June 2018 – Page 6 – A Walk Through The Word

June 5, 2018

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday June 5, 2018 (NIV)

2 Samuel 23:24-24:25

²⁴Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; then Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, ²⁵Shammah of Harod, Elika of Harod, ²⁶Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh of Tekoa, ²⁷Abiezer of Anathoth, Mebunnai the Hushathite, ²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai of Netophah, ²⁹Heleb the son of Baanah of Netophah, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the Benjamites, ³⁰Benaiah of Pirathon, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash, ³¹Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, ³²Eliahba of Shaalbon, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, ³³Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite, ³⁴Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai the son of Maacah, Eliam the son of Ahithophel of Giloh, ³⁵Hezro (Hezrai) of Carmel, Paarai the Arbite, ³⁶Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, ³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai of Beeroth, armor bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah, ³⁸Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ³⁹Uriah the Hittite—thirty-seven in all.

The Census Taken

24 Now again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and ^[a]He incited David against them to say, “Go, ^[b]count [the people of] Israel and Judah.” ²So the king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan [in the north] to Beersheba [in the south], and conduct a census of the people, so that I may know the number of the people.” ³But Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as there are, and let the eyes of my lord the king see it; but why does my lord the king ^[c]want to do this thing?” ⁴Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So they went from the king’s presence to take a census of the people of Israel. ⁵They crossed over the Jordan and camped in Aroer, on the south side of the city which is in the middle of the river valley [of the Arnon] toward Gad, and on toward Jazer. ⁶Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon, ⁷and they came to the stronghold of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to Beersheba. ⁸So when they had gone about through all the land [taking the census], they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹And Joab gave the sum of the census of the people to the king. In Israel there were 800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000.

¹⁰But David’s heart (conscience) troubled him after he had counted the people. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the sin of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.” ¹¹When David got up 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, “I am giving you three choices; select one of them for yourself, and I will do it to you.”’” ¹³So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your enemies as they pursue you? Or shall there be three days of pestilence (plague) in your land? Now consider this and decide what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.” ¹⁴Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hands of man.”

Pestilence Sent

¹⁵So the Lord sent a pestilence (plague) [lasting three days] upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand men of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. ¹⁶When the [avenging] angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the disaster and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now relax your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he spoke to the Lord and said, “Behold, I [alone] am the one who has sinned and done wrong; but these sheep (people of Israel), what have they done [to deserve this]? Please let Your hand be [only] against me and my father’s house (family).”

David Builds an Altar

¹⁸Then Gad [the prophet] came to David that day and said to him, “Go up, set up an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite [where you saw the angel].” ¹⁹So David went up according to Gad’s word, as the Lord commanded. ²⁰Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; and he went out and bowed before the king with his face toward the ground. ²¹Araunah 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 that the plague may be held back from the people.” ²²Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. Look, here are oxen for the burnt offering, and threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. ²³All of this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God be favorable to you.” ²⁴But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing.” So David purchased the ^[d]threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. ²⁵David built an altar to the Lord there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was moved [to compassion] by [David’s] prayer for the land, and the plague was held back from Israel.

Footnotes:

2 Samuel 24:1 See 1 Chr 21:1. As in the case of Paul’s thorn in the flesh (2 Cor 12:7; cf 1 Cor 5:5), God sometimes accomplishes His purposes by allowing Satan to inflict injury or cause trouble.
2 Samuel 24:1 Ordinarily taking a census would have been a routine procedure for a nation as a way of assessing taxes or conscripting and assigning men to an army. But in Israel none of this was necessary unless it was commanded by God, and David’s action was the product of ego and an uncharacteristic shift of trust and dependence from God to human resources (as Joab suspected, v 3). To his credit, David eventually realized this and came to God in repentance.
2 Samuel 24:3 Lit delight in.
2 Samuel 24:24 Later Solomon would build his temple on this site.

Amplified Bible (AMP)

Acts 3

Healing the Lame Beggar

3 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour (3:00 p.m.), ²and a man who had been unable to walk from birth was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at that gate of the temple which is called ^[a]Beautiful, so that he could beg alms from those entering the temple. ³So when he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking [them] for coins. ⁴But Peter, along with John, stared at him intently and said, “Look at us!” ⁵And the man began to pay attention to them, eagerly expecting to receive something from them. ⁶But Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have; but what I do have I give to you: In the name (authority, power) of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—[begin now to] walk and go on walking!” ⁷Then he seized the man’s right hand with a firm grip and raised him up. And at once his feet and ankles became strong and steady, ⁸and with a leap he stood up and began to walk; and he went into the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. ⁹All the people saw him walking and praising God; ¹⁰and they recognized him as the very man who usually sat begging for coins at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement and were mystified at what had happened to him.

Peter’s Second Sermon

¹¹Now while he was still holding on to Peter and John, all the people, utterly amazed, ran together and crowded around them at the covered porch called Solomon’s portico. ¹²And Peter, seeing this, said to the people, “You men of Israel, why are you amazed at this? Why are you staring at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? ¹³The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His Servant and Son Jesus [doing Him this honor], the One whom you handed over and disowned and rejected before Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.^(A) ¹⁴But you disowned and denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for [the pardon of] a murderer to be granted to you. ¹⁵But you killed the Prince (Author, Originator, Source) of life, whom God raised [bodily] from the dead. To this [fact] we are witnesses [for we have seen the risen Christ]. ¹⁶And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health and complete wholeness in your presence.

¹⁷“Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance [not fully aware of what you were doing], just as your rulers did also. ¹⁸And so God has fulfilled what He foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ (Messiah, Anointed) would suffer. ¹⁹So repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins] and return [to God—seek His purpose for your life], so that your sins may be wiped away [blotted out, completely erased], so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord [restoring you like a cool wind on a hot day]; ²⁰and that He may send [to you] Jesus, the Christ, who has been appointed for you, ²¹whom heaven must keep until the time for the [complete] restoration of all things about which God promised through the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. ²²Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a Prophet ^[b]like me from your countrymen; you shall listen to Him and obey everything He tells you. ²³And it will be that every person that does not listen to and heed that Prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people.’^(B) ²⁴Indeed, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also announced these days. ²⁵You are the sons (descendants) of the prophets and [heirs] of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed (descendant) all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’^(C) ²⁶It was for you first of all that God raised up His Servant and Son [Jesus], and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”^(D)

Footnotes:

Acts 3:2 Probably a reference to the bronze-covered Nicanor Gate.
Acts 3:22 Or as He raised up me. The Jews understood Moses as a type of Christ (Messiah).

Cross references:

Amplified Bible (AMP)

Psalm 123

Prayer for the Lord’s Help.

A Song of ^[a]Ascents.

123 Unto you I lift up my eyes,
O You who are enthroned in the heavens!
²
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
And as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the Lord our God,
Until He is gracious and favorable toward us.

³
Be gracious to us, O Lord, be gracious and favorable toward us,
For we are greatly filled with contempt.
⁴
Our soul is greatly filled
With the scoffing of those who are at ease,
And with the contempt of the proud [who disregard God’s law].

Footnotes:

Psalm 123:1 See Psalm 120 title note.

Amplified Bible (AMP)

Proverbs 16:21-23

²¹
The wise in heart will be called understanding,
And sweet speech increases persuasiveness and learning [in both speaker and listener].
²²
Understanding (spiritual insight) is a [refreshing and boundless] wellspring of life to those who have it,
But to give instruction and correction to fools is foolishness.
²³
The heart of the wise instructs his mouth [in wisdom]
And adds persuasiveness to his lips.

Amplified Bible (AMP)

June 4, 2018

06/04/2018 DAB Transcript

2 Samuel 22:21-23:23, Acts 2:1-47, Psalms 122:1-9, Proverbs 16:19-20

Today is the 4^th day of June. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you from the rolling hills of Tennessee. And I’m excited to take this journey through this week and this portion of the Scriptures with you. We began the book of Acts yesterday so we’re just getting going there. But before we even get to that, we need to dive back into David’s story in 2 Samuel. We’re reading from the Amplified Bible this week end. Not weekend. Week. And. First, we’ll read from 2 Samuel 22:21-23:23.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Acts, we read the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit, the descending of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost. And if there is a flashpoint, if there is an identifiable moment that we can say that the church began, this would be it. And we see several things. We see Peter truly step into a new era in his own life. We see change in him as we witness the power of the Holy Spirit in his life. We also read that those in the upper room who were speaking in these languages, in these tongues, they were speaking foreign languages from all the people who had pilgrimaged to Jerusalem. A clear call from the spirit of God summoning every tribe and tongue and nation into this new thing that God was doing in the world. And it’s a beautiful moment to witness this. The church, later, and we’ll get to all this in the writings of Paul, especially in the book of Romans and forward, that the church had to figure out what this was gonna practically mean because Jews and Gentiles, they didn’t mix. So, this beautiful thing that we’re witnessing at Pentecost is gonna become an issue that has to be grappled with. But on that day, that flashpoint day, Pentecost, three thousand people began to follow Jesus and were baptized. And that baptism part, that’s also an issue of speculation because, you know, three thousand people. That’s a lot of people to baptize. And so where could they do something like this? And so, there’s been plenty of ideas put forward. And one of those ideas that actually could have handled that capacity would have been the ritual baths at the temple, which is where they were meeting and fellowshipping with each other, which is where Jesus had taught. So, when we go to Israel we usually visit over there and take a look at that because the early church was for sure meeting in that area first. So, this is sort of like the birthplace of the church. So we’re coming out of the gospels. We’re coming out of walking side by side with Jesus and being in his presence in the narratives in the gospels and moving into what comes next. But we see that what comes next is full of the power of the risen Christ and we’ll watch how that begins to materialize and spread because what we’re telling now is the origin story of how it is that we came to faith. How it is that we got here in the first place. Had what we’re reading about now not happened, our story would be different.

Prayer:

So, Father, we rejoice. We rejoice in this day and in today’s reading, going back over the territory that began all of this and has impacted the world until this very day and has impacted our lives until this very day. And we are grateful. And we thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit, the comforter, the advocate, the one who can lead us into all truth, the one who will guide us on the narrow path that leads to life. And, so, we love You Holy Spirit. We thank You for all of the work that You have done in the world and we witness this in the book of Acts today and we witness this in our lives today. Come Holy Spirit we pray. And Father, we also pray along with King David, with the psalmist. I pray for the peace in Jerusalem. May all who love this city prosper. O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls and prosperity in your palaces. For the sake of our families and friends, we say, may you have peace. And Father, we pray particularly for our brothers and sisters who are all part of this community who live in this city and the surrounding areas. You are not forgotten. We remember you in our prayers. We may be oceans apart, but we are praying for you. And we pray for you in the name of Jesus Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here.

I made a big announcement on Friday and if you haven’t had a chance to listen to that story, go back to Friday and listen at the end. I announced the Daily Audio Bible Family Reunion, where the global campfire comes together. And I just told the story of how things came to be back in 2012 and the next eighteen months, how we went around the world on the Family Gathering Tour. Some of you were at some of those events. And we went all over the world just bringing people together in the community that they live in. And that was a lot of work, a lot of miles, but it was just an amazing time in my family’s life. The kids were a a lot younger then. And, so we just traveled around all over the world together, bringing community together, and, you know, all things come to an end so they came to an end and we’ve been moving forward since then. But this is kind of circling back. It is the brainchild of my wife and Mike, one of our guys here that we love very much. They kind of dreamed this up. That was such a wonderful, wonderful moment in the Daily Audio Bible community and its life. Why don’t we circle it back? Why don’t we invite everyone to come to the rolling hills of Tennessee for a family reunion? And so it’s taken a lot of preparation and a lot of thinking through, but we’re gonna do it. It’s the first time we’ve ever done anything like this, but it’s gonna be great. We’ve got a great place to do it, some great ideas, wonderful opportunities to truly come to the rolling hills and visit one of the hottest cities in the United States, which is the Nashville area and allow you to find hidden treasures. We’ve got adventures that you can pick and choose and go on, depending on what it is that you’re interested in. You may be like Get me to Nash-Vegas, get me some cowboy boots get me where the tourists go. We’ll show you. Or you may be like I’m a die-hard country music fan and if I’m going to Nashville, I’m going to country music. We’ll show you where that’s all at. Or maybe you’re like, what you just said is the one thing I try to avoid. We’ll show you peaceful serene places to be all out in them, the rolling hills of Tennessee. Little hills and hollers, little nooks and valleys, places that we go, we’re gonna show those to you so that you can go on an adventure and then we’ll come together at night. Two different nights, September 1 and September 2 as a community, just sharing time together. And we’ll have a campfire burning afterward so that that can continue into the night. There’s just all kinds of stuff to do. The place that we’re doing this is called Deer Run. And there’s all kinds of stuff to do out there, all kinds of things to play, all kinds of things that you can get together and play together. There’s just plenty, plenty, plenty to do over Labor Day weekend. And I hope you can come. It will be so much fun. You can get all the details for the Daily Audio Bible Family Reunion at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiates section. So, there’s a little navigation bar at the top of the website. One of those buttons is Initiatives. You’ll find it there or if you just scroll down the homepage, you’ll find it there as well. So, hope you can come. I hope you can come to the south. Hope you can drink in the inspiration of the rolling hills. I hope you can drink in incredible encouragement from your family at the Daily Audio Bible and I hope you leave with phone numbers and email addresses of brothers and sisters who will become lifelong companions in your relationship with the Scriptures. So, dailyaudiobible.com is where you find out about the family reunion and I’ll look forward to seeing you there.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link on the homepage. Thank you for your partnership in allowing the global campfire to continue to burn each and every day and then we can all come in community and allow God’s Word to wash over us. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the give button in the upper right-hand corner. Or if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O Box 1996, Spring Hill, Tennessee, 37174.

