Absalom Killed

¹Then David mustered the men who were with him and set over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. ²And David sent out the army, one third under the command of Joab, one third under the command of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and one third under the command of sIttai the Gittite. And the king said to the men, “I myself will also go out with you.” ³tBut the men said, “You shall not go out. For if we flee, they will not care about us. If half of us die, they will not care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore it is better that you send us help from the city.” ⁴The king said to them, “Whatever seems best to you I will do.” So the king stood at the side of the gate, while all the army marched out by hundreds and by thousands. ⁵And the king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” uAnd all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders about Absalom.

⁶So the army went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was fought in the vforest of Ephraim. ⁷And the men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David, and the loss there was great on that day, twenty thousand men. ⁸The battle spread over the face of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword.

⁹And Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak,1 wand his head caught fast in the oak, and he was suspended between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on. ¹⁰And a certain man saw it and told Joab, “Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.” ¹¹Joab said to the man who told him, “What, you saw him! Why then did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have been glad to give you ten pieces of silver and a belt.” ¹²But the man said to Joab, “Even if I felt in my hand the weight of a thousand pieces of silver, I would not reach out my hand against the king's son, for xin our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘For my sake protect the young man Absalom.’ ¹³On the other hand, if I had dealt treacherously against his life2 (and there is nothing hidden from the king), then you yourself would have stood aloof.” ¹⁴Joab said, “I will not waste time like this with you.” And he took three javelins in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak. ¹⁵And ten young men, Joab's armor-bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him and killed him.

¹⁶Then Joab blew the trumpet, and the troops came back from pursuing Israel, for Joab restrained them. ¹⁷And they took Absalom and threw him into a great pit in the forest and raised over him ya very great heap of stones. And all Israel zfled every one to his own home. ¹⁸Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself athe pillar that is in bthe King's Valley, for he said, c“I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.” He called the pillar after his own name, and it is called Absalom's monument3 to this day.

David Hears of Absalom's Death

¹⁹Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, d“Let me run and carry news to the king that ethe Lord has delivered him from the hand of his enemies.” ²⁰And Joab said to him, “You are not to carry news today. You may carry news another day, but today you shall carry no news, because the king's son is dead.” ²¹Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed before Joab, and ran. ²²Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said again to Joab, “Come what may, let me also run after the Cushite.” And Joab said, “Why will you run, my son, seeing that you will have no reward for the news?” ²³“Come what may,” he said, “I will run.” So he said to him, “Run.” Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of fthe plain, and outran the Cushite.

²⁴Now David gwas sitting between the two gates, and hthe watchman went up to the roof of the gate by the wall, and when he lifted up his eyes and looked, he saw a man running alone. ²⁵The watchman called out and told the king. And the king said, “If he is alone, there is news in his mouth.” And he drew nearer and nearer. ²⁶The watchman saw another man running. And the watchman called to the gate and said, “See, another man running alone!” The king said, “He also brings news.” ²⁷The watchman said, “I think the running of the first is ilike the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.” And the king said, j“He is a good man and comes with good news.”

²⁸Then Ahimaaz cried out to the king, “All is well.” And he bowed before the king with his face to the earth and said, k“Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delivered up the men who raised their hand against my lord the king.” ²⁹And the king said, l“Is it well with the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king's servant, your servant, I saw a great commotion, but I do not know what it was.” ³⁰And the king said, “Turn aside and stand here.” So he turned aside and stood still.

David's Grief

³¹And behold, the Cushite came, and the Cushite said, “Good news for my lord the king! For mthe Lord has delivered you this day from the hand of all who rose up against you.” ³²The king said to the Cushite, l“Is it well with the young man Absalom?” And the Cushite answered, n“May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up against you for evil be like that young man.” ³³4 And the king was deeply moved and went up gto the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, o“O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

Paul and the False Apostles

¹I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! ²For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since nI betrothed you to one husband, oto present you pas a pure virgin to Christ. ³But I am afraid that qas the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts rwill be led astray from a ssincere and tpure devotion to Christ. ⁴For if someone comes and uproclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept va different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. ⁵Indeed, I consider that wI am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. ⁶xEven if I am unskilled in speaking, yI am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way zwe have made this plain to you in all things.

⁷Or adid I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because bI preached God's gospel to you free of charge? ⁸I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. ⁹And when I was with you and was cin need, dI did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia esupplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain ffrom burdening you in any way. ¹⁰gAs the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine hwill not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹And why? iBecause I do not love you? jGod knows I do!

¹²And what I am doing I will continue to do, kin order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. ¹³For such men are lfalse apostles, mdeceitful workmen, ndisguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as oan angel of light. ¹⁵So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as pservants of righteousness. qTheir end will correspond to their deeds.

