The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday June 7, 2020 (NIV)

David's Last Instructions to Solomon

2 When David was about to die, he called his son Solomon and gave him his last instructions: ² “My time to die has come. Be confident and determined, ³ and do what the Lord your God orders you to do. Obey all his laws and commands, as written in the Law of Moses, so that wherever you go you may prosper in everything you do. ⁴ If you obey him, the Lord will keep the promise he made when he told me that my descendants would rule Israel as long as they were careful to obey his commands faithfully with all their heart and soul.

^5 (A)“There is something else. You remember what Joab did to me by killing the two commanders of Israel's armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. You remember how he murdered them in time of peace as revenge for deaths they had caused in time of war. He killed innocent men,^[a] and now I bear the responsibility for what he did, and I suffer^[b] the consequences. ⁶ You know what to do; you must not let him die a natural death.

^7 (B)“But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai from Gilead and take care of them, because they were kind to me when I was fleeing from your brother Absalom.

^8 (C)“There is also Shimei son of Gera, from the town of Bahurim in Benjamin. He cursed me bitterly the day I went to Mahanaim, but when he met me at the Jordan River, I gave him my solemn promise in the name of the Lord that I would not have him killed. ⁹ But you must not let him go unpunished. You know what to do, and you must see to it that he is put to death.”

The Death of David

¹⁰ David died and was buried in David's City. ^11 (D)He had been king of Israel for forty years, ruling seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. ^12 (E)Solomon succeeded his father David as king, and his royal power was firmly established.

The Death of Adonijah

¹³ Then Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, went to Bathsheba, who was Solomon's mother. “Is this a friendly visit?” she asked.

“It is,” he answered, ¹⁴ and then he added, “I have something to ask of you.”

“What is it?” she asked.

¹⁵ He answered, “You know that I should have become king and that everyone in Israel expected it. But it happened differently, and my brother became king because it was the Lord's will. ¹⁶ And now I have one request to make; please do not refuse me.”

“What is it?” Bathsheba asked.

^17 (F)He answered, “Please ask King Solomon—I know he won't refuse you—to let me have Abishag, the young woman from Shunem, as my wife.”

¹⁸ “Very well,” she answered. “I will speak to the king for you.”

¹⁹ So Bathsheba went to the king to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. The king stood up to greet his mother and bowed to her. Then he sat on his throne and had another one brought in on which she sat at his right. ²⁰ She said, “I have a small favor to ask of you; please do not refuse me.”

“What is it, mother?” he asked. “I will not refuse you.”

²¹ She answered, “Let your brother Adonijah have Abishag as his wife.”

²² “Why do you ask me to give Abishag to him?” the king asked. “You might as well ask me to give him the throne too. After all, he is my older brother, and Abiathar the priest and Joab are on his side!”^{[c] 23} Then Solomon made a solemn promise in the Lord's name, “May God strike me dead if I don't make Adonijah pay with his life for asking this! ²⁴ The Lord has firmly established me on the throne of my father David; he has kept his promise and given the kingdom to me and my descendants. I swear by the living Lord that Adonijah will die this very day!”

²⁵ So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiah, who went out and killed Adonijah.

Abiathar's Banishment and Joab's Death

^26 (G)Then King Solomon said to Abiathar the priest, “Go to your country home in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not have you put to death now, for you were in charge of the Lord's Covenant Box while you were with my father David, and you shared in all his troubles.” ^27 (H)Then Solomon dismissed Abiathar from serving as a priest of the Lord, and so made come true what the Lord had said in Shiloh about the priest Eli and his descendants.

²⁸ Joab heard what had happened. (He had supported Adonijah, but not Absalom.) So he fled to the Tent of the Lord's presence and took hold of the corners of the altar.^{[d] 29} When the news reached King Solomon that Joab had fled to the Tent and was by the altar, Solomon sent a messenger to Joab to ask him why he had fled to the altar. Joab answered that he had fled to the Lord because he was afraid of Solomon. So King Solomon sent Benaiah^[e] to kill Joab. ³⁰ He went to the Tent of the Lord's presence and said to Joab, “The king orders you to come out.”

“No,” Joab answered. “I will die here.”

Benaiah went back to the king and told him what Joab had said.

³¹ “Do what Joab says,” Solomon answered. “Kill him and bury him. Then neither I nor any other of David's descendants will any longer be held responsible for what Joab did when he killed innocent men. ³² The Lord will punish Joab for those murders, which he committed^[f] without my father David's knowledge. Joab killed two innocent men who were better men than he: Abner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa, commander of the army of Judah. ³³ The punishment for their murders will fall on Joab and on his descendants forever. But the Lord will always give success to David's descendants who sit on his throne.”

³⁴ So Benaiah went to the Tent of the Lord's presence and killed Joab, and he was buried at his home in the open country. ³⁵ The king made Benaiah commander of the army in Joab's place and put Zadok the priest in Abiathar's place.

The Death of Shimei

³⁶ Then the king sent for Shimei and said to him, “Build a house for yourself here in Jerusalem. Live in it and don't leave the city. ³⁷ If you ever leave and go beyond Kidron Brook, you will certainly die—and you yourself will be to blame.”

³⁸ “Very well, Your Majesty,” Shimei answered. “I will do what you say.” So he lived in Jerusalem a long time.