And, as always if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for next month, which is tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello DAB. I need you. I’m asking you to help me. Will you help me respond to my wife with love? And how do I not bond with the putdowns and the hurt and her anger and her, just, attack over and over. Will you help me love myself? We help you love her? God, will You help me save us as a couple? Will You help her own, will You help her see what comes out of her mouth? Have mercy on me not to respond in anger. Please God, I’m asking You. Help me. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is Heather, Joyful Spirit in Georgia. This is my first time calling and this is my first year in the Daily Audio Bible readings. So, I just wanted to say hi. And I just…as I wanted to recognize everyone’s voices, I wanted to let you know how beautiful those voices are to me. Get joy, even on the first word of hearing a familiar voice as you start to present your request or your encouragement. And that just means so much to me. I think our voices are something special to the Father as He spoke the world into existence and power comes from His voice and we are created in His image. That means that each of our voices must be very special to Him. And Sean, I think her name was, in San Jose California called during the community prayer last week and she said that she didn’t like to hear the sound of her voice. And I just wanted to say that your voice is beautiful. It’s your fingerprint almost. Like, we recognize who you are by your voice in this format. And, so, thank you. Thank you for calling Sean and each of you for sharing your voice. It just means so much. God bless you all. Bye-bye.

Hello. My name is Frank. This is my first call. I’m kind of nervous about this. Anyways, I’ve been married for 25 years and our marriage is kind of in a rocky patch at this time. I’d like to ask for your prayer for that. My wife has fallen away in her faith. If you can pray for her and also please pray for my adult son who is about to make some very difficult decisions and I am hoping that he will make the right decision. So, if you could please pray for me I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Bye.

Hello DAB family. This is Trusting in Him in Colorado Springs. __ I will be back in my hometown of Fort Wayne Indiana. I am a first-time caller but I have been listening faithfully every day since the end of August and I had the great blessing of meeting Brian briefly at a gathering for his Sneezing Jesus book. It was really fun to put a face with the voice who shares God with us each day. I’m actually calling to give a brief testimony of how this podcast has deeply impacted my life. I had a very rough year, filled with many kinds of grief, including the death of a man whom I thought the Lord had given me for marriage. But through all the ups and the downs, God has been so faithful and has used this daily podcast to speak tenderly to me as the Scriptures say in Hosea 2:14. Specifically, I was seeking direction for the next chapter of my life when God used the Scripture readings and three of the prayer requests from the March 3^rd podcast to confirm His leading back to my hometown. I so wished I had more time to tell you the entire back story because it truly is divine, but perhaps we can share a cup of coffee in heaven someday or even the DAB family reunion in September. So, on June 5^th I will be driving 1200 miles with my mom to start a new adventure. I would really love your prayers DAB family for the move as well as what the Lord has for me in this next season of life as there are many unknowns. But what I do know is that God is indeed faithful and I can trust Him, we can trust Him. What a sweet privilege to be on the journey with each one of you, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Blessings to you this day.

June 4, 2018

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday June 4, 2018 (NIV)

2 Samuel 22:21-23:23

²¹
“The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands He has rewarded me.
²²
“For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
And have not acted wickedly against my God.
²³
“For all His judgments (legal decisions) were before me,
And from His statutes I did not turn aside.
²⁴
“I was also blameless before Him,
And kept myself from wrongdoing.
²⁵
“Therefore the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
According to my cleanness in His sight.
²⁶
“With the loving and loyal You show Yourself loving and loyal,
With the blameless You show Yourself blameless.
²⁷
“With the pure You show Yourself pure,
With the perverted You show Yourself astute.
²⁸
“And You save the afflicted people;
But Your eyes are on the haughty whom You abase (humiliate).
²⁹
“For You, O Lord, are my lamp;
The Lord illumines and dispels my darkness.
³⁰
“For by You I can run upon a troop;
By my God I can leap over a wall.
³¹
“As for God, His way is blameless and perfect;
The word of the Lord is tested.
He is a shield to all those who take refuge and trust in Him.
³²
“For who is God, besides the Lord?
And who is a rock, besides our God?^(A)
³³
“God is my strong fortress;
He sets the blameless in His way.
³⁴
“He makes my feet like the doe’s feet [firm and swift];
He sets me [secure and confident] on my high places.
³⁵
“He trains my hands for war,
So that my arms can bend (pull back) a bow of bronze.
³⁶
“You have also given me the shield of Your salvation,
And Your help and gentleness make me great.
³⁷
“You enlarge my steps under me,
And my feet have not slipped.
³⁸
“I pursued my enemies and destroyed them,
And I did not turn back until they were consumed (eliminated).
³⁹
“I consumed them and shattered them, so that they did not rise;
They fell under my feet.
⁴⁰
“For You have surrounded me with strength for the battle;
You have subdued under me those who stood against me.
⁴¹
“You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me [in retreat],
And I destroyed those who hated me.
⁴²
“They looked, but there was no savior for them—
Even to the Lord [they looked], but He did not answer them.
⁴³
“Then I beat them as [small as] the dust of the earth;
I crushed and stamped them as the mire (dirt, mud) of the streets.
⁴⁴
“You also have rescued me from strife with my [own] people;
You have kept me as the head of the nations.
People whom I have not known served me.
⁴⁵
“Foreigners pretend obedience to me;
As soon as they hear [me], they obey me.
⁴⁶
“Foreigners lose heart;
They come trembling out of their strongholds.
⁴⁷
“The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,
And exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation.
⁴⁸
“It is God who executes vengeance for me,
And brings down [and disciplines] the peoples under me,
⁴⁹
Who also brings me out from my enemies.
You even lift me above those who rise up against me;
You rescue me from the violent man.
⁵⁰
“For this I will give thanks and praise You, O Lord, among the nations;
I will sing praises to Your name.
⁵¹
“He is a tower of salvation and great deliverance to His king,
And shows lovingkindness to His anointed,
To David and his offspring forever.”

David’s Last Song

23 Now these are the last words of David.

David the son of Jesse declares,
The man who was raised on high declares,
The anointed of the God of Jacob,
And the sweet psalmist of Israel,
²
“The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me,
And His word was on my tongue.
³
“The God of Israel,
The Rock of Israel spoke to me,
‘He who rules over men righteously,
Who rules in the fear of God,
⁴
Is like the morning light when the sun rises,
A morning without clouds,
When the fresh grass springs out of the earth
Through sunshine after rain.’
⁵
“Truly is not my house so [blessed] with God?
For He has made an everlasting covenant with me,
Ordered in all things, and secured.
For will He not cause to grow and prosper
All my salvation and my every wish?
Will He not make it grow and prosper?
⁶
“But the wicked and worthless are all to be thrown away like thorns,
Because they cannot be taken with the hand;
⁷
“But the man who touches them
Must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear,
And they are utterly burned and consumed by fire in their place.”

His Mighty Men

⁸These are the names of the mighty men (warriors) whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth, a Tahchemonite, chief of the ^[a]captains, also called Adino the Eznite (spear) because of the ^[b]eight hundred men killed [by him] at one time.^(B) ⁹Next to him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the son of Ahohi. He was one of the three mighty men with David when they taunted and defied the Philistines assembled there for battle, and the men of Israel had gone. ¹⁰Eleazar stood up and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary and clung to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day; the people returned after him only to take the spoil [of the slain].

¹¹Next to Eleazar was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines were gathered into an army where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the people [of Israel] fled from the Philistines. ¹²But he took his stand in the center of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines; and the Lord brought about a great victory.

¹³Then three of the thirty chief men went down and came to David at harvest time in the cave of Adullam, while an army of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. ¹⁵And David had a craving and said, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” ¹⁶So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem by the gate, and carried and brought it to David. But he would not drink it, but poured it out [in worship] to the Lord. ¹⁷And he said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should drink this. [Is it not the same as] the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” So he would not drink it. These things the ^[c]three mighty men did.

¹⁸Now Abishai the brother of Joab the son of Zeruiah was chief of the ^[d]thirty. He wielded his spear against three hundred men and killed them, and gained a reputation beside the three. ¹⁹He was the most honored of the thirty, so he became their commander; however, he did not attain to the [greatness of the] three.

²⁰Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done many notable acts, killed two [famous] warriors of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day. ²¹And he killed an Egyptian, an impressive and handsome man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but Benaiah went down to him with a club, snatched the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and killed the man with his own spear. ²²These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and gained a reputation beside the three mighty men. ²³He was honored among the thirty, but he did not attain to the [greatness of the] three. David appointed him over his guard.

Footnotes:

2 Samuel 23:8 The exploits of these three warriors are outlined in vv 8-11.
2 Samuel 23:8 1 Chr 11:11 lists the number as three hundred, and the number here is thought by some to be a textual error or exaggeration. But there is nothing in the text to suggest a scribal error, and if 800 slain by one man seems incredible, 300—though a much smaller number—still strains credibility. Perhaps divine intervention is the explanation (cf v 12), or Josheb was actually commanding other men but was credited with the victory as if he were alone, a common way to describe military victories.
2 Samuel 23:17 I.e. Josheb-basshebeth, Eleazar, and Shammah.
2 Samuel 23:18 So two Hebrew mss and Syriac; MT three.

Cross references:

Amplified Bible (AMP)

Acts 2

The Day of Pentecost

2 When the day of ^[a]Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place, ²and suddenly a sound came from heaven like a rushing violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³There appeared to them tongues resembling fire, which were being distributed [among them], and they rested on each one of them [as each person received the Holy Spirit]. ⁴And they were all filled [that is, diffused throughout their being] with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other ^[b]tongues (different languages), as the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak out [clearly and appropriately].

⁵Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout and God-fearing men from every nation under heaven. ⁶And when this sound was heard, a crowd gathered, and they were bewildered because each one was hearing those in the upper room speaking in his own language or dialect. ⁷They were completely astonished, saying, “Look! Are not all of these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸Then how is it that each of us hears in our own language or native dialect? ⁹[Among us there are] Parthians, Medes and Elamites, and people of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and ^[c]Asia [Minor], ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and the visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes (Gentile converts to Judaism), ¹¹Cretans and Arabs—we all hear them speaking in our [native] tongues about the mighty works of God!” ¹²And they were beside themselves with amazement and were greatly perplexed, saying one to another, “What could this mean?” ¹³But others were laughing and joking and ridiculing them, saying, “They are full of sweet wine and are drunk!”

