2 Samuel 12 Cross References - NHEB

¹ The LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, "There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. ² The rich man had very many flocks and herds, ³ but the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up together with him, and with his children. It ate of his own food, drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was to him like a daughter. ⁴ A traveler came to the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man who had come to him, but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man who had come to him." ⁵ David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this is worthy to die. ⁶ He shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity." ⁷ Nathan said to David, "You are the man. This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. ⁸ I gave you your master's house, and your master's wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that would have been too little, I would have added to you many more such things. ⁹ Why have you despised the LORD, to do that which is evil in his sight? You have struck Uriah the Hethite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the people of Ammon. ¹⁰ Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hethite to be your wife.' ¹¹ "This is what the LORD says: 'Look, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. ¹² For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.'" ¹³ David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin. You will not die. ¹⁴ However, because by this deed you have shown utter contempt for the LORD, the child also who is born to you shall surely die." ¹⁵ Then Nathan went to his home. And God struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it was very sick. ¹⁶ Then David sought from God on behalf of the child. And David fasted, and went in and lay all night on the ground. ¹⁷ And the elders of his house approached him to lift him up from the ground, but he was unwilling, and he would not eat food with them. ¹⁸ It happened on the seventh day, that the child died. The servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead; for they said, "Look, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to our voice. How will he then harm himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?" ¹⁹ But when David noticed that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; and David said to his servants, "Is the child dead?" They said, "He is dead." ²⁰ Then David arose from the ground, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his clothing; and he came into the house of the LORD, and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and he asked for bread to eat. And they set bread before him, and he ate. ²¹ Then his servants said to him, "What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept and kept vigil for the child while he was alive; but when the child was dead, you rose up and ate bread." ²² He said, "While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, 'Who knows whether the LORD will not be gracious to me, that the child may live?' ²³ But now he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me." ²⁴ David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her, and lay with her. She bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. The LORD loved him; ²⁵ and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he named him Jedidiah, for the LORD's sake. ²⁶ Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the people of Ammon, and took the royal city. ²⁷ Joab sent messengers to David, and said, "I have fought against Rabbah, and have also taken the water supply of the city. ²⁸ Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and besiege the city and capture it yourself, or I will capture the city, and it will be named after me." ²⁹ David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it. ³⁰ He took the crown of their king from off his head; and its weight was a talent of gold, and in it were precious stones; and it was set on David's head. He brought out the spoil of the city, a very great amount. ³¹ He brought out the people who were in it, and put them to work with saws, and iron picks, and iron axes, and to labor at the brick kiln. And he did the same to all the cities of the people of Ammon. David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

⁷ And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said to them, "Listen to me, you lords of Shechem, that God may listen to you. ⁸ The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said to the olive tree, 'Reign you over us.' ⁹ "But the olive tree said to them, 'Should I leave my fatness, with which by me they honor God and man, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?' ¹⁰ "The trees said to the fig tree, 'Come, and reign over us.' ¹¹ "But the fig tree said to them, 'Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?' ¹² "The trees said to the vine, 'Come, and reign over us.' ¹³ "The vine said to them, 'Should I leave my new wine, which cheers God and man, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?' ¹⁴ "Then all the trees said to the bramble, 'Come, and reign over us.' ¹⁵ "The bramble said to the trees, 'If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.'

¹ It happened, when the king lived in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies all around, ² that the king said to Nathan the prophet, "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within curtains." ³ Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that is in your heart; for the LORD is with you." ⁴ It happened the same night, that the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying, ⁵ "Go and tell my servant David, 'Thus says the LORD, "Shall you build me a house for me to dwell in?

¹⁷ According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

¹⁰ And it was reported to David, saying, "Uriah did not go down to his house." So David said to Uriah, "Haven't you come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" ¹¹ Uriah said to David, "The ark, Israel, and Judah, are staying in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are camped in the open field. Shall I then go into my house to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As the LORD lives, and as you live, I will not do this thing." ¹² David said to Uriah, "Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart." So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day. ¹³ And the next day David summoned him, and he ate and drank in his presence, and he made him drunk. But in the evening he went out and lay on a bed with the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. ¹⁴ It happened in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵ He wrote in the letter, saying, "Send Uriah to the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck, and die." ¹⁶ It happened, when Joab kept watch on the city, that he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew that valiant men were. ¹⁷ The men of the city went out, and fought with Joab. Some of the people fell, even of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hethite died also.

