2 Samuel 11-12, 1 Chronicles 20, Psalm 51, Psalm 32, Acts 27 - NASB Bible Online

2 Samuel 11-12

Bathsheba, David’s Great Sin

^aThen it happened ¹^bin the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and ^cbesieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem.
2 Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on ^athe roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. 3 So David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is this not ^aBathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of ^bUriah the Hittite?” 4 David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, ^ahe lay with her; ^band when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house. 5 The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, “^aI am pregnant.”
6 Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, ^aDavid asked concerning the welfare of Joab and ¹the people and the state of the war. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and ^awash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and a present from the king ¹was sent out after him. 9 But Uriah slept ^aat the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. 10 Now when they told David, saying, “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, “^aThe ark and Israel and Judah are staying in ¹temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and ^bthe 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? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing.” 12 Then David said to Uriah, “^aStay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you go.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the ¹next. 13 Now David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he ^amade him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his bed ^bwith his lord’s servants, but he did not go down to his house.
14 Now in the morning David ^awrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 ^aHe had written in the letter, saying, “¹Place Uriah in the front line of the ²fiercest battle and withdraw from him, ^bso that he may be struck down and die.” 16 So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men. 17 The men of the city went out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David’s servants fell; and ^aUriah the Hittite also died. 18 Then Joab sent and reported to David all the events of the war. 19 He charged the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling all the events of the war to the king, 20 and if it happens that the king’s wrath rises and he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? 21 Who ^astruck down Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman throw 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 departed and came and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to tell. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men prevailed against us and came out against us in the field, but we ¹pressed them as far as the entrance of the gate. 24 Moreover, the archers shot at your servants from the wall; so some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.” 25 Then David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab, ‘Do not let this thing ¹displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another; make your battle against the city stronger and overthrow it’; and so encourage him.”
26 Now when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, ^ashe mourned for her husband. 27 When the time of mourning was over, David sent and ¹brought her to his house and ^ashe became his wife; then she bore him a son. But ^bthe thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord.

Nathan Rebukes David

Then the Lord sent ^aNathan to David. And ^bhe came to him and ¹said,

“There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor.

“The rich man had a great many flocks and herds.

“But the poor man had nothing except ^aone little ewe lamb

Which he bought and nourished;

And it grew up together with him and his children.

It would eat of his ¹bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom,

And was like a daughter to him.

“Now a traveler came to the rich man,

And he ¹was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd,

To prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him;

Rather he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

5 Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, surely the man who has done this ¹^adeserves to die. 6 He must make restitution for the lamb ^afourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion.”
7 Nathan then said to David, “^aYou are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘^bIt is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I also gave you ^ayour master’s house and your master’s wives into your ¹care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these! 9 Why ^ahave you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? ^bYou have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, ^chave taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. 10 Now therefore, ^athe 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 from your own household; ^aI will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in ¹broad daylight. 12 Indeed ^ayou did it secretly, but ^bI will do this thing before all Israel, and ¹under the sun.’” 13 Then David said to Nathan, “^aI have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has ¹^btaken away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have ^agiven occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die.” 15 So Nathan went to his house.

Loss of a Child

Then the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s ¹widow bore to David, so that he was very sick. 16 David therefore inquired of God for the child; and David ^afasted and went and ^blay all night on the ground. 17 ^aThe elders of his household stood beside him in order to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat food with them. 18 Then it happened on the seventh day that 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 still alive, we spoke to him and he did not listen to our voice. How then can we tell him that the child is dead, since he might do himself harm!” 19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; so David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.” 20 So David arose from the ground, ^awashed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he came into the house of the Lord and ^bworshiped. Then he came to his own house, and when he requested, they set food before him and he ate.
21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? ¹While the child was alive, you fasted and wept; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” 22 He said, “While the child was still alive, ^aI fasted and wept; for I said, ‘^bWho knows, the Lord may be gracious to me, that the child may live.’ 23 But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? ^aI will go to him, but ^bhe will not return to me.”

Solomon Born

24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her; and she gave birth to a son, and ¹^ahe named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved him 25 and sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him ¹Jedidiah for the Lord’s sake.

