Thursday, 23 May

1.   It happened after this that Nahash the king of the people of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his place. 2.   Then David said, "I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me." So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. And David’s servants came to Hanun in the land of the people of Ammon to comfort him. 3.   And the princes of the people of Ammon said to Hanun, "Do you think that David really honors your father because he has sent comforters to you? Did his servants not come to you to search and to overthrow and to spy out the land?" 4.   Therefore Hanun took David’s servants, shaved them, and cut off their garments in the middle, at their buttocks, and sent them away. 5.   Then some went and told David about the men; and he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, "Wait at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return." 6.   When the people of Ammon saw that they had made themselves repulsive to David, Hanun and the people of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire for themselves chariots and horsemen from Mesopotamia, from Syrian Maachah, and from Zobah. 7.   So they hired for themselves thirty–two thousand chariots, with the king of Maachah and his people, who came and encamped before Medeba. Also the people of Ammon gathered together from their cities, and came to battle. 8.   Now when David heard of it , he sent Joab and all the army of the mighty men. 9.   Then the people of Ammon came out and put themselves in battle array before the gate of the city, and the kings who had come were by themselves in the field. 10.   When Joab saw that the battle line was against him before and behind, he chose some of Israel’s best and put them in battle array against the Syrians. 11.   And the rest of the people he put under the command of Abishai his brother, and they set themselves in battle array against the people of Ammon. 12.   Then he said, "If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the people of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will help you. 13.   "Be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the LORD do what is good in His sight." 14.   So Joab and the people who were with him drew near for the battle against the Syrians, and they fled before him. 15.   When the people of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fleeing, they also fled before Abishai his brother, and entered the city. So Joab went to Jerusalem. 16.   Now when the Syrians saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they sent messengers and brought the Syrians who were beyond the River, and Shophach the commander of Hadadezer’s army went before them. 17.   When it was told David, he gathered all Israel, crossed over the Jordan and came upon them, and set up in battle array against them. So when David had set up in battle array against the Syrians, they fought with him. 18.   Then the Syrians fled before Israel; and David killed seven thousand charioteers and forty thousand foot soldiers of the Syrians, and killed Shophach the commander of the army. 19.   And when the servants of Hadadezer saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became his servants. So the Syrians were not willing to help the people of Ammon anymore.

1.   It happened in the spring of the year, at the time kings go out to battle , that Joab led out the armed forces and ravaged the country of the people of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. And Joab defeated Rabbah and overthrew it. 2.   Then David took their king’s crown from his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it. And it was set on David’s head. Also he brought out the spoil of the city in great abundance. 3.   And he brought out the people who were in it, and put them to work with saws, with iron picks, and with axes. So David did to all the cities of the people of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem. 4.   Now it happened afterward that war broke out at Gezer with the Philistines, at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite killed Sippai, who was one of the sons of the giant. And they were subdued. 5.   Again there was war with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 6.   Yet again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, with twenty–four fingers and toes, six on each hand and six on each foot ; and he also was born to the giant. 7.   So when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him. 8.   These were born to the giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

1.   Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. 2.   So David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, "Go, number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring the number of them to me that I may know it ." 3.   And Joab answered, "May the LORD make His people a hundred times more than they are. But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why then does my lord require this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt in Israel?" 4.   Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came to Jerusalem. 5.   Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to David. All Israel had one million one hundred thousand men who drew the sword, and Judah had four hundred and seventy thousand men who drew the sword. 6.   But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king’s word was abominable to Joab. 7.   And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck Israel. 8.   So David said to God, "I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing; but now, I pray, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly." 9.   And the LORD spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying, 10.   "Go and tell David, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: "I offer you three things ; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you."’" 11.   So Gad came to David and said to him, "Thus says the LORD: ‘Choose for yourself, 12.   ‘either three years of famine, or three months to be defeated by your foes with the sword of your enemies overtaking you , or else for three days the sword of the LORD––the plague in the land, with the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now consider what answer I should take back to Him who sent me." 13.   And David said to Gad, "I am in great distress. Please let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man." 14.   So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell. 15.   And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was destroying, the LORD looked and relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who was destroying, "It is enough; now restrain your hand." And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16.   Then David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, having in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. So David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces. 17.   And David said to God, "Was it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? I am the one who has sinned and done evil indeed; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, O LORD my God, be against me and my father’s house, but not against Your people that they should be plagued." 18.   Therefore, the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David that David should go and erect an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 19.   So David went up at the word of Gad, which he had spoken in the name of the LORD. 20.   Now Ornan turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves, but Ornan continued threshing wheat. 21.   Then David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David. And he went out from the threshing floor, and bowed before David with his face to the ground. 22.   Then David said to Ornan, "Grant me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar on it to the LORD. You shall grant it to me at the full price, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people." 23.   And Ornan said to David, "Take it to yourself, and let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. Look, I also give you the oxen for burnt offerings, the threshing implements for wood, and the wheat for the grain offering; I give it all." 24.   Then King David said to Ornan, "No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing." 25.   So David gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place. 26.   And David built there an altar to the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the LORD; and He answered him from heaven by fire on the altar of burnt offering. 27.   So the LORD commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath. 28.   At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there. 29.   For the tabernacle of the LORD and the altar of the burnt offering, which Moses had made in the wilderness, were at that time at the high place in Gibeon. 30.   But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

1.   Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ––who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. 2.   But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3.   For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4.   For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5.   casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6.   and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. 7.   Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ’s, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ’s, even so we are Christ’s. 8.   For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed–– 9.   lest I seem to terrify you by letters. 10.   "For his letters," they say, " are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible." 11.   Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such we will also be in deed when we are present. 12.   For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. 13.   We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us––a sphere which especially includes you. 14.   For we are not overextending ourselves (as though our authority did not extend to you), for it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ; 15.   not boasting of things beyond measure, that is , in other men’s labors, but having hope, that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere, 16.   to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s sphere of accomplishment. 17.   But "he who glories, let him glory in the LORD." 18.   For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.