2 Samuel 16 Cross References - BSB

¹ When David had gone a little beyond the summit, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth was there to meet him. He had a pair of saddled donkeys loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred clusters of raisins, a hundred summer fruits, and a skin of wine. ² “Why do you have these?” asked the king. Ziba replied, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride, the bread and summer fruit are for the young men to eat, and the wine is to refresh those who become exhausted in the wilderness.” ³ “Where is your master’s grandson?” asked the king. And Ziba answered, “Indeed, he is staying in Jerusalem, for he has said, ‘Today, the house of Israel will restore to me the kingdom of my grandfather.’” ⁴ So the king said to Ziba, “All that belongs to Mephibosheth is now yours!” “I humbly bow before you,” said Ziba. “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord the king!” ⁵ As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the family of the house of Saul was just coming out. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and as he approached, he kept yelling out curses. ⁶ He threw stones at David and at all the servants of the king, though the troops and all the mighty men were on David’s right and left. ⁷ And as he yelled curses, Shimei said, “Get out, get out, you worthless man of bloodshed! ⁸ The LORD has paid you back for all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the LORD has delivered the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, you have come to ruin because you are a man of bloodshed!” ⁹ Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!” ¹⁰ But the king replied, “What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? If he curses me because the LORD told him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why did you do this?’” ¹¹ Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my own son, my own flesh and blood, seeks my life. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone and let him curse me, for the LORD has told him so. ¹² Perhaps the LORD will see my affliction and repay me with good for the cursing I receive today.” ¹³ So David and his men proceeded along the road as Shimei went along the ridge of the hill opposite him. As Shimei went, he yelled curses, threw stones, and flung dust at David. ¹⁴ Finally, the king and all the people with him arrived, exhausted. And there he refreshed himself. ¹⁵ Then Absalom and all the men of Israel came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with him. ¹⁶ And David’s friend Hushai the Archite went to Absalom and said to him, “Long live the king! Long live the king!” ¹⁷ “Is this the loyalty you show your friend?” Absalom replied. “Why did you not go with your friend?” ¹⁸ “Not at all,” Hushai answered. “For the one chosen by the LORD, by the people, and by all the men of Israel—his I will be, and with him I will remain. ¹⁹ Furthermore, whom should I serve if not the son? As I served in your father’s presence, so also I will serve in yours.” ²⁰ Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give me counsel. What should we do?” ²¹ Ahithophel replied, “Sleep with your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the palace. When all Israel hears that you have become a stench to your father, then the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.” ²² So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel. ²³ Now in those days the advice of Ahithophel was like the consultation of the word of God. Such was the regard that both David and Absalom had for Ahithophel’s advice.

³ Then you will go on from there until you come to the Oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine.

²⁰ And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and one young goat, and sent them to Saul with his son David.

¹⁷ One day Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. ¹⁸ Take also these ten portions of cheese to the commander of their unit. Check on the welfare of your brothers and bring back an assurance from them.

¹⁸ Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys

² And there was a servant of Saul’s family named Ziba. They summoned him to David, and the king inquired, “Are you Ziba?” “I am your servant,” he replied. ³ So the king asked, “Is there anyone left of Saul’s family to whom I can show the kindness of God?” Ziba answered, “There is still Jonathan’s son, who is lame in both feet.” ⁴ “Where is he?” replied the king. And Ziba said, “Indeed, he is in Lo-debar at the house of Machir son of Ammiel.” ⁵ So King David had him brought from the house of Machir son of Ammiel in Lo-debar. ⁶ And when Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he fell facedown in reverence. Then David said, “Mephibosheth!” “I am your servant,” he replied. ⁷ “Do not be afraid,” said David, “for surely I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” ⁸ Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog like me?” ⁹ Then the king summoned Saul’s servant Ziba and said to him, “I have given to your master’s grandson all that belonged to Saul and to all his house. ¹⁰ You and your sons and servants are to work the ground for him and bring in the harvest, so that your master’s grandson may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, is always to eat at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. ¹¹ And Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do all that my lord the king has commanded.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s own sons. ¹² And Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica, and all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants of Mephibosheth. ¹³ So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table, and he was lame in both feet.

³⁰ But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went up. His head was covered, and he was walking barefoot. And all the people with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went.

³² When David came to the summit, where he used to worship God, Hushai the Archite was there to meet him with his robe torn and dust on his head.

²⁷ When David came to Mahanaim, he was met by Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim. ²⁸ They brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, as well as wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, ²⁹ honey, curds, sheep, and cheese from the herd for David and his people to eat. For they said, “The people have become hungry, exhausted, and thirsty in the wilderness.”

