2 Samuel 13

• 1. David's son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar. And Amnon, her half brother, fell desperately in love with her.
• 2. Amnon became so obsessed with Tamar that he became ill. She was a virgin, and it seemed impossible that he could ever fulfill his love for her.
• 3. Now Amnon had a very crafty friend--his cousin Jonadab. He was the son of David's brother Shimea.
• 4. One day Jonadab said to Amnon, "What's the trouble? Why should the son of a king look so dejected morning after morning?" So Amnon told him, "I am in love with Tamar, Absalom's sister."
• 5. "Well," Jonadab said, "I'll tell you what to do. Go back to bed and pretend you are sick. When your father comes to see you, ask him to let Tamar come and prepare some food for you. Tell him you'll feel better if she feeds you."
• 6. So Amnon pretended to be sick. And when the king came to see him, Amnon asked him, "Please let Tamar come to take care of me and cook something for me to eat."
• 7. So David agreed and sent Tamar to Amnon's house to prepare some food for him.
• 8. When Tamar arrived at Amnon's house, she went to the room where he was lying down so he could watch her mix some dough. Then she baked some special bread for him.
• 9. But when she set the serving tray before him, he refused to eat. "Everyone get out of here," Amnon told his servants. So they all left.
• 10. Then he said to Tamar, "Now bring the food into my bedroom and feed it to me here." So Tamar took it to him.
• 11. But as she was feeding him, he grabbed her and demanded, "Come to bed with me, my darling sister."
• 12. "No, my brother!" she cried. "Don't be foolish! Don't do this to me! You know what a serious crime it is to do such a thing in Israel.
• 13. Where could I go in my shame? And you would be called one of the greatest fools in Israel. Please, just speak to the king about it, and he will let you marry me."
• 14. But Amnon wouldn't listen to her, and since he was stronger than she was, he raped her.
• 15. Then suddenly Amnon's love turned to hate, and he hated her even more than he had loved her. "Get out of here!" he snarled at her.
• 16. "No, no!" Tamar cried. "To reject me now is a greater wrong than what you have already done to me." But Amnon wouldn't listen to her.
• 17. He shouted for his servant and demanded, "Throw this woman out, and lock the door behind her!"
• 18. So the servant put her out. She was wearing a long, beautiful robe, as was the custom in those days for the king's virgin daughters.
• 19. But now Tamar tore her robe and put ashes on her head. And then, with her face in her hands, she went away crying.
• 20. Her brother Absalom saw her and asked, "Is it true that Amnon has been with you? Well, don't be so upset. Since he's your brother anyway, don't worry about it." So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in Absalom's house.
• 21. When King David heard what had happened, he was very angry.
• 22. And though Absalom never spoke to Amnon about it, he hated Amnon deeply because of what he had done to his sister.
• 23. Two years later, when Absalom's sheep were being sheared at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, Absalom invited all the king's sons to come to a feast.
• 24. He went to the king and said, "My sheep-shearers are now at work. Would the king and his servants please come to celebrate the occasion with me?"
• 25. The king replied, "No, my son. If we all came, we would be too much of a burden on you." Absalom pressed him, but the king wouldn't come, though he sent his thanks.
• 26. "Well, then," Absalom said, "if you can't come, how about sending my brother Amnon instead?Why Amnon?" the king asked.
• 27. But Absalom kept on pressing the king until he finally agreed to let all his sons attend, including Amnon.
• 28. Absalom told his men, "Wait until Amnon gets drunk; then at my signal, kill him! Don't be afraid. I'm the one who has given the command. Take courage and do it!"
• 29. So at Absalom's signal they murdered Amnon. Then the other sons of the king jumped on their mules and fled.
• 30. As they were on the way back to Jerusalem, this report reached David: "Absalom has killed all your sons; not one is left alive!"
• 31. The king jumped up, tore his robe, and fell prostrate on the ground. His advisers also tore their clothes in horror and sorrow.
• 32. But just then Jonadab, the son of David's brother Shimea, arrived and said, "No, not all your sons have been killed! It was only Amnon! Absalom has been plotting this ever since Amnon raped his sister Tamar.
• 33. No, your sons aren't all dead! It was only Amnon."
• 34. Meanwhile Absalom escaped. Then the watchman on the Jerusalem wall saw a great crowd coming toward the city from the west. He ran to tell the king, "I see a crowd of people coming from the Horonaim road along the side of the hill."
• 35. "Look!" Jonadab told the king. "There they are now! Your sons are coming, just as I said."
• 36. They soon arrived, weeping and sobbing, and the king and his officials wept bitterly with them.
• 37. And David mourned many days for his son Amnon. Absalom fled to his grandfather, Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur.
• 38. He stayed there in Geshur for three years.
• 39. And David, now reconciled to Amnon's death, longed to be reunited with his son Absalom.

