July 22nd

Of the sons of Asaph:

Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah; the sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied under the direction of the king.

Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun:

Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun with the harp, who prophesied in giving thanks and praising Yahweh.

Of Heman, the sons of Heman:

Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti and Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth.

All these were the sons of Heman the king’s seer to exalt him according to the words of God. So God gave fourteen sons and three daughters to Heman.

All these were under the direction of their father to sing in the house of Yahweh, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the direction of the king.

And their number who were trained in singing to Yahweh, with their relatives, all who were skillful, was 288.

They cast lots for their responsibilities, each alongside the other, the small as well as the great, the teacher as well as the pupil.

¶Now the first lot came out for Asaph to Joseph,

the second for Gedaliah, he with his relatives and sons were twelve;

the third to Zaccur, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the fourth to Izri, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the fifth to Nethaniah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the sixth to Bukkiah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the seventh to Jesharelah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the eighth to Jeshaiah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the ninth to Mattaniah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the tenth to Shimei, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the eleventh to Azarel, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the twelfth to Hashabiah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

for the thirteenth, Shubael, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

for the fourteenth, Mattithiah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

for the fifteenth to Jeremoth, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

for the sixteenth to Hananiah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

for the seventeenth to Joshbekashah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

for the eighteenth to Hanani, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

for the nineteenth to Mallothi, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

for the twentieth to Eliathah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

for the twenty-first to Hothir, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

for the twenty-second to Giddalti, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

for the twenty-third to Mahazioth, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

for the twenty-fourth to Romamti-ezer, his sons and his relatives, twelve.

For the divisions of the gatekeepers there were of the Korahites, Meshelemiah the son of Kore, of the sons of Asaph.

Meshelemiah had sons:

Zechariah the firstborn, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth,

Elam the fifth, Johanan the sixth, Eliehoenai the seventh.

Obed-edom had sons:

Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sacar the fourth, Nethanel the fifth,

Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh and Peullethai the eighth; God had indeed blessed him.

Also to his son Shemaiah sons were born who ruled over the house of their father, for they were mighty men of valor.

The sons of Shemaiah were Othni, Rephael, Obed, and Elzabad, whose brothers, Elihu and Semachiah, were men of valor.

All these were of the sons of Obed-edom; they and their sons and their relatives were valiant men with strength for the service, sixty-two from Obed-edom.

Meshelemiah had sons and relatives, eighteen men of valor.

Also Hosah, one of the sons of Merari had sons:

Shimri the first (although he was not the firstborn, his father made him first),

Hilkiah the second, Tebaliah the third, Zechariah the fourth; all the sons and relatives of Hosah were thirteen.

To these divisions of the gatekeepers, the chief men, were given responsibilities like their relatives to minister in the house of Yahweh.

And they cast lots, the small and the great alike, according to their fathers’ households, for every gate.

And the lot to the east fell to Shelemiah. Then they cast lots for his son Zechariah, a counselor with insight, and his lot came out to the north.

For Obed-edom it fell to the south, and to his sons went the house of storerooms.

For Shuppim and Hosah it was to the west, by the gate of Shallecheth, on the ascending highway. Guard corresponded to guard.

On the east there were six Levites, on the north four daily, on the south four daily, and at the storerooms two by two.

At the Parbar on the west there were four at the highway and two at the Parbar.

These were the divisions of the gatekeepers of the sons of Korah and of the sons of Merari.

As for the Levites, Ahijhah was over the treasures of the house of God and of the treasures of the holy gifts.

The sons of Ladan, the sons of the Gershonites belonging to Ladan, namely, the Jehielites, were the heads of the fathers’ households, belonging to Ladan the Gershonite.

The sons of Jehieli, Zetham, and Joel his brother, were over the treasures of the house of Yahweh.

As for the Amramites, the Izharites, the Hebronites and the Uzzielites,

Shebuel the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, was officer over the treasures.

And his relatives by Eliezer were Rehabiah his son, Jeshaiah his son, Joram his son, Zichri his son, and Shelomoth his son.

This Shelomoth and his relatives were over all the treasures of the holy gifts which King David and the heads of the fathers’ households, the commanders of thousands and hundreds, and the commanders of the army, had set apart as holy.

They set apart as holy part of what was won in battles and part of the spoil to repair the house of Yahweh.

And all that Samuel the seer had set apart as holy and Saul the son of Kish, Abner the son of Ner, and Joab the son of Zeruiah, everyone who had set apart anything as holy, all of this was in the care of Shelomoth and his relatives.

As for the Izharites, Chenaniah and his sons were assigned to the outside work for Israel, as officers and judges.

As for the Hebronites, Hashabiah and his relatives, 1,700 men of valor, were over the administration of Israel across the Jordan to the west, for all the work of Yahweh and the service of the king.

As for the Hebronites, Jerijah the chief (these Hebronites were investigated according to their generations and fathers’ households, in the fortieth year of David’s reign, and mighty men of valor were found among them at Jazer of Gilead)

and his relatives, men of valor, were 2,700 in number, heads of fathers’ households. And King David made them overseers of the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of the Manassites concerning all the affairs of God and of the king.

And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,

so that cloths or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.

But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to invoke over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I implore you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.”

Now seven sons of one named Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”

And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them, subdued all of them, and utterly prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.

Also, many of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices.

And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and were burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.

So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.

Now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”

And having sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

Now about that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way.

For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little business to the craftsmen;

these he gathered together with the workers of similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity is from this business.

And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable crowd, saying that things made with hands are not gods.

And not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be considered as worthless and that she, whom all of Asia and the world worship, is even about to be brought down from her majesty.”

When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

And the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.

And when Paul wanted to go into the assembly, the disciples would not let him.

Also some of the Asiarchs who were friends of his sent to him and repeatedly urged him not to venture into the theater.

So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the meeting was in confusion and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together.

And some of the crowd concluded it was Alexander, since the Jews had put him forward; and having motioned with his hand, Alexander was intending to make a defense to the assembly.

But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a single cry arose from them all as they shouted for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

Now after calming the crowd, the city clerk *said, “Men of Ephesus, what man is there after all who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the image which fell down from heaven?

So, since these are undeniable facts, you ought to keep calm and to do nothing rash.

For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.

So then, if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are in session and proconsuls are available; let them bring charges against one another.

But if you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in the lawful meeting.

For indeed we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today’s events, since there is no cause for which we can give as an account for this disorderly gathering.”

After saying this he dismissed the meeting.