Daily Bible Reading
Day 109
Today's reading: 2 Samuel 10-12
Look for the promises in God’s word. As you read and find them, write them in your journal along with the scripture reference.
2 Samuel 10
David and the Ammonites
1. Later the king of the Ammonites died and his son Hanun succeeded him.
2. David said, “I will express my loyalty to Hanun son of Nahash just as his father was loyal to me.” So David sent his servants with a message expressing sympathy over his father’s death. When David’s servants entered the land of the Ammonites,
3. the Ammonite officials said to their lord Hanun, “Do you really think David is trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy? No, David has sent his servants to you to get information about the city and spy on it so they can overthrow it!”
4. So Hanun seized David’s servants and shaved off half of each one’s beard. He cut the lower part of their robes off so that their buttocks were exposed, and then sent them away.
5. Messengers told David what had happened, so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown again; then you may come back.”
6. When the Ammonites realized that David was disgusted with them, they sent and hired 20,000 foot soldiers from Aram Beth Rehob and Aram Zobah, in addition to 1,000 men from the king of Maacah and 12,000 men from Ish-tob.
7. When David heard the news, he sent Joab and the entire army to meet them.
8. The Ammonites marched out and were deployed for battle at the entrance of the city gate, while the men from Aram Zobah, Rehob, Ish-tob, and Maacah were by themselves in the field.
9. When Joab saw that the battle would be fought on two fronts, he chose some of Israel’s best men and deployed them against the Arameans.
10. He put his brother Abishai in charge of the rest of the army and they were deployed against the Ammonites.
11. Joab said, “If the Arameans start to overpower me, you come to my rescue. If the Ammonites start to overpower you, I will come to your rescue.
12. Be strong! Let’s fight bravely for the sake of our people and the cities of our God! The Lord will do what he decides is best!”
13. So Joab and his men marched out to do battle with the Arameans, and they fled before him.
14. When the Ammonites saw the Arameans flee, they fled before his brother Abishai and went into the city. Joab withdrew from fighting the Ammonites and returned to Jerusalem.
15. When the Arameans realized that they had been defeated by Israel, they consolidated their forces.
16. Then Hadadezer sent for Arameans from beyond the Euphrates River, and they came to Helam. Shobach, the general in command of Hadadezer’s army, led them.
17. When David was informed, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan River, and came to Helam. The Arameans deployed their forces against David and fought with him.
18. The Arameans fled before Israel. David killed 700 Aramean charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobach, the general in command of the army, who died there.
19. When all the kings who were subject to Hadadezer saw they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subjects of Israel. The Arameans were no longer willing to help the Ammonites.
2 Samuel 11
David Commits Adultery with Bathsheba
1. In the spring of the year, at the time when kings normally conduct wars, David sent out Joab with his officers and the entire Israelite army. They defeated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem.
2. One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. Now this woman was very attractive.
3. So David sent someone to inquire about the woman. The messenger said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
4. David sent some messengers to get her. She came to him and he had sexual relations with her. (Now at that time she was in the process of purifying herself from her menstrual uncleanness.) Then she returned to her home.
5. The woman conceived and then sent word to David saying, “I’m pregnant.”
6. So David sent a message to Joab that said, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David.
7. When Uriah came to him, David asked about how Joab and the army were doing and how the campaign was going.
8. Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your home and relax.” When Uriah left the palace, the king sent a gift to him.
9. But Uriah stayed at the door of the palace with all the servants of his lord. He did not go down to his house.
10. So they informed David, “Uriah has not gone down to his house.” So David said to Uriah, “Haven’t you just arrived from a journey? Why haven’t you gone down to your house?”
11. Uriah replied to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah reside in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and my lord’s soldiers are camping in the open field. Should I go to my house to eat and drink and have marital relations with my wife? As surely as you are alive, I will not do this thing!”
12. So David said to Uriah, “Stay here another day. Tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem both that day and the following one.
13. Then David summoned him. He ate and drank with him, and got him drunk. But in the evening he went out to sleep on his bed with the servants of his lord; he did not go down to his own house.
14. In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.
15. In the letter he wrote: “Station Uriah in the thick of the battle and then withdraw from him so he will be cut down and killed.”
