1 Chronicles 9; 1 Chronicles 10; 1 Chronicles 11

1 Chronicles 9

1 The names of all the people of Israel were listed in their family histories, and those family histories were put in the book of the kings of Israel. The people of Judah were captured and forced to go to Babylon, because they were not faithful to God.

2 The first people to come back and live in their own lands and towns were some Israelites, priests, Levites, and Temple servants.

3 People from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh lived in Jerusalem. This is a list of those people.

4 There was Uthai son of Ammihud. (Ammihud was Omri's son. Omri was Imri's son. Imri was Bani's son. Bani was a descendant of Perez, and Perez was Judah's son.)

5 Of the Shilonite people there were Asaiah and his sons. Asaiah was the oldest son in his family.

6 Of the Zerahite people there were Jeuel and other relatives of Zerah. There were six hundred ninety of them in all.

7 From the tribe of Benjamin there was Sallu son of Meshullam. (Meshullam was Hodaviah's son, and Hodaviah was Hassenuah's son.)

8 There was also Ibneiah son of Jeroham and Elah son of Uzzi. (Uzzi was Micri's son.) And there was Meshullam son of Shephatiah. (Shephatiah was Reuel's son, and Reuel was Ibnijah's son.)

9 The family history of Benjamin lists nine hundred fifty-six people living in Jerusalem, and all these were leaders of their families.

10 Of the priests there were Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, Jakin, and

11 Azariah son of Hilkiah. (Hilkiah was Meshullam's son. Meshullam was Zadok's son. Zadok was Meraioth's son. Meraioth was Ahitub's son. Ahitub was the officer responsible for the Temple of God.)

12 Also there was Adaiah son of Jeroham. (Jeroham was Pashhur's son, and Pashhur was Malkijah's son.) And there was Maasai son of Adiel. (Adiel was Jahzerah's son. Jahzerah was Meshullam's son. Meshullam was Meshillemith's son, and Meshillemith was Immer's son.)

13 There were one thousand seven hundred sixty priests. They were leaders of their families, and they were responsible for serving in the Temple of God.

14 Of the Levites there was Shemaiah son of Hasshub. (Hasshub was Azrikam's son, and Azrikam was Hashabiah's son. Hashabiah was from the family of Merari.)

15 There were also Bakbakkar, Heresh, Galal, and Mattaniah son of Mica. (Mica was Zicri's son, and Zicri was Asaph's son.)

16 There was also Obadiah son of Shemaiah. (Shemaiah was Galal's son, and Galal was Jeduthun's son.) And there was Berekiah son of Asa. (Asa was the son of Elkanah, who lived in the villages of the Netophathites.)

17 Of the gatekeepers there were Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their relatives. Shallum was their leader.

18 These gatekeepers from the tribe of Levi still stand next to the King's Gate on the east side of the city.

19 Shallum was Kore's son. Kore was Ebiasaph's son, and Ebiasaph was Korah's son. Shallum and his relatives from the family of Korah were gatekeepers and were responsible for guarding the gates of the Temple. Their ancestors had also been responsible for guarding the entrance to the Temple of the Lord.

20 In the past Phinehas, Eleazar's son, was in charge of the gatekeepers, and the Lord was with Phinehas.

21 Zechariah son of Meshelemiah was the gatekeeper at the entrance to the Temple.

22 In all, two hundred twelve men were chosen to guard the gates, and their names were written in their family histories in their villages. David and Samuel the seer chose these men because they were dependable.

23 The gatekeepers and their descendants had to guard the gates of the Temple of the Lord. (The Temple took the place of the Holy Tent.)

24 There were gatekeepers on all four sides of the Temple: east, west, north, and south.

25 The gatekeepers' relatives who lived in the villages had to come and help them at times. Each time they came they helped the gatekeepers for seven days.

26 Because they were dependable, four gatekeepers were made the leaders of all the gatekeepers. They were Levites, and they were responsible for the rooms and treasures in the Temple of God.

27 They stayed up all night guarding the Temple of God, and they opened it every morning.

28 Some of the gatekeepers were responsible for the utensils used in the Temple services. They counted these utensils when people took them out and when they brought them back.

