1 CHRONICLES 19:1-21:30
ROMANS 2:25-3:8
PSALM 11:1-7
PROVERBS 19:10-12
1 CHRONICLES 19:1-21:30
Some time after this, King Nahash of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun became king. 2 David said, " I am going to show complete loyalty to Hanun because his father, Nahash, was always completely loyal to me." So David sent ambassadors to express sympathy to Hanun about his father's death. But when David's ambassadors arrived in the land of Ammon, 3 Hanun's advisers said to him, " Do you really think these men are coming here to honor your father? No! David has sent them to spy out the land so that they can come in and conquer it!" 4 So Hanun seized David's ambassadors and shaved their beards, cut off their robes at the buttocks, and sent them back to David in shame. 5 When David heard what had happened, he sent messengers to tell the men to stay at Jericho until their beards grew out, for they were very embarrassed by their appearance. 6 Now the people of Ammon realized how seriously they had angered David, so Hanun and the Ammonites sent thirty-eight tons of silver to hire chariots and troops from Aram-naharaim, Aram-maacah, and Zobah. 7 They also hired thirty-two thousand chariots and secured the support of the king of Maacah and his army. These forces camped at Medeba, where they were joined by the Ammonite troops that Hanun had recruited from his own towns. 8 When David heard about this, he sent Joab and all his warriors to fight them. 9 The Ammonite troops drew up their battle lines at the gate of the city, while the other kings positioned themselves to fight in the open fields. 10 When Joab saw that he would have to fight on two fronts, he chose the best troops in his army. He placed them under his personal command and led them out to fight the Arameans in the fields. 11 He left the rest of the army under the command of his brother Abishai, who was to attack the Ammonites. 12 " If the Arameans are too strong for me, then come over and help me," Joab told his brother. " And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will help you. 13 Be courageous! Let us fight bravely to save our people and the cities of our God. May the LORD's will be done." 14 When Joab and his troops attacked, the Arameans began to run away. 15 And when the Ammonites saw the Arameans running, they ran from Abishai and retreated into the city. Then Joab returned to Jerusalem. 16 The Arameans now realized that they were no match for Israel, so they summoned additional Aramean troops from the other side of the Euphrates River. These troops arrived under the command of Shobach, the commander of all Hadadezer's forces. 17 When David heard what was happening, he mobilized all Israel, crossed the Jordan River, and positioned his troops in battle formation. Then he engaged the enemy troops in battle, and they fought against him. 18 But again the Arameans fled from the Israelites. This time David's forces killed seven thousand charioteers and forty thousand foot soldiers, including Shobach, the commander of their army. 19 When the servants of Hadadezer realized they had been defeated by Israel, they surrendered to David and became his subjects. After that, the Arameans were no longer willing to help the Ammonites.20:1 THE following spring, the time of year when kings go to war, Joab led the Israelite army in successful attacks against the towns and villages of the Ammonites. In the process they laid siege to the city of Rabbah and destroyed it. But David had stayed behind in Jerusalem. 2 When David arrived at Rabbah, he removed the crown from the king's head, and it was placed on David's own head. The crown was made of gold and set with gems, and it weighed about seventy-five pounds. David took a vast amount of plunder from the city. 3 He also made slaves of the people of Rabbah and forced them to labor with saws, picks, and axes. That is how he dealt with the people of all the Ammonite cities. Then David and his army returned to Jerusalem. 4 After this, war broke out with the Philistines at Gezer. As they fought, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Saph, a descendant of the giants, and so the Philistines were subdued. 5 During another battle with the Philistines, Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath of Gath. The handle of Lahmi's spear was as thick as a weaver's beam! 6 In another battle with the Philistines at Gath, a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot--a descendant of the giants--7 defied and taunted Israel. But he was killed by Jonathan, the son of David's brother Shimea. 8 These Philistines were descendants of the giants of Gath, but they were killed by David and his warriors.21:1 SATAN rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the Israelites. 2 David gave these orders to Joab and his commanders: " Take a census of all the people in the land--from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north--and bring me the totals so I may know how many there are." 3 But Joab replied, " May the LORD increase the number of his people a hundred times over! But why, my lord, do you want to do this? Are they not all your servants? Why must you cause Israel to sin?" 4 But the king insisted that Joab take the census, so Joab traveled throughout Israel to count the people. Then he returned to Jerusalem 5 and reported the number of people to David. There were 1,100,000 men of military age in Israel, and 470,000 in Judah. 6 But Joab did not include the tribes of Levi and Benjamin in the census because he was so distressed at what the king had made him do. 7 God was very displeased with the census, and he punished Israel for it. 8 Then David said to God, " I have sinned greatly and shouldn't have taken the census. Please forgive me for doing this foolish thing." 