²⁵ Then David said to the messenger, "Thus you shall tell Joab, 'Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Make your battle stronger against the city, and overthrow it.' Encourage him."

⁵ The king said to her, "What ails you?" She answered, "Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead. ⁶ Your handmaid had two sons, and they both fought together in the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one struck the other, and killed him. ⁷ Look, the whole family has risen against your handmaid, and they say, 'Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he killed, and so destroy the heir also.' Thus they would quench my coal which is left, and would leave to my husband neither name nor remainder on the surface of the earth." ⁸ The king said to the woman, "Go to your house, and I will give a command concerning you." ⁹ The woman of Tekoa said to the king, "My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father's house; and the king and his throne be guiltless." ¹⁰ The king said, "Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall not touch you any more." ¹¹ Then she said, "Please let the king remember the LORD your God, that the avenger of blood destroy not any more, lest they destroy my son." He said, "As the LORD lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground."

¹⁴ For we must die, and are as water split on the ground, which can't be gathered up again; neither does God take away life, but devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast from him.

¹¹ When David rose up in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, ¹² "Go and speak to David, 'Thus says the LORD, "I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you."'" ¹³ So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, "Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now answer, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me."

¹ Look, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD to Beth El: and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.

¹ And it happened after many days that the word of the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, "Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth."

³⁵ A certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow by the word of the LORD, "Please strike me." The man refused to strike him. ³⁶ Then he said to him, "Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, look, as soon as you are departed from me, a lion shall kill you." As soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and killed him. ³⁷ Then he found another man, and said, "Please strike me." The man struck him, smiting and wounding him. ³⁸ So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with his headband over his eyes. ³⁹ As the king passed by, he cried to the king; and he said, "Your servant went out into the midst of the battle; and look, a man turned aside, and brought a man to me, and said, 'Guard this man. If by any means he be missing, then your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.' ⁴⁰ As your servant was busy here and there, he was gone." The king of Israel said to him, "So your judgment shall be; you yourself have decided it." ⁴¹ He hurried, and took the headband away from his eyes; and the king of Israel recognized that he was of the prophets.

³ But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and tell them, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you go to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron?

¹ [For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.] Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. ² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. ³ For I know my transgressions. My sin is constantly before me. ⁴ Against you, and you only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight; that you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge. ⁵ Look, I was brought forth in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me. ⁶ Look, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place. ⁷ Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. ⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness, That the bones which you have broken may rejoice. ⁹ Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities. ¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. ¹¹ Do not throw me from your presence, and do not take your holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit. ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways. Sinners shall be converted to you. ¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation. My tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness. ¹⁵ Lord, open my lips. My mouth shall declare your praise. ¹⁶ For you do not delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering. ¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. ¹⁸ Do well in your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings. Then they will offer bulls on your altar.

¹ Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. ² He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst, and also cut out a winepress in it. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. ³ "Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard. ⁴ What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes? ⁵ Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall of it, and it will be trampled down. ⁶ I will lay it a wasteland. It won't be pruned nor hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it." ⁷ For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, look, oppression; for righteousness, but, look, a cry of distress.

¹⁷ For the iniquity of his covetousness was I angry, and struck him; I hid myself and was angry; and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. ¹⁸ I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners.

³³ "Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, leased it out to tenant farmers, and went on a journey. ³⁴ When the season for the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants, to receive his fruit. ³⁵ The tenants took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶ Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they treated them the same way. ³⁷ But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, 'They will respect my son.' ³⁸ But the tenants, when they saw the son, said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and have his inheritance.' ³⁹ So they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰ When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" ⁴¹ They told him, "He will utterly destroy those evil men, and will lease out the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him the fruit in its season." ⁴² Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, 'The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes?' ⁴³ "Therefore I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation bringing forth its fruit. ⁴⁴ He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it will fall, it will crush him." ⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke about them.

