NKJV Bible in 365 Days
David's Return, Kingdom Strife, Divine Justice — March 29
2 Samuel 19-21
2 Samuel 19
1 And Joab was told, “Behold, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.” 365N 88.1
2 So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the people. For the people heard it said that day, “The king is grieved for his son.” 365N 88.2
3 And the people [a] stole back into the city that day, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle. 365N 88.3
4 But the king covered his face, and the king cried out with a loud voice, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!” 365N 88.4
5 Then Joab came into the house to the king, and said, “Today you have disgraced all your servants who today have saved your life, the lives of your sons and daughters, the lives of your wives and the lives of your concubines, 365N 88.5
6 in that you love your enemies and hate your friends. For you have declared today that you [b] regard neither princes nor servants; for today I perceive that if Absalom had lived and all of us had died today, then it would have pleased you well. 365N 88.6
7 Now therefore, arise, go out and speak [c] comfort to your servants. For I swear by the Lord , if you do not go out, not one will stay with you this night. And that will be worse for you than all the evil that has befallen you from your youth until now.” 365N 88.7
8 Then the king arose and sat in the gate. And they told all the people, saying, “There is the king, sitting in the gate.” So all the people came before the king. For everyone of Israel had fled to his tent. 365N 88.8
9 Now all the people were in a dispute throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “The king saved us from the hand of our enemies, he delivered us from the hand of the Philistines, and now he has fled from the land because of Absalom. 365N 88.9
10 But Absalom, whom we anointed over us, has died in battle. Now therefore, why do you say nothing about bringing back the king?” 365N 88.10
11 So King David sent to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, saying, “Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, ‘Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house, since the words of all Israel have come to the king, to his very house? 365N 88.11
12 You are my brethren, you are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the last to bring back the king?’ 365N 88.12
13 And say to Amasa, ‘ Are you not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if you are not commander of the army before me [d] continually in place of Joab.’ ” 365N 88.13
14 So he swayed the hearts of all the men of Judah, just as the heart of one man, so that they sent this word to the king: “Return, you and all your servants!” 365N 88.14
15 Then the king returned and came to the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to escort the king across the Jordan. 365N 88.15
16 And Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite, who was from Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David. 365N 88.16
17 There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went over the Jordan before the king. 365N 88.17
18 Then a ferryboat went across to carry over the king’s household, and to do what he thought good. Now Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king when he had crossed the Jordan. 365N 88.18
19 Then he said to the king, “Do not let my lord [e] impute iniquity to me, or remember what wrong your servant did on the day that my lord the king left Jerusalem, that the king should take it to heart. 365N 88.19
20 For I, your servant, know that I have sinned. Therefore here I am, the first to come today of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.” 365N 88.20
21 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, “Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the Lord ’s anointed?” 365N 88.21
22 And David said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should be adversaries to me today? Shall any man be put to death today in Israel? For do I not know that today I am king over Israel?” 365N 88.22
23 Therefore the king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king swore to him. 365N 88.23
24 Now Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king. And he had not cared for his feet, nor trimmed his mustache, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he returned in peace. 365N 88.24
25 So it was, when he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?” 365N 88.25
26 And he answered, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, ‘I will saddle a donkey for myself, that I may ride on it and go to the king,’ because your servant is lame. 365N 88.26
27 And he has slandered your servant to my lord the king, but my lord the king is like the angel of God. Therefore do what is good in your eyes. 365N 88.27
28 For all my father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king. Yet you set your servant among those who eat at your own table. Therefore what right have I still to [f] cry out anymore to the king?” 365N 88.28
29 So the king said to him, “Why do you speak anymore of your matters? I have said, ‘You and Ziba divide the land.’ ” 365N 88.29
30 Then Mephibosheth said to the king, “Rather, let him take it all, inasmuch as my lord the king has come back in peace to his own house.” 365N 88.30
31 And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim and went across the Jordan with the king, to escort him across the Jordan. 365N 88.31
32 Now Barzillai was a very aged man, eighty years old. And he had provided the king with supplies while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very rich man. 365N 88.32
33 And the king said to Barzillai, “Come across with me, and I will provide for you while you are with me in Jerusalem.” 365N 88.33
34 But Barzillai said to the king, “How long have I to live, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? 365N 88.34
35 I am today eighty years old. Can I discern between the good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear any longer the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be a further burden to my lord the king? 365N 88.35
36 Your servant will go a little way across the Jordan with the king. And why should the king repay me with such a reward? 365N 88.36
37 Please let your servant turn back again, that I may die in my own city, near the grave of my father and mother. But here is your servant Chimham; let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him what seems good to you.” 365N 88.37
38 And the king answered, “Chimham shall cross over with me, and I will do for him what seems good to you. Now whatever you request of me, I will do for you.” 365N 88.38
39 Then all the people went over the Jordan. And when the king had crossed over, the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and he returned to his own place. 365N 88.39
40 Now the king went on to Gilgal, and [g] Chimham went on with him. And all the people of Judah escorted the king, and also half the people of Israel. 365N 88.40
41 Just then all the men of Israel came to the king, and said to the king, “Why have our brethren, the men of Judah, stolen you away and brought the king, his household, and all David’s men with him across the Jordan?” 365N 88.41
42 So all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is a close relative of ours. Why then are you angry over this matter? Have we ever eaten at the king’s expense? Or has he given us any gift?” 365N 88.42
43 And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, “We have ten shares in the king; therefore we also have more right to David than you. Why then do you despise us—were we not the first to advise bringing back our king?” Yet the words of the men of Judah were [h] fiercer than the words of the men of Israel. 365N 88.43
2 Samuel 20
