Daily Reading

1 And as David dwelt in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah dwells under curtains.

2 And Nathan said to David, All that is in your heart do, for God is with you.

3 And in that night the word of God came to Nathan, saying,

4 Go and say to David My servant, Thus says Jehovah, It will not be you who builds Me a house to dwell in.

5 For I have not dwelt in a house, since the day I brought up Israel to this day; but I have been from tent to tent and from tabernacle to tabernacle.

6 In all My going about among all Israel, did I ever speak a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, saying, Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?

7 And now thus shall you say to My servant David, Thus says Jehovah of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you might be ruler over My people Israel;

8 And I have been with you in every place that you have gone and have cut off all your enemies before you; and I will make a name for you, like the name of the great ones who are on the earth.

9 And I will appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them there, that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more; and the sons of wickedness will waste them away no more as before,

10 Even since the time when I commanded that there be judges over My people Israel; and I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover I declare to you that Jehovah will build you a house.

11 When your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, which will be from your sons, and I will establish his kingdom.

12 It is he who will build a house for Me, and I will establish his throne forever.

13 I will be his Father, and he will be My son; and My lovingkindness I will not take from him, as I took it away from him who was before you.

14 And I will set him in My house and My kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever.

15 According to all these words and according to this whole vision did Nathan speak to David.

16 Then King David went and sat before Jehovah; and he said, Who am I, O Jehovah God, and what is my house that You have brought me this far?

17 And this was a small thing in Your sight, O God; but You have spoken of the house of Your servant for a great while to come; and You have regarded me according to the custom for a man of high degree, O Jehovah God.

18 What more can David add to say to You concerning this honoring of Your servant? For You know Your servant.

19 O Jehovah, for Your servant’s sake and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness to make known all these great things.

20 O Jehovah, there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

21 And who is like Your people Israel, a nation unique on the earth, which God went to redeem to Himself as a people in order to make for Yourself a name of greatness and awesomeness to drive out nations from before Your people, whom You have redeemed out of Egypt?

22 And You have made Your people Israel to be a people to You forever, and You, O Jehovah, became their God.

23 And now, O Jehovah, may the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house be established forever, and do as You have spoken.

24 And may Your name be established and magnified forever when men say, Jehovah of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel; and the house of David Your servant will be established before You.

25 For You, O my God, have revealed to Your servant that You will build him a house; therefore Your servant has found it in his heart to pray before You.

26 And now, O Jehovah, You are God, and You have spoken this good matter concerning Your servant;

27 Now therefore You have been pleased to bless the house of Your servant, that it may be before You forever; for You, O Jehovah, have blessed, and it is blessed forever.

1 And after this David struck the Philistines and subdued them. And he took Gath and her villages out of the hand of the Philistines.

2 And he struck Moab, and the Moabites became servants to David and brought tribute.

3 Then David struck Hadadezer the king of Zobah at Hamath, when he went to establish his power at the river Euphrates.

4 And David took from him one thousand chariots and seven thousand horsemen and twenty thousand foot soldiers. And David hamstrung all the chariot horses but left enough of them for a hundred chariots.

5 And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer the king of Zobah, David struck twenty-two thousand men among the Syrians.

6 And David put garrisons among the Syrians of Damascus, and the Syrians became servants to David and brought tribute. And Jehovah preserved David wherever he went.

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

8 And from Tibhath and Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took very much bronze, with which Solomon made the bronze sea and the pillars and the vessels of bronze.

9 Then when Tou the king of Hamath heard that David had struck down all the army of Hadadezer the king of Zobah,

10 He sent Hadoram his son to King David to greet him and congratulate him for fighting against Hadadezer and striking him down, for Hadadezer had been at war with Tou. And Hadoram brought all kinds of articles of gold and of silver and of bronze.

11 King David consecrated these also to Jehovah along with the silver and gold that he had carried from all the nations: from the Edomites and from the Moabites and from the children of Ammon and from the Philistines and from the Amalekites.

12 Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah struck down the Edomites in the Valley of Salt, that is, eighteen thousand men.

13 And he put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became servants to David. And Jehovah preserved David wherever he went.

14 So David reigned over all Israel and executed justice and righteousness for all his people.

15 And Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder.

16 And Zadok the son of Ahitub and Abimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, and Shavsha was scribe.

17 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and David’s sons were chief at the king’s side.

14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and spoke forth to them: Men of Judea, and all who are dwelling in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words.

15 For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is the third hour of the day;

16 But this is what is spoken through the prophet Joel:

17 “ And it shall be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream things in dreams;

18 And indeed upon My slaves, both men and women, I will pour out of My Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy.

19 And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke.

20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord comes.

21 And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

22 Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man shown by God to you to be approved by works of power and wonders and signs, which God did through Him in your midst, even as you yourselves know —

23 This man, delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you, through the hand of lawless men, nailed to a cross and killed;

24 Whom God has raised up, having loosed the pangs of death, since it was not possible for Him to be held by it.

25 For David says regarding Him, “ I saw the Lord continually before me, because He is on my right hand, that I may not be shaken.

26 Therefore my heart was made glad and my tongue exulted; moreover, also my flesh will rest in hope,

27 Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will You permit Your Holy One to see corruption.

28 You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.”

29 Men, brothers, I can say to you plainly concerning the patriarch David that he both deceased and was buried, and his tomb is among us until this day.

30 Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him to seat One from the fruit of his loins upon his throne,

31 He, seeing this beforehand, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was He abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.

32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we all are witnesses.

33 Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, He has poured out this which you both see and hear.

34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand

35 Until I set Your enemies as a footstool for Your feet.”

36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified.

37 And when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, What should we do, brothers?

38 And Peter said to them, Repent and each one of you be baptized upon the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

39 For to you is the promise and to your children, and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God calls to Himself.

40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and exhorted them, saying, Be saved from this crooked generation.

41 Those then who received his word were baptized, and there were added on that day about three thousand souls.

42 And they continued steadfastly in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.

43 And fear was upon every soul; and many wonders and signs took place through the apostles.

44 And all those who believed were together and had all things common;

45 And they sold their properties and possessions and divided them to all, as anyone had need.

46 And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they partook of their food with exultation and simplicity of heart,

47 Praising God and having grace with all the people. And the Lord added together day by day those who were being saved.