Daily Readings for July 18

Daily Readings for July 18
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2Samuel 2

1.It happened after this, that David inquired of Yahweh, saying, "Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?"

Yahweh said to him, "Go up."

David said, "Where shall I go up?"

He said, "To Hebron."

2.So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 3.David brought up his men who were with him, every man with his household. They lived in the cities of Hebron. 4.The men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. They told David, saying, "The men of Jabesh Gilead were those who buried Saul." 5.David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead, and said to them, "Blessed are you by Yahweh, that you have shown this kindness to your lord, even to Saul, and have buried him. 6.Now may Yahweh show loving kindness and truth to you. I also will reward you for this kindness, because you have done this thing. 7.Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant; for Saul your lord is dead, and also the house of Judah have anointed me king over them."

8.Now Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's army, had taken Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim; 9.and he made him king over Gilead, and over the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel. 10.Ishbosheth, Saul's son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. 11.The time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months. 12.Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. 13.Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out, and met them by the pool of Gibeon; and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. 14.Abner said to Joab, "Please let the young men arise and play before us!"

Joab said, "Let them arise!" 15.Then they arose and went over by number: twelve for Benjamin, and for Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. 16.They each caught his opponent by the head, and thrust his sword in his fellow's side; so they fell down together: therefore that place was called Helkath Hazzurim, which is in Gibeon. 17.The battle was very severe that day: and Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel, before the servants of David. 18.The three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel: and Asahel was as light of foot as a wild gazelle. 19.Asahel pursued after Abner; and in going he didn't turn to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. 20.Then Abner looked behind him, and said, "Is it you, Asahel?"

He answered, "It is I."

21.Abner said to him, "Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and grab one of the young men, and take his armor." But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. 22.Abner said again to Asahel, "Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then should I hold up my face to Joab your brother?" 23.However he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner with the back end of the spear struck him in the body, so that the spear came out behind him; and he fell down there, and died in the same place. It happened, that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died stood still. 24.But Joab and Abishai pursued after Abner: and the sun went down when they had come to the hill of Ammah, that lies before Giah by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon. 25.The children of Benjamin gathered themselves together after Abner, and became one band, and stood on the top of a hill. 26.Then Abner called to Joab, and said, "Shall the sword devour forever? Don't you know that it will be bitterness in the latter end? How long shall it be then, before you ask the people to return from following their brothers?"

27.Joab said, "As God² lives, if you had not spoken, surely then in the morning the people would have gone away, and not each followed his brother." 28.So Joab blew the trumpet; and all the people stood still, and pursued after Israel no more, neither fought they any more. 29.Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah; and they passed over the Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and came to Mahanaim. 30.Joab returned from following Abner: and when he had gathered all the people together, there lacked of David's servants nineteen men and Asahel. 31.But the servants of David had struck of Benjamin, and of Abner's men, so that three hundred sixty men died. 32.They took up Asahel, and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was in Bethlehem. Joab and his men went all night, and the day broke on them at Hebron.

Jeremiah 8

1.At that time, says Yahweh, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves; 2.and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung on the surface of the earth. 3.Death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them, says Yahweh of Armies. 4.Moreover you shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh: Shall men fall, and not rise up again? Shall one turn away, and not return? 5.Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. 6.I listened and heard, but they didn't speak aright: no man repents him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle. 7.Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times; and the turtledove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people don't know Yahweh's law. 8.How do you say, We are wise, and the law of Yahweh is with us? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely. 9.The wise men are disappointed, they are dismayed and taken: behold, they have rejected the word of Yahweh; and what kind of wisdom is in them? 10.Therefore will I give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall possess them: for everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest every one deals falsely. 11.They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 12.Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among those who fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says Yahweh. 13.I will utterly consume them, says Yahweh: no grapes shall be on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them. 14.Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there; for Yahweh our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against Yahweh. 15.We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay! 16.The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan: at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles; for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it; the city and those who dwell therein. 17.For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, says Yahweh. 18.Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! My heart is faint within me. 19.Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: isn't Yahweh in Zion? Isn't her King in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images, and with foreign vanities? 20.The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. 21.For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt: I mourn; dismay has taken hold on me. 22.Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? why then isn't the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Matthew 19

1.It happened when Jesus had finished these words, he departed from Galilee, and came into the borders of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2.Great multitudes followed him, and he healed them there. 3.Pharisees came to him, testing him, and saying, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?"

4.He answered, "Haven't you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female,[85] 5.and said, 'For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall join to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh?'[86] 6.So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don't let man tear apart."

7.They asked him, "Why then did Moses command us to give her a bill of divorce, and divorce her?"

8.He said to them, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so. 9.I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery."

10.His disciples said to him, "If this is the case of the man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry."

11.But he said to them, "Not all men can receive this saying, but those to whom it is given. 12.For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it."

13.Then little children were brought to him, that he should lay his hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. 14.But Jesus said, "Allow the little children, and don't forbid them to come to me; for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to ones like these." 15.He laid his hands on them, and departed from there.

16.Behold, one came to him and said, "Good teacher, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"

17.He said to him, "Why do you call me good?⁸⁷ No one is good but one, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."

18.He said to him, "Which ones?"

Jesus said, "'You shall not murder.' 'You shall not commit adultery.' 'You shall not steal.' 'You shall not offer false testimony.' 19.'Honor your father and mother.'[88] And, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"[89]

20.The young man said to him, "All these things I have observed from my youth. What do I still lack?"

21.Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." 22.But when the young man heard the saying, he went away sad, for he was one who had great possessions. 23.Jesus said to his disciples, "Most certainly I say to you, a rich man will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven with difficulty. 24.Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God."

25.When the disciples heard it, they were exceedingly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?"

26.Looking at them, Jesus said, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

27.Then Peter answered, "Behold, we have left everything, and followed you. What then will we have?"

28.Jesus said to them, "Most certainly I tell you that you who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on the throne of his glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29.Everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, will receive one hundred times, and will inherit eternal life. 30.But many will be last who are first; and first who are last.