³⁹ Three years later, however, two of Shimei's slaves ran away to the king of Gath, Achish son of Maacah. When Shimei heard that they were in Gath, ⁴⁰ he saddled his donkey and went to King Achish in Gath, to find his slaves. He found them and brought them back home. ⁴¹ When Solomon heard what Shimei had done, ⁴² he sent for him and said, “I made you promise in the Lord's name not to leave Jerusalem. And I warned you that if you ever did, you would certainly die. Did you not agree to it and say that you would obey me? ⁴³ Why, then, have you broken your promise and disobeyed my command? ⁴⁴ You know very well all the wrong that you did to my father David. The Lord will punish you for it. ⁴⁵ But he will bless me, and he will make David's kingdom secure forever.”

⁴⁶ Then the king gave orders to Benaiah, who went out and killed Shimei. Solomon was now in complete control.

Solomon Prays for Wisdom^(I)

3 Solomon made an alliance with the king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. He brought her to live in David's City until he had finished building his palace, the Temple, and the wall around Jerusalem. ² A temple had not yet been built for the Lord, and so the people were still offering sacrifices at many different altars.

Ananias and Sapphira

5 But there was a man named Ananias, who with his wife Sapphira sold some property that belonged to them. ² But with his wife's agreement he kept part of the money for himself and turned the rest over to the apostles. ³ Peter said to him, “Ananias, why did you let Satan take control of you and make you lie to the Holy Spirit by keeping part of the money you received for the property? ⁴ Before you sold the property, it belonged to you; and after you sold it, the money was yours. Why, then, did you decide to do such a thing? You have not lied to people—you have lied to God!” ^5 (A)As soon as Ananias heard this, he fell down dead; and all who heard about it were terrified. ⁶ The young men came in, wrapped up his body, carried him out, and buried him.

⁷ About three hours later his wife, not knowing what had happened, came in. ⁸ Peter asked her, “Tell me, was this the full amount you and your husband received for your property?”

“Yes,” she answered, “the full amount.”

⁹ So Peter said to her, “Why did you and your husband decide to put the Lord's Spirit to the test? The men who buried your husband are at the door right now, and they will carry you out too!” ¹⁰ At once she fell down at his feet and died. The young men came in and saw that she was dead, so they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹ The whole church and all the others who heard of this were terrified.

Miracles and Wonders

¹² Many miracles and wonders were being performed among the people by the apostles. All the believers met together in Solomon's Porch. ¹³ Nobody outside the group dared join them, even though the people spoke highly of them. ¹⁴ But more and more people were added to the group—a crowd of men and women who believed in the Lord. ¹⁵ As a result of what the apostles were doing, sick people were carried out into the streets and placed on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. ¹⁶ And crowds of people came in from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing those who were sick or who had evil spirits in them; and they were all healed.

The Apostles Are Persecuted

¹⁷ Then the High Priest and all his companions, members of the local party of the Sadducees, became extremely jealous of the apostles; so they decided to take action. ¹⁸ They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. ¹⁹ But that night an angel of the Lord opened the prison gates, led the apostles out, and said to them, ²⁰ “Go and stand in the Temple, and tell the people all about this new life.” ²¹ The apostles obeyed, and at dawn they entered the Temple and started teaching.

The High Priest and his companions called together all the Jewish elders for a full meeting of the Council; then they sent orders to the prison to have the apostles brought before them. ²² But when the officials arrived, they did not find the apostles in prison, so they returned to the Council and reported, ²³ “When we arrived at the jail, we found it locked up tight and all the guards on watch at the gates; but when we opened the gates, we found no one inside!” ²⁴ When the chief priests and the officer in charge of the Temple guards heard this, they wondered what had happened to the apostles. ²⁵ Then a man came in and said to them, “Listen! The men you put in prison are in the Temple teaching the people!” ²⁶ So the officer went off with his men and brought the apostles back. They did not use force, however, because they were afraid that the people might stone them.

²⁷ They brought the apostles in, made them stand before the Council, and the High Priest questioned them. ^28 (B)“We gave you strict orders not to teach in the name of this man,” he said; “but see what you have done! You have spread your teaching all over Jerusalem, and you want to make us responsible for his death!”

²⁹ Peter and the other apostles answered, “We must obey God, not men. ³⁰ The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from death, after you had killed him by nailing him to a cross. ³¹ God raised him to his right side as Leader and Savior, to give the people of Israel the opportunity to repent and have their sins forgiven. ³² We are witnesses to these things—we and the Holy Spirit, who is God's gift to those who obey him.”

³³ When the members of the Council heard this, they were so furious that they wanted to have the apostles put to death. ³⁴ But one of them, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, who was a teacher of the Law and was highly respected by all the people, stood up in the Council. He ordered the apostles to be taken out for a while, ³⁵ and then he said to the Council, “Fellow Israelites, be careful what you do to these men. ³⁶ You remember that Theudas appeared some time ago, claiming to be somebody great, and about four hundred men joined him. But he was killed, all his followers were scattered, and his movement died out. ³⁷ After that, Judas the Galilean appeared during the time of the census; he drew a crowd after him, but he also was killed, and all his followers were scattered. ³⁸ And so in this case, I tell you, do not take any action against these men. Leave them alone! If what they have planned and done is of human origin, it will disappear, ^39 (C)but if it comes from God, you cannot possibly defeat them. You could find yourselves fighting against God!”

The Council followed Gamaliel's advice. ⁴⁰ They called the apostles in, had them whipped, and ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus; and then they set them free. ⁴¹ As the apostles left the Council, they were happy, because God had considered them worthy to suffer disgrace for the sake of Jesus. ⁴² And every day in the Temple and in people's homes they continued to teach and preach the Good News about Jesus the Messiah.

The Security of God's People

^25 (A)What you think is the right road may lead to death.