Through the Bible – Day 149

₁David and the temple officials chose the descendants of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to be in charge of music. They were to praise the LORD by playing cymbals, harps and other stringed instruments. Here is a list of the musicians and their duties:

₂Asaph's four sons, Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asarelah, were under the direction of their father and played music whenever the king told them to.

₃Jeduthun's six sons, Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, were under the direction of their father and played harps and sang praises to the LORD.

₄Heman had fourteen sons: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamtiezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth. ₅Heman was one of the king's prophets, and God honoured Heman by giving him fourteen sons and three daughters. ₆His sons were under his direction and played cymbals, harps, and other stringed instruments during times of worship at the temple.

Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman took their orders directly from the king.

₇There were two hundred and eighty-eight of these men, and all of them were skilled musicians. ₈David assigned them their duties by asking the LORD what he wanted. Everyone was responsible for something, whether young or old, teacher or student.

_9-31The musicians were divided into twenty-four groups of twelve, and each group went by the name of their family leader. They were assigned their duties in the following order: Joseph, Gedaliah, Zaccur, Zeri, Nethaniah, Bukkiah, Asarelah, Jeshaiah, Mattaniah, Shimei, Uzziel, Hashabiah, Shebuel, Mattithiah, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Joshbekashah, Hanani, Mallothi, Eliathah, Hothir, Giddalti, Mahazioth, and Romamtiezer.

₁The temple guards were also divided into groups according to clans.

Meshelemiah son of Kore was from the Korah clan and was a descendant of Asaph. ₂He had seven sons, who were born in the following order: Zechariah, Jediael, Zebadiah, Jathniel, ₃Elam, Jehohanan, and Eliehoenai.

_4-5Obed-Edom had been blessed with eight sons: Shemaiah, Jehozabad, Joah, Sachar, Nethanel, Ammiel, Issachar, and Peullethai.

_6-7Shemaiah was the father of Othni, Rephael, Obed, Elzabad, Elihu, and Semachiah. They were all respected leaders in their clan. ₈There were sixty-two descendants of Obed-Edom who were strong enough to be guards at the temple.

₉Eighteen descendants of Meshelemiah were chosen for this work.

_10-11Hosah, from the Merari clan, was the father of Shimri, Hilkiah, Tebaliah, and Zechariah. Hosah had made Shimri the family leader, even though he was not the eldest son. Thirteen men from Hosah's family were chosen to be temple guards.

₁₂The guards were divided into groups, according to their family leaders, and they were assigned duties at the temple, just like the other Levites. ₁₃Each group, no matter how large or small, was assigned a gate to guard, and they let the LORD show them what he wanted done.

₁₄Shelemiah was chosen to guard the East Gate. Zechariah his son was a wise man and was chosen to guard the North Gate. ₁₅Obed-Edom was then chosen to guard the South Gate, and his sons were chosen to guard the storerooms. ₁₆Shuppim and Hosah were chosen to guard the West Gate and the Shallecheth Gate on the upper road.

The guards were assigned the following work schedule: ₁₇each day six guards were on duty on the east side of the temple, four were on duty on the north side, and four were on duty on the south side. Two guards were stationed at each of the two storerooms, ₁₈four were stationed along the road leading to the west courtyard, and two guards stayed in the court itself.

₁₉These were the guard duties assigned to the men from the clans of Korah and Merari.

₂₀The Levites who were relatives of the Korahites and the Merarites were in charge of guarding the temple treasury and the gifts that had been dedicated to God.

₂₁Ladan was from the Gershon clan and was the father of Jehieli. Many of his other descendants were family leaders in the clan. ₂₂Jehieli was the father of Zetham and Joel, and they were responsible for guarding the treasury.

₂₃Other guards at the treasury were from the Kohathite clans of Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

₂₄Shebuel was a descendant of Gershom the son of Moses. He was the chief official in charge of the temple treasury. ₂₅The descendants of Gershom's brother Eliezer included Rehabiah, Jeshaiah, Joram, Zichri, and Shelomoth.

₂₆Shelomoth and his relatives were in charge of all the gifts that were dedicated to the LORD. These included the gifts that King David had dedicated, as well as those dedicated by the family leaders, army officers, and army commanders. ₂₇And whenever valuable things were captured in battle, these men brought some of them to the temple. ₂₈Shelomoth and his relatives were responsible for any gifts that had been given to the temple, including those from Samuel the prophet, King Saul the son of Kish, Abner the son of Ner, and Joab the son of Zeruiah.

₂₉Chenaniah from the Izhar clan and his sons were government officials and judges. They did not work at the temple.

₃₀Hashabiah from the Hebron clan and one thousand seven hundred of his skilled relatives were the officials in charge of all religious and government business in the Israelite territories west of the River Jordan.

_31-32Jerijah was the leader of the Hebron clan. David assigned him and two thousand seven hundred of his relatives, who were all respected family leaders, to be the officials in charge of all religious and government business in the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh. David found out about these men during the fortieth year of his rule, when he had a list made of all the families in the Hebron clan. They were from the town of Jazer in the territory of Gilead.

