First Chronicles

These are the descendants of Adam

11The first person God created was Adam. Seth was Adam’s son. Enosh was Seth’s son. 2Kenan was Enosh’s son. Mahalalel was Kenan’s son. Jared was Mahalalel’s son. 3Enoch was Jared’s son. Methuselah was Enoch’s son. Lamech was Methuselah’s son. 4Noah was Lamech’s son. Shem, Ham, and Japheth were Noah’s sons.

5Japheth’s sons were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

6Gomer’s sons were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

7Javan’s sons were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.

8Ham’s sons were Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.

9Cush’s sons were Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raamah, and Sabteka.

Raamah’s sons were Sheba and Dedan.

10Another son of Cush was Nimrod. When he grew up, he became a mighty warrior on the earth.

11Egypt was the ancestor of the Lud, the Anam, the Lehab, the Naphtuh, 12the Pathrus, the Kasluh, and the Caphtor people groups. The Philistines descended from the Kasluh people group.

13Canaan’s first son was Sidon. He was also the ancestor of the Hittites, 14the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 15the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, 16the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites.

17Shem’s sons were Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

Aram’s sons were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech.

18Arphachshad was the father of Shelah. Shelah was the father of Eber.

19Eber had two sons. The name of the first was Peleg, which sounds like the word that means ‘divided’ because during the time that he lived, God had divided the people on the earth into various language groups. Peleg’s brother was Joktan.

20Joktan was the ancestor of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 21Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 22Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 23Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the descendants of Joktan.

24These are the descendants of Shem, in order from him to Abraham: Arphaxad, Shelah, 25Eber, Peleg, Reu, 26Serug, Nahor, Terah, 27and Abram, whose name God later changed to Abraham.

28Abraham’s sons were Isaac and Ishmael.

29These were their family lines: The firstborn son of Ishmael, the son of Abraham’s slave wife Hagar, was Nebaioth, then his other sons Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 30Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, 31Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. Ishmael had twelve sons.

32After Abraham’s wife Sarah died, he took a concubine named Keturah. Her sons with Abraham were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

Jokshan’s sons were Sheba and Dedan.

33Midian’s sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanok, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were Keturah’s descendants.

34Abraham had his son Isaac by his wife Sarah, and Isaac’s sons were Esau and Jacob, whose name God later changed to Israel.

35Esau’s sons were Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

36Eliphaz’s sons were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, Kenaz, Timna, and Amalek.

37Reuel’s sons were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.

38Another descendant of Esau was Seir. Seir’s sons were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan.

39Lotan’s sons were Hori and Homam, and Lotan’s sister was Timna.

40Shobal’s sons were Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

Zibeon’s sons were Aiah and Anah.

41Anah’s son was Dishon.

Dishon’s sons were Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Keran.

42Ezer’s sons were Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

Dishan’s sons were Uz and Aran.

43These are the kings who ruled the region of Edom (where Seir’s descendants lived) before any kings ruled over Israel:

Bela son of Beor, and his city’s name was Dinhabah.

44When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah, from the city of Bozrah, became the king.

45When Jobab died, Husham became the king. He was from the region where the Teman people group lived.

46When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, became the king. His city’s name was Avith. Hadad’s army defeated the army of the Midian people group in the region of Moab.

47When Hadad died, Samlah became the king. He was from the city of Masrekah.

48When Samlah died, Shaul became the king. He was from the city of Rehoboth Hannahar.

49When Shaul died, Baal-Hanan son of Akbor became the king.

50When Baal-Hanan died, Hadar became the king. His city’s name was Pau. His wife’s name was Mehetabel; she was the daughter of Matred and the granddaughter of Me-Zahab. 51Then Hadad died.

The chiefs of the Edom people group were Chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, 52Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 53Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 54Magdiel, and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom.

21The following were the sons of Israel (also known as Jacob): Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, 2Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

3Judah’s sons were Er, Onan, and Shelah. Judah had them with Bath-Shua from the Canaan people group. When Judah’s oldest son Er grew up, he did something that Yahweh considered to be very wicked, so Yahweh caused him to die. 4Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar had twin boys named Perez and Zerah. So altogether Judah had five sons.

5Perez’s sons were Hezron and Hamul.

6Zerah had five sons: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Kalkol, and Darda.

7Zimri had a son named Karmi. Karmi had a son named Achar. Achar (whose name sounds like “trouble”) caused the people of Israel to experience much trouble, because he stole some of the things that were to be destroyed because they were dedicated to God.

8Ethan’s son was Azariah.

9Hezron had three sons: Jerahmeel, Ram, and Caleb.

10Ram was the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab was the father of Nahshon. Nahshon was a leader of the tribe of Judah.

11Nahshon was the father of Salmon. Salmon was the father of Boaz. 12Boaz was the father of Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse.

13Jesse had his son Eliab first, Abinadab second, Shimea third. 14Nethanel fourth, Raddai fifth, 15Ozem sixth, then David last.

16Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. Zeruiah’s three sons were Abishai, Joab, and Asahel. 17Abigail had Amasa. Amasa’s father was Jether, a descendant of Ishmael.

18Hezron’s third son Caleb had sons with one of his wives, Azubah. The sons were Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon. (The other wife’s name was Jerioth.) 19When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath. They had a son named Hur. 20Hur was the father of Uri. Uri was the father of Bezalel.

21Later, when Hezron was sixty years old, he had sexual intercourse with a daughter of Makir from the region of Gilead and married her. Hezron’s new wife gave birth to their son Segub. 22Segub was the father of Jair. Jair controlled 23 cities in the region of Gilead.

23But the armies of Geshur and Aram captured from Jair the cities of Havvoth-Jair, Kenath, and the nearby towns; sixty towns altogether. All the people who lived there were descendants of Makir from the region of Gilead.

24Shortly after Hezron died in Caleb-Ephrathah, Abijah, Hezron’s widow, gave birth to Ashhur, who became the father of Tekoa.

25Hezron’s oldest son was Jerahmeel. His sons were Ram (the oldest), Bunah, Oren, Ozem, and Ahijah. 26Jerahmeel had another wife named Atarah. She was Onam’s mother.

27The sons of Ram, Jerahmeel’s oldest son, were Maaz, Jamin, and Eker.

28Onam’s sons were Shammai and Jada.

Shammai’s sons were Nadab and Abishur.

29Abishur’s wife was Abihail. Their sons were Ahban and Molid.

30Nadab’s sons were Seled and Appaim. Seled died childless. 31Appaim’s son was Ishi; Ishi’s son was Sheshan. Sheshan’s son was Ahlai.

32The sons of Jada (Shammai’s brother) were Jether and Jonathan. Jether died childless.

33Jonathan’s sons were Peleth and Zaza.

These were the descendants of Jerahmeel.

34Sheshan did not have any sons; he only had daughters. He had a servant from Egypt whose name was Jarha. 35Sheshan arranged for his daughter to marry Jarha his servant. She and Jarha had a son: Attai.

36Attai was the father of Nathan.

Nathan was the father of Zabad.

37Zabad was the father of Ephlal.

Ephlal was the father of Obed.

38Obed was the father of Jehu.

Jehu was the father of Azariah.

39Azariah was the father of Helez.

Helez was the father of Eleasah.

40Eleasah was the father of Sismai.

Sismai was the father of Shallum.

41Shallum was the father of Jekamiah.

Jekamiah was the father of Elishama.

42Jerahmeel’s brother was Caleb.

Caleb’s oldest son was Mesha. Mesha was the father of Ziph. Ziph was the father of Mareshah. Mareshah was the father of Hebron. 43Hebron’s sons were Korah, Tappuah, Rekem, and Shema. 44Shema was the father of Raham. Raham was the father of Jorkeam. Rekem was the father of Shammai.

45Shammai’s son was Maon. Maon was the father of Beth Zur.

46Caleb had a slave wife named Ephah. She gave birth to Haran, Moza, and Gazez. Haran had a son whom he also named Gazez.

47Jahdai’s sons were: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah, and Shaaph.

48Caleb had another slave wife named Maacah. She gave birth to Sheber and Tirhanah. 49She also gave birth to Shaaph (who was the father of Madmannah), Sheva (who was the father of Makbenah and Gibea). Caleb’s daughter was Aksah.

50-51These people were also descendants of Caleb: Caleb had another wife whose name was Ephrathah. Their oldest son was Hur. Hur’s sons were Shobal, Salma, and Hareph. Shobal started the city of Kiriath Jearim. Salma started the city of Bethlehem. Hareph started the city of Beth Gader. 52The descendants of Shobal (who was the father of Kiriath-Jearim) were Haroeh and half of the Manahath people group. 53His descendants also included clans that lived in Kiriath Jearim: Ithri, Put, Shumath, and Mishra. The Zorath clan and the Eshtaol clan came from these other clans.

54Salma’s descendants were the people of Bethlehem, the clan of Netophath, the clan of Atroth Beth Joab, and the half the clan of Manahath, who were also Zorites. 55The families who wrote and copied important documents and who lived in the town of Jabez were the clan of Tirath, the clan of Shimeath, and the clan of Sucath. They were all from the Kenite people group who descended from Hammath, the ancestor of the family of Rekab.

The sons of King David

31The following were the sons of King David who were born in the city of Hebron:

His oldest son was Amnon, whose mother Ahinoam was from the city of Jezreel.

His second son was Daniel, whose mother Abigail was from the city of Carmel. 2His third son was Absalom, whose mother was Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, the king who ruled in the city of Geshur.

His fourth son was Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith. 3His fifth son was Shephatiah, whose mother was Abital.

His sixth son was Ithream. David had him with his wife Eglah.

4All six were born in Hebron, where David ruled for seven and one-half years.

After that, David ruled in Jerusalem for 33 years. 5The following were born to David in Jerusalem.

Bathshua, the daughter of Ammiel, gave birth to four of his sons: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon.

6Other sons were Ibhar, Elishua, Elphelet, 7Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, 8Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet, nine in all.

9In addition to all those sons, David’s slave wives also gave birth to sons. They all had a sister named Tamar.

10Solomon’s son was King Rehoboam.

Rehoboam’s son was King Abijah.

Abijah’s son was King Asa.

Asa’s son was King Jehoshaphat.

11Jehoshaphat’s son was King Joram.

Joram’s son was King Ahaziah.

Ahaziah’s son was King Joash.

12Joash’s son was King Amaziah.

Amaziah’s son was King Azariah.

Azariah’s son was King Jotham.

13Jotham’s son was King Ahaz.

Ahaz’s son was King Hezekiah.

Hezekiah’s son was King Manasseh.

14Manasseh’s son was King Amon.

Amon’s son was King Josiah.

15Josiah had four sons. The oldest was Johanan. The second was Jehoiakim. The third was Zedekiah. The fourth was Shallum.

16The descendants of Jehoiakim included Jehoiakim’s son Jeconiah and Jeconiah’s son Zedekiah.

17Jeconiah was taken into exile in Babylon. His sons were Shealtiel, 18Malkiram, Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah.

19Pedaiah’s sons were Zerubbabel and Shimei.

Two of Zerubbabel’s sons were Meshullam and Hananiah, and their sister was Shelomith. 20Zerubbabel’s five other sons were Hashubah, Ohel, Berekiah, Hasadiah, and Jushab-Hesed.

21Hananiah’s descendants were Pelatiah, Jeshaiah, the sons of Rephaiah, of Arnan, of Obadiah, and of Shecaniah.

22Shecaniah’s six descendants were Shemaiah and Shemaiah’s sons Hattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah, and Shaphat.

23Neariah’s three sons were Elioenai, Hizkiah, and Azrikam.

24Elioenai’s seven sons were Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah, and Anani.

Other clans descended from Judah

41Judah’s sons were Perez, Hezron, Karmi, Hur, and Shobal.

2Shobal’s son was Reaiah. Reaiah was the father of Jahath, and Jahath was the father of Ahumai and Lahad. They were the ancestors of the Zorath people group.

3What follows are the names of the three men who started the clans that lived in the city of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash—and they had a sister named Hazzelelponi. 4Hur was the firstborn son of Ephrathah; he founded the city of Bethlehem. Hur had these descendants: Penuel and Ezer. Penuel started the clans that lived in the city of Gedor, and Ezer started the clans living in the city of Hushah.

5Hezron’s son Ashhur, the father of Tekoa, had two wives whose names were Helah and Naarah.

6Asshur and his wife Naarah had sons named Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni, and Haahashtari.

7The sons of Ashhur and his wife Helah were Zereth, Zohar, Ethnan, 8and Koz. Koz was the father of Anub, Hazzobebah, and the ancestor of the clans descended from Aharhel. Aharhel was the son of Harum.

9There was another descendant of Judah whose name was Jabez. He was more respected than his brothers. His mother named him Jabez which means ‘pain’ because she said, “I was enduring much pain when I gave birth to him.” 10One day he prayed to God whom his fellow Israelites worshiped, saying, “Please greatly bless me and increase the amount of land I own. Remain with me, and keep me from harm, so I will not experience any pain.” And God did what Jabez requested.

11Another descendant of Judah was Shuhah. His brother Kelub was the father of Mehir. Mehir was the father of Eshton. 12Eshton was the father of Beth Rapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah. Tehinnah started the city of Nahash, but their families lived in a place called Rekah.

13-15Another descendant of Judah was Jephunneh. His son was Caleb. Caleb’s sons were Iru, Elah, and Naam. Elah’s son was Kenaz. The sons of Kenaz were Othniel and Seraiah.

Othniel’s sons were Hathath and Meonothai. Meonothai was the father of Ophrah.

Seraiah was the father of Joab. Joab was the ancestor of the people who lived in Craftsmen’s Valley. The valley was named that because many of the people who lived there were craftsmen. 16Another descendant of Judah was Jehallelel. His sons were Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel.

17-18Another descendant of Judah was Ezrah. Ezrah’s sons were Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. Mered married Bithiah, who was the daughter of the king of Egypt. The children of Mered and Bithiah were Miriam, Shammai and Ishbah. Ishbah was the father of Eshtemoa. Mered had a wife from Judah. She gave birth to Jered, Heber, and Jekuthiel. Jered was the father of Gedor; Heber was the father of Soko, and Jekuthiel was the father of Zanoah. 19Hodiah’s wife was Naham’s sister. Hodiah’s wife was the mother of two sons. One of them was the father of Keilah from the Gar people group, and the other one was the father of Eshtemoa from the Maacath people group.

