Through the Bible – Day 107

Bible text(s)

2 Samuel 5

David becomes king of Israel

1Israel's leaders met with David at Hebron and said, “We are your relatives. 2Even when Saul was king, you led our nation in battle. And the LORD promised that some day you would rule Israel and take care of us like a shepherd.”

3During the meeting, David made an agreement with the leaders and asked the LORD to be their witness. Then the leaders poured olive oil on David's head to show that he was now the king of Israel.

4David was thirty years old when he became king, and he ruled for forty years. 5He lived in Hebron for the first seven and a half years and ruled only Judah. Then he moved to Jerusalem, where he ruled both Israel and Judah for thirty-three years.

How David captured Jerusalem

6The Jebusites lived in Jerusalem, and David led his army there to attack them. The Jebusites did not think he could get in, so they told him, “You can't get in here! We could drive you away, even if we couldn't see or walk!”

7-9David told his troops, “You will have to go up through the water tunnel to get those Jebusites. I hate people like them who can't walk or see.”

That's why there is still a rule that says, “Only people who can walk and see are allowed in the temple.”

David captured the fortress on Mount Zion, then he moved there and named it David's City. He had the city rebuilt, starting with the landfill to the east. 10David became a great and strong ruler, because the LORD All-Powerful was on his side.

11King Hiram of Tyre sent some officials to David. Carpenters and stone workers came with them, and they brought cedar logs so they could build David a palace.

12David knew that the LORD had made him king of Israel and that he had made him a powerful ruler for the good of his people.

David's sons born in Jerusalem

13After David left Hebron and moved to Jerusalem, he married many women from Jerusalem, and he had a lot of children. 14His sons who were born there were Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 15Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 16Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

David fights the Philistines

17The Philistines heard that David was now king of Israel, and they came into the hill country to try and capture him. But David found out and went into his fortress. 18So the Philistines camped in Rephaim Valley.

19David asked the LORD, “Should I attack the Philistines? Will you let me win?”

The LORD told David, “Attack! I will let you win.”

20David attacked the Philistines and defeated them. Then he said, “I watched the LORD break through my enemies like a mighty flood.” So he named the place “The Lord Broke Through”. 21David and his troops also carried away the idols that the Philistines had left behind.

22Some time later, the Philistines came back into the hill country and camped in Rephaim Valley. 23David asked the LORD what he should do, and the LORD answered:

Don't attack them from the front. Circle around behind and attack from among the balsam trees. 24Wait until you hear a sound like troops marching through the tops of the trees. Then attack quickly! That sound will mean I have marched out ahead of you to fight the Philistine army.

25David obeyed the LORD and defeated the Philistines. He even chased them all the way from Geba to the entrance to Gezer.

2 Samuel 6

David brings the sacred chest back to Jerusalem

1David brought together thirty thousand of Israel's best soldiers and 2led them to Baalah in Judah, which was also called Kiriath-Jearim. They were going there to get the sacred chest and bring it back to Jerusalem. The throne of the LORD All-Powerful is above the winged creatures on top of this chest, and he is worshipped there.

3They put the sacred chest on a new ox cart and started bringing it down the hill from Abinadab's house. Abinadab's sons Uzzah and Ahio were guiding the ox cart, 4with Ahio walking in front of it. 5Some of the people of Israel were playing music on small harps and other stringed instruments, and on tambourines, castanets, and cymbals. David and the others were happy, and they danced for the LORD with all their might.

6But when they came to Nacon's threshing floor, the oxen stumbled, so Uzzah reached out and took hold of the sacred chest. 7The LORD God was very angry with Uzzah for doing this, and he killed Uzzah there beside the chest.

8David got angry with God for killing Uzzah. He named that place “Bursting Out Against Uzzah”, and that's what it's still called.

9David was afraid of the LORD and thought, “Should I really take the sacred chest to my city?” 10He decided not to take it there. Instead, he turned off the road and took it to the home of Obed-Edom, who was from Gath.

11-12The chest stayed there for three months, and the LORD greatly blessed Obed-Edom, his family, and everything he owned. Then someone told King David, “The LORD has done this because the sacred chest is in Obed-Edom's house.”