Peter’s Sermon

¹⁴But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be explained to you; listen closely and pay attention to what I have to say. ¹⁵These people are not drunk, as you assume, since it is [only] the third hour of the day (9:00 a.m.); ¹⁶but this is [the beginning of] what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷
‘And it shall be in the last days,’ says God,
‘That I will pour out My Spirit upon all mankind;
And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
And your young men shall see [divinely prompted] visions,
And your old men shall dream [divinely prompted] dreams;
¹⁸
Even on My bond-servants, both men and women,
I will in those days pour out My Spirit
And they shall prophesy.
¹⁹
‘And I will bring about wonders in the sky above
And signs (attesting miracles) on the earth below,
Blood and fire and smoking vapor.
²⁰
‘The sun shall be turned into darkness
And the moon into blood,
Before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.
²¹
‘And it shall be that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord [invoking, adoring, and worshiping the Lord Jesus] shall be saved (rescued spiritually).’^(A)

²²“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man accredited and pointed out and attested to you by God with [the power to perform] miracles and wonders and signs which God worked through Him in your [very] midst, just as you yourselves know— ²³this Man, when handed over [to the Roman authorities] according to the predetermined decision and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross and put to death by the hands of lawless and godless men. ²⁴But God raised Him up, releasing Him and bringing an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in death’s power. ²⁵For David says of Him,

‘I saw the Lord constantly before me;
For He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken [from my state of security].
²⁶
‘Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue exulted exceedingly;
Moreover my flesh also will live in hope [that is, will encamp in anticipation of the resurrection];
²⁷
‘For You will not forsake me and abandon my soul to Hades (the realm of the dead),
Nor let Your Holy One undergo decay [after death].
²⁸
‘You have made known to me the ways of life;
You will fill me [infusing my soul] with joy with Your presence.’^(B)

²⁹“Brothers, I may confidently and freely say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. ³⁰And so, being a prophet and knowing fully that God had sworn to him with an oath that He would seat one of his descendants on his throne,^(C) ³¹he foresaw and spoke [prophetically] of the resurrection of the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), that He was not abandoned [in death] to Hades (the realm of the dead), nor did His body undergo decay.^(D) ³²God raised this Jesus [bodily from the dead], and of that [fact] we are all witnesses. ³³Therefore having been exalted ^[d]to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this [blessing] which you both see and hear. ³⁴For David did not ascend into the heavens, yet he himself says,

‘The Lord [the Father] said to my ^[e]Lord [the Son],
“Sit at My right hand,
³⁵
Until I make Your enemies a ^[f]footstool for Your feet.”’^(E)

³⁶Therefore let all the house of Israel recognize beyond all doubt that God has made Him both Lord and Christ (Messiah, Anointed)—this Jesus whom you crucified.”

The Ingathering

³⁷Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart [with remorse and anxiety], and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what are we to do?” ³⁸And Peter said to them, “Repent [change your old way of thinking, turn from your sinful ways, accept and follow Jesus as the Messiah] and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ because of the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹For the promise [of the Holy Spirit] is for you and your children and for all who are far away [including the Gentiles], as many as the Lord our God calls to Himself.”^(F) ⁴⁰And Peter solemnly testified and continued to admonish and urge them with many more words, saying, “^[g]Be saved from this crooked and unjust generation!” ⁴¹So then, those who accepted his message were baptized; and on that day about ^[h]3,000 souls were added [to the body of believers]. ⁴²They were continually and faithfully devoting themselves to the instruction of the apostles, and to fellowship, to ^[i]eating meals together and to prayers.

⁴³A sense of awe was felt by ^[j]everyone, and many wonders and signs (attesting miracles) were taking place through the apostles. ⁴⁴And all those who had believed [in Jesus as Savior] ^[k]were together and had all things in common [considering their possessions to belong to the group as a whole]. ⁴⁵And they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing the proceeds with all [the other believers], as anyone had need. ⁴⁶Day after day they met in the temple [area] continuing with one mind, and breaking bread in various private homes. They were eating their meals together with joy and generous hearts, ⁴⁷praising God continually, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord kept adding to their number daily those who were being saved.

Footnotes:

Acts 2:1 Pentecost (Feast of Weeks) was observed at the time of the grain harvest and the offering of the first fruits, and was one of the three great annual Jewish festivals, along with Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths). Just as Jesus’ sacrifice was the fulfillment of Passover, the coming of the Holy Spirit was the fulfillment of Pentecost.
Acts 2:4 Or languages, the Greek can have either meaning.
Acts 2:9 Modern Turkey.
Acts 2:33 Or by.
Acts 2:34 In Ps 110:1 Heb Adonai.
Acts 2:35 The earthly kingdoms will be subjugated at the inauguration of the kingdom of Christ.
Acts 2:40 Or Escape.
Acts 2:41 There were about 100,000 to 120,000 people in Jerusalem at this time, and even more at these festivals.
Acts 2:42 Lit the breaking of bread.
Acts 2:43 Lit every soul.
Acts 2:44 One early ms does not contain were and and.

Cross references:

Amplified Bible (AMP)

Psalm 122

Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem.

A Song of ^[a]Ascents. Of David.

122 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”^(A)
²
Our feet are standing
Within your gates, O Jerusalem,
³
Jerusalem, that is built
As a city that is firmly joined together;
⁴
To which the [twelve] tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord,
[As was decreed as] an ordinance for Israel,
To give thanks to the name of the Lord.
⁵
For there the thrones of judgment were set,
The thrones of the house of David.

⁶
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you [holy city].
⁷
“May peace be within your walls
And prosperity within your palaces.”
⁸
For the sake of my brothers and my friends,
I will now say, “May peace be within you.”
⁹
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God [which is Jerusalem],
I will seek your (the city’s) good.

Footnotes:

Psalm 122:1 See Psalm 120 title note.

Cross references:

Psalm 122:1 : Is 2:3; Zech 8:21

Amplified Bible (AMP)

Proverbs 16:19-20

¹⁹
It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly
Than to divide the spoil with the proud (haughty, arrogant).
²⁰
He who pays attention to the word [of God] will find good,
And blessed (happy, prosperous, to be admired) is he who trusts [confidently] in the Lord.

Amplified Bible (AMP)

June 3, 2018

06/03/2018 DAB Transcript

2 Samuel 20:14-22:20, Acts 1:1-26, Psalms 121:1-8, Proverbs 16:18

Today is the 3^rd day of June. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today as we move into this new month and get comfortable and settle in for the next few weeks. And are part of that moving in will be to move into a new book. We’ll be moving into the book of Acts today and we’ll talk about that when we get there. And, of course, we’re moving into our first full week in the month of June and we have a shiny, sparkly, new week out in front of us. We’ll read from the Amplified Bible this week and go back into second Samuel, pick up the story of David. Today we’ll read chapter 20 verse 14 through 21 verse 22.

Introduction to the book of Acts:

Okay. So, we have concluded the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, which brings us to the end of the narratives of Jesus life and ministry and brings us to the threshold of everything that comes next. And we begin that story as we begin the book of Acts. And we’ve already read this author before. The writer of the book of acts is Luke, who also wrote the gospel of Luke that we read earlier in the year. He wrote this as a two-volume set, telling the whole story. So, I suppose if we were in the Old Testament we might find that this was called Second Luke because it picks up where the gospel of Luke left off. And the first half of Acts is going to give us an in-depth look at the ministry of Peter after Jesus ascended back into heaven. And then later in the book we will be introduced to the apostle Paul and he will emerge and we’ll learn of his conversion and his whole story and how it was that he became a pivotal figure in the New Testament. Also, in the book of Acts we will learn of the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised to send back. It actually happens. The Holy Spirit descends upon the early believers at Pentecost. And the Holy Spirit’s work and power are…I mean…they’re like on every page of the book of Acts. And we’ll watch the church grow and spread from Jerusalem all the way to Rome to all of Israel and beyond. And we’ll see some of the bloody attempts to stamp it out. but in the face of brutal persecution by the power of the Holy Spirit and His guidance, we’ll watch that, in spite of it all, the early believers grow and thrive. And, so, we begin. Acts, chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. Thank You for this brand-new week and this brand-new month and the brand-new territory that we’re heading into in the Scriptures does. And as we read of Your power, indwelling the apostles, and the repercussions of that, the way that the gospel spread into the world because of Your power. We marvel, because this is exactly what Jesus said would happen. And we marvel because You, You, Holy Spirit are the same Spirit that indwells us and empowers us. And so, Holy Spirit, lead us into all truth as we continue this story forward. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure and check in.

One thing to certainly check in on is what we’ve been talking about for the last couple of days, tThe Daily Audio Bible family reunion where the global campfire comes together. We’re all gonna come together for a couple of days, Labor Day weekend. For those of United States that’s September 1^st and 2^nd and you are invited to the rolling hills of Tennessee, where were going to do just what the title is. We’re gonna have a family reunion and they’ll be plenty of time for you to explore one of America’s hottest destinations, which happens to be the rolling hills of Tennessee – the Nashville area. And we have prepared some adventures for you, some things that you might want to look into and be able to show you can where they are so that you can get to them and come back for the evening. We’ll share our dinners together as a community and then move from dinner and to just some time, some time as a community and then have campfires afterwards that we can kind of continue, just getting to know each other, playing together, enjoying fellowship together. It’s a beautiful thing and one of the great distinctives of our community. We love each other very, very well. So, you can register and find out all of the details about the family reunion at dailyaudiobible.com by just scrolling down on the homepage to the Initiatives section or at the top of the website, there’s this little navigation area like most websites have. One of them is called Initiatives. You’ll find it in there. Hope to see you. Come to the rolling hills, where we will be coming together for a family reunion September 1^st and 2^nd.

If you want to partner with the daily Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link that lives on the homepage. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Springhill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for next month, which is tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello Daily Audio Bible family. This is John Corrado calling from Bethlehem Pennsylvania. I hope you’re all doing well today. It’s 30^th of May. Hard to believe that we’re at the end of another month and nearly 5 months on this journey together. I hope you’re enjoying the ride as much as I am. It’s incredible how God’s word is washing over us and how it’s speaking to us. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible now, it was really on and off, for a few years and then mostly off for a while. And then full on for the past year plus at least anyway. And man…what it does. I’m sure you all can testify yourselves like I am right now the difference that it makes in our lives, the difference that is made in my life. It…my testimony is a much longer one so I don’t have time of the two minutes here today, but just praise God. Praise Jesus. Thank you, Brian and Jill for this ministry. If it weren’t, really, I mean, I don’t want to sound cliché, if it weren’t for this program I would not be in the relationship that I am with God right now. I would have a hole in my heart that was to recently Jesus and I wouldn’t understand or recognize what that shape was in a be trying to fill it with some other thing. And your program, this program, has allowed that hole to be filled. And I just wanted to call and thank you. Thank you all, everybody in the community, for your thoughts and prayers and for making this community what it is. And Brian for making this program what it is. Call back soon with more. Love you guys. Take good care.

Hi. This is Vanessa in Texas. I’m a first-time caller. And I’ve been praying for Terry the truck driver. The Lord put you in my heart and won’t let me forget you. Every day I pray for your strength, health and closeness with God. I’m calling today because I’d like to request prayers for my dear friend Pelham and his young daughter. My friend doesn’t know what love is or how to love. The Lord has been calling him and my friend has been following his light for many months now wanting to know more. He listens to me talk about the DAB and share Scripture with him but he doesn’t believe. Recently, his daughter has been asking about Jesus, who He was and why people talked about Him so much. Her mom is a nonbeliever and refuses to talk about Jesus with her daughter. I shared DAB Kids with my friend that he might play it for his daughter. Please pray that my dear friend Pelham and his daughter find Jesus and come to know His and grace and compassion for them. Pray that they too may be and believe in the Savior and forever be filled with the Holy Spirit and His love. Thank you DAB family.

