Through the Bible – Day 147

Bible text(s)

1 Chronicles 19

Israel fights Ammon and Syria

1Some time later, King Nahash of Ammon died, and his son Hanun became king.

1 Chronicles 20

The end of the war with Ammon

(2 Samuel 11.1; 12.26-31)

1The next spring, the time when kings go to war, Joab marched out in command of the Israelite army and destroyed towns all over the country of Ammon. He attacked the capital city of Rabbah and left it in ruins. But David stayed in Jerusalem.

2Later, David himself went to Rabbah, where he took the crown from the statue of their god Milcom. The crown was made of about thirty-four kilogrammes of gold, and there was a valuable jewel on it. David put the jewel on his crown, then carried off everything else of value. 3He forced the people of Rabbah to work with saws, iron picks, and axes. He also did the same thing with the people in all the other Ammonite towns.

David then led Israel's army back to Jerusalem.

The descendants of the Rephaim

(2 Samuel 21.15-22)

4Some time later, Israel fought a battle against the Philistines at Gezer. During this battle, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Sippai, a descendant of the Rephaim, and the Philistines were defeated.

5In another battle against the Philistines, Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath from Gath, whose spear shaft was like a weaver's beam.

6Another one of the Philistine soldiers who was a descendant of the Rephaim was as big as a giant and had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. During a battle at Gath, 7he made fun of Israel, so David's nephew Jonathan killed him.

8David and his soldiers killed these three men from Gath who were descendants of the Rephaim.

1 Chronicles 21

David's preparations for building the temple

David counts the people

(2 Samuel 24.1-9)

1Satan decided to cause trouble for Israel by making David think it was a good idea to find out how many people there were in Israel and Judah. 2David told Joab and the army commanders, “Count everyone in Israel, from the town of Beersheba in the south all the way north to Dan. Then I will know how many people can serve in my army.”

3Joab answered, “Your Majesty, even if the LORD made your kingdom a hundred times larger, you would still rule everyone in it. Why do you need to know how many soldiers there are? Don't you think that would make the whole nation angry?”

4But David would not change his mind. And so Joab went everywhere in Israel and Judah and counted the people. He returned to Jerusalem 5and told David that the total number of men who could serve in the army was one million one hundred thousand in Israel and four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah. 6Joab refused to include anyone from the tribes of Levi and Benjamin, because he still disagreed with David's orders.

God punishes Israel

(2 Samuel 24.10-17)

7David's order to count the people made God angry, and he punished Israel. 8David prayed, “I am your servant. But what I did was stupid and terribly wrong. Please forgive me.”

9The LORD said to Gad, one of David's prophets, 10“Tell David that I will punish him in one of three ways. But he will have to choose which one it will be.”

11Gad went to David and told him:

You must choose how the LORD will punish you: 12Will there be three years when the land won't grow enough food for its people? Or will your enemies constantly defeat you for three months? Or will the LORD send a horrible disease to strike your land for three days? Think about it and decide, because I have to give your answer to God who sent me.

13David was miserable and said, “It's a terrible choice to make! But the LORD is kind, and I'd rather be punished by him than by anyone else.”

14So the LORD sent a horrible disease on Israel, and seventy thousand Israelites died. 15Then he sent an angel to destroy the city of Jerusalem. But just as the angel was about to do that, the LORD felt sorry for all the suffering he had caused the people, and he told the angel, “Stop! They have suffered enough.” This happened at the threshing place that belonged to Araunah the Jebusite.

16David saw the LORD's angel in the air, holding a sword over Jerusalem. He and the leaders of Israel, who were all wearing sackcloth, bowed with their faces to the ground, 17and David prayed, “It's my fault! I sinned by ordering the people to be counted. They have done nothing wrong—they are innocent sheep. LORD God, please punish me and my family. Don't let the disease wipe out your people.”

David buys Araunah's threshing place

(2 Samuel 24.18-25)

18The LORD's angel told the prophet Gad to tell David that he must go to Araunah's threshing place and build an altar in honour of the LORD. 19David followed the LORD's instructions.

20Araunah and his four sons were threshing wheat at the time, and when they saw the angel, the four sons ran to hide. 21Just then, David arrived, and when Araunah saw him, he stopped his work and bowed down.

22David said, “Would you sell me your threshing place, so I can build an altar on it to the LORD? Then this disease will stop killing the people. I'm willing to pay whatever you say it's worth.”

