Old/New Testament
David's last words
23 These are David's last words. The God that Jacob worshipped made Jesse's son David great. God chose him to rule Israel as king. He also wrote beautiful songs for the Israelites. This is David's message:
2 ‘The Spirit of the Lord gives me his message.
I speak what he tells me to say.
3 Israel's God has spoken.
The one who keeps Israel safe said to me,
“A king should rule over people in a way that is right and fair.
He should show that he respects and obeys God.
4 A king who rules like that is like the light of the sun at dawn.
He is like the sky when it has no clouds in it in the morning.
He is like bright sun after rain,
that helps the grass to grow strongly.”
5 That is how God will bless my descendants.
He has made a promise to me that will continue for ever.
It is a strong promise that will never change.
I know that he will always help me.
He will do for me everything that I hope for.
6 But God will remove all wicked people.
He will throw them away like weeds.
They are like thorn bushes
that you cannot pull out with your hands.
7 You need an iron tool or a spear to remove them.
Then you burn them completely in a fire.’
David's brave soldiers
8 These are the names of David's bravest soldiers:
Josheb-Basshebeth was the leader of the ‘Three Brave Soldiers’. He belonged to Tahkemon's clan. He used his spear to fight against 800 men in one battle and he killed them all.
9 Another of the ‘Three Brave Soldiers’ was Dodai's son, Eleazar. He belonged to Ahoh's clan. He was with David at Pas-Dammim when they insulted the Philistine soldiers before a battle.[a] The Israelite soldiers ran away from the fight, 10 but Eleazar stood there. He knocked down the Philistine soldiers until his hand became tired. It became fixed to his sword. On that day, the Lord caused him to win a great battle. When the other Israelite soldiers returned to help him, they took things from the dead Philistines. That was the only thing left for them to do.
11 The third of the ‘Three Brave Soldiers’ was Shammah, the son of Agee, who belonged to Harar's clan. The Philistine soldiers had come together in a field of beans. The Israelite soldiers ran away from them. 12 But Shammah stood in the middle of the field to stop the Philistines taking it for themselves. He killed the Philistines. The Lord caused him to win a great battle.
13 At the time of the harvest, three of David's 30 bravest soldiers went to be with David near Adullam. He was hiding there in a cave. A group of Philistine soldiers had made their camp in Rephaim valley. 14 David was in his strong safe place. A group of Philistine soldiers had made their home in Bethlehem. 15 David was very thirsty. He said, ‘I want someone to bring water from the well near Bethlehem's gate for me to drink.’ 16 So the three brave soldiers fought through the Philistine camp and they reached Bethlehem's gate. They took some water from the well there and they carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it. He poured it on the ground as an offering to the Lord. 17 He said, ‘Lord, it is not right for me to drink this water. It would seem like the blood of the men who fetched it for me. The Philistines might have killed them on the way.’ So David refused to drink it.
Those were some of the great things that the three brave soldiers did.
18 Abishai was the leader of David's 30 great soldiers. He was the brother of Zeruiah's son Joab. One time, he used his spear to fight 300 men and he killed them all. So he became as famous as the ‘Three Brave Soldiers’. 19 He was not one of the ‘Three Brave Soldiers’ but he received more honour than the other 30 great soldiers. So he became their leader.
20 Jehoiada's son, Benaiah, was also one of David's brave soldiers. He came from Kabzeel and he did many great things. He killed two of Moab's best soldiers. He also went down into a deep hole to kill a lion when snow was on the ground. 21 Benaiah also killed a great Egyptian man who held a spear. Benaiah attacked him with a heavy stick. He took the spear from the Egyptian's hand and he used it to kill him. 22 Those were some things that Jehoiada's son Benaiah did. He became as famous as the ‘Three Brave Soldiers’. 23 He received more honour than the other 30 great soldiers, but he did not belong to the ‘Three Brave Soldiers’. David made him the leader of his own special soldiers who were his guards.
