth
fathered SamaAh, and he and his family lived together in JeruSalem.
39 Ner fathered Kish, then Kish fathered
Saul, and Saul fathered JoNathan, MelchiShua, AmiNadab, and AsBal.
40 The son
of JoNathan was MeriBaAl, and MeriBaAl fathered
Micah.
41 The sons of Micah
were PhiThon, MelchiEl, Tharach, 42
and Ahaz, who fathered JaDa. JaDa then fathered GaleMeth, AzMoth, and ZamBri.
ZamBri fathered Masa, 43 and
Masa fathered BaAna and RaphaJah, whose son was ElAsa, and his son was EsEl.
44 EsEl had six sons:
EzriKam (his
firstborn), then IshMaEl, SaraiJah, AbdJah, Hanan, and Asa.
These were the sons
of EsEl.
Chapter 10
1 Back then,
the Philistines were fighting a war against IsraEl and the army of IsraEl was
losing, so they turned and ran from the Philistines at Mount GilBoa.
2 Then the Philistines started chasing
Saul and his sons, and they caught and killed Saul’s sons JoNathan, AmiNadab, and MelchiShua.
3 And thereafter, they pressed on in the
battle to reach Saul.
Then their archers found him and shot him, leaving him in
great pain.
4 As the result,
Saul said to the aid that was carrying his weapons:
‘Unsheathe your broadsword
and stab me with it so these uncircumcised don’t come here and make sport of
me!’
But his aid didn’t want to do that because he was afraid. So Saul took his
sword and fell on it.
5 And
when the man that was carrying his weapons saw that Saul had killed himself, he
too fell on his sword and died.
6
So, Saul and his three sons all died that day, and that was the end of his
house.
7 Then, when the men of
IsraEl that had run into the valley heard that Saul and his sons had been
killed, they all just ran back to their homes.
So the Philistines then came and
lived among them.
8 Well, on
the day following the battle when the Philistines came to loot the bodies, they
found Saul and his sons dead on Mount GilBoa.
9
So, they stripped his body and carried his head and weapons back into the land
of the Philistines, where it was joyfully paraded before the temples of their
idols and their people.
10 Then
they put his weapons in the temple of their god and they carried his head and
put it into the temple of Dagon.
11 But when the men of Jabish
GileAd heard what the Philistines had done to Saul and his sons, and to IsraEl,
12 all their great warriors
went and took the body of Saul and his sons and brought them back to JaBish.
Then they took their bones and placed them in a tomb that was located under an
oak tree in JaBish,
whereupon they fasted for the next seven days.
13 So, Saul
was killed because of the lawless ways in which he had acted against his God.
For he had gone against the instructions of Jehovah and he didn’t do what he
was told.
Saul also went to a fortuneteller to speak to the Prophet SamuEl;
14 So, because he failed to ask Jehovah, he was killed and his kingdom was handed over
to David, the son of JesSe.
Chapter 11
1 Then all
the men of [the army of] IsraEl came to David at Hebron and said,
‘Look! We’re your
own flesh and bones.
2 Though
Saul used to be our king, you were the one that led the armies of IsraEl, and
your God Jehovah said to you,
You will take care of My people IsraEl and you
will be their leader.’
3 And after that, all the elders of IsraEl came to him at Hebron and made an agreement with King David before Jehovah, and they anointed him to be the king over IsraEl, just as Jehovah had said through the Prophet SamuEl.
4 Then King
David and [the whole army of] IsraEl marched on JeruSalem (which was called
Jebus).
And the Jebusites
that lived there said to David:
5
‘You won’t come in here.’
However, he was the first to capture the citadel on
Zion, so it became known as the city of David.
6 Back then,
David had said:
‘Whoever is the first to beat the Jebusites will become my
commander-in-chief and the general [over my army].’
And the one who did that
was JoAb (the son of ZeruJah);
So, he was appointed
to be the commander-in-chief.
7
Thereafter, David stayed there and took up residence in the citadel, and he started
calling it his city;
8 For he
had built a siege-wall around the entire city and captured it.
9 And from that point on, David kept
getting greater and more famous, because Jehovah the Almighty was with him.
10 These are the leaders and the mighty ones that were with David and that became great along with him when he ruled over all IsraEl, because they were the ones that made him the king over all IsraEl, just as Jehovah had said:
11 Counted
among the mighty ones of David was JeseBaAl (the
son of AchaMani), who was the first of the thirty, because he once used his
broadsword to kill three hundred men all by himself.
12 And with him was EliEzer (the son of
DodAi the AchoChite).
He was one [of David’s] three greatest men, 13 for he was with David at PhasoDomin when the Philistines
had gathered for war in a field full of barley.
And when [the rest of the army]
turned and ran from the Philistines, 14
he stood there alone in the middle of the field and saved them by killing [all
of] the Philistines… for Jehovah used him to bring a great victory.
15 He was also one of the three (from
among the thirty generals) who went to David when he was at The Rock at the
Cave of OdolLam, which was
right in the midst of the camp of the Philistines, there in the valley of the
giants. 16 David was in the
citadel and all the Philistines were in BethLehem 17 when David asked,
‘Who will bring me a drink of water
from the well at the entrance to BethLehem?’
18
And it was these three men that attacked the Philistines, drew water from the
well at the entrance to BethLehem, and brought it to David.
But then, David
refused to drink it. Rather, he offered it to Jehovah, saying,
19 ‘It was because of Your kindness to me,
O God, that they have done this thing.
So, shall I now drink the blood of these
men… something for which [they offered] their lives?
Why, they risked their
lives to bring it to me, so I don’t want to drink it.’
Yes, it was these three
mighty men that did these things.
20 There was
also AbiShai, the brother of JoAb.
He was one of those three generals, and he
had unsheathed his broadsword and killed three hundred men all by himself.
In
fact, he was the most famous of the three 21
and he was also the most honored, so he became their leader.
22 Then
there was the mighty man BenaiJah (the son of JehoiAda).
He was the one who
accomplished many great things at KaBasaEl, for it was
there that he killed the two lion-like soldiers of Moab;
It was there that he
went down into a pit and killed a lion there on a snowy day;
23 And he also killed the remarkable
Egyptian man that stood more than seven-feet tall and carried a spear that was
as large as a weaving loom… BenaiJah went and grabbed the spear from the
Egyptian’s hands and killed him with it.
24
These are the types of things that BenaiJah (the son of JehoiAda) did, and that’s
why his name is listed among the three mighty ones.
25 But though he was considered the
greatest among the thirty, he wasn’t one of the three [generals], because David
had put him in charge of his family.
26 Also
counted among the powerful mighty ones were AsahEl (JoAb’s other brother),
EliHanan (the son of DoDoe) the BethLehemite, 27
SamMoth the Arorite, HelLes the Phelonite, 28
Ora (the son of EkKish) the Thekoite, AbiEzer the AnathOthite, 29 SoboChai the Asothite, Eli the
Achonite, 30 MoorAi the
Netophathite, ChoLod (the son of NoOza) the Netophathite, 31 AiRi (the son of RebiE) from the hills
of BenJamin, BenaiJah the Pharathonite, 32
Ouri from Nachali-GaAs, AbiEl the Arabethite, 33
AzBon the Baromite, EliAba the SaLobonite, 34
BenAsam the Gizonite, JoNathan (the son of Sola) the Ararite, 35 Achim (the son of Achar) the Ararite,
ElPhat (the son of ThuroPhar) 36
the Mechorathite, AhiJah the PhelLonite, 37
EseRe the Charmadite, NaArai (the son of AzobAi), 38 JoEl (Nathan’s brother), MeBaAl (the
son of Agari), 39 SelLek the
AmMonite, Nachor the BerOthite (who carried the weapons for JoAb, the son of
ZeruJah), 40 Ira the Jethrite,
Gareb the Jethrite, 41 UriJah
the Hittite, Sabet (the son of AchaJa), 42
and AdiNa 43 (the son of SaIZa),
the head of the ReuBenites.
And with the thirty were 43 Hanan (the son of MoOcha), JoShaphat
the Mathnite, 44 OziJa the
AstarOthite, SamMa and JeiEl (the sons of HoTham) the Ararites, 45 JediEl (the son of Sameri), JoZae and
his brother (the ThosSaites), 46
EliEl the Maoite, JaRibi, JosiJa and his son ElLam, JethAma the Moabite, 47 DaliEl, Obed, and JesSiEl the Mesobite.
Chapter 12
1 These are
the men that came to David at ZikLag as part of his band to [protect him from]
Saul (the son of Kish).
They are among the mighty ones that helped in his
battles… 2 bowmen that could
shoot with both their right and left hands, and that slung rocks and shot with
their bows at the followers of the BenJaminite Saul:
3 There was AhiEzer (their leader), JoAsh
(the son of Asma) the Gabathite, JoEl and JoPhalet (the sons of AsMoth), BarachiJah, Jehu the AnathOthite, 4 and SamaYas the GibeOnite… they were the
mightiest among the thirty and they were the leaders.