20Another descendant of Judah was Shimon. Shimon’s sons were Amnon, Rinnah, Ben-Hanan, and Tilon.

Another descendant of Judah was Ishi. His sons were Zoheth and Ben-Zoheth.

21One of Judah’s sons was Shelah. Shelah’s sons were Er the father of Lekah, Laadah the father of Mareshah and the families of those who made things from linen at Beth Ashbea, 22and Jokim and the men from the city of Kozeba, and Joash and Saraph, two men who ruled in the region of Moab and Jashubi Lehem. All their names and a record of what they did are written in scrolls. 23Some of these descendants of Shelah made pottery and lived in the cities of Netaim and Gederah where they worked for the king.

24Simeon’s sons were Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, and Shaul.

25Shaul’s son was Shallum. Shallum’s son was Mibsam. Mibsam’s son was Mishma.

26The following are Mishma’s descendants: Mishma’s son was Hammuel. Hammuel’s son was Zaccur. Zaccur’s son was Shimei.

27Shimei had 16 sons and six daughters, but none of his brothers had many children. So the descendants of Simeon never were as many as the descendants of his younger brother Judah. 28The descendants of Simeon lived in these cities and towns: Beersheba, Moladah, Hazar Shual, 29Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad, 30Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag, 31Beth Markaboth, Hazar Susim, Beth Biri, and Shaaraim. They lived in those places until David became king. 32They also lived in villages: Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Token, and Ashan; five in all. 33There were other villages which were near those towns, as far southwest as the city of Baalath. Those were the places where they lived, and they wrote down the names of their family members.

34-38The men in the following list were the leaders of their clans: Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah son of Amaziah, Joel, and Jehu son of Joshibiah. Joshibiah was son of Seraiah and grandson of Asiel. Other clan leaders were Elioenai, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah, and Ziza. Ziza was son of Shiphi and grandson of Allon son of Jedaiah, who was the son of Shimri, who was son of Shemaiah.

The members of those families became very numerous. 39They went near the city of Gedor on the east side of the valley to look for pastureland for their flocks of sheep. 40They found good pastureland with plenty of grass. The place was expansive, peaceful, and quiet.

In fact, some of the descendants of Noah’s son Ham had lived there previously. 41But while Hezekiah was the king of Judah, those leaders of the tribe of Simeon (whose names were recorded in written accounts) came and fought against the descendants of Ham and destroyed their tents. They also fought against the descendants of Meun who were living there, and they killed all of them. So now there are no descendants of Meun living there. The descendants of Simeon started to live there, because there was good pastureland there for their sheep.

42From that tribe, from Simeon, Ishi’s four sons, Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, led 500 other men and went to the hill country of Edom called Seir. 43They killed the descendants of Amalek who were still alive. From that time until now, the descendants of Simeon have lived in the region of Edom.

These are the descendants of Reuben.

51Reuben was the oldest son of the person named Israel (who was first known as Jacob), and Reuben had sons of his own. Reuben’s status of firstborn entitled him to special rights that belonged to firstborn sons. But he slept with his father’s slave wife, so his father gave those rights to the sons of Joseph, a younger son of Israel. The family records do not mention Reuben first, as the firstborn sons typically are. 2Although Judah became more influential than his brothers, and a ruler descended from Judah, Joseph’s family received the rights that belonged to the firstborn. 3Again, Reuben was the person Israel’s oldest son.

Reuben’s sons were Hanok, Pallu, Hezron, and Karmi.

4Another descendant of Reuben was Joel. Joel had descendants. Joel’s son was Shemaiah. Shemaiah’s son was Gog. Gog’s son was Shimei. 5Shimei’s son was Micah. Micah’s son was Reaiah. Reaiah’s son was Baal. 6Baal’s son was Beerah. Beerah was a leader of the tribe of Reuben. But Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria captured him and took him to Assyria.

7The names of these clans are listed here according to what is written in their family records.

The names written were: Jeiel (the leader), then Zechariah, 8and then Bela son of Azaz, son of Shema, son of Joel. Reuben’s clan lived near the city of Aroer as far north as the city of Nebo and the city of Baal Meon. 9Some of them lived further east, as far as the edge of the desert that extends to the Euphrates River. They moved there because the amount of their cattle outgrew the pastureland for them in the region of Gilead.

10When Saul was king of Israel, the men in the tribe of Reuben fought against the descendants of Hagar and defeated them. After that, they lived in the tents that the descendants of Hagar had lived in previously, in all the area east of the region of Gilead.

11The tribe of Gad lived near the tribe of Reuben in the region of Bashan, all the way east to the city of Salekah. 12Joel was their leader; Shapham was second-in-command; other leaders were Janai and Shaphat in Bashan.

13Other members of the tribe belonged to seven clans, whose leaders were Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jakan, Zia, and Eber.

14They were descendants of Abihail. Abihail was the son of Huri, Huri was the son of Jaroah, Jaroah was the son of Gilead, Gilead was son of Michael, Michael was the son of Jeshishai, Jeshishai was the son of Jahdo, and Jahdo was the son of Buz.

15Ahi was Abdiel’s son. Abdiel was Guni’s son. Ahi was the leader of their clan.

16The descendants of Gad lived in the towns in the regions of Gilead and Bashan, and on all the pastureland throughout the Plain of Sharon. 17Scribes wrote all of those names in the records of the clans of Gad during the time that Jotham was the king of the southern kingdom, Judah, and Jeroboam was the king of the northern kingdom, Israel.

These are the armies of the tribes that lived east of the Jordan River.

18There were 44,760 soldiers descended from strong men in the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the eastern half of the tribe of Manasseh. They all carried shields and swords and bows and arrows. They were all trained to fight in battles. 19They attacked the descendants of Hagar and the people in the cities of Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab. 20God enabled the men from those three tribes to defeat the descendants of Hagar and all those who were helping them because the men from those three tribes prayed to God during the battles, requesting he help them. So he helped them because they trusted in him. 21They took the animals that belonged to the descendants of Hagar: 50,000 camels, 250,000 sheep, and 2,000 donkeys. They also captured 100,000 people. 22But many descendants of Hagar died because God helped the people of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh defeat the descendants of Hagar. After that, those three tribes lived in that area until the army of Assyria captured them and took them away to the east.

23There were many people who belonged to the eastern half of the tribe of Manasseh. They lived in the region of Bashan east of the Jordan River, as far north as Baal Hermon, Senir, and Mount Hermon.

24Their clan leaders were Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel. They were all mighty and famous soldiers and leaders of their clans. 25But they sinned against God, the one whom their ancestors had worshiped. They worshiped the gods that the people of that region had worshiped, the people whom God had enabled them to destroy. 26So the God whom the Israelites worshiped incited Pul, the king of Assyria, to want to conquer those tribes. Pul’s other name was Tiglath-Pileser. His army captured the people of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the eastern half of the tribe of Manasseh, and took them to various places in Assyria: Halah, Habor, Hara and near the Gozan River. They have lived in those places from that time to the present time.

These are the descendants of Levi.

61Levi’s sons were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

2Kohath’s sons were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

3Amram’s children were Miriam, Aaron, and Moses.

Aaron’s sons were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

4Eleazar was the father of Phinehas.

Phinehas was the father of Abishua.

5Abishua was the father of Bukki.

Bukki was the father of Uzzi.

6Uzzi was the father of Zerahiah.

Zerahiah was the father of Meraioth.

7Meraioth was the father of Amariah.

Amariah was the father of Ahitub.

8Ahitub was the father of Zadok.

Zadok was the father of Ahimaaz.

9Ahimaaz was the father of Azariah.

Azariah was the father of Johanan.

10Johanan was the father of Azariah. Azariah was a priest in the temple that Solomon commanded to be built in Jerusalem.

11Azariah was the father of Amariah.

Amariah was the father of Ahitub.

12Ahitub was the father of Zadok.

Zadok was the father of Shallum.

13Shallum was the father of Hilkiah.

Hilkiah was the father of Azariah.

14Azariah was the father of Seraiah.

Seraiah was the father of Jozadak. 15Jozadak was forced to leave his home when Yahweh sent King Nebuchadnezzar’s army to capture many people in Jerusalem and other places in Judah and compel them to go to Babylonia.

16Levi’s sons were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

17The names of Gershon’s sons were Libni and Shimei.

18Kohath’s sons were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

19Merari’s sons were Mahli and Mushi.

Here is a list of the descendants of Levi, who became leaders of their clans.

20Gershon’s oldest son was Libni.

Libni’s son was Jahath.

Jahath’s son was Zimmah.

21Zimmah’s son was Joah.

Joah’s son was Iddo.

Iddo’s son was Zerah.

Zerah’s son was Jeatherai.

22Another line of descendants from Kohath started with Amminadab his son.

Amminadab’s son was Korah.

Korah’s son was Assir.

23Assir’s son was Elkanah.

Elkanah’s son was Ebiasaph.

Ebiasaph’s son was Assir.

24Assir’s son was Tahath.

Tahath’s son was Uriel.

Uriel’s son was Uzziah.

Uzziah’s son was Shaul.

25Elkanah’s sons were Amasai, Ahimoth,

26and a son also named Elkanah.

Elkanah’s son was Zophai.

Zophai’s son was Nahath.

27Nahath’s son was Eliab.

Eliab’s son was Jeroham.

Jeroham’s son was Elkanah.

28Samuel had sons: his oldest son (Joel) and his other son Abijah.

29Merari’s descendants started with Mahli.

Mahli’s son was Libni.

Libni’s son was Shimei.

Shimei’s son was Uzzah.

30Uzzah’s son was Shimea.

Shimea’s son was Haggiah.

Haggiah’s son was Asaiah.

31After the sacred chest was brought to Jerusalem, King David appointed some of the men who were descendants of Levi to be in charge of the music in the place where the people worshiped Yahweh. 32Those musicians made music in the sacred tent, which was also called the tent of meeting, by singing and playing their instruments, and they continued to do that until Solomon’s workers built the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem. In all their work, they obeyed the instructions that David had given them.

33Here is a list of the musicians and their sons:

From Kohath’s descendants there was Heman, the leader of the singers.

Heman was Joel’s son.

Joel was Samuel’s son.

34Samuel was Elkanah’s son.

Elkanah was Jeroham’s son.

Jeroham was Eliel’s son.

Eliel was Toah’s son.

35Toah was Zuph’s son.

Zuph was Elkanah’s son.

Elkanah was Mahath’s son.

Mahath was Amasai’s son.

36Amasai was Elkanah’s son.

Elkanah was Joel’s son.

Joel was Azariah’s son.

Azariah was Zephaniah’s son.

37Zephaniah was Tahath’s son.

Tahath was Assir’s son.

Assir was Ebiasaph’s son.

Ebiasaph was Korah’s son.

38Korah was Izhar’s son.

Izhar was Kohath’s son.

Kohath was Levi’s son.

Levi was the son of Jacob (who was later named Israel).

39Heman’s helper was Asaph. His group stood at the right side of Heman.

Asaph was Berekiah’s son.

Berekiah was Shimea’s son.

40Shimea was Michael’s son.

Michael was Baaseiah’s son.

Baaseiah was Malkijah’s son.

41Malkijah was Ethni’s son.

Ethni was Zerah’s son.

Zerah was Adaiah’s son.

42Adaiah was Ethan’s son.

Ethan was Zimmah’s son.

Zimmah was Shimei’s son.

43Shimei was Jahath’s son.

Jahath was Gershon’s son.

Gershon was Levi’s son.

44A group of singers from Merari’s family helped Heman and Asaph. They stood at the left of Heman. The leader of this group was Ethan.

Ethan was Kishi’s son.

Kishi was Abdi’s son.

Abdi was Malluk’s son.

45Malluk was Hashabiah’s son.

Hashabiah was Uzziah’s son.

Uzziah was Hilkiah’s son.

46Hilkiah was Amzi’s son.

Amzi was Bani’s son.

Bani was Shemer’s son.

47Shemer was Mahli’s son.

Mahli was Mushi’s son.

Mushi was Merari’s son.

Merari was Levi’s son.

48David appointed the other descendants of Levi to do other work in the sacred tent, the place where the people worshiped God.

49Aaron and his descendants were the ones who placed on the altar the sacrifices that were to be burned completely, and they burned incense on another altar. Those sacrifices were in order that Yahweh would no longer be angry with the people of Israel for having sinned. Those men also did other work in the very holy place in the sacred tent, obeying the instructions that Moses, who served God well, had given to them.

50These were the descendants of Aaron:

Aaron’s son was Eleazar.

Eleazar’s son was Phinehas.

Phinehas’s son was Abishua.

51Abishua’s son was Bukki.

Bukki’s son was Uzzi.

Uzzi’s son was Zerahiah.

52Zerahiah’s son was Meraioth.

Meraioth’s son was Amariah.

Amariah’s son was Ahitub.

53Ahitub’s son was Zadok,

and Zadok’s son was Ahimaaz.

54Here is a list of the places where Aaron’s descendants lived. Those who were descendants of Kohath were the first group to be allotted property.

55They received the city of Hebron in Judah and the pastureland around the city, 56but Caleb received the fields farther from the city and the villages near the city. Caleb was Jephunneh’s son.

57The descendants of Aaron who were descendants of Kohath received Hebron, one of the cities to which people could flee and be protected if they accidentally killed someone. They also received the towns and pastureland near Libnah, Jattir, Eshtemoa, 58Hilen, Debir, 59Ashan, and Beth Shemesh. 60They also received from the tribe of Benjamin the cities of Geba, Alemeth, and Anathoth and their pasturelands.

Altogether, these clans who descended from Kohath received thirteen cities.

61The other clans descended from Kohath received ten cities from the clans of the tribe of Manasseh that lived west of the Jordan River.

62The clans of the descendants of Gershon received thirteen cities from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the part of the tribe of Manasseh that lived in the region of Bashan on the east side of the Jordan River.

63The clans of the descendants of Merari received twelve cities from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.

64The leaders of Israel allotted those towns and the nearby pasturelands to the descendants of Levi. 65They also allotted to them the cities from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin that were listed previously.

66Some of the descendants of Kohath received cities from the tribe of Ephraim.

