October 31, 2024 - 2 Samuel 22:32-51 32  “For who is God, but the Lord?     And who is a rock, except our God? 33  This God is my strong refuge     and has made my way blameless. 34  He made my feet like the feet of a deer     and set me secure on the heights. 35  He trains my hands for war,     so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 36  You have given me the shield of your salvation,     and your gentleness made me great. 37  You gave a wide place for my steps under me,     and my feet did not slip; 38  I pursued my enemies and destroyed them,     and did not turn back until they were consumed. 39  I consumed them; I thrust them through, so that they did not rise;     they fell under my feet. 40  For you equipped me with strength for ...

October 30, 2024 - 2 Samuel 22:21-31 21  “The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness;     according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. 22  For I have kept the ways of the Lord     and have not wickedly departed from my God. 23  For all his rules were before me,     and from his statutes I did not turn aside. 24  I was blameless before him,     and I kept myself from guilt. 25  And the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,     according to my cleanness in his sight. 26  “With the merciful you show yourself merciful;     with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; 27  with the purified you deal purely,     and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. 28  You save a humble people,    ...

October 29, 2024 - 2 Samuel 22:7-20 7  “In my distress I called upon the Lord;     to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice,     and my cry came to his ears. 8  “Then the earth reeled and rocked;     the foundations of the heavens trembled     and quaked, because he was angry. 9  Smoke went up from his nostrils,     and devouring fire from his mouth;     glowing coals flamed forth from him. 10  He bowed the heavens and came down;     thick darkness was under his feet. 11  He rode on a cherub and flew;     he was seen on the wings of the wind. 12  He made darkness around him his canopy,     thick clouds, a gathering of water. 13  Out of the brightness before him     coals of fire flamed f...

October 28, 2024 - 2 Samuel 22:1-6 22  And David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.  2  He said, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, 3      my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation,     my stronghold and my refuge,     my savior; you save me from violence. 4  I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,     and I am saved from my enemies. 5  “For the waves of death encompassed me,     the torrents of destruction assailed me; 6  the cords of Sheol entangled me;     the snares of death confronted me.   How much time and money do people spend on security?   Making sure their h...

October 27, 2024 - 2 Samuel 21:15-22 15 There was war again between the Philistines and Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines. And David grew weary. 16 And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David. 17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David's men swore to him, “You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.” 18 After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants. 19 And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. 20 And there was again war at Gath, where there was a m...

October 26, 2024 - 2 Samuel 21:1-14 21  Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”  2  So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.  3  And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?”  4  The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?”  5  They s...

October 25, 2024 - 2 Samuel 20:11-26 11  And one of Joab's young men took his stand by Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab.”  12  And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the highway. And anyone who came by, seeing him, stopped. And when the man saw that all the people stopped, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field and threw a garment over him.  13  When he was taken out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. 14  And Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth-maacah, and all the Bichrites assembled and followed him in.  15  And all the men who were with Joab came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah. They cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart, and they were battering the wall to throw it down.  16  Then a wise woman called from the city, “Listen...

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October 24, 2024 - 2 Samuel 20:1-10 20  Now there happened to be there a worthless man, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. And he blew the trumpet and said, “We have no portion in David, and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; every man to his tents, O Israel!” 2  So all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah followed their king steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem. 3  And David came to his house at Jerusalem. And the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to care for the house and put them in a house under guard and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood. 4  Then the king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together to me within three days, and be here yourself.”  5  So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he delayed beyond the set time that had been app...

October 23, 2024 - 2 Samuel 19:41-43 41  Then all the men of Israel came to the king and said to the king, “Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen you away and brought the king and his household over the Jordan, and all David's men with him?”  42  All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is our close relative. Why then are you angry over this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king's expense? Or has he given us any gift?”  43  And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king, and in David also we have more than you. Why then did you despise us? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king?” But the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel. This passage reminds me of children tugging on a highly desired toy. There is enough of David to share and David only has the best interests of the people at heart. Perhaps jealousy was presen...