Then there was JeremiJah, JeziEl, JoHanan, JoZabath the Gederathite, 5 EliOzi, JarimoUth, BaAlJah, SamariAi, SaphatiJah the Haruphite, 6 ElKana, JesiJah, OzriEl, JoZara, SoboKam, and the Korites 7 JoEla and ZabadJa (the sons of JeroHam), and the sons of Gedor.
8 These men
came to David from the tribe of Gad when he was in the desert.
They were great
mighty men that all stood in battle lines dressed for war carrying shields and
spears with faces like lions.
They also moved as quickly as light does on the
mountains:
9 There was Azer
(who was their leader), AbDiJah (who was second in command), EliAb (the third),
10 MasMana (the fourth),
JeremiJah (the fifth), 11 Jethi
(the sixth), EliAb (the seventh), 12
JoHanan (the eighth), EliAzer (the ninth), 13
JeremiJah (the tenth), and MachaBanai (the eleventh).
14 These were all from the tribe of Gad,
and they were all generals over the army… some over hundreds and one over a
thousand.
15 They all crossed
the Jordan during the first month when it was at its highest level and drove
away all the people that lived in the valleys from the east to the west.
16 Some also
came from the tribes of BenJamin and Judah to help David.
17 And when David came to meet them, he
said to them:
‘If you’ve come to me in peace, may we share the same heart.
But
if you’ve come to hand me over to my enemies; may the God of your fathers
discipline you.’
18 Well at
that, [God’s] Breath came over AmasAi (the leader
of the thirty), and he said:
‘Go on, O David, son of JesSe…
For you and your people, may there be peace!
Yes, may there be peace for you and your helpers,
And on your God, who is sending you aid.’
So David welcomed him and appointed him as a general in his army.
19 Men from
the tribe of ManasSeh also joined with David back when the Philistines attacked
Saul.
David didn’t join with the Philistines, because the Philistine generals
said,
‘He’ll just go back over to to his lord, Saul.’
20 So they sent him away, and David
returned to ZikLag… and that’s when some from the tribe of ManasSeh joined him.
There was EdNah, JoZabath, RodiEl, MichaEl, JosaBeth, Eliu, and Selathi…
generals over thousands from ManasSeh.
21
They and their troops fought alongside David, and they were all strong, mighty
men and leaders of their armies.
22
They came and fought for David every day like a great force from God.
23 And these are the names of the military generals that came to David in Hebron to fight Saul for his kingdom (following the words of Jehovah):
24 From the tribe of Judah there were six-thousand eight hundred men, all bearing shields and spears, and ready for battle.
25 From the tribe of SimeOn there were seven-thousand, one hundred mighty men that were ready for battle.
26 From the tribe of
Levi there were four-thousand, six hundred.
27
And when JehoiAda (the head of the family line of Aaron) came to meet with him,
he brought along three-thousand, seven hundred more men.
28 Then
there was ZaDok, who was a strong and mighty young man.
He brought along twenty-two
leaders from his father’s household.
29 And from
the tribe of BenJamin (Saul’s tribe) there were three thousand men;
Yet, most
of them were guards in the house of Saul.
30 And from the tribe of Ephraim there were twenty-thousand, eight hundred strong, mighty, and famous men of their houses and family lines.
31 And from the half-tribe of ManasSeh there were eighteen thousand, all of whom had sworn to make David the king.
32 And from the tribe of IsSachar came two hundred men with their [armies] that understood the times and knew what IsraEl should do.
33 And from [the tribe of] ZebuLon came fifty thousand men all dressed for war and carrying their weapons to help David (but not very wholeheartedly).
34 And from [the tribe of] NaphTali came a thousand leaders with thirty-seven thousand men carrying shields and spears.
35 And from [the tribe of] Dan came twenty-eight thousand, eight hundred men all ready for war.
36 And from [the tribe of] Asher came forty thousand, six hundred to help in the war.
37 And from the other side of the Jordan (from the tribes of ReuBen, Gad, and the half-tribe of ManasSeh) came a hundred-and-twenty thousand, all carrying their weapons of war.
38 All these
men were warriors that were dressed and ready for battle, but peaceful in
heart.
They came to Hebron to make David the king over all IsraEl.
And the rest
of IsraEl was of the same heart when it came to making David their king.
39 Then they all stayed with David for
three days, eating and drinking, for their brothers were providing for them.
40 Those of IsSachar, ZebuLun, and
NaphTali that lived nearby loaded up their camels, burros, mules, and oxen, and
brought them huge quantities of food…
Flour, dried figs, raisins, wine, olive
oil, veal, and lamb, because everyone in IsraEl was very happy.
Chapter 13
1 Well after
that, David met with his generals, lieutenants, and all the leaders.
2 Then he went before the entire gathering
of IsraEl and said:
‘If you approve, and if our God Jehovah
blesses the effort, we should send [a letter] to all our brothers that are left
throughout the land of IsraEl, and to the Priests and Levites in their cities,
and invite them all to gather with us here.
3
And after that, we will bring the [Sacred] Chest of our God to us, for no one
has gone before it since the days of Saul.’
4 Well, the
entire gathering agreed to this, for in the eyes of the people it seemed to be
the right thing to do.
5 So
David called all IsraEl from the borders of Egypt to the land of HamAth to
gather there, and he had the Chest of God transported from the town of JaiRim.
6 And from there, all IsraEl traveled up
to the city of David in Judah to lead [a procession before] the Chest of
Jehovah God…
The one with the cherubs sitting on top that was used to call on
His Name.
7 So they
then placed the Chest of God on a new wagon and carried it from the house of
AmiNadab. Oza and his brothers walked in front of the wagon, 8 as David and all IsraEl sang and danced
before God with all their might…
There were singers, stringed instruments,
woodwinds, tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.
9 But, as they were carrying [the Chest] up to a threshing
floor, Oza stuck out his hand to steady the Chest (because one of the oxen
[pulling the wagon] had bolted), 10
and the Lord became enraged with Oza for doing this.
So He struck him down for
touching the Chest; and he died there before God.
11 Well,
David was so upset over Jehovah cutting Oza down that he named the place,
‘The
Severance of Oza,’
which is what it is still called today.
12 And from
that day on, David became afraid of The God; for he asked:
‘Then, how can I
carry the Chest of God to me?’
13
So David didn’t go back to carry the Chest of God to himself into the city of
David.
Rather, he left it in the house of ObedEdom the Gittite, 14 where it remained for the next three
months.
And during this time, God blessed ObedEdom and his entire household.
Chapter 14
1 After that, HiRam (the king of Tyre) sent emissaries to David, along with cedar wood, tradesmen, and carpenters, to build a palace for him.
2 David knew that Jehovah had prepared him to be the king over IsraEl, and that He would make his kingdom become more important because of His people, IsraEl.
3 Then after
David moved to JeruSalem, he started taking more women and he had many more
sons and daughters.
4 These are
their names:
Those that were born in JeruSalem were SamaAh, Sobab, Nathan,
Solomon, 5 IbaAr, EliSae,
EliPalet, 6 NaGeth, NaPhag,
JaPhie, 7 EliShama, BaAlJada, and EliPhalet.
8 Well, when
the Philistines heard that David had been anointed
as king over all IsraEl, their [entire army] came looking for him, and David
went out to face them.
9 So the
Philistines assembled for battle in the Valley of the Giants.
10 Therefore, David went before
God and asked,
‘Should I go and fight the Philistines; and if so, will You give
them into my hands?’
And Jehovah replied:
‘Go, and I will give them into your
hands!’
11 So he marched to BaAl PharaSin and attacked
them there.
Then after [the battle], David said:
‘God used my hand to
cut through my enemies like cutting through water.’
So he named that place,
‘The
Severance of PharaSin.’
12 For
the Philistines just ran away, leaving [the images] of their gods lying there,
and David [told his men to] burn them in a fire.
13 Then [David] marched after the Philistines and found them in
the Valley of the Giants.
14 So,
David once again asked God what he should do, and [this time] God replied:
‘Don’t
go after them! Turn away and wait for them near the pear trees.
15 Then when you hear the sound of
rumbling from the tops of the pear trees, attack them, for [that will be the
sound of] God going ahead of you to attack the camp of the Philistines.’
16 So David
did exactly as God told him, and he thereafter kept on attacking the Philistine
camps all the way from GibeOn to GeZer.
17
And very soon, the name of David became known throughout the land; for Jehovah had put the fear of him upon all the
surrounding nations.
Chapter 15
1 Well after
that, he did quite a bit of building in the city of David.
He also prepared a place
for the Chest of God there, and he had a Tent built for it.
2 Then David said,
‘No one is to handle
the Chest of God other than the Levites, because Jehovah has chosen them for
that purpose… to carry it and to officiate before Him through the ages.’
3 So David
then gathered all IsraEl to JeruSalem, and he arranged for the Chest of Jehovah to be carried and put into the place that he had
built for it.
4 And thereafter,
he collected the descendants of Aaron and the Levites.
5 OuriEl was the leader from the line of KoHath, and
there were a hundred and twenty with him.
6
AsaiJa was the leader from the line of MeraRi, and there were two hundred and
twenty with him.
7 JoEl was the
leader of the line of GerShon, and there were a hundred and thirty with him.
8 Shemei was the leader of the line of
EliSaphan, and there were two hundred with him.
