2 Samuel 19

• 1. Word soon reached Joab that the king was weeping and mourning for Absalom.
• 2. As the troops heard of the king's deep grief for his son, the joy of that day's victory was turned into deep sadness.
• 3. They crept back into the city as though they were ashamed and had been beaten in battle.
• 4. The king covered his face with his hands and kept on weeping, "O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!"
• 5. Then Joab went to the king's room and said to him, "We saved your life today and the lives of your sons, your daughters, and your wives and concubines. Yet you act like this, making us feel ashamed, as though we had done something wrong.
• 6. You seem to love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that we mean nothing to you. If Absalom had lived and all of us had died, you would be pleased.
• 7. Now go out there and congratulate the troops, for I swear by the LORD that if you don't, not a single one of them will remain here tonight. Then you will be worse off than you have ever been."
• 8. So the king went out and sat at the city gate, and as the news spread throughout the city that he was there, everyone went to him. Meanwhile, the Israelites who supported Absalom had fled to their homes.
• 9. And throughout the tribes of Israel there was much discussion and argument going on. The people were saying, "The king saved us from our enemies, the Philistines, but Absalom chased him out of the country.
• 10. Now Absalom, whom we anointed to rule over us, is dead. Let's ask David to come back and be our king again."
• 11. Then King David sent Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, to say to the leaders of Judah, "Why are you the last ones to reinstate the king? For I have heard that all Israel is ready, and only you are holding out.
• 12. Yet you are my relatives, my own tribe, my own flesh and blood! Why are you the last ones to welcome me back?"
• 13. And David told them to tell Amasa, "Since you are my nephew, may God strike me dead if I do not appoint you as commander of my army in place of Joab."
• 14. Then Amasa convinced all the leaders of Judah, and they responded unanimously. They sent word to the king, "Return to us, and bring back all those who are with you."
• 15. So the king started back to Jerusalem. And when he arrived at the Jordan River, the people of Judah came to Gilgal to meet him and escort him across the river.
• 16. Then Shimei son of Gera, the man from Bahurim in Benjamin, hurried across with the men of Judah to welcome King David.
• 17. A thousand men from the tribe of Benjamin were with him, including Ziba, the servant of Saul, and Ziba's fifteen sons and twenty servants. They rushed down to the Jordan to arrive ahead of the king.
• 18. They all crossed the ford and worked hard ferrying the king's household across the river, helping them in every way they could. As the king was about to cross the river, Shimei fell down before him.
• 19. "My lord the king, please forgive me," he pleaded. "Forget the terrible thing I did when you left Jerusalem.
• 20. I know how much I sinned. That is why I have come here today, the very first person in all Israel to greet you."
• 21. Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said, "Shimei should die, for he cursed the LORD's anointed king!"
• 22. "What am I going to do with you sons of Zeruiah!" David exclaimed. "This is not a day for execution but for celebration! I am once again the king of Israel!"
• 23. Then, turning to Shimei, David vowed, "Your life will be spared."
• 24. Now Mephibosheth, Saul's grandson, arrived from Jerusalem to meet the king. He had not washed his feet or clothes nor trimmed his beard since the day the king left Jerusalem.
• 25. "Why didn't you come with me, Mephibosheth?" the king asked him.
• 26. Mephibosheth replied, "My lord the king, my servant Ziba deceived me. I told him, `Saddle my donkey so that I can go with the king.' For as you know I am crippled.
• 27. Ziba has slandered me by saying that I refused to come. But I know that you are like an angel of God, so do what you think is best.
• 28. All my relatives and I could expect only death from you, my lord, but instead you have honored me among those who eat at your own table! So how can I complain?"
• 29. "All right," David replied. "My decision is that you and Ziba will divide your land equally between you."
• 30. "Give him all of it," Mephibosheth said. "I am content just to have you back again, my lord!"
• 31. Barzillai of Gilead now arrived from Rogelim to conduct the king across the Jordan.
• 32. He was very old, about eighty, and very wealthy. He was the one who had provided food for the king during his stay in Mahanaim.
• 33. "Come across with me and live in Jerusalem," the king said to Barzillai. "I will take care of you there."
• 34. "No," he replied, "I am far too old for that.
• 35. I am eighty years old today, and I can no longer enjoy anything. Food and wine are no longer tasty, and I cannot hear the musicians as they play. I would only be a burden to my lord the king.
• 36. Just to go across the river with you is all the honor I need!
• 37. Then let me return again to die in my own town, where my father and mother are buried. But here is my son Kimham. Let him go with you and receive whatever good things you want to give him."
• 38. "Good," the king agreed. "Kimham will go with me, and I will do for him whatever I would have done for you."
• 39. So all the people crossed the Jordan with the king. After David had blessed and embraced him, Barzillai returned to his own home.
• 40. The king then went on to Gilgal, taking Kimham with him. All the army of Judah and half the army of Israel escorted him across the river.
• 41. But the men of Israel complained to the king that the men of Judah had gotten to do most of the work in helping him cross the Jordan.
• 42. "Why not?" the men of Judah replied. "The king is one of our own tribe. Why should this make you angry? We have charged him nothing. And he hasn't fed us or even given us gifts!"
• 43. "But there are ten tribes in Israel," the others replied. "So we have ten times as much right to the king as you do. Why did you treat us with such contempt? Remember, we were the first to speak of bringing him back to be our king again." The argument continued back and forth, and the men of Judah were very harsh in their replies.