¹¹ He said, "A certain man had two sons. ¹² The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of your property.' He divided his livelihood between them. ¹³ Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living. ¹⁴ When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ And he wanted to fill himself with the carob pods that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any. ¹⁷ But when he came to himself he said, 'How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough to spare, and I'm dying here with hunger. ¹⁸ I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants."' ²⁰ "He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. ²¹ The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' ²² "But the father said to his servants, 'Quickly, bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat, and celebrate; ²⁴ for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.' They began to celebrate. ²⁵ "Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ He called one of the servants to him, and asked what was going on. ²⁷ He said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.' ²⁸ But he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father came out, and pleaded with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this, your son, came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.' ³¹ "He said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³² But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this brother of yours was dead and is alive; and he was lost, and is found.'"

¹⁹ "Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day. ²⁰ A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was placed at his gate, full of sores, ²¹ and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores. ²² It happened that the beggar died, and that he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried. ²³ In hell, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom. ²⁴ He called out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue. For I am in anguish in this flame.' ²⁵ "But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in like manner, bad things. But now here he is comforted and you are in anguish. ²⁶ Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that none may cross over from there to us.' ²⁷ "He said, 'I ask you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house; ²⁸ for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, so they won't also come into this place of torment.' ²⁹ "But Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the Prophets. Let them listen to them.' ³⁰ "He said, 'No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' ³¹ "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.'"

² Now sons were born to David in Hebron. And his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam of Jezreel; ³ and his second, Daluiah, of Abigail of Carmel; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; ⁴ and the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah, of Abital; ⁵ and the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah, David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron.

¹³ David took more secondary wives and wives out of Jerusalem, after he had come from Hebron; and there were born to David more sons and daughters. ¹⁴ These are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, ¹⁵ and Ibhar, and Elishua, and Eliphelet, and Nogah, and Nepheg, and Japhia, ¹⁶ and Elishama, and Baaliada, and Eliphelet.

⁸ I gave you your master's house, and your master's wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that would have been too little, I would have added to you many more such things.

¹⁶ And the king went out with all his household following him. But the king left ten women, who were secondary wives, to take care of the palace.

³ His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.

⁶ If your brother, the son of your father, or the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your friend who is closest to you, entice you secretly, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods," which you have not known, you, nor your fathers;

³ David sent and inquired after the woman. One said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hethite?"

¹⁸ Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. ¹⁹ A loving doe and a graceful deer—let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.

⁵ Do not trust in a neighbor. Do not put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth.

² He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the entrance of the tent, and bowed himself to the earth, ³ and said, "My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please do not go on past your servant. ⁴ Now let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. ⁵ I will get a bit of food so you may refresh yourselves. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant." They said, "Very well, do as you have said." ⁶ Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Quickly, get three measures of fine flour, knead it, and make bread." ⁷ Abraham ran to the herd, and took a tender and good calf, and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it.

³ David sent and inquired after the woman. One said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hethite?" ⁴ David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her (for she was purified from her uncleanness); and she returned to her house.

¹⁴ But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.

²⁴ Now it happened about three months later that Judah was told, saying, "Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has turned to prostitution, and now, look, she is pregnant by prostitution." Judah said, "Bring her out, and let her be burned."

³⁹ For, as the LORD lives, who saves Israel, though it is in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die." But there was not a man among all the people who answered him.

³¹ For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, your kingdom will not be established. Therefore now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die."

²¹ Now David had said, "Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. He has returned me evil for good. ²² God do so to David, and more also, if I leave of all that belongs to him by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall."

¹⁶ This thing isn't good that you have done. As the LORD lives, you are worthy to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the LORD's anointed. Now look, where is the kingʼs spear, and where is the jar of water that was by his head?"

⁴¹ And why do you see the speck of chaff that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴² Or how can you tell your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck of chaff that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite. First remove the log from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck of chaff that is in your brother's eye.

⁵⁵ And he turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not realize what kind of Spirit you belong to.

¹ Therefore you are without excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things.

¹ "If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it, or sells it; he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.

³¹ but if he is found, he must repay seven times. He shall give all the wealth of his house.

⁸ And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much."

¹³ For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹³ Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which he commanded you; for now the LORD would have established your kingdom on Israel forever.

¹⁷ Samuel said, "Though you were little in your own sight, weren't you made the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel;

¹³ Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily on David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

¹¹ and Saul threw the spear; for he said, "I will pin David even to the wall." David escaped from his presence twice.

²¹ And Saul thought, "I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him." Therefore Saul said to David, "You shall this day be my son-in-law a second time."

