Through the Bible – Day 148

₂David ordered the foreigners living in Israel to come to Jerusalem. Then he assigned some to cut blocks of stone for building the temple. ₃He got a large supply of iron to make into nails and hinges for the doors, and he provided so much bronze that it could not be weighed. ₄He also had cedar logs brought in from the cities of Sidon and Tyre.

₅He said, “The temple for the LORD must be great, so that everyone in the world will know about it. But since my son Solomon is young and has no experience, I will make sure that everything is ready for the temple to be built.”

That's why David did all these things before he died.

₆David sent for his son Solomon and told him to build a temple for the LORD God of Israel. ₇He said:

₁₇David then gave orders for the leaders of Israel to help Solomon. ₁₈David said:

₁David was old when he chose his son Solomon to be king of Israel. ₂Some time later, David called together all of Israel's leaders, priests, and Levites. ₃He then counted the Levite men who were at least thirty years old, and the total was thirty-eight thousand. ₄He said, “Twenty-four thousand of the Levites will be in charge of the temple, six thousand will be temple officials and judges, ₅four thousand will be guards at the temple, and four thousand will praise the LORD by playing the musical instruments I have given them.”

₆David then divided the Levites into three groups according to the clans of Levi's sons, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

₇Gershon had two sons: Ladan and Shimei. ₈Ladan was the father of Jehiel, Zetham, and Joel. ₉They were all family leaders among their father's descendants. Shimei was the father of Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran. _10-11Later, Shimei had four more sons, in the following order: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. But Jeush and Beriah didn't have many children, so their descendants were counted as one family.

₁₂Kohath had four sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. ₁₃Amram was the father of Aaron and Moses. Aaron and his descendants were chosen to be in charge of all the sacred things. They served the LORD by offering sacrifices to him and by blessing the people in his name. _14-15Moses, the man of God, was the father of Gershom and Eliezer, and their descendants were considered Levites. ₁₆Gershom's eldest son was Shebuel. ₁₇Rehabiah, who was Eliezer's only son, had many children. ₁₈The second son born to Kohath was Izhar, and his eldest son was Shelomith. ₁₉Hebron, the third son of Kohath, was the father of Jeriah, Amariah, Jahaziel, and Jekameam. ₂₀Kohath's youngest son, Uzziel, was the father of Micah and Isshiah.

₂₁Merari had two sons: Mahli and Mushi. Mahli was the father of Eleazar and Kish. ₂₂Eleazar had no sons, only daughters, and they married their uncle's sons. ₂₃Mushi the second son of Merari, was the father of Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth.

₂₄These were the clans and families of the tribe of Levi. Those who were twenty years and older were assigned to work at the LORD's temple.

₂₅David said:

₁Aaron's descendants were then divided into work groups. Aaron had four sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ₂But Nadab and Abihu died long before their father, without having any sons. That's why Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.

₃David divided Aaron's descendants into groups, according to their assigned work. Zadok, one of Eleazar's descendants, and Ahimelech, one of Ithamar's descendants, helped David.

₄Eleazar's descendants were divided into sixteen groups, and Ithamar's were divided into eight groups, because Eleazar's family included more family leaders. ₅However, both families included temple officials and priests, and so to make sure the work was divided fairly, David asked God what to do.

₆As each group was assigned their duties, Shemaiah the son of Nethanel the Levite wrote down the name of the family leader in charge of that group. The witnesses were David and his officials, as well as Zadok the priest, Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the family leaders from the clans of the priests and the Levites.

_7-18Each group of priests went by the name of its family leader, and they were assigned their duties in the following order: Jehoiarib, Jedaiah, Harim, Seorim, Malchijah, Mijamin, Hakkoz, Abijah, Jeshua, Shecaniah, Eliashib, Jakim, Huppah, Jeshebeab, Bilgah, Immer, Hezir, Happizzez, Pethahiah, Jehezkel, Jachin, Gamul, Delaiah, Maaziah. ₁₉These men were assigned their duties at the temple, just as the LORD God of Israel had commanded their ancestor Aaron.

