When God Says No!

Living With a Strong-Willed Child

A Brighter Future: A 5-Day Devotional

Acts Reading Plan

The Journey of Yes

See God’s Peace: 3 Days of Visio Divina

God Gives Good Gifts to Everyone

Dog Dad Devotions on Leadership, Loyalty and Love

The Last Half Hour: When Waiting Becomes Glory

Pawprints & Prayers: Devotions for Dog Lovers

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

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Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkPSA">
 <div class="chapter ch105" data-usfm="PSA.105">
 <div class="label">105</div><div class="cl">Psalm 105</div><div class="q1"> 1Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;</div><div class="q2">make known among the nations what he has done.</div><div class="q1"> 2Sing to him, sing praise to him;</div><div class="q2">tell of all his wonderful acts.</div><div class="q1"> 3Glory in his holy name;</div><div class="q2">let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.</div><div class="q1"> 4Look to the Lord and his strength;</div><div class="q2">seek his face always.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 5Remember the wonders he has done,</div><div class="q2">his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,</div><div class="q1"> 6you his servants, the descendants of Abraham,</div><div class="q2">his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.</div><div class="q1"> 7He is the Lord our God;</div><div class="q2">his judgments are in all the earth.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 8He remembers his covenant forever,</div><div class="q2">the promise he made, for a thousand generations,</div><div class="q1"> 9the covenant he made with Abraham,</div><div class="q2">the oath he swore to Isaac.</div><div class="q1"> 10He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,</div><div class="q2">to Israel as an everlasting covenant:</div><div class="q1"> 11&#8220;To you I will give the land of Canaan</div><div class="q2">as the portion you will inherit.&#8221;</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 12When they were but few in number,</div><div class="q2">few indeed, and strangers in it,</div><div class="q1"> 13they wandered from nation to nation,</div><div class="q2">from one kingdom to another.</div><div class="q1"> 14He allowed no one to oppress them;</div><div class="q2">for their sake he rebuked kings:</div><div class="q1"> 15&#8220;Do not touch my anointed ones;</div><div class="q2">do my prophets no harm.&#8221;</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 16He called down famine on the land</div><div class="q2">and destroyed all their supplies of food;</div><div class="q1"> 17and he sent a man before them&#8212;</div><div class="q2">Joseph, sold as a slave.</div><div class="q1"> 18They bruised his feet with shackles,</div><div class="q2">his neck was put in irons,</div><div class="q1"> 19till what he foretold came to pass,</div><div class="q2">till the word of the Lord proved him true.</div><div class="q1"> 20The king sent and released him,</div><div class="q2">the ruler of peoples set him free.</div><div class="q1"> 21He made him master of his household,</div><div class="q2">ruler over all he possessed,</div><div class="q1"> 22to instruct his princes as he pleased</div><div class="q2">and teach his elders wisdom.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 23Then Israel entered Egypt;</div><div class="q2">Jacob resided as a foreigner in the land of Ham.</div><div class="q1"> 24The Lord made his people very fruitful;</div><div class="q2">he made them too numerous for their foes,</div><div class="q1"> 25whose hearts he turned to hate his people,</div><div class="q2">to conspire against his servants.</div><div class="q1"> 26He sent Moses his servant,</div><div class="q2">and Aaron, whom he had chosen.</div><div class="q1"> 27They performed his signs among them,</div><div class="q2">his wonders in the land of Ham.</div><div class="q1"> 28He sent darkness and made the land dark&#8212;</div><div class="q2">for had they not rebelled against his words?</div><div class="q1"> 29He turned their waters into blood,</div><div class="q2">causing their fish to die.</div><div class="q1"> 30Their land teemed with frogs,</div><div class="q2">which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers.</div><div class="q1"> 31He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,</div><div class="q2">and gnats throughout their country.</div><div class="q1"> 32He turned their rain into hail,</div><div class="q2">with lightning throughout their land;</div><div class="q1"> 33he struck down their vines and fig trees</div><div class="q2">and shattered the trees of their country.</div><div class="q1"> 34He spoke, and the locusts came,</div><div class="q2">grasshoppers without number;</div><div class="q1"> 35they ate up every green thing in their land,</div><div class="q2">ate up the produce of their soil.</div><div class="q1"> 36Then he struck down all the firstborn in their land,</div><div class="q2">the firstfruits of all their manhood.</div><div class="q1"> 37He brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold,</div><div class="q2">and from among their tribes no one faltered.</div><div class="q1"> 38Egypt was glad when they left,</div><div class="q2">because dread of Israel had fallen on them.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 39He spread out a cloud as a covering,</div><div class="q2">and a fire to give light at night.</div><div class="q1"> 40They asked, and he brought them quail;</div><div class="q2">he fed them well with the bread of heaven.</div><div class="q1"> 41He opened the rock, and water gushed out;</div><div class="q2">it flowed like a river in the desert.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 42For he remembered his holy promise</div><div class="q2">given to his servant Abraham.</div><div class="q1"> 43He brought out his people with rejoicing,</div><div class="q2">his chosen ones with shouts of joy;</div><div class="q1"> 44he gave them the lands of the nations,</div><div class="q2">and they fell heir to what others had toiled for&#8212;</div><div class="q1"> 45that they might keep his precepts</div><div class="q2">and observe his laws.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">Praise the Lord.#105:45 Hebrew Hallelu Yah</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2SA">
 <div class="chapter ch7" data-usfm="2SA.7">