2 Corinthians 12

• 1. This boasting is all so foolish, but let me go on. Let me tell about the visions and revelations I received from the Lord.
• 2. I was caught up into the third heaven fourteen years ago.
• 3. Whether my body was there or just my spirit, I don't know; only God knows.
• 4. But I do know that I was caught up into paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be told.
• 5. That experience is something worth boasting about, but I am not going to do it. I am going to boast only about my weaknesses.
• 6. I have plenty to boast about and would be no fool in doing it, because I would be telling the truth. But I won't do it. I don't want anyone to think more highly of me than what they can actually see in my life and my message,
• 7. even though I have received wonderful revelations from God. But to keep me from getting puffed up, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from getting proud.
• 8. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.
• 9. Each time he said, "My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me.
• 10. Since I know it is all for Christ's good, I am quite content with my weaknesses and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
• 11. You have made me act like a fool--boasting like this. You ought to be writing commendations for me, for I am not at all inferior to these "super apostles," even though I am nothing at all.
• 12. When I was with you, I certainly gave you every proof that I am truly an apostle, sent to you by God himself. For I patiently did many signs and wonders and miracles among you.
• 13. The only thing I didn't do, which I do in the other churches, was to become a burden to you. Please forgive me for this wrong!
• 14. Now I am coming to you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you. I don't want what you have; I want you. And anyway, little children don't pay for their parents' food. It's the other way around; parents supply food for their children.
• 15. I will gladly spend myself and all I have for your spiritual good, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me.
• 16. Some of you admit I was not a burden to you. But they still think I was sneaky and took advantage of you by trickery.
• 17. But how? Did any of the men I sent to you take advantage of you?
• 18. When I urged Titus to visit you and sent our other brother with him, did Titus take advantage of you? No, of course not! For we both have the same Spirit and walk in each other's steps, doing things the same way.
• 19. Perhaps you think we are saying all this just to defend ourselves. That isn't it at all. We tell you this as Christ's servants, and we know that God is listening. Everything we do, dear friends, is for your benefit.
• 20. For I am afraid that when I come to visit you I won't like what I find, and then you won't like my response. I am afraid that I will find quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfishness, backstabbing, gossip, conceit, and disorderly behavior.
• 21. Yes, I am afraid that when I come, God will humble me again because of you. And I will have to grieve because many of you who sinned earlier have not repented of your impurity, sexual immorality, and eagerness for lustful pleasure.

Ezekiel 26

• 1. On February 3, during the twelfth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity, this message came to me from the LORD:
• 2. "Son of man, Tyre has rejoiced over the fall of Jerusalem, saying, `Ha! She who controlled the rich trade routes to the east has been broken, and I am the heir! Because she has been destroyed, I will become wealthy!'
• 3. "Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am your enemy, O Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the waves of the sea crashing against your shoreline.
• 4. They will destroy the walls of Tyre and tear down its towers. I will scrape away its soil and make it a bare rock!
• 5. The island of Tyre will become uninhabited. It will be a place for fishermen to spread their nets, for I have spoken, says the Sovereign LORD. Tyre will become the prey of many nations,
• 6. and its mainland villages will be destroyed by the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD.
• 7. "For the Sovereign LORD says: I will bring King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon--the king of kings from the north--against Tyre with his cavalry, chariots, and great army.
• 8. First he will destroy your mainland villages. Then he will attack you by building a siege wall, constructing a ramp, and raising a roof of shields against you.
• 9. He will pound your walls with battering rams and demolish your towers with sledgehammers.
• 10. The hooves of his cavalry will choke the city with dust, and your walls will shake as the horses gallop through your broken gates, pulling chariots behind them.
• 11. His horsemen will trample every street in the city. They will butcher your people, and your famous pillars will topple.
• 12. "They will plunder all your riches and merchandise and break down your walls. They will destroy your lovely homes and dump your stones and timbers and even your dust into the sea.
• 13. I will stop the music of your songs. No more will the sound of harps be heard among your people.
• 14. I will make your island a bare rock, a place for fishermen to spread their nets. You will never be rebuilt, for I, the LORD, have spoken! This is the word of the Sovereign LORD.
• 15. "This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Tyre: The whole coastline will tremble at the sound of your fall, as the screams of the wounded echo in the continuing slaughter.
• 16. All the seaport rulers will step down from their thrones and take off their royal robes and beautiful clothing. They will sit on the ground trembling with horror at what they have seen.
• 17. Then they will wail for you, singing this funeral song: `O famous island city, once ruler of the sea, how you have been destroyed! Your people, with their naval power, once spread fear around the world.
• 18. Now the coastlands tremble at your fall. The islands are dismayed as you pass away.'
• 19. "For the Sovereign LORD says: I will make Tyre an uninhabited ruin. You will sink beneath the terrible waves of enemy attack. Great seas will swallow you.
• 20. I will send you to the pit to lie there with those who descended there long ago. Your city will lie in ruins, buried beneath the earth, like those in the pit who have entered the world of the dead. Never again will you be given a position of respect here in the land of the living.
• 21. I will bring you to a terrible end, and you will be no more. You will be looked for, but you will never be found. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!"

New Living Translation: 266 of 365 days.