For I was born a sinner -- yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.Purify me from my sins and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me -- now let me rejoice.Don't keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt.Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a lo...  Read More

Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight.You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.Psalm 51:2-4 (NLT) The pain of hurting someone you truly love can be unbearable. When a truly caring heart is bruised by our callou...  Read More

Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. Psalm 51:1 (NLT) In a rather unsettling way, David, the "man after God’s own heart" had sinned against God.He had committed adultery and senselessly ordered the husband of the woman to be killed both as a cover-up and to pave t...  Read More

On that day Gad went to David and said to him, ‘’Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.’’ So David went up, as the LORD had commanded through Gad.When Araunah looked and saw the king and his officials coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.Araunah said, ‘’Why has my lord the king come to his servant?’’...  Read More

So the LORD sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, "Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Ara...  Read More

Before David got up the next morning, the word of the LORD had come to Gad the prophet, David’s seer. ‘’Go and tell David, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’ ‘’So Gad went to David and said to him, ‘’Shall there come on you three years of famine in the land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue ...  Read More

Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He incited David against them, saying, ‘’Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.’’So the king said to Joab and the army commanders with him, ‘’Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and enroll the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are.’’But Joab replied to the king, ‘’May the LORD your God multiply the troops ...  Read More

These are the names of David’s mighty warriors:Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was chief of the Three; he raised his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter. Next to him was Eleazer . . .  As one of the three mighty warriors, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines . . . the Israelites retreated, but Eleazer stood his ground and struck down the Philistines ti...  Read More

David sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said: ‘’The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation.He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior -- from violent people you saved me.‘’I called to the LORD, who is worthy of pr...  Read More

. . . When Shimei, son of Gera crossed the Jordan, he fell prostrate before the king and said to him, ‘’May my lord not hold me guilty. Do not remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem.  May the king put it out of his mind. For I your servant know that I have sinned, but today I have come here as the first from the tribes of Joseph to come down and meet my lord...  Read More

The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept.  As he went, he said: ‘’O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you -- O Absalom, my son, my son!’’Joab was told, ‘’The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.’’ And for the whole army the victory that day was turned into mourning, because on that day the troops heard it said, ‘’The king is gri...  Read More

So the king set out, with all the people following him, and they halted at the edge of the city. All his men marched past him, along with all the Kerethites and Pelethites; and all the six hundred Gittites who had accompanied him from Gath marched before the king.The king saId to Ittai the Gittite, ‘’Why should you come along with us?  Go back and stay with King Absalom. You are a foreigner, an ex...  Read More