Hi DAB family. My name is Rose. I’m calling from New York, Queens. I was actually reaching out right now, I was having my lunch hour, and sometimes my lunch hour’s the best time to just sit down and just listen to the DAB Bible. And I always stay for the prayers, just, I pray, I pray for everyone. And I heard this young child that broke my heart, Nonie, 15 years old. And I just had to run out of my office and just get into prayer because I just hear her anguish and in Jesus’ name, she did the right thing. Nonie, if you’re listening, you did the right thing. You took the first step of faith and that is that you came under the covenant and reached out to your brothers and sisters and you asked us in whole, as one accord, to back you up in prayer. That’s what we’re doing child. That’s what we’re doing. We’re lifting you up and we’re saying, that, you know what, the Angels are camping out around you and that you’re not alone, that you have a whole, whole family whose praying with you, and that, you know what, I’m praying that you have a friend, a godly friend, a child in your peers. You guys are going to walk together and are going to be the best of friends together, you’re going to be godly friends and you’re never going to let go and you’re going to go through this walk of Christ together. I promise you, it might look a little hard right now but life is so precious and so precious when we walk with him. Heavenly Father, I come to You in the name of your beloved son Jesus Christ. Father God, there is no distance in this. You’re with us and You’re with her and each and every one of us, whoever comes into the light, whoever is listening Father God in one accord, in one agreement father God…

Beautiful family, this is Pastor Gene from Bradenton Florida. Please join me in prayer. Beautiful Lord and Savior, I’m listening to the story of David and I’m listening to Your word spoken to him through the prophet Nathan and I’m convicted. I’m convicted when you say you despised me, you disrespected me. I’m convicted when I realize that that is what my sin does to You. It makes You feel despised. It makes You feel rejected. It makes You feel disrespected, that it hurts You to your very core. I’m sorry Father. I’m sorry that after all the love that You have shown me, all the kindness in the faithfulness that You have shown me, when I sin, when I choose to be disobedient, it makes You feel despised and rejected. Please, forgive me and cleanse me and help me to be a daughter __. Oh God. Father, we pray for our dear sister, sweet Florence Nightingale and __. I praise You for what You are __. And I pray that You will continue using her as she reaches to others with a wholesome message. I pray for our brother Mike in New York City. He needs to focus. He needs a steady job. He wants to overcome sin and he can do all these things through You because you transcend them. Oh God. Help him. __ as the best accountability partner that Mike could get. And ,finally Lord, we pray for our brother Billy from __ . We pray for protection and salvation of his family. May Your glory continue to move on his behalf. This is Pastor Gene. God bless your family. Bye.

June 3, 2018

06/02/2018 DAB Transcript

2 Samuel 19:10b-20:13, John 21:1-25, Psalms 120:1-7, Proverbs 16:16-17

Today is the 2nd day of June. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s wonderful to be here with you today, still moving into this brand-new month. And today we will finish a book. We’ll complete the book of John, which will also complete the Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. So we’re kind of finishing a whole section of the Scriptures today. And that is the section that covers the life and ministry of Jesus. But before we get to that, we need to take the next step forward in this drama that has been happening in the life of King David. So from the Common English Bible we’ll read 2 Samuel 19:11-20:12 today.

Commentary:

Okay, so in the book of 2 Samuel, the drama with Absalom is now complete. David is back on his throne in Jerusalem and is the king of Israel again. But this has certainly upset a lot of things and so there’s some settling back in. But David is back on the throne in Jerusalem.

And then in the book of John, as I said at the beginning, as I’ve been saying, we’re coming to the end and we have. We have concluded the gospels. And in John, we conclude them in the Galilee region. Jesus is cooking his friends breakfast on the shore of the sea of Galilee. There is a site, a memorial site that’s been there for I think seventeen hundred years right at the shore of the Sea of Galilee to commemorate this event. And you walk right into the water from there. It’s one of the places you can get right down to the shore. And we always spend a few minutes there. It’s known as Peter’s primacy. It’s a place that commemorates what we just read and what has become a central and important teaching in the book of John, and that is when Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him and tells him to feed his sheep and this is a very very famous story. What I find interesting is that the last paragraph of the book of John contains within it to me one of the most poignant and important teachings of Jesus to apply to our own lives. A pretty serious game changer. And it comes in the form of a small question followed by a small request. But neither of them are small. Both of them touch everything. So Jesus asks Peter if he loves him three times. This restores Peter. Jesus tells Peter to feed his sheep. And then he tells him, basically, that he will die in this pursuit. Peter’s response to this is to look around and then ask Jesus, Lord, what about him? So Peter responds to Jesus by immediately trying to make a comparison. What about him? Which brings us to the very last words of Jesus quoted in the gospels, right? This is it. Jesus asks Peter a question and through Peter he’s asking us the same question because this applies to us just as much. Jesus said, If I want him to remain until I come, what difference does that make to you? Literally, if we can remember that question, we will have a lot more clarity in our lives because we spend so much of our lives trying to figure out how well we’re doing based on how someone else is doing, which causes us to get into all kinds of trouble because we’re living our lives like it’s a competition. So every time we feel that pull, right? Every time we feel that sense that we are falling further behind, every time we look around and think so many are doing so much better, we have these words of Jesus cutting through the fog like he always did, like he continues to do. Cutting right to the heart of the matter. What difference does that make to you? Just answering that question and naming it immediately allows us to see that we’re trying to get an identity in a way that isn’t gonna work. This life is not a competition with one another. In fact, Jesus prayed just a couple of chapters ago in the same book of John that we would all be made one. This is not a competition. So hearing Jesus words and having them locked in our mind, every moment that we find ourselves toward comparison, what difference does that make to you, is so incredibly helpful. And then we get to the final four words that Jesus speaks in the New Testament, in the gospels. You must follow me. There’s so much there in that little question and the little request that will guide us throughout our days. Every time we come to something that is interrupting our peace, we are can ask, what difference does that make to me? And it might make a difference, but rather than it being this nebulous cloud of anxiety inside, it’s something that has been named so that we can see it and then see it for what it is. What difference does that make? I must follow Jesus. This immediately shifts us back and orients us to the narrow path that leads to life. Very very small words, seemingly insignificant in the very very last paragraph of the very very last book of the gospels, but it’s one of the most immediately and poignant lessons that we can take on board in our lives and live into. What difference does that make to me? I’m not going to find an identity in comparing how well I’m doing to somebody else or what someone else has that I don’t or what’s going to happen to someone else that’s not going to happen to me. I must follow Jesus.

Prayer:

So Jesus, we’ve reached the end of the gospels for this year. We’ve journeyed with You since the very very beginning of the year up until right now, listening to You, sitting at Your feet, watching You operate in this world, watching You show us what our lives can, should and must look like. Showing us what our lives indeed can become as we invite Your Holy Spirit to lead us after the same fashion that You were lead in this world. You have given us all of the same resources, all of the same tools and told us to go into all the world. So come, Holy Spirit. Show us how to live into this today. What difference does that make to You? You must follow me. Come Holy Spirit, we pray. In Jesus name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here.

And I made a big announcement yesterday, so if you missed yesterday, go back and listen so you can hear the whole story. But I announced the Daily Audio Bible Family Reunion where the global camp fire comes together coming up this September 1 and 2, 2018, which is Labor Day weekend for those of you in the United States. We’re going to come together as a community. And I told the whole story yesterday about how we went out. We took an 18-month tour called a Family Gathering tour. And we went all over the world in 2012, 13 and part of 14, simply bringing the community together in different cities. People could make connections and it was a monumental thing inside the community. It was really, really beautiful, really, really exhausting time. And we’re just bringing that full circle and inviting you to the rolling hills of Tennessee for a family reunion. And you can get all of the details at dailyaudiobible.com just by scrolling down into the initiatives or clicking the initiatives button at the top. All the details that you would want to know are there and it is gonna be a lot of fun, so I hope you can come. Very very much looking forward to this. Just the opportunity to hear those voices and finally know people beyond voice. Know them in life. So make plans. Come to the rolling hills of Tennessee September 1 and 2. You can find out all about it at dailyaudiobible.com.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link. It’s on the homepage. Thank you. Thank you for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the give button in the upper right-hand corner. Or if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O Box 1996, Spring Hill, Tennessee, 37174.

And, as always if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for next month, which is tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey DAB family this is Byron out in Florida. I wanted to call to Jaime. Jaime you called in recently and entrusted us with the burden of marriage and what was going on there with her husband about where you could move on because you didn’t feel that you were loving him in the way that he needed and you also expressed that you didn’t feel like you were loving God properly. And that really touched my heart because I’ve been there. I’ve been through that and I kept thinking about what I could say to encourage you and I kept just thinking through different thoughts and different things in my head and I just kind of just kept rattling in my head. And, ultimately, I just decided I want to tell you what I told somebody else once and it seemed to help them. God loves you Jaime. God loves you. He loves you independent of whether you think you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing as a wife. He loves you independent for what you think you’re supposed to be doing as his child. His love is completely unrelated to our fickle attempts to love him back. So, in our relationship with Him it is far more important for us to forget about what it is we’re supposed to do and think about what He has done for us. __ not him and not anybody. We can only learn about love by concentrating on His love for us. God loves you. Stop there. Bath in that and feel in your heart what he’s telling you to do next. He’s going to take care of the situation. It will unfold in a way differently than what you would have hoped or planned. But He is there and He will take care of it. He’s done it for me. He’s done for millions of others. He’ll do it for you. Love you. Praying for you.

Hi there. I wanted to pray for Jamie, a first-time caller, on the May 30^th one. Lord, I am so impressed that Jamie reached out to a group of strangers, skeptical, but desperate. And, to me, that is such a perfect picture of her heart toward You and I just wanted to pray for her, her marriage, and for herself, and for her husband. Lord, I pray that you would first, that You’d give her hope, that she would know Your presence and Your nearness and that You have a good plan for her. Second, I would ask that You would grow a love in her heart for her husband, something that only You can do. And, her effort is there, she’s been trying, but would You bring it to life? Like Ezekiel saw with the dry bones? Just bring that to light Lord. And then, third Lord, I want to pray for her husband. She said he’s a good man and that he’s been patiently waiting and I just would pray that You would create a love in his heart to accept Jamie as she is, to receive her love for him even if it’s not the style or the way that he might prefer, but that they would learn each other’s love languages, that there would be a measure of love and respect that’s well given and well received. And Lord, would You just do this because You just love Jamie, just because You care for Your child and that You just want to show her good things. Lord, we lift her up and we lift up the situation and trust that You will move forward in it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible. It’s May the 30^th. Sorry, Brian, for the multiple calls. This is the one I hope I will not screw up. I have a prayer request for my wife’s aunt Nita. Passed away at 7:15 this morning. I ask you to keep her family in prayer as well as mine and my wife’s. Praise report, I am 30 days…past the 30-day mark of being drug free but I have a confession. I did stumble. I had a few beers the other day. It felt horrible. It tasted nasty. Don’t know why I continued it. Afterwards, I went back and was listening to more readings and I started listening to the prayers, the community prayer, and a man called in and stated I was going to go back, I wasn’t gonna like it, it wouldn’t be the same. I came across that after I stumbled. And he’d given his email and I reached out to him and I confessed to him, yes, you’re right, you were right. And I wished I’d heard of before but I’m not going to get discouraged. I know were going to stumble. I don’t want to but I know we do in some way or another. But I ask for continued prayers and just want everyone to know that I continue to pray for all those that call in and for those that don’t because I know there’s many. I listened for a long time before I ever called in but I lift you up to the Lord in Christ name. You all have a blessed day.

Hi my DAB family. I’m your sister Julie, third-year, who hasn’t called for a while but I’ve been with you all in prayer and I deeply love you all and look forward to hugging every one of you at our reunion in heaven with our Abba father and in our glorified bodies. My sweet little sister Jamie, we aren’t strangers. God can take the most broken of marriages on their last breath and revive them the way Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. There’s always hope my lovely sister. God can plant the most profound deep love for your husband in your heart. He did it for me after my unfaithfulness to my own husband. He resurrected our marriage and has made all things new. It didn’t happen overnight but I’m grateful it didn’t because God, in his infinite wisdom and wonderful timing, taught us both many profound lessons. Our God is faithful to forgive and very capable of restoring all things. Look what He’s done for David. It’s not a coincidence that this, that Brian is reading David right now, it just convicts my heart, well, actually, it comforts my heart now. It used to convict my heart but it comforts me greatly. So, please don’t give up. I know you probably didn’t create any kind of infidelity in your marriage but God can plant His deepest love in your heart. Please don’t give up. You have many people here that are not strangers that love you. I think all of us that are on here love you. So please take that the heart and don’t give up. He can make all things new. Please believe that. I love you all. Brian, thank you so much. I love you brother. I love every time I hear you say, I love you. It just brings, it just makes my morning, and be able to walk out the door. All glory be to God. I love you in Jesus’ name. Have a great day everyone. Bye-bye.

