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Bible Study Questions On the Life of King David Taken from Sermons by Pastor Scott Gilchrist Southwest Bible Church Portland, Oregon http://www.swbible.org

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Bible Study on the Life of King David

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Page 1: Life of King David

Bible Study Questions

On the Life of King David

Taken from Sermons

by

Pastor Scott Gilchrist

Southwest Bible Church

Portland, Oregon

http://www.swbible.org

Page 2: Life of King David

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Table of ContentsThe Ark of the Lord: II Samuel 6_____________________________________5

The House of the Lord: II Samuel 7:1-17_______________________________7

The House of the Lord, Part 2: II Samuel 7:8-17_________________________9

The Praise of the Lord: II Samuel 7:18-29_____________________________11

There is No God Besides You: II Samuel 7:22__________________________13

David’s Sin: 2 Samuel 11:1-27______________________________________15

David’s Sin Uncovered: II Samuel 12:1-13____________________________17

David’s Sin Forgiven: Psalm 51_____________________________________19

David’s Sin Forgiven, Part 2: Psalm 51_______________________________21

David’s Sin: Its Consequences: II Samuel 12:7-14______________________23

David’s Worship: II Samuel 22:1-7__________________________________25

David’s Worship, Part 2: Psalm 25__________________________________27

David’s Worship, Part 3: Psalm 139_________________________________28

David’s Worship, Part 4: Psalm 139_________________________________29

David’s Worship, Part 5: Psalm 139:17-24____________________________30

David’s Thanksgiving: Psalm 118___________________________________32

David’s Thanksgiving, Part 2: Psalm 18:19-29_________________________34

David’s Giving: 1 Chronicles 28 & 29_________________________________35

David’s End: I Chronicles 29:26-28__________________________________37

APENDIX_______________________________________________________39Genesis____________________________________________________________39Exodus_____________________________________________________________40Leviticus___________________________________________________________43Numbers___________________________________________________________44Deuteronomy_______________________________________________________451 Samuel___________________________________________________________452 Samuel___________________________________________________________501 Kings_____________________________________________________________631 Chronicles________________________________________________________642 Chronicles________________________________________________________69Ezra_______________________________________________________________70Job________________________________________________________________70Psalm______________________________________________________________70Proverbs___________________________________________________________83Isaiah______________________________________________________________84

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Jeremiah___________________________________________________________87Lamentations_______________________________________________________88Amos______________________________________________________________89Malachi____________________________________________________________89Matthew___________________________________________________________89Mark______________________________________________________________92Luke_______________________________________________________________92John_______________________________________________________________94Acts_______________________________________________________________97Romans____________________________________________________________981 Corinthians_______________________________________________________1042 Corinthians_______________________________________________________105Galatians__________________________________________________________107Ephesians_________________________________________________________107Philippians_________________________________________________________109Colossians_________________________________________________________1091 Thessalonians_____________________________________________________1101 Timothy_________________________________________________________1102 Timothy_________________________________________________________110Titus_____________________________________________________________111Hebrews__________________________________________________________112James____________________________________________________________1151 Peter___________________________________________________________1151 John____________________________________________________________117Revelation_________________________________________________________117

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The Ark of the Lord: II Samuel 6

The Lord has established David as King. In II Samuel chapters 6 and 7, over the next three weeks, we are going to look at The Ark of the Lord, The House of the Lord, and The Praise of the Lord. In chapter 6, there are two attempts to bring the Ark of the Lord to Jerusalem.

1. A. II Samuel 6 is between chapters 5 and 7. What is context of this text? II Samuel 7:1-2, 5:19-25

B. As you looked at the context in Chapter 5, whom did David rely on? What happened to the Philistine gods? II Samuel 5:19-25, Psalm 115:1-8

C. There is only one God. But aren’t we supposed to be pluralistic? I Corinthians 8:5-6, I Timothy 2:5

2. A. What is the Ark of the Lord? Exodus 25:10-22

B. What does the Ark signify? II Samuel 6:1-2

C. Webster’s dictionary defines “ark”, in one of its definitions, as “a place of refuge.” Is Christ your “Ark?” Exodus 25:21-22, Psalm 46:1, Colossians 1:13-15

3. A. How are we to approach God? Leviticus 10:1-3

B. What do we know about the presence of the Lord? Exodus 13:21-22, Leviticus 16:1-2, Numbers 9:15-16

C. How was the Ark to be handled? Numbers 4:4-6, 14-20

4. A. What had happened to the Ark prior to II Samuel 6? I Samuel 4:10-11, 5:2-4, 7, 6:2, 8, 19-20

B. What happens on this first try to move the Ark to Jerusalem? II Samuel 6:1-8

C. Do we forget the holiness of God and presume on His grace to us? II Samuel 6:9-11, Proverbs 9:10

5. Was it God’s intention in putting the Ark in the midst of Israel to start striking people dead? Does reverencing the holiness of God negate the joy of the Lord? Does spurning the Lord and despising the joy of the Lord have consequences? Do you live your Christian life in the joy of the Lord? John 3:16-17, 36, II Samuel 6:11-23, John 1:12-14, Hebrew 4:16, 12:1-3, 13:15

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The House of the Lord: II Samuel 7:1-17

Only God is holy and merciful. The more we understand His holiness, the more we understand His mercy and His grace. We have a stunted capacity to understand how merciful He is because we do not really understand how holy He really is.

1. A. We saw last week, the Ark of the Lord, His holiness. How can we understand His holiness? Psalm 29:1-2, 86:9, Isaiah 6:1-5, 57:15, 66:1-2, Revelation 4:8-11, 15:3-4

B. What defiled the Ark in II Samuel chapter 6? II Samuel 6:6-7

C. How did the Ark come into Jerusalem? II Samuel 6:12-15, 17-19

2. A. We skipped II Samuel 6:16 for a reason. What happens in verse 16 and verses 20-23?

B. How did David respond to how his wife Michal, referred to as “the daughter of Saul,” saw these events? II Samuel 6:21-22

C. Put this in context of our modern day worship. Are you concerned with style of worship, Michal’s camp, or before Whom you worship, David’s camp?

3. A. II Samuel chapter 7 begins with “the king” speaking to Nathan, the prophet. The text does not have to say it is David, as he was the greatest king of Israel. With Whom is David overshadowed with? Psalm 110:1, Matthew 22:41-46

B. Jesus hit on the real issue. Do you know Jesus, son of David, as the greatest man who ever lived and as Lord God almighty? John 1:1-18

C. David was a great man and king, yet still a man who sinned. He was cut from the same piece of cloth as us. Who is the only One who is pure? Matthew 19:17, John 8:46

4. A. Describe the scene in II Samuel 7:1-3. What does David want to do and what does Nathan think about it?

B. What did the Lord have to say about this? II Samuel 7:4-11

C. Where does God dwell today? I Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:16-20, Ephesians 2:19-22, I Peter 2:4-5 Revelation 21:3

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There is more to say so expect part 2. Look ahead with the emphasis on the Lord. Enjoy eternal life right now and bank on His work that will see you through. II Samuel 6:12-17, Romans 8:38-39, Philippians 1:6, I John 5:13

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The House of the Lord, Part 2: II Samuel 7:8-17

Summary: As we walk through our series on the ark, the house, and the praise of the Lord, we have seen the holiness of God and our Messiah Jesus in the Scriptures of David. Today we consider further the sovereign invincibility of God. Who builds a house for whom? How does God prepare us for usefulness? As we examine the anchored certainty of His Davidic covenant, we discover the riches of His grace which overpowers our sin.

1. A. David was a man who humbled himself before God, and chose the fear of the Lord. How is his reverence for God manifested in II Samuel 7:1-3?

B. While his motive to honor God more than himself was stellar, how does God respond? II Samuel 7:4-5, 7:11

C. God would not allow David to build a permanent house for Him. Instead, God was to build a house for David. And oh, my, what a house! It’s not about what we can do for God; it’s all about what God does for us. What do we have to offer God? Jeremiah 13:23, Romans 8:6-8, Ephesians 2:1-3

What does God offer to us? Romans 5:8-11, 11:33-36, Hebrews 2:14-18, Revelation 21:1-4

2. A. What did David follow in his early days, and how did God prepare him for monumental leadership, even as king of Israel? II Samuel 7:8-9, I Samuel 22:1-2, 23:1-15

B. In what fashion did God prepare Joseph for his defining moment? What about Moses; what graduate school did he attend? Genesis 37:1-2, 39:19-23, Exodus 2:15-3:11, 7:6-7

C. Animals. Sheep dung. Dirt. Weariness in cold days and hot dusty days. Adversity, hatred, conflict, contempt and the feeling it will never end. Do you struggle with hard work that seems tedious and pointless? So did they. But God was preparing them for something beyond their wildest dreams. Sometimes our “seminary” is the school of hard knocks. But that’s OK, because God is not looking for significance, just faithfulness. Can He use you? Isaiah 6:1-8

3. A. In the famous Davidic Covenant, what exactly does God promise to King David? II Samuel 7:9-17).

B. How long is this promise to last, and the promise God made to Abraham as

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well? On whom do we depend regarding the fulfillment of God’s promises? Lamentations 3:21-25, Malachi 3:6, Romans 4:17-21, Hebrews 6:13-20, Revelation 22:16

C. All blessing comes from Jesus THE Son of David, who is good, sovereign, compassionate and faithful. What a joy to lean heavily upon Him! Psalm 37:3-7

4. A. How does God identify Himself as related to Solomon in II Samuel 7:14?

B. Notice He does not say, “If he commits iniquity” but WHEN. How does our sin as God’s children affect His faithfulness to us? II Samuel 7:15-16, Hebrews 12:5-11

C. Again, walking in His grace, it does NOT depend on us. His love, His favor upon us is not performance oriented. Fortunately for us, it is based upon His unchangeable character. Should not the love of Christ control us constantly and completely? Romans 2:4, 8:1-4, II Corinthians 5:9-15, I John 1:8-2:1

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The Praise of the Lord: II Samuel 7:18-29

Summary: David, being disturbed that his house of cedar was better than the tent of the Lord, had just been told that God would build a house for him; a kingdom which would never end. David’s response in prayer is a remarkable demonstration of praise, as he expresses personal humility, reverence for God and solid faith in His Word.