 <div class="label">7</div><div class="s1">God&#8217;s Promise to David</div><div class="p"> 1After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2he said to Nathan the prophet, &#8220;Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3Nathan replied to the king, &#8220;Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying:</div><div class="pm"> 5&#8220;Go and tell my servant David, &#8216;This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? 6I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. 7Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, &#8220;Why have you not built me a house of cedar?&#8221;&#8198;&#8217;</div><div class="pm"> 8&#8220;Now then, tell my servant David, &#8216;This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 9I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. 10And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning 11and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders#7:11 Traditionally judges over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.</div><div class="pm">&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: 12When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. 13He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. 15But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me#7:16 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts you; your throne will be established forever.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.</div><div class="s1">David&#8217;s Prayer</div><div class="p"> 18Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said:</div><div class="pm">&#8220;Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? 19And as if this were not enough in your sight, Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant&#8212;and this decree, Sovereign Lord, is for a mere human!#7:19 Or for the human race</div><div class="pm"> 20&#8220;What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, Sovereign Lord. 21For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant.</div><div class="pm"> 22&#8220;How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. 23And who is like your people Israel&#8212;the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt?#7:23 See Septuagint and 1 Chron. 17:21; Hebrew wonders for your land and before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt, from the nations and their gods. 24You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, Lord, have become their God.</div><div class="pm"> 25&#8220;And now, Lord God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised, 26so that your name will be great forever. Then people will say, &#8216;The Lord Almighty is God over Israel!&#8217; And the house of your servant David will be established in your sight.</div><div class="pm"> 27&#8220;Lord Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to your servant, saying, &#8216;I will build a house for you.&#8217; So your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. 28Sovereign Lord, you are God! Your covenant is trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant. 29Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, Sovereign Lord, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2SA">
 <div class="chapter ch11" data-usfm="2SA.11">
 <div class="label">11</div><div class="s1">David and Bathsheba</div><div class="p"> 1In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king&#8217;s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.</div><div class="p"> 2One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, &#8220;She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.&#8221; 4Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, &#8220;I am pregnant.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6So David sent this word to Joab: &#8220;Send me Uriah the Hittite.&#8221; And Joab sent him to David. 7When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8Then David said to Uriah, &#8220;Go down to your house and wash your feet.&#8221; So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master&#8217;s servants and did not go down to his house.</div><div class="p"> 10David was told, &#8220;Uriah did not go home.&#8221; So he asked Uriah, &#8220;Haven&#8217;t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn&#8217;t you go home?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11Uriah said to David, &#8220;The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents,#11:11 Or staying at Sukkoth and my commander Joab and my lord&#8217;s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12Then David said to him, &#8220;Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.&#8221; So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13At David&#8217;s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master&#8217;s servants; he did not go home.</div><div class="p"> 14In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15In it he wrote, &#8220;Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David&#8217;s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.</div><div class="p"> 18Joab sent David a full account of the battle. 19He instructed the messenger: &#8220;When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, 20the king&#8217;s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, &#8216;Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn&#8217;t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth#11:21 Also known as Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon)? Didn&#8217;t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?&#8217; If he asks you this, then say to him, &#8216;Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. 23The messenger said to David, &#8220;The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. 24Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king&#8217;s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 25David told the messenger, &#8220;Say this to Joab: &#8216;Don&#8217;t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.&#8217; Say this to encourage Joab.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 26When Uriah&#8217;s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2SA">
 <div class="chapter ch12" data-usfm="2SA.12.1+2SA.12.2+2SA.12.3+2SA.12.4+2SA.12.5+2SA.12.6+2SA.12.7+2SA.12.8+2SA.12.9+2SA.12.10+2SA.12.11+2SA.12.12+2SA.12.13+2SA.12.14+2SA.12.15">
 <div class="p">1The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, &#8220;There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.</div><div class="p"> 4&#8220;Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, &#8220;As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Then Nathan said to David, &#8220;You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: &#8216;I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8I gave your master&#8217;s house to you, and your master&#8217;s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 11&#8220;This is what the Lord says: &#8216;Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13Then David said to Nathan, &#8220;I have sinned against the Lord.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Nathan replied, &#8220;The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for#12:14 An ancient Hebrew scribal tradition; Masoretic Text for the enemies of the Lord, the son born to you will die.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah&#8217;s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. </div>
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