³² Barzillai was quite old, eighty years of age, and since he was a very wealthy man, he had provided for the king while he stayed in Mahanaim.

⁴⁰ And their neighbors from as far away as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali came bringing food on donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen—abundant supplies of flour, fig cakes and raisin cakes, wine and oil, oxen and sheep. Indeed, there was joy in Israel.

¹⁶ A man’s gift opens doors for him, and brings him before great men.

⁴ By justice a king brings stability to the land, but a man who exacts tribute demolishes it. ⁵ A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.

¹⁰ As for me, I will stay in Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us. As for you, gather wine grapes, summer fruit, and oil, place them in your storage jars, and live in the cities you have taken.”

¹² they all returned from all the places to which they had been banished and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah. And they gathered an abundance of wine grapes and summer fruit.

¹ This is what the Lord GOD showed me: I saw a basket of summer fruit.

¹ Woe is me! For I am like one gathering summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I crave.

²⁹ and Abimelech asked him, “Why have you set apart these seven ewe lambs?”

⁸ “What do you mean by sending this whole company to meet me?” asked Esau. “To find favor in your sight, my lord,” Jacob answered.

¹⁰ You who ride white donkeys, who sit on saddle blankets, and you who travel the road, ponder

⁴ Then Gideon and his three hundred men came to the Jordan and crossed it, exhausted yet still in pursuit. ⁵ So Gideon said to the men of Succoth, “Please give my troops some bread, for they are exhausted, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

⁴ He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys. And they had thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth-jair.

²⁸ Then one of the soldiers told him, “Your father bound the troops with a solemn oath, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eats food today.’ That is why the people are faint.”

²⁷ Now let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow you.

¹ Some time later, Absalom provided for himself a chariot with horses and fifty men to run ahead of him.

²³ Everyone in the countryside was weeping loudly as all the people passed by. And as the king crossed the Kidron Valley, all the people also passed toward the way of the wilderness.

²⁹ honey, curds, sheep, and cheese from the herd for David and his people to eat. For they said, “The people have become hungry, exhausted, and thirsty in the wilderness.”

²⁶ “My lord the king,” he replied, “because I am lame, I said, ‘I will have my donkey saddled so that I may ride on it and go with the king.’ But my servant Ziba deceived me,

⁶ Give strong drink to one who is perishing, and wine to the bitter in soul. ⁷ Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

¹⁸ When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you explain to us what you mean by these?’

¹⁶ You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¹⁸ The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is proven to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother, ¹⁹ you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. So you must purge the evil from among you.

⁹ Then the king summoned Saul’s servant Ziba and said to him, “I have given to your master’s grandson all that belonged to Saul and to all his house. ¹⁰ You and your sons and servants are to work the ground for him and bring in the harvest, so that your master’s grandson may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, is always to eat at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.

²⁴ Then Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, went down to meet the king. He had not cared for his feet or trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king had left until the day he returned safely. ²⁵ And he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, who asked him, “Mephibosheth, why did you not go with me?” ²⁶ “My lord the king,” he replied, “because I am lame, I said, ‘I will have my donkey saddled so that I may ride on it and go with the king.’ But my servant Ziba deceived me, ²⁷ and he has slandered your servant to my lord the king. Yet my lord the king is like the angel of God, so do what is good in your eyes. ²⁸ For all the house of my grandfather deserves death from my lord the king, yet you have set your servant among those who eat at your table. What further right, then, do I have to keep appealing to the king?” ²⁹ The king replied, “Why say any more? I hereby declare that you and Ziba are to divide the land.” ³⁰ And Mephibosheth said to the king, “Instead, since my lord the king has safely come to his own house, let Ziba take it all!”

³ who has no slander on his tongue, who does no harm to his neighbor, who casts no scorn on his friend,

¹⁸ You have removed my beloved and my friend; darkness is my closest companion.

⁵ Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; the one with haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not endure.

¹⁹ Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.

²⁸ A lying witness will perish, but the man who listens to truth will speak forever.

⁵ Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.

⁹ Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

¹¹ Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.

⁸ Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.

¹⁵ A lone witness is not sufficient to establish any wrongdoing or sin against a man, regardless of what offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

⁴ When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell facedown in homage and said, “Help me, O king!”