¹⁰ Saul sought to pin David even to the wall with the spear; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he stuck the spear into the wall. David fled, and escaped that night. ¹¹ Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and to kill him in the morning. Mikal, David's wife, told him, saying, "If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed." ¹² So Mikal let David down through the window. He went, fled, and escaped. ¹³ Mikal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' hair at its head, and covered it with the clothes. ¹⁴ When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, "He is sick." ¹⁵ Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, "Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him."

⁷ Now it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. So Saul said, "God has sold him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering into a town that has gates and bars."

¹⁴ David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but the LORD did not deliver him into his hand.

²⁶ And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men surrounded David and his men to take them. ²⁷ But a messenger came to Saul, saying, "Hurry and come; for the Philistines have made a raid on the land." ²⁸ So Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines. Therefore they called that place Rock of Divisions.

⁸ Now therefore you shall tell my servant David this, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "I took you from the sheep pen, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel.

¹ David spoke to the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:

⁴⁹ who brings me away from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You protect me from the violent man.

¹⁸ He answered, "I have not troubled Israel; but you, and your father's house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and you have followed the Baals.

⁴² He said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.'"

¹⁹ You shall speak to him, saying, 'Thus says the LORD, "Have you killed and also taken possession?"' You shall speak to him, saying, 'Thus says the LORD, "In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick your blood, even yours."'" ²⁰ And Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, my enemy?" And he answered, "I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

¹ [For the Chief Musician. By David the servant of the LORD, who spoke to the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said,] I love you, LORD, my strength.

¹⁴ And he went out, and he saw a large crowd, and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick.

¹⁹ Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD, but took the spoils, and did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD?"

⁴ The men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. They told David, saying, "It was the people of Jabesh Gilead who buried Saul."

⁵ In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

¹⁹ This was a small thing in your eyes, Lord GOD, and you have spoken of your servantʼs house for a great while to come, and you have let me look upon the generation of humankind to come, Lord GOD.

⁷ And David said to him, "Do not be afraid, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father's sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather. You shall eat bread at my table continually."

¹¹ "This is what the LORD says: 'Look, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.

²² King Solomon answered his mother, "Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also. For he is my elder brother. For him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah."

¹¹ For the LORD God is a sun and a shield. The LORD will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.

¹⁵ But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.

³² He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?

⁵ And surely I will require a reckoning for your lifeblood; from every animal I will require it, and from humans. From every human being I will require it for the life of his fellow human being. ⁶ Whoever takes a human life, by a human will his life be taken, for God made humankind in his own image.

¹³ "Do not commit adultery. ¹⁴ "Do not murder.

³⁰ "'But the person who acts defiantly, whether he is native-born or a foreigner, the same blasphemes God, and that person is to be cut off from among his people. ³¹ Because he has despised the word of the LORD, and has broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.'"

²³ For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king."

⁴ David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her (for she was purified from her uncleanness); and she returned to her house.

¹⁴ It happened in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵ He wrote in the letter, saying, "Send Uriah to the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck, and die." ¹⁶ It happened, when Joab kept watch on the city, that he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew that valiant men were. ¹⁷ The men of the city went out, and fought with Joab. Some of the people fell, even of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hethite died also. ¹⁸ Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war; ¹⁹ and he commanded the messenger, saying, "When you have finished telling all the things concerning the war to the king, ²⁰ it shall be that, if his anger rises and he asks you, 'Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall. ²¹ Who struck Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal? Did a woman not cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?' Then you shall say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hethite is dead also.'" ²² And the messenger of Joab went to the king in Jerusalem and came and reported to David all that Joab had told him. ²³ The messenger said to David, "The men prevailed against us, and came out to us into the field, and we were on them even to the entrance of the gate. ²⁴ And the archers shot at your servants from off the wall, and some eighteen men of the king's servants are dead. And your servant Uriah the Hethite is dead also." ²⁵ Then David said to the messenger, "Thus you shall tell Joab, 'Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Make your battle stronger against the city, and overthrow it.' Encourage him." ²⁶ When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she made lamentation for her husband. ²⁷ When the mourning was past, David sent and took her home to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.

¹⁰ Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hethite to be your wife.'

⁶ He also made his children to pass through the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom; and he practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and consulted mediums, and spiritists: he worked much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

⁴ Against you, and you only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight; that you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.

