2 Samuel 7
1 The king settled into his palace, for the Lord gave him relief from all his enemies on all sides. 2 The king said to Nathan the prophet, “Look! I am living in a palace made from cedar, while the ark of God sits in the middle of a tent.” 3 Nathan replied to the king, “You should go and do whatever you have in mind, for the Lord is with you.” 4 That night the Lord’s message came to Nathan, 5 “Go, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord has said: Do you really intend to build a house for me to live in? 6 I have not lived in a house from the time I brought the Israelites up from Egypt to the present day. Instead, I was traveling with them and living in a tent. 7 Wherever I moved among all the Israelites, I did not say to any of their leaders whom I appointed to care for my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?”’
8 “So now, say this to my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said: I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd to make you leader of my people Israel. 9 I was with you wherever you went, and I defeated all your enemies before you. Now I will make you as famous as the great men of the earth. 10 I will establish a place for my people Israel and settle them there; they will live there and not be disturbed anymore. Violent men will not oppress them again, as they did in the beginning 11 and during the time when I appointed judges to lead my people Israel. Instead, I will give you relief from all your enemies. The Lord declares to you that he himself will build a dynastic house for you. 12 When the time comes for you to die, I will raise up your descendant, one of your own sons, to succeed you, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He will build a house for my name, and I will make his dynasty permanent. 14 I will become his father and he will become my son. When he sins, I will correct him with the rod of men and with wounds inflicted by human beings. 15 But my loyal love will not be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will stand before me permanently; your dynasty will be permanent.’” 17 Nathan told David all these words that were revealed to him.
18 King David went in, sat before the Lord, and said, “Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you should have brought me to this point? 19 And you didn’t stop there, O Lord God! You have also spoken about the future of your servant’s family. Is this your usual way of dealing with men, O Sovereign Lord? 20 What more can David say to you? You have given your servant special recognition, O Sovereign Lord! 21 For the sake of your promise and according to your purpose you have done this great thing in order to reveal it to your servant. 22 Therefore you are great, O Sovereign Lord, for there is none like you. There is no God besides you! What we have heard is true. 23 Who is like your people, Israel, a unique nation on the earth? Their God went to claim a nation for himself and to make a name for himself! You did great and awesome acts for your land, before your people whom you delivered for yourself from the Egyptian empire and its gods. 24 You made Israel your very own people for all time. You, O Lord, became their God. 25 So now, O Lord God, make this promise you have made about your servant and his family a permanent reality. Do as you promised, 26 so you may gain lasting fame, as people say, ‘The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is God over Israel!’ The dynasty of your servant David will be established before you, 27 for you, O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, have told your servant, ‘I will build you a dynastic house.’ That is why your servant has had the courage to pray this prayer to you. 28 Now, O Sovereign Lord, you are the true God. May your words prove to be true! You have made this good promise to your servant. 29 Now be willing to bless your servant’s dynasty so that it may stand permanently before you, for you, O Sovereign Lord, have spoken. By your blessing may your servant’s dynasty be blessed from now on into the future!”
2 Corinthians 1
1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is in Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia. 2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles so that we may be able to comfort those experiencing any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow toward us, so also our comfort through Christ overflows to you. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort that you experience in your patient endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer. 7 And our hope for you is steadfast because we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you will share in our comfort. 8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, regarding the affliction that happened to us in the province of Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of living. 9 Indeed we felt as if the sentence of death had been passed against us, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from so great a risk of death, and he will deliver us. We have set our hope on him that he will deliver us yet again, 11 as you also join in helping us by prayer, so that many people may give thanks to God on our behalf for the gracious gift given to us through the help of many.
12 For our reason for confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that with pure motives and sincerity which are from God—not by human wisdom but by the grace of God—we conducted ourselves in the world, and all the more toward you. 13 For we do not write you anything other than what you can read and also understand. But I hope that you will understand completely 14 just as also you have partly understood us, that we are your source of pride just as you also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus. 15 And with this confidence I intended to come to you first so that you would get a second opportunity to see us, 16 and through your help to go on into Macedonia and then from Macedonia to come back to you and be helped on our way into Judea by you. 17 Therefore when I was planning to do this, I did not do so without thinking about what I was doing, did I? Or do I make my plans according to mere human standards so that I would be saying both “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? 18 But as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one who was proclaimed among you by us—by me and Silvanus and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but it has always been “Yes” in him. 20 For every one of God’s promises are “Yes” in him; therefore also through him the “Amen” is spoken, to the glory we give to God. 21 But it is God who establishes us together with you in Christ and who anointed us, 22 who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment.
23 Now I appeal to God as my witness, that to spare you I did not come again to Corinth. 24 I do not mean that we rule over your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy, because by faith you stand firm.
Ezekiel 15
1 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, of all the woody branches among the trees of the forest, what happens to the wood of the vine? 3 Can wood be taken from it to make anything useful? Or can anyone make a peg from it to hang things on? 4 No! It is thrown in the fire for fuel; when the fire has burned up both ends of it and it is charred in the middle, will it be useful for anything? 5 Indeed! If it was not made into anything useful when it was whole, how much less can it be made into anything when the fire has burned it up and it is charred?
6 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Like the wood of the vine is among the trees of the forest that I have provided as fuel for the fire—so I will provide the residents of Jerusalem as fuel. 7 I will set my face against them—although they have escaped from the fire, the fire will still consume them! Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them. 8 I will make the land desolate because they have acted unfaithfully, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
Psalms 56-57
1 Have mercy on me, O God, for men are attacking me.
All day long hostile enemies are tormenting me.
2 Those who anticipate my defeat attack me all day long.
Indeed, many are fighting against me, O Exalted One.
3 When I am afraid,
I trust in you.
4 In God—I boast in his promise—
in God I trust; I am not afraid.
What can mere men do to me?
5 All day long they cause me trouble;
they make a habit of plotting my demise.
6 They stalk and lurk;
they watch my every step,
as they prepare to take my life.
7 Because they are bent on violence, do not let them escape.
In your anger bring down the nations, O God.
8 You keep track of my misery.
Put my tears in your leather container.
Are they not recorded in your scroll?
9 My enemies will turn back when I cry out to you for help;
I know that God is on my side.
10 In God—I boast in his promise—
in the Lord—I boast in his promise—
11 in God I trust; I am not afraid.
What can mere men do to me?
12 I am obligated to fulfill the vows I made to you, O God;
I will give you the thank offerings you deserve,
13 when you deliver my life from death.
You keep my feet from stumbling,
so that I might serve God as I enjoy life.
1 Have mercy on me, O God. Have mercy on me.
For in you I have taken shelter.
In the shadow of your wings I take shelter
until trouble passes.
2 I cry out for help to God Most High,
to the God who vindicates me.
3 May he send help from heaven and deliver me
from my enemies who hurl insults. (Selah)
May God send his loyal love and faithfulness.
4 I am surrounded by lions;
I lie down among those who want to devour me,
men whose teeth are spears and arrows,
whose tongues are sharp swords.
5 Rise up above the sky, O God.
May your splendor cover the whole earth.
6 They have prepared a net to trap me;
I am discouraged.
They have dug a pit for me.
They will fall into it. (Selah)
7 I am determined, O God. I am determined.
I will sing and praise you.
8 Awake, my soul!
Awake, O stringed instrument and harp!
I will wake up at dawn.
9 I will give you thanks before the nations, O Lord.
I will sing praises to you before foreigners.
10 For your loyal love extends beyond the sky,
and your faithfulness reaches the clouds.
11 Rise up above the sky, O God.
May your splendor cover the whole earth.