24 These men were among David's 30 great soldiers:[b]
Joab's brother Asahel,
Elhanan, Dodo's son, from Bethlehem,
25 Shammah and Elika, from Harod's clan,
26 Helez, from Pelet,
Ira, Ikkesh's son, from Tekoa,
27 Abiezer, from Anathoth,
Mebunnai, from Hushah's clan,
28 Zalmon, from Ahoh's clan,
Maharai, from Netophah,
29 Heleb, Baanah's son, from Netophah,
Ittai, Ribai's son, from Gibeah in the land that belonged to Benjamin's tribe,
30 Benaiah, from Pirathon,
Hiddai, from the valleys near Gaash,
31 Abi-Albon from Arabah's clan,
Azmaveth, from Bahurim,
32 Eliahba, from Shaalbon,
Jashen's sons,
Jonathan, 33 Shammah's son, from Harar,
Ahiam, Sharar's son, from Harar,
34 Eliphelet, Ahasbai's son, from Maakah,
Eliam, Ahithophel's son, from Gilo,
35 Hezro, from Carmel,
Paarai, from Arba,
36 Igal, Nathan's son, from Zobah,
Bani, who belonged to Gad's tribe,
37 Zelek, from Ammon,
Naharai, from Beeroth (he carried Joab's weapons),
38 Ira and Gareb, from Jattir,
39 and Uriah the Hittite.
There were 37 great soldiers if you count them all.[c]
David counts his soldiers
24 The Lord again became angry with the Israelites. So he caused David to bring trouble to them. He said to David, ‘Send men to count the people in Israel and Judah.’
2 So the king said to Joab, the leader of his army, ‘Go from Dan to Beersheba, through all the tribes of Israel.[d] Count all the men who can fight. I want to know how many men there are.’
3 But Joab said to the king, ‘I pray that the Lord your God will make your army bigger and bigger. May it grow 100 times while you are alive to see it! But, my lord the king, why do you want to do this?’
4 But Joab and his officers had to obey the king's command. So Joab and the officers of the army went out to count the number of people in Israel.
5 They crossed the Jordan River. They made their first camp in a valley, on the south side of Aroer. Then they went through Gad's land and they reached Jazer. 6 They went from there to Gilead. Then they went to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites. Then they went to Dan and they continued west to Sidon. 7 Then they went south to Tyre, a strong city with walls around it. They went to all the towns of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they arrived at Beersheba in the south part of Judah.
8 In that way, they travelled through the whole country. After nine months and 20 days they returned to Jerusalem.
9 Joab reported to the king about the number of soldiers who could fight. There were 800,000 men in Israel who could use a sword to fight. There were also 500,000 soldiers in Judah.
The Lord punishes David
10 David had counted the men who were able to fight in his army. But now he was sorry that he had done it. He said to the Lord, ‘What I have done was a bad sin. Please forgive me, Lord. I have done a foolish thing.’
11 While David slept that night, the Lord gave a message to Gad, David's prophet. 12 The Lord told him, ‘Go and give my message to David: “There are three ways that I could punish you. You must choose one of them, and that is what I will do to punish you.” ’
13 So when David woke up, Gad went to him and he said, ‘You may choose to have three years when there will be a famine in the whole country. Or you may choose to have three months when your enemies are chasing after you. Or you may choose to have three days of very bad disease in the whole country. Now think carefully and decide. I will take your answer to God, who sent me with this message.’
14 David said to Gad, ‘I am very upset. I do not want men to punish me. The Lord is kind and he forgives people. So it would be better for him to punish me.’
15 So, from that morning, the Lord caused a bad disease to kill people in Israel. It continued for three days, as the Lord had said. 70,000 Israelite men died in that time, in the whole country, from Dan to Beersheba. 16 The Lord's angel was ready to destroy Jerusalem. But the Lord decided to stop the trouble that he was causing for the people. He said to the angel who was killing the people, ‘That is enough. Stop what you are doing!’ When the Lord said that, his angel was standing near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
17 David saw the angel who was killing the people. So he said to the Lord, ‘I am the person who has done an evil thing. These people have followed me like sheep that follow a shepherd. They have not done anything wrong. You should only punish me and my family.’
David builds an altar
18 That day, Gad went to David. He said to David, ‘Go up to the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Build an altar there to worship the Lord.’ 19 So David obeyed the Lord's message that Gad had spoken to him.
20 When Araunah looked, he saw the king and his officers. They were coming towards him. So he went out and he bent down low in front of the king, with his face towards the ground.