¹⁰ “If anyone speaks to you,” said the king, “bring him to me, and he will not trouble you again!” ¹¹ “Please,” she replied, “may the king invoke the LORD your God to prevent the avenger of blood from increasing the devastation, so that my son may not be destroyed!” “As surely as the LORD lives,” he vowed, “not a hair of your son’s head will fall to the ground.”

²² Joab fell facedown in homage and blessed the king. “Today,” said Joab, “your servant knows that he has found favor with you, my lord the king, because the king has granted his request.”

¹³ He who answers a matter before he hears it—this is folly and disgrace to him.

¹⁷ The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

² Even zeal is no good without knowledge, and he who hurries his footsteps misses the mark.

²⁸ You must not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.

⁴³ “Am I a dog,” he said to David, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

¹⁶ Her husband followed her, weeping all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go back.” So he returned home.

¹⁴ Finally, the king and all the people with him arrived, exhausted. And there he refreshed himself.

¹⁸ But a young man did see them and told Absalom. So the two left quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it.

¹⁶ Then Shimei son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David, ¹⁷ along with a thousand men of Benjamin, as well as Ziba the steward of the house of Saul and his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They rushed down to the Jordan before the king ¹⁸ and crossed at the ford to carry over the king’s household and to do what was good in his sight. When Shimei son of Gera crossed the Jordan, he fell down before the king ¹⁹ and said, “My lord, do not hold me guilty, and do not remember your servant’s wrongdoing on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king not take it to heart. ²⁰ For your servant knows that I have sinned, so here I am today as the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.” ²¹ But Abishai son of Zeruiah said, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD’s anointed?” ²² And David replied, “Sons of Zeruiah, what have I to do with you, that you should be my adversaries today? Should any man be put to death in Israel today? Am I not indeed aware that today I am king over Israel?” ²³ So the king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king swore an oath to him.

⁸ Keep an eye on Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim who is with you. He called down bitter curses against me on the day I went to Mahanaim, but when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the LORD: ‘I will never put you to the sword.’ ⁹ Now therefore, do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man. You know what you ought to do to him to bring his gray head down to Sheol in blood.”

³⁶ Then the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem and live there, but do not go anywhere else. ³⁷ On the day you go out and cross the Kidron Valley, know for sure that you will die; your blood will be on your own head.” ³⁸ “The sentence is fair,” Shimei replied. “Your servant will do as my lord the king has spoken.” And Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time. ³⁹ After three years, however, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And Shimei was told, “Look, your slaves are in Gath.” ⁴⁰ So Shimei saddled his donkey and set out to Achish at Gath in search of his slaves, and he brought them back from Gath. ⁴¹ When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned, ⁴² the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the LORD and warn you, ‘On the day you leave and go elsewhere, know for sure that you will die’? And you told me, ‘The sentence is fair; I will comply.’ ⁴³ So why have you not kept your oath to the LORD and the command that I gave you?” ⁴⁴ The king also said, “You know in your heart all the evil that you did to my father David. Therefore the LORD will bring your evil back upon your head. ⁴⁵ But King Solomon will be blessed and David’s throne will remain secure before the LORD forever.” ⁴⁶ Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down, and he died. Thus the kingdom was firmly established in the hand of Solomon.

²⁶ For they persecute the one You struck and recount the pain of those You wounded.

¹⁶ For he never thought to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and brokenhearted, even to their death. ¹⁷ The cursing that he loved, may it fall on him; the blessing in which he refused to delight, may it be far from him. ¹⁸ The cursing that he wore like a coat, may it soak into his body like water, and into his bones like oil. ¹⁹ May it be like a robe wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him.

²⁸ Though they curse, You will bless. When they rise up, they will be put to shame, but Your servant will rejoice.

² Like a fluttering sparrow or darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.

²⁰ Do not curse the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich even in your bedroom, for a bird of the air may carry your words, and a winged creature may report your speech.

²¹ They will roam the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged; and looking upward, they will curse their king and their God.

¹¹ Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.

¹³ that wicked men have arisen from among you and have led the people of their city astray, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” (which you have not known),

¹² Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD

¹⁷ Now consider carefully what you must do, because disaster looms over our master and all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that nobody can speak to him!”

³⁷ So on that day all the troops and all Israel were convinced that the king had no part in the murder of Abner son of Ner.

¹⁵ In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.” ¹⁶ So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he saw the strongest enemy soldiers. ¹⁷ And when the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of David’s servants fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died.

⁹ Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own, for you have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.

¹⁰ But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify, ‘You have cursed both God and the king!’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”

¹³ And the two scoundrels came in and sat opposite Naboth, and these men testified against him before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king!” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death.