9 EliEl was the leader of the line of Hebron, and there
were eighty with him.
10
AmiNadab was the leader of the line of OziEl, and there were a hundred and
twelve with him.
11 So David
called the Priests (ZaDok and AbiAthar) and the Levites (OuriEl, AsaiJah, JoEl,
Shemei, EliEl, and AmiNadab) 12
and said to them:
‘Since you are the heads of the families of the Levites, you
must now purify yourselves and your brothers so you can carry the Chest of the
God of IsraEl to the place that I’ve prepared for it.
13 The first time you tried to do this you
weren’t ready, and that’s why The God came among us and cut through us…
For we
didn’t ask Him exactly how we should do it.’
14 Then the Priests and the Levites purified themselves so they could carry the Chest of the God of IsraEl 15 exactly as God had instructed them through Moses and in the way that Moses wrote it should be done, using the staves to bear it.
16 David
also instructed the heads of the Levites to assign singers and musicians from
among their brothers to play stringed instruments, woodwinds, and cymbals so as
to make loud and happy music.
17
Then the Levites appointed HeMan (the son of JoEl) from among his family, and
Asaph (the son BarachiJah) from the line of MeraRi, as well as his [friend]
Ethan (the son of KishaJah).
18
They met with them and also appointed others that were to be under them…
ZachariJah, OziEl, SemiRamOth, JeiEl, EliOhel, EliAb, BenaiJah, MaAseJah,
MatTathiJah, EliPhaliJah, MakeniJah, and ObedEdom.
They appointed JeiEl and
OziAs to be in charge [of the Sacred Chest], 19
and HeMan, Asaph, and Ethan to be in charge of the singers.
Those that were put in charge of the brass cymbals (to make
sure that the music was loud) were 20
ZachariJah, OziEl, SemiRamOth, JeiEl, Oni, EliAb, MasaiJah, and BenaiJah.
And
those that were put in charge of the stringed instruments and the many types of
woodwinds (so the music would be loud enough) were AlamOth, 21 MatTathiJah, EliPhaliJah, MakeniJah,
ObedEdom, JeiEl, and OziJah.
22
Then ChoNeniJah (the head of the Levites) was made the chief conductor of all
the music, because he could orchestrate everything.
23
BarachiJah and ElKana were assigned to [carry] the [front end of the Sacred]
Chest;
24 SobniJah, JoShaphat,
NathaniEl, AmasiJah, ZachariJah, BaniJah, and EliEzer (the Priests) were
assigned to blow the trumpets ahead of it;
And ObedEdom and JeiJah were [to
carry] the back end.
25 Of
course, David, the governors of IsraEl, and his generals were to lead the
joyful parade as the Chest of God’s Sacred Agreement was carried from the house
of ObedEdom.
26 And to be sure
that God would empower them to carry the Chest of Jehovah, the [Priests] first
sacrificed seven calves and seven rams.
27 So David [led the parade] dressed in fine linen, followed by the Levites who would bear the Chest of the Sacred Agreement of Jehovah, followed by the singers, and then ChoneniJah, who led the musicians.
David was wrapped in a fine linen cape, 28 and all IsraEl walked ahead of the Chest of the Sacred Agreement of Jehovah cheering, blowing ram’s horns and trumpets, loudly beating on cymbals, and playing stringed instruments and harps.
29 Well, as
the Chest of the Sacred Agreement of Jehovah was entering the city of David,
Michal (the daughter of Saul) was leaning over and watching from her window;
And when she saw King David dancing and acting like a child, she inwardly felt contempt for him.
Chapter 16
1 So they
carried the Chest of God and placed it in the middle of the tent that David had
made for it.
Then they offered whole burnt offerings and a salvation offering
before God.
2 And after David
completed these offerings, he blest the people in the name of the Lord.
3 Then he gave every man and woman of IsraEl
a freshly-baked loaf of bread and some honey bread.
4
Thereafter, he stood before the Chest of the Sacred Agreement of Jehovah and he
ordered the Levites to shout aloud and acknowledge and praise Jehovah the God
of IsraEl.
5
Then Asaph (the orchestra conductor) and those under him (ZachariJah, JeiEl,
SemiRamOth, MatTathiJah, EliAb, BenaiJah, ObedEdom, and JeiEl) led the stringed
instruments and woodwinds while Asaph had them beat on the cymbals, 6 and BenaiJah and OziEl (the Priests)
blew the trumpets continuously before the Chest of the Sacred Agreement of God.
7 So, that
was the day when David arranged for Asaph and his brothers to start praising
Jehovah.
8 [For they shouted]:
‘Give praise to Jehovah!
Call on Him by His Name!
Tell the people of the things He has done!
9 Yes, sing praises to Him!
‘Describe all the wonders the Lord has performed…
10 Give praise to His Holy
Name!
Make your hearts glad… seek His favor;
11 Seek the Lord and be strong!
‘Always search for His face!
12 Remember the wonderful
things He has done…
The miracles and decisions that have come from His mouth,
13 O seed of IsraEl, His
servants…
You sons of Jacob, His chosen.
14 ‘He is
Jehovah, our God!
His judgments have filled the whole earth!
15 Through the ages, remember
His Sacred Agreement,
16 And the words that He had
instructed
For thousands of generations to follow…
The things that He said to AbraHam,
And the oath that He spoke to IsaAc.
17 ‘Then He
established His Sacred Agreement
Through the ages with Jacob,
And He gave these orders to IsraEl:
18 I’ll give you CanaAn’s land
as measured ground
To be your inheritance [through the ages].
19 Yet, at the time, they were
few,
And [the nation] was growing much smaller.
‘But first, they had to travel on foot
20 As they passed from nation
to nation…
Passing kingdoms of many foreign peoples.
21 But, He wouldn’t allow them
to beat them,
And He disciplined their kings with these words:
22 You may not touch My
anointed,
Nor may you be wicked to My Prophets!
23 ‘So, may
the whole earth sing to Jehovah
And proclaim His salvation each day!
24 Tell all the nations of His
glory,
And all their peoples of His wonders!
25 ‘For,
Jehovah is great and worthy of praise…
He’s more to be feared than all other gods;
26 For the gods of the nations
are just idols,
While the skies were made by Jehovah!
27 ‘Stand
before His face and give praise to His strength!
Boast of His Holy Place!
28 Give praise to Jehovah, you
families of nations…
Praise the Lord’s glory and strength!
29 ‘Glorify
the Name of the Lord…
Before His Face, carry gifts.
In His courtyard, bow low to Jehovah!
30 ‘Before
His face, be in fear,
All you that live on the earth!
May our land become stronger before Him,
And may it never be shaken!
31 ‘You
heavens be glad, and earth cry in joy!
May all nations admit that Jehovah’s their king!
32 ‘May the
seas, and the sun, and the trees in the fields,
And all else, tremble before Him.
33 For, even the forests and
trees in the fields
Find joy before the face of the Lord,
Who is the judge of the earth!
34 ‘Acknowledge
that Jehovah is good,
And His mercy lasts through the ages.
O God; Deliver and save us…
35 From the nations, please
rescue and save us!
‘Give praise to His Holy Name…
Boast of the blessings He brings!
36 Praise Jehovah, IsraEl’s
God,
Down through the age of the ages.’
Then all the people shouted, ‘Amen!’
And they started
praising Jehovah.
37 So they left
the Chest of the Sacred Agreement of Jehovah there;
And thereafter, Asaph and
his brothers served before the Chest continually, each day, 38 along with ObedEdom and his family;
For
ObedEdom (the son of IdiThoun) and Osa were the gatekeepers.
39 ZaDok the
Priest and his fellow Priests [set up camp] in front of the Tent of Jehovah,
which was located on the High Place of GibeOn.
40 And there they offered whole burnt offerings on the
Altar to Jehovah continually, morning and evening, just as it was written in
the Law of Jehovah and as it was given to the sons of IsraEl by the hand of
Moses, God’s servant.
41
Those that assisted [the Priests] were HeMan, IdiThoun, and many others that were
chosen by name to praise Jehovah through the ages for His mercy.
42 There were also the trumpeters, the
cymbal players, and all the rest of the musicians that could play their
instruments loudly in the songs [of praise] to God.
Then the sons of IdiThoun took their positions at the gates, as all the people returned to their homes, 43 and David went back home to bless his family.
Chapter 17
1 Then one
day, as David was in his palace, he said to the
Prophet Nathan:
‘Look; here I am living in a palace of cedars, while the Chest
of the Sacred Agreement of Jehovah is sitting under a tent of leather skins.’
2 And Nathan
said to David:
‘Then do whatever is in your heart,
because God is with you!’
3 But that
night, the Word of Jehovah came to Nathan, saying,
4 ‘Go and tell My servant David
that this is what Jehovah has said:
You may not build a House for Me to stay
in, 5 for I haven’t
stayed in a House from the day that I started leading IsraEl until now.
Rather,
I’ve stayed in a tent protected by the covering.
6 So, in all the places that I’ve gone
with IsraEl, did I ever ask any tribe of IsraEl or those whom I put in charge
of taking care of My people why they didn’t build Me a House of cedars?
