2 Samuel 12
World English Bible
12 Yahweh sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in one city: the one rich, and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food, drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him. 4 A traveler came to the rich man, and he didn’t want to take of his own flock and of his own herd to prepare for the wayfaring man who had come to him, but took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”
5 David’s anger burned hot against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As Yahweh lives, the man who has done this deserves to die! 6 He must restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and because he had no pity!”
7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that would have been too little, I would have added to you many more such things. 9 Why have you despised Yahweh’s word, to do that which is evil in his sight? You have struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 10 Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken Uriah the Hittite’s wife to be your wife.’
11 “This is what Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did this secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’”
13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Yahweh.”
Nathan said to David, “Yahweh also has put away your sin. You will not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to Yahweh’s enemies to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you will surely die.” 15 Then Nathan departed to his house.
Yahweh struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he was very sick. 16 David therefore begged God for the child; and David fasted, and went in and lay all night on the ground. 17 The elders of his house arose beside him, to raise him up from the earth; but he would not, and he didn’t eat bread with them. 18 On the seventh day, the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him and he didn’t listen to our voice. How will he then harm himself if we tell him that the child is dead?”
19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; and David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?”
They said, “He is dead.”
20 Then David arose from the earth, and washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothing; and he came into Yahweh’s house, and worshiped. Then he came to his own house; and when he requested, they set bread before him and he ate. 21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child was dead, you rose up and ate bread.”
22 He said, “While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows whether Yahweh will not be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
24 David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her, and lay with her. She bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. Yahweh loved him; 25 and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah,[a] for Yahweh’s sake.
26 Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city. 27 Joab sent messengers to David, and said, “I have fought against Rabbah. Yes, I have taken the city of waters. 28 Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city and take it; lest I take the city, and it be called by my name.”
29 David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah, and fought against it and took it. 30 He took the crown of their king from off his head; and its weight was a talent[b] of gold, and in it were precious stones; and it was set on David’s head. He brought a great quantity of plunder out of the city. 31 He brought out the people who were in it, and put them to work under saws, under iron picks, under axes of iron, and made them go to the brick kiln; and he did so to all the cities of the children of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
2 Corinthians 5
World English Bible
5 For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens. 2 For most certainly in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed being clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For indeed we who are in this tent do groan, being burdened, not that we desire to be unclothed, but that we desire to be clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit.
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord; 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him. 10 For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
11 Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are revealed to God, and I hope that we are revealed also in your consciences. 12 For we are not commending ourselves to you again, but speak as giving you occasion of boasting on our behalf, that you may have something to answer those who boast in appearance and not in heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. Or if we are of sober mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ compels us; because we judge thus: that one died for all, therefore all died. 15 He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.
16 Therefore we know no one according to the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no more. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold,[a] all things have become new. 18 But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Footnotes
- 5:17 “Behold”, from “ἰδοὺ”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.
Ezekiel 19
World English Bible
19 “Moreover, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, 2 and say,
‘What was your mother?
A lioness.
She couched among lions,
in the middle of the young lions she nourished her cubs.
3 She brought up one of her cubs.
He became a young lion.
He learned to catch the prey.
He devoured men.
4 The nations also heard of him.
He was taken in their pit;
and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.
5 “‘Now when she saw that she had waited,
and her hope was lost,
then she took another of her cubs,
and made him a young lion.
6 He went up and down among the lions.
He became a young lion.
He learned to catch the prey.
He devoured men.
7 He knew their palaces,
and laid waste their cities.
The land was desolate with its fullness,
because of the noise of his roaring.
8 Then the nations attacked him on every side from the provinces.
They spread their net over him.
He was taken in their pit.
9 They put him in a cage with hooks,
and brought him to the king of Babylon.
They brought him into strongholds,
so that his voice should no more be heard on the mountains of Israel.
10 “‘Your mother was like a vine in your blood, planted by the waters.
It was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
11 It had strong branches for the scepters of those who ruled.
Their stature was exalted among the thick boughs.
They were seen in their height
with the multitude of their branches.
12 But it was plucked up in fury.
It was cast down to the ground,
and the east wind dried up its fruit.
Its strong branches were broken off and withered.
The fire consumed them.
13 Now it is planted in the wilderness,
in a dry and thirsty land.
14 Fire has gone out of its branches.
It has devoured its fruit,
so that there is in it no strong branch to be a scepter to rule.’
This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.”
Psalm 64-65
World English Bible
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.
64 Hear my voice, God, in my complaint.
Preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked,
from the noisy crowd of the ones doing evil;
3 who sharpen their tongue like a sword,
and aim their arrows, deadly words,
4 to shoot innocent men from ambushes.
They shoot at him suddenly and fearlessly.
5 They encourage themselves in evil plans.
They talk about laying snares secretly.
They say, “Who will see them?”
6 They plot injustice, saying, “We have made a perfect plan!”
Surely man’s mind and heart are cunning.
7 But God will shoot at them.
They will be suddenly struck down with an arrow.
8 Their own tongues shall ruin them.
All who see them will shake their heads.
9 All mankind shall be afraid.
They shall declare the work of God,
and shall wisely ponder what he has done.
10 The righteous shall be glad in Yahweh,
and shall take refuge in him.
All the upright in heart shall praise him!
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. A song.
65 Praise waits for you, God, in Zion.
Vows shall be performed to you.
2 You who hear prayer,
all men will come to you.
3 Sins overwhelmed me,
but you atoned for our transgressions.
4 Blessed is the one whom you choose and cause to come near,
that he may live in your courts.
We will be filled with the goodness of your house,
your holy temple.
5 By awesome deeds of righteousness, you answer us,
God of our salvation.
You who are the hope of all the ends of the earth,
of those who are far away on the sea.
6 By your power, you form the mountains,
having armed yourself with strength.
7 You still the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.
8 They also who dwell in faraway places are afraid at your wonders.
You call the morning’s dawn and the evening with songs of joy.
9 You visit the earth, and water it.
You greatly enrich it.
The river of God is full of water.
You provide them grain, for so you have ordained it.
10 You drench its furrows.
You level its ridges.
You soften it with showers.
You bless it with a crop.
11 You crown the year with your bounty.
Your carts overflow with abundance.
12 The wilderness grasslands overflow.
The hills are clothed with gladness.
13 The pastures are covered with flocks.
The valleys also are clothed with grain.
They shout for joy!
They also sing.
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