₁Each month a group of twenty-four thousand men served as soldiers in Israel's army. These men, which included the family leaders, army commanders, and officials of the king, were under the command of the following men, arranged by the month of their service:

₂In the first month, Jashobeam the son of Zabdiel, ₃a descendant of Perez;

₄in the second month, Dodai the Ahohite, whose assistant was Mikloth;

₅in the third month, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada the priest, ₆who was the leader of the Thirty Warriors, and whose son Ammizabad was also an army commander;

₇in the fourth month, Asahel the brother of Joab, whose son Zebadiah took over command after him;

₈in the fifth month, Shamhuth from the Izrah clan;

₉in the sixth month, Ira the son of Ikkesh from Tekoa;

₁₀in the seventh month, Helez from Pelon in the territory of Ephraim;

₁₁in the eighth month, Sibbecai from Hushah of the Zerah clan;

₁₂in the ninth month, Abiezer from Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin;

₁₃in the tenth month, Maharai from Netophah of the Zerah clan;

₁₄in the eleventh month, Benaiah from Pirathon in the territory of Ephraim;

₁₅in the twelfth month, Heldai from Netophah, who was a descendant of Othniel.

_16-22Here is a list of the leaders of each tribe in Israel:

Eliezer son of Zichri was over Reuben; Shephatiah son of Maacah was over Simeon; Hashabiah son of Kemuel was over the Levites, and Zadok the priest was over the descendants of Aaron; Elihu the brother of David was over Judah; Omri son of Michael was over Issachar; Ishmaiah son of Obadiah was over Zebulun; Jerimoth son of Azriel was over Naphtali; Hoshea son of Azaziah was over Ephraim; Joel son of Pedaiah was over West Manasseh; Iddo son of Zechariah was over East Manasseh; Jaasiel son of Abner was over Benjamin; Azarel son of Jeroham was over Dan.

₂₃When David decided to count the people of Israel, he gave orders not to count anyone under twenty years of age, because the LORD had promised long ago that Israel would have as many people as there are stars in the sky. ₂₄Joab the son of Zeruiah had begun to count the people, but he stopped when the LORD began punishing Israel. So the total number was never included in David's official records.

₂₅Azmaveth the son of Adiel was in charge of the king's personal storage rooms. Jonathan the son of Uzziah was in charge of the king's other storerooms that were in the towns, the villages, and the defence towers in Israel.

₂₆Ezri the son of Chelub was in charge of the workers who farmed the king's land.

₂₇Shimei from Ramah was in charge of the vineyards, and Zabdi from Shepham was in charge of storing the wine.

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

₂₉Shitrai from Sharon was responsible for the cattle that were kept in Sharon Plain, and Shaphat son of Adlai was responsible for those kept in the valleys.

₃₀Obil the Ishmaelite was in charge of the camels, Jehdeiah from Meronoth was in charge of the donkeys, and Jaziz the Hagrite was in charge of the sheep and goats.

₃₁These were the men in charge of David's royal property.

₃₂David's uncle Jonathan was a wise and intelligent adviser. He and Jehiel the son of Hachmoni taught David's sons.

₃₃Ahithophel and Hushai the Archite were two of David's advisers. ₃₄Jehoiada the son of Benaiah was the king's adviser after Ahithophel, and later, Abiathar was his adviser.

Joab was commander of Israel's army.

₄₅Many of the people who had come to visit Mary saw the things that Jesus did, and they put their faith in him. ₄₆Others went to the Pharisees and told what Jesus had done. ₄₇Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called the council together and said, “What should we do? This man is performing a lot of miracles. ₄₈If we don't stop him now, everyone will put their faith in him. Then the Romans will come and destroy our temple and our nation.”

₄₉One of the council members was Caiaphas, who was also high priest that year. He spoke up and said, “You people don't have any sense at all! ₅₀Don't you know it is better for one person to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed?” ₅₁Caiaphas did not say this on his own. As high priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus would die for the nation. ₅₂Yet Jesus would not die just for the Jewish nation. He would die to bring together all God's scattered people. ₅₃From that day on, the council started making plans to put Jesus to death.

₅₄Because of this plot against him, Jesus stopped going around in public. He went to the town of Ephraim, which was near the desert, and he stayed there with his disciples.

₅₅It was almost time for Passover. Many of the Jewish people who lived out in the country had come to Jerusalem to get themselves ready for the festival. ₅₆They looked around for Jesus. Then when they were in the temple, they asked each other, “You don't think he will come here for Passover, do you?”

₅₇The chief priests and the Pharisees told the people to let them know if any of them saw Jesus. That is how they hoped to arrest him.

₁Six days before Passover Jesus went back to Bethany, where he had raised Lazarus from death. ₂A meal had been prepared for Jesus. Martha was doing the serving, and Lazarus himself was there.

₃Mary took a very expensive bottle of perfume and poured it on Jesus' feet. She wiped them with her hair, and the sweet smell of the perfume filled the house.

₄A disciple named Judas Iscariot was there. He was the one who was going to betray Jesus, and he asked, ₅“Why wasn't this perfume sold for three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor?” ₆Judas did not really care about the poor. He asked this because he carried the money bag and sometimes would steal from it.

₇Jesus replied, “Leave her alone! She has kept this perfume for the day of my burial. ₈You will always have the poor with you, but you won't always have me.”

₉A lot of people came when they heard that Jesus was there. They also wanted to see Lazarus, because Jesus had raised him from death. ₁₀So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus. ₁₁He was the reason that many of the Jewish people were turning from them and putting their faith in Jesus.