67They received Shechem, which was one of the cities to which people could flee and be protected if they accidentally killed someone, along with the nearby pastureland in the hills of Ephraim. They also received these cities and pastureland near them: Gezer, 68Jokmeam, Beth Horon, 69Aijalon, and Gath Rimmon.

70The other descendants of Kohath received the cities of Aner and Bileam and the nearby pastureland from the part of the tribe of Manasseh that lives west of the Jordan River.

71The descendants of Gershom, who were part of the tribe of Manasseh, lived east of the Jordan River. They received two cities and pastureland near them: Golan in the regions of Bashan and Ashtaroth.

72From the tribe of Issachar they received cities and pastureland near Kedesh, Daberath, 73Ramoth, and Anem.

74From the tribe of Asher they received cities and pastureland near Mashal, Abdon, 75Hukok, and Rehob.

76From the tribe of Naphtali they received cities and pastureland near Kedesh (in the region of Galilee), Hammon, and Kiriathaim.

77The other descendants of Levi, those descended from Merari, received cities and pasturelands from the tribe of Zebulun near Rimmono and Tabor.

78-79From the tribe of Reuben they were allotted cities and towns and pastureland near Bezer in the wilderness, Jahzah, Kedemoth, and Mephaath. The tribe of Reuben lived east of the Jordan River, across from Jericho. 80From the tribe of Gad, they received cities and pastureland near Ramoth in the region of Gilead, Mahanaim, 81Heshbon, and Jazer.

These are the descendants of Issachar.

71Issachar’s four sons were Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron.

2Tola’s sons were Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Samuel. They were all leaders of the clans descended from them. In the record of Tola’s descendants in each generation were capable men who were in the army.

During the time that David was the king of Israel there were 22,600 such men.

3Uzzi’s son was Izrahiah. Izrahiah’s five sons were Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Ishiah. Izrahiah and his sons were all leaders of their clans.

4Also, in the record of those descendants were the names of 36,000 men who were in the army. The number was so large because they had many wives and children.

5They had relatives from the clans descended from Issachar. Those records from Isaachar listed 87,000 capable men who were in the army in all.

6The three sons of Benjamin were Bela, Beker, and Jediael.

7Bela’s five sons were Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri. They were leaders of clans.

In their records there were names of 22,034 capable men who were in the army.

8Beker’s sons were Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth. All these were his sons.

9In the records of their descendants were the names of 20,200 capable men and leaders of the clans who were in the army.

10Jediael’s son was Bilhan. Bilhan’s sons were Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Kenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar.

11All of these descendants of Jediael were leaders of clans capable men who were in the army.

There were 17,200 men who would go out into battle.

12Shuppim and Huppim were the sons of a man named Ir.

Hushim was the son of a man named Aher.

13Naphtali’s sons were Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. They were children of Jacob’s slave wife Bilhah.

14Manasseh had sons by his slave wife who was from Aram. She gave birth to Asriel and Makir.

Makir was the father of Gilead.

15Makir had a wife who was from the clans of Huppim and Shuppim.

Makir’s sister’s name was Maacah.

Makir had a son named Zelophehad. Zelophehad had only daughters.

16Makir’s wife (also named Maacah) gave birth to sons whom she named Peresh and Sheresh. Sheresh’s sons were Ulam and Rakem.

17Ulam’s son was Bedan.

Those were the descendants of Gilead, the son of Makir and grandson of Manasseh.

18Gilead’s sister was Hammoleketh. She was the mother of Ishhod, Abiezer, and Mahlah.

19Another son of Gilead was Shemida, whose sons were Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam.

20These are the descendants of Ephraim.

One son of Ephraim was Shuthelah.

Shuthelah’s son was Bered.

Bered’s son was Tahath.

Tahath’s son was Eleadah.

Eleadah’s son was also named Tahath.

21Tahath’s son was Zabad.

Zabad’s son was Shuthelah.

Ephraim’s other sons, Ezer and Elead, went to the city of Gath to steal some cattle. As a result, men from that city, natives of that area, killed Ezer and Elead. 22Their father Ephraim cried for them for many days, and his family came to comfort him.

23Then he and his wife slept together again; she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Ephraim named him Beriah which resembles the word ‘trouble’ because of the trouble that his family had experienced. 24Ephraim’s daughter was Sheerah. Her workers built three towns: Lower Beth Horon, Upper Beth Horon, and Uzzen Sheerah.

25Another son of Ephraim was Rephah.

Rephah’s son was Resheph.

Resheph’s son was Telah.

Telah’s son was Tahan.

26Tahan’s son was Ladan.

Ladan’s son was Ammihud.

Ammihud’s son was Elishama.

27Elishama’s son was Non.

Non’s son was Joshua, the man who led the Israelites after Moses died.

28This is a list of the cities and areas where the descendants of Ephraim lived:

Bethel and the nearby villages;

Naaran to the east;

Gezer to the west and the nearby villages; and

Shechem and the nearby villages. Those villages extended north as far as Ayyah and the nearby villages.

29Along the border of the area where the descendants of Manasseh lived were these towns: Beth Shan, Taanach, Megiddo, Dor, and all the nearby villages.

The people who lived in all those places were descendants of Jacob’s son Joseph.

30Asher’s sons were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah. Their sister was Serah.

31Beriah’s sons were Heber and Malkiel.

Malkiel was the father of Birzaith

32Heber was the father of Japhlet, Shomer, Hotham, and Shua their sister.

33Japhlet’s sons were Pasak, Bimhal, and Ashvath. These were Japhlet’s children.

34Shamer’s sons were Ahi, Rohgah, Hubbah, and Aram.

35Shomer’s younger brother was Helem. Helem’s sons were Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amal.

36Zophah’s sons were Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah, 37Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran (whose other name was Jether), and Beera.

38Jether’s sons were Jephunneh, Pispah, and Ara.

39Another descendant of Asher was Ulla, whose sons were Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia.

40All those men were descendants of Asher, and they were all leaders of their clans. They were capable, brave warriors and leaders of leaders. In the record of the clans that are descended from Asher are the names of 26,000 men who were in the army.

These are the descendants of Benjamin.

81Benjamin had sons: Bela, Ashbel, Aharah, 2Nohah, and Rapha, five in all.

3Bela’s sons were Addar, Gera, Abihud, 4Abishua, Naaman, Ahoah, 5Gera, Shephuphan, and Huram.

6One of Gera’s sons was Ehud. The descendants of Ehud were leaders of their clans who lived in the city of Geba, but others forced them to move to the city of Manahath. 7Ehud’s sons were Naaman, Ahijah, and Gera.

Gera was the one who led them when they moved to Manahath. Gera was the father of Uzza and Ahihud.

8-11Another descendant of Benjamin was Shaharaim. He and his wife Hushim had two sons, Abitub and Elpaal. In the region of Moab, Shaharaim divorced Hushim and his other wife Baara. Then he married a woman whose name was Hodesh, and they had seven sons: Jobab, Zibia, Mesha, Malkam, Jeuz, Sakia, and Mirmah. They were all leaders of their clans. 12-13Elpaal’s sons were Eber, Misham, Shemed, Beriah, and Shema. Shemed built the cities of Ono and Lod and their nearby villages. Beriah and Shema were leaders of their clans, who lived in the city of Aijalon. They forced the people who lived in the city of Gath to leave their city. 14-16Beriah’s sons were Ahio, Shashak, Jeremoth, Zebadiah, Arad, Eder, Michael, Ishpah, and Joha. 17-18Other descendants of Elpaal were also named Zebadiah, Meshullam, Hizki, Heber,

Ishmerai, Izliah, and Jobab. 19-21Another descendant of Benjamin was Shimei. Shimei’s descendants included Jakim, Zicri, Zabdi, Elienai, Zillethai, Eliel, Adaiah, Beraiah, and Shimrath. 22-25Shashak’s sons were Ishpan, Eber, Eliel, Abdon, Zicri, Hanan, Hananiah, Elam, Anthothijah, Iphdeiah, and Penuel. 26-27Another descendant of Benjamin was Jeroham, whose sons were Shamsherai, Shehariah, Athaliah, Jaareshiah, Elijah, and Zicri. 28All of these descendants of Elpaal (Shaharaim’s son) were leaders of their clans according to their genealogies. They all lived in Jerusalem.

29Another descendant of Benjamin was Jeiel. He lived in the city of Gibeon and was an early settler and leader of those who lived there. Jeiel’s wife was Maakah. 30His oldest son was Abdon. His other sons were Zur, Kish, Baal, Nadab, 31Gedor, Ahio, and Zeker.

32Mikloth (another of Jeiel’s sons) was the father of Shimeah. All these descendants of Jeiel also lived in Jerusalem near their relatives.

33Ner was the father of Kish. Kish was the father of King Saul.

Saul was the father of Jonathan, Malki-Shua, Abinadab, and Esh-Baal.

34Jonathan’s son was Merib-Baal.

Merib-Baal was the father of Micah.

35Micah’s sons were Pithon, Melek, Tarea, and Ahaz.

36Ahaz was the father of Jehoaddah.

Jehoaddah was the father of Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri.

Zimri was the father of Moza.

37Moza was the father of Binea.

Raphah was Binea’s son.

Eleasah was Raphah’s son.

Azel was Eleasah’s son.

38Azel had six sons. Their names were Azrikam, Bokeru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. These were all of Azel’s sons.

39Azel had a brother, Eshek.

Eshek’s oldest son was Ulam. His other sons were Jeush and Eliphelet.

40Ulam’s sons were archers, capable men who were in the army. Altogether they had 150 sons and grandsons.

All these were the descendants of Benjamin.

91The scroll named “The Record of the Kings of Israel” listed the names of all the people of Israel.

The army of Babylon captured many of the people of Judah and took them to Babylon. That happened because of the sins the people of Judah had committed against God. 2The first people who returned to Judah many years later and lived in their own land and in their own cities and towns were some Israelites, priests, other descendants of Levi, and men who worked in the temple.

3Other people from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh also returned to Judah and lived in Jerusalem, including the following people.

4Uthai son of Ammihud (Ammihud was Omri’s son; Omri was Imri’s son; Imri was Bani’s son; Bani was a descendant of Perez; Perez was Judah’s son);

5Asaiah and his sons (who were descendants of Shilon. Asaiah was the oldest son in his family);

6Jeuel and others of his relatives (who were from Zerah’s clan. There were 690 people in this clan);

7and from the tribe of Benjamin, Sallu (Meshullam’s son; Meshullam was Hodaviah’s son; Hodaviah was Hassenuah’s son),

8Ibneiah (Jeroham’s son),

Elah (Uzzi’s son; Uzzi was Mikri’s son),

Meshullam (Shephatiah’s son; Shephatiah was Reuel’s son; Reuel was Ibnijah’s son).

9In all, there were 956 descendants of Benjamin living in Jerusalem. All these were leaders of their clans.

10Some of the priests who returned to Judah were:

Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, Jakin,

11Azariah, the person in charge of those who took care of the temple (Azariah was Hilkiah’s son;

Hilkiah was Meshullam’s son;

Meshullam was Zadok’s son;

Zadok was Meraioth’s son;

Meraioth was Ahitub’s son),

12Adaiah (Jeroham’s son;

Jeroham was Pashhur’s son;

Pashhur was Malkijah’s son),

and Maasai (Adiel’s son;

Adiel was Jahzerah’s son;

Jahzerah was Meshullam’s son;

Meshullam was Meshillemith’s son;

Meshillemith was Immer’s son).

13Altogether there were 1,760 priests who returned to Judah. They were leaders of their clans, and they all were capable and responsible for doing work in the temple of God.

14From the descendants of Levi who returned to Judah there were: Shemaiah (Hasshub’s son;

Hasshub was Azrikam’s son;

Azrikam was Hashabiah’s son;

Hashabiah was a descendant of Levi’s youngest son Merari),

15Bakbakkar, Heresh, Galal, Mattaniah (Mika’s son;

Mika was Zicri’s son;

Zicri was Asaph’s son),

16Obadiah (Shemaiah’s son;

Shemaiah was Galal’s son;

Galal was Jeduthun’s son),

and Berekiah who lived in one of the villages where the Netophath people lived (Berekiah was Asa’s son;

Asa was Elkanah’s son).

17From the descendants of Levi who returned to Judah who guarded the temple gates there were Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and some of their relatives. Shallum was their leader. 18Up until the time of this writing, those gatekeepers from the tribe of Levi stood at the King’s Gate on the east side of the city.

19Shallum was Kore’s son;

Kore was Ebiasaph’s son;

Ebiasaph was Korah’s son.

Shallum and his relatives from his clan, the people descended from Korah, had the duty of being gatekeepers, responsible to guard the entrances to the temple of Yahweh, as their ancestors had done.

20Previously Phinehas (Eleazar’s son) had supervised the gatekeepers. Yahweh was with Phinehas.

21Zechariah (Meshelemiah’s son) was a gatekeeper at the temple’s entrance.

22Altogether, there were 212 men chosen to guard the gates. The records of the clans in their villages listed their names. King David and the prophet Samuel appointed those men because those men were dependable. 23The work of those gatekeepers and their descendants was to guard the gates of Yahweh’s temple, also known as the sacred tent. 24There were gatekeepers on each of the four sides of the temple, toward the east, west, north, and south. 25Sometimes it was necessary for the relatives of the gatekeepers who lived in those villages to come and help them. Each time some of them came, they helped the gatekeepers for seven days. 26There were four descendants of Levi who worked every day, and they supervised the gatekeepers. They also took care of the storerooms and other rooms in the temple of God. 27They stayed at the temple because their job was to guard it. Each morning they opened the gates.

28Some of the gatekeepers took care of the various items used in the daily duties of the temple. Their job was to bring those items out for sacrifices each day and to store them again each night. 29Other gatekeepers had the job to take care of the other things in the temple including the flour, wine, olive oil, incense, and spices that were used in the sacrifices. 30But some of the priests had the work of mixing the spices. 31There was a descendant of Levi named Mattithiah, the oldest son of Shallum, who was a descendant of Korah. His official duty was to bake the bread that was used in the offerings on the altar. 32Some of the gatekeepers who were descended from Kohath prepared the new loaves of bread to display before God that were placed on the table inside the temple every Sabbath day.

33Some of the descendants of Levi were musicians who worked in the temple. The leaders of those families stayed in the rooms of the temple. They did not do any other work in the temple because they they were responsible to serve as musicians day and night.