1. A. How does David begin his prayer to the Lord and what does this tell us about him? II Samuel 7:18

B. David was in a tremendous position of success, firmly established as king of Israel, and yet he knew it was God who did it all. He was not puffed up from all of his accomplishments. Why? II Samuel 7:19-21, Psalm 23, 25:4-22, Romans 9:16

C. No matter how far God has brought you, do you approach Him with humility? The world is busy making man great and making God small. But the reverse is the actual state of affairs. Really, when we humble ourselves, that is where we truly belong, is it not? Especially compared to His greatness, and the sovereignty of His grace, who are we? Chronicles 29:11-14, John 15:4-5, Romans 5:6-10, Ephesians 2:1-5, Titus 3:3-7

2. A. Something about God consumed the heart of David as he prayed. What was it? II Samuel 7:22

B. What were the mighty works of God from David’s perspective? He redeems His people for whom, and what does that mean? How is that still the case today? II Samuel 7:23-24, I Corinthians 6:19-20, II Corinthians 5:15, II Timothy 1:9, I Peter 2:24

C. Do you have a desire to perk up your own adoration and reverence before God? Why not invest real time to be occupied with the riches of His grace? Should we not be consumed with God’s greatness and might, as David was? Should we not feed on the LORD Jesus Christ who reigns supreme in majesty and righteousness? Psalm 90:1-12, 119:38, 145:1-13, Isaiah 45:18-25, Philippians 2:9-11, Revelation 1:8-18

3. A. What does David request according to II Samuel 7:25?

B. David requested that God confirm His promise for what purpose? As a result, this in turn multiplied the confidence of David how? II Samuel 7:26-29

C. Do you want more boldness in your prayers? How can we go wrong if we pray

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the Scriptures? But in addition to this, David was developing a greater mindset of faith, of invincible grace. And so can we, as we pursue the glory of Christ and feed upon His unshakable promises. Psalm 37:3-6, II Timothy 1:12, Hebrews 6:16-20, 11:1

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There is No God Besides You: II Samuel 7:22

God says through Isaiah, “Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.” Are we listening? “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” In II Samuel 7, in David’s prayer, we centered on three phases: “Who am I,” “You are great,” and “do as You have spoken.” Now focus on “You are great, O Lord God; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You.”

1. A. What is the scene or context of David’s prayer in II Samuel 7? II Samuel 7:1-5, 17-18

B. When the King and the Prophet of God get together and the King listens to the Prophet, it is a good thing. The account of one of these times is recorded for us in three different places in the Bible. In preparation to looking closer at this event, to whom would you liken God? II Samuel 7:22, Exodus 20:1-4, 7, Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Mark 12:28-31; John 14:6

C. Why do we need to hear this? I Kings 2:45b-3:1a, 11:1-6

2. A. We will look first at the application and then the doctrine. How like today is this account? How did the king of Assyria consider the LORD? II Chronicles 31:20-32:1, 32:6-19

B. This attack on the LORD ends with, “And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of men’s hands.” What did Hezekiah and Isaiah do in response? What did God do in response? II Chronicles 32:20-21, Isaiah 37:14-20

3. A. Examine the doctrine behind this application. To whom will you turn? Isaiah 45:22, Matthew 11:28

B. Look closer at Isaiah 45:22. Who is to turn to the LORD? Who needs to hear this? Acts 17:22-23, 30-31

4. A. “For I am God, and there is no other.” What is the context for this doctrinal statement? How does God, the LORD, want to be know? Isaiah 45:18-19, 40:21-26

B. What folly had the world always fallen into? Deuteronomy 32:15-18, Isaiah 45:20, 40:18-20, I Samuel 5:1-4; Psalm 115:1-8, 135:15-18, I Corinthians 10:19-20

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C. What is God’s response to man’s folly? Isaiah 45:21-24, Acts 4:8-12, Philippians 2:5-11

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David’s Sin: 2 Samuel 11:1-27

Summary: With the kingdom of David having been established in remarkable victory, David had risen to glorious success crowned with comfort, ease and prosperity. It was here that David was captured by lust when facing temptation. Great power corrupts greatly. The hypocrisy, the hardening and the rationalism could not cover up the severity of his sin. And yet, where sin abounds, the grace of Christ much more abounds. All of us are helpless sinners, but we can be forgiven and transformed by the blood of Christ.

1. a. For the sake of context, describe what things were like for David at this stage of his life. (2Sam. 8:1-10, 8:13-15, 10:17-19).

b. What happened to David the mighty conqueror? (2Sam. 11:1-5).

c. David who conquered so many was himself captured by lust. But before we point the finger, what about us? Is not accomplishment and success sometimes our own worst enemy for the cause of Christ? How might we address this “human element” that we so often face? (James 1:13-16, Psalm 119:9-11, Proverbs 3:5-7, John 15:4-5, 1Corinthians 10:12-13).

2. a. In comparison, let’s consider Joseph. How did he handle temptation when faced with it “day after day?” (Genesis 39:1-12).

b. What do you think gave Joseph the victory when faced with such temptation? What was the focus of his life affecting his decisions? (Gen. 39:9).

c. Consider the difference. David “saw…sent… and took,” having been focused on the flesh. But Joseph saw, thought and “fled,” being focused on the greatness of God. How can we learn from this? (Psalm 90:1-12, Romans 12:1-3, 1Cor. 6:18-20).

3. a. How does David attempt to cover up the sin of his adultery? (2Sam. 11:6-8).

b. What quality of a man was Uriah, and how did David treat him? Why? (2Sam. 11:9-17).

c. Uriah was a capable, valiant soldier of sacrificial commitment to his task and to David. His selfless diligence should have broken the heart of David, but instead David’s heart was hardened enough to have him killed. How ugly was the hypocrisy of David’s cover up! And yet, is there hypocrisy in your life? Are you hardened by sin?

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4. a. How does David rationalize his murder of a great man? (2Sam. 11:18-25).

b. David appears to get away with his sin. How do we know this was not the case? (2Sam. 11:26-27).

c. What has God provided for us, as sinners? (Psalm 130:3-4, Rom. 5:8, 8:1-4).

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David’s Sin Uncovered: II Samuel 12:1-13

Summary: Justification with God by grace through faith; that is what the confrontation and repentance of David is all about. David had committed adultery and murder and in vain tried to cover it up. The picturesque yet piercing conviction of God through Nathan resulted in repentance for David, but it was not the repentance that saved him. It was the mercy of God alone that saved David, just like it is for us today.

1. A. Is there a place for boasting of self effort for Christians? Romans 3:26-28

B. Please explain the contrast between earning your way to God and trusting in Christ for salvation. Romans 4:4-5, Ephesians 2:8-9, Revelation 20:11-15, Revelation 21:1-7

C. As the apostle Paul quoted from David, how are we blessed as Believers who trust in the finished work of Christ? Romans 4:6-8

2. A. It wasn’t always this way for David. During the comfort and prestige of his success, what was David’s downfall? II Samuel 11:1-5, 14-17, 25-27

B. Consumed with lust instead of being consumed with God, David saw, sent and then took another man’s wife. To cover up, he then had the husband murdered. What was really going on? James 1:13-16, I Peter 2:11, Revelation 2:4

C. Mark it; cover up of sin never works. How was this a severe problem for David, and can be for us as well? Psalm 32:3-4, Proverbs 6:27-29

3. A. What was the word picture that Nathan the prophet gave to David, and why would this connect directly into his heart? II Sam. 12:1-4, 7:8, Psalm 23:1

B. In what fashion then does David respond? II Sam. 12:5-6

C. David was hot as spewing lava over the sin of this other man, but what about his own? Do we not do the same? How well we see every one else’s sin except our own! Does this not apply to the “smaller” sins, too? What about loving the world and all that is in the world? And our own lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and boastful pride of life? Our own selfishness, unbelief, self will, envy, greed, unforgiveness, dishonesty, gossip, laziness, hypocrisy, self-importance and thankless discontent; should we not address these before God? Ephesians 4:25-32, I John 1:8-10, 2:15-17

4. A. As the conviction turns personal for David, what points does God make through Nathan? II Samuel 12:7-12

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B. Describe David’s repentance and the mercy of God on him. II Samuel 12:13

C. Do you confess your sins to God, trusting in His mercy on your behalf? Psalm 51:1-4, 7-17, 103:8-12, Isaiah 53:5-12, Romans 5:8, I Peter 2:24

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David’s Sin Forgiven: Psalm 51

There is a real danger to sin. There is a need for real confession of sin. There are real consequences for sin. Real confession is vital to walking with God. David’s confession of sin was heart felt and mind engaged. As a backdrop to Psalm 51, read I John 1:7-2:2.

