The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday May 24, 2017 (NIV)

Ishbosheth Is Murdered

4 When Saul's son Ishbosheth heard that Abner had been killed in Hebron, he was afraid, and all the people of Israel were alarmed. ² Ishbosheth had two officers who were leaders of raiding parties, Baanah and Rechab, sons of Rimmon, from Beeroth in the tribe of Benjamin. (Beeroth is counted as part of Benjamin. ³ Its original inhabitants had fled to Gittaim, where they have lived ever since.)

^4 (A)Another descendant of Saul was Jonathan's son Mephibosheth, who was five years old when Saul and Jonathan were killed. When the news about their death came from the city of Jezreel, his nurse picked him up and fled; but she was in such a hurry that she dropped him, and he became crippled.

⁵ Rechab and Baanah set out for Ishbosheth's house and arrived there about noon, while he was taking his midday rest. ⁶ The woman at the door had become drowsy while she was sifting wheat and had fallen asleep, so Rechab and Baanah slipped in.^{[a] 7} Once inside, they went to Ishbosheth's bedroom, where he was sound asleep, and killed him. Then they cut off his head, took it with them, and walked all night through the Jordan Valley. ⁸ They presented the head to King David at Hebron and said to him, “Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of your enemy Saul, who tried to kill you. Today the Lord has allowed Your Majesty to take revenge on Saul and his descendants.”

⁹ David answered them, “I take a vow by the living Lord, who has saved me from all dangers! ^10 (B)The messenger who came to me at Ziklag and told me of Saul's death thought he was bringing good news. I seized him and had him put to death. That was the reward I gave him for his good news! ¹¹ How much worse it will be for evil men who murder an innocent man asleep in his own house! I will now take revenge on you for murdering him and will wipe you off the face of the earth!” ¹² David gave the order, and his soldiers killed Rechab and Baanah and cut off their hands and feet, which they hung up near the pool in Hebron. They took Ishbosheth's head and buried it in Abner's tomb there at Hebron.

David Becomes King of Israel and Judah^(C)

5 Then all the tribes of Israel went to David at Hebron and said to him, “We are your own flesh and blood. ² In the past, even when Saul was still our king, you led the people of Israel in battle, and the Lord promised you that you would lead his people and be their ruler.” ³ So all the leaders of Israel came to King David at Hebron. He made a sacred alliance with them, they anointed him, and he became king of Israel. ^4 (D)David was thirty years old when he became king, and he ruled for forty years. ⁵ He ruled in Hebron over Judah for seven and a half years, and in Jerusalem over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years.

^6 (E)The time came when King David and his men set out to attack Jerusalem. The Jebusites, who lived there, thought that David would not be able to conquer the city, and so they said to him, “You will never get in here; even the blind and the crippled could keep you out.” (⁷ But David did capture their fortress of Zion, and it became known as “David's City.”)

⁸ That day David said to his men, “Does anybody here hate the Jebusites as much as I do? Enough to kill them? Then go up through the water tunnel and attack those poor blind cripples.” (That is why it is said, “The blind and the crippled cannot enter the Lord's house.”)^[b]

⁹ After capturing the fortress, David lived in it and named it “David's City.” He built the city around it, starting at the place where land was filled in on the east side of the hill. ¹⁰ He grew stronger all the time, because the Lord God Almighty was with him.

¹¹ King Hiram of Tyre sent a trade mission to David; he provided him with cedar logs and with carpenters and stone masons to build a palace. ¹² And so David realized that the Lord had established him as king of Israel and was making his kingdom prosperous for the sake of his people.

¹³ After moving from Hebron to Jerusalem, David took more concubines and wives, and had more sons and daughters. ¹⁴ The following children were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, ¹⁵ Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, ¹⁶ Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

Victory over the Philistines^(F)

¹⁷ The Philistines were told that David had been made king of Israel, so their army set out to capture him. When David heard of it, he went down to a fortified place. ¹⁸ The Philistines arrived at Rephaim Valley and occupied it. ¹⁹ David asked the Lord, “Shall I attack the Philistines? Will you give me the victory?”

“Yes, attack!” the Lord answered. “I will give you the victory!”

²⁰ So David went to Baal Perazim and there he defeated the Philistines. He said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies like a flood.” And so that place is called Baal Perazim.^{[c] 21} When the Philistines fled, they left their idols behind, and David and his men carried them away.

²² Then the Philistines went back to Rephaim Valley and occupied it again. ²³ Once more David consulted the Lord, who answered, “Don't attack them from here, but go around and get ready to attack them from the other side, near the balsam trees. ²⁴ When you hear the sound of marching in the treetops, then attack because I will be marching ahead of you to defeat the Philistine army.” ²⁵ David did what the Lord had commanded, and was able to drive the Philistines back from Geba all the way to Gezer.

