THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation - March 6 - Full Text!

Genesis 1:1 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 

THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation

MARCH 6

PSALMS: 6

PROVERBS: 6

OLD TESTAMENT: 2 SAMUEL 9:1 - 11:21

NEW TESTAMENT: JOHN 15:1 - 27

PSALMS: 6

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. According to sheminith. ^A A psalm of David.

¹ O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger

or discipline me in your wrath.

² Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint;

O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony.

³ My soul is in anguish.

How long, O LORD, how long?

⁴ Turn, O LORD, and deliver me;

save me because of your unfailing love.

⁵ No one remembers you when he is dead.

Who praises you from the grave ^B?

⁶ I am worn out from groaning;

all night long I flood my bed with weeping

and drench my couch with tears.

⁷ My eyes grow weak with sorrow;

they fail because of all my foes.

⁸ Away from me, all you who do evil,

for the LORD has heard my weeping.

⁹ The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;

the LORD accepts my prayer.

¹⁰ All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed;

they will turn back in sudden disgrace. ¹

PSALMS: 36

For the director of music. Of David the servant of the LORD.

¹ An oracle is within my heart

concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: ^A

There is no fear of God

before his eyes.

² For in his own eyes he flatters himself

too much to detect or hate his sin.

³ The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful;

he has ceased to be wise and to do good.

⁴ Even on his bed he plots evil;

he commits himself to a sinful course

and does not reject what is wrong.

⁵ Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the skies.

⁶ Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,

your justice like the great deep.

O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.

⁷ How priceless is your unfailing love!

Both high and low among men

find ^B refuge in the shadow of your wings.

⁸ They feast on the abundance of your house;

you give them drink from your river of delights.

⁹ For with you is the fountain of life;

in your light we see light.

¹⁰ Continue your love to those who know you,

your righteousness to the upright in heart.

¹¹ May the foot of the proud not come against me, ²

nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

¹² See how the evildoers lie fallen--

thrown down, not able to rise! ³

PSALMS: 66

For the director of music. A song. A psalm.

¹ Shout with joy to God, all the earth!

² Sing the glory of his name;

make his praise glorious!

³ Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!

So great is your power

that your enemies cringe before you.

⁴ All the earth bows down to you;

they sing praise to you,

they sing praise to your name."

Selah

⁵ Come and see what God has done,

how awesome his works in man's behalf!

⁶ He turned the sea into dry land,

they passed through the waters on foot--

come, let us rejoice in him.

⁷ He rules forever by his power,

his eyes watch the nations--

let not the rebellious rise up against him.

Selah

⁸ Praise our God, O peoples,

let the sound of his praise be heard;

⁹ he has preserved our lives

and kept our feet from slipping.

¹⁰ For you, O God, tested us;

you refined us like silver.

¹¹ You brought us into prison

and laid burdens on our backs.

¹² You let men ride over our heads; ⁴

we went through fire and water,

but you brought us to a place of abundance.

¹³ I will come to your temple with burnt offerings

and fulfill my vows to you--

¹⁴ vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke

when I was in trouble.

¹⁵ I will sacrifice fat animals to you

and an offering of rams;

I will offer bulls and goats.

Selah

¹⁶ Come and listen, all you who fear God;

let me tell you what he has done for me.

¹⁷ I cried out to him with my mouth;

his praise was on my tongue.

¹⁸ If I had cherished sin in my heart,

the Lord would not have listened;

¹⁹ but God has surely listened

and heard my voice in prayer.

²⁰ Praise be to God,

who has not rejected my prayer

or withheld his love from me! ⁵

PSALMS: 96

¹ Sing to the LORD a new song;

sing to the LORD, all the earth.

² Sing to the LORD, praise his name;

proclaim his salvation day after day.

³ Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

⁴ For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;

he is to be feared above all gods.

⁵ For all the gods of the nations are idols,

but the LORD made the heavens.

⁶ Splendor and majesty are before him;

strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

⁷ Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations,

ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

⁸ Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;

bring an offering and come into his courts.

⁹ Worship the LORD in the splendor of his ^A holiness;

tremble before him, all the earth.

¹⁰ Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns."

The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;

he will judge the peoples with equity.

