2 Samuel 18 Cross References - WEB

¹ David counted the people who were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. ² David sent the people out, a third part under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the people, “I will also surely go out with you myself.” ³ But the people said, “You shall not go out; for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us. But you are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore now it is better that you are ready to help us out of the city.” ⁴ The king said to them, “I will do what seems best to you.” The king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands. ⁵ The king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom.” All the people heard when the king commanded all the captains concerning Absalom. ⁶ So the people went out into the field against Israel; and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim. ⁷ The people of Israel were struck there before David’s servants, and there was a great slaughter there that day of twenty thousand men. ⁸ For the battle was there spread over the surface of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. ⁹ Absalom happened to meet David’s servants. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the sky and earth; and the mule that was under him went on. ¹⁰ A certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, “Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.” ¹¹ Joab said to the man who told him, “Behold, you saw it, and why didn’t you strike him there to the ground? I would have given you ten pieces of silver, and a sash.” ¹² The man said to Joab, “Though I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I still wouldn’t stretch out my hand against the king’s son; for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘Beware that no one touch the young man Absalom.’ ¹³ Otherwise if I had dealt falsely against his life (and there is no matter hidden from the king), then you yourself would have set yourself against me.” 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 middle of the oak. ¹⁵ Ten young men who bore Joab’s armor surrounded and struck Absalom, and killed him. ¹⁶ Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab held the people back. ¹⁷ They took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones. Then all Israel fled, each to his own tent. ¹⁸ Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself the pillar which is in the king’s valley, for he said, “I have no son to keep my name in memory.” He called the pillar after his own name. It is called Absalom’s monument, to this day. ¹⁹ Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me now run and carry the king news, how Yahweh has avenged him of his enemies.” ²⁰ Joab said to him, “You must not be the bearer of news today, but you must carry news another day. But today you must carry no news, because the king’s son is dead.” ²¹ Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen!” The Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran. ²² Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said yet again to Joab, “But come what may, please let me also run after the Cushite.” Joab said, “Why do you want to run, my son, since you will have no reward for the news?” ²³ “But come what may,” he said, “I will run.” He said to him, “Run!” Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Cushite. ²⁴ Now David was sitting between the two gates; and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate to the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, a man running alone. ²⁵ The watchman cried, and told the king. The king said, “If he is alone, there is news in his mouth.” He came closer and closer. ²⁶ The watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the gatekeeper, and said, “Behold, a man running alone!” The king said, “He also brings news.” ²⁷ The watchman said, “I think the running of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.” The king said, “He is a good man, and comes with good news.” ²⁸ Ahimaaz called, and said to the king, “All is well.” He bowed himself before the king with his face to the earth, and said, “Blessed is Yahweh your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king!” ²⁹ The king said, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king’s servant, even me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I don’t know what it was.” ³⁰ The king said, “Come and stand here.” He came, and stood still. ³¹ Behold, the Cushite came. The Cushite said, “News for my lord the king, for Yahweh has avenged you today of all those who rose up against you.” ³² The king said to the Cushite, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” The Cushite answered, “May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up against you to do you harm, be as that young man is.” 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!”

⁹ Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us, and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with God’s rod in my hand.”

¹⁰ Joshua rose up early in the morning, mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.

¹² He will appoint them to him for captains of thousands and captains of fifties; and he will assign some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest; and to make his instruments of war and the instruments of his chariots.

¹⁶ He divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all them trumpets and empty pitchers, with torches within the pitchers.

¹⁹ So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch. Then they blew the trumpets and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands.

⁴³ He took the people and divided them into three companies, and laid wait in the field; and he looked, and behold, the people came out of the city. So, he rose up against them and struck them.

¹¹ On the next day, Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the middle of the camp in the morning watch, and struck the Ammonites until the heat of the day. Those who remained were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.

⁷ When David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the army of the mighty men. ⁸ The children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entrance of the gate. The Syrians of Zobah and of Rehob, and the men of Tob and Maacah, were by themselves in the field. ⁹ Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians. ¹⁰ The rest of the people he committed into the hand of Abishai his brother; and he put them in array against the children of Ammon.

¹⁹ Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why do you also go with us? Return, and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner, and also an exile. Return to your own place. ²⁰ Whereas you came but yesterday, should I today make you go up and down with us, since I go where I may? Return, and take back your brothers. Mercy and truth be with you.” ²¹ Ittai answered the king, and said, “As Yahweh lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely in what place my lord the king is, whether for death or for life, your servant will be there also.” ²² David said to Ittai, “Go and pass over.” Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones who were with him.

¹¹ But I counsel that all Israel be gathered together to you, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that you go to battle in your own person.