1. A. What happened to David’s sin? II Samuel 12:13

B. What is David’s reaction to forgiveness of sin? Psalm 32:1-2, Romans 4:7-8

2. A. Psalm 51 is “A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” How did David get the point of writing Psalm 51? II Samuel 11:4, 14-15

B. When a believer sins, either we will deny it, rationalize, and/or ignore it, or we will confess it. David had experience at both reactions. Psalm 32:1-5

C. What was the difference between David, the adulterer and murderer, and David, the broken hearted? II Samuel 12:1, 9, 13

3. A. We are not saved from our sin by the depth or eloquence or thoroughness of our confession; we are saved from our sin because another died in our place. Note the simplicity of David’s confession in II Samuel 12:13. What is real, true confession of sin? (In I John 1:9, the word confess is homologeo meaning of one mind; to speak the same, to agree.) Psalm 51:1-5, I John 1:8-10

B. What does David cry for? Psalm 51:1-2, Luke 18:13

What is it about God that David cries to? Psalm 51:1-2, Luke 15:20-21

What did David ask for in Psalm 51:2? Jeremiah 2:22

Who do we ultimately sin against? Genesis 39:7-9, Psalm 51:4

4. A. What is sin called in Psalm 51:1-4? What else can you say about sin from these verses?

B. As a believer or unbeliever, is your sin “ever before” you? Is there any excuse for un-confessed sin? Psalm 51:4, 17, Romans 3:4

5. A. Who are we by nature? Genesis 4:7, Psalm 51:5, I Timothy 1:15

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B. What is David’s plea? Psalm 51:6-7

C. What does God desire and who provides it? Psalm 51:6-7, 17, Isaiah 1:18, Hebrews 10:19-22, I John 1:7-2:2

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David’s Sin Forgiven, Part 2: Psalm 51

Summary: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing.” David knew this and prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51 is a co-mingling of brokenness and joy. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” He said this on the eve of the cross.

1. A. Read the summary above and then read Psalm 51 and Matthew 5:1-4. What do these verses remind us to always keep in mind?

B. What is the gateway to joy for the believer? Psalm 51:3-5, Matthew 5:3, John 1:29

C. Luther called Psalm 32, 51, 130, and 143 “Pauline” Psalms. Think how these words from the word of God have impacted men and women over time. Psalm 32:1-2, 51:1-4, 130:1-3, 143:1-2, Romans 3:1-4, 4:4-8

2. A. What was David’s confession of sin like when he was confronted with his sin? How simple is the Gospel of Jesus Christ? II Samuel 12:13, Romans 10:13

B. Psalm 51 allows us to take a closer look, zoom in, if you will, on David’s heart and thus the heart of God. What have we already seen in Psalm 51? What is the heart of confession? Psalm 51:1-5

What is David’s plea in the next few verses? On what is this plea based? Psalm 51:6-12, Acts 20:28, Ephesians 1:7, 2:13, Colossians 1:20, Hebrews 9:11-14, I Peter 1:18-19, Revelation 1:5

C. What are the results of David’s plea? Psalm 51:8, 12, Romans 8:1

3. A. We were exhorted last week to keep short accounts with God, confessing our sins regularly. What is real confession like? Psalm 51:1-14

B. The same sins may crop back up in your life repeatedly. It may be that, as you draw closer to Him, He reveals the depth of your sin more fully. What is David’s plea? Psalm 51:10, Romans 7:18-25

C. Salvation and sanctification is not God patching us up. What is it? II Corinthians 5:17

4. A. Part of David’s plea is Psalm 51:11. We need to pay attention to what this

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verse is saying and not saying

1) There is a difference in the Holy Spirit’s ministry in the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the New Testament we read, “that He may be with you forever.” John 7:37-39, 14:16-18, 16:7

2) In the Old Testament we read, “Now the Spirit of the LORD departed.” I Samuel 16:11-14, Psalm 51:11

3) When the Holy Spirit indwells you, He will not leave you. When we sin and lie about it and get ourselves in the kind of mess that David was in, we will not experience the presence of the Holy Spirit in assuring us of our salvation. Ephesians 4:30

B. We are exhorted to not glibly regard sin as being covered by the blood of the lamb. Remember the Holy Spirit’s ministry then and now. Psalm 51:12, John 16:8-11, I Corinthians 11:23-29

C. In light of his confession and plea, what is David’s resolve in Psalm 51:13? (One beggar telling another beggar where to find food)

What did David’s joy in Psalm 51:12-13 lead to? Is it like this for you? Psalm 51:14-15, Acts 4:29-31

What pleases God in Psalm 51:16-17? Psalm 34:18, Matthew 5:3-4

These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. John 15:11

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David’s Sin: Its Consequences: II Samuel 12:7-14

Summary: When David confessed his sins, God was faithful and righteous to forgive him of his sins. But the consequences were still very severe. The enemies of God now had a new reason to blaspheme. The innocent suffer. Sin multiplied in David’s family as they became enslaved to lust. The violence of the sword followed him for the rest of his life. He suffered public humiliation and weak parenting skills from a guilty conscience. And many others were led astray as they responded to his bad example. These are all sobering reasons for us to “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

1. A. What did David do in spite of God’s goodness to him? How did David respond when confronted by Nathan the prophet? II Samuel 12:7-13

B. The Lord took away David’s sin upon his confession. How was David justified even before God? Psalm 32:5, 51:1-2, 51:7-10, Isaiah 53:5-6, I John 1:8-9

C. Is it not the very same for us today? Romans 8:1-4, II Corinthians 5:21

2. A. What was the first consequence mentioned in II Samuel 12:14a?

B. It’s no secret that the world is looking for dirt from God’s people. What must we do in order to hate sin and cling to what is good, so they don’t have an occasion to blaspheme our God? Psalm 97:10, Proverbs 8:13, Romans 12:9, II Corinthians 6:16-7:1

3. A. What was the second consequence given in II Samuel 12:14b?

B. Sadly, God is often blamed when the innocent suffer. But suffering is really caused by our sin, not by any injustice with God. By what frame of reference would this be the case? Leviticus 10:1-3, Psalm 51:3-4, Revelation 4:8

4. A. What cause and effect warning do we find in II Samuel 12:9 and 11?

B. Sexual sin was multiplied in David’s family because of his example (II Samuel 13:1 and 14-16, I Kings 11:1-3). Parents, what is your example like? Is it loving God more than anything, out of a pure heart? Proverbs 4:23, John 15:9-11, Titus 2:11-14

5. A. What other example of David would come back to haunt him? II Samuel 12:10

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B. David enjoyed one night of passion but paid for it with a life time of violence. It’s not worth it, is it? II Samuel 12:9-10, Galatians 6:7

6. David suffered consequences of public humiliation as well as weak parenting skills because of a guilty conscience (II Samuel 12:11-12, 13:19-22, 28-29, 37-39). How much better for us to humble ourselves before God and turn away from evil (Proverbs 3:7).

7. Will you apply yourself to be strong in the grace of Christ Jesus? II Timothy 2:1-10

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David’s Worship: II Samuel 22:1-7

Summary: David’s songwriting had staying power, having been enjoyed by millions now for some 3,000 years. What counts in life is who you worship. David was personally overwhelmed by the praise worthiness of God, and he celebrated the mighty works of God accordingly, both as his Creator and as his Savior.

1. A. Why was David overwhelmed with the praise worthiness of God? What kind of trouble was David in and how did the Lord rescue him? II Samuel 22:1-4

B. What do you think such help from God did for David’s confidence, as well as his peace of mind? Psalm 23, 27:1-6, 138:1-3

C. David’s praise was “to the Lord” and because of the Lord, and rightly so. But look what his focus on the praise worthiness of God did for his faith! That should be the case for us as well, should it not? Are you personally moved by the worthiness of God to be praised? How does that strengthen your faith? Psalm 103:1-14, 145:1-7, Romans 5:8-11, 8:28-38

2. A. Describe how David celebrated the mighty works of God. II Samuel 6:15, I Chronicles 15:14-16, 15:25-28

B. Let’s take a closer look. What role did consecration and obedience to the Lord have in their joyful celebration? I Chronicles 15:1-2, 15:12-16

C. That commitment and consecration of themselves for obedience to God made all the difference in receiving God’s blessing, and the joy and festivity that came with it. David may have learned from his mistakes, but he also learned much from his obedience. What were some of those, which we too can savor and enjoy? I Chronicles 29:10-13, Psalm 145:8-21

3. A. We saw how David worshiped and praised God as his rescuer; as his Savior. What else motivates us to praising our God? Genesis 1:1, Revelation 4:11

B. What does man worship if he rejects God? Romans 1:18-25

C. What is our pleasure, the delight of our very soul, when we belong to Christ? Revelation 5:8-14

4. A. The worship of David was loved and used throughout history. In what fashion did Jesus Himself make use of David’s worship? II Samuel 22:50, Romans 15:8-9

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B. What did Jesus quote from David, even while He hung on the cross for our sins? Psalm 31:5, Luke 23:46

C. What is the result of Jesus’ death and resurrection for all of us? Philippians 2:5-11

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David’s Worship, Part 2: Psalm 25

David was a worshiper and he was overwhelmed with the praiseworthiness of God. But this does not preclude suffering, trouble and distress in David’s life. His life was like ours. Be sure that David knows plenty about suffering but it did not keep him from worshiping while waiting for the Lord.

1. Read Psalm 25 and reflect on what the summary says. What was David feeling like? Psalm 25:16-19

2. A. To whom was David placing his trust? What does he ask for? What was the results of his trust? Psalm 25:1-3

B. What is the truth presented in verse 3? Psalm 25:3, 5, 21

C. What are the results of waiting for the Lord? Isaiah 40:27-31

3. A. We need to learn to worship in times of trouble while we wait for the Lord. God is honored when we wait for Lord. What does it mean to wait on the Lord? Psalm 25:1-2, 20, Matthew 11:28-30, Proverbs 3:5-6, Hebrews 12:1-2

B. Put all your eggs in one basket. Good advise when it comes to the trusting in the Lord. Trusting in Him has results. What truths support the results of trusting in Jesus? Psalm 25:3, 10, 12-15

C. What can be said about our Lord Jesus Christ in Whom are we trusting in? I Peter 2:23, Philippians 2:8

4. David was a man who waited and Saul did not wait. What do you see in the following scenes from their lives? I Samuel 26:6-10, 13:1, 5-14

5. A. Psalm 25 is an acrostic of the alphabet. David had to work at this writing this psalm. Praise need not be spontaneous. Psalm 25 is prayer interspersed with answers or God’s perspective and truth. Read the Psalm again with this in mind and point out the prayer and the answers or God’s perspective and truth.

