Today our passages are 1 Chronicles
19:1–21:30; Romans 2:25–3:8; Psalm 11:1-7; and Proverbs
19:10-12. The readings are from the Contemporary English
Version.
1 Chronicles
19-21:30 (Contemporary English Version)
1 Chronicles 19
Israel Fights Ammon and Syria
(2 Samuel 10.1-19)
1Some time later, King Nahash of Ammon died, and his son Hanun became king. 2David said, "Nahash was kind to me, so I will be kind to his son." He sent some officials to Ammon to tell Hanun how sorry he was that his father had died. But when David's officials arrived at Ammon, 3the Ammonite leaders said to Hanun, "Do you really believe King David is honoring your father by sending these men to comfort you? He probably sent them to spy on our country, so he can come and destroy it."4Hanun arrested David's officials and had their beards shaved off and their robes cut off just below the waist, and then he sent them away. 5They were terribly ashamed.
When David found out what had happened to his officials, he sent a message that told them, "Stay in Jericho until your beards grow back. Then you can come home."
6The Ammonites realized they had made David furious. So they paid over thirty tons of silver to hire chariot troops from Mesopotamia and from the Syrian kingdoms of Maacah and Zobah. 7Thirty-two thousand troops, as well as the king of Maacah and his army, came and camped near Medeba. The Ammonite troops also left their towns and came to prepare for battle.
8David heard what was happening, and he sent out Joab with his army. 9The Ammonite troops marched to the entrance of the city [a] and prepared for battle, while the Syrian troops took their positions in the open fields. 10Joab saw that the enemy troops were lined up on both sides of him. So he picked some of the best Israelite soldiers to fight the Syrians. 11Then he put his brother Abishai in command of the rest of the army and told them to fight against the Ammonites. 12Joab told his brother, "If the Syrians are too much for me to handle, come and help me. And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I'll come and help you. 13Be brave and fight hard to protect our people and the towns of our LORD God. I pray he will do whatever pleases him."
14Joab and his soldiers attacked the Syrians, and the Syrians ran from them. 15When the Ammonite troops saw that the Syrians had run away, they ran from Abishai's soldiers and went back into their own city. Joab then returned to Jerusalem.
16As soon as the Syrians realized they had been defeated, they sent for their troops that were stationed on the other side of the Euphrates River. Shophach, the commander of Hadadezer's army, led these troops to Ammon.
17David found out what the Syrians were doing, and he brought Israel's entire army together. They crossed the Jordan River, and he commanded them to take their positions facing the Syrian troops.
Soon after the fighting began, 18the Syrians ran from Israel. David killed seven thousand chariot troops and forty thousand regular soldiers. He also killed Shophach, their commander.
19When the kings who had been under Hadadezer's rule saw that Israel had defeated them, they made peace with David and accepted him as their new ruler. The Syrians never helped the Ammonites again.
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. [b] The crown was made of seventy-five pounds of gold, and there was a valuable jewel on it. David put the jewel on his crown, [c] 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, [d] 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. [e] 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 [f] killed him. 8David and his soldiers killed these three men from Gath who were descendants of the Rephaim.1 Chronicles 21
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 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 have him punish me than for anyone else to do it."
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 [g] 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, [h] 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 honor 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 [i] 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 [j] and sacrifices to ask his blessing. [k] 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. [l] 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.
Footnotes:
- 1 Chronicles 19:9 the city: Probably Rabbah, the capital city of Ammon.
- 1 Chronicles 20:2 the statue of their god Milcom: Or "their king."
- 1 Chronicles 20:2 David put the jewel on his crown: Or "David put the crown on his head."
- 1 Chronicles 20:4 Rephaim: This may refer to a group of people that lived in Palestine before the Israelites and who were famous for their large size.
- 1 Chronicles 20:5 weaver's beam: When a weaver made cloth, one set of threads was tied onto a large wooden rod that was known as a weaver's beam.
- 1 Chronicles 20:7 David's nephew Jonathan: Hebrew "Jonathan son of Shimea, David's brother."
- 1 Chronicles 21:15 Araunah: The Hebrew text has "Ornan," another spelling of Araunah (see 2 Samuel 24.16).
- 1 Chronicles 21:16 sackcloth: A rough, dark-colored cloth made from goat or camel hair and used to make grain sacks. It was worn in times of trouble or sorrow.
- 1 Chronicles 21:23 threshing-boards: Heavy boards with bits of rock or metal on the bottom. They were dragged across the grain to separate the husks from the kernels.
- 1 Chronicles 21:26 sacrifices to please the LORD: See the note at 16.1.
- 1 Chronicles 21:26 sacrifices to ask his blessing: See the note at 16.1.