16. So as Joab kept watch on the city, he stationed Uriah at the place where he knew the best enemy soldiers were.
17. When the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, some of David’s soldiers fell in battle. Uriah the Hittite also died.
18. Then Joab sent a full battle report to David.
19. He instructed the messenger as follows: “When you finish giving the battle report to the king,
20. if the king becomes angry and asks you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you realize they would shoot from the wall?
21. Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone down on him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ just say to him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.’”
22. So the messenger departed. When he arrived, he informed David of all the news that Joab had sent with him.
23. The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and attacked us in the field. But we forced them to retreat all the way to the door of the city gate.
24. Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall and some of the king’s soldiers died. Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.”
25. David said to the messenger, “Tell Joab, ‘Don’t let this thing upset you. There is no way to anticipate whom the sword will cut down. Press the battle against the city and conquer it.’ Encourage him with these words.”
26. When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for him.
27. When the time of mourning passed, David had her brought to his palace. She became his wife and she bore him a son. But what David had done upset the Lord.
2 Samuel 12
Nathan the Prophet Confronts David
1. So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to David, Nathan said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.
2. The rich man had a great many flocks and herds.
3. But the poor man had nothing except for a little lamb he had acquired. He raised it, and it grew up alongside him and his children. It used to eat his food, drink from his cup, and sleep in his arms. It was just like a daughter to him.
4. “When a traveler arrived at the rich man’s home, he did not want to use one of his own sheep or cattle to feed the traveler who had come to visit him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and cooked it for the man who had come to visit him.”
5. Then David became very angry at this man. He said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die!
6. Because he committed this cold-hearted crime, he must pay for the lamb four times over!”
7. Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I chose you to be king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul.
8. I gave you your master’s house, and put your master’s wives into your arms. I also gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all that somehow seems insignificant, I would have given you so much more as well!
9. Why have you shown contempt for the word of the Lord by doing evil in my sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and you have taken his wife as your own! You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
10. So now the sword will never depart from your house. For you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!’
11. This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on you from inside your own household! Right before your eyes I will take your wives and hand them over to your companion. He will have sexual relations with your wives in broad daylight!
12. Although you have acted in secret, I will do this thing before all Israel, and in broad daylight.’”
13. Then David exclaimed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord!” Nathan replied to David, “Yes, and the Lord has forgiven your sin. You are not going to die.
14. Nonetheless, because you have treated the Lord with such contempt in this matter, the son who has been born to you will certainly die.”
15. Then Nathan went to his home. The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and the child became very ill.
16. Then David prayed to God for the child and fasted. He would even go and spend the night lying on the ground.
17. The elders of his house stood over him and tried to lift him from the ground, but he was unwilling, and refused to eat food with them.
18. On the seventh day the child died. But the servants of David were afraid to inform him that the child had died, for they said, “While the child was still alive he would not listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself harm!”
19. When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he realized that the child was dead. So David asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” They replied, “Yes, he’s dead.”
20. So David got up from the ground, bathed, put on oil, and changed his clothes. He went to the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then, when he entered his palace, he requested that food be brought to him, and he ate.
21. His servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? While the child was still alive, you fasted and wept. Once the child was dead you got up and ate food!”
22. He replied, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, ‘Perhaps the Lord will show pity and the child will live.
23. But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Am I able to bring him back? I will go to him, but he cannot return to me!’”
24. So David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and had marital relations with her. She gave birth to a son, and David named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved the child
25. and sent word through Nathan the prophet that he should be named Jedidiah for the Lord’s sake.
David’s Forces Defeat the Ammonites
26. So Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal city.
27. Joab then sent messengers to David, saying, “I have fought against Rabbah and have captured the water supply of the city.
28. So now assemble the rest of the army and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise I will capture the city and it will be named for me.”
29. So David assembled all the army and went to Rabbah and fought against it and captured it.
30. He took the crown of their king from his head – it was gold, weighed about seventy-five pounds, and held a precious stone – and it was placed on David’s head. He also took from the city a great deal of plunder.
31. He removed the people who were in it and made them do hard labor with saws, iron picks, and iron axes, putting them to work at the brick kiln. This was his policy with all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the army returned to Jerusalem.