1 And there happened to be there a [a] rebel, whose name was Sheba the son of Bichri, a Benjamite. And he blew a trumpet, and said: “We have no share in David, Nor do we have inheritance in the son of Jesse; Every man to his tents, O Israel!” 365N 88.44
2 So every man of Israel deserted David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah, from the Jordan as far as Jerusalem, remained loyal to their king. 365N 88.45
3 Now David came to his house at Jerusalem. And the king took the ten women, his concubines whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in seclusion and supported them, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood. 365N 88.46
4 And the king said to Amasa, “Assemble the men of Judah for me within three days, and be present here yourself.” 365N 88.47
5 So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah. But he delayed longer than the set time which David had appointed him. 365N 88.48
6 And David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your lord’s servants and pursue him, lest he find for himself fortified cities, and escape us.” 365N 88.49
7 So Joab’s men, with the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and all the mighty men, went out after him. And they went out of Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. 365N 88.50
8 When they were at the large stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came before them. Now Joab was dressed in battle armor; on it was a belt with a sword fastened in its sheath at his hips; and as he was going forward, it fell out. 365N 88.51
9 Then Joab said to Amasa, “ Are you in health, my brother?” And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. 365N 88.52
10 But Amasa did not notice the sword that was in Joab’s hand. And he struck him with it in the stomach, and his entrails poured out on the ground; and he did not strike him again. Thus he died. Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri. 365N 88.53
11 Meanwhile one of Joab’s men stood near Amasa, and said, “Whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David—follow Joab!” 365N 88.54
12 But Amasa wallowed in his blood in the middle of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he moved Amasa from the highway to the field and threw a garment over him, when he saw that everyone who came upon him halted. 365N 88.55
13 When he was removed from the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. 365N 88.56
14 And he went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel and Beth Maachah and all the Berites. So they were gathered together and also went after [b] Sheba . 365N 88.57
15 Then they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth Maachah; and they cast up a siege mound against the city, and it stood by the rampart. And all the people who were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down. 365N 88.58
16 Then a wise woman cried out from the city, “Hear, hear! Please say to Joab, ‘Come nearby, that I may speak with you.’ ” 365N 88.59
17 When he had come near to her, the woman said, “ Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am. ” Then she said to him, “Hear the words of your maidservant.” And he answered, “I am listening.” 365N 88.60
18 So she spoke, saying, “They used to talk in former times, saying, ‘They shall surely seek guidance at Abel,’ and so they would end disputes. 365N 88.61
19 I am among the peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up the inheritance of the Lord ?” 365N 88.62
20 And Joab answered and said, “Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy! 365N 88.63
21 That is not so. But a man from the mountains of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has raised his hand against the king, against David. Deliver him only, and I will depart from the city.” So the woman said to Joab, “Watch, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.” 365N 88.64
22 Then the woman in her wisdom went to all the people. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. Then he blew a trumpet, and they withdrew from the city, every man to his tent. So Joab returned to the king at Jerusalem. 365N 88.65
23 And Joab was over all the army of Israel; Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; 365N 88.66
24 Adoram was in charge of revenue; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; 365N 88.67
25 Sheva was scribe; Zadok and Abiathar were the priests; 365N 88.68
26 and Ira the Jairite was [c] a chief minister under David. 365N 88.69
2 Samuel 21
1 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord . And the Lord answered, “ It is because of Saul and his [a] bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.” 365N 88.70
2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; the children of Israel had sworn protection to them, but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah. 365N 88.71
3 Therefore David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord ?” 365N 88.72
4 And the Gibeonites said to him, “We will have no silver or gold from Saul or from his house, nor shall you kill any man in Israel for us.” So he said, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.” 365N 88.73
5 Then they answered the king, “As for the man who consumed us and plotted against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the territories of Israel, 365N 88.74
6 let seven men of his descendants be delivered to us, and we will hang them before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord chose.” And the king said, “I will give them. ” 365N 88.75
7 But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the Lord ’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 365N 88.76
8 So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, and the five sons of [b] Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she [c] brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; 365N 88.77
9 and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the Lord . So they fell, all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. 365N 88.78
10 Now Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until the late rains poured on them from heaven. And she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night. 365N 88.79
11 And David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. 365N 88.80
12 Then David went and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, from the men of Jabesh Gilead who had stolen them from the street of [d] Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hung them up, after the Philistines had struck down Saul in Gilboa. 365N 88.81
13 So he brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there; and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged. 365N 88.82
14 They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the tomb of Kish his father. So they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God heeded the prayer for the land. 365N 88.83
15 When the Philistines were at war again with Israel, David and his servants with him went down and fought against the Philistines; and David grew faint. 365N 88.84
16 Then Ishbi-Benob, who was one of the sons of [e] the giant, the weight of whose bronze spear was three hundred shekels, who was bearing a new sword, thought he could kill David. 365N 88.85
17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “You shall go out no more with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.” 365N 88.86
18 Now it happened afterward that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbechai the Hushathite killed [f] Saph, who was one of the sons of [g] the giant. 365N 88.87
19 Again there was war at Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of [h] Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 365N 88.88
20 Yet again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also was born to [i] the giant. 365N 88.89
21 So when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of [j] Shimea, David’s brother, killed him. 365N 88.90
22 These four were born to [k] the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants. 365N 88.91