⁶ You destroy those who tell lies; the LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.

¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.

²⁴ in order that the crime against the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come to justice and their blood be avenged on their brother Abimelech and on the leaders of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers.

⁵⁶ In this way God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father in murdering his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ And God also brought all the wickedness of the men of Shechem back upon their own heads. So the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal came upon them.

¹⁶ For David had said to the Amalekite, “Your blood be on your own head because your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’”

²⁸ Afterward, David heard about this and said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the LORD concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner. ²⁹ May it whirl over the heads of Joab and the entire house of his father, and may the house of Joab never be without one having a discharge or skin disease, or one who leans on a staff or falls by the sword or lacks food.”

⁸ They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life. Today the LORD has granted vengeance to my lord the king against Saul and his offspring.” ⁹ But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress, ¹⁰ when someone told me, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was a bearer of good news, I seized him and put him to death at Ziklag. That was his reward for his news! ¹¹ How much more, when wicked men kill a righteous man in his own house and on his own bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hands and remove you from the earth!” ¹² So David commanded his young men, and they killed Rechab and Baanah. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies by the pool in Hebron, but they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.

⁹ And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the LORD. So all seven of them fell together; they were put to death in the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

³² The LORD will bring his bloodshed back upon his own head, for without the knowledge of my father David he struck down two men more righteous and better than he when he put to the sword Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army. ³³ Their blood will come back upon the heads of Joab and his descendants forever; but for David, his descendants, his house, and his throne, there shall be peace from the LORD forever.”

² Many say of me, “God will not deliver him.” Selah

² How long, O men, will my honor be maligned? How long will you love vanity and seek after lies? Selah

⁴ When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “Surely this man is a murderer. Although he was saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” ⁵ But Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no ill effects.

⁶ For they have spilled the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink, as they deserve.”

¹⁴ Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea?

⁶ And David asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” “I will go with you,” answered Abishai. ⁷ That night David and Abishai came to the troops, and Saul was lying there asleep in the inner circle of the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. And Abner and the troops were lying around him. ⁸ Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Now, therefore, please let me thrust the spear through him into the ground with one stroke. I will not need to strike him twice!” ⁹ But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can lift a hand against the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless?” ¹⁰ David added, “As surely as the LORD lives, the LORD Himself will strike him down; either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. ¹¹ But the LORD forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the LORD’s anointed. Instead, take the spear and water jug by his head, and let us go.”

⁸ Abner was furious over Ish-bosheth’s accusation. “Am I the head of a dog that belongs to Judah?” he asked. “All this time I have been loyal to the house of your father Saul, to his brothers, and to his friends. I have not delivered you into the hand of David, but now you accuse me of wrongdoing with this woman!

³⁰ (Joab and his brother Abishai murdered Abner because he had killed their brother Asahel in the battle at Gibeon.)

⁸ Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog like me?”

³⁰ I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse— ³¹ if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’—

¹³ Meanwhile, Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies in the field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah ¹⁴ and said to him, “Are you aware that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them. ¹⁵ Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke privately to Gedaliah at Mizpah. “Let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah,” he said. “No one will know it. Why should he take your life and scatter all the people of Judah who have gathered to you, so that the remnant of Judah would perish?” ¹⁶ But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not do such a thing! What you are saying about Ishmael is a lie.”

⁵⁴ When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do You want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”

⁵ “Brothers,” Paul replied, “I was not aware that he was the high priest, for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’”

¹⁷ Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

²⁰ As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people.

³⁹ And I am weak this day, though anointed as king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too fierce for me. May the LORD repay the evildoer according to his evil!”

²² And David replied, “Sons of Zeruiah, what have I to do with you, that you should be my adversaries today? Should any man be put to death in Israel today? Am I not indeed aware that today I am king over Israel?”

⁵ Moreover, you know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether, the two commanders of the armies of Israel. He killed them in peacetime to avenge the blood of war. He stained with the blood of war the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet.

²¹ Then a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ ‘By what means?’ asked the LORD. ²² And he replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ ‘You will surely entice him and prevail,’ said the LORD. ‘Go and do it.’ ²³ So you see, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours, and the LORD has pronounced disaster against you.”

²⁵ So now, was it apart from the LORD that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The LORD Himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”

¹² If He takes away, who can stop Him? Who dares to ask Him, ‘What are You doing?’

⁴ For the king’s word is supreme, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

³⁸ Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High? ³⁹ Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?