⁶ I will not be afraid of tens of thousands of people who have set themselves against me on every side.

¹ By David. Yahweh is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? ² When evildoers came at me to eat up my flesh, even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell. ³ Though an army should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, even then I will be confident.

⁶ Yahweh is on my side. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? ⁷ Yahweh is on my side among those who help me. Therefore I will look in triumph at those who hate me. ⁸ It is better to take refuge in Yahweh, than to put confidence in man.

¹⁰ So Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹ When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. When he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. ¹² But Moses’ hands were heavy; so they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side. His hands were steady until sunset.

¹¹ He said, “If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the children of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come and help you.

² I will come on him while he is weary and exhausted, and will make him afraid. All the people who are with him will flee. I will strike the king only,

¹⁷ But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “Don’t go out with us to battle any more, so that you don’t quench the lamp of Israel.”

³¹ Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, saying, “Don’t fight with small nor great, except only with the king of Israel.”

²⁰ The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Yahweh, was taken in their pits; of whom we said, under his shadow we will live among the nations.

⁷ “Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says Yahweh of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.

² The lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds and by thousands; and David and his men passed on in the rear with Achish.

¹ David counted the people who were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them.

²⁴ Now David was sitting between the two gates; and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate to the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, a man running alone.

⁶ and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

¹⁸ If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, will not listen to them, ¹⁹ then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city and to the gate of his place. ²⁰ They shall tell the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” ²¹ All the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall remove the evil from among you. All Israel shall hear, and fear.

¹¹ David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, “Behold, my son, who came out of my bowels, seeks my life. How much more this Benjamite, now? Leave him alone, and let him curse; for Yahweh has invited him.

¹ Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me now choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David tonight. ² I will come on him while he is weary and exhausted, and will make him afraid. All the people who are with him will flee. I will strike the king only, ³ and I will bring back all the people to you. The man whom you seek is as if all returned. All the people shall be in peace.” ⁴ The saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.

¹⁴ Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For Yahweh had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Yahweh might bring evil on Absalom.

¹² The man said to Joab, “Though I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I still wouldn’t stretch out my hand against the king’s son; for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘Beware that no one touch the young man Absalom.’

¹³ Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him.

³⁴ Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Dividing his garments among them, they cast lots.

¹⁵ Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up to the forest, and clear land for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the Rephaim; since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.”

¹⁸ but the hill country shall be yours. Although it is a forest, you shall cut it down, and it’s farthest extent shall be yours; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.”

⁴ Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim. The men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the middle of Ephraim, and in the middle of Manasseh.” ⁵ The Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. Whenever a fugitive of Ephraim said, “Let me go over,” the men of Gilead said to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No;” ⁶ then they said to him, “Now say ‘Shibboleth;’” and he said “Sibboleth”; for he couldn’t manage to pronounce it correctly, then they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time, forty-two thousand of Ephraim fell.

¹⁷ The battle was very severe that day; and Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel, before David’s servants.

²⁶ Then Abner called to Joab, and said, “Shall the sword devour forever? Don’t you know that it will be bitterness in the latter end? How long will it be then, before you ask the people to return from following their brothers?”

³¹ But David’s servants had struck Benjamin and of Abner’s men so that three hundred sixty men died.

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.

⁴¹ Behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said to the king, “Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen you away, and brought the king, and his household, over the Jordan, and all David’s men with him?” ⁴² All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is a close relative to us. Why then are you angry about this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king’s cost? Or has he given us any gift?” ⁴³ The men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, “We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more claim to David than you. Why then did you despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king?” The words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

¹⁶ The children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand. ¹⁷ Abijah and his people killed them with a great slaughter, so five hundred thousand chosen men of Israel fell down slain.

⁶ For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed in Judah one hundred twenty thousand in one day, all of them valiant men, because they had forsaken Yahweh, the God of their fathers.

²¹ Most certainly, the evil man will not be unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.

²¹ My son, fear Yahweh and the king. Don’t join those who are rebellious;

¹⁰ You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

¹¹ As they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth Horon, Yahweh hurled down great stones from the sky on them to Azekah, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the children of Israel killed with the sword.

²⁰ From the sky the stars fought. From their courses, they fought against Sisera. ²¹ The river Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. My soul, march on with strength.

³⁰ But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand men who were left. Ben Hadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner room.

⁷ Arise, Yahweh! Save me, my God! For you have struck all of my enemies on the cheek bone. You have broken the teeth of the wicked.

¹ Vindicate me, God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. Oh, deliver me from deceitful and wicked men.

²³ his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God. Don’t defile your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance.

