Today’s Reading : 1Chronicles 17 - 20  and  2Corinthians 9  (KJV)

1Chronicles 17

1Ch 17:1  Now it came to pass, as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in a house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD remaineth under curtains.

1Ch 17:2  Then Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thine heart; for God is with thee.

1Ch 17:3  And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying,

1Ch 17:4  Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not build me a house to dwell in:

1Ch 17:5  For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day; but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.

1Ch 17:6  Wheresoever I have walked with all Israel, spoke I a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me a house of cedars?

1Ch 17:7  Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, even from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over my people Israel:

1Ch 17:8  And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth.

1Ch 17:9  Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning,

1Ch 17:10  And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Moreover I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore I tell thee that the LORD will build thee a house.

1Ch 17:11  And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom.

1Ch 17:12  He shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

1Ch 17:13  I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee:

1Ch 17:14  But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom forever: and his throne shall be established forevermore.

1Ch 17:15  According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.

1Ch 17:16  And David the king came and sat before the LORD, and said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?

1Ch 17:17  And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; for thou hast also spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O LORD God.

1Ch 17:18  What can David speak more to thee for the honour of thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant.

1Ch 17:19  O LORD, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness, in making known all these great things.

1Ch 17:20  O LORD, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

1Ch 17:21  And what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his own people, to make thee a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before thy people, whom thou hast redeemed out of Egypt?

1Ch 17:22  For thy people Israel didst thou make thine own people forever; and thou, LORD, becamest their God.

1Ch 17:23  Therefore now, LORD, let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established forever, and do as thou hast said.

1Ch 17:24  Let it even be established, that thy name may be magnified forever, saying, The LORD of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and let the house of David thy servant be established before thee.

1Ch 17:25  For thou, O my God, hast told thy servant that thou wilt build him a house: therefore thy servant hath found in his heart to pray before thee.

1Ch 17:26  And now, LORD, thou art God, and hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:

1Ch 17:27  Now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee forever: for thou blessest, O LORD, and it shall be blessed forever.

1Chronicles 18

1Ch 18:1  Now after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them, and took Gath and her towns out of the hand of the Philistines.

1Ch 18:2  And he smote Moab; and the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts.

1Ch 18:3  And David smote Hadarezer king of Zobah unto Hamath, as he went to establish his dominion by the river Euphrates.

1Ch 18:4  And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: David also hamstrung all the chariot horses, but reserved of them a hundred chariots.

1Ch 18:5  And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadarezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men.

1Ch 18:6  Then David put garrisons in Syria-damascus; and the Syrians became David's servants, and brought gifts. Thus the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.

1Ch 18:7  And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadarezer, and brought them to Jerusalem.

1Ch 18:8  Likewise from Tibhath, and from Chun, cities of Hadarezer, brought David very much brass, wherewith Solomon made the brazen sea, and the pillars, and the vessels of brass.

1Ch 18:9  Now when Tou king of Hamath heard how David had smitten all the host of Hadarezer king of Zobah;

1Ch 18:10  He sent Hadoram his son to king David, to inquire of his welfare, and to congratulate him, because he had fought against Hadarezer, and smitten him; (for Hadarezer had war with Tou;) and with him all manner of vessels of gold and silver and brass.

1Ch 18:11  Them also king David dedicated unto the LORD, with the silver and the gold that he brought from all these nations; from Edom, and from Moab, and from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines, and from Amalek.

1Ch 18:12  Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah slew of the Edomites in the valley of salt eighteen thousand.

1Ch 18:13  And he put garrisons in Edom; and all the Edomites became David's servants. Thus the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.

1Ch 18:14  So David reigned over all Israel, and executed judgment and justice among all his people.

1Ch 18:15  And Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the host; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, recorder.

1Ch 18:16  And Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Abimelech the son of Abiathar, were the priests; and Shavsha was scribe;

1Ch 18:17  And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and the sons of David were chief about the king.

1Chronicles 19

1Ch 19:1  Now it came to pass after this, that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his stead.

1Ch 19:2  And David said, I will show kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me. And David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. So the servants of David came into the land of the children of Ammon to Hanun, to comfort him.

1Ch 19:3  But the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, Thinkest thou that David doth honour thy father, that he hath sent comforters unto thee? are not his servants come unto thee for to search, and to overthrow, and to spy out the land?

1Ch 19:4  Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved them, and cut off their garments in the midst hard by their buttocks, and sent them away.

1Ch 19:5  Then there went certain, and told David how the men were served. And he sent to meet them: for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return.

1Ch 19:6  And when the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David, Hanun and the children of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire them chariots and horsemen out of Mesopotamia, and out of Syria-maachah, and out of Zobah.

1Ch 19:7  So they hired thirty and two thousand chariots, and the king of Maachah and his people; who came and pitched before Medeba. And the children of Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to battle.

1Ch 19:8  And when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty men.

1Ch 19:9  And the children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array before the gate of the city: and the kings that were come were by themselves in the field.

1Ch 19:10  Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose out of all the choice of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians.

1Ch 19:11  And the rest of the people he delivered unto the hand of Abishai his brother, and they set themselves in array against the children of Ammon.

1Ch 19:12  And he said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me: but if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will help thee.

1Ch 19:13  Be of good courage, and let us behave ourselves valiantly for our people, and for the cities of our God: and let the LORD do that which is good in his sight.

1Ch 19:14  So Joab and the people that were with him drew nigh before the Syrians unto the battle; and they fled before him.

1Ch 19:15  And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled, they likewise fled before Abishai his brother, and entered into the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.

1Ch 19:16  And when the Syrians saw that they were put to the worse before Israel, they sent messengers, and drew forth the Syrians that were beyond the river: and Shophach the captain of the host of Hadarezer went before them.

1Ch 19:17  And it was told David; and he gathered all Israel, and passed over Jordan, and came upon them, and set the battle in array against them. So when David had put the battle in array against the Syrians, they fought with him.

1Ch 19:18  But the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew of the Syrians seven thousand men which fought in chariots, and forty thousand footmen, and killed Shophach the captain of the host.

1Ch 19:19  And when the servants of Hadarezer saw that they were put to the worse before Israel, they made peace with David, and became his servants: neither would the Syrians help the children of Ammon any more.

1Chronicles 20

1Ch 20:1  And it came to pass, that after the year was expired, at the time that kings go out to battle, Joab led forth the power of the army, and wasted the country of the children of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried at Jerusalem. And Joab smote Rabbah, and destroyed it.

1Ch 20:2  And David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it; and it was set upon David's head: and he brought also exceeding much spoil out of the city.

1Ch 20:3  And he brought out the people that were in it, and cut them with saws, and with harrows of iron, and with axes. Even so dealt David with all the cities of the children of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

1Ch 20:4  And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines; at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Sippai, that was of the children of the giant: and they were subdued.

1Ch 20:5  And there was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff was like a weaver's beam.

1Ch 20:6  And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand, and six on each foot: and he also was the son of the giant.

1Ch 20:7  But when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea David's brother slew him.

1Ch 20:8  These were born unto the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

2Corinthians 9

2Co 9:1  For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:

2Co 9:2  For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.

2Co 9:3  Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready:

2Co 9:4  Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.

2Co 9:5  Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.

2Co 9:6  But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

2Co 9:7  Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

2Co 9:8  And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

2Co 9:9  (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth forever.

2Co 9:10  Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)

2Co 9:11  Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

2Co 9:12  For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;

2Co 9:13  While by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;

2Co 9:14  And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.

2Co 9:15  Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.