7
‘Therefore, tell My servant David that Jehovah the Almighty
said this:
I took you out of the pastures where you followed the flocks to
lead My people IsraEl, 8
and I was with you wherever you went.
I destroyed all your enemies from before
you, and I’ve made your name one of the greatest on the earth.
9 I’ve also made a place
for My people IsraEl and I’ve planted them there.
So, though they must camp
[separate from the nations], they will have nothing to fear, since no
unrighteous person will humble them as has happened in the past.
10 For from the days that I first arranged
for the Judges [to lead] My people IsraEl, I’ve been humbling all their enemies
so that My [nation] would continue to grow.
‘However, a House will [eventually] be built for Jehovah;
11 But that will happen
after you’ve lived a full life and gone to sleep with your ancestors.
For I
will raise a seed after you that will come from your belly, and I will prepare
his kingdom.
12 He will
build a House for Me, and I’ll make his throne last through the ages.
13
I will be a father to him and he’ll be a son to Me, so My mercy will never be
removed from him as I have removed it from those that preceded you.
14 I will entrust My House to him and to
his kingdom through the ages, and his name will be [remembered] through the
ages.’
15 Well,
Nathan relayed everything in that vision and told David all that was said.
16 Then King David went and sat before
Jehovah and said this:
‘Who am I, O Lord God…
What is [so good about] my house
that You’ve shown so much love for me through this age?
17 ‘Yet now,
though it seemed as though this matter was unimportant to You, O God, You have
spoken about this House that your servant [has long wanted to build] for You.
And in a vision that was given to a man, You actually looked upon me and
lifted me high, O Jehovah God.
18
So now, how should I proceed to glorify You?
For Your servant knows that 19 You will do whatever is in Your heart,
and it is all magnificent!
20 ‘O Jehovah;
There is no other like You, and there’s no god other than You… none that we’ve
ever heard of.
21 And there’s
no other nation like Your people IsraEl anywhere else on the earth that has
been guided by You, O God… a people whom You’ve ransomed for Yourself.
For You’ve
given Your people a great name and driven all the others away from before those
whom You ransomed out of the nation of Egypt, 22
and You’ve appointed IsraEl to be Your people exclusively through the ages.
Then You, O Jehovah, became their God.
23 ‘And now,
O Jehovah;
Concerning what You’ve said to Your servant about this House…
May
the words that You said prove trustworthy through the ages, 24 and may Your Name be trusted and
magnified through the ages, O Jehovah the Almighty the God of IsraEl.
For You
are the God of IsraEl and of the house of Your servant David, who is now
standing here before You.
25 ‘O
Jehovah; You are my God!
And now that You’ve opened the ears of Your servant
when it comes to building this House; this is why I saw the need to come and
pray before Your face.
26 For
Jehovah; You are Him… You are The God!
And now You’ve spoken about these good
things to Your servant, 27 and
You’ve started blessing the house of your servant.
So, may it all continue to
stand in this same way before You through the ages.
For You, O Jehovah, have
blest us, and You’ve promised us Your blessings through the ages!’
Chapter 18
1 Well after
that, David went and attacked the Philistines and drove them away, capturing
Gath and all its surrounding villages.
2
Then he attacked Moab and made them serve him and pay a tribute.
3 David also attacked HadraAzar the king
of Souba at HamAth as he was
marching toward the EuPhrates.
4
There he captured a thousand chariots, seven thousand horses, and twenty
thousand of their infantrymen.
And after that, David had all the chariots destroyed except
for a hundred of them.
5 And
when the Syrians came from Damascus to help HadraAzar, David attacked them and
killed twenty-two thousand of their men.
6
Then he left a garrison in Syria near Damascus, so Syria had to serve David and
bring tributes to him.
For Jehovah watched over David no matter where he went.
7 Then David
took the golden collars and other items of gold that were worn by the servants
of HadraAzar and had it all carried back to JeruSalem.
8 He also went to MataBeth
(which was one of HadraAzar’s capital cities) and he brought back a tremendous
amount of brass, which Solomon later used to make the Sacred Sea, the brass
columns, and many other sacred utensils.
9 Well when Thoa the king of HamAth heard that David had beaten the army of HadraAzar (the king of Souba), 10 he sent his son AdouRam to King David to enquire of his welfare and to congratulate him on winning his war against HadraAzar and killing him, because Thoa had been at war with HadraAzar.
11 Then
David took all the gold, silver, and brass items that he captured from the
nations of Idumea, Moab, the AmMonites, the Philistines, and the Amalechites,
and set them aside as holy to Jehovah.
12
For, AbiShai (the son of ZeruJah) had attacked the Idumeans in the Salt Valley, where
he killed eighteen thousand of their men.
13
Then he placed a garrison in the Valley, and the Idumeans also became David’s
servants.
Well, Jehovah watched over David no matter where he went;
14 So David reigned over all IsraEl, and
he served as a righteous judge over his people.
15 At the time, JoAb (the son of ZeruJah) was the commanding general of his army, JoShaphat (the son of AchiLoud) was the recorder, 16 ZaDok (the son of AhiTub) and AhiMelech (the son of AbiAthar) were the Priests, SoUsa was the scribe, 17 BenaiJah (the son of JehoiAda) was in charge of the Cherethites and Phelethites, and David’s sons served as his second-in-command.
Chapter 19
1 In time, NaHash the king of the
sons of AmMon died and his son Hanan became the king in his place.
2 So David asked:
‘What sort of kind thing
can I do for Hanan the son of NaHash, for his father was very kind toward me?’
And thereafter, David sent messengers to comfort him after the death of his
father.
3 But when the servants
of David arrived in the land of the AmMonites and they went to Hanan to comfort
him, the AmMonite governors said to [Hanan]:
‘Isn’t David really glorifying
your father over you by sending these comforters?
And don’t you think that he
might be really sending them to look at your city and to spy in our land?’
4 Well, as the result, Hanan had the servants of David arrested, then he had [their beards] shaved and their clothes cut off halfway to the waist before he sent them away.
5 Then when
the report of what Hanan had done to his men reached David, he sent people to
meet them because they had been so disgraced;
And the king told them to stay in
JeriCho and not to return until their beards grew back.
6 Meanwhile,
because the sons of AmMon realized that they had disgraced David’s emissaries,
Hanan and his people sent thirty-five tons of silver
to MesoPotamia and to [King] MoOcha in Syria to hire an army along with
chariots and cavalry.
7 So King
MoOcha brought his army that included thirty-two thousand chariots, and they
camped next to MaiDaba.
Also, the AmMonites gathered an army from their own cities as they prepared for
war [with IsraEl].
8 And when
David heard about this, he told JoAb to gather his entire army to go and fight
them.
9 Well, [the
plan was that] the sons of AmMon would fight IsraEl from their city gates,
while the kings set up camp out in the fields.
10 So when JoAb saw that they were preparing to attack him
from both sides, he gathered all the young men in his army to attack the Syrians
[in the fields], 11 while he
put the rest of the army into the hands of his brother AbiShai, who was to
attack the sons of AmMon [at the city gates].
12
He told [his brother]:
‘If the Syrians start to win, you come and help me; but
if the AmMonites start to win, I’ll come to help you.
13 Let us fight bravely for our people and
for the cities of our God, and we’ll trust that Jehovah
will do whatever He finds good in His eyes.’
14 So then,
JoAb attacked the Syrians and they fled from before him.
15 And when the AmMonites saw the Syrians
retreating, they turned and ran from AbiShai (JoAb’s brother), fleeing back
into their city.
Then JoAb returned to JeruSalem.
16 But when the Syrians saw that IsraEl
had left the field of battle, they sent messengers to the Syrians that had
camped on the other side of the river, and SoPha (the commander-in-chief of the
army of HadraAzar) marched back.
17 And when
this was reported to David, he again gathered the whole army of IsraEl and they
crossed the Jordan to set up battle lines once more.
So the Syrians came and
faced David, and the battle began.
18 Well,
Syria once again turned and ran from IsraEl, for David’s [men] had killed
forty-thousand of their infantry, they captured seven-thousand of their
chariots, and they killed SoPha, the commander-in-chief of their army.
19 So when the servants of HadraAzar saw
that they had lost the battle to IsraEl, they signed a treaty with David and
started serving him.
And thereafter, the Syrians never again came to help the
sons of AmMon.
Chapter 20
1 Well after that, during the time of year when the kings traditionally went to war, JoAb led the entire army [of IsraEl] against the cities of AmMon, starting first by laying siege against RabBah.
Meanwhile, David had stayed behind in JeruSalem while JoAb
was leading the attack on RabBah.
And as [JoAb] was destroying the city, 2 David [went there and] took the gold crown from the head of MolChom their king.
It
weighed sixty pounds and it was covered with
precious stones; so David took it and put it on.
Then he looted the city and
brought back a huge amount of treasures.
3
He also took the people and had them sawed in half with iron saws and threshing
machines (that’s what David did to all the sons of AmMon).
Then David returned
to JeruSalem with his army.
4 However,
there was still a war being fought with the Philistines in Gazer.
And it was
there that SoboChai cut down OuSathi the Raphite (who was from the
family of giants) and dishonored him.