⁸ You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

¹ [For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.] LORD, you have searched me, and you know me. ² You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.

²⁴ Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁰ if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good, with which I said I would benefit them.

⁴ Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have rejected the LORD's law, and have not kept his statutes. Their false idols which they made, after which their fathers walked, have led them astray.

²⁸ Anyone who disregards the Law of Moses dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ How much worse punishment, do you think, will he be judged worthy of, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

³ But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, "Look, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken. For she is a man's wife."

²⁰ but a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it is loathsome to you; because that you have rejected the LORD who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, "Why did we come out of Egypt?"'"

³⁰ "Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, says, 'I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me forever.' But now the LORD says, 'Be it far from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

²⁸ And Absalom commanded his servants, saying, "Mark now, when Amnon's heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, 'Strike Amnon,' then kill him. Do not be afraid. Haven't I commanded you? Be courageous, and be valiant." ²⁹ The servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and every man got up on his mule, and fled.

¹⁴ Then Joab said, "I'm not going to wait like this with you." He took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak. ¹⁵ Ten young men who bore Joab's armor surrounded and struck Absalom, and killed him.

³³ The king was much moved, and went up to the room over the gate, and wept. As he went, he said, "My son Absalom. My son, my son Absalom. I wish I had died for you, Absalom, my son, my son."

²³ Then king Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, "God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life. ²⁴ Now therefore as the LORD lives, who has established me, and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death this day." ²⁵ King Solomon sent by Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell on him, so that he died.

³² He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul. ³³ He will get wounds and dishonor. His reproach will not be wiped away.

⁹ The high places of Isaac will be desolate, the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword."

⁶ "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? says the LORD of hosts to you, priests, who despise my name. You say, 'How have we despised your name?' ⁷ You offer defiled bread on my altar. You say, 'How have we defiled you?' In that you say, 'The LORD's table is despised, and its fruit, its food, is despised.'

²⁴ "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon.

⁵² Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place, for all those who take the sword will die by the sword.

⁴ Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

⁸ Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given his Holy Spirit to you.

³⁰ You shall betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: you shall build a house, and you shall not dwell in it: you shall plant a vineyard, and shall not use its fruit.

¹ It happened after this, that Absalom the son of David had a beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her. ² Amnon was so troubled that he fell sick because of his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and it seemed hard to Amnon to do anything to her. ³ But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother. Now Jonadab was very crafty. ⁴ He said to him, "Why, son of the king, are you so sad from day to day? Won't you tell me?" Amnon said to him, "I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister." ⁵ Jonadab said to him, "Lie down on your bed, and pretend to be sick. When your father comes to see you, tell him, 'Please let my sister Tamar come and give me bread to eat, and dress the food in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it from her hand.'" ⁶ So Amnon lay down and faked being sick. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, "Please let my sister Tamar come, and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand." ⁷ Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, "Go now to your brother Amnon and prepare food for him." ⁸ So Tamar went to her brother Amnonʼs house; and he was lying down. And she took dough, and kneaded it, and made cakes while he watched, and baked the cakes. ⁹ She took the pan, and poured them out before him; but he refused to eat. Amnon said, "Have all men leave me." Every man went out from him. ¹⁰ Amnon said to Tamar, "Bring the food into the room, that I may eat from your hand." Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and brought them into the room to Amnon her brother. ¹¹ When she had brought them near to him to eat, he took hold of her, and said to her, "Come, lie with me, my sister." ¹² She answered him, "No, my brother, do not force me. For no such thing ought to be done in Israel. Do not do this folly. ¹³ I, where would I carry my shame? And as for you, you will be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, please speak to the king; for he will not withhold me from you." ¹⁴ However he would not listen to her voice; but being stronger than she was, he overpowered her and raped her.

⁶ Absalom did this sort of thing to all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

¹⁰ But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, "As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, 'Absalom is king in Hebron.'"

²¹ Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Go in to your father's secondary wives, that he has left to keep the house. Then all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong." ²² So they spread Absalom a tent on the top of the house; and Absalom went in to his father's secondary wives in the sight of all Israel.

⁹ "'"If the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand on him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

²⁵ Moreover also I gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances in which they should not live; ²⁶ and I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that opens the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD."'

¹³ They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and shady terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery. ¹⁴ I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, nor your brides when they commit adultery; because the men consort with prostitutes, and they sacrifice with the shrine prostitutes; so the people without understanding will come to ruin.