34Those are the names of the leaders of the clans descended from Levi, according to their genealogies. They all lived in Jerusalem.

35Another descendant of Benjamin was Jeiel. He lived in the city of Gibeon and was an early settler and leader of those who lived there. Jeiel’s wife was Maakah.

36His oldest son was Abdon.

His other sons were Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab, 37Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah, and Mikloth.

38Mikloth (another of Jeiel’s sons) was the father of Shimeah. All these descendants of Jeiel also lived in Jerusalem near their relatives.

39Ner was the father of Kish. Kish was the father of King Saul.

Saul was the father of Jonathan, Malki-Shua, Abinadab, and Esh-Baal.

40Jonathan’s son was Merib-Baal. Merib-Baal was the father of Micah.

41Micah’s sons were Pithon, Melek, and Tahrea.

42Ahaz was the father of Jarah.

Jarah was the father of Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri.

Zimri was the father of Moza. 43Moza was the father of Binea.

Rephaiah was Binea’s son. Eleasah was Rephaiah’s son. Azel was Eleasah’s son.

44Azel had six sons. Their names were Azrikam, Bokeru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. These were all of Azel’s sons.

101Now, the Philistine army battled the Israelites. The Israelite soldiers ran away from them, and many Israelites died on Mount Gilboa. 2The Philistine soldiers caught up with Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua. 3The fighting was very fierce around Saul. The archers shot Saul, and they wounded him severely.

4Saul said to his armor bearer, “Take out your sword and kill me with it, so that these heathen Philistines will not be able to torture me.” But his armor bearer refused to do that because he was very scared. So Saul grabbed his own sword and stabbed himself with it and died.

5When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also stabbed himself with his own sword and died. 6So Saul and his three sons died. So his whole dynasty ended together.

7When all the Israelites living in the valley saw that their army had run away and that Saul and his sons were dead, they left their towns and ran away. Then the Philistine soldiers came and occupied those towns.

8The next day, when the Philistine soldiers came to take away the possessions of the dead Israelite soldiers, they found Saul and his sons dead on Mount Gilboa. 9They took everything from Saul’s corpse; they cut off his head and took his equipment. Then they sent messengers throughout their own land, to proclaim the news to their idols and to their people. 10They put Saul’s equipment in the temple to their gods, and they hung his severed head in the temple to their god Dagon.

11Everyone who lived in Jabesh in the region of Gilead heard about everything the Philistines had done to Saul’s corpse. 12So all the brave men of Jabesh went and got the corpses of Saul and his sons and brought them back to Jabesh. They buried their bodies under the big tree in Jabesh. Then the people of Jabesh fasted for seven days.

13Now, Saul died because of his treachery; he betrayed Yahweh by not doing what Yahweh said. Saul even went to a woman who talks to the spirits of dead people and asked her what he should do, 14instead of asking Yahweh what he should do. So Yahweh caused him to die and appointed David son of Jesse, to be the king of Israel.

111Then the people of Israel came to David at the city of Hebron and said to him, “Listen, we have the same ancestors as you. 2In the past, when Saul was our king, you were the one who led our Israelite soldiers in battle. You are the one to whom Yahweh our God promised, ‘You will care for my people; you will lead Israel.’”

3So all the Israelite elders came to David at Hebron. There David made an agreement with them with Yahweh as witness. The elders anointed David with oil to set him apart to be the king of the Israelite people, just as Yahweh had previously told the prophet Samuel would happen.

4David and all the Israelite soldiers went to Jerusalem. Another name for the city was Jebus because the Jebus people group lived in the area. 5The people in the city said to David, “You will not get in here!” But David and his soldiers captured the fortress there named Zion. Another name for it since then is the City of David.

6Now, David had said to his soldiers, “Whoever leads our soldiers to defeat the people in Jebus will become the commander of all my army.” Joab son of Zeruiah led the soldiers, so he became the commander.

7So David moved into the fortress. That is why they named it the City of David. 8David’s workers rebuilt the city, starting where the land was filled in and extending to the wall that was around the city. Joab’s men repaired the other parts of the city. 9David became more and more powerful because Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, helped him.

10Together with all Israel, the leaders of David’s warriors helped establish David’s reign and supported him in becoming king, just as Yahweh had told Israel. 11David’s warriors included:

Jashobeam was from the Hachmon clan. He was the leader of the officers. One time he fought against 300 enemies and killed them all with his spear.

12Next was Eleazar son of Dodo, from the clan of Ahoh. He was one of David’s three elite warriors. 13Once he was with David at Pas Dammim when the Philistine soldiers gathered for the battle. There was a field of barley there. At first the Israelite soldiers ran away from the Philistine soldiers, 14but then they stopped in the middle of the field and fought to defend it. They killed the Philistine soldiers. Yahweh enabled them to win a great victory.

15One time three of David’s 30 greatest warriors came to David when he was camping next to the huge rock outside the cave near Adullam. At that same time, the Philistine army had camped in the Valley of Rephaim. 16David was then in a fortress, and some of the Philistine soldiers were occupying Bethlehem. 17One day David longingly said, “I wish that someone would bring me some water from the well near the gate at Bethlehem.” 18So the three greatest warriors forced their way through the Philistine camp and drew some water from that well, and brought it to David. But he would not drink it. Instead, he poured it out on the ground as an offering to Yahweh. 19He said, “God would consider it wrong for me to drink this water! That would be like drinking the blood of these men and taking their lives, since they were willing to give their lives for me!” So he refused to drink it.

That was one of the things that David’s three greatest warriors did.

20Now Joab’s brother Abshai was the leader of the three elite warriors, and he gained fame among those three. One time Abshai fought 300 enemies with his spear, and he killed them all. 21Among a second group of three elite warriors, he was honored and became their leader, but he was not considered part of the first group of three elite warriors.

22Jehoiada’s son Benaiah was a brave soldier from the city of Kabzeel who did great deeds. He killed two of the best warriors from the Moab people group. One day he went down into a pit in snowy weather and killed a lion. 23He also killed an Egyptian soldier who was two and one-third meters tall. The Egyptian carried a spear that was as long as a weaver’s rod, but Benaiah fought him with a club. Benaiah grabbed the Egyptian’s spear and killed him with it. 24Those are some of the things that Benaiah son of Jehoiada did. So he became famous along with the three elite warriors. 25Indeed, he was more honored than the remainder of the 30 warriors, but he did not become a member of the first group of three warriors. David appointed him to be the leader of his bodyguards.

26These are the names of the great warriors:

Asahel, brother of Joab;

Elhanan son of Dodo, from Bethlehem;

27Shammoth, from Haror;

Helez, from Pelon;

28Ira son of Ikkesh, from Tekoa;

Abiezer, from Anathoth;

29Sibbekai, from Hushah;

Ilai from Ahoh;

30Maharai, from Netophah;

Heled son of Baanah, from Netophah;

31Ithai, son of Ribai, from Gibeah which belonged to the descendants of Benjamin;

Benaiah, from Pirathon;

32Hurai, from the valleys near Mount Gaash;

Abiel from Arabah;

33Azmaveth, from Baharum;

Eliahba, from Shaalbon;

34the sons of Hashem from Gizon;

Jonathan son of Shagee from Harar;

35Ahiam son of Sakar from Harar;

Eliphal son of Ur;

36Hepher from Mekerath;

Ahijah from Pelon;

37Hezro from Carmel;

Naarai son of Ezbai;

38Joel the brother of Nathan;

Mibhar son of Hagri;

39Zelek from the Ammon people group;

Naharai from Beeroth, the armor bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah;

40Ira from Jattir; Gareb from Jattir;

41Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, from the Heth people group;

Zabad son of Ahlai;

42Adina son of Shiza from the tribe of Reuben, a leader from that tribe, who had 30 soldiers with him;

43Hanan son of Maacah;

Joshaphat from Mithna;

44Uzzia from Ashterath;

Shama and Jeiel, sons of Hotham, from Aroer.

45Jediael son of Shimri

and his brother Joha, from Tiz;

46Eliel from Mahavah;

Jeribai and Joshaviah, sons of Elnaam;

Ithmah from Moab;

47Eliel and Obed,

and Jaasiel from Zobah.

121David stayed in the city of Ziklag when he was escaping from King Saul (Kish’s son) and waiting to ascend the throne. While David was there, many warriors came and joined him, and they helped David when he fought battles. These warriors are listed below. 2They carried bows. They were able to shoot arrows and to sling stones. They could use either their right arms or their left arms. They were relatives of Saul from the tribe of Benjamin.

3Their leader was Ahiezer. Next in command was Joash. They were both Shemaah’s sons from the city of Gibeah. Others were:

Jeziel and Pelet, Azmaveth’s sons;

Berakah;

Jehu from the city of Anathoth;

4Ishmaiah from the city of Gibeon, who was the leader of the thirty greatest warriors;

Jeremiah; Jahaziel; Johanan; Jozabad from the city of Gederah;

5Eluzai; Jerimoth; Bealiah; Shemariah; Shephatiah from the city of Haruph;

6Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, and Jashobeam, who were all descendants of Korah;

7and Joelah and Zebadiah, Jeroham’s sons, from the city of Gedor.

8Some men from the tribe of Gad east of the Jordan River joined David when he was at his garrison in the caves in the desert. They were brave warriors who were trained for fighting battles and able to use shields and spears well. They were as fierce as lions, and they could run as fast as deer on the hills.

9Ezer was their leader.

Next in command was Obadiah.

Next was Eliab.

10Next was Mishmannah.

Next was Jeremiah.

11Next was Attai.

Next was Eliel.

12Next was Johanan.

Next was Elzabad.

13Next was another man whose name was Jeremiah.

The last was Macbannai.

14Those men from the tribe of Gad were commanders in the army. The least warrior could fight 100, and the greatest could fight 1,000. 15They crossed to the west side of the Jordan River during a certain month in spring, at the time of the year when the river floods. They chased from there all the people who lived in the valleys on both sides of the river.

16Some other men from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah also came to David in his garrison. 17David went out of the cave to meet them and said to them, “If you have come peacefully to help me, I am eager to have you join with me. But if you have come to enable my enemies to capture me, even though I have not done anything to harm you, I hope that the God whom our ancestors worshiped will see it and condemn you.”

18Then God’s Spirit came on Amasai, who was the leader of the thirty greatest warriors, and Amasai said,

“David, we want to be with you;

you who are the son of Jesse, we will join you.

We do come in peace. We hope you will experience peace and that those helping you will experience peace,

because your God is helping you.” So David welcomed those men, and he appointed them to be leaders of his soldiers.

19Some men from the tribe of Manasseh also joined David when he went with the soldiers of Philistia to fight against Saul’s army. But David and his men did not help the army of Philistia because the leaders of Philistia talked about David and his soldiers and sent David and his men away. The leaders of Philistia said, “If David joins his master Saul again, we will all be killed.” 20When David went to Ziklag, these were the men from the tribe of Manasseh who went with him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, another man whose name was Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai. Each of them had been a commander of one thousand men from the tribe of Manasseh in Saul’s army. 21They helped David to fight against the groups of men who roamed throughout the country robbing people because these men from the tribe of Manasseh were all brave soldiers and became commanders in David’s army. 22Every day more men joined David’s men to support David, and his army became large, like the army of God.

23These are the numbers of soldiers who were ready for battle who joined David at the city of Hebron. They came to help him to become the king of Israel instead of Saul, as Yahweh had promised would happen.

24There were 6,800 men from Judah ready for battle, carrying shields and spears.

25There were 7,100 men from the tribe of Simeon. They were all strong warriors trained to fight battles.

26There were 4,600 men from the tribe of Levi.

27Jehoiada, a leader descended from Aaron, was in that group of descendants of Levi, and there were 3,700 men with him.

28Zadok, a strong young soldier, was also in that group, and there were 22 other leaders from his clan who came with him.

29There were 3,000 men from the tribe of Benjamin who were Saul’s relatives. Most of them had previously given their allegiance to Saul and his descendants.

30There were 20,800 men from the tribe of Ephraim who were all brave warriors and famous in their own clans.

31There were 18,000 men from the half of the tribe of Manasseh who lived west of the Jordan River. Their half-tribe chose them to go and help David become the king.

32There were 200 men who were leaders from the tribe of Issachar along with their relatives. They always knew what the Israelites should do, and they knew the right time to do it. The leaders commanded their relatives.

33There were 50,000 men from the tribe of Zebulun. They were experienced warriors and knew how to use all kinds of weapons well. They were completely loyal to David.

34There were 1,000 officers from the tribe of Naphtali with 37,000 soldiers, each carrying shields and spears.

35There were 28,600 soldiers from the tribe of Dan, all trained to fight battles.

36There were 40,000 soldiers from the tribe of Asher, all trained to fight battles.

37There were also 120,000 soldiers from the area east of the Jordan River who joined David. They were from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the eastern half of the tribe of Manasseh. They had all kinds of weapons for battle.

38All those men were soldiers who joined the ranks of David’s army. They came to Hebron wanting very much to enable David to be the king of all of the Israelite people. The remainer of the Israelite people were also united in wanting to make David their king. 39The men spent three days there with David, eating and drinking, because their families gave them food to take with them. 40Also, their fellow Israelites came from as far away as the area where the tribes of Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali lived, bringing food on donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen. They brought a lot of various types of food: flour, fig cakes, raisins, wine, olive oil, cattle and sheep. They brought so much because the people throughout Israel were very joyful.

131One day David talked with all his army officers. Some of them were commanders of 100 soldiers and some were commanders of 1,000 soldiers. 2Then David summoned the other Israelite leaders and said to all of them, “If you think it is a good idea, and if it is what Yahweh our God wants, let us send a message to our fellow Israelites throughout our country, including the priests and descendants of Levi who are living among them in their towns and in the nearby pasturelands, to come and join us. 3Let us bring the sacred chest of our God back to us since we did not ask God what he wanted us to do while Saul was the king.” 4All the people agreed with David to send the messages and bring back the sacred chest because they all thought that it was the right thing to do.

5So David gathered all the Israelite people, from the Shihor River in Egypt to the city of Lebo Hamath in the north, and told them that he wanted them to help bring the sacred chest of God back to Jerusalem from the city of Kiriath Jearim. 6David went with all the Israelite people to the city of Baalah, which is another name for Kiriath Jearim, to get from that city the sacred chest of God, Yahweh. (Baalah was located in the land belonging to the tribe of Judah). The people believed that God sat like a king on a throne between the statues of winged creatures that was above the lid of the sacred chest. The sacred chest belonged to Yahweh.