B. Where do we turn when we do not know where to turn? Psalm 25:4-5, II Chronicles 20:12, Psalm 25:11, 18, I John 1:9, Psalm 25:6, 15-22, Psalm 145:17-21

C. What can you count on, day by day and moment by moment? Psalm 22:5, Romans 10:11

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David’s Worship, Part 3: Psalm 139

David knew the LORD. Because David knew the LORD, his worship was genuine, it was real, it is contagious, it is inspired, and he was overwhelmed with the worthiness of the LORD. Psalm 139 is “For the choir director. A Psalm of David.”

1. A. Read Psalm 139. How would you define David’s worship based on this Psalm? What was David overwhelmed with?

B. Who is the LORD, or what is He like, based on this Psalm?

C. How does David respond to who God is, what the LORD is like, and the fact that the LORD knows him?

2. A. We can and should think about God. We should think about God in response to His revelation, the Bible. We want to think God’s thoughts. Everything we learn about the LORD in this Psalm is embodied in Jesus Christ. What attributes of God do you find in verses 1-6, 7-12, and 13-16?

B. Its personal! Read verses 1-16 again and emphasis the “I”, “me”, “my.” John 14:1-3

C. What should our response be to the God who knows us so? II Corinthians 5:15

3. A. “I am the LORD (Yhvh) your God (Elohim)” appears 40 times in the Old Testament. Take note of these references to the “Lord” and “God” here in Psalm 139. Psalm 139:1, 4, 17, 19, 21, 23

B. Most of the Psalms are directed vertically to God and horizontally to men. Read Psalm 23 for an example of this. Is it that way with Psalm 139?

4. A. Look closely at verses 1-6 of Psalm 139. What truth do you find in these verses? Psalm 1:6, Psalm 44:20-21, Psalm 56:8, Jeremiah 17:9-10, John 21:17, Matthew 9:1-5, Deuteronomy 33:26-27, Isaiah 9:6, 55:9

B. David knew the Lord for who He really is. How should we respond our God that knows us so completely? Psalm 51:17, Psalm 139:6, Psalm 139:23-24

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David’s Worship, Part 4: Psalm 139

Summary: From the pen of David we learn of the omniscience, the omnipresence and the creative power of God. This was deeply personal for David, as it is for us. Not being able to escape from God can be terrifying or comforting, depending on our relationship with Him. God is not limited by darkness and He protects us from it. It is God who forms us and weaves us in the womb; an arresting statement of life at conception and the sanctity of human life. We should be thankful and worship God accordingly.

1. A. How does David identify God in verses 1-6? What is He like?

B. In what fashion was this deeply personal for David? Psalm 23

C. How is the caring omniscience of God deeply personal for us today? Job 22:23-26, Psalm 37:3-6, 103:8-14, Proverbs 3:5-8, Isaiah 33:6

2. A. What is the question in Psalm 139:7? What does it mean?

B. Not being able to run from God can be very sobering. How so? Psalm 139:8, 89:32, Amos 9:1-4, Revelation 20:11-15

C. God is justified, indeed “blameless” when we are punished for our sins (Psalm 51:4). What action has God taken in order to rescue us from this? Isaiah 53:5-6, Romans 5:8, 10:6-10, I Peter 3:18

3. A. What did the omnipresence of God mean for David and how would that comfort him? Psalm 139:9-10

B. If the darkness of night could not limit God, how would this be encouraging for David? Psalm 139:11-12

C. We have a God who overcomes all darkness, and He empowers us to be victorious in our time of darkness. Does that encourage you? Romans 8:31-39, Philippians 2:12-15, I John 1:5-9

4. A. Who made David before he was born, and what did that mean to him? Psalm 139:13-14

B. David was clearly “made in secret…skillfully” by the hand of God. What else does God have control over even before we are born? Psalm 139:15-16

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C. What is a good perspective for us to live by in this regard? Psalm 90:1-17

David’s Worship, Part 5: Psalm 139:17-24

Summary: David’s nearness to God is profoundly expressed in this poetry of Scripture. But so is his sense of God’s holy justice. Even in his worship, David gives place for righteous anger, even hatred as he pours out his heart to God whom he loves. No sugar coating the facts with David; he gives us a wonderful picture of one who worships God in Spirit and in truth, an example God intends for us to follow.

1. A. To examine Psalm 139:17-18 we will read the chapter for context. What kind of psalm is this? What one phrase describes what really matters to David here?

B. When David prays, “When I awake, I am still with Thee,” does he mean in this life or the next life? Why? Psalm 3:3-5, 16:7-11, 17:15, 49:15, 63:6-8

C. Asaph in Psalm 73:25 & 28 said it another way, “Besides Thee, I desire nothing on earth…as for me the nearness of God is my good…” Is this true enough for you, so that you give the Lord solid, non-distracted time alone with Him on a regular basis? David did. No Twitter, no Face Book, no cell phone or regular phone or radio or MP3 or texting or driving or anything else that imposes on God. Does anyone deserve our undivided attention more than Him? Psalm 119:38

2. A. Remembering that the Psalms are poetic literature, in what fashion does David express the frustrations of his heart regarding the violent injustice of the ungodly? Psalm 139:19-22

B. Who else poured out his heart in the midst of his adversities and depression? Why? Jeremiah 20:7-18

C. The message of Jeremiah was not “good news!” It was from God, but it was all hard for him; about judgment and punishment for the sins of God’s people. He lived through the warfare of the Babylonians and the exile of his people in 586 BC. Do you endure pain in your life? Should we not pour out our hearts to God as they did? 1 Peter 5:6-7

3. A. God is a God of justice, and because of our sin, the wrath and judgment of God are major themes. What do Psalm 89:30-32 and 90:7-11 have in common?

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B. In Psalm 89:14 we find that “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Thy throne.” Why would this be the case? Isaiah 6:1-3, Hebrew 7:26, Revelation 4:8

C. We Christians are sometimes lukewarm, self important and clueless regarding what we have in Jesus so that the Gospel itself is compromised. How good can the Good News be if we don’t understand what we really deserve? Along with the Scriptures about love and heaven, what else must we share with others regarding the Gospel? Isaiah 53:5-6, John 3:36, Acts 17:30-31, Romans 1:18, 3:10-20, 5:8-9, II Corinthians 5:15, 21

4. A. How would you describe the worship contained in the Song of Moses? Exodus 15: 1-13

B. Is there a place for suffering and death of the wicked even in worship? What is God worshiped for besides love, love, love? Revelation 15:1-8, 19:1-6

C. There is so much more to worship God for than what favors us. How about “salvation and glory and power?” “Because His judgments are true and righteous.” Is that not what authentic worship is, releasing your heart to exalt God for who He really is, and not what we want Him to be? Psalm 145:5-13, John 4:23-24

5. A. How did David feel about his enemies in this prayer of worship? Why? Psalm 139:19-22).

B. David was careful not to presume and take matters of justice into his own hands. What are some examples of self control and trusting in God in this regard? I Samuel 24:10-12, II Samuel 16:5-13

C. How does God want us to handle our enemies? Psalm 139:23-24, Matthew 4:19, Luke 6:27-35, Romans. 2:4

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David’s Thanksgiving: Psalm 118

The theme of Psalm 118 is “For His loving-kindness is everlasting,” and we are exhorted to “Give thanks to the Lord.” This song (psalm) of ascent was sung as pilgrims, the Jews, gathered at Jerusalem. Prepare to study this psalm by reading it aloud and read the responsive parts together.

1. A. Read Psalm 118:1-4. Is this section vertical, addressed to God, or horizontal, addressed to men?

B. When Christians are spirit filled, how will they speak to one another and respond to God? Ephesians 5:18-20, Colossians 3:16-17

C. We are exhorted to give thanks. How might men, the spiritual leaders of their families, apply this exhortation in leadership on Thanksgiving Day? Luke 21:33, Romans 1:16, 8:28, I Thessalonians 5:16-18

2. A. Why are we to give thanks? Psalm 118:1

B. The Bible repeats itself and we should take note of it when it does. What is being celebrated? Psalm 106:1, 107:1

C. Who is good or does good? Psalm 14:1-3, 53:1-3, Mark 10:17-18, Romans 3:9-12, 7:18, II Chronicles 7:1-3, Ezra 3:10-11

3. A. Who did David want to know “His loving-kindness is everlasting?” Psalm 118:2-4, 115:9-11

B. If you trust the Lord, you will give thanks. Did David trust in the Lord? Are you trusting in Him? Psalm 118:5-9, 56:3-4, Romans 8:31

C. Look again at verse 8 of Psalm 118. We either trust in the Lord, or we trust in man (ourselves). Could you find a more central verse to the message of the Scripture? If you counted the verses in the Bible and found the center, this is it. Have you taken “refuge in the Lord?”

4. A. David gives thanks in verses 19-21 of Psalm 118. How are these verses a framework for giving thanks?

B. What kind of gate is entered and who enters it? Psalm 118:19-20, Matthew 7:13-14, John 10:7-9, Hebrews 10:19-20, I John 1:7

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C. Notice in Psalm 118:19-21 the act of will on David’s part. Will you “give thanks to the Lord” this week?

5. A. What takes place in Matthew 26:30 and what is the scene?

B. Psalm 118 is most likely the last song Jesus sang. Stop and think what it meant to Him to sing verses 22-27.

C. In light of what God has done for you, can you say personally Psalm 118:28-29?

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David’s Thanksgiving, Part 2: Psalm 18:19-29

All thanksgiving is ultimately because of THE deliverance when the people shouted, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”

1. A. What is the theme of Psalm 118? Psalm 118:1-4, 29

B. Is “Thanksgiving” a day on the calendar or something more? Psalm 105:1-7, Matthew 26:26-30

C. David spent much of his career hounded and harassed and in humility. In this series, “Scenes from David’s Life,” we began at a key point in David’s life. Was thanksgiving involved? I Chronicles 16:1-4, 29-36

2. A. As an overview, read our text for this week, Psalm 118:19-29. Remember, David has come to offer sacrifice to the LORD. Do you see THE ultimate sacrifice in this text?