⁴ David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her (for she was purified from her uncleanness); and she returned to her house. ⁵ The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, "I am with child." ⁶ Then David sent to Joab and said, "Send me Uriah the Hethite." So Joab sent Uriah to him. ⁷ And Uriah came to him, and David asked about the prosperity of Joab, and of the prosperity of the people, and of the prosperity of the war. And he said, "Its well." ⁸ And David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." So Uriah went out from the presence of the king, and a gift from the king was sent after him. ⁹ But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. ¹⁰ And it was reported to David, saying, "Uriah did not go down to his house." So David said to Uriah, "Haven't you come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" ¹¹ Uriah said to David, "The ark, Israel, and Judah, are staying in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are camped in the open field. Shall I then go into my house to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As the LORD lives, and as you live, I will not do this thing." ¹² David said to Uriah, "Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart." So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day. ¹³ And the next day David summoned him, and he ate and drank in his presence, and he made him drunk. But in the evening he went out and lay on a bed with the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. ¹⁴ It happened in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵ He wrote in the letter, saying, "Send Uriah to the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck, and die."

²² So they spread Absalom a tent on the top of the house; and Absalom went in to his father's secondary wives in the sight of all Israel.

¹⁴ For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.

¹ Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered together, so much so that they trampled on each other, he began to tell his disciples first of all, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. ² But there is nothing covered up, that will not be revealed, nor hidden, that will not be known.

⁵ Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one will get his praise from God.

¹⁰ "'The man who commits adultery with another man's wife shall surely be put to death, both the adulterer and the adulteress.

¹⁷ "'He who strikes any man mortally shall surely be put to death.

³¹ "'Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death; but he shall surely be put to death. ³² "'You shall take no ransom for him who is fled to his city of refuge, that he may come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest. ³³ "'So you shall not pollute the land in which you are: for blood, it pollutes the land; and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood of him who shed it.

²⁰ Saul said to Samuel, "But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

²⁴ Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. ²⁵ Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD."

³⁰ Then he said, "I have sinned: yet please honor me now before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and come back with me, that I may worship the LORD your God."

¹⁰ David's heart struck him after that he had numbered the people. David said to the LORD, "I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. But now, LORD, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly."

⁴ It happened, when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, that Jeroboam put out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him." His hand, which he put out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back again to himself.

²⁰ And Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, my enemy?" And he answered, "I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

⁸ The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him; for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." Jehoshaphat said, "Do not let the king say so."

⁹ Then the king sent a captain of fifty with his fifty to him. He went up to him; and look, he was sitting on the top of the hill. He said to him, "Man of God, the king has said, 'Come down.'"

¹⁰ Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in the prison; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.

²⁰ The Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said to them, "Thus says God, 'Why do you disobey the commandments of the LORD, so that you can't prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has also forsaken you.'" ²¹ They conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD. ²² Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. When he died, he said, "May the LORD look at it, and repay it."

¹⁶ It happened, as he talked with him, that the king said to him, "Have we made you one of the king's counselors? Stop. Why should you be struck down?" Then the prophet stopped, and said, "I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this, and have not listened to my counsel."

²⁰ If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself? ²¹ Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I shall not be."

²⁷ He sings before men, and says, 'I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it did not profit me.

¹ [By David. A contemplative psalm.] Happy are those whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. ² Happy is the one to whom the LORD does not charge with sin, in whose spirit there is no deceit. ³ When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. ⁴ For day and night your hand was heavy on me to my destruction in the heat of summer. Selah. ⁵ I acknowledged my sin to you. I did not hide my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

¹⁶ For you do not delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering.

³ If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? ⁴ But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.

¹² As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover to an obedient ear.

¹³ He who conceals his sins doesn't prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

⁵ Then I said, "Woe is me. For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." ⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. ⁷ He touched my mouth with it, and said, "Look, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sins forgiven."

¹⁷ Look, for peace I had great anguish, but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for you have cast all my sins behind your back.

²⁴ You have bought me no sweet cane with money, nor have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices; but you have burdened me with your sins. You have wearied me with your iniquities.

²² I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.

³² For though he may cause grief, yet he will have compassion according to the abundance of his loving kindness.