7The people put the sacred chest of God on a new cart and took it from Abinadab’s house. Uzzah and Ahio were guiding the oxen that were pulling the cart. 8David and all the Israelite people celebrated with all their strength all around the cart carrying the sacred chest. They were singing, playing lyres, harps, tambourines, and cymbals, and blowing trumpets.

9However, when the people and the cart came to the place where Kidon threshed grain, the oxen stumbled. So Uzzah reached out with his hand to prevent the sacred chest from falling off the cart. 10Yahweh became very angry with Uzzah, and he killed Uzzah because Uzzah had put his hand on the sacred chest. Yahweh had commanded during the time of Moses that no one touch the sacred chest. Uzzah died there in front of the sacred chest.

11David was angry because Yahweh inflicted punishment on Uzzah. David called that place where Uzzah died “The Punishment of Uzzah” (which has continued to be its nickname until the writing of this document).

12That day, David was afraid of God. He thought to himself, “{Since God is angry with me,} I cannot bring God’s sacred chest to my city.” 13So David and the people did not take the sacred chest to the portion of Jerusalem named the City of David. Instead, they took it to Obed Edom’s house, who was from the city of Gath. 14The sacred chest of God stayed with Obed Edom’s family in his house for three months. During that time Yahweh blessed Obed Edom’s family and everything that Obed Edom owned.

141One day Hiram, the king of the city of Tyre, sent some messengers to David to talk about making an agreement between their countries. Then Hiram sent cedar logs, bricklayers, and carpenters to build a palace for David. 2When that happened, David knew that Yahweh had truly caused him to be the king of Israel, and that Yahweh had caused the surrounding nations to respect David’s kingdom. Yahweh did this because he loved his Israelite people.

3David married more women in Jerusalem, and those women gave birth to more sons and daughters for him. 4The names of the children who were born to him in Jerusalem were Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 5Ibhar, Elishama, Elpelet, 6Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, 7Elishama, Beeliada, and Eliphelet.

8When the army of Philistia heard that people in Israel appointed David to be king of all of Israel, they went to try to capture him. But David heard that the army of Philistia was coming, so he and his soldiers went out to fight against them. 9Now, the army of Philistia had come to the Valley of Rephaim southwest of Jerusalem and had attacked and robbed the people there. 10So David asked God, “Should my men and I go and attack the army of Philistia? If we go, will you enable us to defeat them?”

Yahweh replied, “Yes, go, and I will enable you to defeat them.”

11The soldiers of Philistia went to a town people now call “Baal Perazim.” David and his men met the soldiers of Philistia there and defeated them. Then David said, “God has completely defeated my enemies by using me and my army. God destroyed them like water breaking a dam.” So they named that place “Baal Perazim,” which meant “The Lord breaks through.” 12As the soldiers of Philistia fled, they left their idols there. So David commanded his soldiers to burn those idols.

13But soon the army of Philistia attacked the people in that valley again. 14So again David prayed to God to ask him what he should do, and God replied, “Do not attack the army of Philistia from the front. Instead, go around them, and attack them from the rear in front of the balsam trees. 15When you hear something in the tops of the balsam trees that sounds like soldiers marching, that is when you must attack, because I, God, will have gone ahead of you to enable you to defeat the army of Philistia.” 16So David did what God commanded him to do, and he and his army defeated the army of Philistia, all the way from the city of Gibeon west to the city of Gezer.

17So David became famous in all the nearby countries, and Yahweh caused the leaders of all the nations to be afraid of him.

151David commanded his workers to build houses for himself in the section of Jerusalem named the City of David. He also told them to set up a place in which to put the sacred chest of God. They put up a large tent for the sacred chest. 2Then David said, “No one but the descendants of Levi may carry God’s sacred chest, because Yahweh chose them to carry it and to serve him forever.”

3David summoned all the people of Israel to come to Jerusalem. He wanted a celebration when the Levites brought the sacred chest of Yahweh to the place his workers set up for it. 4David summoned the descendants of Aaron, who was the first high priest, and the other descendants of Levi:

5from the descendants of Kohath, Levi’s second son, Uriel the leader and his relatives, 120 in all;

6from the descendants of Merari, Levi’s third son, Asaiah the leader and his relatives, 220 in all;

7from the descendants of Gershon, Levi’s first son, Joel the leader and his relatives, 130 in all;

8from the descendants of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the leader and his relatives, 200 in all;

9from the descendants of Hebron, Eliel the leader and his relatives, 80 in all;

10from the descendants of Uzziel, Amminadab the leader and his relatives, 112 in all.

11David summoned the priests Zadok and Abiathar and these descendants of Levi: Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab. 12David said to them, “You are the leaders of the clans descended from Levi. You and your family members must ceremonially purify yourselves, in order to be able to do this special work for Yahweh. You must bring the sacred chest of Yahweh, the God of us Israelites, to the place that I set up for it here in Jerusalem. 13The first time that we tried to bring it, you descendants of Levi were not the ones who carried it, since we did not follow Yahweh’s command in the law of Moses regarding carrying the sacred chest. So Yahweh our God punished us.”

14Then the priests and the descendants of Levi performed the rituals to purify themselves, in order that it would be proper for them to carry the sacred chest of Yahweh, the God of the Israelite people. 15Just as the law of Moses said, according to the command of Yahweh, the descendants of Levi fastened poles to God’s sacred chest and carried it by putting the poles on their shoulders.

16David told the leaders of the descendants of Levi to appoint some of their relatives to sing and play lyres, harps, and cymbals, making joyful music while they were carrying the sacred chest.

17So they appointed Heman and his relatives Asaph and Ethan. Heman was the son of Joel. Asaph was the son of Berechiah. Ethan was the son of Kushaiah and was a descendant of Merari. 18They also appointed another group of relatives from the descendants of Levi: Zechariah, Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, and two of the temple gatekeepers, Obed Edom and Jeiel.

19Heman, Asaph and Ethan sang and also played bronze cymbals. 20Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah played harps according to a certain musical style. 21Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed Edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah played lyres according to a different musical style. 22Kenaniah, the leader of the descendants of Levi in music, directed the singing because he was very capable.

23Berechiah and Elkanah were two of the men who guarded the sacred chest. 24The priests Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer were the ones who blew trumpets in front of God’s sacred chest. Obed Edom and Jehiah also guarded the sacred chest.

25So David, the Israelite leaders, and the officers who commanded one thousand soldiers went to get the sacred chest symbolizing the agreement between Yahweh and the people of Israel. They joyfully got the sacred chest from Obed Edom’s house. 26Indeed, God helped the descendants of Levi who carried the sacred chest symbolizing the agreement between Yahweh and the people of Israel. Therefore David and the leaders sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams to thank him. 27David, all the descendants of Levi who carried the sacred chest, all the singers, and Kenaniah, the man who directed those who sang, wore robes of fine linen. David also wore a waistcloth made of linen. 28So all of the Israelite people joined in bringing up to Jerusalem the sacred chest symbolizing the agreement between Yahweh and the people of Israel. They shouted joyfully, blew horns and trumpets, and played cymbals, lyres, and harps.

29While they were bringing the sacred chest symbolizing the agreement between Yahweh and the people of Israel to the section of Jerusalem named the city of David, Michal (the first of David’s wives and Saul’s daughter) watched them, looking out of a window. When she saw King David dancing and celebrating, she despised him.

161They brought God’s sacred chest to Jerusalem and put it inside the special tent that David’s workers set up. Then they brought offerings which they fully burned on the altar and other offerings commemorating friendship between them and God. They offered the offerings in front of the special tent which housed the sacred chest. 2When the priests finished presenting all those offerings, David asked Yahweh to bless the Israelite people. 3David ordered his servants to give a loaf of bread, a baked good with dates, and a baked good with raisins to every Israelite who was there, both men and women.

4Then David appointed some of the descendants of Levi to stand in front of the special tent in which the descendants of Levi placed Yahweh’s sacred chest, to lead the people who worshiped and thanked and praised Yahweh, the God of the Israelite people. 5Asaph was their leader. Zechariah was his assistant. The other descendants of Levi who helped were Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel. They played harps and lyres, and Asaph played cymbals. 6Benaiah and Jahaziel were priests who blew trumpets frequently in front of the special tent in which the descendants of Levi placed the sacred chest symbolizing the agreement between God and the people of Israel.

7On that day, David first gave to Asaph and his helpers this song to praise Yahweh:

8Thank Yahweh and pray to him.

Tell the people of all nations what he has done.

9Sing to him; sing songs to praise him.

Tell about all his miraculous deeds.

10Be glad that he is holy.

Those who follow Yahweh should rejoice.

11Ask Yahweh to help you and give you his strength.

Frequently pray to him!

12Think about the wonderful things that he has done,

the miracles he has done, and the just laws that he has decreed.

13We are the offsrping of his servant Israel;

we are the descendants of Jacob whom he has chosen.

14Yahweh is our God.

People throughout the world know his just laws.

15Think about for all of your life the agreement that he made;

he made a promise that will last for 1,000 generations.

16That is the agreement that he made with Abraham,

and God repeated that promise to Isaac, Abraham’s son.

17God continued the agreement for Isaac’s son, Jacob, as a decree;

as a promise to Israel and his descendants for all time.

18God said, “I will give the region of Canaan to you,

to belong to you and your descendants.”

19When there were hardly any of your ancestors,

just a tiny group of people who were living in that land like strangers,

20they continued to wander from one place to another,

from one kingdom to another.

21God did not allow others to oppress them,

and he warned kings on your ancestors’ behalf by saying to them,

22“Do not harm the people whom I have chosen!

Do not wrong my prophets!”

23You people throughout the world, sing to Yahweh.

Every day proclaim to others that he has saved us.

24Tell among the nations that he is great;

tell all the people groups the marvelous things that he has done;

25because Yahweh is great, and he deserves praise very much.

Everyone should revere him more than all the gods,

26because all the gods that the other people groups worship are idols with no value,

but Yahweh is truly great; he created the skies.

27Magnificence and grandeur come from where he is.

Power and joy come from the place where he lives.

28You people in nations all over the world, praise Yahweh!

Praise Yahweh for his glorious power!

29Attribute to Yahweh the glory his name deserves.

Come to his place of worship with offerings to give to him!

Bow down and worship Yahweh because he is holy and his holiness shines out from him with wonderful beauty.

30You people throughout the world, be reverent and respectful when you are in his place of worship because of his sheer power.

As one example, he put the earth firmly in its place; nothing ever will be able to move it.

31Everything in the sky should celebrate and everything on the earth should cheer.

Everything in the sky and on the earth declare to all the people groups of the world, “Yahweh is king!”

32The oceans and all the creatures in the oceans should shout;

the fields and everything in them should rejoice.

33When that happens, the trees in the forest should cheer in front of Yahweh,

because he will come to judge everyone on the earth.

34Thank Yahweh, because everything he does shows he is good,

because he faithfully loves us always.

35Say to him, “God who provides our liberation, rescue us,

and bring us together and save us from the armies of other nations,

so that we will thank you for your sacred character and reputation,

and revel in giving you praise.”

36Yahweh, the God of us Israelite people, deserves praise,

for all time, in the past and in the future.

After the people finished singing that song, they all said “We agree!”, and they praised Yahweh. 37Then David left Asaph and the other members of his clan there in front of the tent where the sacred chest symbolizing the agreement between Yahweh and the people of Israel was. David told them that they must do their work there every day. 38David also left Obed Edom and other descendants of Levi to work there, 68 in all. Hosah and Obed Edom, Jeduthun’s son, guarded the entrances of the sacred tent.

39David also told Zadok the high priest and the other priests who worked with him to remain in front of Yahweh’s sacred tent, at the place where the Israelite people worshiped Yahweh there in the city of Gibeon. 40Every morning and every evening they burned offerings to Yahweh on the altar for such offerings, obeying the rules Moses wrote down, the rules that Yahweh gave to the Israelite people. 41With them were Heman and Jeduthun and the other descendants of Levi whom David chose specifically. They sang songs to praise Yahweh because he faithfully loves his people forever. 42Heman and Jeduthun led the music, including those playing trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments for singing to God. Jeduthun’s sons guarded the gates of the sacred tent.

43Then all the people left. They all returned to their homes, and David returned home to ask Yahweh to bless his family.

171After David began to live in his palace, he said to the prophet Nathan, “It does not seem right that I am living in a palace made of cedar wood, but the sacred chest symbolizing the agreement between Yahweh and the people of Israel stays inside a tent!”

2Nathan replied to David, “Everything you are thinking about doing, do it, because God is with you.”

3But that night God spoke to Nathan. He said,

4“Go and tell my servant David this is what I, Yahweh, am saying to him: ‘You will not build a temple for me to live in, 5since I have not lived in any building from the day that I brought the people of Israel up out of Egypt until now. Rather, I have lived in my sacred tent, moving from one place to another when the Israelites moved around. 6Wherever I went with all the Israelites as they traveled, I never said to any of their leaders whom I appointed to lead them, “Why have you not built me a temple made of cedar wood?”

7Therefore, this is what you should say to my servant David: “Yahweh, the commander of the angel armies, says, ‘I took you from a pasture where you were taking care of sheep, and I appointed you to be the ruler of Israel, my people. 8I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have removed all your enemies who opposed you. Now, I will cause you to become very famous, as well known as the names of the greatest men who have ever lived on the earth. 9-10Formerly, during the time that I appointed leaders for my Israelite people, many violent groups oppressed them. But this will not happen anymore. I have chosen a place where my Israelite people can live peacefully and no one will disturb them anymore. I will give them rest from being attacked by their enemies. And I will defeat all your enemies.

I declare to you that I, Yahweh, will enable your descendants to rule after you die. 11When your life ends and you die and go to be with your ancestors who have died, I will appoint one of your descendants, one of your sons, to become king, and I will enable his kingdom to be strong. 12He is the one who will lead the building of a temple for me. And I will make his ruling dynasty last forever. 13I will be like a father to him, and he will be like a son to me. I stopped giving faithful love to Saul, the one who was the king before you became king, but I will never stop giving faithful love to your son. 14I will cause him and his descendants to rule over my people and my kingdom forever. His ruling dynasty will last forever.’”