5
And as the war with the Philistines raged on, ElHanan (the son of JaIr) killed
LachMi (the brother of GoliAth the Gittite) whose wooden spear was as large as
the rod of a weaving loom.
6
They also had a huge man there that had twenty-four fingers and toes (six
fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot), who was a descendant of the
giants.
7 And when he came
forward and slandered IsraEl, JoNathan (the son of David’s brother SamaAh)
attacked him and killed him.
8
These men were all sons of Rapha of Gath, and though all four were giants, they
all fell by the hand of David and his servants.
Chapter 21
1
Well, the Slanderer came to IsraEl and [he] urged
David to count his people.
2 So
King David said to JoAb and his generals:
‘Go and take a census of IsraEl from
BeerSheba to Dan, then bring [the numbers] to me, so I’ll know how many men I
have [in my army].’
3 And JoAb
said:
‘May Jehovah multiply His people a hundred
times.
But the eyes of my lord the king can see all of his servants; so, why do
you want to do this, my lord?
Be careful that you don’t bring a sin upon
IsraEl!’
4 However,
the king just wouldn’t listen to JoAb.
So, JoAb traveled throughout all IsraEl,
and then he returned to JeruSalem and gave the numbers of the people to David…
There were a million, one-hundred-thousand men that could carry the sword.
5 And among the sons of Judah there was an
additional four-hundred-and-seventy thousand.
6
However, he didn’t count [the tribes of] Levi and BenJamin
as being among them, because the king told JoAb not to do so.
7 Well,
doing this was wicked [in the eyes of] God, so He struck IsraEl.
8 Then David said to God:
‘I [was guilty
of] a great sin when I did this thing!
So, please forgive the evil of Your
servant, for I’m the one that did this foolish thing.’
9 Then the
Lord spoke to David’s Seer Gad, saying:
10
‘Go speak to David and tell him that this is what Jehovah has said:
I will
give you a choice of three punishments.
Choose which you prefer, and I’ll bring
it upon you.’
11 So Gad
went to David and told him,
‘This is what Jehovah has said:
Choose for
yourself 12 from these
three:
· Three years of famine
· Three months of destruction and fleeing from your enemies
· Three days of death in the land, when the messenger
of the Lord will go among all the inheritance of IsraEl and destroy.
Now, give me an answer for the One that sent me… which do you choose?’
13 And David
told Gad:
‘Those are three very tough choices, so I’ll leave it in the hands of
Jehovah, for He is exceptionally compassionate.
I don’t want to leave myself in
the hands of men.’
14 So the
Lord sent death throughout all IsraEl, and seventy thousand of their males
died.
15 Then God sent His
messenger to JeruSalem to wipe it out also.
But, as he was destroying it, the
Lord saw what was happening and felt sorry for the evil.
So He said to the
messenger that was doing the destroying,
‘That’s enough; stay your hand!’
Well, at the time, the messenger of Jehovah was standing at
the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16
And when David looked up and saw the messenger of Jehovah standing in that
place between the sky and the ground with an
unsheathed broadsword in his hand that was stretched out over JeruSalem, he
fell to the ground and he had the elders put on sackcloth and cover their
faces.
17 So then
David called out to God, saying:
‘Wasn’t I the one that told them to count the
people?
Yes, I’m the one that sinned and who told them to do this bad thing!
What did these sheep do, O Jehovah God?
Please bring Your hand and Your
destruction against me and the house of my father instead, not against Your
people, O Lord.’
18 Then the
messenger of Jehovah said to Gad:
‘Tell David that he must build an Altar to
Jehovah there at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.’
19 So David
thereafter went and did what Gad had told him in the Name of the Lord.
20 But when Ornan turned and saw the king
and four of his sons coming to see him, he tried to hide (for he’d been
threshing wheat at the time).
21
But when David got there, Ornan came down from the threshing floor and bowed
with his face to the ground before him.
22
And David said:
‘I want to buy your threshing floor, because I wish to build an
Altar to Jehovah upon it.
Tell me how much you want for it, since this will
bring an end to the calamity that has been plaguing the people.’
23 And Ornan
said to David:
‘Just take it… and may my lord the king do whatever he thinks is
best!
{Look!} Here are some calves to sacrifice as whole burnt offerings, as
well as some wood and some grain.
I’m giving it all to you!’
24 But David
told him:
‘No, I want to pay you whatever it’s worth.
There’s no way that I
would take what’s yours for Jehovah and then sacrifice whole burnt offerings
for myself without paying you.’
25 So David paid Ornan six hundred weighed gold coins for his place, 26 then he built an Altar to Jehovah and sacrificed whole burnt offerings and a deliverance offering, as he stood there calling out to Jehovah.
Well, Jehovah listened to him from the heavens as he was
standing there by the fire with the whole burnt offerings on the Altar.
27 So the Lord spoke to the messenger, who
then put his broadsword back into its sheath.
28
And David recognized that Jehovah had listened to him there at the threshing
floor of Ornan the Jebusite, where he had offered the sacrifices.
29 Well, at
the time, the Tent of Jehovah that Moses had made was out in the desert, as was
the Altar for sacrificing whole burnt offerings…
It was located on the High
Place in GibeOn.
30 But David wouldn’t go there right away
to seek the face of God, because he didn’t want to turn away too quickly from
the broadsword that was being held by Jehovah’s messenger.
Chapter 22
1 Then David
said:
‘This is where the Temple of Jehovah our God [will be built] and where
the Altar for the whole burnt offerings of IsraEl will be located.’
2 And David said:
‘Gather all the foreigners in the land of IsraEl and use them as quarry workers
to cut, and work stones to build the Temple of
Jehovah.’
3 And thereafter, he
prepared many other things for the project, such as the nails, the doorways,
the gates, and the hinges.
He also collected a huge amount of brass… so much
that its weight couldn’t be calculated, 4
and there was unnumbered amounts of cedar lumber, which the Sidonians and the
people of Tyre had brought to David.
5 Then David
said:
‘My son Solomon is still a young boy, but he will erect this great Temple
of Jehovah, which will thereafter be renowned for its glory throughout the
whole earth… and I will prepare for it.’
So David
did prepare for it by [collecting] many things before he died.
6 Then David
called his son Solomon and told him that he would have to build the Temple to
Jehovah the God of IsraEl.
7
David said to Solomon:
‘My child; it has been in my heart
to build a [Temple] to the Name of Jehovah God.
8 But, the Word of the Lord
came to me and said,
You’ve spilled a lot of blood and fought many great
wars, so you may not build a Temple to My Name because of all the blood that
you’ve spilled on the ground before Me.
9 Yet, look!
A son has been born to you that is a man of peace,
and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about.
The name that has
been given to him is Solomon (Peace); so, I will give him peace and rest, and I
will appoint him [as king] over IsraEl when his time comes.
10 He’s the one that will build a [Temple]
to My Name; he will be My son; I will be a father to him; and I will establish
the throne of his kingdom in IsraEl through the ages.
11 ‘Now, my
son;
May Jehovah be with you and bless you, for you will build a Temple to your
God Jehovah, just as He said you would.
12
May He give you wisdom, understanding, and make you strong over IsraEl.
And may
you preserve and keep the Laws of Jehovah your God;
13 For if you carefully obey the
instructions and decisions that Jehovah gave to IsraEl through Moses, He will
bless you.
So you must act like a man and be strong… don’t be weak or afraid!
14 ‘Now,
{Look!} in my own poor way, I’ve made preparations for the Temple of Jehovah. I’ve
collected hundreds of tons of gold, thousands of tons of silver, and so much
brass that nobody can estimate its weight.
I’ve also collected the wood and the
stone, and you must add to all of this.
15
So may Jehovah be with you, and may you finish [this project].
You’ll have to
assemble the huge number of craftsmen that will be needed…
The stone workers,
carpenters, and all the wise men 16
who know how to work the gold, silver, brass, and iron.
But if you’ll stand
tall and act, Jehovah will be with you!’
17 Then
David instructed all the governors of IsraEl to assist his son Solomon.
He
said,
18 ‘Isn’t Jehovah with
you, and hasn’t He provided you with peace roundabout?
Hasn’t He put all those
that live here into your hands so that the entire land
is now subject to Jehovah and to His people?
19
Therefore, you must search for Jehovah your God with your whole hearts and
souls, and then you must come here and build a Holy Place to Jehovah your God
where the Chest of the Sacred Agreement of Jehovah must be placed among all the
rest of the holy things of God.
Yes, you must build a Temple to the Name of Jehovah!’
Chapter 23
1 Well,
after David had grown old and lived a full life, his son Solomon took his place
as [the king] over IsraEl.
2
But then, David assembled all the rulers of IsraEl, as well as the Priests and
the Levites, 3 and he took a
census of all the Levites that were more than thirty years old… and he found
that there were thirty-eight thousand qualified men.
4 So he assigned twenty-four thousand of
them to be in charge of the Temple of Jehovah, six thousand of them to be scribes and judges, 5 four thousand [to be] gatekeepers, and
four thousand were anointed to praise Jehovah with the sacred musical
instruments that had been made specifically for that purpose.
6 So at that time, David divided the
Levites by family groups, and he worked out their daily rotations.
Levi’s sons were GerShon, KoHath, and MeraRi.