June 3, 2018

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday June 3, 2018 (NIV)

2 Samuel 20:14-21:22

¹⁴Now Joab went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, even Beth-maacah, and all the Berites; and they assembled and also went after Sheba. ¹⁵And ^[a]the army of Joab came and besieged Sheba in Abel Beth-maacah, and they built up an ^[b]assault ramp against the city, and it stood against the outer rampart; and all the people who were with Joab were wreaking destruction to make the wall fall. ¹⁶Then a wise woman cried out from the city, “Hear, hear! Tell Joab, ‘Come here so that I may speak to you.’” ¹⁷So when he approached her, the woman asked, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your maidservant.” He answered, “I am listening.” ¹⁸Then she said, “In the past people used to say, ‘They will certainly ask advice at Abel,’ and so they settled the dispute. ¹⁹I am one of the peaceable and faithful in Israel. You are seeking to destroy a city, and a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up (devour) the inheritance of the Lord?” ²⁰Joab answered, “Far be it, far be it from me that I would swallow up or destroy! ²¹That is not true. But a man of the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand [in rebellion] against King David. Only hand him over, and I will leave the city.” And the woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall.” ²²Then the woman in her wisdom went to all the people [to inform them of the agreement]. And they beheaded Sheba the son of Bichri and threw his head [down] to Joab. So he blew the trumpet [signaling the end of the attack], and they dispersed from the city, every man to his own tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to [David] the king.^(A)

²³Now Joab was [commander] over the entire army of Israel; Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was [commander] over the Cherethites and Pelethites [the king’s bodyguards]; ²⁴Adoram was over the forced labor; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; ²⁵Sheva was the scribe; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests; ²⁶also Ira the Jairite was a priest to David.

Gibeonite Revenge

21 There was famine in the days of David for three consecutive years; and David sought the presence (face) of the Lord [asking the reason]. The Lord replied, “It is because of Saul and his bloody house, because ^[c]he put the Gibeonites to death.” ²So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons (descendants) of Israel but of the remnant (survivors) of the Amorites. The Israelites had sworn [an oath] to [spare] them, but Saul in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah had sought to strike down the Gibeonites). ³So David said to the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? How can I make it good so that you will bless the Lord’s inheritance (Israel)?” ⁴The Gibeonites said to him, “We will not accept silver or gold belonging to Saul or his household (descendants); nor is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” David said, “I will do for you whatever you say.” ⁵So they said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to exterminate us from remaining in any territory of Israel, ⁶let seven men [chosen] from his sons (descendants) be given to us and we will hang them before the Lord [that is, put them on display, impaled with broken legs and arms] in ^[d]Gibeah of Saul, the chosen one of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

⁷But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the Lord’s oath that was between David and Saul’s son Jonathan. ⁸So the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of ^[e]Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. ⁹He handed them over to the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the Lord, and the seven died together. They were put to death in the first days of the grain harvest, the beginning of the barley harvest [in the spring].

¹⁰Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest [in the spring] until [the autumn] rain fell on them; and she allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on their bodies by day, nor the beasts of the field [to feed on them] by night. ¹¹David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the ^[f]concubine of Saul, had done. ¹²Then David went and took the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the open square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them on the day when the Philistines had killed Saul in Gilboa. ¹³He brought up the bones of Saul and of Jonathan his son from there, and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged [with their arms and legs broken]. ¹⁴They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father; and they did all that the king commanded. After that, God was moved by prayer for the land.

¹⁵Now the Philistines were at war again with Israel. David went down with his servants, and as they fought against the Philistines, David became weary. ¹⁶Then Ishbi-benob, who was among the descendants of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels (six pounds) of bronze, was armed with a new sword, and he intended to kill David. ¹⁷But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to David’s aid, and struck and killed the Philistine. Then David’s men swore to him, “You shall not go out again with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish the lamp of Israel.”

¹⁸After this, there was war again with the Philistines at Gob (Gezer). At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph (Sippai), who was among the descendants of the giant. ¹⁹There was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a Bethlehemite, killed Goliath the Gittite, whose spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam. ²⁰There was war at Gath again, where there was a man of great stature who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; he also was a descendant of the giants. ²¹And when he taunted and defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, killed him. ²²These four [warriors] were descended from the giant in Gath, and they fell by the hands of David and his servants.

Footnotes:

2 Samuel 20:15 Lit they.
2 Samuel 20:15 Probably the most famous example of this was the huge ramp built against Masada by the Romans, which still stands.
2 Samuel 21:1 There is no more information about this elsewhere. The Gibeonites had tricked Israel into making a treaty with them (Josh 9:3-15) and Saul apparently tried to exterminate them to right the original wrong perpetrated by them against Israel (cf v 2).
2 Samuel 21:6 Saul’s home had been in Gibeah (1 Sam 10:26).
2 Samuel 21:8 So Greek and some Hebrew mss; MT has Michal.
2 Samuel 21:11 See note Gen 22:24.

Cross references:

2 Samuel 20:22 : Eccl 9:13-16

Amplified Bible (AMP)

Acts 1

Introduction

1 The first ^[a]account I made, Theophilus, was [a continuous report] about all the things that Jesus began to do and to ^[b]teach^(A) ²until the day when He ascended to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given instruction to the apostles (special messengers) whom He had chosen. ³To these [men] He also showed Himself alive after His suffering [in Gethsemane and on the cross], by [a series of] many infallible proofs and unquestionable demonstrations, appearing to them over a period of forty days and talking to them about the things concerning the kingdom of God. ⁴While being together and eating with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Of which,” He said, “you have heard Me speak.^(B) ⁵For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized and empowered and united with the Holy Spirit, not long from now.”

⁶So when they had come together, they asked Him repeatedly, “Lord, are You at this time reestablishing the kingdom and restoring it to Israel?” ⁷He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority. ⁸But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.”

The Ascension

⁹And after He said these things, He was caught up as they looked on, and a cloud took Him up out of their sight. ¹⁰While they were looking intently into the sky as He was going, two men in white clothing suddenly stood beside them, ¹¹who said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This [same] Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will return in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

The Upper Room

¹²Then the disciples returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet (Olive Grove), which is near Jerusalem, [only] a Sabbath day’s journey (less than one mile) away. ¹³When they had entered the city, they went upstairs to the upper room where they were staying [indefinitely]; that is, Peter, and John and [his brother] James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew (Nathanael) and Matthew, ^[c]James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas (Thaddaeus) the son of James. ¹⁴All these with one mind and one purpose were continually devoting themselves to prayer, [waiting together] along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

¹⁵Now on one of these days Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters (a gathering of about a hundred and twenty believers was there) and he said, ¹⁶“Brothers and sisters, it was necessary that the Scripture be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the lips of David [king of Israel] about Judas [Iscariot], who acted as guide to those who arrested Jesus. ¹⁷For he (Judas) was counted among us and received his share [by divine allotment] in this ministry.” ¹⁸(Now Judas Iscariot ^[d]acquired a piece of land [indirectly] with the [money paid him as a] reward for his treachery, and falling headlong, his body burst open in the middle and all his intestines poured out. ¹⁹All the people in Jerusalem learned about this, so in their own dialect—Aramaic—they called the piece of land Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) ²⁰“For in the book of Psalms it is written,

‘Let his place of residence become desolate,
And let there be no one to live in it’;

and [again],

‘Let another take his position as overseer.’^(C)

²¹So of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus spent with us, ²²beginning with the baptism by John [at the outset of Jesus’ ministry] until the day when He was taken up from us—one of these men must become a witness with us [to testify] of His resurrection.” ²³And they put forward two men, Joseph, the one called Barsabbas (who was surnamed Justus), and Matthias. ²⁴They prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know all hearts [their thoughts, motives, desires], show us which one of these two You have chosen ²⁵to occupy this ministry and apostleship which Judas left to go to his own place [of evil].” ²⁶And they ^[e]cast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

Footnotes:

Acts 1:1 Luke is referring to his gospel.
Acts 1:1 As the gospel tells us what Jesus began to do and teach, so Acts tells what He continued to do and teach by His Holy Spirit (F. F. Bruce).
Acts 1:13 Also known as James the Less or James the Younger. His mother, Mary (Gr Maria), may have been either a sister or sister-in-law of Mary (Gr Mariam), the mother of Jesus.
Acts 1:18 Peter means that the chief priests purchased the field in Judas’ name. He had returned to them with the money, and when they refused to accept it, he threw it into the temple sanctuary (Matt 27:3 ff). Afterwards they decided to buy the field for use as a burial ground for strangers. Peter goes on to say that Judas was disemboweled in a fall, while Matthew reports that Judas hanged himself (Matt 27:5). One explanation for the apparent discrepancy is that the rope or line that Judas was using broke, and the body fell in such a way as to be disemboweled (Matt 27:3 ff).
Acts 1:26 The custom of the Jews was to write the names on stones, place them in a container and shake it until one stone fell out.

Cross references:

Amplified Bible (AMP)

Psalm 121

The Lord the Keeper of Israel.

A Song of ^[a]Ascents.

121 I will lift up my eyes to the hills [of Jerusalem]—
From where shall my help come?^(A)
²
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
³
He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.^(B)
⁴
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber [briefly] nor sleep [soundly].

⁵
The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.^(C)
⁶
The sun will not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.^(D)
⁷
The Lord will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your life.
⁸
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in [everything that you do]
From this time forth and forever.^(E)

Footnotes:

Psalm 121:1 See Psalm 120 title note.

Cross references:

Amplified Bible (AMP)

Proverbs 16:18

¹⁸
Pride goes before destruction,
And a haughty spirit before a fall.

Amplified Bible (AMP)

June 2, 2018

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday June 2, 2018 (NIV)

2 Samuel 19:11-20:13

¹¹When the things that all the Israelites were saying reached the king,^[a] David sent a message to the priests Zadok and Abiathar: “Say the following to the elders of Judah: ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace?^[b] ¹²You are my relatives! You are my flesh and bones! Why should you be the last to bring the king back?’ ¹³And tell Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my flesh and bones too? May God deal harshly with me and worse still if you don’t become commander of my army from now on instead of Joab!’”

¹⁴So he won over the hearts of everyone in Judah as though they were one person, and they sent word to the king: “Come back—you and all your servants.” ¹⁵So the king came back and arrived at the Jordan River. Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and bring him across the Jordan.

¹⁶Gera’s son Shimei, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, hurried down with the people of Judah to meet King David. ¹⁷A thousand men from Benjamin were with him. Ziba too, the servant of Saul’s house, along with his fifteen sons and twenty servants, rushed to the Jordan ahead of the king ¹⁸to do the work of ferrying^[c] over the king’s household and to do whatever pleased him.

Gera’s son Shimei fell down before the king when he crossed the Jordan. ¹⁹He said to the king, “May my master not hold me guilty or remember your servant’s wrongdoing that day my master the king left Jerusalem. Please forget about it, Your Majesty,^[d] ²⁰because your servant knows that I have sinned. But look, I am the first person from the entire family of Joseph to come down today and meet my master the king.”

²¹Zeruiah’s son Abishai responded, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for that—for cursing the Lord’s anointed?”

²²But David said, “My problems aren’t yours, you sons of Zeruiah. Why are you becoming my enemy today? Should anyone in Israel be put to death today? Don’t I know that today I am again king over Israel?”

²³Then the king told Shimei, “You will not die.” And the king swore this to him.

²⁴Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, also came down to meet the king. He hadn’t taken care of his feet, trimmed his beard, or washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he returned safely. ²⁵When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, “Mephibosheth, why didn’t you go with me?”

²⁶“My master and king,” Mephibosheth answered, “my servant abandoned me! Because your servant is lame, I asked my servant, ‘Saddle a donkey for me^[e] so I can ride and go to the king.’ ²⁷So Ziba has slandered your servant to my master and king, but my master and king is a messenger of God. So do whatever seems best to you. ²⁸Even though all the members of my grandfather’s family were nothing short of demonic^[f] toward my master and king, you still put your servant with those who eat at your table. So what right do I have to beg for still more from the king?”

²⁹“You don’t need to talk any more about this,” the king said to him. “I order you and Ziba to divide the property.”

³⁰Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him take all of it, since my master and king has come home safely.”

³¹Now Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim. He accompanied the king to the Jordan River to send him off there. ³²Barzillai was very old, 80 years of age. He had supported the king during his stay at Mahanaim because Barzillai was a very wealthy man.

³³The king said to Barzillai, “Come over the Jordan with me. I will provide for you at my side in Jerusalem.”

³⁴But Barzillai said to the king, “How many years do I have left that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? ³⁵I am now 80 years old. Do I know what is good or bad anymore? Can your servant taste what I eat or drink? Can I even hear the voices of men or women singers? Why should your servant be a burden to my master and king? ³⁶Your servant will cross a short way over the Jordan with the king, but why should the king give me such a reward? ³⁷Let your servant return so I may die in my own town near the grave of my parents. But here is your servant Chimham. Let him cross over with my master and king, and treat him as you think best.”