9 Then the LORD spoke to Gad, David's seer. This was the message: 10 " Go and say to David, ` This is what the LORD says: I will give you three choices. Choose one of these punishments, and I will do it.' " 11 So Gad came to David and said, " These are the choices the LORD has given you. 12 You may choose three years of famine, three months of destruction by your enemies, or three days of severe plague as the angel of the LORD brings devastation throughout the land of Israel. Think this over and let me know what answer to give the LORD." 13 " This is a desperate situation!" David replied to Gad. " But let me fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is very great. Do not let me fall into human hands." 14 So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand people died as a result. 15 And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But just as the angel was preparing to destroy it, the LORD relented and said to the death angel, " Stop! That is enough!" At that moment the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 16 David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth with his sword drawn, stretched out over Jerusalem. So David and the leaders of Israel put on sackcloth to show their distress and fell down with their faces to the ground. 17 And David said to God, " I am the one who called for the census! I am the one who has sinned and done wrong! But these people are innocent--what have they done? O LORD my God, let your anger fall against me and my family, but do not destroy your people." 18 Then the angel of the LORD told Gad to instruct David to build an altar to the LORD at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 19 So David obeyed the instructions the LORD had given him through Gad. 20 Araunah, who was busy threshing wheat at the time, turned and saw the angel there. His four sons, who were with him, ran away and hid. 21 When Araunah saw the king approaching, he left his threshing floor and bowed to the ground before David. 22 David said to Araunah, " Let me buy this threshing floor from you at its full price. Then I will build an altar to the LORD there, so that he will stop the plague." 23 " Take it, my lord, and use it as you wish," Araunah said to David. " Here are oxen for the burnt offerings, and you can use the threshing tools for wood to build a fire on the altar. And take the wheat for the grain offering. I will give it all to you." 24 But the king replied to Araunah, " No, I insist on paying what it is worth. I cannot take what is yours and give it to the LORD. I will not offer a burnt offering that has cost me nothing!" 25 So David gave Araunah six hundred pieces of gold in payment for the threshing floor. 26 David built an altar there to the LORD and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. And when David prayed, the LORD answered him by sending fire from heaven to burn up the offering on the altar. 27 Then the LORD spoke to the angel, who put the sword back into its sheath. 28 When David saw that the LORD had answered his prayer, he offered sacrifices there at Araunah's threshing floor. 29 At that time, the Tabernacle of the LORD and the altar that Moses made in the wilderness were located at the hill of Gibeon. 30 But David was not able to go there to inquire of God, because he was terrified by the drawn sword of the angel of the LORD.
ROMANS 2:25-3:8
The Jewish ceremony of circumcision is worth something only if you obey God's law. But if you don't obey God's law, you are no better off than an uncircumcised Gentile. 26 And if the Gentiles obey God's law, won't God give them all the rights and honors of being his own people? 27 In fact, uncircumcised Gentiles who keep God's law will be much better off than you Jews who are circumcised and know so much about God's law but don't obey it. 28 For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the Jewish ceremony of circumcision. 29 No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not a cutting of the body but a change of heart produced by God's Spirit. Whoever has that kind of change seeks praise from God, not from people.3:1 THEN what's the advantage of being a Jew? Is there any value in the Jewish ceremony of circumcision? 2 Yes, being a Jew has many advantages. First of all, the Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God. 3 True, some of them were unfaithful; but just because they broke their promises, does that mean God will break his promises? 4 Of course not! Though everyone else in the world is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say, " He will be proved right in what he says, and he will win his case in court." 5 " But," some say, " our sins serve a good purpose, for people will see God's goodness when he declares us sinners to be innocent. Isn't it unfair, then, for God to punish us?" (That is actually the way some people talk.) 6 Of course not! If God is not just, how is he qualified to judge the world? 7 " But," some might still argue, " how can God judge and condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty highlights his truthfulness and brings him more glory?" 8 If you follow that kind of thinking, however, you might as well say that the more we sin the better it is! Those who say such things deserve to be condemned, yet some slander me by saying this is what I preach!
PSALM 11:1-7
For the choir director: A psalm of David.
1 I trust in the LORD for protection.
So why do you say to me,
" Fly to the mountains for safety!
2 The wicked are stringing their bows
and setting their arrows in the bowstrings.
They shoot from the shadows at those who do right.
3 The foundations of law and order have collapsed.
What can the righteous do?"
4 But the LORD is in his holy Temple;
the LORD still rules from heaven.
He watches everything closely,
examining everyone on earth.
5 The LORD examines both the righteous and the wicked.
He hates everyone who loves violence.
6 He rains down blazing coals on the wicked,
punishing them with burning sulfur and scorching winds.
7 For the LORD is righteous, and he loves justice.
Those who do what is right will see his face.
PROVERBS 19:10-12
It isn't right for a fool to live in luxury or for a slave to rule over princes! People with good sense restrain their anger; they earn esteem by overlooking wrongs. The king's anger is like a lion's roar, but his favor is like dew on the grass.
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