Straight away, David went to Obed-Edom's house to get the chest and bring it to David's City. Everyone was celebrating. 13The people carrying the chest walked six steps, then David sacrificed an ox and a choice cow. 14He was dancing for the LORD with all his might, but he wore only a linen cloth. 15He and everyone else were celebrating by shouting and blowing horns while the chest was being carried along.

16Saul's daughter Michal looked out of her window and watched the chest being brought into David's City. But when she saw David jumping and dancing for the LORD, she was disgusted.

17They put the chest inside a tent that David had set up for it. David worshipped the LORD by sacrificing animals and burning them on an altar, 18then he blessed the people in the name of the LORD All-Powerful. 19He gave all the men and women in the crowd a small loaf of bread, some meat, and a handful of raisins, and everyone went home.

Michal talks to David

20David went home so he could ask the LORD to bless his family. But Saul's daughter Michal went out and started yelling at him. “You were really great today!” she said. “You acted like a dirty old man, dancing around half-naked in front of your servants' slave-girls.”

21David told her, “The LORD didn't choose your father or anyone else in your family to be the leader of his people. The LORD chose me, and I was celebrating in honour of him. 22I'll show you just how great I can be! I'll even be disgusting to myself. But those slave-girls you talked about will still honour me!”

23Michal never had any children.

2 Samuel 5:1-6:23CEVOpen in Bible reader

Luke 12

Worry

22Jesus said to his disciples:

I tell you not to worry about your life! Don't worry about having something to eat or wear. 23Life is more than food or clothing. 24Look at the crows! They don't plant or harvest, and they don't have storehouses or barns. But God takes care of them. You are much more important than any birds. 25Can worry make you live longer? 26If you don't have power over small things, why worry about everything else?

27Look how the wild flowers grow! They don't work hard to make their clothes. But I tell you that Solomon with all his wealth wasn't as well clothed as one of these flowers. 28God gives such beauty to everything that grows in the fields, even though it is here today and thrown into a fire tomorrow. Won't he do even more for you? You have such little faith!

29Don't keep worrying about having something to eat or drink. 30Only people who don't know God are always worrying about such things. Your Father knows what you need. 31But put God's work first, and these things will be yours as well.

Jesus continued:

32My little group of disciples, don't be afraid! Your Father wants to give you the kingdom. 33Sell what you have and give the money to the poor. Make yourselves money bags that never wear out. Make sure your treasure is safe in heaven, where thieves cannot steal it and moths cannot destroy it. 34Your heart will always be where your treasure is.

Jesus continued:

35Be ready and keep your lamps burning 36just like those servants who wait up for their master to return from a wedding feast. As soon as he comes and knocks, they open the door for him. 37Servants are fortunate if their master finds them awake and ready when he comes! I promise you that he will get ready and make his servants sit down so that he can serve them. 38Those servants are really fortunate if their master finds them ready, even though he comes late at night or early in the morning. 39You would not let a thief break into your home, if you knew when the thief was coming. 40So always be ready! You don't know when the Son of Man will come.

41Peter asked Jesus, “Did you say this just for us or for everyone?”

42The Lord answered:

Who are faithful and wise servants? Who are the ones the master will put in charge of giving the other servants their food supplies at the proper time? 43Servants are fortunate if their master comes and finds them doing their job. 44A servant who is always faithful will be put in charge of everything the master owns.

45But suppose one of the servants thinks that the master won't return until late. Suppose that servant starts beating all the other servants and eats and drinks and gets drunk. 46If that happens, the master will come on a day and at a time when the servant least expects him. That servant will then be punished and thrown out with the servants who cannot be trusted.

47If servants are not ready or willing to do what their master wants them to do, they will be beaten hard. 48But servants who don't know what their master wants them to do will not be beaten so hard for doing wrong. If God has been generous with you, he will expect you to serve him well. But if he has been more than generous, he will expect you to serve him even better.

Luke 12:22-48CEVOpen in Bible reader
Canadian Bible Societyv.4.25.3
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