14 Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel-beth-maacah and through the entire region of the Berites, who gathered together and followed him.

15 And Joab’s troops came and besieged Sheba in Abel-beth-maacah and built a siege ramp against the outer rampart of the city.

As all the troops with Joab were battering the wall to topple it, 16a wise woman called out from the city, “Listen! Listen! Please tell Joab to come here so that I may speak with him.”

17 When he had come near to her, the woman asked, “Are you Joab?”

“I am,” he replied.

“Listen to the words of your servant,” she said.

“I am listening,” he answered.

18 Then the woman said, “Long ago they used to say, ‘Seek counsel at Abel,’ and that is how disputes were settled. 19I am among the peaceable and faithful in Israel, but you are trying to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up the Lord’s inheritance?”

20“Far be it!” Joab declared. “Far be it from me to swallow up or destroy! 21That is not the case. But a man named Sheba son of Bichri, from the hill country of Ephraim, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David. Deliver him alone, and I will depart from the city.”

“Look,” the woman replied, “his head will be thrown to you over the wall.”

22 Then the woman went to all the people with her wise counsel, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he blew the ram’s horn and his men dispersed from the city, each to his own home. And Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.

23 Now Joab was over the whole army of Israel; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pelethites; 24Adoram was in charge of the forced labor; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder; 25Sheva was the scribe; Zadok and Abiathar were priests; 26and Ira the Jairite was David’s priest.

1 During the reign of David there was a famine for three successive years, and David sought the face of the Lord.

And the Lord said, “It is because of the blood shed by Saul and his family, because he killed the Gibeonites.”

2 At this, David summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not Israelites, but a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had taken an oath concerning them, but in his zeal for Israel and Judah, Saul had sought to kill them.)

3 So David asked the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? How can I make amends so that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord?”

4 The Gibeonites said to him, “We need no silver or gold from Saul or his house, nor should you put to death anyone in Israel for us.”

“Whatever you ask, I will do for you,” he replied.

5 And they answered the king, “As for the man who consumed us and plotted against us to exterminate us from existing within any border of Israel, 6let seven of his male descendants be delivered to us so that we may hang them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.”

“I will give them to you,” said the king.

7 Now the king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before the Lord between David and Jonathan son of Saul. 8But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons whom Rizpah daughter of Aiah had borne to Saul, as well as the five sons whom Merab daughter of Saul had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite. 9And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the Lord. So all seven of them fell together; they were put to death in the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

10 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain from heaven poured down on the bodies, she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

11 When David was told what Saul’s concubine Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, had done, 12he went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan where the Philistines had hung the bodies after they had struck down Saul at Gilboa.

13 So David had the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan brought from there, and they also gathered the bones of those who had been hanged. 14And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in Zela in the land of Benjamin, in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish.

After they had done everything the king had commanded, God answered their prayers for the land.

15 Once again the Philistines waged war against Israel, and David and his servants went down and fought against the Philistines. But David became exhausted.

16 Then Ishbi-benob, a descendant of Rapha, whose bronze spear weighed three hundred shekels and who was bearing a new sword, resolved to kill David. 17But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine, and killed him.

Then David’s men swore to him, “You must never again go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel may not be extinguished.”

18 Some time later at Gob, there was another battle with the Philistines. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, a descendant of Rapha.

19 Once again there was a battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

20 And there was also a battle at Gath, where there was a man of great stature with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot— twenty-four in all. He too was descended from Rapha, 21and when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of David’s brother Shimei killed him.

22 So these four descendants of Rapha in Gath fell at the hands of David and his servants.

1 In my first book, O Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach, 2until the day He was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen. 3After His suffering, He presented Himself to them with many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a span of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

4 And while they were gathered together, He commanded them: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift the Father promised, which you have heard Me discuss . 5For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. ”

6 So when they came together, they asked Him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7 Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9 After He had said this, they watched as He was taken up, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. 10They were looking intently into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”

12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is near the city, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13When they arrived, they went to the upper room where they were staying: Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14With one accord they all continued in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (a gathering of about a hundred and twenty) and said, 16“Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit foretold through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus. 17He was one of our number and shared in this ministry.”

18(Now with the reward for his wickedness Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong and burst open in the middle, and all his intestines spilled out. 19This became known to all who lived in Jerusalem, so they called that field in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

20“For it is written in the book of Psalms:

and,

21 Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22beginning from John’s baptism until the day Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”

23 So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas(also known as Justus) and Matthias. 24And they prayed, “Lord, You know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two You have chosen 25to take up this ministry and apostleship, which Judas abandoned to go to his rightful place.”

26 Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias. So he was added to the eleven apostles.