Through the Bible – Day 108

David, you are my servant, so listen to what I say. Why should you build a temple for me? ₆I didn't live in a temple when I brought my people out of Egypt, and I don't live in one now. A tent has always been my home wherever I have gone with them. ₇I chose leaders and told them to be like shepherds for my people Israel. But did I ever say anything to even one of them about building a cedar temple for me?

₈David, this is what I, the LORD All-Powerful, say to you. I brought you in from the fields where you took care of sheep, and I made you the leader of my people. ₉Wherever you went, I helped you and destroyed your enemies right in front of your eyes. I have made you one of the most famous people in the world.

₁₀I have given my people Israel a land of their own where they can live in peace, and they won't have to tremble with fear any more. Evil nations won't bother them, as they did ₁₁when I let judges rule my people. And I have kept your enemies from attacking you.

Now I promise that you and your descendants will be kings. ₁₂I'll choose one of your sons to be king when you reach the end of your life and are buried in the tomb of your ancestors. I'll make him a strong ruler, ₁₃and no one will be able to take his kingdom away from him. He will be the one to build a temple for me. ₁₄I will be his father, and he will be my son.

When he does wrong, I'll see that he is corrected, just as children are corrected by their parents. ₁₅But I will never put an end to my agreement with him, as I put an end to my agreement with Saul, who was king before you. ₁₆I will make sure that one of your descendants will always be king.

LORD All-Powerful, my family and I don't deserve what you have already done for us, ₁₉and yet you have promised to do even more. Is this the way you usually treat people? ₂₀I am your servant, and you know my thoughts, so there is nothing more that I need to say. ₂₁You have done this wonderful thing, and you have let me know about it, because you wanted to keep your promise.

₂₂LORD All-Powerful, you are greater than all others. No one is like you, and you alone are God. Everything we have heard about you is true. ₂₃And there is no other nation on earth like Israel, the nation you rescued from slavery in Egypt to be your own. You became famous by using great and wonderful miracles to force other nations and their gods out of your land, so your people could live here. ₂₄You have chosen Israel to be your people for ever, and you have become their God.

₂₅And now, LORD God, please do what you have promised me and my descendants. ₂₆Then you will be famous for ever, and everyone will say, “The LORD God All-Powerful rules Israel, and David's descendants are his chosen kings.” ₂₇After all, you really are Israel's God, the LORD All-Powerful. You've told me that you will let my descendants be kings. That's why I have the courage to pray to you like this, even though I am only your servant.

₂₈LORD All-Powerful, you are God. You have promised me some very good things, and you can be trusted to do what you promise. ₂₉Please bless my descendants and let them always be your chosen kings. You have already promised, and I'm sure that you will bless my family for ever.

₄₉I came to set fire to the earth, and I wish it were already on fire! ₅₀I am going to be put to a hard test. And I will have to suffer a lot of pain until it is over. ₅₁Do you think that I came to bring peace to earth? No indeed! I came to make people choose sides. ₅₂A family of five will be divided, with two of them against the other three. ₅₃Fathers and sons will turn against one another, and mothers and daughters will do the same. Mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law will also turn against each other.

As soon as you see a cloud coming up in the west, you say, “It's going to rain,” and it does. ₅₅When the south wind blows, you say, “It's going to get hot,” and it does. ₅₆Are you trying to fool someone? You can predict the weather by looking at the earth and sky, but you don't really know what's going on right now. ₅₇Why don't you understand the right thing to do? ₅₈When someone accuses you of something, try to settle things before you are taken to court. If you don't, you will be dragged before the judge. Then the judge will hand you over to the jailer, and you will be locked up. ₅₉You won't get out until you have paid the last penny you owe.

Do you think that these people were worse sinners than everyone else in Galilee just because of what happened to them? ₃Not at all! But you can be sure that if you don't turn back to God, every one of you will also be killed. ₄What about those eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Do you think they were worse than everyone else in Jerusalem? ₅Not at all! But you can be sure that if you don't turn back to God, every one of you will also die.

A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard. One day he went out to pick some figs, but he didn't find any. ₇So he said to the gardener, “For three years I have come looking for figs on this tree, and I haven't found any yet. Chop it down! Why should it take up space?”

₈The gardener answered, “Master, leave it for another year. I'll dig around it and put some manure on it to make it grow. ₉Perhaps it will have figs on it next year. If it doesn't, you can have it cut down.”