The Covenant Box Is Brought to Jerusalem^(G)

6 Once more David called together the best soldiers in Israel, a total of thirty thousand men, ^2 (H)and led them to Baalah^[d] in Judah, in order to bring from there God's Covenant Box, bearing the name of the Lord Almighty, whose throne is above the winged creatures.^{[e] 3 (I)}They took it from Abinadab's home on the hill and placed it on a new cart. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart, ⁴ with Ahio walking in front. ⁵ David and all the Israelites were dancing and singing with all their might^[f] to honor the Lord. They were playing harps, lyres, drums, rattles, and cymbals.

⁶ As they came to the threshing place of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out and took hold of the Covenant Box. ⁷ At once the Lord God became angry with Uzzah and killed him because of his irreverence.^[g] Uzzah died there beside the Covenant Box, ⁸ and so that place has been called Perez Uzzah^[h] ever since. David was furious because the Lord had punished Uzzah in anger.

⁹ Then David was afraid of the Lord and said, “How can I take the Covenant Box with me now?” ¹⁰ So he decided not to take it with him to Jerusalem; instead, he turned off the road and took it to the house of Obed Edom, a native of the city of Gath. ^11 (J)It stayed there three months, and the Lord blessed Obed Edom and his family.

¹² King David heard that because of the Covenant Box the Lord had blessed Obed Edom's family and all that he had; so he got the Covenant Box from Obed's house to take it to Jerusalem with a great celebration. ¹³ After the men carrying the Covenant Box had gone six steps, David had them stop while he offered the Lord a sacrifice of a bull and a fattened calf. ¹⁴ David, wearing only a linen cloth around his waist, danced with all his might to honor the Lord. ¹⁵ And so he and all the Israelites took the Covenant Box up to Jerusalem with shouts of joy and the sound of trumpets.

¹⁶ As the Box was being brought into the city, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked out of the window and saw King David dancing and jumping around in the sacred dance, and she was disgusted with him. ¹⁷ They brought the Box and put it in its place in the Tent that David had set up for it. Then he offered sacrifices and fellowship offerings to the Lord. ¹⁸ When he had finished offering the sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty ^19 (K)and distributed food to them all. He gave each man and woman in Israel a loaf of bread, a piece of roasted meat,^[i] and some raisins. Then everyone went home.

²⁰ Afterward, when David went home to greet his family, Michal came out to meet him. “The king of Israel made a big name for himself today!” she said. “He exposed himself like a fool in the sight of the servant women of his officials!”

²¹ David answered, “I was dancing to honor the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and his family to make me the leader of his people Israel. And I will go on dancing to honor the Lord, ²² and will disgrace myself even more. You^[j] may think I am nothing, but those women will think highly of me!”

²³ Michal, Saul's daughter, never had any children.

The New Commandment

³¹ After Judas had left, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man's glory is revealed; now God's glory is revealed through him. ³² And if God's glory is revealed through him, then God will reveal the glory of the Son of Man in himself, and he will do so at once. ^33 (A)My children, I shall not be with you very much longer. You will look for me; but I tell you now what I told the Jewish authorities, ‘You cannot go where I am going.’ ^34 (B)And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciples.”

Jesus Predicts Peter's Denial^(C)

³⁶ “Where are you going, Lord?” Simon Peter asked him.

“You cannot follow me now where I am going,” answered Jesus; “but later you will follow me.”

³⁷ “Lord, why can't I follow you now?” asked Peter. “I am ready to die for you!”

³⁸ Jesus answered, “Are you really ready to die for me? I am telling you the truth: before the rooster crows you will say three times that you do not know me.

Jesus the Way to the Father

14 “Do not be worried and upset,” Jesus told them. “Believe^[a] in God and believe also in me. ² There are many rooms in my Father's house, and I am going to prepare a place for you. I would not tell you this if it were not so.^{[b] 3} And after I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to myself, so that you will be where I am. ⁴ You know the way that leads to the place where I am going.”

⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going; so how can we know the way to get there?”

^6 (D)Jesus answered him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me. ⁷ Now that you have known me,” he said to them, “you will know^[c] my Father also, and from now on you do know him and you have seen him.”

⁸ Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father; that is all we need.”

⁹ Jesus answered, “For a long time I have been with you all; yet you do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Why, then, do you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe, Philip, that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I have spoken to you,” Jesus said to his disciples, “do not come from me. The Father, who remains in me, does his own work. ¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. If not, believe because of the things I do. ¹² I am telling you the truth: those who believe in me will do what I do—yes, they will do even greater things, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask for in my name, so that the Father's glory will be shown through the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me^[d] for anything in my name, I will do it.

Happiness in the Law of the Lord

Determination to Obey the Law of the Lord

³¹ If you pay attention when you are corrected, you are wise.

³² If you refuse to learn, you are hurting yourself. If you accept correction, you will become wiser.