B. Read versed 19-21 again. Who is the gate of the Lord? Matthew 7:13-14, John 10:7-9, John 14:6, Hebrews 6:19-20

C. Make no mistake Who to give thanks to and cultivate practicing verse 19. Read Hebrews 6.19-21 again. Does this get personal? Is thanksgiving personal for you?

3. A. Why did David give thanks? Psalm 118:5-7, 13-14, 21

B. What does God want you to do and what does He want to do? Psalm 118:8-9, 15-18, Romans 8:28, 31, Hebrews 13:5-6

C. What had the LORD become to David? Who has He ultimately become to you? Psalm 118:21, 25-26, Matthew 21:9, 33-42, Mark 11:9, Luke 19:37-40, John 12:12-13

4. A. God has pre-written history. How does this fact play itself out in our lives? Psalm 118:21-23, Acts 4:8-12

B. What is the bottom line in your life, the basis for your thanksgiving? Psalm 118:24, Galatians 6:14, I Peter 1:3, 2:24

C. What is the ultimate sacrifice and what is our response? Psalm 118:27-29,

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Isaiah 53:3, 10, Matthew 27:46, Luke 22:42, 23:46, Galatians 3:13, Colossians 1:13, Hebrews 10:19-25, I John 4:9

David’s Giving: 1 Chronicles 28 & 29

Summary: David was a fine leader by example in many ways, especially in his giving. Because his giving was out of reverence for God and humility of self, he held nothing back so that his giving spirit became contagious. Even though God is really the builder, He uses us just like David, in the accomplishment of building His kingdom.

1. A. What building project are we talking about here and how was it going to be accomplished? I Chronicles 28:1-10

B. With what characteristics and attitudes does God want His people to serve Him with? I Chronicles 28:7-10, 28:20-21

C. Is not the real house of God the building up of His church? Jesus did say, “I will build My church,” but should we not partner with Him in courageous obedience as David and Solomon did? Matthew 16:18, 28:18-20, Acts 4:10-13, Philippians 4:13

2. A. In what fashion did David lead his people by example? I Chronicles 29:1-5

B. How then did his people respond and what was the result? I Chronicles 29:6-13

C. Notice that the people were willing, even eager to give as David did, and it resulted in great joy, worship and praise to the Lord. Are you willing to “consecrate” yourself to God in this way even as they, for the honor of the Lord? I Chronicles 29:5-6

3. The nine principles of giving from the sermon on this text are as follows:

• David did what he could, and so should we. I Chronicles 29:1-2, Mark 14:3-8

• He did it with all his ability, and so should we. I Chronicles 29:2, Colossians 3:23

• David gave with delight, and so can we. I Chronicles 29:3, II Corinthians 9:7

• He put all his treasure into the project, an example we can follow. I Chronicles 29:3,

Matthew 6:21, II Corinthians 8:1-5

• David’s giving by example was contagious. I Chronicles 29:6

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• His giving and that of his people was from a whole heart. I Chronicles 29:9

• Such giving provoked great joy. I Chronicles 29:9

• David’s giving resulted in tremendous praise to God. I Chronicles 29:10-13

• He gave out of reverence for God and humility of self. I Chronicles 29:14-19

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David’s End: I Chronicles 29:26-28

Summary: No matter how long we live, life is short. As we look back upon David’s life we find that he was a picture of Christ. In spite of his faults, massive as they were, at the end of the day David is called “a man after My heart who will do all My will.” David served the purpose of God by doing His will. As for us, we are not our own; we have been bought with a price. Is it your life ambition then to be pleasing to Christ?

1. A. How did David finish out his life? How is it described? I Chronicles 29:26-30

B. What was David’s perspective of life while he was living? How about for Moses and for ourselves? Psalm 39:4-6, 90:7-12, Hebrews 9:27

C. The apostle Paul had a keen sense of stewardship regarding his life. What can we learn from him regarding what God has really designed us for? II Corinthians 5:15, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 1:20-21

2. A. While Paul was preaching about Jesus, what does he say about David? Acts 13:22-23, 13:32-39

B. In what fashion did David fulfill his purpose before God? Acts 13:22 & 36

C. What should be our own mindset to live by, in order to serve the purpose of God by doing His will? I Corinthians 6:19-20, I Peter 1:13-19

3. A. How does Asaph describe David’s career; how did he start out? Psalm 78:70-72

B. How did David “shepherd them according to the integrity of his heart, and guide them with his skillful hands?” I Samuel 23:1-5, 24:6, 30:8-10, II Samuel 8:15, I Kings 3:6, 15:4-5, I Chronicles 29:10-14, Psalm 51:10

C. Being a shepherd was anything but a glamorous profession. But what David learned to do with sheep he learned many times over to accomplish with God’s people. How might God be training you? What should be the pattern for our own ministry? Romans 12:1-2, II Corinthians 3:5-6, Galatians 5:22-24, II Timothy 2:1-8, 2:15, 3:14-17

4. A. In what fashion was David a picture of Christ? Psalm 40:6-8, Hebrews 10:4-7

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B. David’s psalm had messianic significance. What was it? Hebrews 10:8-18

C. What was the ambition of our great Messiah? Can that be us? John 4:34 Romans 6:17-18, II Corinthians 5:9

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APENDIX

GenesisGen. 1.1

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Gen. 4.7

If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

Gen. 37.1-2

1 Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan.

2 These are the generations of Jacob.

Gen. 39.1-12

1 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there.

2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master.

3 His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.

4 So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had.

5 From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field.

6 So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.

Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.

7 And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.”

8 But he refused and said to his master's wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge.

9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”

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10 And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.

11 But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house,

12 she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house.

Gen. 39.19-23

19 As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled.

20 And Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison.

21 But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

22 And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it.

23 The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.

ExodusEx. 2.15-3.11

15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

17 The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock.

18 When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?”

19 They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

20 He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”

21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah.

22 She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”

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23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.

24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

25 God saw the people of Israel-and God knew.

Ex. 3.1-11

1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.

3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”

4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,

8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

Ex. 7.6-7

6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them.

7 Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Ex. 13.21-22

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21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.

22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

Ex. 15.1-13

1 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.

2 The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.

3 The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.

4 “Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.

5 The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.

6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.

7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.

8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.

9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’

10 You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

12 You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.

13 “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.

Ex. 20.1-7

1 And God spoke all these words, saying,

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

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5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Ex. 25.10-22

10 “They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height.

11 You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it.

12 You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it.

13 You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.

14 And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them.

15 The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it.

16 And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you.

17 “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth.

18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat.

19 Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends.

20 The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be.

21 And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you.

22 There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.

LeviticusLev. 10.1-3

1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them.

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2 And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.

3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” And Aaron held his peace.

Lev. 16.1-2

1 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died,

2 and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.

NumbersNu. 4.4-6

4 This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting: the most holy things.

5 When the camp is to set out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the veil of the screen and cover the ark of the testimony with it.

6 Then they shall put on it a covering of goatskin and spread on top of that a cloth all of blue, and shall put in its poles.

Nu. 4.14-20

14 And they shall put on it all the utensils of the altar, which are used for the service there, the fire pans, the forks, the shovels, and the basins, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread on it a covering of goatskin, and shall put in its poles.

15 And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die. These are the things of the tent of meeting that the sons of Kohath are to carry.

16 “And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular grain offering, and the anointing oil, with the oversight of the whole tabernacle and all that is in it, of the sanctuary and its vessels.”

17 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

18 “Let not the tribe of the clans of the Kohathites be destroyed from among the Levites,

19 but deal thus with them, that they may live and not die when they come near to the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them each to his task and to his burden,

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20 but they shall not go in to look on the holy things even for a moment, lest they die.”

Nu. 9.15-16

15 On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning.

16 So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night.

DeuteronomyDeut. 6.4-5

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Deut. 32.15-18

15 “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;

you grew fat, stout, and sleek;

then he forsook God who made him

and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.

16 They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;

with abominations they provoked him to anger.

17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,

to gods they had never known,

to new gods that had come recently,

whom your fathers had never dreaded.

18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,

and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

Deut. 33.26-27

26 “There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty.

27 The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, Destroy.

1 Samuel1 Sam. 4.10-11

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10 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers.

11 And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

1 Sam. 5.1-4

1 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.

2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon.

3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place.

4 But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.

1 Sam. 5.7

And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god.”

1 Sam. 6.2

And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place.”

1 Sam. 6.8-9

8 And take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart and put in a box at its side the figures of gold, which you are returning to him as a guilt offering. Then send it off and let it go its way

9 and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to Beth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence.”

1 Sam. 6.19-20

19 And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men of them, and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great blow.

20 Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?”

1 Sam. 13.1-14

1 Saul was… years old when he began to reign, and he reigned… and two years over Israel.

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2 Saul chose three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent home, every man to his tent.

3 Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.”

4 And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become a stench to the Philistines. And the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.

5 And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven.

6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble (for the people were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns,

7 and some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

8 He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.

9 So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering.

10 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him.

11 Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash,

12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.”

13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.

14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

1 Sam. 16.11-14

11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.”

12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.”

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13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

14 Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.

1 Sam. 22.1-2

1 David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him.

2 And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became captain over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.

1 Sam. 23.1-15

1 Now they told David, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are robbing the threshing floors.”

2 Therefore David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the Lord said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”

3 But David's men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”

4 Then David inquired of the Lord again. And the Lord answered him, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand.”

5 And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their livestock and struck them with a great blow. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

6 When Abiathar the son of Ahimelech had fled to David to Keilah, he had come down with an ephod in his hand.

7 Now it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, “God has given him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.”

8 And Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.

9 David knew that Saul was plotting harm against him. And he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.”

10 Then said David, “O Lord, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city on my account.

11 Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O Lord, the God of Israel, please tell your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.”