¹⁶ ‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or his mother.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁰ ‘Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he dishonors his father’s bed.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁶ When he cut the hair of his head (now it was at every year’s end that he cut it; because it was heavy on him, therefore he cut it); he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels, after the king’s weight.

²³ When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, arose, and went home, to his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the tomb of his father.

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 middle of the oak.

⁸ For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he wanders into its mesh. ⁹ A snare will take him by the heel. A trap will catch him. ¹⁰ A noose is hidden for him in the ground, a trap for him on the path.

³ Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity?

⁹ But those who seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth. ¹⁰ They shall be given over to the power of the sword. They shall be jackal food.

²⁰ Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness.

¹⁷ “The eye that mocks at his father, and scorns obedience to his mother: the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, the young eagles shall eat it.

⁴⁴ “He who flees from the terror will fall into the pit; and he who gets up out of the pit will be taken in the snare: for I will bring on him, even on Moab, the year of their visitation,” says Yahweh.

⁵ He threw down the pieces of silver in the sanctuary, and departed. He went away and hanged himself.

¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother;’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’

¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,”

⁵ The king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom.” All the people heard when the king commanded all the captains concerning Absalom.

¹⁵ David called one of the young men, and said, “Go near, and cut him down!” He struck him so that he died. ¹⁶ David said to him, “Your blood be on your head; for your mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have slain Yahweh’s anointed.’”

¹⁰ when someone told me, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ thinking that he brought good news, I seized him and killed him in Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. ¹¹ How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house on his bed, should I not now require his blood from your hand, and rid the earth of you?” ¹² David commanded his young men, and they killed them, cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up beside the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth, and buried it in Abner’s grave in Hebron.

¹⁹ The king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” The woman answered, “As your soul lives, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab urged me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your servant. ²⁰ Your servant Joab has done this thing to change the face of the matter. My lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth.”

¹³ There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

²¹ Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground, for he was in a deep sleep; so he fainted and died.

²⁶ She put her hand to the tent peg, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer. With the hammer she struck Sisera. She struck through his head. Yes, she pierced and struck through his temples.

³¹ “So let all your enemies perish, Yahweh, but let those who love him be as the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had rest forty years.

³⁰ Therefore he said to his servants, “Behold, Joab’s field is near mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire.” So Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.

⁵ Your arrows are sharp. The nations fall under you, with arrows in the heart of the king’s enemies.

⁴⁰ For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

³ For when they are saying, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman. Then they will in no way escape.

² “Make two trumpets of silver. You shall make them of beaten work. You shall use them for the calling of the congregation, and for the journeying of the camps. ³ When they blow them, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the door of the Tent of Meeting. ⁴ If they blow just one, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves to you. ⁵ When you blow an alarm, the camps that lie on the east side shall go forward. ⁶ When you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie on the south side shall go forward. They shall blow an alarm for their journeys. ⁷ But when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but you shall not sound an alarm. ⁸ “The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets. This shall be to you for a statute forever throughout your generations. ⁹ When you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets. Then you will be remembered before Yahweh your God, and you will be saved from your enemies. ¹⁰ “Also in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God. I am Yahweh your God.”

²⁸ So Joab blew the trumpet; and all the people stood still, and pursued Israel no more, and they fought no more.

²² Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. They cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. He blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. Then Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

⁸ For if the trumpet gave an uncertain sound, who would prepare himself for war?

²⁶ They raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Yahweh turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore the name of that place was called “The valley of Achor” to this day.

²⁹ He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until the evening. At sundown, Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised a great heap of stones on it that remains to this day.

²⁷ At the time of the going down of the sun, Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees, and threw them into the cave in which they had hidden themselves, and laid great stones on the mouth of the cave, which remain to this very day.

⁸ Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. They told to all the people, saying, “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate.” All the people came before the king. Now Israel had fled every man to his tent.

¹ There happened to be there a wicked fellow, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite; and he blew the trumpet, and said, “We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tents, Israel!”

⁷ The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.

¹⁸ Therefore Yahweh says concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: “They won’t lament for him, saying, ‘Ah my brother!’ or, ‘Ah sister!’ They won’t lament for him, saying ‘Ah lord!’ or, ‘Ah his glory!’ ¹⁹ He will be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”

⁴ They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”

⁹ Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth.

¹⁷ The king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

¹² Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and Samuel was told, saying, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, and turned, and passed on, and went down to Gilgal.”

²⁷ Three sons were born to Absalom, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a woman with a beautiful face.

¹⁶ His roots will be dried up beneath. His branch will be cut off above. ¹⁷ His memory will perish from the earth. He will have no name in the street.