¹¹ Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;

let the sea resound, and all that is in it;

¹² let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.

Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;

¹³ they will sing before the LORD, for he comes,

he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness

and the peoples in his truth. ⁶

PSALMS: 126

A song of ascents.

¹ When the LORD brought back the captives to ^A Zion,

we were like men who dreamed. ^B

² Our mouths were filled with laughter,

our tongues with songs of joy.

Then it was said among the nations,

"The LORD has done great things for them."

³ The LORD has done great things for us,

and we are filled with joy.

⁴ Restore our fortunes, ^C O LORD,

like streams in the Negev.

⁵ Those who sow in tears

will reap with songs of joy.

⁶ He who goes out weeping,

carrying seed to sow,

will return with songs of joy,

carrying sheaves with him. ⁷

PROVERBS: 6

6 ¹ My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,

if you have struck hands in pledge for another,

² if you have been trapped by what you said,

ensnared by the words of your mouth,

³ then do this, my son, to free yourself,

since you have fallen into your neighbor's hands:

Go and humble yourself;

press your plea with your neighbor!

⁴ Allow no sleep to your eyes,

no slumber to your eyelids.

⁵ Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,

like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

⁶ Go to the ant, you sluggard;

consider its ways and be wise!

⁷ It has no commander,

no overseer or ruler,

⁸ yet it stores its provisions in summer

and gathers its food at harvest.

⁹ How long will you lie there, you sluggard?

When will you get up from your sleep?

¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to rest--

¹¹ and poverty will come on you like a bandit

and scarcity like an armed man. ^A

¹² A scoundrel and villain,

who goes about with a corrupt mouth,

¹³ who winks with his eye,

signals with his feet

and motions with his fingers,

¹⁴ who plots evil with deceit in his heart--

he always stirs up dissension.

¹⁵ Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; ⁸

he will suddenly be destroyed--without remedy.

¹⁶ There are six things the LORD hates,

seven that are detestable to him:

¹⁷ haughty eyes,

a lying tongue,

hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked schemes,

feet that are quick to rush into evil,

¹⁹ a false witness who pours out lies

and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

²⁰ My son, keep your father's commands

and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

²¹ Bind them upon your heart forever;

fasten them around your neck.

²² When you walk, they will guide you;

when you sleep, they will watch over you;

when you awake, they will speak to you.

²³ For these commands are a lamp,

this teaching is a light,

and the corrections of discipline

are the way to life,

²⁴ keeping you from the immoral woman,

from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife.

²⁵ Do not lust in your heart after her beauty

or let her captivate you with her eyes,

²⁶ for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread,

and the adulteress preys upon your very life.

²⁷ Can a man scoop fire into his lap

without his clothes being burned?

²⁸ Can a man walk on hot coals

without his feet being scorched?

²⁹ So is he who sleeps with another man's wife; ⁹

no one who touches her will go unpunished.

³⁰ Men do not despise a thief if he steals

to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.

³¹ Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold,

though it costs him all the wealth of his house.

³² But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment;

whoever does so destroys himself.

³³ Blows and disgrace are his lot,

and his shame will never be wiped away;

³⁴ for jealousy arouses a husband's fury,

and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

³⁵ He will not accept any compensation;

he will refuse the bribe, however great it is. ¹⁰

OLD TESTAMENT: 2 SAMUEL 9:1 - 11:21

9 ¹ David asked, "Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake?"

² Now there was a servant of Saul's household named Ziba. They called him to appear before David, and the king said to him, "Are you Ziba?"

"Your servant," he replied.

³ The king asked, "Is there no one still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show God's kindness?"

Ziba answered the king, "There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in both feet."

⁴ "Where is he?" the king asked.

Ziba answered, "He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar."

⁵ So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.

⁶ When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor.

David said, "Mephibosheth!"

"Your servant," he replied.

⁷ "Don't be afraid," David said to him, "for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table."

⁸ Mephibosheth bowed down and said, "What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?" ⁹ Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, "I have given your master's grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family.

¹⁰ You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master's grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table." (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

¹¹ Then Ziba said to the king, "Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do." So Mephibosheth ate at David's^A table like one of the king's sons.