³⁸The king said, “Okay. Chimham will cross over with me, and I will treat him as I^[g] think best. And I will do for you anything you desire from me.”

³⁹So all the people crossed over the Jordan River, and the king stayed behind.^[h] The king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and then Barzillai went back to his home. ⁴⁰When the king crossed over to Gilgal, Chimham went with him. All the troops of Judah and half the troops of Israel escorted the king across.

⁴¹Then everyone in Israel came and said to the king, “Why did our relatives the people of Judah steal you away, and bring the king and his household across the Jordan River, along with all of his soldiers?”

⁴²Then all the people of Judah answered the Israelites, “Because the king is our relative! Why are you angry at us about this? Have we taken any of the king’s food? Has he given us any gifts?”

⁴³But the Israelites answered the people of Judah, “We have ten shares in the monarchy! What’s more, we are the oldest offspring, not you!^[i] So why have you disrespected us? Weren’t we the first to talk about bringing back our king?”

But the words of the people of Judah were even harsher than the words of the Israelites.^[j]

Sheba’s rebellion

20 Now a despicable man named Sheba, Bichri’s son, from Benjamin, was also there. He sounded the trumpet and said:

“We don’t care about David!
We have no stake in Jesse’s son!
Go back to your homes, Israel!”

²So all the Israelites left David to follow Bichri’s son Sheba. But all the people of Judah stayed close to their king from the Jordan River all the way to Jerusalem.

³When David arrived at his palace in Jerusalem, the king took the ten secondary wives he had left to take care of the palace and put them in a house under guard. He provided for them, but he didn’t have sex with them. They were confined until the day they died, and lived like widows.

⁴Then the king said to Amasa, “Call everyone in Judah here to me three days from now. You should be here too.” ⁵So Amasa went to call Judah together, but he took longer than the allotted time.

⁶David told Abishai, “Bichri’s son Sheba will cause more trouble for us than Absalom did. Take your master’s servants and chase after him before he finds fortified cities and escapes from us.” ⁷So Joab’s men marched out after Sheba—this included the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and all the warriors. They marched out of Jerusalem to pursue Bichri’s son Sheba.

⁸When they got to the great stone in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab was dressed in his soldier’s uniform. Over the tunic at his waist he wore a sword in its sheath. As Joab went forward it slipped out.

⁹“How are you, my brother?” Joab asked Amasa, and with his right hand he took hold of Amasa’s beard as if to kiss him. ¹⁰But Amasa didn’t notice the sword in Joab’s hand. Joab struck him in the stomach with it so that Amasa’s intestines spilled out on the ground. He died without Joab striking him a second time. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba, Bichri’s son.

¹¹One of Joab’s men stood by Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, follow Joab!” ¹²Amasa was writhing in blood in the middle of the road, and the man saw that everyone was stopping. When he saw this, he dragged Amasa from the road into a field and threw a robe over him. ¹³Once Amasa was moved out of the road, everyone who followed Joab marched past in pursuit of Bichri’s son Sheba.

Footnotes:

2 Samuel 19:11 LXX, OL; MT lacks When… the king, though a version of this clause appears in 19:12.
2 Samuel 19:11 MT adds The things that all the Israelites were saying reached the king in his home (or palace).
2 Samuel 19:18 LXX; MT while the crossing was under way, to ferry
2 Samuel 19:19 19:18-19 Heb uncertain
2 Samuel 19:26 LXX, Syr, Vulg; MT your servant said, I will saddle a donkey for myself
2 Samuel 19:28 Or were doomed to death by my master the king; MT men of death
2 Samuel 19:38 LXX; MT you
2 Samuel 19:39 LXX; MT crossed over
2 Samuel 19:43 LXX, OL; MT we have a greater claim on David than you do.
2 Samuel 19:43 19:39-43 Heb uncertain

Common English Bible (CEB)

John 21

Jesus appears again to the disciples

21 Later, Jesus himself appeared again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. This is how it happened: ²Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus^[a]), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two other disciples were together. ³Simon Peter told them, “I’m going fishing.”

They said, “We’ll go with you.” They set out in a boat, but throughout the night they caught nothing. ⁴Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples didn’t realize it was Jesus.

⁵Jesus called to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?”

They answered him, “No.”

⁶He said, “Cast your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.”

So they did, and there were so many fish that they couldn’t haul in the net. ⁷Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard it was the Lord, he wrapped his coat around himself (for he was naked) and jumped into the water. ⁸The other disciples followed in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they weren’t far from shore, only about one hundred yards.

⁹When they landed, they saw a fire there, with fish on it, and some bread. ¹⁰Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you’ve just caught.” ¹¹Simon Peter got up and pulled the net to shore. It was full of large fish, one hundred fifty-three of them. Yet the net hadn’t torn, even with so many fish. ¹²Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples could bring themselves to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³Jesus came, took the bread, and gave it to them. He did the same with the fish. ¹⁴This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Jesus and Peter

¹⁵When they finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

Simon replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.”

Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” ¹⁶Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Simon replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.”

Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep.” ¹⁷He asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was sad that Jesus asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” He replied, “Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.”

Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸I assure you that when you were younger you tied your own belt and walked around wherever you wanted. When you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and another will tie your belt and lead you where you don’t want to go.” ¹⁹He said this to show the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. After saying this, Jesus said to Peter, “Follow me.”

Jesus and the disciple whom he loved

²⁰Peter turned around and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them. This was the one who had leaned against Jesus at the meal and asked him, “Lord, who is going to betray you?” ²¹When Peter saw this disciple, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”

²²Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain until I come, what difference does that make to you? You must follow me.” ²³Therefore, the word spread among the brothers and sisters that this disciple wouldn’t die. However, Jesus didn’t say he wouldn’t die, but only, “If I want him to remain until I come, what difference does that make to you?” ²⁴This is the disciple who testifies concerning these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. ²⁵Jesus did many other things as well. If all of them were recorded, I imagine the world itself wouldn’t have enough room for the scrolls that would be written.

Footnotes:

John 21:2 Or the twin

Common English Bible (CEB)

Psalm 120

A pilgrimage song.^[a]

120 I cried out to the Lord when I was in trouble
(and he answered me):
²“Lord, deliver me^[b] from lying lips
and a dishonest tongue!”
³What more will be given to you,
what more will be done to you,
you dishonest tongue?
⁴Just this:^[c] a warrior’s sharpened arrows,
coupled with burning coals from a wood^[d] fire!

⁵Oh, I’m doomed
because I have been an immigrant in Meshech,
because I’ve made my home among Kedar’s tents.
⁶I’ve lived far too long
with people who hate peace.
⁷I’m for peace,
but when I speak, they are for war.

Footnotes:

Psalm 120:1 Or song of ascents or song of going up (that is, to Jerusalem); cf Ps 122:4. The heading is found in every psalm from Ps 120 to Ps 134.
Psalm 120:2 Or my soul; also in 120:6
Psalm 120:4 Heb lacks this.
Psalm 120:4 Or the gorse or broom tree

Common English Bible (CEB)

Proverbs 16:16-17

¹⁶Acquiring wisdom is much better than gold,
and acquiring understanding is better than silver.
¹⁷The road of those who do right turns away from evil;
those who protect their path guard their lives.

Common English Bible (CEB)

June 1, 2018

06/01/2018 DAB Transcript

2 Samuel 18:1-19:10a, John 20:1-31, Psalms 119:153-176, Proverbs 16:14-15

Today is the 1^st day of June. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you. We have completed five full months, every day, as we’re making our way through the Bible this year, which brings us into a brand-new, shiny, sparkly month to walk into. Today is the 152nd day of the year. So, well done. We are well on our way. But make sure you stay tuned to the end today, on this first day of this brand-new month. I have something to tell you, something that’s coming up in a couple months, but I need to you tell you the story. So, I will do that a little bit at the end. And even though we have crossed into a new month we’ll pick up right where we left off yesterday and that would take us back into the book of Second Samuel where there is an incredible amount of strife happening in David’s family. David’s son Absalom is trying to take his throne. It’s looking like a battle is going to happen and we will move further and through that story. Second Samuel chapter 18 verse 1 through 19 verse 10. And we’re reading from the Common English Bible this week.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as we begin this the sixth the month of the year. Yes, yes, we’re getting into the middle of the year already. And as we begin the first day of this new month we come to the culmination of two different stories that we’ve been following for a while, the story of David and the turmoil in his family that began with his adultery with Bathsheba that eventually produced hatred in his son Absalom who tried to overthrow his father. And that’s the story we’ve been walking through. And today, Absalom is killed in battle.

Then in the book of John we’ve walked through the last days of Jesus life and we’ve made an attempt to be very mindful and pay attention to what’s happening since we won’t be coming through this story again this year. And, so, we went all the way through Jesus last meal, all of the things that He had to say to His friends, His prayer in the garden, His arrest, His trial, His execution on a cross. And today we come to the tomb and find it empty. And tomorrow we will conclude the book of John, which means we will have concluded the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And then the day after tomorrow we will launch ourselves into the story of what came next as we begin the book of Acts.

Prayer:

Father, as we move into this new month we are finishing up some of the stories that we’ve been following and we are preparing to move into different territory and we invite Your Holy Spirit to lead and guide us through Your word as You’ve promised to do. We invite Your Holy Spirit to plant the Scriptures in our lives, allowing them to be available to us for counsel in any situation. We invite Your Holy Spirit to come and lead us into all truth. Come, Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

