The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday July 8, 2022 (NIV)

¹⁸ The Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh were warriors who carried shield and sword, drew the bow, and were trained for war—44,760 ready for military service. ¹⁹ When they waged war on the Hagrites (the Jeturites, the Naphishites, and the Nodabites), ²⁰ they received help against them. The Hagrites and all who were with them were handed over to them, because they cried out to God in battle. God granted their prayer because they trusted in him. ²¹ They seized their livestock: 50,000 of their camels, 250,000 sheep and goats, 2,000 donkeys, and 100,000 captives. ²² Many died, because God fought the battle. They lived there in place of the inhabitants until the exile.

²³ The members of half the tribe of Manasseh lived in the land from Bashan to Baal-hermon, Senir, and Mount Hermon. They were very numerous.

²⁵ But they were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors and faithlessly followed the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. ²⁶ As a result, Israel’s God stirred up the spirit of Assyria’s King Pul, otherwise known as Assyria’s King Tilgath-pilneser, who led the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh into exile, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the Gozan River, where they remain to this day.

High priests

Levites

Levitical singers

³¹ David put the following in charge of the music in the Lord’s house after the chest was placed there. ³² They ministered with song before the dwelling of the meeting tent, until Solomon built the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem. They carried out their usual duties. ³³ Those who served and their families were:

Priests from Aaron’s line

⁴⁹ Aaron and his sons sacrificed on the altar for entirely burned offerings and on the altar for incense, doing all the work of the holiest place, to make reconciliation for Israel, just as Moses, God’s servant, had commanded.

Levitical cities

⁵⁴ These are the places they lived by their camps within their territory. To Aaron’s family from the Kohathite clan, as chosen by lot, ⁵⁵ they gave Hebron in the land of Judah with its surrounding pasturelands. ⁵⁶ But the city’s fields and its settlements they gave to Caleb, Jephunneh’s son. ⁵⁷ To Aaron’s family they gave the refuge cities: Hebron, Libnah with its pasturelands, Jattir, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands, ⁵⁸ Hilen^[e] with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands, ⁵⁹ Ashan with its pasturelands, Juttah with its pasturelands,^[f] and Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands. ⁶⁰ From Benjamin’s tribe: Gibeon with its pasturelands,^[g] Geba with its pasturelands, Alemeth with its pasturelands, and Anathoth with its pasturelands. They had thirteen towns within their clan.

⁶¹ The remaining Kohathites were given ten towns by lot from the clan of half the tribe of Manasseh. ⁶² The Gershomites received by lot according to their clans thirteen towns from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Manasseh in Bashan. ⁶³ The Merarites received by lot according to their clans twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun. ⁶⁴ In this way the Israelites gave the Levites the towns with their pasturelands. ⁶⁵ They gave these towns, which they designated by name, by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.

⁶⁶ Some of the Kohathite clans had towns of their territory from the tribe of Ephraim. ⁶⁷ They gave them refuge cities: Shechem with its pasturelands in the Ephraimite highlands, Gezer with its pasturelands, ⁶⁸ Jokmeam with its pasturelands, Beth-horon with its pasturelands, ⁶⁹ Aijalon with its pasturelands, Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands; ⁷⁰ and from half the tribe of Manasseh, Taanach^[h] with its pasturelands, and Bileam with its pasturelands, for the Kohathite clans who remained.

⁷¹ To the Gershomites from the clan of half the tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan with its pasturelands and Ashtaroth with its pasturelands; ⁷² from the tribe of Issachar: Kedesh with its pasturelands and Daberath with its pasturelands, ⁷³ Ramoth with its pasturelands and Anem with its pasturelands; ⁷⁴ from the tribe of Asher: Mashal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands, and ⁷⁵ Helkath^[i] with its pasturelands and Rehob with its pasturelands; ⁷⁶ and from the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its pasturelands, Hammon with its pasturelands, and Kiriathaim with its pasturelands. ⁷⁷ To the remaining Merarites from the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam with its pasturelands,^[j] Rimmon^[k] with its pasturelands, Tabor with its pasturelands, and Nahalal with its pasturelands;^{[l] 78} on the other side of the Jordan at Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan, from the tribe of Reuben: Bezer in the desert with its pasturelands, Jahzah with its pasturelands, ⁷⁹ Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands; ⁸⁰ and from the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, Mahanaim with its pasturelands, ⁸¹ Heshbon with its pasturelands, and Jazer with its pasturelands.

