The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday July 10, 2020 (NIV)

A Genealogy of the Returned Exiles

9 So all Israel was recorded in genealogies, and these are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. And ^(A)Judah was taken into exile in Babylon because of their breach of faith. ^2 (B)Now the first to ^(C)dwell again in their possessions in their cities were Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the ^(D)temple servants. ³ And some of the people of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh lived in Jerusalem: ⁴ Uthai the son of Ammihud, son of Omri, son of Imri, son of Bani, from the sons of ^(E)Perez the son of Judah. ⁵ And of the Shilonites: Asaiah the firstborn, and his sons. ⁶ Of the sons of Zerah: Jeuel and their kinsmen, 690. ⁷ Of the Benjaminites: Sallu the son of Meshullam, son of Hodaviah, son of Hassenuah, ⁸ Ibneiah the son of Jeroham, Elah the son of Uzzi, son of Michri, and Meshullam the son of Shephatiah, son of Reuel, son of Ibnijah; ⁹ and their kinsmen according to their generations, ^(F)956. All these were heads of fathers' houses according ^(G)to their fathers' houses.

^10 (H)Of the priests: Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, Jachin, ¹¹ and Azariah the son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, the ^(I)chief officer of the house of God; ¹² and Adaiah the son of Jeroham, son of Pashhur, son of Malchijah, and Maasai the son of Adiel, son of Jahzerah, son of Meshullam, son of Meshillemith, son of Immer; ¹³ besides their kinsmen, heads of their fathers' houses, 1,760, mighty men for the work of the service of the house of God.

^14 (J)Of the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah, of the sons of Merari; ¹⁵ and Bakbakkar, Heresh, Galal and Mattaniah the son of Mica, son of Zichri, son of Asaph; ¹⁶ and Obadiah the son of Shemaiah, son of Galal, son of Jeduthun, and Berechiah the son of Asa, son of Elkanah, who lived in the villages of the Netophathites.

¹⁷ The gatekeepers were Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their kinsmen (Shallum was the chief); ¹⁸ until then they were ^(K)in the king's gate on the east side as the gatekeepers of the camps of the Levites. ¹⁹ Shallum the son of Kore, son of ^(L)Ebiasaph, son of Korah, and his kinsmen of his fathers' house, the ^(M)Korahites, were in charge of the work of the service, keepers of the thresholds of the tent, as their fathers had been in charge of the camp of the Lord, keepers of the entrance. ²⁰ And ^(N)Phinehas the son of Eleazar was the chief officer over them in time past; the Lord was with him. ^21 (O)Zechariah the son of Meshelemiah was gatekeeper at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ²² All these, who were chosen as gatekeepers at the thresholds, were 212. They were enrolled by genealogies in their villages. ^(P)David and Samuel ^(Q)the seer established them in their office of trust. ²³ So they and their sons were in charge of the gates of the house of the Lord, that is, the house of the tent, as guards. ²⁴ The gatekeepers were on the four sides, east, west, north, and south. ²⁵ And their kinsmen who were ^(R)in their villages were obligated to come ^(S)in every seven days, in turn, to be with these, ²⁶ for the four chief gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted to be over ^(T)the chambers and the treasures of the house of God. ²⁷ And they lodged around the house of God, for on them lay the duty of watching, and ^(U)they had charge of opening it every morning.

²⁸ Some of them had charge of the utensils of service, for they were required to count them when they were brought in and taken out. ²⁹ Others of them were appointed over the furniture and over all the holy utensils, also over the ^(V)fine flour, the wine, the oil, the incense, and the spices. ³⁰ Others, of the sons of the priests, ^(W)prepared the mixing of the spices, ³¹ and Mattithiah, one of the Levites, the firstborn of ^(X)Shallum the ^(Y)Korahite, was entrusted with ^(Z)making the flat cakes. ³² Also some of their kinsmen of the Kohathites had ^(AA)charge of the showbread, to prepare it every Sabbath.

³³ Now these, the ^(AB)singers, the heads of fathers' houses of the Levites, were in the chambers of the temple free from other service, for they were on duty day and night. ³⁴ These were heads of fathers' houses of the Levites, according to their generations, leaders. These lived in Jerusalem.

Saul's Genealogy Repeated

^35 (AC)In Gibeon lived the father of Gibeon, Jeiel, and the name of his wife was Maacah, ³⁶ and his firstborn son Abdon, then Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab, ³⁷ Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah, and Mikloth; ³⁸ and Mikloth was the father of Shimeam; and these also lived opposite their kinsmen in Jerusalem, with their kinsmen. ^39 (AD)Ner fathered Kish, Kish fathered Saul, Saul fathered Jonathan, Malchi-shua, Abinadab, and Eshbaal. ⁴⁰ And the son of Jonathan was ^(AE)Merib-baal, and Merib-baal fathered Micah. ⁴¹ The sons of Micah: Pithon, Melech, Tahrea, and ^(AF)Ahaz.^{[a] 42} And Ahaz fathered ^(AG)Jarah, and Jarah fathered Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri. And Zimri fathered Moza. ⁴³ Moza fathered Binea, and ^(AH)Rephaiah was his son, Eleasah his son, Azel his son. ⁴⁴ Azel had six sons and these are their names: Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan; these were the sons of Azel.

The Death of Saul and His Sons

10 ^(AI)Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. ² And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. ³ The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was wounded by the archers. ⁴ Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and mistreat me.” But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. ⁵ And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died. ⁶ Thus Saul died; he and his three sons and all his house died together. ⁷ And when all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that the army^[b] had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled, and the Philistines came and lived in them.

⁸ The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ And they stripped him and took his head and his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to their idols and to the people. ¹⁰ And they put his armor in the temple of their gods and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon. ¹¹ But when all Jabesh-gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹² all the valiant men arose and took away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh. And they buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh and fasted seven days.

¹³ So Saul died ^(AJ)for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord, and also ^(AK)consulted a medium, seeking guidance. ¹⁴ He ^(AL)did not seek guidance from the Lord. Therefore the Lord put him to death and ^(AM)turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.

²¹ Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, ^(A)you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this ^(B)injury and loss. ²² Yet now I urge you to ^(C)take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. ²³ For this very night ^(D)there ^(E)stood before me ^(F)an angel of the God ^(G)to whom I belong and ^(H)whom I worship, ²⁴ and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; ^(I)you must stand before Caesar. And behold, ^(J)God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ ²⁵ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. ²⁶ But ^(K)we must ^(L)run aground on some island.”

²⁷ When the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. ²⁸ So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms.^[a] A little farther on they took a sounding again and found fifteen fathoms.^{[b] 29} And fearing that we might ^(M)run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. ³⁰ And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered ^(N)the ship's boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, ³¹ Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” ³² Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it go.

³³ As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. ³⁴ Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength,^[c] for ^(O)not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” ³⁵ And when he had said these things, he took bread, and ^(P)giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat. ³⁶ Then they all ^(Q)were encouraged and ate some food themselves. ³⁷ (We were in all 276^{[d] (R)}persons in the ship.) ³⁸ And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, ^(S)throwing out the wheat into the sea.

The Shipwreck

³⁹ Now when it was day, ^(T)they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore. ⁴⁰ So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders. Then hoisting the foresail to the wind they made for the beach. ⁴¹ But striking a reef,^{[e] (U)}they ran the vessel aground. The bow stuck and remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf. ^42 (V)The soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any should swim away and escape. ⁴³ But the centurion, ^(W)wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land, ⁴⁴ and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that ^(X)all were brought safely to land.

How Majestic Is Your Name

To the choirmaster: according to The ^(A)Gittith.^[a] A Psalm of David.