¹¹ Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever, and their dwelling places to all generations. They name their lands after themselves.

¹³ Let his posterity be cut off. In the generation following let their name be blotted out.

³⁰ Yahweh says, “Record this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his days; for no more will a man of his offspring prosper, sitting on David’s throne, and ruling in Judah.”

³⁰ The king spoke and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”

¹⁸ Now this man obtained a field with the reward for his wickedness, and falling headlong, his body burst open, and all his intestines gushed out. ¹⁹ It became known to everyone who lived in Jerusalem that in their language that field was called ‘Akeldama,’ that is, ‘The field of blood.’

³⁶ Behold, they have there with them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok’s son, and Jonathan, Abiathar’s son. Send to me everything that you shall hear by them.”

¹⁷ Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En Rogel; and a female servant used to go and tell them; and they went and told king David. For they might not be seen to come into the city.

²³ “But come what may,” he said, “I will run.” He said to him, “Run!” Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Cushite.

²⁷ The watchman said, “I think the running of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.” The king said, “He is a good man, and comes with good news.” ²⁸ Ahimaaz called, and said to the king, “All is well.” He bowed himself before the king with his face to the earth, and said, “Blessed is Yahweh your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king!” ²⁹ The king said, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king’s servant, even me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I don’t know what it was.”

³¹ Behold, the Cushite came. The Cushite said, “News for my lord the king, for Yahweh has avenged you today of all those who rose up against you.”

⁶ Arise, Yahweh, in your anger. Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries. Awake for me. You have commanded judgment.

⁸ Yahweh administers judgment to the peoples. Judge me, Yahweh, according to my righteousness, and to my integrity that is in me. ⁹ Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; their minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God.

⁴ For you have maintained my just cause. You sit on the throne judging righteously.

¹⁶ Yahweh has made himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands. Meditation. Selah.

¹⁴ But you do see trouble and grief. You consider it to take it into your hand. You help the victim and the fatherless.

¹⁸ to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that man who is of the earth may terrify no more.

¹⁹ Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.”

¹⁶ Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, ‘Don’t lodge tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people who are with him.’” ¹⁷ Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En Rogel; and a female servant used to go and tell them; and they went and told king David. For they might not be seen to come into the city. ¹⁸ But a boy saw them, and told Absalom. Then they both went away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down there. ¹⁹ The woman took and spread the covering over the well’s mouth, and spread out crushed grain on it; and nothing was known. ²⁰ Absalom’s servants came to the woman to the house; and they said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman said to them, “They have gone over the brook of water.” When they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. ²¹ After they had departed, they came up out of the well, and went and told king David; and they said to David, “Arise and pass quickly over the water; for thus has Ahithophel counseled against you.”

²⁷ The watchman said, “I think the running of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.” The king said, “He is a good man, and comes with good news.”

²⁹ The king said, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king’s servant, even me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I don’t know what it was.”

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!”

²⁸ Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;

⁴ nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not appropriate, but rather giving of thanks.

⁴ They both ran together. The other disciple outran Peter, and came to the tomb first.

¹³ When he came, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching, for his heart trembled for God’s ark. When the man came into the city and told about it, all the city cried out.

³⁴ But Absalom fled. The young man who kept the watch lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, many people were coming by way of the hillside behind him.

⁴ The king said to them, “I will do what seems best to you.” The king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands.

¹⁷ Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, “I see a company.” Joram said, “Take a horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’” ¹⁸ So one went on horseback to meet him, and said, “the king says, ‘Is it peace?’” Jehu said, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me!” The watchman said, “The messenger came to them, but he isn’t coming back.” ¹⁹ Then he sent out a second on horseback, who came to them, and said, “The king says, ‘Is it peace?’” Jehu answered, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me!” ²⁰ The watchman said, “He came to them, and isn’t coming back. The driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.”

⁶ For the Lord said to me, “Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees. ⁷ When he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he shall listen diligently with great attentiveness.” ⁸ He cried like a lion: “Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and every night I stay at my post. ⁹ Behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs.” He answered, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the engraved images of her gods are broken to the ground.

¹¹ The burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?” ¹² The watchman said, “The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire. Come back again.”

² “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, ‘When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman; ³ if, when he sees the sword come on the land, he blows the trumpet, and warns the people; ⁴ then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and doesn’t heed the warning, if the sword comes, and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. ⁵ He heard the sound of the trumpet, and didn’t take warning. His blood will be on him; whereas if he had heeded the warning, he would have delivered his soul. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword come, and doesn’t blow the trumpet, and the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes, and takes any person from among them; he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’ ⁷ “So you, son of man: I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and give them warnings from me.