2 Corinthians 6

• 1. As God's partners, we beg you not to reject this marvelous message of God's great kindness.
• 2. For God says, "At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you." Indeed, God is ready to help you right now. Today is the day of salvation.
• 3. We try to live in such a way that no one will be hindered from finding the Lord by the way we act, and so no one can find fault with our ministry.
• 4. In everything we do we try to show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind.
• 5. We have been beaten, been put in jail, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food.
• 6. We have proved ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, our sincere love, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
• 7. We have faithfully preached the truth. God's power has been working in us. We have righteousness as our weapon, both to attack and to defend ourselves.
• 8. We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors.
• 9. We are well known, but we are treated as unknown. We live close to death, but here we are, still alive. We have been beaten within an inch of our lives.
• 10. Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.
• 11. Oh, dear Corinthian friends! We have spoken honestly with you. Our hearts are open to you.
• 12. If there is a problem between us, it is not because of a lack of love on our part, but because you have withheld your love from us.
• 13. I am talking now as I would to my own children. Open your hearts to us!
• 14. Don't team up with those who are unbelievers. How can goodness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?
• 15. What harmony can there be between Christ and the Devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?
• 16. And what union can there be between God's temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: "I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
• 17. Therefore, come out from them and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don't touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you.
• 18. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. "

