Bible Reading Plan – Day 95

₁David son of Jesse was the man whom God made great, whom the God of Jacob chose to be king, and who was the composer of beautiful songs for Israel. These are David's last words:

₈These are the names of David's famous soldiers: the first was Josheb Basshebeth from Tachemon, who was the leader of “The Three”; he fought with his spear against 800 men and killed them all in one battle.

₉The second of the famous three was Eleazar son of Dodo, of the clan of Ahoh. One day he and David challenged the Philistines who had gathered for battle. The Israelites fell back, ₁₀but he stood his ground and fought the Philistines until his hand was so stiff that he could not let go of his sword. The LORD won a great victory that day. After it was over, the Israelites returned to where Eleazar was and stripped the armour from the dead.

₁₁The third of the famous three was Shammah son of Agee, from Harar. The Philistines had gathered at Lehi, where there was a field of peas. The Israelites fled from the Philistines, ₁₂but Shammah stood his ground in the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. The LORD won a great victory that day.

₁₃Near the beginning of harvest time three of “The Thirty” went down to the cave of Adullam, where David was, while a band of Philistines was camping in the Valley of Rephaim. ₁₄At that time David was on a fortified hill, and a group of Philistines had occupied Bethlehem. ₁₅David felt homesick and said, “How I wish someone would bring me a drink of water from the well by the gate at Bethlehem!” ₁₆The three famous soldiers forced their way through the Philistine camp, drew some water from the well, and brought it back to David. But he would not drink it; instead he poured it out as an offering to the LORD ₁₇and said, “LORD, I could never drink this! It would be like drinking the blood of these men who risked their lives!” So he refused to drink it.

Those were the brave deeds of the three famous soldiers.

₁₈Joab's brother Abishai (their mother was Zeruiah) was the leader of “The Famous Thirty”. He fought with his spear against 300 men and killed them, and became famous among “The Thirty”. ₁₉He was the most famous of “The Thirty” and became their leader, but he was not as famous as “The Three”.

₂₀Benaiah son of Jehoiada, from Kabzeel, was another famous soldier; he did many brave deeds, including killing two great Moabite warriors. He once went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. ₂₁He also killed an Egyptian, a huge man who was armed with a spear. Benaiah attacked him with his club, snatched the spear from the Egyptian's hand, and killed him with it. ₂₂Those were the brave deeds of Benaiah, who was one of “The Thirty”. ₂₃He was outstanding among them, but was not as famous as “The Three”. David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

_24-39Other members of “The Thirty” included:

There were 37 famous soldiers in all.

₁The LORD was angry with Israel once more, and he made David bring trouble on them. The LORD said to him, “Go and count the people of Israel and Judah.” ₂So David gave orders to Joab, the commander of his army: “Go with your officers through all the tribes of Israel from one end of the country to the other, and count the people. I want to know how many there are.”

₃But Joab answered the king, “Your Majesty, may the LORD your God make the people of Israel a hundred times more numerous than they are now, and may you live to see him do it. But why does Your Majesty want to do this?” ₄But the king made Joab and his officers obey his order; they left his presence and went out to count the people of Israel.

₅They crossed the Jordan and camped south of Aroer, the city in the middle of the valley, in the territory of Gad. From there they went north to Jazer, ₆and on to Gilead and to Kadesh, in Hittite territory. Then they went to Dan, and from Dan they went west to Sidon. ₇Then they went south to the fortified city of Tyre, on to all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites, and finally to Beersheba, in the southern part of Judah. ₈So after nine months and twenty days they returned to Jerusalem, having travelled through the whole country. ₉They reported to the king the total number of men capable of military service: 800,000 in Israel and 500,000 in Judah.

₁₀But after David had taken the census, his conscience began to trouble him, and he said to the LORD, “I have committed a terrible sin in doing this! Please forgive me. I have acted foolishly.”

_11-12The LORD said to Gad, David's prophet, “Go and tell David that I am giving him three choices. I will do whichever he chooses.” The next morning, after David got up, ₁₃Gad went to him, told him what the LORD had said, and asked, “Which is it to be? Three years of famine in your land or three months of running away from your enemies or three days of an epidemic in your land? Now think it over, and tell me what answer to take back to the LORD.”

₁₄David answered, “I am in a desperate situation! But I don't want to be punished by human beings. Let the LORD himself be the one to punish us, for he is merciful.” ₁₅So the LORD sent an epidemic on Israel, which lasted from that morning until the time that he had chosen. From one end of the country to the other 70,000 Israelites died. ₁₆When the LORD's angel was about to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD changed his mind about punishing the people and said to the angel who was killing them, “Stop! That's enough!” The angel was by the threshing place of Araunah, a Jebusite.

₁₇David saw the angel who was killing the people, and said to the LORD, “I am the guilty one. I am the one who did wrong. What have these poor people done? You should punish me and my family.”

₁₈That same day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up to Araunah's threshing place and build an altar to the LORD.” ₁₉David obeyed the LORD's command and went as Gad had told him. ₂₀Araunah looked down and saw the king and his officials coming up to him. He threw himself on the ground in front of David ₂₁and asked, “Your Majesty, why are you here?”

David answered, “To buy your threshing place and build an altar for the LORD, in order to stop the epidemic.”

₂₂“Take it, Your Majesty,” Araunah said, “and offer to the LORD whatever you wish. Here are these oxen to burn as an offering on the altar; here are their yokes and the threshing boards to use as fuel.” ₂₃Araunah gave it all to the king and said to him, “May the LORD your God accept your offering.”

₂₄But the king answered, “No, I will pay you for it. I will not offer to the LORD my God sacrifices that have cost me nothing.” And he bought the threshing place and the oxen for fifty pieces of silver. ₂₅Then he built an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. The LORD answered his prayer, and the epidemic in Israel was stopped.