Okay. So, at the beginning I said that I had to tell you story to tell you about something that’s coming up in a few months. And that few months is exactly 3 months from today, September 1^st. Wow can you believe that? In three months it will be September 1, but, I mean, that’s how it works. So, this story, it’s not a super long story. It goes back to 2012. Daily Audio Bible was in its 7^th year and the community was growing up, growing up around it, staying vibrant, but it was all kind of in this virtual domain unless we were out on the road, but we had slowed that down to invest in local community. And things had gotten kinda backlogged. There was a lot of travel, a lot of requests. And we launched into something that we had kind of prototyped. I mean the Daily Audio Bible…I know that’s all confusing by the way…it all make sense in a minute. The Daily Audio Bible is one of these things that pulled me from a completely different life of behind the scenes creativity into a much more public thing. I’m still not sure exactly what to call it but something different than what I was doing and I had to grow into that. So, often when we would travel we would come to gather together somewhere. We’d just say, hey, after this event we’re gonna go here or hey, the day before we do this thing we’re gonna meet here. And, so, we’d just have these little meetings. And it didn’t have any format or anything like that. It was just, you know, Jill and I would to come into a room of people and then we’d spend the next several hours just trying to get to know everybody but those things kept growing and growing till it was like impossible. So, in 2012 we decided to go back out on the road, spend the next year doing everything that we could to draw community together in as many cities as we could so that, you know, we could all see each other. And we would go to several cities a month and then we were ahead of the curve because there was no such thing as like Facebook Live or Periscope or any of these kind of instant live broadcasting streaming things. We wanted to stream it live so that there could be a community experience. No matter what city that we were in, we could all come together as a community. And, so, we live streamed before that was really an instant thing, right? You couldn’t do it on your cell phone or anything like that. We had to travel with a little mini like TV production studio just to pull this off and set up cameras all over the place. And yeah, it was a lot of work from these events. And, so, an event would be happening in a location but people from all over the world would come together and chat with each other while this is all going on and hear each other’s voices, hear each other’s testimonies of what the Scriptures had been doing in their lives. And, so, it was a beautiful time. We called this the family gathering tour and what we planned to take about a year stretched out into 18 months and we did well over 100 events. I can’t remember exactly. I have to go back through the calendar. I’ve actually…I was going through my calendar the other day just to try to figure out when it was we began this. And, so, I to kind of scroll back all the way to 2012. And I was going back, kind of, through my life over the last few years. And back then I was like, oh my gosh, just looking at this calendar makes me exhausted. I remember, I remember cause there was so much going on. It was at was a glorious and exhausting time. So, by the time we finished that 18 months I was like…I don’t want to drive another mile. I want to be on another plane. I don’t want to wait in another security line, like, I need to go home. But I have such fond memories, fond memories of my kids when they were little and little baby Ezekiel spending a lot of is babyhood on the road with his family. I remember we did two different family gatherings in two different years in London. And I remember that very well, Edinboro, Glasgow. I remember when we went to Australia - Brisbane and Melbourne and all over the United States. I mean all over the United States - north, south, east, west - Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Chicago, Denver, Colorado Springs. I mean, if I say here I could go on and on. I can’t even remember. And we would get together on a Saturday night and just come together as a community. And a lot of times a church would host it. I was gonna be speaking there the next morning or something. And these things just grew and grew and grew and until sometimes they were larger than the service was going to be the next day. And we just spent a couple hours together and it was glorious and beautiful, just unbelievable to hear the stories, unbelievable to be standing on stage and someone share their testimony and be like I have, I’ve never met you but I have known your voice for a long time. And I know your story. So, I have a lot of memories of a lot of fatigue and exhaustion but also a lot of memories of faces and stories and people and interactions and just the grace and kindness of God for us and in this community, but that was long time ago. A lot has happened since then. Lots and lots of travel miles to lots and lots of cities since then just speaking in support of something that I had written and such, but we’ve never forgotten those days. And, so, my wife Jill and one of the one of the men who work here with us Mike, they got together and cooked up this idea and then came with this idea and I was like brought back so much of that tired time that I was, at first, like, sort of a minor participant saying, okay, let’s step into this, let’s take steps forward, let’s flesh this out. And over the next few months that happened and I began to get more and more excited until I’m super excited about what we’re going to try to do. This coming September 1^st and 2^nd , which happens to be a holiday weekend in the United States that we know as Labor Day. So, it’s a long weekend. We want to circle back. So, September 1^st isn’t the first date of a brand-new family gathering tour that were going to do. Rather, we want to invite you to the rolling hills of Tennessee for a Daily Audio Bible family reunion. And this will take place on September 1^st and September 2^nd of this year beginning three months from today. So, we just started thinking about family reunions and what do those look like and what would be campy and communal and fun and allow for great family experiences, immediate family experiences in community. How would this look? And we realized, well, you know, family reunions, they just kind of form. People come together. There’s not necessarily a lot of programming. the idea is that the family comes together and plays together needs together and has as a good time. So, we started looking for places that we could do something like that. We found this one place, kind of settled on it, locked it in then later we’re like, nah, this isn’t really going to do it. And then we looked for more places because want to get you into the heart of the rolling hills and just kind of be around the environment that we spend most of our time in. And we think we found it. We think we found the perfect spot called Deer Run. And it’s a retreat facility not to…only about 15 minutes from Spring Hill. So, we found a location and then we start fleshing it out a little bit more. Like, what will everyone want to do. And, you know, here’s the thing. Nashville, Tennessee, is like one of the hottest destinations in the United States right now. And there’s a lot to do. So, we don’t want to bring everybody to one place and then no one to be able to kind of experience the rolling hills or all of the little hidden treasures that this area has or, for that matter, all that there is to do and see in Nashville itself. So, what we thought is, okay. We will have a September 1^st evening together. We will have a meal together as a community, bring the best of the South to the plate, and then spend some time together, and go into the evening a little bit, have a campfire and just allow for community, but to give you your days to explore. So, we went through the process of like, well, there’s a lot to explore. This is a large enough city with a lot going on. So, people won’t know exactly where to find things are what to do. So, we came up with some ideas, some of our favorite things, some things that you will want to see depending on what your interests are. And, so, we made little adventures, little things that you can do, locating them where they are in the city so you’re not like driving around aimlessly, trying to figure out how to get to certain places and how long things are going to take and how you’re going to get back for dinner and all that. So, we came up with these little adventures. Like, if you if you want to really, really understand and experience the rolling hills of Tennessee then we’ve created a little adventure on how to do that. Like, if you’re on a bike or something like that you’ll want to do this but maybe you’re a foodie, or maybe you are a boutique shopper or maybe you are a country music fan and you want to immerse yourself in all that or maybe you just like the glitz and glamour of Nash-Vegas and you want to be in the tourist areas or maybe you just want some quiet. We’ve tried to prepare ideas of things that you can do during the days that will give you a taste of the South, a taste of the environment from which all of this happens every day. And then we’ll come back together for dinner and spend our evenings together as a community. And those evenings can go as long as you want them to go. You guys can just sit around campfires or play games or whatever you want and try to have that same experience that I was just talking about being at these family gatherings and being on stage in some city and listening to people talk and knowing that I know that voice. You’ll have the same experience and it will be a chance for all of us to, once again, truly remember, truly see, we are not alone. We are never alone. So, from my family to yours, from our team to you, but we invite you to the rolling hills of Tennessee for the first ever Daily Audio Bible family reunion, September 1^st and 2^nd 2018 here in the rolling hills of Tennessee. And here a couple of things you’ll need to know. If you want to stay on the grounds at Deer Run, if you want to stay on-site and be right at ground zero, those opportunities are limited. In fact, this is the first time we’ve ever done anything like this, so, registration is limited, but we have a sneaking suspicion…every time I think about it I get more excited now…this suspicion…this is going to be blast because I’ve seen the Daily Audio Bible community in action too many times in too many places and it doesn’t matter where I go, when the Daily Audio Bible community comes together, people come together, and there’s something in common, this daily rhythm of the Scriptures, everyone is moving kind of in the same direction, no matter the diversity of our lives or our life circumstances or even our geography. We kind of come together and we have this in common and there’s this instant fellowship. It’s like you can come to anything that we’re doing as the Daily Audio Bible and you can come alone and not feel alone after like two minutes. It’s like…it’s just a beautiful, unique, rare thing. So, if you want to stay on the grounds, on-site, those opportunities are limited. There is space for 20 campers, tent campers, and there are six cabins that can be used as family cabins. And then we have bunkhouses for men and for women, separate, of course, if you just need a place to crash. So, this retreat grounds that were going to be using, I’ve been there several times over the course of the last years for one reason or another. I did a writing retreat out there one time to finish my very first book, which was called Passages. And it’s truly a magnificent place, a very, very beautiful place with all kinds of stuff to do. You could just stay there and get to know the rolling hills up close. There’s that much to do but it’s normal bread-and-butter function would be summer camps. So, it’s kind of set up that way. These private cabins, and there’s only six of them, there’s two of one kind and four of another that can be used as like, family cabins, or maybe come with a family, friends, or whatever. I mean, there’s bunks in the cabins but there are six of them that we can use privately. So, one grouping of cabins, there’s four of them, they have 10 bunks in them. And you can stay there privately. You’ll have to walk over to the bathroom and showers, which are nearby. And that’ll give you a little bit of privacy. And the other two are lake view cabins. They’re a little bit different. They have 12 bunks in them but they also have bathrooms in the cabins and a little kitchenette. But there’s only two of those. So, all of that, including the tent spots and everything, are on a first come first served basis. We have also partnered with some nearby hotels that will allow you to stay nearby and come out and enjoy the facilities as much as you want. And then we thought, well, there are those RVr’s and campers like that that may need full-service hookups. There are no full-service hookups at Deer Run, but we’ll also point you to where you get the nearest full hookups and get you situated. This is an event you have to register for. The cost is $50 per person. Children three and under are free. And what that will bring you is two down-home country dinners that we’ll have together. So, those meals are included. And then we will hang out in the evening together as a community. Our team will be there. My family will all be there. And we’ll sing and we’ll talk and worship and we’ll fellowship and we’ll have a good time, a family reunion. And you will have access to the grounds. So, that will begin at 2 PM on September 1^st and run all the way through the end of the day on September 2^nd. And you can use anything that’s going on at Deer Run or you go on these adventures that we’re going to show you. And we’ll come back to be together in the evening. So, there’s the story, there’s the announcement. Registration is now open. And you get there by going to dailyaudiobible.com. And you can scroll down to the Initiatives section and find the family reunion or just use the navigation at the top and look for Initiatives and find the family reunion. It’s easy. And all of the details are on that page. So, you can look and see what it is that I am describing and register there. When you do register, we will send you an email confirmation with all kinds of details, including these little adventures that you might want to go on. Some of these I think are very fun, stuff that we do for fun. For example, we’ll show you Leapers Fork, which is this little nook out in the rolling hills. This is where Jill and I were going to galleries and just trying to find some time and it’s where I stumbled upon the black wing pencils. You can go see that too. Or we did the Global Campfire initiative last year with the Hatch Print posters. You can go to Hatch Print if you want to. We’ve come up with some things that we think are a lot of fun. Of course, you can make your own adventure, but we know where everything is. So, we’re just kind of showing you and grouping things together, where they are in the city. Anyway, registration is now open. The Daily Audio Bible first ever family reunion in 2018, which is September 1st and 2^nd second. And you can get all of the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. And we are stoked. We’re excited. This is going to be a lot of fun. So, hope to see you there. It’s going to be great to do that again, to hear voices that I know coming from faces that I haven’t seen. And the same will happen for you. So, make plans. There’s time. Make plans. Labor Day weekend, September 1^st and 2^nd, Daily Audio Bible Family Reunion where the global campfire comes together in the rolling hills of Tennessee.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning Daily Bible family. This is Anne from North Georgia and I need your help. When I was eight years old my dad angrily looked at me and said this is all your fault and didn’t interact with me again and didn’t speak to me again. I’ve carried that inside all my life and when anything comes up it’s just automatically all my fault, whether it is or not. I know it’s an inside thing but I need those words broken off of me and I need freedom for those words. Thank you very much. I covet your prayers. Have a good day. Bye-bye.

Hi. I’m a first-time caller. My name is Cheyenne. I’m from Bakersfield California. I’m calling for prayer request for my son JJ. He’ll be 28 pretty soon. He’s been addicted to spice for the last seven years. Now he has brain damage. And he talks to demons all day. And they’re his only friends. And I just, as a mother, it’s just so hard to watch. I have asked for prayer for him and myself for strength to live through this. He can’t go anywhere because people make fun of him. And he’s afraid of people. So, anyway, I’m just asking for prayer and support. Thank you. God-bless.

Hi everyone. This is Nikki from Vancouver and I just love everyone so much and I listen and pray along with a prayer requests every day. And I think this is just my second time calling. And I’m calling because of a dear dear aunt, aunty, and her husband are in such dire straits. She has had a severe concussion a few years ago and had never really recovered from that as well as has many other health issues. And her husband has fairly advanced dementia. And they are trying to manage on their own. And she’s been the one, more or less, in charge because of his dementia but because of her concussion, she doesn’t do that well herself. And her children still have severe problems on their own. So, although their hearts want to be helpful, they just aren’t able to give the amount of help that’s needed. And, so, family would you please pray with me that the Lord will intervene? And I don’t even know what I wanted to do other than to provide a way of help for this family because they really are in desperate need. And they live on one part of the country and we live on the West Coast. So, although, I am very wanting to help them, there’s obviously nothing that I can do because the distance. So, thank you so much family and thank you for helping to join me in prayer for my very sweet aunty and her husband. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Hello. My name is Cecilia and I’m from __ Texas. Just wanted to, first of all, thank Brian and his family for this community. I don’t call very much but I appreciate so much the agreement in prayer that I get to participate in, especially the ones that are in my heart this past couple of days __ just pray that God will make a way where there is no way. He is our shelter and our hiding place. And for Cherry Chase Cherry Pie, I just want to pray for her situation, Lord God that you would intervene and turn the tide Lord God, that she would see Your mighty hand in her life. I also have some personal prayer issues. My son and his wife, Michael and McKenzie are separated. They have four children and I would just, I just want to believe God and trust Him that He will restore them. Also, another relationship, my friend Elda and her daughter have been estranged for three years, maybe more, I’m not sure, that God would restore that, would heal that tear that’s occurred in their life. And also, for my friend Julie and her son Eric who is her adult son, her adult son that was in a car accident with traumatic brain injury. He’s living in her home now. She’s struggling financially, struggling emotionally, struggling with stress. I just ask for God intervene and help her with that situation. In the name of Jesus. Thank you all. I also want to just bless Viola and Blind Tony and all of you all, just amazing to participate with you all.

June 1, 2018

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday June 1, 2018 (NIV)

2 Samuel 18:1-19:10

Absalom’s death

18 Then David gathered the troops who were with him and appointed unit commanders over thousands and hundreds. ²David sent out the army—a third under Joab’s command, a third under the command of Abishai, Zeruiah’s son, and a third under the command of Ittai the Gittite. The king told the troops, “I will march out with you myself.”