12 Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will surrender you.”

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13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the expedition.

14 And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.

15 David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh.

1 Sam. 24.6

He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord's anointed.”

1 Sam. 24.10-12

10 Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you today into my hand in the cave. And some told me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not put out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord's anointed.’

11 See, my father, see the corner of your robe in my hand. For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it.

12 May the Lord judge between me and you, may the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you.

1 Sam. 26.6-10

6 Then David said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Joab's brother Abishai the son of Zeruiah, “Who will go down with me into the camp to Saul?” And Abishai said, “I will go down with you.”

7 So David and Abishai went to the army by night. And there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the army lay around him.

8 Then said Abishai to David, “God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.”

9 But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless?”

10 And David said, “As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish.

1 Sam. 30.8-10

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8 And David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue.”

9 So David set out, and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed.

10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men. Two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor.

2 Samuel2 Sam. 5.19-25

19 And David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” And the Lord said to David, “Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.”

20 And David came to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. And he said, “The Lord has burst through my enemies before me like a bursting flood.” Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim.

21 And the Philistines left their idols there, and David and his men carried them away.

22 And the Philistines came up yet again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.

23 And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, “You shall not go up; go around to their rear, and come against them opposite the balsam trees.

24 And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the Lord has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.”

25 And David did as the Lord commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba to Gezer.

2 Sam. 6

1 David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.

2 And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim.

3 And they carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart,

4 with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark.

5 And David and all the house of Israel were making merry before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.

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6 And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled.

7 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.

8 And David was angry because the Lord had burst forth against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah, to this day.

9 And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?”

10 So David was not willing to take the ark of the Lord into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

11 And the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household.

12 And it was told King David, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing.

13 And when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal.

14 And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod.

15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn.

16 As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.

17 And they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

18 And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts

19 and distributed among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins to each one. Then all the people departed, each to his house.

20 And David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants' female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!”

21 And David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord-and I will make merry before the Lord.

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22 I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.”

23 And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

2 Sam. 7

1 Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies,

2 the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.”

3 And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.”

4 But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan,

5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in?

6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling.

7 In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?"’

8 Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel.

9 And 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.

10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly,

11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.

12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men,

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15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.

16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”

17 In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

18 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?

19 And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God!

20 And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God!

21 Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it.

22 Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

23 And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods?

24 And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O Lord, became their God.

25 And 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.

26 And 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.

27 For 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.

28 And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant.

29 Now 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, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.”

2 Sam. 8.1-15

1 After this David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and David took Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines.

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2 And he defeated Moab and he measured them with a line, making them lie down on the ground. Two lines he measured to be put to death, and one full line to be spared. And the Moabites became servants to David and brought tribute.

3 David also defeated Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to restore his power at the river Euphrates.

4 And David took from him 1,700 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. And David hamstrung all the chariot horses but left enough for 100 chariots.

5 And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down 22,000 men of the Syrians.

6 Then David put garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Syrians became servants to David and brought tribute. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.

7 And David took the shields of gold that were carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem.

8 And from Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took very much bronze.

9 When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the whole army of Hadadezer,

10 Toi sent his son Joram to King David, to ask about his health and to bless him because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him, for Hadadezer had often been at war with Toi. And Joram brought with him articles of silver, of gold, and of bronze.

11 These also King David dedicated to the Lord, together with the silver and gold that he dedicated from all the nations he subdued,

12 from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, Amalek, and from the spoil of Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

13 And David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

14 Then he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom he put garrisons, and all the Edomites became David's servants. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.

15 So David reigned over all Israel. And David administered justice and equity to all his people.

2 Sam. 10.17-19

17 And when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan and came to Helam. The Syrians arrayed themselves against David and fought with him.

18 And the Syrians fled before Israel, and David killed of the Syrians the men of 700 chariots, and 40,000 horsemen, and wounded Shobach the commander of their army, so that he died there.

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19 And when all the kings who were servants of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subject to them. So the Syrians were afraid to save the Ammonites anymore.

2 Sam. 11

1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.

3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

4 So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house.

5 And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

6 So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David.

7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going.

8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king's house, and there followed him a present from the king.

9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.

10 When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”

11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”

12 Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.

13 And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk. And in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

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15 In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.”

16 And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men.

17 And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died.

18 Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting.

19 And he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king,

20 then, if the king's anger rises, and if he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?

21 Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’ then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’”

22 So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell.

23 The messenger said to David, “The men gained an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate.

24 Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.”

25 David said to the messenger, “Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword devours now one and now another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”

26 When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband.

27 And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.

2 Sam. 12

1 And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.

2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds,

3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him.

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4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

5 Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die,

6 and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.

8 And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.

9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’

11 Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.

12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’”

13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.

14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.”

15 Then Nathan went to his house.

And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and he became sick.

16 David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.

17 And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them.

18 On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.”

19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.”

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20 Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate.

21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.”

22 He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’

23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”

24 Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved him

25 and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord.

26 Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and took the royal city.

27 And Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah; moreover, I have taken the city of waters.

28 Now then gather the rest of the people together and encamp against the city and take it, lest I take the city and it be called by my name.”

29 So David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah and fought against it and took it.

30 And he took the crown of their king from his head. The weight of it was a talent of gold, and in it was a precious stone, and it was placed on David's head. And he brought out the spoil of the city, a very great amount.

31 And he brought out the people who were in it and set them to labor with saws and iron picks and iron axes and made them toil at the brick kilns. And thus he did to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

2 Sam. 13.1

Now Absalom, David's son, had a beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar. And after a time Amnon, David's son, loved her.

2 Sam. 13.14-16

14 But he would not listen to her, and being stronger than she, he violated her and lay with her.

15 Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, “Get up! Go!”

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16 But she said to him, “No, my brother, for this wrong in sending me away is greater than the other that you did to me.” But he would not listen to her.

2 Sam. 13.19-22

19 And Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long robe that she wore. And she laid her hand on her head and went away, crying aloud as she went.

20 And her brother Absalom said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? Now hold your peace, my sister. He is your brother; do not take this to heart.” So Tamar lived, a desolate woman, in her brother Absalom's house.

21 When King David heard of all these things, he was very angry.

22 But Absalom spoke to Amnon neither good nor bad, for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had violated his sister Tamar.

2 Sam. 13.28-29

28 Then Absalom commanded his servants, “Mark when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, and when I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then kill him. Do not fear; have I not commanded you? Be courageous and be valiant.”

29 So the servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and each mounted his mule and fled.

2 Sam. 13.37-39

37 But Absalom fled and went to Talmai the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son day after day.

38 So Absalom fled and went to Geshur, and was there three years.

39 And the spirit of the king longed to go out to Absalom, because he was comforted about Amnon, since he was dead.

2 Sam. 16.5-13

5 When King David came to Bahurim, there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera, and as he came he cursed continually.

6 And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left.

7 And Shimei said as he cursed, “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man!

8 The Lord has avenged on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood.”

9 Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head.”

10 But the king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’”

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11 And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjaminite! Leave him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to.

12 It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me, and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today.”

13 So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and flung dust.

2 Sam. 22

1 And David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.

2 He said,

“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

3 my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield, and the horn of my salvation,

my stronghold and my refuge,

my savior; you save me from violence.

4 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,

and I am saved from my enemies.

5 “For the waves of death encompassed me,

the torrents of destruction assailed me;

6 the cords of Sheol entangled me;

the snares of death confronted me.

7 “In my distress I called upon the Lord;

to my God I called.

From his temple he heard my voice,

and my cry came to his ears.

8 “Then the earth reeled and rocked;

the foundations of the heavens trembled

and quaked, because he was angry.

9 Smoke went up from his nostrils,

and devouring fire from his mouth;

glowing coals flamed forth from him.

10 He bowed the heavens and came down;

thick darkness was under his feet.

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11 He rode on a cherub and flew;

he was seen on the wings of the wind.

12 He made darkness around him his canopy,

thick clouds, a gathering of water.

13 Out of the brightness before him

coals of fire flamed forth.

14 The Lord thundered from heaven,

and the Most High uttered his voice.

15 And he sent out arrows and scattered them;

lightning, and routed them.

16 Then the channels of the sea were seen;

the foundations of the world were laid bare,

at the rebuke of the Lord,

at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

17 “He sent from on high, he took me;

he drew me out of many waters.

18 He rescued me from my strong enemy,

from those who hated me,

for they were too mighty for me.

19 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,

but the Lord was my support.

20 He brought me out into a broad place;

he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

21 “The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness;

according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.

22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord

and have not wickedly departed from my God.

23 For all his rules were before me,

and from his statutes I did not turn aside.

24 I was blameless before him,

and I kept myself from guilt.

25 And the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,

according to my cleanness in his sight.

26 “With the merciful you show yourself merciful;

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with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;

27 with the purified you deal purely,

and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.

28 You save a humble people,

but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down.

29 For you are my lamp, O Lord,

and my God lightens my darkness.

30 For by you I can run against a troop,

and by my God I can leap over a wall.

31 This God-his way is perfect;

the word of the Lord proves true;

he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

32 “For who is God, but the Lord?

And who is a rock, except our God?

33 This God is my strong refuge

and has made my way blameless.

34 He made my feet like the feet of a deer

and set me secure on the heights.

35 He trains my hands for war,

so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

36 You have given me the shield of your salvation,

and your gentleness made me great.

37 You gave a wide place for my steps under me,

and my feet did not slip;

38 I pursued my enemies and destroyed them,

and did not turn back until they were consumed.

39 I consumed them; I thrust them through, so that they did not rise;

they fell under my feet.

40 For you equipped me with strength for the battle;

you made those who rise against me sink under me.

41 You made my enemies turn their backs to me,

those who hated me, and I destroyed them.

42 They looked, but there was none to save;

they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.