Paul’s defense before Agrippa

26 Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak for yourself.”

So Paul gestured with his hand and began his defense. ² “King Agrippa, I consider myself especially fortunate that I stand before you today as I offer my defense concerning all the accusations the Jews have brought against me. ³ This is because you understand well all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I ask you to listen to me patiently. ⁴ Every Jew knows the way of life I have followed since my youth because, from the beginning, I was among my people and in Jerusalem. ⁵ They have known me for a long time. If they wanted to, they could testify that I followed the way of life set out by the most exacting group of our religion. I am a Pharisee. ⁶ Today I am standing trial because of the hope in the promise God gave our ancestors. ⁷ This is the promise our twelve tribes hope to receive as they earnestly worship night and day. The Jews are accusing me, King Agrippa, because of this hope! ⁸ Why is it inconceivable to you that God raises the dead?

⁹ “I really thought that I ought to oppose the name of Jesus the Nazarene in every way possible. ¹⁰ And that’s exactly what I did in Jerusalem. I locked up many of God’s holy people in prison under the authority of the chief priests. When they were condemned to death, I voted against them. ¹¹ In one synagogue after another—indeed, in all the synagogues—I would often torture them, compelling them to slander God. My rage bordered on the hysterical as I pursued them, even to foreign cities.

¹² “On one such journey, I was going to Damascus with the full authority of the chief priests. ¹³ While on the road at midday, King Agrippa, I saw a light from heaven shining around me and my traveling companions. That light was brighter than the sun. ¹⁴ We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice that said to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you harassing me? It’s hard for you to kick against a spear.’^{[a] 15} Then I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are harassing. ¹⁶ Get up! Stand on your feet! I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you as my servant and witness of what you have seen and what I will show you. ¹⁷ I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you ¹⁸ to open their eyes. Then they can turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, and receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are made holy by faith in me.’

¹⁹ “So, King Agrippa, I wasn’t disobedient to that heavenly vision. ²⁰ Instead, I proclaimed first to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, then to the whole region of Judea and to the Gentiles. My message was that they should change their hearts and lives and turn to God, and that they should demonstrate this change in their behavior. ²¹ Because of this, some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to murder me. ²² God has helped me up to this very day. Therefore, I stand here and bear witness to the lowly and the great. I’m saying nothing more than what the Prophets and Moses declared would happen: ²³ that the Christ would suffer and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to my people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴ At this point in Paul’s defense, Festus declared with a loud voice, “You’ve lost your mind, Paul! Too much learning is driving you mad!”

²⁵ But Paul replied, “I’m not mad, most honorable Festus! I’m speaking what is sound and true. ²⁶ King Agrippa knows about these things, and I have been speaking openly to him. I’m certain that none of these things have escaped his attention. This didn’t happen secretly or in some out-of-the-way place. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.”

²⁸ Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you trying to convince me that, in such a short time, you’ve made me a Christian?”

²⁹ Paul responded, “Whether it is a short or a long time, I pray to God that not only you but also all who are listening to me today will become like me, except for these chains.”

³⁰ The king stood up, as did the governor, Bernice, and those sitting with them. ³¹ As they left, they were saying to each other, “This man is doing nothing that deserves death or imprisonment.”

³² Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he hadn’t appealed to Caesar.”

Psalm 6

For the music leader. On stringed instruments. According to the eighth.^[a] A psalm of David.