23Araunah answered, “Take it, Your Majesty, and do whatever you want with it. I'll even give you the oxen for the sacrifice and the wheat for the grain sacrifice. And you can use the threshing boards for the fire. It's all yours!”

24But David replied, “No! I want to pay you what they're worth. I can't just take something from you and then offer the LORD a sacrifice that cost me nothing.”

25So David paid Araunah six hundred gold coins for his threshing place. 26David built an altar and offered sacrifices to please the LORD and sacrifices to ask his blessing. David prayed, and the LORD answered him by sending fire down on the altar. 27Then the LORD commanded the angel to put the sword away.

28When David saw that the LORD had answered his prayer, he offered more sacrifices there at the threshing place, 29-30because he was afraid of the angel's sword and did not want to go all the way to Gibeon. That's where the sacred tent that Moses had made in the desert was kept, as well as the altar where sacrifices were offered to the LORD.

1 Chronicles 22

1David said, “The temple of the LORD God must be built here at this threshing place. And the altar for offering sacrifices will also be here.”

1 Chronicles 19:1CEVOpen in Bible reader

John 10

A story about sheep

1Jesus said:

I tell you for certain that only thieves and robbers climb over the fence instead of going in through the gate to the sheep pen. 2-3But the gatekeeper opens the gate for the shepherd, and he goes in through it. The sheep know their shepherd's voice. He calls each of them by name and leads them out.

4When he has led out all his sheep, he walks in front of them, and they follow, because they know his voice. 5The sheep will not follow strangers. They don't recognize a stranger's voice, and they run away.

6Jesus told the people this story. But they did not understand what he was talking about.

Jesus is the good shepherd

7Jesus said:

I tell you for certain that I am the gate for the sheep. 8Everyone who came before me was a thief or a robber, and the sheep did not listen to any of them. 9I am the gate. All who come in through me will be saved. Through me they will come and go and find pasture.

10A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so that everyone would have life, and have it fully. 11I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd gives up his life for his sheep. 12Hired workers are not like the shepherd. They don't own the sheep, and when they see a wolf coming, they run off and leave the sheep. Then the wolf attacks and scatters the flock. 13Hired workers run away because they don't care about the sheep.

14I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and they know me. 15Just as the Father knows me, I know the Father, and I give up my life for my sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not in this sheep pen. I must bring them together too, when they hear my voice. Then there will be one flock of sheep and one shepherd.

17The Father loves me, because I give up my life, so that I may receive it back again. 18No one takes my life from me. I give it up willingly! I have the power to give it up and the power to receive it back again, just as my Father commanded me to do.

19The people took sides because of what Jesus had told them. 20Many of them said, “He has a demon in him! He is mad! Why listen to him?”

21But others said, “How could anyone with a demon in him say these things? No one like that could give sight to a blind person!”

Jesus is rejected

22That winter, Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Temple Festival. 23One day he was walking in that part of the temple known as Solomon's Porch, 24and the people gathered all around him. They said, “How long are you going to keep us guessing? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly!”

25Jesus answered:

I have told you, and you refused to believe me. The things I do by my Father's authority show who I am. 26But since you are not my sheep, you don't believe me. 27My sheep know my voice, and I know them. They follow me, 28and I give them eternal life, so that they will never be lost. No one can snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father gave them to me, and he is greater than all others. No one can snatch them from his hands, 30and I am one with the Father.

31Once again the Jewish leaders picked up stones in order to kill Jesus. 32But he said, “I have shown you many good things that my Father sent me to do. Which one are you going to stone me for?”

33They answered, “We are not stoning you because of any good thing you did. We are stoning you because you did a terrible thing. You are just a man, and here you are claiming to be God!”

34Jesus replied:

In your Scriptures doesn't God say, “You are gods”? 35You can't argue with the Scriptures, and God spoke to those people and called them gods. 36So why do you accuse me of a terrible sin for saying that I am the Son of God? After all, it is the Father who prepared me for this work. He is also the one who sent me into the world. 37If I don't do as my Father does, you should not believe me. 38But if I do what my Father does, you should believe because of that, even if you don't have faith in me. Then you will know for certain that the Father is one with me, and I am one with the Father.

39Again they wanted to arrest Jesus. But he escaped 40and crossed the Jordan to the place where John had earlier been baptizing. While Jesus was there, 41many people came to him. They were saying, “John didn't perform any miracles, but everything he said about Jesus is true.” 42A lot of those people also put their faith in Jesus.

John 10:1-42CEVOpen in Bible reader
Canadian Bible Societyv.4.23.1
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