October 22, 2024 - 2 Samuel 19:31-40 31  Now Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim, and he went on with the king to the Jordan, to escort him over the Jordan.  32  Barzillai was a very aged man, eighty years old. He had provided the king with food while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man.  33  And the king said to Barzillai, “Come over with me, and I will provide for you with me in Jerusalem.”  34  But Barzillai said to the king, “How many years have I still to live, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?  35  I am this day eighty years old. Can I discern what is pleasant and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or what he drinks? Can I still listen to the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?  36  Your servant will go a little way over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king r...

October 21, 2024 - 2 Samuel 19:16-30 16  And Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, from Bahurim, hurried to come down with the men of Judah to meet King David.  17  And with him were a thousand men from Benjamin. And Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, with his fifteen sons and his twenty servants, rushed down to the Jordan before the king,  18  and they crossed the ford to bring over the king's household and to do his pleasure. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, as he was about to cross the Jordan,  19  and said to the king, “Let not my lord hold me guilty or remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. Do not let the king take it to heart.  20  For your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore, behold, I have come this day, the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.”  21  Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered,...

October 20, 2024 - 2 Samuel 19:9-15 9  And all the people were arguing throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies and saved us from the hand of the Philistines, and now he has fled out of the land from Absalom.  10  But Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?” 11  And King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests: “Say to the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house, when the word of all Israel has come to the king?  12  You are my brothers; you are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be the last to bring back the king?’  13  And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me and more also, if you are not commander of my army from now on in place of Joab.’”  14  And he swayed the ...

October 19, 2024 - 2 Samuel 19:1-8 19  It was told Joab, “Behold, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.”  2  So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the people, for the people heard that day, “The king is grieving for his son.”  3  And the people stole into the city that day as people steal in who are ashamed when they flee in battle.  4  The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, “O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!”  5  Then Joab came into the house to the king and said, “You have today covered with shame the faces of all your servants, who have this day saved your life and the lives of your sons and your daughters and the lives of your wives and your concubines,  6  because you love those who hate you and hate those who love you. For you have made it clear today that commanders and servants are nothing to you, for today I know that if Absalom were alive and all o...

October 18, 2024 - 2 Samuel 18:19-33 19  Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me run and carry news to the king that the Lord has delivered him from the hand of his enemies.”  20  And Joab said to him, “You are not to carry news today. You may carry news another day, but today you shall carry no news, because the king's son is dead.”  21  Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed before Joab, and ran.  22  Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said again to Joab, “Come what may, let me also run after the Cushite.” And Joab said, “Why will you run, my son, seeing that you will have no reward for the news?”  23  “Come what may,” he said, “I will run.” So he said to him, “Run.” Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and outran the Cushite. 24  Now David was sitting between the two gates, and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate by the wall, and when...

October 17, 2024 - 2 Samuel 18:6-18 6  So the army went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim.  7  And the men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David, and the loss there was great on that day, twenty thousand men.  8  The battle spread over the face of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword. 9  And Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak, and his head caught fast in the oak, and he was suspended between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on.  10  And a certain man saw it and told Joab, “Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.”  11  Joab said to the man who told him, “What, you saw him! Why then did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have been glad to give you ten pieces of silver and a belt.”...

October 16, 2024 - 2 Samuel 18:1-5 18  Then David mustered the men who were with him and set over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds.  2  And David sent out the army, one third under the command of Joab, one third under the command of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and one third under the command of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the men, “I myself will also go out with you.”  3  But the men said, “You shall not go out. For if we flee, they will not care about us. If half of us die, they will not care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore it is better that you send us help from the city.”  4  The king said to them, “Whatever seems best to you I will do.” So the king stood at the side of the gate, while all the army marched out by hundreds and by thousands.  5  And the king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” And all...

October 15, 2024 - 2 Samuel 17:24-29 24  Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel.  25  Now Absalom had set Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Ishmaelite, who had married Abigal the daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab's ‘mother.  26  And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead. 27  When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, and Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim,  28  brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans and lentils,  29  honey and curds and sheep and cheese from the herd, for David and the people with him to eat, for they said, “The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.” Don’t you love the provisions God provided through ...