⁴² While he yet spoke, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came; and Adonijah said, “Come in; for you are a worthy man, and bring good news.”

²⁰ The watchman said, “He came to them, and isn’t coming back. The driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.”

¹³ As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to those who send him; for he refreshes the soul of his masters.

²⁵ Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.

⁷ How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

¹⁵ And how will they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!”

²⁰ Blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Abram gave him a tenth of all.

²⁷ He said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master. As for me, Yahweh has led me on the way to the house of my master’s relatives.”

¹⁸ You have declared today how you have dealt well with me, because when Yahweh had delivered me up into your hand, you didn’t kill me.

⁸ Then Abishai said to David, “God has delivered up your enemy into your hand today. Now therefore please let me strike him with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not strike him the second time.”

² on the third day, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul, with his clothes torn, and earth on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the earth, and showed respect.

⁴ When the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, showed respect, and said, “Help, O king!”

²⁷ With the pure you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd.

²⁶ On the fourth day, they assembled themselves in Beracah Valley, for there they blessed Yahweh. Therefore the name of that place was called “Beracah Valley” to this day.

⁸ You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a large place.

¹ Not to us, Yahweh, not to us, but to your name give glory, for your loving kindness, and for your truth’s sake.

⁶ Blessed be Yahweh, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth.

¹ By David. Blessed be Yahweh, my rock, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to battle: ² my loving kindness, my fortress, my high tower, my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues my people under me.

¹ After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation, power, and glory belong to our God; ² for his judgments are true and righteous. For he has judged the great prostitute, who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and he has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.” ³ A second said, “Hallelujah! Her smoke goes up forever and ever.”

¹⁹ Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me now run and carry the king news, how Yahweh has avenged him of his enemies.” ²⁰ Joab said to him, “You must not be the bearer of news today, but you must carry news another day. But today you must carry no news, because the king’s son is dead.”

²² Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said yet again to Joab, “But come what may, please let me also run after the Cushite.” Joab said, “Why do you want to run, my son, since you will have no reward for the news?”

⁹ Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.

³⁵ Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides; for the day of their calamity is at hand. Their doom rushes at them.” ³⁶ For Yahweh will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone; that there is no one remaining, shut up or left at large.

¹⁹ Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me now run and carry the king news, how Yahweh has avenged him of his enemies.”

²⁸ Ahimaaz called, and said to the king, “All is well.” He bowed himself before the king with his face to the earth, and said, “Blessed is Yahweh your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king!”

⁴⁸ even the God who executes vengeance for me, who brings down peoples under me, ⁴⁹ who brings me away from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man.

¹⁰ The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,

¹ Yahweh, you God to whom vengeance belongs, you God to whom vengeance belongs, shine out. ² Rise up, you judge of the earth. Pay back the proud what they deserve. ³ Yahweh, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph? ⁴ They pour out arrogant words. All the evildoers boast.

² if it had not been Yahweh who was on our side, when men rose up against us; ³ then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us;

⁷ Won’t God avenge his chosen ones who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them? ⁸ I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

²⁶ Now therefore, my lord, as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, since Yahweh has withheld you from blood guiltiness, and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now therefore let your enemies, and those who seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.

¹ For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. A song. Let God arise! Let his enemies be scattered! Let them who hate him also flee before him. ² As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

¹⁹ Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was stricken mute for a while, and his thoughts troubled him. The king answered, “Belteshazzar, don’t let the dream, or the interpretation, trouble you.” Belteshazzar answered, “My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you, and its interpretation to your adversaries.

³² Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.”

¹⁰ Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken Uriah the Hittite’s wife to be your wife.’ ¹¹ “This is what Yahweh says: ‘Behold, 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 this secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’” ¹³ David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Yahweh.” Nathan said to David, “Yahweh also has put away your sin. You will not die. ¹⁴ However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to Yahweh’s enemies to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you will surely die.” ¹⁵ Nathan departed to his house. Yahweh struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it was very sick. ¹⁶ David therefore begged God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night on the ground. ¹⁷ The elders of his house arose beside him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, and he didn’t eat bread with them. ¹⁸ On the seventh day, the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he didn’t listen to our voice. How will he then harm himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?” ¹⁹ But when David saw 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 earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his clothing; and he came into Yahweh’s house, and worshiped. Then he came to his own house; and when he requested, 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 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 Yahweh 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 again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”

⁴ The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, “My son Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son!”

¹ The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father; but a foolish son brings grief to his mother.

²⁵ A foolish son brings grief to his father, and bitterness to her who bore him.

³ For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh

¹⁷ Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six months.