³⁵ All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”

²³ But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

⁵⁴ When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do You want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” ⁵⁵ But Jesus turned and rebuked them. ⁵⁶ And He and His disciples went on to another village.

¹¹ “Put your sword back in its sheath!” Jesus said to Peter. “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me?”

²⁰ But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”

²³ When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.

⁴ Then the word of the LORD came to Abram, saying, “This one will not be your heir, but one who comes from your own body will be your heir.”

⁵ And now, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves that you sold me into this place, because it was to save lives that God sent me before you.

² he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”

¹¹ This is what the LORD says: ‘I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to another, and he will lie with them in broad daylight. ¹² You have acted in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

¹ Furthermore, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men and set out tonight in pursuit of David. ² I will attack him while he is weak and weary; I will throw him into a panic, and all the people with him will flee; I will strike down only the king ³ and bring all the people back to you as a bride returning to her husband. You seek the life of only one man; then all the people will be at peace.” ⁴ This proposal seemed good to Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

³⁷ One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

²¹ and the LORD sent an angel who annihilated every mighty man of valor and every leader and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons struck him down with the sword.

⁵ Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath. ⁶ I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets. ⁷ But this is not his intention; this is not his plan. For it is in his heart to destroy and cut off many nations.

⁹ But if the prophet is enticed to speak a message, then it was I the LORD who enticed him, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel.

²⁵ I also gave them over to statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.

²¹ Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death.

³² And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD has seen my affliction. Surely my husband will love me now.” ³³ Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son as well.” So she named him Simeon.

²⁴ So God heard their groaning, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ²⁵ God saw the Israelites and took notice.

⁷ The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings. ⁸ I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

⁵ Yet the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam, and the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you.

¹¹ And she made a vow, pleading, “O LORD of Hosts, if only You will look upon the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, not forgetting Your maidservant but giving her a son, then I will dedicate him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever come over his head.”

¹⁸ Consider my affliction and trouble, and take away all my sins.

⁷ Has the LORD struck Israel as He struck her oppressors? Was she killed like those who slayed her?

²⁸ And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

¹⁷ For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison.

⁷ and to grant relief to you who are oppressed and to us as well. This will take place when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels

¹⁰ Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.

¹² Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory. ¹⁴ If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. ¹⁵ Indeed, none of you should suffer as a murderer or thief or wrongdoer, or even as a meddler. ¹⁶ But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear that name. ¹⁷ For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God? ¹⁸ And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” ¹⁹ So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should entrust their souls to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

⁵ As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the family of the house of Saul was just coming out. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and as he approached, he kept yelling out curses. ⁶ He threw stones at David and at all the servants of the king, though the troops and all the mighty men were on David’s right and left.

²³ Then he called two of his centurions and said, “Prepare two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea in the third hour of the night.

¹² While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, to come from his hometown of Giloh. So the conspiracy gained strength, and Absalom’s following kept increasing.

³⁷ So David’s friend Hushai arrived in Jerusalem just as Absalom was entering the city.

²⁴ Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one the LORD has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

²⁵ For today he has gone down and sacrificed an abundance of oxen, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the sons of the king, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest. And behold, they are eating and drinking before him, saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’

³⁴ There Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet are to anoint him king over Israel. You are to blow the ram’s horn and declare, ‘Long live King Solomon!’

¹² Then Jehoiada brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, presented him with the Testimony, and proclaimed him king. They anointed him, and the people clapped their hands and declared, “Long live the king!”

⁴ Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, may you live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.”

¹⁰ Hearing the outcry of the king and his nobles, the queen entered the banquet hall. “O king, may you live forever!” she said. “Do not let your thoughts terrify you, or your face grow pale.

⁶ So the administrators and satraps went together to the king and said, “O King Darius, may you live forever!

²¹ Then Daniel replied, “O king, may you live forever!

⁹ The crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed were shouting: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!”

⁶ Is this how you repay the LORD, O foolish and senseless people? Is He not your Father and Creator? Has He not made you and established you?

³² When David came to the summit, where he used to worship God, Hushai the Archite was there to meet him with his robe torn and dust on his head. ³³ David said to him, “If you go on with me, you will be a burden to me. ³⁴ But you can thwart the counsel of Ahithophel for me if you return to the city and say to Absalom: ‘I will be your servant, my king; in the past I was your father’s servant, but now I will be your servant.’ ³⁵ Will not Zadok and Abiathar the priests be there with you? Report to them everything you hear from the king’s palace. ³⁶ Indeed, their two sons, Ahimaaz son of Zadok and Jonathan son of Abiathar, are there with them. Send them to me with everything you hear.” ³⁷ So David’s friend Hushai arrived in Jerusalem just as Absalom was entering the city.