War Again

26 ^aNow Joab fought against ^bRabbah of the sons of Ammon and captured the royal city. 27 Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah, I have even captured the city of waters. 28 Now therefore, gather the rest of the people together and camp against the city and capture it, or I will capture the city myself and it will be named after me.” 29 So David gathered all the people and went to Rabbah, fought against it and captured it. 30 Then ^ahe took the crown of ¹their king from his head; and its weight was a talent of gold, and in it ²was a precious stone; and it was placed on David’s head. And he brought out the spoil of the city in great amounts. 31 He also brought out the people who were in it, and ^aset them under saws, sharp iron instruments, and iron axes, and made them pass through the brickkiln. And thus he did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

1 Chronicles 20

War with Philistine Giants

^aThen it happened ¹in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that Joab led out the army and ravaged the land of the sons of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. And ^bJoab struck Rabbah and overthrew it. 2 ^aDavid took the crown of ¹their king from his head, and he found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there was a precious stone in it; and it was placed on David’s head. And he brought out the spoil of the city, a very great amount. 3 He brought out the people who were in it, ^aand cut them with saws and with sharp instruments and with axes. And thus David did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
4 ^aNow it came about after this, that war ¹broke out at ²Gezer with the Philistines; then Sibbecai the Hushathite ³killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the ⁴giants, and they were subdued. 5 And there was war with the Philistines again, and Elhanan the son of ^aJair ¹killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the ^bshaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 6 Again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature who had twenty-four fingers and toes, six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot; and he also was descended from the giants. 7 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea, David’s brother, ¹killed him. 8 These were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

Psalm 51

A Contrite Sinner’s Prayer for Pardon.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David, when ¹Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

^aBe gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;

According to the greatness of ^bYour compassion ^cblot out my transgressions.

^aWash me thoroughly from my iniquity

And ^bcleanse me from my sin.

For ¹I ^aknow my transgressions,

And my sin is ever before me.

^aAgainst You, You only, I have sinned

And done what is ^bevil in Your sight,

So that ^cYou ¹are justified ²when You speak

And ³blameless when You judge.

Behold, I was ^abrought forth in iniquity,

And in sin my mother conceived me.

Behold, You desire ^atruth in the ¹innermost being,

And in the hidden part You will ^bmake me know wisdom.

¹Purify me ^awith hyssop, and I shall be clean;

²Wash me, and I shall be ^bwhiter than snow.

¹Make me to hear ^ajoy and gladness,

Let the ^bbones which You have broken rejoice.

^aHide Your face from my sins

And blot out all my iniquities.

^aCreate ¹in me a ^bclean heart, O God,

And renew ²a ^csteadfast spirit within me.

^aDo not cast me away from Your presence

And do not take Your ^bHoly Spirit from me.

Restore to me the ^ajoy of Your salvation

And sustain me with a ^bwilling spirit.

Then I will ^ateach transgressors Your ways,

And sinners will ¹be ^bconverted to You.

Deliver me from ^abloodguiltiness, O God, ^bthe God of my salvation;

Then my ^ctongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.

O Lord, ¹^aopen my lips,

That my mouth may ^bdeclare Your praise.

For You ^ado not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;

You are not pleased with burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a ^abroken spirit;

A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

^aBy Your favor do good to Zion;

¹^bBuild the walls of Jerusalem.

Then You will delight in ¹^arighteous sacrifices,

In ^bburnt offering and whole burnt offering;

Then ²young bulls will be offered on Your altar.

Psalm 32

Blessedness of Forgiveness and of Trust in God.

A Psalm of David. A ¹Maskil.

^aHow blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,

Whose sin is covered!

How blessed is the man to whom the Lord ^adoes not impute iniquity,

And in whose spirit there is ^bno deceit!

When ^aI kept silent about my sin, ^bmy ¹body wasted away

Through my ²^cgroaning all day long.

For day and night ^aYour hand was heavy upon me;

My ¹^bvitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. ²Selah.

I ^aacknowledged my sin to You,

And my iniquity I ^bdid not hide;

I said, “^cI will confess my transgressions to the Lord”;

And You ^dforgave the ¹guilt of my sin. Selah.

Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You ¹^ain a time when You may be found;

Surely ^bin a flood of great waters they will not reach him.

You are ^amy hiding place; You ^bpreserve me from trouble;

You surround me with ¹^csongs of deliverance. Selah.

I will ^ainstruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;

I will counsel you ^bwith My eye upon you.

Do not be ^aas the horse or as the mule which have no understanding,

Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check,

Otherwise they will not come near to you.

Many are the ^asorrows of the wicked,

But ^bhe who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him.