¹² Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica, and all the members of Ziba's household were servants of Mephibosheth. ¹³And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king's table, and he was crippled in both feet.

10 ¹ In the course of time, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun succeeded him as king. ² David thought, "I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me." So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father.

When David's men came to the land of the Ammonites, ³ the Ammonite nobles said to Hanun their lord, "Do you think David is honoring your father by sending men to you to express sympathy? Hasn't David sent them to you to explore the city and spy it out and overthrow it?" ⁴ So Hanun seized David's men, shaved off half of ^{11 12} each man's beard, cut off their garments in the middle at the buttocks, and sent them away.

⁵ When David was told about this, he sent messengers to meet the men, for they were greatly humiliated. The king said, "Stay at Jericho till your beards have grown, and then come back."

⁶ When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench in David's nostrils, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth Rehob and Zobah, as well as the king of Maacah with a thousand men, and also twelve thousand men from Tob.

⁷ On hearing this, David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men. ⁸ The Ammonites came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance to their city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the open country.

⁹ Joab saw that there were battle lines in front of him and behind him; so he selected some of the best troops in Israel and deployed them against the Arameans. ¹⁰ He put the rest of the men under the command of Abishai his brother and deployed them against the Ammonites. ¹¹ Joab said, "If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to come to my rescue; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to rescue you. ¹² Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The LORD will do what is good in his sight."

¹³ Then Joab and the troops with him advanced to fight the Arameans, and they fled before him. ¹⁴ When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans were fleeing, they fled before Abishai and went ¹³ inside the city. So Joab returned from fighting the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem.

¹⁵ After the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they regrouped.

¹⁶ Hadadezer had Arameans brought from beyond the River ^A; they went to Helam, with Shobach the commander of Hadadezer's army leading them.

¹⁷ When David was told of this, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan and went to Helam. The Arameans formed their battle lines to meet David and fought against him.

¹⁸ But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers. ^B He also struck down Shobach the commander of their army, and he died there. ¹⁹ When all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with the Israelites and became subject to them.

So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.

11 ¹ In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.

² One 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, ³ and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam ¹⁴ and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" ⁴ Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then ^A she went back home. ⁵ The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am pregnant."

⁶ So David sent this word to Joab: "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent him to David. ⁷ When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. ⁸ Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. ⁹ But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master's servants and did not go down to his house.

¹⁰ When David was told, "Uriah did not go home," he asked him, "Haven't you just come from a distance? Why didn't you go home?"

¹¹ Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord's men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!"

¹² Then David said to him, "Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³ At David'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's servants; he did not go home.

¹⁴ In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. ¹⁵ In it he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting ¹⁵is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die."

¹⁶ So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. ¹⁷ When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David's army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.

¹⁸ Joab sent David a full account of the battle. ¹⁹ He instructed the messenger: "When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, ²⁰ the king's anger may flare up, and he may ask you, `Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn't you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? <sup>21</sup> Who killed Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth <sup>B</sup>? Didn't a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?' If he asks you this, then say to him, `Also, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.'" ^{16 22} The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. ²³ The messenger said to David, "The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance to the city gate. ²⁴ Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king's men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead."

²⁵ David told the messenger, "Say this to Joab: `Don't let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.' Say this to encourage Joab."

²⁶ When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. ²⁷ After 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. ¹⁷

NEW TESTAMENT: JOHN 15:1 - 27

15 ¹ "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes ^A so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

⁴ Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵" I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. ⁸ This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

⁹" As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you ¹⁸ whatever you ask in my name. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.

¹⁸ "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the words I spoke to you: `No servant is greater than his master.' <sup>B</sup> If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. <sup>21</sup> They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. <sup>22</sup> If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. <sup>23</sup> He who hates me hates my Father as well. <sup>24</sup> If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. <sup>25</sup> But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: `They hated me without reason.' ^C

²⁶ "When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. ²⁷ And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. ¹⁹

1 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

2 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

3 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

4 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

5 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

6 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

7 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

8 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

9 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

10 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

11 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

12 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

13 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

14 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

15 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

16 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

17 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

18 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

19 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

 John 3:16-21 16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, F that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.G 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." H