Daily Bible Reading for September 12

The Lord's Covenant with David

¹sNow when the king lived in his house and the Lord thad given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, ²the king said to uNathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell vin a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells win a tent.” ³And Nathan said to the king, x“Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.”

⁴But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, ⁵“Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: yWould you build me a house to dwell in? ⁶I have not lived in a house zsince the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about ain a tent for my dwelling. ⁷In all places where bI have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with cany of the judges1 of Israel, whom I commanded dto shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’ ⁸Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, eI took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince2 over my people Israel. ⁹fAnd I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. ¹⁰And I will appoint a place for my people Israel gand will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place hand be disturbed no more. iAnd violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, ¹¹jfrom the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And kI will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that lthe Lord will make you a house. ¹²mWhen your days are fulfilled and nyou lie down with your fathers, oI will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body,3 and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³pHe shall build a house for my name, and qI will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴rI will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, sI will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, ¹⁵sbut my steadfast love will not depart from him, tas I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. ¹⁶uAnd your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me.4 uYour throne shall be established forever.’” ¹⁷In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

David's Prayer of Gratitude

¹⁸Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, v“Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? ¹⁹And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. wYou have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God! ²⁰And what more can David say to you? xFor you know your servant, O Lord God! ²¹Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. ²²yTherefore you are great, O Lord God. zFor there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. ²³aAnd who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name band doing for them5 great and awesome things by driving out before your people,6 whom cyou redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? ²⁴dAnd you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O Lord, became their God. ²⁵And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. ²⁶And your name will be magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel,’ and the house of your servant David will be established before you. ²⁷For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. ²⁸And now, O Lord God, you are God, and eyour words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. ²⁹Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken, fand with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.”

Greeting

¹Paul, aan apostle of Christ Jesus bby the will of God, and cTimothy our brother,

To the church of God that is at Corinth, dwith all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:

²eGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God of All Comfort

³fBlessed be the gGod and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and hGod of all comfort, ⁴iwho comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵For as we share abundantly in jChrist's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.1 ⁶kIf we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. ⁷Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you lshare in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

⁸For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers,2 of mthe affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. ⁹Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us nrely not on ourselves obut on God pwho raises the dead. ¹⁰qHe delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. rOn him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. ¹¹sYou also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf tfor the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

Paul's Change of Plans

¹²For our boast is this, uthe testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity3 and vgodly sincerity, wnot by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. ¹³For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand— ¹⁴just as you did xpartially understand us—that yon the day of our Lord Jesus zyou will boast of us as awe will boast of you.

¹⁵Because I was sure of this, bI wanted to come to you first, so that you might have ca second dexperience of grace. ¹⁶I wanted to visit you eon my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. ¹⁷Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans faccording to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? ¹⁸As surely as gGod is faithful, hour word to you has not been Yes and No. ¹⁹For ithe Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, jSilvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but kin him it is always Yes. ²⁰For lall the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our mAmen to God for his glory. ²¹And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and nhas anointed us, ²²and who has also oput his seal on us and pgiven us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.4

²³But qI call God to witness against me—it was rto spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. ²⁴Not that we slord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm tin your faith.

Jerusalem, a Useless Vine

¹And the word of the Lord came to me: ²q“Son of man, how does rthe wood of the vine surpass any wood, the vine branch that is among the trees of the forest? ³Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do people take sa peg from it to hang any vessel on it? ⁴tBehold, it is given to the fire for fuel. When the fire has consumed both ends of it, and the middle of it is charred, is it useful for anything? ⁵uBehold, when it was whole, it was used for nothing. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything! ⁶Therefore thus says the Lord God: vLike the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, twhich I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ⁷wAnd I will set my face against them. Though xthey escape from the fire, the fire shall yet consume them, yand you will know that I am the Lord, wwhen I set my face against them. ⁸zAnd I will make the land desolate, because athey have acted faithlessly, declares the Lord God.”

Psalm 56

In God I Trust

To the choirmaster: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths. A pMiktam1 of David, when the qPhilistines seized him in Gath.

¹rBe gracious to me, O God, for man stramples on me;

all day long an attacker oppresses me;

²my enemies trample on me all day long,

for many attack me proudly.

³When I am afraid,

I tput my trust in you.

⁴In God, whose word I praise,

in God I trust; uI shall not be afraid.

What can flesh do to me?

⁵All day long they injure my cause;2

all their thoughts are against me for evil.

⁶They vstir up strife, they wlurk;

they xwatch my steps,

as they have waited for my life.

⁷For their crime will they escape?

yIn wrath zcast down the peoples, O God!

⁸You have kept count of my tossings;3

aput my tears in your bottle.

bAre they not in your book?

⁹Then my enemies will turn back

cin the day when I call.

This I know, that4 dGod is for me.

¹⁰In God, whose word I praise,

in the Lord, whose word I praise,

¹¹in God I trust; uI shall not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

¹²I must perform my evows to you, O God;

I will erender thank offerings to you.

¹³fFor you have delivered my soul from death,

yes, my feet from falling,

gthat I may walk before God

hin the light of life.

Psalm 57

Let Your Glory Be over All the Earth

To the choirmaster: according to iDo Not Destroy. A jMiktam1 of David, when he fled from Saul, in kthe cave.

¹lBe merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,

for in you my soul mtakes refuge;

in nthe shadow of your wings I will take refuge,

otill the storms of destruction pass by.

²I cry out to God Most High,

to God who pfulfills his purpose for me.

³qHe will send from heaven and save me;

he will put to shame rhim who tramples on me. Selah

sGod will send out this steadfast love and his faithfulness!

⁴My soul is in the midst of ulions;

I lie down amid fiery beasts—

the children of man, whose vteeth are spears and arrows,

whose wtongues are sharp swords.

⁵xBe exalted, O God, above the heavens!

Let your glory be over all the earth!

⁶They set ya net for my steps;

my soul was zbowed down.

They adug a pit in my way,

but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah

⁷bMy heart is csteadfast, O God,

my heart is steadfast!

I will sing and make melody!

⁸dAwake, emy glory!2

Awake, fO harp and lyre!

I will awake the dawn!

⁹I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;

I will sing praises to you among the nations.

¹⁰For your gsteadfast love is great to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the clouds.

¹¹xBe exalted, O God, above the heavens!

Let your glory be over all the earth!