7 In the family of GerShon, there was Edan
and ShiMei.
8 The three sons
(and rulers of) of Edan were JeiEl, ZeThan, and JoEl.
9 The three sons of ShiMei were
SalomIth, JeiEl, and Dan, who had been the rulers of the families of LaAdan.
10 The four sons of ShiMei were Jeth,
Ziza, JoAs, and BeriJah. 11
Jeth was the firstborn and Ziza was second. But JoAs and BeriJah didn’t have
any sons, so the whole house and family received the same assignments.
12 The four
sons of KoHath were AmBram, IsaAr, Hebron, and OziEl.
13 The sons of AmBram were Aaron and
Moses.
Then Aaron and his sons were set aside to [serve in] the Holy of Holies,
to burn incense before Jehovah, and to officiate and use the power of His Name
through the rest of that age.
14
Of course, Moses was the man of God, and his sons were assigned among the tribe
of Levi.
15 Moses’ sons were
GerSam and EliEzer.
16 GerSam’s
son SoubaEl was the firstborn, 17
and EliEzer’s son RabiJah was his firstborn.
EliEzer didn’t have any other
sons, but the family line of RabiJah became very large.
18 The son
of IsaAr was SalomOth (the firstborn).
19
The sons of Hebron were JeriJa (the firstborn), AmadiJa (the second), JeziEl
(the third), and JekemiJah (the fourth).
20
The sons of OziEl were Micha (the firstborn) and JesShiah (the second).
21 The sons of MeraRi were MoOli and
MoUsi. MoOli’s sons were EliEzer and Kish.
22
EliEzer died without any sons (just daughters), but the sons of Kish married
them.
23 The three sons of
MoUsi were MoOli, Eder, and JariMoth.
24
These were the names of the rulers among the descendants of Levi by houses and
family lines that were more than twenty years old and that served at the Temple
of Jehovah.
25 Then
David said:
‘Since Jehovah the God of IsraEl has provided rest for His people
and He is now camping in JeruSalem through the ages, 26 the Levites won’t have to carry the
Sacred Tent or any of its things anymore.’
27 And the
last order that David [gave] was to count the sons of Levi that were twenty
years old and older;
28 For he
had appointed them to [assist the descendants] of Aaron as they served in the Temple of Jehovah.
They were to be in charge of the
courtyards and the place of worship, as well as to handle the cleansing of the
holy things and the maintenance of the Temple of God.
29 They were also to be in charge of the
place settings, and for mixing and measuring the fine flour for the bread
loaves [that were to be used in] the sacrifice offerings, which included the
fermentation-free bread and the fried cakes.
30
And every morning and every evening, they were to praise and acknowledge
Jehovah.
31 In addition, they
were also to prepare all the whole burnt offerings to Jehovah on the Sabbaths,
on the New Moons, and on the holidays (as they were instructed); so, their job
was to always stand before Jehovah.
32
They were also to stand guard by watches over the Meeting Tent, over the Holy
Place, and to be in charge of their brothers the sons of Aaron, as they did
their jobs at the Temple of Jehovah.
Chapter 24
1 These are the [Priestly] divisions of the sons of Aaron: NaDab, AbiHu, EliEzer, and IthaMar.
2 Since
NaDab and AbiHu died in front of their father and they had no sons, the
official Priests were Aaron’s sons EliEzer and IthaMar.
3 So David made a similar division.
He
appointed ZaDok (who was a descendant of EliEzer) and AhiMelech (who was a descendant
of IthaMar) to be the heads over their houses and families for their duties
[inside the Temple].
4 But
David found that among the descendants of EliEzer there were many more leaders
and powerful men than there were among the descendants of IthaMar, so he
appointed sixteen descendants of EliEzer as leaders of their houses and
families, and he only appointed eight from the descendants of IthaMar.
5 Thereafter, he assigned each of their responsibilities in the Temple of God by lottery, 6 and SamaiJah, the son of NathaniEl (the scribe from the tribe of Levi) recorded the results for the king, the governors, the [High] Priest ZaDok, AhiMelech (the son of AbiAthar), the heads of families, and for the family heads of the Priests and Levites.
In the lottery for the [assignments of the] families of
EliEzer and IthaMar, 7 the
first group chosen was that of JehoArim.
JediJah
was the second,
8 Charib was
the third,
SeOrim was the fourth,
9
MelciJah was the fifth,
MeiJamin was the sixth,
10 Kos was the seventh,
AbiJah was the eighth,
11 JeShua was the ninth,
ShecheniJah was the tenth,
12 EliAbi was the eleventh,
JaKim was the twelfth,
13 Opha was the thirteenth,
JesBaAl was the fourteenth,
14 BelGa was the fifteenth,
EmMer was the
sixteenth,
15 Hezir was the
seventeenth,
ApheSe was the eighteenth,
16
PhetaiJah was the nineteenth,
EzekiEl was the twentieth,
17 Achim was the twenty-first,
GamoUl was
the twenty-second,
18 DalaiJah
was the twenty-third,
and MaAsiJah was the twenty-fourth.
19 So, this is the way that their duties were assigned and the order in which they were to enter the Temple of Jehovah, as the responsibilities were set out by their ancestor Aaron and as they were given to him by Jehovah, the God of IsraEl.
20 These are
the names of the rest of Levi’s descendants:
Among the descendants of AmBram there was SobaEl and his son JediJah.
21 From the descendants of RaAbiJah
there was his firstborn, JesiJah.
22 From the descendants of
IsaAri there was SalomOth and his son, Jath.
23 From the descendants of
JediOu there was AmadiJah, JaziEl, and JekMoAm.
24 From the descendants of
OziEl there was Micha and his son Samer.
25 Micha’s brother was IsiJa,
and his son was ZachariJah.
26 The sons
of MeraRi were MoOli, MoUsi, and through BonNi, OziJa.
27 So, OziJa was also one of MeraRi’s
sons, and his sons were IsoAm, SakChour, and Abai.
28 MoOli’s only son was EliEzer, 29 his son was Kish, and his son was
JaRameEl.
30 The sons of MoUsi
were MoOli, Eder, and JariMoth.
These were the sons of the Levites by the
houses of their families.
Chapter 25
1 King David
also assigned some of the sons of Asaph, HeMan, and IdiThoun to be the heads of
the orchestra that was to praise [God] with woodwinds, stringed instruments,
and cymbals.
And these are the numbers of the musicians that were working in
their bands:
2 The sons of Asaph were SakChour, JoSeph, NathaniJah,
and EraEl.
These sons of Asaph worked under Asaph, who was a Prophet, and he
reported directly to the king.
3 Under IdiThoun were his six
sons, GodoliJah, SoUri, IseAs, ShiMei, AsAbiJah, and MatTathiJah.
They all
played the woodwinds to praise and acknowledge Jehovah.
4 Under HeMan were his sons
BoukiJah, MathaniJah, OziEl, SoubaEl, JeriMoth, HananiJah, Hanan, EliAtha,
GodolLathi, RomethiEzer, JesBasaka, MalLithi, OthEri, and MeAzOth 5 (these were all the sons of HeMan).
They
played music to the king about the Word of God with horns.
6 God had given HeMan fourteen sons and three daughters, and they all (including their father) sang in the Temple to the music of the cymbals, stringed instruments, and woodwinds during the services, and they all reported directly to the king (along with Asaph, IdiThoun, and HeMan).
7 In
addition, many others in their families were taught to sing to Jehovah; so
altogether, there were two hundred and eighty-eight in the chorus.
8 Then they threw lots for themselves to
choose the daily rotations of singers… from the unknown to the famous and from
the novices to the experts.
9
The first lot fell to Asaph (the son of JoSeph, who was also called GedaliJah)
and his sons.
The second fell to EneiJa and twelve among his family members.
10 The third fell to ZakChour and twelve
among his family members.
11
The fourth fell to JesRi and twelve among his family members.
12 The fifth fell to NathaniJah and twelve
among his family members.
13
The sixth fell to BoUkiJah and twelve among his family members.
14 The seventh fell to IshEriEl and twelve
among his family members.
15
The eighth fell to JosiJah and twelve among his family members.
16 The ninth fell to MathaniJah and twelve
among his family members.
17
The tenth fell to SemeiJah and twelve among his family members.
18 The eleventh fell to AsriEl and twelve
among his family members.
19
The twelfth fell to AsabiJah and twelve among his family members.
20 The thirteenth fell to SoubaEl and
twelve among his family members.
21
The fourteenth fell to MatTathiJah and twelve among his family members.
22 The fifteenth fell to JeriMoth and
twelve among his family members.
23
The sixteenth fell to HananiJah and twelve among his family members.
24 The seventeenth fell to JesBasaka and
twelve among his family members.
25
The eighteenth fell to HananiJah and twelve among his family members.
26 The nineteenth fell to MalLithi and
twelve among his family members.
27
The twentieth fell to EliAthah and twelve among his family members.
28 The twenty- first fell to OthEri and
twelve among his family members.
29
The twenty-second fell to GodolLathi and twelve among his family members.
30 The twenty-third fell to MeAzOth and
twelve among his family members.
And the twenty-fourth fell to RometThiEzer and
twelve among his family members.