October 14, 2024 - 2 Samuel 17:15-22 15  Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Thus and so did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and so have I counseled.  16  Now therefore send quickly and tell David, ‘Do not stay tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king and all the people who are with him be swallowed up.’”  17  Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En-rogel. A female servant was to go and tell them, and they were to go and tell King David, for they were not to be seen entering the city.  18  But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So both of them went away quickly and came to the house of a man at Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard. And they went down into it.  19  And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth and scattered grain on it, and nothing was known of it.  20  When Absalom's servant...

  October 13, 2024 - 2 Samuel 17:1-14 17 Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. 2 I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged and throw him into a panic, and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down only the king, 3 and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace.” 4 And the advice seemed right in the eyes of Absalom and all the elders of Israel. 5 Then Absalom said, “Call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he has to say.” 6 And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, “Thus has Ahithophel spoken; shall we do as he says? If not, you speak.” 7 Then Hushai said to Absalom, “This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.” 8 Hushai said, “You know that your father and his men are mighty men, and that they are enraged, like a bear robbed of ...

October 12, 2024 - 2 Samuel 16:15-23   15  Now Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him.  16  And when Hushai the Archite, David’s friend, came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”  17  And Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?”  18  And Hushai said to Absalom, “No, for whom the Lord and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, his I will be, and with him I will remain.  19  And again, whom should I serve? Should it not be his son? As I have served your father, so I will serve you.” 20  Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give your counsel. What shall we do?”  21  Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the house, and all Israel will hear that you have made yourself a stench to yo...

October 11, 2024 - 2 Samuel 16:5-14   5  When King David came to Bahurim, there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera, and as he came he cursed continually.  6  And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left.  7  And Shimei said as he cursed, “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man!  8  The Lord has avenged on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood.” 9  Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head.”  10  But the king said, “What have I to do with you, you...

October 10, 2024 - 2 Samuel 16:1-4   16 When David had passed a little beyond the summit, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of donkeys saddled, bearing two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred bunches of raisins, a hundred of summer fruits, and a skin of wine.  2  And the king said to Ziba, “Why have you brought these?” Ziba answered, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on, the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine for those who faint in the wilderness to drink.”  3  And the king said, “And where is your master’s son?” Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he remains in Jerusalem, for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will give me back the kingdom of my father.’”  4  Then the king said to Ziba, “Behold, all that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours.” And Ziba said, “I pay homage; let me ever find favor in your sight, my lord the king.”   Ziba proves t...

October 9, 2024 - 2 Samuel 15:24-37   24  And Abiathar came up, and behold, Zadok came also with all the Levites, bearing the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God until the people had all passed out of the city.  25  Then the king said to Zadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his dwelling place.  26  But if he says, ‘I have no pleasure in you,’ behold, here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him.”  27  The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Are you not a seer? Go back to the city in peace, with your two sons, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.  28  See, I will wait at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.”  29  So Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and they...

October 8, 2024 - 2 Samuel 15:13-23   13  And a messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom.”  14  Then David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee, or else there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Go quickly, lest he overtake us quickly and bring down ruin on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”  15  And the king’s servants said to the king, “Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king decides.”  16  So the king went out, and all his household after him. And the king left ten concubines to keep the house.  17  And the king went out, and all the people after him. And they halted at the last house. 18  And all his servants passed by him, and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath, passed on before the king....

October 7, 2024 - 2 Samuel 15:7-12   7  And at the end of four years Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to the Lord, in Hebron.  8  For your servant vowed a vow while I lived at Geshur in Aram, saying, ‘If the Lord will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will offer worship to the Lord.’”  9  The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he arose and went toHebro n.  10  But Absalom sent secret messengers throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then say, ‘Absalom is king at Hebron!’”  11  With Absalom went two hundred men from Jerusalem who were invited guests, and they went in their innocence and knew nothing.  12  And while Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city Giloh. And the conspiracy grew stro...