15So Nathan reported to David everything that Yahweh had revealed to him.

16Then King David went into the tent housing the sacred chest, sat in the presence of Yahweh, and prayed this prayer:

“Yahweh my God, I am certainly not worthy for you to have done of all these things for me, and my family is not worthy, either.

17And O God, now, in addition to everything else, you have spoken about what will happen to my descendants in the future for many generations. Yahweh my God, you have acted toward me as though I was the most important man on the earth!

18I, David, cannot say anything more to you in exchange for you honoring me. Yahweh, you know what kind of person I am. 19Yahweh, you have done these great things for my sake, according to the way you wanted, and in order to reveal all of these great things.

20Yahweh, there is no one like you. You are the only true God. This is what we have always heard. 21And there is no nation like Israel because Israel is the only nation on the earth whose people you went out to rescue to make them your people, to perform miracles and show how great and awesome you are, and to expel the people of other people groups in Canaan who were before your people, the Israelites, whom you rescued from being slaves in Egypt. 22You caused us your Israelite people to belong to you as your people forever, and you, Yahweh, became our God!

23And now Yahweh, I pray that you will cause the things that you have promised about me and my descendants to be fulfilled forever, and do the things that you have said that you would do. 24I pray that those things will happen so people will celebrate your excellent reputation forever. People will exclaim, ‘Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, is the God of Israel. He is the God who rules Israel!’ You will cause my descendants to be the king of the people you rule,

25because you, my God, have revealed to me that you will cause me to have a ruling dynasty. So I am brave enough to pray like this to you. 26Now, Yahweh, you are God! You have promised to do these good things for me. 27And now you have promised to bless my descendants, in order that they will forever be king over the people you rule. Indeed, you, Yahweh, have given your blessing, and you will keep blessing them forever.”

181Some time later, David’s army attacked and defeated the army of Philistia, subduing them. They captured the Philistine city of Gath and its surrounding villages.

2His army also defeated the army of the Moab people group, so the Moab people group had to accept David as their ruler. They had to pay money each year to David’s government, in order that David’s army would protect them.

3David’s army also fought and defeated the army of Hadadezer, the king of the region of Zobah in Aram near the city of Hamath, when Hadadezer was trying to establish control over the area near the Euphrates River. 4David’s army captured 1,000 of Hadadezer’s chariots, 7,000 chariot drivers, and 20,000 infantry soldiers. David’s army hamstrung most of Hadadezer’s horses; there were only 100 horses that they did not cripple.

5When the army of Aram came from the city of Damascus to fight alongside Hadadezer’s army, David’s army killed 22,000 soliders from the army of Aram. 6Then David stationed groups of his soldiers in Damascus. So the people of Aram had to accept David as their ruler. They had to pay money each year to David’s government, in order that David’s army would protect them. Yahweh enabled David’s army to win battles everywhere they went.

7David’s soldiers took the gold shields that Hadadezer’s soldiers carried and brought them to Jerusalem. 8They also brought from Tebah and Kun, two cities that belonged to Hadadezer, a lot of bronze, which David’s son Solomon later used to make the huge bronze basin called “The Sea” and the pillars and other bronze items for the temple.

9When Tou, the king of the city of Hamath in Aram, heard that David’s army had defeated the entire army of King Hadadezer of Zobah in Aram, 10he sent his son Hadoram to King David, to greet him and congratulate him about his fighting and defeating Hadadezer’s army because Tou’s army had been fighting Hadadezer’s. Hadoram brought to David many items made of gold, silver, and bronze,

11and King David dedicated those things to Yahweh, like he had done with the silver and gold that his soldiers had taken from other nations: the Edom, Moab, and Ammon people groups, the people from Philistia, and from the descendants of Amalek.

12The army of David’s military commander Abishai, whose mother was Zeruiah, killed 18,000 soldiers from Edom in the Valley of Salt. 13Then David stationed groups of his soldiers there in Edom, and the people of Edom had to accept David as their ruler. Yahweh protected David and his army wherever they traveled.

14David ruled over all the Israelite people, and he always did for them what was just and fair. 15Joab son of Zeruiah was the chief army commander. Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the record keeper. 16Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests. Shavsha was the official secretary. 17Benaiah son of Jehoiada led the Kereth and Peleth people groups who were David’s bodyguards. David’s sons were his most important officials.

191Some time later, Nahash, the king of the Ammon people group, died. Then his son Hanun became their king. 2When David heard about that, he thought to himself, “Nahash was kind to me, so I will be kind to his son.” So David sent some officials there to tell Hanun that David was sorry to hear that Hanun’s father had died.

But when David’s officials came to Hanun in the land where the Ammonite people group lived to deliver the message, 3the leaders of the Ammon people group said to Hanun, “David is not really honoring your father’s memory by sending these men to give his condolences. We think that his men have come to look around our land in order to determine how his army can conquer us.”

4Hanun believed what the leaders said; so he commanded some soldiers to seize David’s officials. Hanun’s soldiers insulted the officials by shaving off their beards and cutting off the lower part of their robes. Then Hanun sent David’s officials away.

5The officials left and were greatly humiliated. When David found out about what had happened to his officials, he sent some messengers to them to tell them, “Stay at Jericho until your beards have grown again, and then return home.”

6Then the leaders of the Ammon people group realized that they had greatly insulted David. So Hanun and some of his officials sent 33,000 kilograms of silver to hire chariots and chariot drivers from the regions of Aram Naharaim, Aram Maacah and Zobah northeast of Israel. 7They hired 32,000 chariots and chariot drivers, as well as the king of the region of Maacah and his army. They came and set up their tents near the city of Medeba in the region of Moab. The soldiers from the Ammon people group also marched out from their cities and were ready for battle.

8When David heard about that, he sent Joab and all his army. 9The soldiers of the Ammon people group came out of their city and lined up for battle at the entrance of their city. Meanwhile, the other kings who had come with their armies stood in their positions in the open fields.

10Joab saw that there were groups of enemy soldiers in front of his troops and behind his troops. So he selected some of the best Israelite troops and put them in positions to fight against the soldiers of Aram. 11He appointed his older brother Abishai to be the commander of his other soldiers and he told them to stand in their positions in front of the army of the Ammon people group. 12Joab said to them, “If the soldiers from Aram are too strong for us to defeat them, then your soldiers must come and help us. But if the soldiers from the Ammon people group are too strong for you to defeat them, then my soldiers will come and help your men. 13We must be strong and fight hard to defend our people and our cities that belong to our God. Yahweh will do what he considers to be good.”

14So Joab and his troops advanced to fight the army of Aram; and the soldiers from Aram ran away from Joab and his soldiers. 15And when the soldiers of the Ammon people group saw that the soldiers from Aram were running away, they also started to run away from Abishai and his army, and they retreated back inside the city. So Joab and his army returned to Jerusalem.

16After the leaders of the army of Aram realized that the army of Israel had defeated them, the leaders of the army of Aram sent messengers to another part of Aram on the east side of the Euphrates river, and brought troops from there to the battle area, with Shophak, the commander of Hadadezer’s army, leading them.

17When David heard about that, he gathered all the Israelite soldiers, and they crossed the Jordan River. They advanced against the army of Aram and took their battle positions to attack them. With David’s army on the battle field ready to fight, the army of Aram attacked David’s army. 18But the army of Aram ran away from the soldiers of Israel. However, David’s soldiers killed 7,000 of their chariot drivers and 40,000 infantry soldiers. They also killed Shophak, their army commander.

19When the kings who had been subjects of Hadadezer realized that the Israelite army had defeated them, they made peace with David, and agreed to have him rule over them.

So the rulers of Aram did not want to help the rulers of the Ammon people group anymore.

201In that region, kings usually went with their armies to fight their enemies in the springtime. But the following year, David did not do that. Instead, he stayed in Jerusalem and sent his commander Joab to lead the army. Joab and his troops ruined the land of the Ammon people group. Then they went to Rabbah, the capital city, and surrounded it. Joab and his troops killed the army in the city of Rabbah and demolished the city. 2David then came to Rabbah, took the crown from the head of the king of Rabbah and put it on his own head. It weighed thirty-three kilograms and was gold. It had a valuable stone in it. They also took many other valuable things from the city. 3Then they brought the people out of the city and forced them to work for their army, using saws and iron picks and axes. David’s soldiers did this in all the cities of the Ammon people group. Then David and all of his army returned to Jerusalem.

4Some time later, David’s army fought with the army of Philistia, at the city of Gezer. During the battle Sibbekai, from the Hushah clan, killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rapha giants. So David’s army defeated the army of Philistia.

5In another battle against the soldiers of Philistia, Elhanan son of Jair, killed Lahmi, the younger brother of the giant Goliath from the city of Gath, who had a spear which was as thick as a weaver’s rod.

6There was another battle near Gath. A huge man was there who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. He was also a descendant of the Rapha giants. 7When he insulted the soldiers of Israel, Jonathan son of Shimea killed him. Shimea was one of David’s older brothers.

8Those were some of the descendants of the Rapha giants who had lived in Gath. David and his soldiers killed them.

211An opponent decided to cause the Israelite people to have trouble. So he provoked David to find out how many men in Israel were able to be in the army.

2So David commanded Joab and the other army commanders, “Go out and count all the men in Israel who are able to be in the army. Start at Beersheba in the south and go all the way to Dan in the north. Then come back and report to me, in order that I may know how many men there are.”

3But Joab replied, “Your Majesty, I hope that Yahweh will make our army a hundred times larger than it is now. But we all serve you. So you should not commit this sin, your Highness, and make Israel suffer for it.”

4But David would not change his mind. So Joab and his soldiers went everywhere in Israel and in Judah, and counted the people. Then they returned to Jerusalem, 5and they reported to David that there were 1,100, 000 men in Israel who could be in the army, and 470,000 men in Judah who could be in the army. 6However, Joab did not count the men from the tribes of Levi and Benjamin, because he was disgusted with what the king had commanded.

7David’s command to count the people caused God to become angry, so he told David that he had decided to punish the people of Israel. 8Then David prayed to God, “What I did was very foolish. I committed a terrible sin by what I have done. So now I plead with you, please forgive me.”

9Then Yahweh said to Gad, David’s prophet, 10“Go and tell this to David: ‘Yahweh says, “I am allowing you to choose one of three things to punish you. I will do whichever one you choose.”’”

11So Gad went to David and said to him, “Yahweh says: ‘You can choose one of these punishments: 12either three years of famine in Israel, or three months during which your armies will run away from their enemies who will attack and overrun them with swords, or three days of direct punishment from me during which I will send my angel to cause many people in the country to die because of a plague.’ So you must decide what I will say to answer Yahweh, the one who sent me.”

13David replied to Gad, “I am very distressed. Allow Yahweh to punish me, because he is very merciful, and do not allow humans to punish me.”

14So Yahweh sent a plague on the people of Israel, and 70,000 Israelite people died because of the plague. 15And God sent an angel to kill the people in Jerusalem with the plague. While the angel was killing people, Yahweh saw all the suffering that the people had endured and decided to stop the killing. So he said to the angel when the angel was standing at the place where Ornan, from the Jebus people group, threshed grain, “Stop what you are doing! That is enough!”

16David looked up and saw the angel whom Yahweh had sent, standing between the sky and the ground. The angel had a sword in his hand that he pointed toward Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of the city, who were wearing clothes made of rough sackcloth, prostrated themselves on the ground.

17David prayed to God, “I am the one who ordered the census of the men who could be in the army. I am the one who has sinned and done what is wrong, but these people are as innocent as sheep. They have certainly not done anything that is wrong. So Yahweh my God, punish me and my family, but do not allow this plague to continue to cause your people to become sick and die.”

18Then the angel whom Yahweh had sent told Gad to tell David to go up to the place where Ornan threshed grain and build an altar to worship Yahweh there. 19So after Gad told David, he obeyed the message that Yahweh had given to Gad, and he went up there.

20While Ornan was threshing some wheat, he turned and saw the angel. His four sons who were with him also saw the angel, and they hid themselves. 21Then David approached the place where Ornan was. When Ornan saw him, Ornan left the place where he was threshing grain and prostrated himself in front of David, with his face touching the ground.

22David said to Ornan, “Sell me this threshing place so I can build an altar here to worship Yahweh, in order that he will stop this plague. I will pay the full price.”

23Ornan answered David, “Take it! Your Majesty, do whatever you want to. I will even give you the oxen that thresh the grain for a fully burnt offering on the altar, the threshing boards to use as wood on the altar, and the flour for a flour offering. I will provide everything.”

24But King David said to Ornan, “No, I must pay you the full price, because I will not take things that belong to you and offer them to Yahweh as a fully burnt offering when they cost me nothing.”

25So David paid Ornan six and one-half kilograms of gold for the whole area. 26David built an altar to worship Yahweh there, and he offered on the altar fully burnt sacrifices and sacrifices to restore fellowship with Yahweh. David prayed to Yahweh, and Yahweh answered by sending a fire from heaven to burn up the offerings on the altar.

27Then Yahweh told the angel to put his sword back into its sheath. So the angel did that. 28And when David saw that Yahweh had answered him there at the place where Ornan threshed grain and had ended the plague, he offered sacrifices there. 29At that time, Yahweh’s sacred tent, which Moses had commanded others to build in the wilderness, and the altar for burning sacrifices completely, were on a hill used for worship near the city of Gibeon. 30But David did not want to go there to request God to tell him what he wanted David to do, because he was afraid that the angel sent from Yahweh might strike him with his sword.

221David realized that this was the place that Yahweh now wanted sacrifices to be made and announced, “Here, at the edge of Jerusalem, is where we will build the temple for our God Yahweh, and where we will make the altar for fully burning the offerings that the Israelite people will bring.”

2So David commanded that the foreigners who lived in Israel must assemble together. When they did that, he appointed some of those men to cut huge stones from the quarries and to smooth their surfaces for use in building the temple of God. 3David provided a lot of iron for making nails and hinges for the doors in the gates of the temple. He also provided a huge amount of bronze for making various things. There was so much bronze, no one could weigh it all. 4David also provided money for buying a lot of cedar logs for use in building the temple. Men from the cities of Tyre and Sidon brought the logs to David that he purchased. Because they brought so many logs, no one could count them.