Be ^aglad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones;

And shout for joy, all you who are ^bupright in heart.

Acts 27

Paul Is Sent to Rome

When it was decided that ^awe ^bwould sail for ^cItaly, they proceeded to deliver Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan ¹^dcohort named Julius. 2 And embarking in an Adramyttian ship, which was about to sail to the regions along the coast of ¹^aAsia, we put out to sea accompanied by ^bAristarchus, a ^cMacedonian of ^dThessalonica. 3 The next day we put in at ^aSidon; and Julius ^btreated Paul with consideration and ^callowed him to go to his friends and receive care. 4 From there we put out to sea and sailed under the shelter of ^aCyprus because ^bthe winds were contrary. 5 When we had sailed through the sea along the coast of ^aCilicia and ^bPamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia. 6 There the centurion found an ^aAlexandrian ship sailing for ^bItaly, and he put us aboard it. 7 When we had sailed slowly for a good many days, and with difficulty had arrived off Cnidus, ^asince the wind did not permit us to go farther, we sailed under the shelter of ^bCrete, off Salmone; 8 and with difficulty ^asailing past it we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.
9 When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even ^athe ¹fast was already over, Paul began to admonish them, 10 and said to them, “Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with ^adamage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” 11 But the centurion was more persuaded by the ^apilot and the ¹captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul. 12 Because the harbor was not suitable for wintering, the majority reached a decision to put out to sea from there, if somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of ^aCrete, facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.
13 ¹When a moderate south wind came up, supposing that they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began ^asailing along ^bCrete, close inshore.

Shipwreck

14 But before very long there ^arushed down from ¹the land a violent wind, called ²Euraquilo; 15 and when the ship was caught in it and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and let ourselves be driven along. 16 Running under the shelter of a small island called Clauda, we were scarcely able to get the ship’s ¹boat under control. 17 After they had hoisted it up, they used ¹supporting cables in undergirding the ship; and fearing that they might ^arun aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the ²sea anchor and in this way let themselves be driven along. 18 The next day as we were being violently storm-tossed, ¹they began to ^ajettison the cargo; 19 and on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned.
21 ¹When they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, “^aMen, you ought to have ²followed my advice and not to have set sail from ^bCrete and ³incurred this ^adamage and loss. 22 Yet now I urge you to ^akeep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For this very night ^aan angel of the God to whom I belong and ^bwhom I serve ^cstood before me, 24 saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; ^ayou must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you ^ball those who are sailing with you.’ 25 Therefore, ^akeep up your courage, men, for I believe God that ¹it will turn out exactly as I have been told. 26 But we must ^arun aground on a certain ^bisland.”
27 But when the fourteenth night came, as we were being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to surmise that ¹they were approaching some land. 28 They took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be fifteen fathoms. 29 Fearing that we might ^arun aground somewhere on the ¹rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and ²wished for daybreak. 30 But as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down ^athe ship’s boat into the sea, on the pretense of intending to lay out anchors from the bow, 31 Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these men remain in the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut away the ^aropes of the ship’s boat and let it fall away.
33 Until the day was about to dawn, Paul was encouraging them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been constantly watching and going without eating, having taken nothing. 34 Therefore I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your preservation, for ^anot a hair from the head of any of you will perish.” 35 Having said this, he took bread and ^agave thanks to God in the presence of all, and he broke it and began to eat. 36 All ^aof them ¹were encouraged and they themselves also took food. 37 All of us in the ship were two hundred and seventy-six ¹^apersons. 38 When they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by ^athrowing out the wheat into the sea.
39 When day came, ^athey ¹could not recognize the land; but they did observe a bay with a beach, and they resolved to drive the ship onto it if they could. 40 And casting off ^athe anchors, they left them in the sea while at the same time they were loosening the ropes of the rudders; and hoisting the foresail to the wind, they were heading for the beach. 41 But striking a ¹reef where two seas met, they ran the vessel aground; and the prow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern began to be broken up by the force of the waves. 42 The soldiers’ plan was to ^akill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim away and escape; 43 but the centurion, ^awanting to bring Paul safely through, kept them from their intention, and commanded that those who could swim should ¹jump overboard first and get to land, 44 and the rest should follow, some on planks, and others on various things from the ship. And so it happened that ^athey all were brought safely to land.

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
For Permission to Quote information visit lockman.org by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif.
All rights reserved.