²⁵ And he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, who asked him, “Mephibosheth, why did you not go with me?”

¹⁷ A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

²⁴ A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother.

¹³ So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. Then Samuel set out and went to Ramah.

¹ Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood. ² Even in times past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them back. And to you the LORD said, ‘You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be ruler over them.’” ³ So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, where King David made with them a covenant before the LORD. And they anointed him king over Israel.

² David replied, “Then you will come to know what your servant can do.” “Very well,” said Achish. “I will make you my bodyguard for life.”

⁸ “But what have I done?” David replied. “What have you found against your servant, from the day I came to you until today, to keep me from going along to fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”

³⁴ But you can thwart the counsel of Ahithophel for me if you return to the city and say to Absalom: ‘I will be your servant, my king; in the past I was your father’s servant, but now I will be your servant.’

²¹ His speech is smooth as butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are swords unsheathed.

¹³ The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

¹⁰ Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase even more; and if a war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”

² The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together, against the LORD and against His Anointed One:

¹² The wicked scheme against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them, ¹³ but the Lord laughs, seeing that their day is coming.

³⁰ There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.

¹⁰ Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; state a proposal, but it will not happen. For God is with us.”

¹⁵ Woe to those who dig deep to hide their plans from the LORD. In darkness they do their works and say, “Who sees us, and who will know?”

¹ When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people conspired against Jesus to put Him to death.

²³ On their release, Peter and John returned to their own people and reported everything that the chief priests and elders had said to them. ²⁴ When the believers heard this, they lifted up their voices to God with one accord. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “You made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. ²⁵ You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? ²⁶ The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against His Anointed One.’ ²⁷ In fact, this is the very city where Herod and Pontius Pilate conspired with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed. ²⁸ They carried out what Your hand and will had decided beforehand would happen.

⁴ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and afterward as well—when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.

³⁰ Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”

²² While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:

¹⁶ Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.” “What will you give me for sleeping with you?” she inquired.

³ Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power. ⁴ Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it.

⁸ You must not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; it would dishonor your father.

¹¹ If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

⁴ And all Israel heard the news: “Saul has attacked an outpost of the Philistines, and now Israel has become a stench to the Philistines!” Then the people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal.

¹² So Achish trusted David, thinking, “Since he has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel, he will be my servant forever.”

⁷ Now then, be strong and courageous, for though Saul your lord is dead, the house of Judah has anointed me as their king.”

¹¹ This is what the LORD says: ‘I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to another, and he will lie with them in broad daylight.

¹⁶ Then the king set out, and his entire household followed him. But he left behind ten concubines to take care of the palace.

³ When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace, and he placed them in a house under guard. He provided for them, but he no longer slept with them. They were confined until the day of their death, living as widows.

¹⁷ Adonijah replied, “Please speak to King Solomon, since he will not turn you down. Let him give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”

²² King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you request Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Since he is my older brother, you might as well request the kingdom for him and for Abiathar the priest and for Joab son of Zeruiah!”

¹³ As you have been a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid; let your hands be strong.”

¹ It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is intolerable even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.

⁶ Just then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and the whole congregation of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

² One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman.

⁹ The expression on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it. Woe to them, for they have brought disaster upon themselves.

³ Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.

¹² Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they will collapse, says the LORD.

⁷ For the blood she shed is still within her; she poured it out on the bare rock; she did not pour it on the ground to cover it with dust.

¹⁹ Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.

²¹ He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who will seek counsel for him before the LORD by the judgment of the Urim. At his command, he and all the Israelites with him—the entire congregation—will go out and come in.”

⁸ and David inquired of the LORD: “Should I pursue these raiders? Will I overtake them?” “Pursue them,” the LORD replied, “for you will surely overtake them and rescue the captives.”

¹⁴ Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than that of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had purposed to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom.

²³ When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his affairs in order and hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.

¹² He thwarts the schemes of the crafty, so that their hands find no success.

²⁸ And He said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

⁷ The Law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making wise the simple.

² Hear my cry for mercy when I call to You for help, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.

¹ As dead flies bring a stench to the perfumer’s oil, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

²² “For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”

⁹ The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what wisdom do they really have?

²⁵ At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

⁸ The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the sons of light.

²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,

¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.” ²⁰ And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth. ¹⁵ Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere. ¹⁸ Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness.

¹¹ If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God. If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.