5David provided all those things because he thought, “My son Solomon is still young and he does not yet know what he needs to know about building buildings, and the temple constructed for Yahweh must be magnificent. It must be a glorious building that will become famous, and people throughout the world must consider it beautiful. So now I will begin to prepare for its construction.” So David collected a great amount of building materials before he died.

6Then David summoned his son Solomon and told him to arrange for the construction of a temple for Yahweh, the God whom the Israelites worshipped. 7David told Solomon, “My son, I wanted to build a temple to honor Yahweh, my God. 8But Yahweh told a prophet to tell me, ‘You have killed many men in the big battles that you have fought. I have seen all the people you have killed, so you will not be the one who will arrange for the construction of a temple to honor me. 9But you will have a son who will be king of Israel after you. He will be a man without war during his reign. I will cause peace between him and his enemies who are in all the nearby lands. That is why his name will be Solomon (which sounds like the word for peace). During the time that he is king, I will provide peace and safety for the people in Israel. 10He is the one who will arrange for the construction of a temple to honor me. He will be like a son to me, and I will be like his father. I will cause his dynasty to rule over Israel forever.’

11So now, my son, I hope that Yahweh will help you and enable you to succeed in arranging for the construction of a temple for Yahweh, your God, which is what he said that you would do. 12I also hope that he will enable you to be wise and to understand what you need to know, and enable you to obey his laws while you rule over Israel. 13If you carefully obey all the laws and decrees which Yahweh told Moses to tell Israel to do, then you will do well in constructing a temple and ruling Israel. Now, demonstrate strength and courage. Do not be afraid of anything, and do not become discouraged!

14I have tried hard to provide materials for building the temple of Yahweh, including 3,300 metric tons of gold, 33,000 metric tons of silver, and a very large amount of iron and bronze (so much that no one can weigh it all). I have also gathered lumber and stone, but you will need to acquire more of those things. 15There are many men in Israel who have good ability to cut big stones and work with different types of stone, carpenters, and men who are very skilled at making various kinds of things. 16There are many men who know how to make things from gold, silver, bronze, and iron. So now I say to you, begin the work of building the temple, and I hope that Yahweh will be with you.”

17Then David commanded that all the Israelite leaders must assist his son Solomon: 18“Yahweh our God is certainly with you. He has allowed you to have peace with all the nearby nations because he has enabled my army to conquer them. Yahweh and my people control them. 19Now you must obey your God, Yahweh, with your entire lives. Help Solomon to arrange for the construction of the temple for Yahweh God, in order that you can bring the sacred chest symbolizing the agreement between Yahweh and the people of Israel and the other sacred items that belong to God into the temple that you will build to honor him.”

231David was a very old man when he appointed his son Solomon to be the next king over Israel.

2David gathered the leaders of Israel and the priests and other descendants of Levi. 3He commanded some of his officials to count the descendants of Levi who were at least 30 years old, and they found out that there were 38,000 men. 4Then David said, “From those descendants of Levi, I want 24,000 of them to supervise the work at the temple of Yahweh, 6,000 to be officials and judges, 54,000 to be guards at the gates, and 4,000 to praise Yahweh, using the musical instruments that I have provided for them.”

6David divided the descendants of Levi into three groups; each group consisted of men who were descendants of one of the three sons of Levi—Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

7The descendants of Gershon were Ladan and Shimei.

8Ladan had three sons: the oldest Jehiel, then Zetham and Joel.

9Shimei had three sons: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran.

They were leaders of the clans of Ladan.

10Shimei’s sons were Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah; four in total.

11Jahath was the oldest son. Ziza was the second.

Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so the officials counting the descendants of Levi counted the families of Jeush and Beriah as though they were one family.

12Kohath had four sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

13Amram’s sons were Aaron and Moses.

Yahweh chose Aaron, that is, Aaron and his descendants perpetually, to dedicate to Yahweh the very holy things, to offer sacrifices to Yahweh, to serve in his presence, and to declare to the people what Yahweh would do to bless them. They were to do those things forever.

14The officials counting the descendants of Levi counted the descendants of Moses, the man who served God well, as part of the tribe of Levi.

15Moses’ sons were Gershom and Eliezer.

16The oldest son of Gershom was Shubael.

17Eliezer’s oldest child was Rehabiah.

Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had many sons.

18Izhar’s oldest son was Shelomith.

19Hebron had four sons.

Jeriah was his oldest son; Amariah was the second; Jahaziel was the third; and Jekameam was the fourth.

20Uzziel had two sons.

Micah was the older son, and Isshiah was the younger.

21Merari had two sons: Mahli and Mushi.

Mahli’s sons were Eleazar and Kish.

22Eleazar died without having sons; he only had daughters. Their cousins, Kish’s sons, married them.

23Mushi had three sons: Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth.

24Those were the descendants of Levi that the officials counted according to the descendants’ families and the leaders of those families, as well as according to the descendants’ special jobs and the leaders of those jobs. They all worked in the temple of Yahweh. The officials counted each person who was at least 20 years old. 25David had said previously, “Yahweh, the God to whom we Israelite people belong, has enabled us to have peace, and he has come to live in Jerusalem forever. 26Therefore, the descendants of Levi no longer need to carry the sacred tent and all the items used in the work there.” 27Obeying David’s final instructions before he died, instructions for doing the work at the temple, the officials counted the descendants of Levi who were at least twenty years old.

28The work of those descendants of Levi was to assist the descendants of Aaron in their work in Yahweh’s temple. They were in charge of the temple courtyards and the side rooms, the ceremonies for purifying all the sacred things, and to do other work at the temple. 29They were also in charge of the loaves of bread the priests placed each week on the table in the temple, the flour for the flour offerings, the wafers that were made without yeast, and the baking pans. The descendants of Levi also had to measure the ingredients, mix them, and bake the bread and wafers. 30Another responsibility for the Levites was to stand every morning at the temple and thank Yahweh and praise him. They needed to do the same thing every evening as well. 31And they needed to do the same thing at the presentation of fully burnt offerings to Yahweh on Sabbath days and during the new moon celebrations and other religious festivals. There were specific regulations about how many of them should be there and what they should do each time they served at Yahweh’s temple.

32So the descendants of Aaron, their fellow Israelites, assigned the descendants of Levi certain responsibilities at the place where the Israelite people worshiped Yahweh. The descendants of Levi did that work at the sacred tent and in the holy place inside the tent.

241These are the divisions of the descendants of Aaron the first high priest: Aaron’s four sons were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

2But Nadab and Abihu died before their father died, and they had no children. So their younger brothers Eleazar and Ithamar became priests. 3Zadok, who was a descendant of Eleazar, and Ahimelech, who was a descendant of Ithamar, helped David to separate the family groups into two groups. Each group had certain duties. 4There were more leaders among the descendants of Eleazar than there were among the descendants of Ithamar. So they appointed 16 leaders from Eleazar’s descendants and eight leaders from Ithamar’s descendants. 5There were temple officials and priests there, including descendants of both Eleazar and Ithamar, to make sure that the work was equitable between the groups. So they decided what work each group would do by casting lots.

6Shemaiah son of Nethanel, who was an official secretary and a descendant of Levi, wrote down the names of the leaders of each group while David and his officials were watching. Zadok, the high priest, and Ahimelech son of Abiathar, and the leaders of the families of the priests and of the families of the other descendants of Levi also watched. The lots alternated between the two groups, starting with a family who descended from Eleazar then a family who descended from Ithamar. Once the eight leaders from families descended from Ithamar received their duties, the remaining duties went to leaders of families descended from Eleazar.

7Jehoiarib received the first lot cast.

Jedaiah received the next lot.

8Next was Harim,

then Seorim.

9Next was Malkijah,

then Mijamin.

10Next was Hakkoz,

then Abijah.

11Next was Jeshua,

then Shecaniah.

12Next was Eliashib.

then Jakim.

13Next was Huppah,

then Jeshebeab.

14Next was Bilgah,

then Immer.

15The remaining leaders descended from Eleazar. The 17 th lot went to Hezir.

Next was Happizzez.

16Next was Pethahiah,

then Jehezkel.

17Next was Jakin,

then Gamul.

18Next was Delaiah,

then Maaziah was the last.

19Those were the men selected to be the leaders of the groups that would serve in Yahweh’s temple, obeying the regulations that Aaron their ancestor gave, regulations which Yahweh, the God the Israelite people worship, had given to him.

20This is a list of some of the other descendants of Levi:

From the sons of Amram there was Shubael.

From the sons of Shubael there was Jehdeiah.

21From Rehabiah and from the sons of Rehabiah there was Isshiah, his oldest son.

22From the descendants of Kohath’s son Izhar there was Shelomoth.

From the descendants of Shelomoth there was Jahath.

23From the descendants of Kohath’s son Hebron there was his oldest son Jeriah and Amariah the second-born. Jahaziel was the third son, and Jekameam was the fourth son.

24From the descendants of Kohath’s son Uzziel there was Micah.

From the descendants of Micah there was Shamir.

25And Micah’s younger brother was Isshiah.

From the descendants of Isshiah there was Zechariah.

26The sons of Merari were Mahli, Mushi, and Jaaziah. Jaaziah’s first son was Beno.

27In Merari’s family line, from the descendants of Jaaziah, there were Beno, Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri.

28Mahli’s son Eleazar did not have any sons.

29From the descendants of Kish there was his son Jerahmeel.

30The sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth.

Those were descendants of Levi who were listed according to the leaders of their families. 31These men also decided the jobs they would do by casting lots just like their fellow Israelites the descendants of Aaron, did. They cast lots while King David, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the leaders of the families of the priests and the other descendants of Levi watched. The families of each oldest brother received the same treatment as those of the youngest.

251David and some of the temple officials chose some of the descendants of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to be in charge of teaching through song with harps, lyres, and cymbals. This is a list of the men whom they chose for that work:

2From Asaph’s family, they chose Asaph’s sons Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Aserelah. Asaph supervised them. The king appointed Asaph to teach through song.

3From Jeduthun’s family, they chose six sons of Jeduthun including Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah. Jeduthun supervised them and also taught through song, playing his harp while he thanked and praised Yahweh.

4From Heman’s family they chose the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shubael, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti-Eze, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth. 5They were all sons of Heman, who was King David’s prophet. God promised to cause Heman to be strong. God gave him 14 sons and three daughters.

6The fathers of all those men supervised the men while they played music in the temple of Yahweh. They played cymbals, harps, and lyres for their temple duty. The king supervised their fathers—Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman. 7Those men and their relatives were skilled in playing musical instruments and learned the music for playing songs to Yahweh in the temple. In all, there were 288 of them. 8All of them, including younger men and older men and those with experience and those without experience, cast lots to determine what work they would do.

9The first lot went to the family of Asaph, to his son Joseph and Joseph’s sons and relatives, 12 in all. Next, to Gedaliah and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

10Next, to Zaccur and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

11Next, to Izri and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

12Next, to Nethaniah and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

13Next, to Bukkiah and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

14Next, to Jesarelah and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

15Next, to Jeshaiah and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

16Next, to Mattaniah and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

17Next, to Shimei and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

18Next, to Azarel and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

19Next, to Hashabiah and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

20Next, to Shubael and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

21Next, to Mattithiah and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

22Next, to Jerimoth and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

23Next, to Hananiah and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

24Next, to Joshbekashah and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

25Next, to Hanani and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

26Next, to Mallothi and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

27Next, to Eliathah and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

28Next, to Hothir and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

29Next, to Giddalti and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

30Next, to Mahazioth and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

31Next, to Romamti-Eze and his sons and relatives, 12 in all.

261This is a list of the groups of men who guarded the temple gates:

From Korah’s descendants, there was Meshelemiah son of Kore, who was one of Asaph’s descendants.

2Meshelemiah had seven sons. His oldest son was Zechariah. His other sons were Jediael, Zebadiah, Jathniel, 3Elam, Jehohanan, and Eliehoenai.

4Another guard was Obed Edom. He had eight sons.

His oldest son was Shemaiah. His other sons were Jehozabad, Joah, Sakar, Nethanel, 5Ammiel, Issachar, and Peullethai. Obed Edom had many sons because God had blessed him.

6Obed Edom’s son Shemaiah also had sons. They were leaders in their father’s family because they were capable warriors.

7The sons of Shemaiah were Othni, Rephael, Obed, and Elzabad. Shemaiah’s relatives Elihu and Semakiah were also capable men.

8All of those descendants of Obed Edom and their sons and relatives were capable people and strong workers. Altogether there were 62 of them.

9Another guard was Meshelemiah. He and his sons and relatives were also capable people. There were 18 of them altogether.

10Another guard was Hosah, a descendant of Merari. Hosah had four sons. Hosah’s son Shimri was the leader of that family because Hosah appointed him to be the leader, even though Shimri was not Hosah’s oldest son. 11Hosah’s other sons were Hilkiah, Tabaliah, and Zechariah. Altogether there were 13 sons and relatives of Hosah.

12Those men were leaders of the groups of men who guarded the gates of the temple. They worked at the temple like their relatives did. 13By casting lots, the leader of each family chose one gate for their group to guard. All of them, including young men and old men, cast lots. 14The lot for Shelemiah’s group indicated they would guard the east gate. The group of Shelemiah’s son Zechariah, who was a wise counselor, cast lots. Those lots indicated Zechariah’s group would guard the north gate.

15The lot for Obed Edom’s group indicated they would guard the south gate, and the lot for Obed Edom’s sons indicated they would guard the entrances to the temple storerooms.

16The lots for Shuppim’s group and Hosah’s group indicated they would guard the west gate and the Shalleketh Gate on the upper road to the temple.

The work for the guards corresponded to what was necessary for each duty. 17Each day there were six descendants of Levi who guarded the east gate, four who guarded the north gate, four who guarded the south gate, and two at a time who guarded the entrances to the storerooms. 18At the west gate there were two men who guarded the courtyard and four who guarded the road outside the courtyard.

19Those were the groups of men who were descendants of Korah and Merari who guarded the gates of the temple.

20A man from the descendants of Levi, Ahijah, oversaw the places where the temple’s treasures were as well as the places where the Levites kept the gifts that the people brought to the temple. 21The descendants of Ladan were themselves descendants of Gershon. They were leaders among their family groups. A descendant of this Ladan from the descendants of Gershon was Jehiel. 22From the sons of Jehiel, Zetham and his younger brother Joel were in charge of the places where the temple’s treasures were.