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43 I beat them fine as the dust of the earth;

I crushed them and stamped them down like the mire of the streets.

44 “You delivered me from strife with my people;

you kept me as the head of the nations;

people whom I had not known served me.

45 Foreigners came cringing to me;

as soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me.

46 Foreigners lost heart

and came trembling out of their fortresses.

47 “The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,

and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation,

48 the God who gave me vengeance

and brought down peoples under me,

49 who brought me out from my enemies;

you exalted me above those who rose against me;

you delivered me from men of violence.

50 “For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations,

and sing praises to your name.

51 Great salvation he brings to his king,

and shows steadfast love to his anointed,

to David and his offspring forever.”

1 Kings1 Kings 2.45-46

45 But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever.”

46 Then the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him down, and he died.

So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

1 Kings 3.1

Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem.

1 Kings 3.6

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And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.

1 Kings 11.1-6

1 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,

2 from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.

3 He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.

4 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.

5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

6 So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done.

1 Kings 15.4-5

4 Nevertheless, for David's sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem,

5 because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

1 Chronicles1 Chr. 15.1-2

1 David built houses for himself in the city of David. And he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.

2 Then David said that no one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, for the Lord had chosen them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister to him forever.

1 Chr. 15.12-16

12 and said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites. Consecrate yourselves, you and your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it.

13 Because you did not carry it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule.”

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14 So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel.

15 And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord.

16 David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers as the singers who should play loudly on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy.

1 Chr. 15.25-28

25 So David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-edom with rejoicing.

26 And because God helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

27 David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as also were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and the singers and Chenaniah the leader of the music of the singers. And David wore a linen ephod.

28 So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, to the sound of the horn, trumpets, and cymbals, and made loud music on harps and lyres.

1 Chr. 16.1-4

1 And they brought in the ark of God and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.

2 And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord

3 and distributed to all Israel, both men and women, to each a loaf of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins.

4 Then he appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, to invoke, to thank, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel.

1 Chr. 16.29-36

29 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;

30 tremble before him, all the earth; yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.

31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”

32 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it!

33 Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.

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34 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

35 Say also: “Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather and deliver us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name, and glory in your praise.

36 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!” Then all the people said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord.

1 Chr. 28

1 David assembled at Jerusalem all the officials of Israel, the officials of the tribes, the officers of the divisions that served the king, the commanders of thousands, the commanders of hundreds, the stewards of all the property and livestock of the king and his sons, together with the palace officials, the mighty men and all the seasoned warriors.

2 Then King David rose to his feet and said: “Hear me, my brothers and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord and for the footstool of our God, and I made preparations for building.

3 But God said to me, ‘You may not build a house for my name, for you are a man of war and have shed blood.’

4 Yet the Lord God of Israel chose me from all my father's house to be king over Israel forever. For he chose Judah as leader, and in the house of Judah my father's house, and among my father's sons he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel.

5 And of all my sons (for the Lord has given me many sons) he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.

6 He said to me, ‘It is Solomon your son who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.

7 I will establish his kingdom forever if he continues strong in keeping my commandments and my rules, as he is today.’

8 Now therefore in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, observe and seek out all the commandments of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land and leave it for an inheritance to your children after you forever.

9 “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

10 Be careful now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong and do it.”

11 Then David gave Solomon his son the plan of the vestibule of the temple, and of its houses, its treasuries, its upper rooms, and its inner chambers, and of the room for the mercy seat;

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12 and the plan of all that he had in mind for the courts of the house of the Lord, all the surrounding chambers, the treasuries of the house of God, and the treasuries for dedicated gifts;

13 for the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, and all the work of the service in the house of the Lord; for all the vessels for the service in the house of the Lord,

14 the weight of gold for all golden vessels for each service, the weight of silver vessels for each service,

15 the weight of the golden lampstands and their lamps, the weight of gold for each lampstand and its lamps, the weight of silver for a lampstand and its lamps, according to the use of each lampstand in the service,

16 the weight of gold for each table for the showbread, the silver for the silver tables,

17 and pure gold for the forks, the basins and the cups; for the golden bowls and the weight of each; for the silver bowls and the weight of each;

18 for the altar of incense made of refined gold, and its weight; also his plan for the golden chariot of the cherubim that spread their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

19 “All this he made clear to me in writing from the hand of the Lord, all the work to be done according to the plan.”

20 Then David said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the Lord God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished.

21 And behold the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God; and with you in all the work will be every willing man who has skill for any kind of service; also the officers and all the people will be wholly at your command.”

1 Chr. 29

1 And David the king said to all the assembly, “Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is young and inexperienced, and the work is great, for the palace will not be for man but for the Lord God.

2 So I have provided for the house of my God, so far as I was able, the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, and the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood, besides great quantities of onyx and stones for setting, antimony, colored stones, all sorts of precious stones and marble.

3 Moreover, in addition to all that I have provided for the holy house, I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, and because of my devotion to the house of my God I give it to the house of my God:

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4 3,000 talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and 7,000 talents of refined silver, for overlaying the walls of the house,

5 and for all the work to be done by craftsmen, gold for the things of gold and silver for the things of silver. Who then will offer willingly, consecrating himself today to the Lord?”

6 Then the leaders of fathers' houses made their freewill offerings, as did also the leaders of the tribes, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and the officers over the king's work.

7 They gave for the service of the house of God 5,000 talents and 10,000 darics of gold, 10,000 talents of silver, 18,000 talents of bronze and 100,000 talents of iron.

8 And whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord, in the care of Jehiel the Gershonite.

9 Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a whole heart they had offered freely to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly.

10 Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever.

11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

12 Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.

13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

14 “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.

15 For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding.

16 O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own.

17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you.

18 O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you.

19 Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all, and that he may build the palace for which I have made provision.”

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20 Then David said to all the assembly, “Bless the Lord your God.” And all the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and paid homage to the Lord and to the king.

21 And they offered sacrifices to the Lord, and on the next day offered burnt offerings to the Lord, 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, and 1,000 lambs, with their drink offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel.

22 And they ate and drank before the Lord on that day with great gladness. And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and they anointed him as prince for the Lord, and Zadok as priest.

23 Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king in place of David his father. And he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him.

24 All the leaders and the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David, pledged their allegiance to King Solomon.

25 And the Lord made Solomon very great in the sight of all Israel and bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel.

26 Thus David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel.

27 The time that he reigned over Israel was forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

28 Then he died at a good age, full of days, riches, and honor. And Solomon his son reigned in his place.

29 Now the acts of King David, from first to last, are written in the Chronicles of Samuel the seer, and in the Chronicles of Nathan the prophet, and in the Chronicles of Gad the seer,

30 with accounts of all his rule and his might and of the circumstances that came upon him and upon Israel and upon all the kingdoms of the countries.

2 Chronicles2 Chr. 7.1-3

1 As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

2 And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house.

3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

2 Chr. 20.12

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O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

2 Chr. 32.20-21

20 Then Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed because of this and cried to heaven.

21 And the Lord sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he came into the house of his god, some of his own sons struck him down there with the sword.

EzraEzra 3.10-11

10 And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel.

11 And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.” And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

JobJob 22.23-26

23 If you return to the Almighty you will be built up; if you remove injustice far from your tents,

24 if you lay gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,

25 then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.

26 For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.

PsalmPs. 1.6

for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Ps. 3.3-5

3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.

4 I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah

5 I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.

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Ps. 14.1-3

1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good.

2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.

3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

Ps. 16.7-11

7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.

8 I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.

10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.

11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Ps. 17.15

As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.

Ps. 22.5

To you they cried and were rescued;

in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

Ps. 23

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Ps. 25

1 To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

2 O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me.

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3 Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.

5 Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.

6 Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.

7 Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!

8 Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.

9 He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.

10 All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

11 For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.

12 Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.

13 His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land.

14 The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.

15 My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.

17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses.

18 Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.

19 Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me.

20 Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.

21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.

22 Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.

Ps. 27.1-6

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.

3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.

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4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

5 For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.

6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

Ps. 29.1-2

1 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

Ps. 31.5

Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

Ps. 32

1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

6 Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.

7 You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

9 Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.

10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.

11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Ps. 34.18

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The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

Ps. 37.3-7

3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.

6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.

7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

Ps. 39.4-6

4 “O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!

5 Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah

6 Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!

Ps. 40.6-8

6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:

8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

Ps. 44.20-21

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

21 would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.

Ps. 46.1

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Ps. 49.15

But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah

Ps. 51

1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!

3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

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5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.

16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;

19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Ps. 53.1-3

1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good.

2 God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.

3 They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

Ps. 56.3-4

3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?

Ps. 56.8

You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?

Ps. 63.6-8

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6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;

7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.

8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

Ps. 73.25-28

25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.

28 But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

Ps. 78.70-72

70 He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds;

71 from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance.

72 With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.

Ps. 86.9

All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.

Ps. 89.14

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.

Ps. 89.30-32

30 If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules,

31 if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments,

32 then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes,

Ps. 90.1-17

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.

2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3 You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!”

4 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.

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5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning:

6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.

7 For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed.

8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

9 For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh.

10 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.

11 Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?

12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

13 Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants!

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.

16 Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.

17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!

Ps. 97.10

O you who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

Ps. 103.1-14

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!

2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,

3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

6 The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.

7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.

8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.

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10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

Ps. 106.1

Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

Ps. 107.1

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

Ps. 110.1

The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Ps. 115.1-11

1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.

6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.

7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.

8 Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.

9 O Israel, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.

10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.

11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.

Ps. 118

1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

2 Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”

3 Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”

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4 Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”

5 Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free.

6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

7 The Lord is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.

8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.

9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.

10 All nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!

11 They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!

12 They surrounded me like bees; they went out like a fire among thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!

13 I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me.

14 The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.

15 Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly,

16 the right hand of the Lord exalts, the right hand of the Lord does valiantly!”

17 I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.

18 The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death.

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.