₂₀Here is a list of the other descendants of Levi:

₂₇Jaaziah had three sons: Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri. _28-29Mahli was the father of Eleazar and Kish. Eleazar had no sons, but Kish was the father of Jerahmeel. ₃₀Mushi had three sons: Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth.

These were the descendants of Levi, according to their clans. ₃₁Each one was assigned his duties in the same way that their relatives the priests had been assigned their duties. David, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the family leaders of the priests and Levites were the witnesses.

_1-2A man called Lazarus was sick in the village of Bethany. He had two sisters, Mary and Martha. This was the same Mary who later poured perfume on the Lord's head and wiped his feet with her hair. ₃The sisters sent a message to the Lord and told him that his good friend Lazarus was sick.

₄When Jesus heard this, he said, “His sickness won't end in death. It will bring glory to God and his Son.”

₅Jesus loved Martha and her sister and brother. ₆But he stayed where he was for two more days. ₇Then he said to his disciples, “Now we will go back to Judea.”

₈“Teacher,” they said, “the people there want to stone you to death! Why do you want to go back?”

₉Jesus answered, “Aren't there twelve hours in each day? If you walk during the day, you will have light from the sun, and you won't stumble. ₁₀But if you walk during the night, you will stumble, because you don't have any light.” ₁₁Then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, and I am going there to wake him up.”

₁₂They replied, “Lord, if he is asleep, he will get better.” ₁₃Jesus really meant that Lazarus was dead, but they thought he was talking only about sleep.

₁₄Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead! ₁₅I am glad that I wasn't there, because now you will have a chance to put your faith in me. Let's go to him.”

₁₆Thomas, whose nickname was “Twin”, said to the other disciples, “Come on. Let's go, so we can die with him.”

₁₇When Jesus got to Bethany, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. ₁₈Bethany was less than three kilometres from Jerusalem, ₁₉and many people had come from the city to comfort Martha and Mary because their brother had died.

₂₀When Martha heard that Jesus had arrived, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house. ₂₁Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ₂₂Yet even now I know that God will do anything you ask.”

₂₃Jesus told her, “Your brother will live again!”

₂₄Martha answered, “I know that he will be raised to life on the last day, when all the dead are raised.”

₂₅Jesus then said, “I am the one who raises the dead to life! Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die. ₂₆And everyone who lives because of faith in me will never really die. Do you believe this?”

₂₇“Yes, Lord!” she replied. “I believe that you are Christ, the Son of God. You are the one we hoped would come into the world.”

₂₈After Martha said this, she went and privately said to her sister Mary, “The Teacher is here, and he wants to see you.” ₂₉As soon as Mary heard this, she got up and went out to Jesus. ₃₀He was still outside the village where Martha had gone to meet him. ₃₁Many people had come to comfort Mary, and when they saw her quickly leave the house, they thought she was going out to the tomb to cry. So they followed her.

₃₂Mary went to where Jesus was. Then as soon as she saw him, she knelt at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

₃₃When Jesus saw that Mary and the people with her were crying, he was terribly upset ₃₄and asked, “Where have you put his body?”

They replied, “Lord, come and you will see.”

₃₅Jesus started crying, ₃₆and the people said, “See how much he loved Lazarus.”

₃₇Some of them said, “He gives sight to the blind. Why couldn't he have kept Lazarus from dying?”

₃₈Jesus was still terribly upset. So he went to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone rolled against the entrance. ₃₉Then he told the people to roll the stone away. But Martha said, “Lord, you know that Lazarus has been dead four days, and there will be a bad smell.”

₄₀Jesus replied, “Didn't I tell you that if you had faith, you would see the glory of God?”

₄₁After the stone had been rolled aside, Jesus looked up towards heaven and prayed, “Father, I thank you for answering my prayer. ₄₂I know that you always answer my prayers. But I said this, so that the people here would believe that you sent me.”

₄₃When Jesus had finished praying, he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” ₄₄The man who had been dead came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with strips of burial cloth, and a cloth covered his face.

Jesus then told the people, “Untie him and let him go.”