¹⁸ Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn't retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness. ¹⁹ He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

⁴ He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, "Take the filthy garments off of him." To him he said, "Look, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing."

³ For Herod had arrested John, and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. ⁴ For John said to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her." ⁵ And though he wanted to kill him, he feared the crowd because they regarded him as a prophet.

¹⁰ and he sent and beheaded John in the prison.

²¹ The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?"

³⁸ Be it known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man is proclaimed to you forgiveness of sins, ³⁹ and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the Law of Moses.

³³ Who could bring a charge against God's chosen ones? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

²⁶ or else he must have suffered often since the foundation of the world. But now once at the end of the ages, he has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

⁵ and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and freed us from our sins by his blood;

⁹ Also I said, "The thing that you do is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God, to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies?

¹⁰ How long, God, shall the enemy mock? Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?

³¹ if they break my statutes, and do not keep my commandments; ³² then I will punish their sin with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. ³³ But I will not completely take my loving kindness from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail.

¹² Blessed is the man whom you discipline, LORD, and teach out of your Law;

¹¹ My son, do not despise the discipline of the LORD, nor resent his correction. ¹² For whom the LORD loves he disciplines, and punishes every son he accepts.

⁵ "Now therefore, what do I do here," says the LORD, "seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them mock," says the LORD. "Because of you, my name is continually all the day blasphemed among the nations.

²⁰ When they came to the nations, where they went, they profaned my holy name; in that men said of them, 'These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land.' ²¹ But I had respect for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations, where they went. ²² "Therefore tell the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "I do not do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations, where you went. ²³ I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD," says the Lord GOD, "when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.

² "You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins."

⁷ "Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks. For there will always be something to cause people to stumble, but woe to the person through whom the stumbling block comes.

²⁴ For because of you the name of God is blasphemed among the nations, just as it is written.

³² But when we are judged, we are punished by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

⁶ For whom the Lord loves he disciplines, and punishes every son he accepts."

¹⁹ As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. Be zealous therefore, and repent.

³⁹ "See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god besides me. I kill, and I make alive. I wound, and I heal; and there is no one who can deliver out of my hand.

³⁸ It happened about ten days after, that the LORD struck Nabal, so that he died.

¹⁰ David said, "As the LORD lives, the LORD will strike him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall go down into battle and perish.

⁵ The LORD struck the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death, and lived in a separate house. Jotham the king's son was over the household, judging the people of the land.

²⁰ Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah. The LORD struck him, and he died.

²⁹ You hide your face: they are troubled; you take away their breath: they die, and return to the dust.

²³ Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.

²² He said, "While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, 'Who knows whether the LORD will not be gracious to me, that the child may live?'

³¹ Then the king arose, and tore his garments, and lay on the ground; and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn.

²⁷ It happened, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.

¹⁶ "Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish."

¹² "Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue, ¹³ though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth; ¹⁴ yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.

¹⁵ Call on me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will honor me."

¹⁰ When I wept and I fasted, it brought me insults.

¹² In that day the LORD of hosts called for weeping and for mourning, for shaved heads, and for the wearing of sackcloth.

¹⁶ LORD, in trouble they sought you. They poured out a prayer when your chastening was on them.

¹² "Yet even now," says the LORD, "turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning." ¹³ Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to the LORD, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity. ¹⁴ Who knows? He may turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal offering and a drink offering to the LORD, your God.

⁹ Who knows whether God will not turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish?"

⁹ He was without sight for three days, and neither ate nor drank.

²³ But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, pressed him; and he listened to their voice. So he arose from the earth, and sat on the bed.

³⁵ Then all the people came to persuade David to eat bread while it was yet day; but David swore, saying, "God do so to me, and more also, if I taste bread, or anything else, until the sun goes down."

¹⁵ how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians dealt ill with us, and our fathers:

³ Therefore wash yourself, anoint yourself, and put on your clothes, and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.

¹⁷ And they brought in the ark of the LORD, and set it in its place, in the midst of the tent that David had set up for it; and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

¹⁸ Then king David went in and sat before the LORD and said, "Who am I, Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?

²⁰ Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down with his face to the ground.

¹⁰ But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we indeed accept good at the hand of God, and shall we not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

⁹ I was mute. I did not open my mouth, because you did it.

⁸ Let your garments be always white, and do not let your head lack oil.

