¹⁴ And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Beth-maacah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him. ¹⁵ And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah, and they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart; and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down. ¹⁶ Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee. ¹⁷ And he came near unto her; and the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thy handmaid. And he answered, I do hear. ¹⁸ Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so they ended the matter. ¹⁹ I am of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of Jehovah? ²⁰ And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy. ²¹ The matter is not so: but a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David; deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. ²² Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. And he blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king.

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²³ Now Joab was over all the host of Israel; and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites; ²⁴ and Adoram was over the men subject to taskwork; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder; ²⁵ and Sheva was scribe; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests; ²⁶ and also Ira the Jairite was chief minister unto David.

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21 And there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Jehovah. And Jehovah said, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put to death the Gibeonites. ² And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah); ³ and David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of Jehovah? ⁴ And the Gibeonites said unto him, It is no matter of silver or gold between us and Saul, or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you. ⁵ And they said unto the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the borders of Israel, ⁶ let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto Jehovah in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of Jehovah. And the king said, I will give them.

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⁷ But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of Jehovah’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. ⁸ But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bare to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite: ⁹ and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before Jehovah, and they fell all seven together. And they were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest.

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¹⁰ And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water was poured upon them from heaven; and she suffered neither the birds of the heavens to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. ¹¹ And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.

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¹² And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the street of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, in the day that the Philistines slew Saul in Gilboa; ¹³ and he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son: and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged. ¹⁴ And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was entreated for the land.

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¹⁵ And the Philistines had war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. And David waxed faint; ¹⁶ and Ishbi-benob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David. ¹⁷ But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succored him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the lamp of Israel.

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¹⁸ And it came to pass after this, that there was again war with the Philistines at ^‍Gob: then Sibbecai the Hushathite slew ^‍Saph, who was of the sons of the giant. ¹⁹ And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Beth-lehemite slew Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. ²⁰ And there was again war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant. ²¹ And when he ^‍defied Israel, Jonathan the son of ^‍Shimei, David’s brother, slew him. ²² These four were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

1 The ^‍former treatise I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, ² until the day in which he was received up, after that he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit unto the apostles whom he had chosen: ³ to whom he also showed himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing unto them by the space of forty days, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God: ⁴ and, being assembled together with them, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, said he, ye heard from me: ⁵ for John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence.

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⁶ They therefore, when they were come together, asked him, saying, Lord, dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? ⁷ And he said unto them, It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father hath ^‍set within his own authority. ⁸ But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. ⁹ And when he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. ¹⁰ And while they were looking stedfastly into heaven as he went, behold two men stood by them in white apparel; ¹¹ who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven.

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¹² Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is nigh unto Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey off. ¹³ And when they were come in, they went up into the upper chamber, where they were abiding; both Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. ¹⁴ These all with one accord continued stedfastly in prayer, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

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¹⁵ And in these days Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren, and said (and there was a multitude of ^‍persons gathered together, about a hundred and twenty), ¹⁶ Brethren, it was needful that the scripture should be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spake before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who was guide to them that took Jesus. ¹⁷ For he was numbered among us, and received his ^‍portion in this ministry. ¹⁸ (Now this man obtained a field with the reward of his iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. ¹⁹ And it became known to all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch that in their language that field was called Akeldama, that is, The field of blood.) ²⁰ For it is written in the book of Psalms,

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^‍Let his habitation be made desolate,
And let no man dwell therein:

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and,

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His office let another take.

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²¹ Of the men therefore that have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and went out ^‍among us, ²² beginning from the baptism of John, unto the day that he was received up from us, of these must one become a witness with us of his resurrection. ²³ And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. ²⁴ And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show of these two the one whom thou hast chosen, ²⁵ to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas fell away, that he might go to his own place. ²⁶ And they gave lots for them; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Jehovah the keeper of his people.

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A Song of Ascents.

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121 I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains:
From whence shall my help come?
² My help cometh from Jehovah,
Who made heaven and earth.

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³ He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:
He that keepeth thee will not slumber.
⁴ Behold, he that keepeth Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
⁵ Jehovah is thy keeper:
Jehovah is thy shade upon thy right hand.
⁶ The sun shall not smite thee by day,
Nor the moon by night.
⁷ Jehovah will keep thee from all evil;
He will keep thy soul.
⁸ Jehovah will keep thy going out and thy coming in
From this time forth and for evermore.

¹⁸ Pride goeth before destruction,
And a haughty spirit before a fall.

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