1 Chronicles 20-22
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 razed it to the ground. 2 Then David took the crown of Molchol their king 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.
The Philistine Giants Fall
4 Now it happened afterward that war broke out at Gezer with the Philistines, at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite struck Sippai, who was one of the sons of the giant. And he humbled them. 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.
The Census of All Israel
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 said, “May the Lord add to His people a hundredfold as many as they are, and let the eyes of my lord the king see all who are the servants of my lord. Why does my lord seek this? Do not allow it, lest it become a sin to 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 eighty thousand men who drew the sword. 6 But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king’s word was painful to Joab.
7 And this deed appeared wicked before God; 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 Then the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying, 10 “Go and tell David, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I offer you three things; so 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 that you flee for three months from the face of your enemies and the sword of your enemies utterly destroying you, or that for three days the sword of the Lord and pestilence should be with you in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying the territory throughout all the inheritance of Israel.’ Now consider what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.” 13 And David said to Gad, “Groan for me and for the three exceedingly. 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 And David went up according to the word of God, which he had spoken in the name of the Lord. 20 Now Ornan turned and saw the king, and he and his four sons with him hid themselves, but Ornan was threshing wheat.
21 So David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David. And he went out from the threshing floor, bowing 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 But 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 whole 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 whole burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing.” 25 So David gave six hundred shekels of gold by weight for his place. 26 And there David built an altar to the Lord, and offered whole burnt offerings and peace offerings, and cried out to the Lord; and He answered him by fire from heaven upon the altar of whole burnt offering and consumed the whole 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, he sacrificed there on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 29 For the tabernacle of the Lord that Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the whole burnt offering, were in the high place at Gibeon at the appointed time. 30 But David was unable to go before it to seek God, for the sword of the angel of the Lord prevented him.
Preparing to Build the Temple
1 Then David said, “This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of whole burnt offering for Israel.” 2 So David gave orders to gather all converts to Judaism, those in the land of Israel; and he appointed masons to cut hewn stones to build the house of God. 3 And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails of the doors of the gates and for the joints, and bronze in abundance beyond measure, 4 and cedar trees in abundance; for the Sidonians and those from Tyre brought ample cedar wood to David. 5 Now David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, known and glorious throughout all countries. I will now make preparation for it.” So David made abundant preparations before his death.
6 Then he called for his son Solomon and charged him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel. 7 And David said to Solomon, “My son, as for me, it was in my heart to build a house to the name of the Lord my God. 8 But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have made great wars. You shall not build a house for My name, for in My sight you have shed much blood on the earth. 9 Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest, and I will give to him rest from all his enemies that surround him. His name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days. 10 He shall build a house for My name, and he shall be My son, and I will be his Father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’
11 “Now, my son, the Lord shall be with you and prosper you; you will build a house to the Lord your God, as He spoke concerning you. 12 Only may the Lord give you wisdom and prudence, and strengthen you concerning Israel, that you may guard and do the law of the Lord your God. 13 Then you will prosper, if you take care to fulfill the ordinances and judgments that the Lord charged Moses concerning Israel. Be strong and of good courage. Do not fear nor be dismayed. 14 Indeed I, according to my poverty, have prepared for the house of the Lord one hundred thousand talents of gold, one million talents of silver, and bronze and iron beyond measure, for there is so much. I also prepared timber and stone, to which you also may add. 15 Moreover, there are workmen with you in abundance: woodsmen and stonecutters, and all types of skillful men for every kind of work. 16 Of gold and silver and bronze and iron there is no limit. Arise and begin working, and the Lord be with you.”
17 David also commanded all the leaders of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, 18 “Is not the Lord your God with you? And has He not given you rest on every side? For He has given the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before the Lord and before His people. 19 Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God. Therefore arise and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, and into the house to be built in the name of the Lord bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy articles of God.”
Psalm 118:17–32
17 Reward Your servant;
I shall live, and keep Your words.
18 Unveil my eyes,
And I shall understand the wonders in Your law.
19 I am a sojourner on the earth;
Do not hide Your commandments from me.
20 My soul longed to desire
Your judgments in every season.
21 You rebuke the arrogant;
Those who turn aside from Your commandments are accursed.
22 Take away reproach and contempt from me,
For I searched Your testimonies.
23 For rulers sat and spoke against me,
But Your servant meditated on Your ordinances.
24 For Your testimonies are my meditation,
And Your ordinances are my counsels.
25 My soul cleaves to the earth;
Give me life according to Your word.
26 I made known my ways and You heard me;
Teach me Your ordinances.
27 Cause me to understand the way of Your ordinances,
And I shall meditate on Your wonders.
28 My soul fainted because of its listlessness;
Establish me in Your words.
29 Remove the way of unrighteousness from me,
And with Your law have mercy on me.
30 I chose the way of truth;
I have not forgotten Your judgments.
31 I cleave to Your testimonies;
O Lord, do not disappoint me.
32 I ran on the path of Your commandments,
When You enlarged my heart.
Proverbs 25:22–26
22 As vinegar is bad for a festering wound,
So calamity befalling the body grieves the heart.
23 As a moth in a garment and a worm in wood,
So the grief of a man damages the heart.
24 If your enemy is hungry, feed him,
And if he is thirsty, give him drink.
25 For by doing this, you shall heap coals of fire on his head,
And the Lord will reward you with good things.
26 The north wind stirs up clouds,
And a shameless face provokes the tongue.
John 9:1–12
1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.
2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.
4 “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.
5 “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.
7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”
9 Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.” He said, “I am he.”
10 Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11 He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”
12 Then they said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.”