³⁹ Why does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? ⁴⁰ Let us examine and search our ways, and return to the LORD. ⁴¹ Let us lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.

¹⁷ But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face;

¹⁵ But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is judged by no one.

¹ In those days was Hezekiah sick and near death. Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Set your house in order, for you will die, and not live.'" ² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, ³ and said, "Remember now, the LORD, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight." Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁵ "Go, and tell Hezekiah, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father, "I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Look, I will add fifteen years to your life.

¹⁴ Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders, and all the inhabitants of the land, to the house of the LORD, your God, and cry to the LORD.

¹⁴ Who knows? He may turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal offering and a drink offering to the LORD, your God.

¹⁵ Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph."

⁶ So the shipmaster came to him, and said to him, "What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God. Maybe your God will notice us, so that we won't perish."

⁹ Who knows whether God will not turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish?" ¹⁰ God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

⁹ Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.

³⁵ All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, "Indeed, I will go down to Sheol to my son mourning." And his father wept for him.

⁸ The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more. Your eyes shall be on me, but I shall not be. ⁹ As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol shall come up no more. ¹⁰ He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

²³ For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.

⁴³ And he said to him, "Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

¹² And it will come about when your days are fulfilled, and you sleep with your fathers, that I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

⁵ and these were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, four, of Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam;

⁹ Look, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his enemies all around; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days. ¹⁰ He shall build a house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.'

⁵ Of all my sons (for the LORD has given me many sons), he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the LORD's kingdom over Israel. ⁶ He said to me, 'Solomon, your son, shall build my house and my courts; for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.

¹ David the king said to all the assembly, "Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great; for the palace is not for man, but for the LORD God.

⁶ and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah;

⁴ It happened the same night, that the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying,

¹ The LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, "There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. ² The rich man had very many flocks and herds, ³ but the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up together with him, and with his children. It ate of his own food, drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was to him like a daughter. ⁴ A traveler came to the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man who had come to him, but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man who had come to him." ⁵ David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this is worthy to die. ⁶ He shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity." ⁷ Nathan said to David, "You are the man. This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. ⁸ I gave you your master's house, and your master's wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that would have been too little, I would have added to you many more such things. ⁹ Why have you despised the LORD, to do that which is evil in his sight? You have struck Uriah the Hethite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the people of Ammon. ¹⁰ Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hethite to be your wife.' ¹¹ "This is what the LORD says: 'Look, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. ¹² For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.'" ¹³ David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin. You will not die. ¹⁴ However, because by this deed you have shown utter contempt for the LORD, the child also who is born to you shall surely die."

¹¹ Then Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, "Haven't you heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith reigns, and David our lord doesn't know it?

²³ And they told the king, saying, "Look, Nathan the prophet." And when he came in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.

²⁶ Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations was there no king like him, and he was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless foreign women caused even him to sin.

¹⁷ And look, a voice out of the heavens said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

⁵ While he was still speaking, look, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And look, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him."

¹¹ (For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim; look, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; isn't it in Rabbah of the people of Ammon? Thirteen feet three inches was its length, and five feet eleven inches its breadth, according to the standard measure.)

¹ It happened, at the time of the return of the year, at the time when kings go out, that Joab led forth the army, and wasted the country of the people of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. Joab struck Rabbah, and overthrew it. ² David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it; and it was set on David's head: and he brought forth the spoil of the city, a very great amount. ³ He brought forth the people who were in it, and set them to work with saws, and with iron picks, and with axes. David did so to all the cities of the people of Ammon. David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

¹ It happened, at the return of the year, at the time when kings go out, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem.

²⁰ You shall appoint a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the people of Ammon, and to Judah in Jerusalem, the fortified.

¹⁸ He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.

² David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it; and it was set on David's head: and he brought forth the spoil of the city, a very great amount.

² He struck Moab, and measured them with the line, making them to lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death, and one full line to keep alive. The Moabites became servants to David, and brought tribute.

³ He brought forth the people who were in it, and set them to work with saws, and with iron picks, and with axes. David did so to all the cities of the people of Ammon. David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

⁸ Your hand will find out all of your enemies. Your right hand will find all those who hate you. ⁹ You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them.

³ Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Damascus, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have threshed the pregnant women of Gilead with threshing instruments of iron;