- 1 Chronicles 21:27 the LORD commanded the angel to put the sword away: See verse 16.
Romans 2:25-3:8 (Contemporary English Version)
25Being
circumcised is worthwhile, if you obey the Law. But if you don't obey the Law,
you are no better off than people who are not circumcised. 26In fact, if they obey the Law, they are as good as anyone
who is circumcised. 27So everyone who
obeys the Law, but has never been circumcised, will condemn you. Even though you
are circumcised and have the Law, you still don't obey its teachings.
28Just because you live like a Jew and are circumcised doesn't make you a real Jew. 29To be a real Jew you must obey the Law. True circumcision is something that happens deep in your heart, not something done to your body. And besides, you should want praise from God and not from humans.
will be proven true,
and in court
you will win your case."
5If our evil deeds show how right God is, then what can we say? Is it wrong for God to become angry and punish us? What a foolish thing to ask. 6But the answer is, "No." Otherwise, how could God judge the world? 7Since your lies bring great honor to God by showing how truthful he is, you may ask why God still says you are a sinner. 8You might as well say, "Let's do something evil, so that something good will come of it!" Some people even claim that we are saying this. But God is fair and will judge them as well.
"Escape like a bird
to the mountains!"
2You tell me, "Watch out!
Those evil people
have put
their arrows on their bows,
and they are standing
in the shadows,
aiming at good people.
3What can an honest person do
when everything crumbles?"
4The LORD is sitting
in his sacred temple
on his throne in heaven.
He knows everything we do
because he sees us all.
5The LORD tests honest people,
but despises those
who are cruel
and love violence.
6He will send fiery coals [a] and flaming sulfur
down on the wicked,
and they will drink nothing
but a scorching wind.
7The LORD always does right
and wants justice done.
Everyone who does right
will see his face.
28Just because you live like a Jew and are circumcised doesn't make you a real Jew. 29To be a real Jew you must obey the Law. True circumcision is something that happens deep in your heart, not something done to your body. And besides, you should want praise from God and not from humans.
Romans 3
1What good is it to be a Jew? What good is it to be circumcised? 2It is good in a lot of ways! First of all, God's messages were spoken to the Jews. 3It is true that some of them did not believe the message. But does this mean that God cannot be trusted, just because they did not have faith? 4No, indeed! God tells the truth, even if everyone else is a liar. The Scriptures say about God, "Your wordswill be proven true,
and in court
you will win your case."
5If our evil deeds show how right God is, then what can we say? Is it wrong for God to become angry and punish us? What a foolish thing to ask. 6But the answer is, "No." Otherwise, how could God judge the world? 7Since your lies bring great honor to God by showing how truthful he is, you may ask why God still says you are a sinner. 8You might as well say, "Let's do something evil, so that something good will come of it!" Some people even claim that we are saying this. But God is fair and will judge them as well.
Psalm 11:1-7 (Contemporary English Version)
Psalm 11
(A psalm by David for the music leader.)
Trusting the LORD
1The LORD is my fortress! Don't say to me,"Escape like a bird
to the mountains!"
2You tell me, "Watch out!
Those evil people
have put
their arrows on their bows,
and they are standing
in the shadows,
aiming at good people.
3What can an honest person do
when everything crumbles?"
4The LORD is sitting
in his sacred temple
on his throne in heaven.
He knows everything we do
because he sees us all.
5The LORD tests honest people,
but despises those
who are cruel
and love violence.
6He will send fiery coals [a] and flaming sulfur
down on the wicked,
and they will drink nothing
but a scorching wind.
7The LORD always does right
and wants justice done.
Everyone who does right
will see his face.
Footnotes:
- Psalm 11:6 fiery coals: Or " trouble, fire."
Proverbs 19:10-12 (Contemporary English Version)
10It
isn't right for a fool
to live in luxury
or for a slave to rule
in place of a king.
11It's wise to be patient
and show what you are like
by forgiving others.
12An angry king roars
like a lion,
but when a king is pleased,
it's like dew on the crops.
Verse of the Day
“You must stop doing anything immoral or evil. Instead be humble and accept the message that is planted in you to save you.” - James 1:21
to live in luxury
or for a slave to rule
in place of a king.
11It's wise to be patient
and show what you are like
by forgiving others.
12An angry king roars
like a lion,
but when a king is pleased,
it's like dew on the crops.
Verse of the Day
“You must stop doing anything immoral or evil. Instead be humble and accept the message that is planted in you to save you.” - James 1:21
Today's passage is from
the Contemporary English Version.
Thought
for the Day
American author and humorist, Mark Twain wrote, “When in
doubt tell the truth.”
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