31 Their brothers from the sons of Aaron also threw lots for themselves before the king, as did ZaDok and AhiMelech (who were the heads of the families of the Priests and the Levites), as well as the family heads and the younger ones.
Chapter 26
1 These are the groups of the gatekeepers:
From the family of KorAh there was MoselLemiJa and his sons
who descended through Asaph.
2
Under MoselLemiJa there was ZachariJah (his firstborn),
JadiEl (the second), ZabadiJa (the third), JethNouEl (the fourth), 3 JoLam (the fifth), JoNathan (the sixth),
EliOnai (the seventh), and ObedEdom (the eighth).
4 ObedEdom’s sons were SamaiJah (the firstborn), JoZabath (the second), JoAth (the third), Sachar (the fourth), NathaniEl (the fifth), 5 AmiEl (the sixth), IsSachar (the seventh), and PheLathi (the eighth) – for God had blessed him.
6 Then there
was SamaiJah’s son RoshAi, who was the firstborn of the house of his father
(they were all mighty men).
7
SamaiJah’s sons were OthNi, RaphaEl, Obed, EliZabath, and AchiOud (they were
the most powerful).
Then there was EliOu, SabachiJah, and IshBakom.
8 These were the descendants of ObedEdom
and their ancestor MoselLemiJa.
They all became great in their positions (all
sixty-two of them), 9 and
eighteen of them became extremely powerful.
10 Then
there was Osa (from the line of MeraRi), whose sons guarded the [Temple].
Although
he wasn’t the firstborn, his father appointed him head of the second division
of gate guards.
11 HelkiJah was
second under him, then TabliJah (the third), and ZachariJah (the fourth).
There
were thirteen sons in the family of Osa, 12
and it was from among them that the heads of the divisions of gate guards
descended.
They were all rulers and important men that handled the daily
rotations of their families as they served in the Temple of Jehovah.
13
Thereafter, they all (from the least to the most important) threw lots by
houses and families at the gatehouse.
14
And the lot for the gates toward the east fell to SelemiJah and ZachariJah.
Then MelchiJah threw the lots for the family of JoAs, and they received the
north gate.
15 When the second
lot was thrown, ObedEdom received the south gate, which was next to the
collection boxes.
16 [And the
Family of] Osa received the west gate.
Their job was to watch over the road
that led into the Temple.
17 Six
Levites were assigned to guard the east gate each day, and four were to be in
charge of the north gate.
Two shifts of two men each watched the south gate (by
the collection boxes), 18 and
there were also four posted at the west gate, who worked in two shifts of two
guards each and kept an eye on the road.
19 These were all the divisions of the gatekeepers from the family of KorAh and MeraRi.
20 The
Levites and their families that received the responsibility of being over the
treasury in the Temple of Jehovah and watching over the holy things 21 were the family of LaDan (who was of
the line of GerShon).
JeiEl was the head of this family group.
22 JeiEl’s sons were Zethom and JoEl.
They
and their families were in charge of the treasury at the Temple of Jehovah, 23 as were AmBram, IsaAr, Hebron, and
OziEl.
24 SoubaEl (a descendant
of Moses through GerSam) was [the chief of] the treasury.
25 The sons of his brother EliEzer were
RabiJah, JosiJah, JoRam, Zechri, and SalomOth.
26 SalomOth and his family [kept watch over] the treasures
that were inside of the Holy Place… the things that King David had set aside as
holy, which had been brought there by the generals, lieutenants, and family
heads.
27 They were the things
that they brought in from the cities that they had captured, so, construction of
the Temple of Jehovah God could begin soon thereafter.
28 These men were also in charge of all
the holy things that had been dedicated by the Prophet SamuEl, by Saul (the son
of Kish), by AbNer (the son of Ner), and by JoAb (the son of ZeruJah).
All of
these holy things were put into the hands of SalomOth and his family.
29 ChoNeniJah and his family (descendants of IsaAr) were assigned to work outside [of the Temple] as scribes and judges over IsraEl.
30 AsabiJah and his family (descendants of Hebron) – all one thousand, seven hundred of them – were important people, for they watched over IsraEl on the other side of the Jordan up to its western border, where they served as representatives of Jehovah and of the king.
31 JoriJah was the leader of the Hebronites and all the generations of their families.
It was in the fortieth year of David’s reign that all the
powerful men were counted at JaZer [in the land of] GileAd.
32 There were two thousand, seven hundred
family heads; and (following Jehovah’s instructions) King David put them over
the tribes of ReuBen, Gad, and the half-tribe of ManasSeh.
Chapter 27
1 Now, these are the sons of IsraEl by rank that were the heads of their families and who served as generals or lieutenants in the army each month, every month of the year, as it was recorded by the scribes that officially served the king and wrote all his declarations:
In the first division there were twenty-four thousand.
2 The general over this division was IshBoaz (the son of ZabDiEl).
His division included
twenty-four thousand 3 from the
line of Perez.
He was in charge of all the army officers during the first
month.
4 The general in charge of the
division during the second month was DoDai (the son of Ehok), and under him was
MakelLoth.
There were twenty-four thousand in his division.
5 The general in charge during
the third month was BenaiJah (the son of JehoiAda, the High Priest).
In his
division there were twenty-four thousand.
6
BenaiJah was the greatest of [David’s] thirty men, and he was in charge of the
thirty.
The man that served under him was his son Zabad.
7 In charge during the fourth
month was AsaHel, JoAb’s brother, and his son ZabadiJah.
There were twenty-four
thousand in his division.
8 The general in charge during
the fifth month was SamaOth the JezreElite, and there were twenty-four thousand
in his division.
9 The general in charge during
the sixth month was OdouJah (the son of EkKes) the Thekoite, and there were
twenty-four thousand in his division.
10 The general in charge of the
seventh month was HelLes of PalLu, from the tribe of Ephraim, and there were
twenty-four thousand in his division.
11 The general in charge during
the eighth month was SoboChai the Ousathite from ZarAi, and there were
twenty-four thousand in his division.
12 The general in charge during
the ninth month was AbiEzer from AnathOth, of the tribe of BenJamin, and there
were twenty-four thousand in his division.
13 The general in charge during
the tenth month was MeEra from NetoPhathi of ZarAi, and there were twenty-four
thousand in his division.
14 The general in charge during
the eleventh month was BenaiJah from PharaThon of the tribe of Ephraim, and
there were twenty-four thousand in his division.
15 The general in charge during
the twelfth month was CholdiJah from NetoPhathi of
GoThoniEl, and there were twenty-four thousand in his division.
16 These
were the leaders of each of the tribes of IsraEl:
[In charge of the tribe of] ReuBen was EliEzer (the son of Zechri)
[In charge of the tribe of] SimeOn was SaphatiAs (the son of MaAcha)
17 [In charge of the tribe of]
Levi was AsabiJah (the son of KamouEl)
[In charge of the line of] Aaron was ZaDok
18 [In charge of the tribe of]
Judah was EliJah (the brother of David)
[In charge of the tribe of] IsSachar was Ambri (the son of MichaEl)
19 [In charge of the tribe of]
ZebuLun was SamaiJah (the son of AbDiOu)
[In charge of the tribe of] NaphTali was JeriMoth (the son of OziEl)
20 [In charge of the tribe of]
Ephraim was Ose (the son of OziOu)
[In charge of the tribe of] half-tribe of ManasSeh was JoEl (the son of
PhadiJah)
21 [In charge of] the
half-tribe of ManasSeh in the land of GileAd was JaDai (the son of ZadiJah)
[In charge of the tribe of] BenJamin was JasiEl (the son of AbNer)
22 [In charge of the tribe of]
Dan was AzariEl (the son of IroAb).
These were all the patriarchs of the tribes of IsraEl.
23 Now,
David never counted the men that were under twenty years old, because Jehovah said that He would cause IsraEl to grow like the
stars in the sky.
24
And though JoAb (the son of ZeruJah) did start to take a census of the people,
he didn’t complete it because this brought [God’s] anger against IsraEl.
So the
number was never written in the scroll of the words of the days of King David.
25 The man
that was in charge of the king’s storehouses was AsMoth (the son of OdiEl).
The man that was over the storehouses in the countryside, towns, estates, and
fortresses was JoNathan (the son of OziOu).
26 The man that was in charge of
the farming was EzRai (the son of CheloUb).
27 The man that was in charge of
the fields was ShiMei of RaEl.
The man in charge of the wineries in the fields was ZabDi (the son of SephNi).
28 The man that was in charge of
the olive groves and mulberry trees (in the plains) was BailHanan the Gedorite.
The man that was in charge of the olive storehouse was JoAs.
29 The man that was in charge of
the cattle that grazed in ShaRon was SatRai the ShaRonite.
The man that was in charge of the cattle in the valleys was Shophat (the son of
AdLi).
30 The man that was in charge of
the camels was AbiJah the IshMaElite.
The man that was in charge of the burros was JadiJah of MeraThon.
31 The man that was in charge of
the sheep was JaZiz the Agarite.
These were the superintendents over the personal possessions of King David.
32 JoNathan
(David’s uncle) was his advisor, because he was a very discerning man and a
scribe.
JeEl (the son of AchaMani) [watched over] the king’s sons.
