November 6, 2024 2 Samuel 24:10-17 10  But David's heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”  11  And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,  12  “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’”  13  So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.”  14  Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.” 15  So the L

November 5, 2024 2 Samuel 24:1-9 24  Again the anger of the Lord was kindled 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 through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.”  3  But Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?”  4  But the king's word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel.  5  They crossed the Jordan and began from Aroer, and from the city that is in the middle of the valley, toward Gad and on to Jazer.  6  Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites; and they came to D

November 4, 2024 2 Samuel 23:18-39 18  Now Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the thirty. And he wielded his spear against three hundred men and killed them and won a name beside the three.  19  He was the most renowned of the thirty and became their commander, but he did not attain to the three. 20  And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two ariels of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen.  21  And he struck down an Egyptian, a handsome man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but Benaiah went down to him with a staff and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear.  22  These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and won a name beside the three mighty men.  23  He was renowned among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David set him over his bodyguard. 24  Asahel the brother of Joab was

November 3, 2024 2 Samuel 23:13-17 13  And three of the thirty chief men went down and came about harvest time to David at the cave of Adullam, when a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.  14  David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem.  15  And David said longingly, “Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!”  16  Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and carried and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the Lord  17  and said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.   Here we see David in a cave weary, thirsty and longing for water from being in the midst of battle with the Phil

November 2, 2024 2 Samuel 23:8-12 8  These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite; he was chief of the three. He wielded his spear against eight hundred whom he killed at one time. 9  And next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar the son of Dodo, son of Ahohi. He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel withdrew.  10  He rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clung to the sword. And the Lord brought about a great victory that day, and the men returned after him only to strip the slain. 11  And next to him was Shammah, the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the men fled from the Philistines.  12  But he took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines, and the Lord worked a great victory.   David was a

November 1, 2024 2 Samuel 23:1-7 23  Now these are the last words of David: The oracle of David, the son of Jesse,     the oracle of the man who was raised on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob,     the sweet psalmist of Israel:  2  “The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me;     his word is on my tongue. 3  The God of Israel has spoken;     the Rock of Israel has said to me: When one rules justly over men,     ruling in the fear of God, 4  he dawns on them like the morning light,     like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning,     like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth. 5  “For does not my house stand so with God?     For he has made with me an everlasting covenant,     ordered in all things and secure. For will he not cause to prosper     all my help and my desire? 6  But worthless men are all like thorns that are thrown away,     for they cannot be taken with the hand; 7  but the man who touches them     arms himself with iron and the sha