2 Kingdoms 23:8-24:25
8 The names of David’s mighty men were, first, Jebosheth the Canaanite, chief among the three. The second was called Adino the Eznite. He drew his sword against eight hundred men at one time and killed them.
9 And after him was Eleazar his cousin, the son of Zousitos, one of the three mighty men. He was with David in Zerran when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel had retreated. 10 He arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was weary and his hand stuck to the sword. The Lord brought about a great deliverance that day, and the people stayed behind him only to plunder.
11 And after him was Shammah the son of Asa the Arouchaite. The Philistines had gathered to Theria, where there was a part of the field full of lentils. Then the people fled from the Philistines. 12 But he stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. And the Lord brought about a great deliverance.
13 Then three of the thirty chief men went down at harvest time and came to David in Kason at the cave of Adullam. And the troop of Philistines encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 14 At that time David was in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. 15 And David said with longing, “Who will give me a drink of the water from the well in Bethlehem by the gate?” 16 So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord. 17 And he said, “Far be it from me, Lord, to do this! Is this not the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives so that I should drink?” Therefore he would not drink it. These are the things the three mighty men did.
18 Now Abishai the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of another three. He lifted his spear against three hundred men and won a name among these three. 19 Of the three he was the most honored. Therefore he became their captain. However, he did not attain to the first three.
20 Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, a man from Kabzeel, abundant in deeds. He had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. He had also gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. 21 And he killed an Egyptian man, a handsome man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand like the wood of a ladder, so he went down to him with a staff, snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with his own spear. 22 These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and he won a name among three mighty men. 23 He was the most honored of the three, but he did not attain to the first three. And David appointed him as his reporter.
24 And the names of King David’s mighty men were Asahel the brother of Joab, one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo, David’s uncle, of Bethlehem; 25 Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, 26 Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, 27 Abiezer the Anathothite of the sons of Asothitos, 28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, 29 Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai from Gibeah, the son of Benjamin, 30 Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai from the brooks of Gaash, 31 Abiel the son of the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, 32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite of the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, 33 Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Hararite, 34 Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maachathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, 35 Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, 36 Igal the son of Nathan from the mighty men, the Gadite, 37 Elie the Ammonite, Gelorai the Beerothite, the armor-bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah, 38 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, 39 and Uriah the Hittite. These were thirty-seven in all.
David’s Census
1 And the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and He incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” 2 So the king said to Joab the commander of the army, who was with him, “Go throughout all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and inspect the people so that I may know the number of the people.” 3 And Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God add to the people the same number again and a hundred times more, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king desire this thing?”
4 Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the army. Therefore Joab and the captains of the army went out before the king to inspect the people of Israel. 5 And they crossed the Jordan and encamped at Aroer, on the right side of the city, in the midst of the ravine of Gad and Eliezer. 6 Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Thabason, which is Hodshai; they came to Dan Jaan and Houdan and around to Sidon; 7 and they came to Mapsar of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went to South Judah as far as Beersheba. 8 So when they had gone through the whole land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the inspection of the people to the king. And there were eight hundred thousand valiant men in Israel who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men of war.
A Judgment Restrained
10 And David’s heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, “I sinned greatly in what I did. But now, I pray, O Lord, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.” 11 Now when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12 “Go and tell David, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, and I will do it to you.” ’ ” 13 So Gad came to David and told him; and he said to him, “Choose for yourself what is to come to pass. Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee for three months before your enemies while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days of death in your land? Now consider, and see what answer I should take back to Him who sent me the word.”
14 And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Therefore, I shall fall into the hands of the Lord, for the multitude of His compassion is great. Do not let me fall into the hand of man.” And David chose for himself the death he spoke. 15 So in the days of the wheat harvest, the Lord sent death upon Israel from the morning until noon. And destruction came upon the people. From Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand men of the people died. 16 And when the angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “It is enough; now restrain your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing-floor of Orna the Jebusite.
17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and he said, “I am the shepherd and I have done wickedly, but these sheep—what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.”
An Altar to the Lord
18 And Gad came to David that day and said to him, “Go up and erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing-floor of Orna the Jebusite.” 19 So David went up according to the word of Gad, as the Lord commanded. 20 Now Orna looked and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. So Orna went out and bowed before the king with his face to the ground. 21 Then Orna said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”
And David said, “To buy the threshing-floor from you to build an altar to the Lord, so the plague may be withdrawn from the people.” 22 Now Orna said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him to the Lord. Look, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen for wood.” 23 Orna gave all these things to the king. And Orna said to the king, “May the Lord your God bless you.” 24 Then the king said to Orna, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with something that costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 And David built an altar there to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And Solomon later made a larger offering upon the altar, for a small one was made first. So the Lord heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel.
Psalm 96
1 By David; when His earth is restored.
The Lord reigns; let the earth greatly rejoice;
Let the many islands be glad.
2 Clouds and darkness surround Him;
Righteousness and judgment are the right ordering of His throne.
3 Fire shall go out before Him
And burn up His enemies on every side.
4 His lightning gave light to the world;
The earth saw and was shaken.
5 The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens proclaimed His righteousness;
All the peoples saw His glory.
7 Let all who worship the carved images be shamed,
All who boast in their idols;
Worship Him, all you His angels.
8 Zion heard and was glad,
And the daughters of Judah greatly rejoiced
Because of Your judgments, O Lord;
9 For You are the Lord Most High over all the earth,
Exalted exceedingly over all the gods.
10 You who love the Lord, hate evil;
The Lord keeps the souls of His saints;
He shall deliver them from the hand of sinners.
11 Light dawned for the righteous
And gladness for the upright in heart.
12 Be glad in the Lord, O righteous ones,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness.
Proverbs 21:1–5
1 As a flow of water, so is the heart of the king in the hand of God;
Wherever He wills to incline it, there he turns it.
2 Every man appears righteous to himself,
But the Lord makes hearts right.
3 To do righteous things and to speak the truth
Are more pleasing before God than the blood of sacrifices.
4 A high-minded man is bold-hearted in his arrogance,
And the lamp of the ungodly is sin.
5 He who produces treasures with a lying tongue
Pursues worthless things upon the snares of death.
Luke 18:18–43
18 Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.
20 “You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”
21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”
22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
23 But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.
With God All Things Are Possible
(Matt. 19:23–30; Mark 10:23–31)
24 And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!
25 “For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 And those who heard it said, “Who then can be saved?”
27 But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
28 Then Peter said, “See, we have left all and followed You.”
29 So He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,
30 “who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Jesus a Third Time Predicts His Death and Resurrection
(Matt. 20:17–19; Mark 10:32–34)
31 Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.
32 “For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon.
33 “They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.”
34 But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.
A Blind Man Receives His Sight
(Matt. 20:29–34; Mark 10:46–52)
35 Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging.
36 And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant.
37 So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.
38 And he cried out, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
39 Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
40 So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him. And when he had come near, He asked him,
41 saying, “What do you want Me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.”
42 Then Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.”
43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.