33 AhiTophel was also one of the king’s
councilors.
HushAi was David’s best friend.
34 After AhiTophel came JehoiAda (the son of BenaiJah),
then AbiAthar, and then JoAb (the king’s commander-in-chief).
Chapter 28
1 Well,
David had called for an assembly of all the governors of IsraEl, the chief
justices of the tribes, the king’s servants, the army generals and lieutenants,
the treasury department, those in charge of the king’s property, his sons, his
eunuchs, and the most outstanding warriors in JeruSalem.
2 Then King David stood in the midst of
the assembly and said:
‘Hear me, my brothers and my people;
It came into my
heart to build a House of rest for the Chest of the Sacred Agreement of Jehovah
and as a footstool for the feet of our [God, Jehovah].
Therefore, I have
prepared the things that will be needed to build it.
3 But God said,
You may not build a
Temple to Me that carries My Name, because you’re a man of war and you’ve
spilled [too much] blood.
4
Yet, Jehovah the God of IsraEl chose me from all the
house of my father to be the king over IsraEl through the age,
and He has given the kingship to Judah and to the house of my father.
From
among all of his sons, God chose me, because He wanted me to be the king over
IsraEl.
5 And from among all of
my sons (and Jehovah has given me many of them), He has chosen my son Solomon
and seated him on the throne of His kingdom over IsraEl.
6 For God said to me:
Your son Solomon
will build My Temple and My courtyard, because I have taken him to be My son,
and I will be his Father.
7
I will establish his kingdom through the ages, as long as he faithfully obeys My
Commandments and instructions as he is doing today.
8 ‘And now,
before this entire assembly of Jehovah and within the hearing of our God, I say
[to Solomon]:
Guard and seek all the Commandments of
Jehovah our God, so that you will inherit a good land, which your sons can
thereafter inherit with you through the ages!
9 ‘So,
Solomon my son;
Know the God of your fathers!
You must serve Him with a perfect
heart and with a willing soul, for Jehovah
regularly checks the hearts and He knows every thought!
If you search for Him,
you can always find Him…
But if you leave Him, He will leave you in the end.
10 ‘Now,
look!
Jehovah has chosen you to build a House as His most holy place.
Therefore, you must be strong and act!’
11 Then
David gave his son Solomon the plans for the Temple and its surrounding
buildings, its treasury, its upper rooms, the inner storehouses, and the place
where the [sacrifices were to be offered] for the forgiveness of sins.
12 He had the plans all laid out in
his mind for how the courtyards of the Temple of Jehovah were to be assembled,
as well as the places of worship, the storehouses around the Temple, the
storehouses for the holy things, and the sleeping quarters.
13 He had even planned the daily rotations
of the Priests and Levites, the assignments of work at the Temple of Jehovah,
the management of the storehouses, and how the sacred things were to be
handled.
14 Then he
weighed out all the gold and silver 15
for the lamp stands, and he contributed money that had been weighed to make the
lamps.
16 Thereafter, he did
the same thing for the tables and place settings (because each of the tables
were to be made of gold and silver), 17
the meat hooks, the drinking bowls, and the gold bowls.
He also specified the
weight of the gold and silver for the wash basin.
18 [Then he provided] pure gold for the incense Altar, clearly specifying how much each item should weigh, and he showed him the plans for the chariot of the cherubs (the ones with the opened, spread wings that were to cover the Chest of the Sacred Agreement of Jehovah).
19 By the
hand of Jehovah, David had written everything down
for Solomon so that he would clearly understand how the plans were to be
carried out.
20 Then David said
to Solomon:
‘Now you must be strong and act like a man!
Don’t be afraid or
terrified, because my God Jehovah will be with you.
He won’t push you away and
He will never abandon you, as long as you finish all the work of building the
Temple of Jehovah.
Look! Here are the plans for the Temple, for His Most Holy,
for His treasury, for the upper rooms, for the inner storehouses, and for the
place where [the sacrifices are to be offered] for forgiveness of sins at the
Temple of Jehovah.
21 ‘And
look!
Here are the daily rotations of the Priests and Levites for their
services at the Temple of Jehovah, and for the people that are to help you.
They
are all eager, wise, and skilled at all sorts of crafts, as are their
supervisors, and they’re all ready to follow your instructions.’
Chapter 29
1
Then King David said to the assembly:
‘My son Solomon, whom Jehovah has taken for Himself, is still young and inexperienced,
and he has a great work to do.
However, this isn’t going to be accomplished by
a man, but by Jehovah our God.
2 ‘Now, I’ve
done everything in my power to prepare for the Temple
of my God.
[I’ve accumulated] all the gold for the things of gold, all the
silver for the things of silver, all the brass for the things of brass, all the
iron for the things of iron, all the wood for the things of wood, and all the
stones for the things of stone.
There is onyx, precious gems, all types of
costly colored stones, and large amounts of white marble.
3 And yet; because I have favored myself
by [preparing for] a Temple for my God, I’ve obtained even more gold and
silver.
And look… I’m now giving it all it to the Temple of my God!
For in
addition to what I’ve prepared for the Holy Temple, 4 here is another ten
tons of gold from Ophir and twenty tons of pure silver with which to
overlay the walls of the Temple 5
and to make things of gold and silver…
Whatever the craftsmen can do with it!
‘Now, if anyone else is eager to contribute gold to make things of gold, and silver to make things of silver, may he fill his hands for Jehovah today.’
6 Well, the
heads of families, the governors of the sons of IsraEl, the generals, the
lieutenants, and the king’s supervisors and managers were eager to contribute
to building the Temple of Jehovah.
7
So he collected thirty-tons of gold, ten-thousand gold coins, sixty-tons of
silver, six hundred-tons of brass, and three-thousand tons of iron.
8 They contributed whatever gemstones they
had to JeiEl the GerShonite, to put into the storehouses for the Temple of
Jehovah.
9 Well,
everyone there was very happy, because they had all shown such eagerness, and
their hearts had been so filled with their zeal for Jehovah.
And because King
David was so very happy, 10 he
then praised Jehovah before the assembly, saying:
‘O Jehovah, the God of
IsraEl, our Father through ages of ages; may You truly
be praised.
11 For to You, O
Jehovah, belongs the greatness, the power, the boasting, the victories, the
recognition, and the strength;
For You are the One that made everything in the skies
above and on the ground below.
Yet, You are our Lord, and the kings of all the
nations are in fear before Your face, 12
for from You comes all the wealth and the glory.
You’re the Ruler over
everything, O Jehovah…
You are above all others!
For in Your hand there is
every type of strength and control, and in Your hand [is the power] to create
all fame and mightiness.
13 ‘And now,
O Jehovah;
We acknowledge You and we praise the Name of which You boast.
14 But, who am I, and who are my people,
that we have felt such eagerness to [contribute] these things?
For it is all
really Yours, and all we are doing is giving Your things back to You.
15 We’re just visitors before You, as were
our ancestors… for [our lives] are like shadows on the ground that are just
passing by.
16 ‘O
Jehovah our God;
All of these things that I’ve prepared so as to build a Temple
to Your Holy Name have come from Your own hands, because everything belongs to
You.
17 And I know, O Jehovah,
that You are the One that examines hearts and that You love justice.
So, it is
with a pure heart that I’ve been eager to do all these things…
And now I’ve
also seen gladness and eagerness for You among Your people!
18 ‘O
Jehovah, the God of AbraHam, IsaAc, and IsraEl… the God of our fathers;
Keep
this feeling in the minds and hearts of Your people through the ages, and make
their hearts straight toward You!
19
Also, give my son Solomon a good heart and make him obey Your Commandments,
instructions, and orders, so that he may take the lead in finishing Your
Temple.’
20 Then
David said to the entire assembly:
‘Praise Jehovah our God!’
And after that,
everyone there praised Jehovah the God of their ancestors, as they bent their
knees to bow low before Jehovah and before their king.
21
Thereafter, David offered sacrifices to Jehovah.
And then on the next day, he
sacrificed a thousand calves, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs as whole
burnt offerings, along with drink offerings; and thereafter, [he offered] many
more sacrifices on behalf of IsraEl.
22
So, everyone joyfully ate and drank there before Jehovah that day, and they held
a second coronation for David’s son Solomon, anointing
him as their king before Jehovah and before ZaDok the [High] Priest.
23 Well
thereafter, Solomon sat on the throne of Jehovah as king in place of his father
David, and everyone thought highly of him. For all IsraEl – 24 the governors, the mighty ones, and all
the sons of his father (King David) – submitted to him.
25 And Jehovah made Solomon great before
all IsraEl, giving him greater glory than any king that had ever existed before
him.
26 Well,
David (the son of JesSe) had ruled IsraEl for 27
forty years… seven
years in Hebron and thirty-three years in JeruSalem.
28 But after he was old and had lived a
long and good life filled with wealth and glory, [he died]… and his son Solomon
took his place.
29 The rest
of the words of King David, from the beginning to the end, were written by the
Seer SamuEl, by the Prophet Nathan, and by the Seer Gad…
The things about his
kingship, the area of his rule, the events of those times, and the things that
happened to him and to IsraEl, as well as to all the other nations that lived
in the land.