21 Araunah said, ‘My lord the king, why have you come here to me, your servant?’
David replied, ‘I have come to buy your threshing floor from you. I want to build an altar here to worship the Lord. Then he will stop this bad disease from killing the people.’
22 Araunah said to David, ‘My lord the king, take anything that you would like to offer to the Lord. You can take these oxen to offer as sacrifices. You can use the wood from these tools and yokes to make a fire. 23 I will give all these things to you sir, my lord the king.’
Araunah also said to the king, ‘I pray that the Lord your God will accept your offerings.’
24 But the king said to Araunah, ‘No, I must pay you for it. I will not burn as an offering to the Lord my God any sacrifice that costs me nothing.’
So David bought Araunah's threshing floor and his oxen for 50 silver coins. 25 Then he built an altar there to worship the Lord. He made burnt offerings and friendship offerings on the altar.
Then the Lord answered David's prayer. The disease stopped killing people in Israel.
Zacchaeus meets Jesus
19 Jesus went into Jericho and he was walking through the city. 2 There was a man there called Zacchaeus. He was a leader of the men who took taxes from people. He had become very rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was. There was a big crowd there and he was a small man. So he could not see Jesus. 4 He ran on in front of the crowd and he climbed up a tree. He could see Jesus more easily from the tree, because Jesus would walk along that way. 5 When Jesus came to the tree, he looked up at Zacchaeus. He said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down quickly. Today I must stay in your home.’
6 So Zacchaeus came down immediately and took Jesus into his home. He was very happy about this. 7 The people saw what had happened. They were not happy, and they were saying, ‘Jesus has gone to stay in the home of a man that does bad things.’
8 Later, Zacchaeus stood up in front of everyone. He said to the Lord Jesus, ‘Listen, Master! I will give half of all the things that I have to poor people. I may have taken too much money from some people. I will give back to them four times as much as I took from them wrongly.’
9 Jesus said to him, ‘Today God has saved people in this home. Now Zacchaeus also belongs to the family of Abraham. 10 I, the Son of Man, came to look for people who are far away from God. They are in danger and I have come to save them.’
Jesus tells a story about 10 servants
11 While the people were still listening, Jesus told them a story. He did this because the people had wrong thoughts. He was now getting near to Jerusalem. So the people with him were thinking that God would begin to rule his people immediately.
12 Jesus said to them, ‘An important man left his home and he travelled a long way to another country. There he would receive authority to rule his own country. After that, he would return home and he would be king. 13 Before he left, he asked ten of his servants to come to him. He gave each of them ten pounds of silver.[a] “Use this money to get more money for me while I am away,” he said.[b]
14 But the people who were living in his country did not like the man. So they sent some of their people to the foreign country with a message. They said, “We do not want this man to rule over us.”
15 Then the man returned home and he was now their king. He asked those ten servants to come to him. He had given them each some money. Now he wanted to know how much more money they had now. They should have bought things with it and then they should have sold those things again for more money.
16 The first servant came to him and said, “Master, your money has made ten more pounds for you.” 17 The king was happy and said to his servant, “You have done well. You are a good servant that I can trust. You have used a small amount of money well. So now you will rule over ten cities.”
18 The second servant came and said, “Master, your money has made five more pounds.” 19 The king replied, “You will rule over five cities.”
20 Then another servant came. He said, “Master, here is your money. I put it away in a piece of cloth to keep it safe. 21 I did this because I was afraid of you. You tell people what they should do all the time. You take things that you did not work for. You take food from fields where you did not plant any seed.”
22 The king replied, “You are a very bad servant! I will use your own words to show you that you have done the wrong thing. You say that I tell people what they should do all the time. That I take things that I did not work for. That I take food from fields where I did not plant any seed. Did you know all that about me? 23 Then you should have put my money into the bank. When I came home, I would have received my money back, with extra money.”
24 Some other servants were standing near to their master. He said to them, “Take the money from this bad servant. Give it to the servant that has ten pounds.” 25 “But, master,” they replied, “that servant has ten pounds already.”
26 “Let me tell you this,” the king said. “Some people have received good things. They will all receive more. Some other people have nothing. Those people will lose even the little bit that they do have. 27 Now I must punish these other people that did not want me to rule over them. Bring them here and kill them in front of me.” ’[c]
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