20 This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.

21 I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.

22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

23 This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

25 Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!

26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.

27 The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!

28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you.

29 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

Ps. 119.9-11

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9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.

10 With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!

11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Ps. 119.38

Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared.

Ps. 130

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!

2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.

5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;

6 my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.

8 And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Ps. 135.15-18

15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

16 They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see;

17 they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths.

18 Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them!

Ps. 138.1-3

1 I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise;

2 I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.

3 On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.

Ps. 139

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.

3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.

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4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,”

12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.

19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me!

20 They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain!

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

22 I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!

24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Ps. 143

1 Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!

2 Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.

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3 For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.

4 Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled.

5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.

6 I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah

7 Answer me quickly, O Lord! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit.

8 Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.

9 Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord! I have fled to you for refuge!

10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!

11 For your name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life! In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!

12 And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies, and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul, for I am your servant.

Ps. 145.1-21

1 I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.

2 Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.

3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

4 One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.

5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.

6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness.

7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

8 The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

9 The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you!

11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power,

12 to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

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13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. [The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.]

14 The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.

15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.

16 You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.

17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.

18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.

20 The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

21 My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

ProverbsProv. 3.5-8

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

8 It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

Prov. 4.23

23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Prov. 6.27-29

27 Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?

28 Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?

29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife; none who touches her will go unpunished.

Prov. 8.13

13 The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

Prov. 9.10

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

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IsaiahIsa. 1.18

18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

Isa. 6.1-8

1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.

2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.

7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Isa. 9.6

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isa. 33.6

and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure.

Isa. 37.14-20

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.

15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:

16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.

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17 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.

18 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands,

19 and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed.

20 So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”

Isa. 40.18-31

18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?

19 An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains.

20 He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.

21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

23 who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,

and speak, O Israel,

“My way is hidden from the Lord,

and my right is disregarded by my God”?

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

his understanding is unsearchable.

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29 He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might he increases strength.

30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint.

Isa. 45.20-24

20 “Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save.

21 Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.

22 “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.

23 By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’

24 “Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him.

Isa. 53.3-12

3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned-every one-to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?

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9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Isa. 55.9

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isa. 57.15

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Isa. 66.1-2

1 Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?

2 All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

JeremiahJer. 2.22

Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord God.

Jer. 13.23

Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.

Jer. 17.9-10

9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

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10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Jer. 20.7-18

7 O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.

8 For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.

9 If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.

10 For I hear many whispering. Terror is on every side! “Denounce him! Let us denounce him!” say all my close friends, watching for my fall. “Perhaps he will be deceived; then we can overcome him and take our revenge on him.”

11 But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.

12 O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.

13 Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.

14 Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed!

15 Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, “A son is born to you,” making him very glad.

16 Let that man be like the cities that the Lord overthrew without pity; let him hear a cry in the morning and an alarm at noon,

17 because he did not kill me in the womb; so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb forever great.

18 Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?

LamentationsLam. 3.21-25

21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;

23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

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25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

AmosAmos 9.1-4

1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape.

2 “If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down.

3 If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.

4 And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.”

MalachiMal. 3.6

“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

MatthewMatt. 4.19

And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Matt. 5.1-4

1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Matt. 7.13-14

13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.

14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Matt. 9.1-5

1 And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city.

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2 And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”

3 And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.”

4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?

5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?

Matt. 11.28-30

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Matt. 16.18

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Matt. 19.17

And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”

Matt. 21.9

9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Matt. 22.41-46

41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question,

42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.”

43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,

44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’?

45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”

46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

Matt. 26.26-30

26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”

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27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you,

28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.”

30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Matt. 21.33-42

33 “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country.

34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.

35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them.

37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’

39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Matt. 27.46

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Matt. 28.18-20

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

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MarkMark 10.17-18

17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

Mark 11.9

And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Mark 12.28-31

28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”

29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Mark 14.3-8

3 And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.

4 There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that?

5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her.

6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.

7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me.

8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.

LukeLuke 6.27-35

27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

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29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.

30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.

31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.

35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

Luke 15:20-21

20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

Luke 18.13

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

Luke 19.37-40

37 As he was drawing near-already on the way down the Mount of Olives-the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen,

38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”

40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Luke 21.33

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Luke 22.42

saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

Luke 23.46

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Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

JohnJohn 1.1-18

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 He was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.

8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”)

16 And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

John 1.29

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

John 3.16-17

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16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 3.36

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

John 4.23-24

23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 4.34

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

John 7.37-39

37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

John 8.46

Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?

John 10.7-9

7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.

9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

John 12.12-13

12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

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13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

John 14.6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14.16-18

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,

17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

John 15.4-5

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15.9-11

9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

John 16.7-11

7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;

10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;

11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

John 21.17

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to

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him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

ActsActs 4.8-13

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders,

9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed,

10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead-by him this man is standing before you well.

11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.

12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

Acts 4.29-31

29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,

30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Acts 13.22-23

22 And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’

23 Of this man's offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.

Acts 13.32-39

32 And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers,

33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’

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34 And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, “‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’

35 Therefore he says also in another psalm, “‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’

36 For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption,

37 but he whom God raised up did not see corruption.

38 Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,

39 and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

Acts 17.22-23

22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.

23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

Acts 17.30-31

30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Acts 20:28

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

RomansRom. 1.16-25

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

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20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,

25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Rom. 2.4

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Rom. 3.1-4

1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?

2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

3 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?

4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”

Rom. 3.9-20

9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,

10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;

11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.

12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.”

14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16 in their paths are ruin and misery,

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17 and the way of peace they have not known.”

18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Rom. 3.26-28

26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.

28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Rom. 4:4-8

4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.

5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;

8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

Rom. 4.17-21

17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”-in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”

19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb.

20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,

21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

Rom. 5.8-14

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

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9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned-

13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.

14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

Rom. 6.17-18

17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,

18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

Rom. 7.18-25

18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.

22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,

23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Rom. 8:1-8

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

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3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.

8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Rom. 8.28-39

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.

34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died-more than that, who was raised-who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,

39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Rom. 9.16

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

Rom. 10.6-13

6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down)

7 or “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”

12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.

13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Rom. 11.33-36

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”

35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Rom. 12.1-3

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Rom. 12.9

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

Rom. 15.8-9

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8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,

9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”

1 Corinthians1 Cor. 3.16-17

16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

1 Cor. 6.16-20

16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”

17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Cor. 8.5-6

5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth-as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”-

6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

1 Cor. 10.12-13

12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

1 Cor. 10.19-20

19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?

20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.

1 Cor. 11.23-29

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23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,

24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.

28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

2 Corinthians2 Cor. 3.5-6

5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,

6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

2 Cor. 5.9-21

9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.

12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart.

13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.

14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;

15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

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16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Cor. 6.16-18

16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,

18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

2 Cor. 7.1

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

2 Cor. 9.7

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

2 Cor. 8.1-5

1 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia,

2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord,

4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints-

5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

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GalatiansGal. 2.20

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Gal. 3.13

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”-

Gal. 5.22-24

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Gal. 6.7

7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

Gal. 6.14

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

EphesiansEph. 1.7

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

Eph. 2.1-5

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins

2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-

3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved-

Eph. 2:8-9

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8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Eph 2:13

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Eph. 2.19-22

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,

21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Eph. 4.25-32

25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

27 and give no opportunity to the devil.

28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Eph. 5.18-20

18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,

19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,

20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

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PhilippiansPhil. 1.6

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Phil. 1.20-21

20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Phil 2.5-15

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

14 Do all things without grumbling or questioning,

15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

Phil 4.13

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

ColossiansCol. 1.13-15

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

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14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Col. 1:19-20

19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Col. 3.16-17

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Col. 3.23

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

1 Thessalonians1 Thess. 5.16-18

16 Rejoice always,

17 pray without ceasing,

18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 Timothy1 Tim. 1.15

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

1 Tim. 2.5

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

2 Timothy2 Tim. 1.8-9

8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,

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9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

2 Tim. 1.12

which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.

2 Tim. 2.1-10

1 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus,

2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.

7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel,

9 for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!

10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

2 Tim. 2.15

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

2 Tim. 3.14-17

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it

15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

TitusTitus 2.11-14

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,

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12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Titus 3.3-7

3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,

5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

HebrewsHeb. 2.14-18

14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.

17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Heb. 4.16

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Heb. 6.13-20

13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself,

14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.”

15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.

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16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.

17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,

18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,

20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Heb. 7.26

For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

Heb. 9.11-14

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)

12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,

14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Heb. 9.27

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

Heb. 10.4-25

4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;

6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.

7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

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8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law),

9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second.

10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,

13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.

14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,

16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,”

17 then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,

20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,

21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Heb. 11.1

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Heb. 12.1-3

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

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2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

Heb. 12.5-11

5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.

6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?

10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Heb. 13.5-6

5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

Heb. 13.15

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

JamesJames 1.13-16

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

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1 Peter1 Pet. 1.3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1 Pet. 1.13-19

13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,

15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,

19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

1 Pet. 2.4-5

4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,

5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Pet. 2.11

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

1 Pet. 2.23-24

23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

1 Pet. 3.18

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

1 Pet. 5.6-7

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6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

1 John1 John 1.5-10

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

1 John 2.1-2

1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 2.15-17

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world-the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions-is not from the Father but is from the world.

17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

1 John 4.9

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

1 John 5.13

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

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RevelationRev. 1.4-5

4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,

5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood

Rev. 2.4

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

Rev. 4.8-11

8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever,

10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

Rev. 15.1-8

1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.

2 And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire-and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.

3 And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!

4 Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

5 After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened,

6 and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests.

7 And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever,

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8 and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

Rev. 19.1-6

1 After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,

2 for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

3 Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”

4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”

5 And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”

6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.

Rev. 20.11-15

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.

12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.

14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Rev. 21.1-7

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

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3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.

7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

Rev. 22.16

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

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