29 Other gatekeepers were chosen to take care of the furniture and utensils in the Holy Place. They also took care of the flour, wine, oil, incense, and spices,

30 but some of the priests took care of mixing the spices.

31 There was a Levite named Mattithiah who was dependable and had the job of baking the bread used for the offerings. He was the first son of Shallum, who was from the family of Korah.

32 Some of the gatekeepers from the Kohath family had the job of preparing the special bread that was put on the table every Sabbath day.

33 Some of the Levites were musicians in the Temple. The leaders of these families stayed in the rooms of the Temple. Since they were on duty day and night, they did not do other work in the Temple.

34 These are the leaders of the Levite families. Their names were listed in their family histories, and they lived in Jerusalem.

35 Jeiel lived in the town of Gibeon, where he was the leader. His wife was named Maacah.

36 Jeiel's first son was Abdon. His other sons were Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab,

37 Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah, and Mikloth.

38 Mikloth was Shimeam's father. Jeiel's family lived near their relatives in Jerusalem.

39 Ner was Kish's father. Kish was Saul's father. Saul was the father of Jonathan, Malki-Shua, Abinadab, and Esh-Baal.

40 Jonathan's son was Merib-Baal, who was the father of Micah.

41 Micah's sons were Pithon, Melech, Tahrea, and Ahaz.

42 Ahaz was Jadah's father. Jadah was the father of Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri. Zimri was Moza's father.

43 Moza was Binea's father. Rephaiah was Binea's son. Eleasah was Rephaiah's son, and Azel was Eleasah's son.

44 Azel had six sons: Azrikam, Bokeru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. They were Azel's sons.

1 Chronicles 10

1 The Philistines fought against Israel, and the Israelites ran away from them. Many Israelites were killed on Mount Gilboa.

2 The Philistines fought hard against Saul and his sons, killing his sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua.

3 The fighting was heavy around Saul, and the archers shot him with their arrows and wounded him.

4 Then Saul said to the officer who carried his armor, "Pull out your sword and stab me. If you don't, these Philistines who are not circumcised will come and hurt me." But Saul's officer refused, because he was afraid. So Saul took his own sword and threw himself on it.

5 When the officer saw that Saul was dead, he threw himself on his own sword and died.

6 So Saul and three of his sons died; all his family died together.

7 When 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 Philistines came and settled in them.

8 The next day when the Philistines came to strip the dead soldiers, they found Saul and his sons dead on Mount Gilboa.

9 The Philistines stripped Saul's body and took his head and his armor. Then they sent messengers through all their country to tell the news to their idols and to their people.

10 The Philistines put Saul's armor in the temple of their idols and hung his head in the temple of Dagon.

11 All the people in Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul.

12 So the brave men of Jabesh went and got the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their bones under the large tree in Jabesh. Then the people of Jabesh gave up eating for seven days.

13 Saul died because he was not faithful to the Lord and did not obey the Lord. He even went to a medium and asked her for advice

14 instead of asking the Lord. This is why the Lord put Saul to death and gave the kingdom to Jesse's son David.

1 Chronicles 11

1 Then the people of Israel came to David at the town of Hebron and said, "Look, we are your own family.

2 Even when Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel in battle. The Lord your God said to you, 'You will be the shepherd for my people Israel. You will be their leader.'"

3 So all the older leaders of Israel came to King David at Hebron. He made an agreement with them in Hebron in the presence of the Lord. Then they poured oil on David to make him king over Israel. The Lord had promised through Samuel that this would happen.

4 David and all the Israelites went to the city of Jerusalem. At that time Jerusalem was called Jebus, and the people living there were named Jebusites.

5 They said to David, "You can't get inside our city." But David did take the city of Jerusalem with its strong walls, and it became the City of David.

6 David had said, "The person who leads the attack against the Jebusites will become the commander over all my army." Joab son of Zeruiah led the attack, so he became the commander of the army.

