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Take a breath, find your place, and read deeply. Discover the joy of reading God’s word with the Immerse New Living Translation (NLT) Bible.
This daily Bible podcast will take you through the Bible in a year following the Immerse Bible Reading Experience. So grab your family and small group and go through the Bible in a year together with Immerse. Each of the 6 volumes is available online or at your favorite Christian bookstore.
Ethan: Welcome to Immerse: the
daily bible reading experience.
Day 200 and 1
after this, David defeated
and subdued the Philistines by
conquering Gath, their largest town.
David also conquered the land of Moab.
He made the people lie down on the
ground in a row, and he measured them
off in groups with a length of rope.
He measured off two groups to be executed,
for every one group to be spared.
The Moabites who were spared
became David's subjects
and paid him tribute money.
David also destroyed the forces of Hadad
Ezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when
Hadad Ezer marched out to strengthen
his control along the Euphrates River.
David captured 1, 000 chariots, 7, 000
charioteers, and 20, 000 foot soldiers.
He crippled all the chariot horses
except enough for 100 chariots.
When Arameans from Damascus
arrived to help King Hadadezer,
David killed 22, 000 of them.
Then he placed several army garrisons
in Damascus, the Aramean capital,
and the Arameans became David's
subjects and paid him tribute money.
So the Lord made David
victorious wherever he went.
David brought the gold shields of
Hadadezer's officers to Jerusalem,
along with a large amount of bronze from
Hadadezer's towns of Teba and Barothai.
When King Toy of Hamath heard that David
had destroyed the entire army of Hadadizr,
he sent his son Joram to congratulate
King David for his successful campaign.
Hadadizr and Toy had been
enemies and were often at war.
Joram presented David with many
gifts of silver, gold, and bronze.
King David dedicated all
these gifts to the Lord.
As he did with the silver and gold
from the other nations he had defeated.
From Edom, Moab, Ammon,
Philistia, and Amalek.
And from Hadad Ezer, son
of Rehab, king of Zobah.
So David became even more famous
when he returned from destroying 18,
000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
He placed army garrisons
throughout Edom, and all the
Edomites became David's subjects.
In fact, the Lord made David
victorious wherever he went.
So David reigned over all
Israel and did what was just
and right for all his people.
Joab, son of Zeruiah, was
commander of the army.
Jehoshaphat, son of Ahilad,
was the royal historian.
Zadok, son of Ahitab and Ahimelech,
son of Abiathar, were the priests.
Sareya was the court secretary.
Benea, son of Jehoiada, was
captain of the king's bodyguard.
And David's sons served
as priestly leaders.
One day David asked, Is anyone
in Saul's family still alive?
Anyone to whom I can show
kindness for Jonathan's sake?
He summoned a man named Ziba, who
had been one of Saul's servants.
Are you Ziba, the king asked.
Yes, sir, I am, Ziba replied.
The king then asked him, Is anyone
still alive from Saul's family?
If so, I want to show God's
kindness to them, Ziba replied.
Yes, one of Jonathan's
sons is still alive.
He is crippled in both feet.
Where is he, the king asked.
In Lodiber, Ziba told him.
At the home of Maekir, son of
Amiel, so David sent for him and
brought him from Maekir's home.
His name was Mephibosheth.
He was Jonathan's son and Saul's grandson.
When he came to David, he bowed
low to the ground in deep respect.
David said, Greetings, Mephibosheth.
Mephibosheth replied, I am your servant.
Don't be afraid, David said, I intend
to show kindness to you because of
my promise to your father Jonathan.
I will give you all the property that once
belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you
will eat here with me at the king's table.
Mephibosheth bowed respectfully
and exclaimed, Who is your
servant that you should show such
kindness to a dead dog like me?
Then the king summoned Saul's servant,
Ziba, and said, I have given your
master's grandson everything that
belonged to Saul and his family.
You and your sons and servants are
to farm the land for him to produce
food for your master's household.
But Mephibosheth, your master's
grandson, will eat here at my table.
Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
Ziba replied, Yes, my lord the king.
I am your servant, and I will
do all that you have commanded.
And from that time on, Mephibosheth
ate regularly at David's table,
like one of the king's own sons.
Mephibosheth had a young son named Micah.
From then on, all the members of Ziba's
household were Mephibosheth's servants.
And Mephibosheth, who was crippled
in both feet, lived in Jerusalem and
ate regularly at the king's table.
Some time after this, King
Nahash of the Ammonites died,
and his son Hanun became king.
David said, I am going to show
loyalty to Hanen just as his father,
Nahash, was always loyal to me.
So David sent ambassadors
to express sympathy to Hanen
about his father's death.
But when David's ambassadors arrived
in the land of Ammon, the Ammonite
commanders said to Hanen, their
master, Do you really think these men
are coming here to honor your father?
No.
David has sent them to spy out the city
so they can come in and conquer it.
So Hanun seized David's ambassadors and
shaved off half of each man's beard,
cut off their robes at the buttocks,
and sent them back to David in shame.
When David heard what had happened, he
sent messengers to tell the men, Stay
at Jericho until your beards grow out,
and then come back, for they felt deep
shame because of their appearance.
When the people of Ammon realized how
seriously they had angered David, They
sent and hired 20, 000 Aramean foot
soldiers from the lands of Beth Rehob
and Zobah, 1, 000 from the King of
Maacah, and 12, 000 from the land of Tob.
When David heard about this, he sent
Joab and all his warriors to fight them.
The Ammonite troops came out and
drew up their battle lines at
the entrance of the city gate.
While the Arameans from Zobah
and Rehob, and the men from Tab
and Maacah, positioned themselves
to fight in the open fields.
When Joab saw that he would have to
fight on both the front and the rear, he
chose some of Israel's elite troops and
placed them under his personal command
to fight the Arameans in the fields.
He left the rest of the army under
the command of his brother Abishai,
who was to attack the Ammonites.
If the Arameans are too strong
for me, then come over and
help me, Joab told his brother.
And if the Ammonites are too strong
for you, I will come and help you.
Be courageous.
Let us fight bravely for our
people and the cities of our God.
May the Lord's will be done.
When Joab and his troops attacked,
the Arameans began to run away.
And when the Ammonites saw the
Arameans running, they ran from
Abishai and retreated into the city.
After the battle was over,
Joab returned to Jerusalem.
The Arameans now realized that they
were no match for Israel, so when they
regrouped, they were joined by additional
Aramean troops summoned by Hadad Ezer from
the other side of the Euphrates River.
These troops arrived at Helam
under the command of Shabak, the
commander of Hadad Ezer's forces.
When David heard what was happening,
he mobilized all Israel, crossed the
Jordan River, and led the army to Helam.
The Arameans positioned themselves
in battle formation and fought
against David, but again the
Arameans fled from the Israelites.
This time David's forces killed 700
charioteers and 40, 000 foot soldiers.
Including Shabak, the
commander of their army.
When all the kings allied with
Hadad Ezer saw that they had been
defeated by Israel, they surrendered
to Israel and became their subjects.
After that, the Arameans were
afraid to help the Ammonites.
This concludes today's
Immerse Reading Experience.
Thank you for joining us.