23Others who did that work were descendants of Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.

24Shubael, a descendant of Moses’ son Gershom, was another leader in charge of where the treasures were. 25Others who did that work were the descendants of Gershom’s younger brother Eliezer. Those men were Eliezer’s son Rehabiah, Rehabiah’s son Jeshaiah, Jeshaiah’s son Joram, Joram’s son Zichri, and Zichri’s son Shelomith. 26Shelomith and his relatives were in charge of all the valuable things that certain people had dedicated to Yahweh. These people who dedicated things included King David, the leaders of the family groups, the army commanders of 1,000 soldiers and commanders of 100 soldiers, as well as other army commanders. 27They dedicated for the repair of Yahweh’s temple some of the valuable things that those army officers had taken from Israel’s enemies after Israel’s army had defeated enemies in battles. 28Shelomith and his relatives were also in charge of everything that the prophet Samuel, King Saul, and David’s two army commanders Abner and Joab had dedicated to Yahweh.

29From the descendants of Izhar, Kenaniah and his sons worked outside the temple area. They were officials and judges in various places in Israel.

30From the descendants of Hebron, Hashabiah and his relatives were responsible for all the work done for Yahweh and for the king in the area west of the Jordan river. There were 1,700 of them who were able to do their work well. 31Scribes recorded in the records of Hebron’s descendants that Jeriah was the leader of that family group. When David had been ruling for almost forty years, they searched in those records and found names of capable men descended from Hebron who were at the city of Jazer in the region of Gilead. 32Jeriah had 2,700 relatives who were able to do their work well and who were leaders of their families. King David put them in charge of governing the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the eastern half of the tribe of Manasseh, to ensure that all the people did what God commanded and what the king told them to do.

271This is a list of the Israelite men who served the king in the army. Some were leaders of families, some were commanders of 1,000 men, some were commanders of 100 men, and some were other officers. There were 24,000 men in each group. Each group served one month of each year.

2Jashobeam, son of Zabdiel, was in charge of the group that served during the first month of each year. 3He was a descendant of Perez, and he was the commander of all the army officers during the first month of each year.

4Dodai, from the clan of Ahohi, was the commander of the group that served during the second month of each year. Mikloth was an important leader in that group also.

5Benaiah, son of Jehoiada the high priest, was the commander of the group that served during the third month of each year. 6Benaiah was a mighty warrior among David’s 30 greatest soldiers, and he was their leader. His son Ammizabad was his assistant.

7Asahel, Joab’s younger brother, was the commander of the group that served during the fourth month of each year. Asahel’s son Zebadiah became the commander after Asahel was killed.

8Shamhuth, a descendant of Izrah, was the commander for the fifth month.

9The commander for the sixth month was Ira son of Ikkesh from the city of Tekoa.

10The commander for the seventh month was Helez, a member of the clan of Pelon from the tribe of Ephraim.

11The commander for the eighth month was Sibbekai, a descendant of Zerah from the city of Hushah.

12The commander for the ninth month was Abiezer from the city of Anathoth in the region belonging to the tribe of Benjamin.

13The commander for the tenth month was Maharai, a descendant of Zerah from the city of Netophath.

14The commander for the 11 th month was Benaiah, a descendant of Ephraim from the city of Pirathon.

15The commander for the 12 th month was Heldai, a descendant of Othniel from the city of Netophath.

16There were certain tribal leaders over each of the tribes of Israel:

Eliezer, son of Zicri, was the leader of the tribe of Reuben.

Shephatiah, son of Maacah, was the leader of the tribe of Simeon.

17Hashabiah, son of Kemuel, was the leader of the tribe of Levi.

Within the tribe of Levi, Zadok was the leader of Aaron’s descendants.

18Elihu, David’s older brother, was the leader of the tribe of Judah.

Omri, son of Michael, was the leader of the tribe of Issachar.

19Ishmaiah, son of Obadiah, was the leader of the tribe of Zebulun.

Jerimoth, son of Azriel, was the leader of the tribe of Naphtali.

20Hoshea, son of Azaziah, was the leader of the tribe of Ephraim.

Joel, son of Pedaiah, was the leader of the western half of the tribe of Manasseh.

21Iddo, son of Zechariah, was the leader of the eastern half of the tribe of Manasseh, in the region of Gilead.

Jaasiel, son of Abner, was the leader of the tribe of Benjamin.

22Azarel, son of Jeroham, was the leader of the tribe of Dan. These men were the tribal leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel.

23David did not tell Joab to count the men who were less than twenty years old, because Yahweh had promised many years previously that there would be as many people in Israel as there are stars in the sky. 24Joab and his helpers started to count the men of Israel, but they did not finish counting them because Joab knew that Yahweh was angry about the census. Yahweh punished the people of Israel because of this counting, and as a result the officials did not write the total number of Israelite men able to serve in the army on the scroll about King David’s rule.

25Azmaveth, son of Adiel, was in charge of the king’s storehouses.

Jonathan, son of Uzziah, was in charge of the agriculture storehouses in other towns and villages in Israel, as well as the watchtowers.

26Ezri son of Kelub was in charge of the workers who farmed the land that belonged to the king.

27Shimei from the city of Ramath was in charge of the king’s vineyards.

Zabdi from the city of Shepham was in charge of storing the wine from the grapes produced in the vineyards.

28Baal-Hanan from the city of Geder was in charge of the groves of olive and sycamore trees in the western foothills. Joash was in charge of storing the olive oil.

29Shitrai from the Plain of Sharon was in charge of the herds of cattle that grazed there.

Shaphat son of Adlai was in charge of the cattle in the valleys.

30Obil, a descendant of Ishmael, was in charge of the camels.

Jehdeiah from the city of Meronoth was in charge of the donkeys.

31Jaziz, a descendant of Hagar, was in charge of the king’s flocks of sheep.

All of those officials were in charge of the things that belonged to King David.

32David’s uncle Jonathan was a wise counselor for him and an official secretary.

Jehiel, son of Hacmoni, taught the king’s sons.

33Ahithophel was the king’s official counselor.

Hushai from the Ark people group was the king’s friend.

34Benaiah’s son Jehoiada became the king’s advisor after Ahithophel died, and later Abiathar became his advisor.

Joab was the chief commander of the army.

281David summoned all the leaders of Israel to come to Jerusalem. He summoned the leaders of the tribes, the leaders of the groups that worked for the king, the commanders of 1,000 soldiers, the commanders of 100 soldiers, those who were in charge of all the king’s property and his livestock, those who taught his sons, all the palace officials, and his mighty soldiers and bravest warriors.

2King David stood up and said, “My fellow Israelites, listen to me. I wanted to build a temple to be a place where we would put the sacred chest symbolizing the agreement between Yahweh and the people of Israel, where the sacred chest would act as the place of God’s presence. And I made plans to build the temple. 3But God said to me, ‘You are not the one to arrange the building of a temple to honor me, because you have fought battles and have killed people.’

4But Yahweh, the God to whom we Israelites belong, had chosen me and my descendants from all my relatives to be the kings of Israel forever. First he chose Judah to be a leader, and then from among the people of Judah and from my relatives, from among all my brothers, he chose me to be the king over all of Israel. 5Yahweh has given me many sons, but from them all he chose my son Solomon to be the next king to rule his kingdom of Israel. 6He said to me, ‘Solomon your son is the one who will arrange to build my temple and the courtyards around it, because I have chosen him to be like my son and I will be like his father. 7I will enable his kingdom to endure forever if he continues to obey my laws and decrees, like he is doing now.’

8So now, while all you people of Israel, all of you who belong to Yahweh, are watching, and while God is listening, I command all you people to carefully obey all the commands of Yahweh our God, in order that you may continue to possess this good land and enable your descendants to inherit it forever.

9And you, my son Solomon, must know God like I know him, and you must serve him faithfully and because you want to. You must do that because he knows what everyone is thinking and he understands the reasons that people do what they do. If you seek to know him, he will heed your prayers. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you forever. 10Recognize that Yahweh has chosen you to arrange the building of a temple for him. Be strong and do what he wants you to do.”

11Then David gave to his son Solomon the scroll which contained the plans for the buildings of the temple, its porch, its storerooms, all the other upper rooms, the holy place, and the very holy place which will contain the sacred chest and its lid. 12The scroll also contained the plans that he had for building the courtyards for Yahweh’s temple and all the surrounding rooms, including the rooms for the temple’s money and the rooms for valuable things that people dedicated to God. 13David gave Solomon instructions for the work groups of priests and other descendants of Levi, about all the work that they must do to serve in Yahweh’s temple, and about taking care of all the things they would use in the work at the temple. 14He had written down how much gold and how much silver to use to make all the items in the regular functions of the temple. The measurements of the amount of gold and silver were by weight. 15There was a list of how much gold to use for making the gold lampstands and the lamps, how much silver to use to make the silver lampstands and lamps, 16how much gold to use for making the table on which the priests would put the bread to display before God, how much silver to make the silver tables, 17how much pure gold for the meat forks and the bowls and the cups, how much gold for each gold dish, how much silver for each silver dish, 18how much refined gold to use to make the altar for burning incense, and how to make the golden statues of winged creatures that would be above the sacred chest symbolizing the agreement between Yahweh and the people of Israel, like a chariot for him.

19Then David said, “I have written all these plans with Yahweh’s direction. He has enabled me to understand all the details of his plan for the temple’s construction.”

20David also said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and courageous, and do this work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, because Yahweh our God, whom I worship, will be with you. He will not fail to help you or abandon you until you finish all the work of making his temple. 21Look, the groups of priests and other descendants of Levi are ready to begin their work at God’s temple, and every man who has a special skill will help you in all the work. And my officials and the other people will obey you, whatever you command them to do.”

291Then King David said to all the people who had gathered there, “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen to be the next king, is young and does not have much experience. This endeavor of building the temple is large and significant, because this glorious building will not be to honor people, but to honor Yahweh our God. 2From all the things that I possess, I have provided the resources to build the temple of my God—gold for the things made of gold, silver for the things made of silver, bronze for the things made of bronze, iron for the things made of iron, wood for the things made of wood, and large amounts of onyx for inlays and turquoise and other valuable stones of various colors, and marble. 3In addition to all these things that I have given for the holy temple, I am giving my own treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, because I very earnestly desire the construction of this temple for my God. 4I am giving about 100 metric tons of gold from Ophir and 230 metric tons of refined silver to cover the walls of the buildings, 5for making the other items of gold and silver, and for the other work the craftsmen will do. So now, I ask you, who is willing to show by contributing other gifts for the building of the temple that he has dedicated himself to Yahweh?”

6Then the leaders of the families, the leaders of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of 1,000 soldiers and the commanders of 100 soldiers, and the officials who supervised the work that the king wanted done, gave gifts willingly. 7For the work at the temple they gave 165 metric tons and eighty-four kilograms of gold, 330 metric tons of silver, 600 metric tons of bronze, and 3,300 metric tons of iron. 8Any people who owned valuable stones donated them to Yahweh’s temple. Officials stored the stones in the storeroom of the temple. Jehiel, a descendant of Gershon, was in charge of the stones. 9The people were happy to see that their leaders wanted to give those things; they were happy and enthusiastic to give those things to Yahweh. And King David also was very happy.

10Then, in front of all the people there, David praised Yahweh. He said,

“We praise you, Yahweh,

the God whom our ancestor Jacob worshiped.

We will praise you forever!

11You, Yahweh, are great and powerful;

you are glorious, majestic and wonderful.

All of this is true because everything in heaven and on the earth is yours.

You are the king of all the world

and the exalted ruler of everything.

12Wealth and honor come from you;

you reign over all things.

Because you are very powerful,

you are able to cause anyone to be great and be strong.

13So now, our God, we thank you,

and we praise you for being majestic.

14But I and my people are not really able to give anything to you,

because everything that we have comes from you;

the things that we have given to you are only the things that we have received from you.

15You know that we are like foreigners and strangers to you, as our ancestors were.

Our years here on earth are like a shadow that disappears quickly;

we know that there is nothing that can enable us to escape dying.

16Yahweh our God, we have gathered all these things to use in building your temple to glorify your reputation as holy,

but all of it really belongs to you, and you have given it to us. We give it all back to you.

17My God, I know that you test us people,

and you are pleased when we do what is right.

All these things I have given to you because I wanted to.

And now I am pleased to see that your people have gathered in this place and generously given things to you.

18Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worshiped,

help your people continue to desire to do things like this forever,

and help them be loyal to you.

19Please enable my son Solomon to faithfully and sincerely obey all of your laws

and do everything that is needed to build this temple

for which I have provided all these things.”

20Then David said to all the people who were gathered there, “Praise Yahweh our God!” So they all praised Yahweh the God whom their ancestors also worshiped. They prostrated themselves on the ground in front of Yahweh and in front of the king.

21The next day the people offered sacrifices to Yahweh. They presented many animals that they completely burned on the altar: 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, 1,000 young sheep, offerings of wine, and many other sacrifices for all the people of Israel to eat. 22On that day the people were joyful and ate and drank in Yahweh’s honor.

Then for the second time they declared that Solomon, David’s son, was now the king. They anointed him with olive oil to be the king on behalf of Yahweh, and they anointed Zadok to be the high priest. 23So Solomon sat on the throne which represented Yahweh’s reign over Israel. Solomon became king in the place of his father David. During the following years Solomon prospered, and all the Israelite people obeyed him. 24All the officers and mighty warriors, as well as King David’s other sons accepted Solomon as their king and promised to obey him.

25Yahweh caused all the Israelite people to highly respect Solomon. Yahweh gave him a splendorous kingdom. No king of Israel who served Yahweh received such a kingdom like Solomon did.

26Jesse’s son David was the king who ruled all of Israel. 27He ruled over Israel for 40 years: seven years in the city of Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem. 28He was very rich and very much honored, and he became an old man. Then he died, and his son Solomon became the king in David’s place.

29Take note, a record of all the things that King David did while he ruled, from the beginning to the end, the prophets Samuel, Nathan, and Gad wrote on scrolls. 30They told about his powerful rule, and all the things that happened to him and to the people of Israel and in the kingdoms of other countries while he was ruling Israel.