³But the troops replied, “No! You must not march out! If we flee, they won’t care about us. Even if half of us die, they won’t care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us. It is much better if you support us from the city.”

⁴The king said to them, “I will do whatever you think is best.” So the king stood beside the gate as all the troops marched out by hundreds and thousands. ⁵The king gave orders to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai: “For my sake, protect my boy Absalom.” All the troops heard what the king ordered regarding Absalom to all the commanders.

⁶So the troops marched into the field to meet the Israelites. The battle was fought in the Ephraim forest. ⁷The army of Israel was defeated there by David’s soldiers. A great slaughter of twenty thousand men took place that day. ⁸The battle spread out over the entire countryside, and the forest devoured more soldiers than the sword that day.

⁹Absalom came upon some of David’s men. Absalom was riding on a mule, and the mule went under the tangled branches of a large oak tree. Absalom’s head got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair while the mule under him kept on going. ¹⁰One of the men saw this and reported to Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging from an oak tree.”

¹¹Joab said to the man who told him, “You saw this? Why didn’t you kill him on the spot? I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a belt.”

¹²But the man said to Joab, “Even if I had a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I wouldn’t touch the king’s son! We heard what the king commanded you, Abishai, and Ittai—‘For my sake, take care of my boy Absalom.’^[a] ¹³If I had taken Absalom’s life behind the king’s back then—though nothing is hidden from the king—you would have kept your distance from me.”^[b]

¹⁴Joab said, “I won’t waste time like this with you!” He took three sticks in his hand and drove them into Absalom’s chest while he was still alive in the oak. ¹⁵Then ten young armor-bearers of Joab surrounded Absalom, struck him, and killed him. ¹⁶Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and the troops stopped chasing the Israelites, because Joab held them back.

¹⁷They took Absalom and threw him into a big pit in the forest. They piled over him a huge heap of stones. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled to their homes. ¹⁸When he was alive, Absalom had raised a large pillar for himself in the King’s Valley because he said, “I have no son to carry on the memory of my name.” He named the pillar after himself. It is called Absalom’s Monument to this day.

David mourns for Absalom

¹⁹Then Zadok’s son Ahimaaz said, “Please let me run and take the news to the king that the Lord has vindicated him against his enemies’ power.”

²⁰Joab said to him, “You aren’t the one to bring the news today. You can bring news on another day, but not today, because the king’s son is dead.” ²¹Then Joab said to a Cushite, “Go tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed low before Joab, then ran off.

²²But Zadok’s son Ahimaaz again said to Joab, “I don’t care what happens, just let me run after the Cushite too.”

“Why do you want to go, son?” Joab asked. “You’ll get no reward for going.”^[c]

²³“I don’t care what happens, I want to go,” Ahimaaz said.^[d]

So Joab said to him, “Run off then!”

Ahimaaz ran off, going by way of the plain, and passed the Cushite.

²⁴Now David was sitting between the two gates. The watchman on duty went up on the roof of the gate by the wall. He looked out and saw a man running alone. ²⁵The watchman called out and reported this to the king. The king said, “If he’s alone, it’s good news.”

The man got nearer and nearer, ²⁶and the watchman saw another man running and called down to the gatekeeper, “There’s another man running alone.”

The king said, “That one must be bringing good news too.”

²⁷The watchman said, “I can see that the first one runs like Zadok’s son Ahimaaz.”

“He’s a good man,” the king said, “and is coming with good news.”

²⁸Ahimaaz called out to the king, “Peace!” then bowed low before the king, his nose to the ground. He said, “Bless the Lord your God, who has delivered up the men who raised their hands against my master the king.”

²⁹The king said, “Is my boy Absalom okay?”

Ahimaaz said, “I saw a large crowd right when Joab, the king’s servant, sent your servant off, but I don’t know what it was about.”

³⁰“Step aside and stand right here,” the king said. So Ahimaaz stepped aside and waited.

³¹Then the Cushite arrived and said, “My master the king: Listen to this good news! The Lord has vindicated you this day against the power of all who rose up against you.”

³²The king said to the Cushite, “Is my boy Absalom okay?”

The Cushite answered, “May the enemies of my master the king and all who rise up against you to hurt you end up like that young man.”

³³^[e] The king trembled. He went up to the room over the gate and cried. As he went, he said, “Oh, my son Absalom! Oh, my son! My son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you! Oh, Absalom, my son! My son!”

^[f]19 Joab was told that the king was crying and mourning Absalom. ²So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the troops because they heard that day that the king was grieving for his son. ³So that day the troops crept back into the city like soldiers creep back ashamed after they’ve fled from battle. ⁴The king covered his face and cried out in a loud voice, “Oh, my son Absalom! Oh, Absalom, my son! My son!”

⁵Joab came to the king inside and said, “Today you have humiliated all your servants who have saved your life today, not to mention the lives of your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your secondary wives, ⁶by loving those who hate you and hating those who love you! Today you have announced that the commanders and their soldiers are nothing to you, because I know that if Absalom were alive today and the rest of us dead, that would be perfectly fine with you! ⁷Now get up! Go out and encourage your followers! I swear to the Lord that if you don’t go out there, not one man will stick with you tonight—and that will be more trouble for you than all the trouble that you’ve faced from your youth until now.”

⁸So the king went and sat down in the city gate. All the troops were told that the king was sitting in the gate, so they came before the king.

David returns to Jerusalem

Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled to their homes. ⁹Everyone was arguing throughout Israel’s tribes, saying, “The king delivered us from our enemies’ power, and he rescued us from the Philistines’ power, but now he has fled from the land and from controlling his own kingdom.^[g] ¹⁰And Absalom, the one we anointed over us, is dead in battle. So why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?”

Footnotes:

2 Samuel 18:12 LXX, Vulg, Syr; Heb uncertain
2 Samuel 18:13 Or Otherwise, I would have been dealing recklessly with my own life, because nothing is hidden from the king and you were stationed far from me; Heb uncertain.
2 Samuel 18:22 Heb uncertain
2 Samuel 18:23 LXX; MT lacks Ahimaaz said.
2 Samuel 18:33 19:1 in Heb
2 Samuel 19:1 19:2 in Heb
2 Samuel 19:9 LXX; MT from over Absalom

Common English Bible (CEB)

John 20

Empty tomb

20 Early in the morning of the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. ²She ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him.” ³Peter and the other disciple left to go to the tomb. ⁴They were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and was the first to arrive at the tomb. ⁵Bending down to take a look, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he didn’t go in. ⁶Following him, Simon Peter entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. ⁷He also saw the face cloth that had been on Jesus’ head. It wasn’t with the other clothes but was folded up in its own place. ⁸Then the other disciple, the one who arrived at the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. ⁹They didn’t yet understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead. ¹⁰Then the disciples returned to the place where they were staying.

Jesus appears to Mary

¹¹Mary stood outside near the tomb, crying. As she cried, she bent down to look into the tomb. ¹²She saw two angels dressed in white, seated where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head and one at the foot. ¹³The angels asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

She replied, “They have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they’ve put him.” ¹⁴As soon as she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she didn’t know it was Jesus.

¹⁵Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will get him.”

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabbouni” (which means Teacher).

¹⁷Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold on to me, for I haven’t yet gone up to my Father. Go to my brothers and sisters and tell them, ‘I’m going up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

¹⁸Mary Magdalene left and announced to the disciples, “I’ve seen the Lord.” Then she told them what he said to her.

Jesus appears to the disciples

¹⁹It was still the first day of the week. That evening, while the disciples were behind closed doors because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with joy. ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” ²²Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you don’t forgive them, they aren’t forgiven.”

Jesus appears to Thomas and the disciples

²⁴Thomas, the one called Didymus,^[a] one of the Twelve, wasn’t with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵The other disciples told him, “We’ve seen the Lord!”

But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger in the wounds left by the nails, and put my hand into his side, I won’t believe.”

²⁶After eight days his disciples were again in a house and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus entered and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here. Look at my hands. Put your hand into my side. No more disbelief. Believe!”

²⁸Thomas responded to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹Jesus replied, “Do you believe because you see me? Happy are those who don’t see and yet believe.”

³⁰Then Jesus did many other miraculous signs in his disciples’ presence, signs that aren’t recorded in this scroll. ³¹But these things are written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ, God’s Son, and that believing, you will have life in his name.

Footnotes:

John 20:24 Or the twin

Common English Bible (CEB)

Psalm 119:153-176

ר resh

¹⁵³Look at my suffering and deliver me
because I haven’t forgotten your Instruction.
¹⁵⁴Argue my case and redeem me.
Make me live again by your word.
¹⁵⁵Salvation is far from the wicked
because they haven’t pursued your statutes.
¹⁵⁶You have so much compassion, Lord—
make me live again, according to your rules.
¹⁵⁷My oppressors and enemies are many,
but I haven’t turned away from your laws.
¹⁵⁸I look on the faithless, and I am disgusted
because they haven’t kept your word.
¹⁵⁹Look at how much I love your precepts.
Make me live again, Lord, according to your faithful love!
¹⁶⁰The first thing to know about your word is that it is true
and that all your righteous rules last forever.

שׂ sin and שׁ shin

¹⁶¹Rulers oppress me without cause,
but my heart honors what you’ve said.
¹⁶²I’m overjoyed at your word,
like someone who finds great treasure.
¹⁶³I hate, I absolutely despise, what is false,
but I’m in love with your Instruction.
¹⁶⁴I praise you seven times a day
for your righteous rules.
¹⁶⁵The people who love your Instruction enjoy peace—and lots of it.
There’s no stumbling for them!
¹⁶⁶Lord, I wait for your saving help.
I do what you’ve commanded.
¹⁶⁷I keep your laws;
I love them so much!
¹⁶⁸I keep your precepts and your laws
because all my ways are seen by you.

ת tav

¹⁶⁹Let my cry reach you, Lord;
help me understand according to what you’ve said.
¹⁷⁰Let my request for grace come before you;
deliver me according to your promise!
¹⁷¹Let my lips overflow with praise
because you’ve taught me your statutes.
¹⁷²Let my tongue declare your word,
because all your commandments are righteous.
¹⁷³Let your power help me
because I have chosen your precepts.
¹⁷⁴Lord, I long for your saving help!
Your Instruction is my joy!
¹⁷⁵Let me live again so I can praise you!
Let your rules help me!
¹⁷⁶I’ve wandered off like a sheep, lost.
Find your servant
because I haven’t forgotten
your commandments!

Common English Bible (CEB)

Proverbs 16:14-15

¹⁴The king’s anger is a messenger of death;
the wise will calm him.
¹⁵There’s life in the light of the king’s face.
His favor is like a cloud that brings spring rain.

Common English Bible (CEB)

2 Samuel 23:24-24:25

The Census Taken

Pestilence Sent

David Builds an Altar

Footnotes:

Acts 3

Healing the Lame Beggar

Peter’s Second Sermon

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Psalm 123

Prayer for the Lord’s Help.

A Song of [a]Ascents.

Footnotes:

Proverbs 16:21-23

2 Samuel 22:21-23:23

David’s Last Song

His Mighty Men

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Acts 2

The Day of Pentecost

Peter’s Sermon

The Ingathering

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Psalm 122

Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem.

A Song of [a]Ascents. Of David.

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Proverbs 16:19-20

2 Samuel 20:14-21:22

Gibeonite Revenge

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Acts 1

Introduction

The Ascension

The Upper Room

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Psalm 121

The Lord the Keeper of Israel.

A Song of [a]Ascents.

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Proverbs 16:18

2 Samuel 19:11-20:13

Sheba’s rebellion

Footnotes:

John 21

Jesus appears again to the disciples

Jesus and Peter

Jesus and the disciple whom he loved

Footnotes:

Psalm 120

Psalm 120

A pilgrimage song.[a]

Footnotes:

Proverbs 16:16-17

2 Samuel 18:1-19:10

Absalom’s death

David mourns for Absalom

David returns to Jerusalem

Footnotes:

John 20

Empty tomb

Jesus appears to Mary

Jesus appears to the disciples

Jesus appears to Thomas and the disciples

Footnotes:

Psalm 119:153-176

ר resh

שׂ sin and שׁ shin

ת tav

Proverbs 16:14-15

A Song of ^[a]Ascents.

A Song of ^[a]Ascents. Of David.

A Song of ^[a]Ascents.

A pilgrimage song.^[a]