Simon reads the Bible

2 Samuel 15 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane. 1  After this, Absalom bought a chariot and horses, and he hired fifty bodyguards to run ahead of him. 2  He got up early every morning and went out to the gate of the city. When people brought a case to the king for judgment, Absalom would ask where in Israel they were from, and they would tell him their tribe. 3  Then Absalom would s...

2 Samuel 14 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  Joab realized how much the king longed to see Absalom. 2  So he sent for a woman from Tekoa who had a reputation for great wisdom. He said to her, “Pretend you are in mourning; wear mourning clothes and don’t put on lotions. Act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for a long time. 3  Then go to the king and tell hi...

2 Samuel 13 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  Now David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar. And Amnon, her half brother, fell desperately in love with her. 2  Amnon became so obsessed with Tamar that he became ill. She was a virgin, and Amnon thought he could never have her. 3  But Amnon had a very crafty friend—his cousin Jonadab. He was the son of David’s...

2 Samuel 12 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: “There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. 2  The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. 3  The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the...

2 Samuel 11 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem. 2  Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof...

2 Samuel 10 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  10  Some time after this, King Nahash of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun became king. 2  David said, “I am going to show loyalty to Hanun just as his father, Nahash, was always loyal to me.” So David sent ambassadors to express sympathy to Hanun about his father’s death. But when David’s ambassadors arrived in the land of Ammon,...

2 Samuel 9 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  One day David asked, “Is anyone in Saul’s family still alive—anyone to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2  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. 3  The king then asked him, “Is anyone still alive from Saul’s family? If so,...

2 Samuel 8 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  8  After this, David defeated and subdued the Philistines by conquering Gath, their largest town. 2  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 Moabite...

2 Samuel 7 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  When King David was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all the surrounding enemies, 2  the king summoned Nathan the prophet. “Look,” David said, “I am living in a beautiful cedar palace, but the Ark of God is out there in a tent!” 3  Nathan replied to the king, “Go ahead and do whatever you have in mind,...

2 Samuel 6 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  Then David again gathered all the elite troops in Israel, 30,000 in all. 2  He led them to Baalah of Judah to bring back the Ark of God, which bears the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, who is enthroned between the cherubim. 3  They placed the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it from Abinadab’s house, which was on a hil...

2 Samuel 5 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  Then all the tribes of Israel went to David at Hebron and told him, “We are your own flesh and blood. 2  In the past, when Saul was our king, you were the one who really led the forces of Israel. And the Lord told you, ‘You will be the shepherd of my people Israel. You will be Israel’s leader.’” 3  So there at Hebron, King Davi...

2 Samuel 4 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  When Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, heard about Abner’s death at Hebron, he lost all courage, and all Israel became paralyzed with fear. 2  Now there were two brothers, Baanah and Recab, who were captains of Ishbosheth’s raiding parties. They were sons of Rimmon, a member of the tribe of Benjamin who lived in Beeroth. The town of Beeroth i...

2 Samuel 3 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  That was the beginning of a long war between those who were loyal to Saul and those loyal to David. As time passed David became stronger and stronger, while Saul’s dynasty became weaker and weaker. 2  These are the sons who were born to David in Hebron: The oldest was Amnon, whose mother was Ahinoam from Jezreel. 3  The second...

2 Samuel 2 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  After this, David asked the Lord, “Should I move back to one of the towns of Judah?” “Yes,” the Lord replied. Then David asked, “Which town should I go to?” “To Hebron,” the Lord answered. 2  David’s two wives were Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel. So David and his wives 3  and his men and their...

2 Samuel 1 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  After the death of Saul, David returned from his victory over the Amalekites and spent two days in Ziklag. 2  On the third day a man arrived from Saul’s army camp. He had torn his clothes and put dirt on his head to show that he was in mourning. He fell to the ground before David in deep respect. 3  “Where have you come from?”...

1 Samuel 31 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  Now the Philistines attacked Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them. Many were slaughtered on the slopes of Mount Gilboa. 2  The Philistines closed in on Saul and his sons, and they killed three of his sons—Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malkishua. 3  The fighting grew very fierce around Saul, and the Philistine archers caugh...

1 Samuel 30 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1 Three days later, when David and his men arrived home at their town of Ziklag, they found that the Amalekites had made a raid into the Negev and Ziklag; they had crushed Ziklag and burned it to the ground. 2  They had carried off the women and children and everyone else but without killing anyone. 3  When David and his men saw the r...

1 Samuel 29 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  The entire Philistine army now mobilized at Aphek, and the Israelites camped at the spring in Jezreel. 2  As the Philistine rulers were leading out their troops in groups of hundreds and thousands, David and his men marched at the rear with King Achish. 3  But the Philistine commanders demanded, “What are these Hebrews doing h...

1 Samuel 28 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  About that time the Philistines mustered their armies for another war with Israel. King Achish told David, “You and your men will be expected to join me in battle.” 2  “Very well!” David agreed. “Now you will see for yourself what we can do.” Then Achish told David, “I will make you my personal bodyguard for life.” 3  Meanwhil...

1 Samuel 27 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  But David kept thinking to himself, “Someday Saul is going to get me. The best thing I can do is escape to the Philistines. Then Saul will stop hunting for me in Israelite territory, and I will finally be safe.” 2  So David took his 600 men and went over and joined Achish son of Maoch, the king of Gath. 3  David and his men an...

1 Samuel 26 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  Now some men from Ziph came to Saul at Gibeah to tell him, “David is hiding on the hill of Hakilah, which overlooks Jeshimon.” 2  So Saul took 3,000 of Israel’s elite troops and went to hunt him down in the wilderness of Ziph. 3  Saul camped along the road beside the hill of Hakilah, near Jeshimon, where David was hiding. When...

1 Samuel 25 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  Now Samuel died, and all Israel gathered for his funeral. They buried him at his house in Ramah. Then David moved down to the wilderness of Maon. 2  There was a wealthy man from Maon who owned property near the town of Carmel. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats, and it was sheep-shearing time. 3  This man’s name was Nabal, and...

1 Samuel 24 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  After Saul returned from fighting the Philistines, he was told that David had gone into the wilderness of En-gedi. 2  So Saul chose 3,000 elite troops from all Israel and went to search for David and his men near the rocks of the wild goats. 3  At the place where the road passes some sheepfolds, Saul went into a cave to reliev...

1 Samuel 23 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  One day news came to David that the Philistines were at Keilah stealing grain from the threshing floors. 2  David asked the Lord, “Should I go and attack them?” “Yes, go and save Keilah,” the Lord told him. 3  But David’s men said, “We’re afraid even here in Judah. We certainly don’t want to go to Keilah to fight the whole Phi...

1 Samuel 22 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane.  1  So David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. Soon his brothers and all his other relatives joined him there. 2  Then others began coming—men who were in trouble or in debt or who were just discontented—until David was the captain of about 400 men. 3  Later David went to Mizpeh in Moab, where he asked the king, “Pleas...