Ezekiel 20

• 1. On August 14, during the seventh year of King Jehoiachin's captivity, some of the leaders of Israel came to request a message from the LORD. They sat down in front of me to wait for his reply.
• 2. Then this message came to me from the LORD:
• 3. "Son of man, give the leaders of Israel this message from the Sovereign LORD: How dare you come to ask for my help? As surely as I live, I will tell you nothing. This is the word of the Sovereign LORD!
• 4. "Son of man, bring judgment against them and condemn them. Make them realize how loathsome the actions of their ancestors really were.
• 5. Give them this message from the Sovereign LORD: When I chose Israel and revealed myself to her in Egypt, I swore that I, the LORD, would be her God.
• 6. I promised that I would bring her and her descendants out of Egypt to a land I had discovered and explored for them--a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the best of all lands anywhere.
• 7. Then I said to them, `Each of you, get rid of your idols. Do not defile yourselves with the Egyptian gods, for I am the LORD your God.'
• 8. "But they rebelled against me and would not listen. They did not get rid of their idols or forsake the gods of Egypt. Then I threatened to pour out my fury on them to satisfy my anger while they were still in Egypt.
• 9. But I didn't do it, for I acted to protect the honor of my name. That way the surrounding nations wouldn't be able to laugh at Israel's God, who had promised to deliver his people.
• 10. So I brought my people out of Egypt and led them into the wilderness.
• 11. There I gave them my laws so they could live by keeping them. Yes, all those who keep them will live!
• 12. And I gave them my Sabbath days of rest as a sign between them and me. It was to remind them that I, the LORD, had set them apart to be holy, making them my special people.
• 13. "But the people of Israel rebelled against me, and they refused to obey my laws there in the wilderness. They wouldn't obey my instructions even though obedience would have given them life. And they also violated my Sabbath days. So I threatened to pour out my fury on them, and I made plans to utterly consume them in the desert.
• 14. But again I held back in order to protect the honor of my name. That way the nations who saw me lead my people out of Egypt wouldn't be able to claim I destroyed them because I couldn't take care of them.
• 15. But I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land I had given them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful place on earth.
• 16. I told them this because they had rejected my laws, ignored my will for them, and violated my Sabbath days. Their hearts were given to their idols.
• 17. Nevertheless, I pitied them and held back from destroying them in the wilderness.
• 18. "Then I warned their children and told them not to follow in their parents' footsteps, defiling themselves with their idols.
• 19. `I am the LORD your God,' I told them. `Follow my laws, pay attention to my instructions,
• 20. and keep my Sabbath days holy, for they are a sign to remind you that I am the LORD your God.'
• 21. "But their children, too, rebelled against me. They refused to keep my laws and follow my instructions, even though obeying them would have given them life. And they also violated my Sabbath days. So again I threatened to pour out my fury on them in the wilderness.
• 22. Nevertheless, I withdrew my judgment against them to protect the honor of my name among the nations who had seen my power in bringing them out of Egypt.
• 23. But I took a solemn oath against them while they were in the wilderness. I vowed I would scatter them among all the nations
• 24. because they did not obey my laws. They scorned my instructions by violating my Sabbath days and longing for the idols of their ancestors.
• 25. I gave them over to worthless customs and laws that would not lead to life.
• 26. I let them pollute themselves with the very gifts I had given them, and I allowed them to give their firstborn children as offerings to their gods--so I might devastate them and show them that I alone am the LORD.
• 27. "Therefore, son of man, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign LORD: Your ancestors continued to blaspheme and betray me,
• 28. for when I brought them into the land I had promised them, they offered sacrifices and incense on every high hill and under every green tree they saw! They roused my fury as they offered up sacrifices to their gods. They brought their perfumes and incense and poured out their drink offerings to them!
• 29. I said to them, `What is this high place where you are going?' (This idol shrine has been called Bamah--`high place'--ever since.)
• 30. "Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign LORD: Do you plan to pollute yourselves just as your ancestors did? Do you intend to keep prostituting yourselves by worshiping detestable idols?
• 31. For when you offer gifts to them and give your little children to be burned as sacrifices, you continue to pollute yourselves to this day. Should I listen to you or help you, O people of Israel? As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I will not give you a message even though you have come to me requesting one.
• 32. "You say, `We want to be like the nations all around us, who serve idols of wood and stone.' But what you have in mind will never happen.
• 33. As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I will rule you with an iron fist in great anger and with awesome power.
• 34. With might and fury I will bring you out from the lands where you are scattered.
• 35. I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, and there I will judge you face to face.
• 36. I will judge you there just as I did your ancestors in the wilderness after bringing them out of Egypt, says the Sovereign LORD.
• 37. I will count you carefully and hold you to the terms of the covenant.
• 38. I will purge you of all those who rebel and sin against me. I will bring them out of the countries where they are in exile, but they will never enter the land of Israel. And when that happens, you will know that I am the LORD.
• 39. "As for you, O people of Israel, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: If you insist, go right ahead and worship your idols, but then don't turn around and bring gifts to me. Such desecration of my holy name must stop!
• 40. For on my holy mountain, says the Sovereign LORD, the people of Israel will someday worship me, and I will accept them. There I will require that you bring me all your offerings and choice gifts and sacrifices.
• 41. When I bring you home from exile, you will be as pleasing to me as an offering of perfumed incense. And I will display my holiness in you as all the nations watch.
• 42. Then when I have brought you home to the land I promised your ancestors, you will know that I am the LORD.
• 43. You will look back at all your sins and hate yourselves because of the evil you have done.
• 44. You will know that I am the LORD, O people of Israel, when I have honored my name by treating you mercifully in spite of your wickedness, says the Sovereign LORD."
• 45. Then this message came to me from the LORD:
• 46. "Son of man, look toward the south and speak out against it; prophesy against the fields of the Negev.
• 47. Give the southern wilderness this message from the Sovereign LORD: Hear the word of the LORD! I will set you on fire, O forest, and every tree will be burned--green and dry trees alike. The terrible flames will not be quenched; they will scorch everything from south to north.
• 48. And all the world will see that I, the LORD, have set this fire. It will not be put out."
• 49. Then I said, "O Sovereign LORD, they are saying of me, `He only talks in riddles!'"

New Living Translation: 260 of 365 days.