7 Then David made his home in the strong, walled city, which is why it was named the City of David.

8 David rebuilt the city, beginning where the land was filled in and going to the wall that was around the city. Joab repaired the other parts of the city.

9 David became stronger and stronger, and the Lord All-Powerful was with him.

10 This is a list of the leaders over David's warriors who helped make David's kingdom strong. All the people of Israel also supported David's kingdom. These heroes and all the people of Israel made David king, just as the Lord had promised.

11 This is a list of David's warriors: Jashobeam was from the Hacmonite people. He was the head of the Three, David's most powerful soldiers. He used his spear to fight three hundred men at one time, and he killed them all.

12 Next was Eleazar, one of the Three. Eleazar was Dodai's son from the Ahohite people.

13 Eleazar was with David at Pas Dammim when the Philistines came there to fight. There was a field of barley at that place. The Israelites ran away from the Philistines,

14 but they stopped in the middle of that field and fought for it and killed the Philistines. The Lord gave them a great victory.

15 Once, three of the Thirty, David's chief soldiers, came down to him at the rock by the cave near Adullam. At the same time the Philstine army had camped in the Valley of Rephaim.

16 At that time David was in a stronghold, and some of the Philistines were in Bethlehem.

17 David had a strong desire for some water. He said, "Oh, I wish someone would get me water from the well near the city gate of Bethlehem!"

18 So the Three broke through the Philistine army and took water from the well near the city gate in Bethlehem. Then they brought it to David, but he refused to drink it. He poured it out before the Lord,

19 saying, "May God keep me from drinking this water! It would be like drinking the blood of the men who risked their lives to bring it to me!" So David refused to drink it. These were the brave things that the three warriors did.

20 Abishai brother of Joab was the captain of the Three. Abishai fought three hundred soldiers with his spear and killed them. He became as famous as the Three

21 and was more honored than the Three. He became their commander even though he was not one of them.

22 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a brave fighter from Kabzeel who did mighty things. He killed two of the best warriors from Moab. He also went down into a pit and killed a lion on a snowy day.

23 Benaiah killed an Egyptian who was about seven and one-half feet tall and had a spear as large as a weaver's rod. Benaiah had a club, but he grabbed the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear.

24 These were the things Benaiah son of Jehoiada did. He was as famous as the Three.

25 He received more honor than the Thirty, but he did not become a member of the Three. David made him leader of his bodyguards.

26 These were also mighty warriors: Asahel brother of Joab; Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem;

27 Shammoth the Harorite; Helez the Pelonite;

28 Ira son of Ikkesh from Tekoa; Abiezer the Anathothite;

29 Sibbecai the Hushathite; Ilai the Ahohite;

30 Maharai the Netophathite; Heled son of Baanah the Netophathite;

31 Ithai son of Ribai from Gibeah in Benjamin; Benaiah the Pirathonite;

32 Hurai from the ravines of Gaash; Abiel the Arbathite;

33 Azmaveth the Baharumite; Eliahba the Shaalbonite;

34 the sons of Hashem the Gizonite; Jonathan son of Shagee the Hararite;

35 Ahiam son of Sacar the Hararite; Eliphal son of Ur;

36 Hepher the Mekerathite; Ahijah the Pelonite;

37 Hezro the Carmelite; Naarai son of Ezbai;

38 Joel brother of Nathan; Mibhar son of Hagri;

39 Zelek the Ammonite; Naharai the Berothite, the officer who carried the armor for Joab son of Zeruiah;

40 Ira the Ithrite; Gareb the Ithrite;

41 Uriah the Hittite; Zabad son of Ahlai;

42 Adina son of Shiza the Reubenite, who was the leader of the Reubenites, and his thirty soldiers;

43 Hanan son of Maacah; Joshaphat the Mithnite;

44 Uzzia the Ashterathite; Shama and Jeiel sons of Hotham the Aroerite;

45 Jediael son of Shimri; Joha, Jediael's brother, the Tizite;

46 Eliel the Mahavite; Jeribai and Joshaviah, Elnaam's sons; Ithmah the Moabite;

47 Eliel, Obed, and Jaasiel the Mezobaites.