Paul's Sufferings as an Apostle

¹⁶I repeat, rlet no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. ¹⁷What I am saying swith this boastful confidence, tI say not as the Lord would1 but as a fool. ¹⁸Since umany boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. ¹⁹For you gladly bear with fools, vbeing wise yourselves! ²⁰For you bear it if someone wmakes slaves of you, or xdevours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or ystrikes you in the face. ²¹To my shame, I must say, zwe were too weak for that!

But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. ²²Are they Hebrews? aSo am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. ²³Are they bservants of Christ? cI am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, dfar more imprisonments, ewith countless beatings, and foften near death. ²⁴Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the gforty lashes less one. ²⁵Three times I was hbeaten with rods. iOnce I was stoned. Three times I jwas shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; ²⁶on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, kdanger from my own people, ldanger from Gentiles, mdanger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; ²⁷nin toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, oin hunger and thirst, often without food,2 in cold and exposure. ²⁸And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for pall the churches. ²⁹qWho is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

³⁰rIf I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. ³¹sThe God and Father of the Lord Jesus, the who is blessed forever, uknows that I am not lying. ³²At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas vwas guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, ³³wbut I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.

Prophecy Against Ammon

¹The word of the Lord came to me: ²w“Son of man, xset your face toward ythe Ammonites and prophesy against them. ³Say to the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord God: zThus says the Lord God, Because you said, a‘Aha!’ over my bsanctuary when it was profaned, and over the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and over the house of Judah when they went into exile, ⁴therefore behold, I am handing you over to cthe people of the East for a possession, and they shall set their encampments among you and make their dwellings in your midst. They shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk. ⁵I will make dRabbah a epasture for camels and Ammon1 ea fold for flocks. vThen you will know that I am the Lord. ⁶For thus says the Lord God: Because fyou have clapped your hands gand stamped your feet and hrejoiced with all the imalice within your soul against the land of Israel, ⁷therefore, behold, jI have stretched out my hand against you, and kwill hand you over as plunder to the nations. And I will cut you off from the peoples and will make you perish out of the countries; I will destroy you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Prophecy Against Moab and Seir

⁸“Thus says the Lord God: Because lMoab and mSeir2 said, ‘Behold, the nhouse of Judah is like all the other nations,’ ⁹therefore lI will lay open the flank of Moab from the cities, from its cities on its frontier, the glory of the country, oBeth-jeshimoth, pBaal-meon, and qKiriathaim. ¹⁰I will give it ralong with the Ammonites sto the people of the East as a possession, tthat the Ammonites may be remembered no more among the nations, ¹¹land I will execute judgments upon Moab. uThen they will know that I am the Lord.

Prophecy Against Edom

¹²“Thus says the Lord God: Because vEdom acted revengefully against the house of Judah and has grievously offended win taking vengeance on them, ¹³therefore thus says the Lord God, xI will stretch out my hand against Edom and cut off from it man and beast. And I will make it desolate; from yTeman even to zDedan they shall fall by the sword. ¹⁴And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom aby the hand of my people Israel, and they shall do in Edom according to my anger and according to my wrath, and bthey shall know my vengeance, declares the Lord God.

Prophecy Against Philistia

¹⁵“Thus says the Lord God: Because cthe Philistines dacted revengefully and took vengeance ewith malice of soul to destroy in never-ending enmity, ¹⁶therefore thus says the Lord God, xBehold, I will stretch out my hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off fthe Cherethites and destroy the rest of the seacoast. ¹⁷I will execute great vengeance on them gwith wrathful rebukes. hThen they will know that I am the Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon them.”

Book Three

God Is My Strength and Portion Forever

A Psalm of bAsaph.

¹Truly God is good to cIsrael,

to those who are dpure in heart.

²But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,

my steps had nearly slipped.

³eFor I was fenvious of the arrogant

when I saw the gprosperity of the wicked.

⁴For they have no pangs until death;

their bodies are fat and sleek.

⁵They are not in trouble as others are;

they are not hstricken like the rest of mankind.

⁶Therefore pride is itheir necklace;

violence covers them as ja garment.

⁷Their keyes swell out through fatness;

their hearts overflow with follies.

⁸They scoff and lspeak with malice;

loftily they threaten oppression.

⁹They set their mouths against the heavens,

and their tongue struts through the earth.

¹⁰Therefore his people turn back to them,

and find mno fault in them.1

¹¹And they say, n“How can God know?

Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

¹²Behold, these are the wicked;

always at ease, they oincrease in riches.

¹³All in vain have I pkept my heart clean

and qwashed my hands in innocence.

¹⁴For all the day long I have been hstricken

and rrebuked severy morning.

¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak thus,”

I would have betrayed tthe generation of your children.

¹⁶But when I thought how to understand this,

it seemed to me ua wearisome task,

¹⁷until I went into vthe sanctuary of God;

then I discerned their wend.

¹⁸Truly you set them in xslippery places;

you make them fall to ruin.

¹⁹How they are destroyed yin a moment,

swept away utterly by zterrors!

²⁰Like aa dream when one awakes,

O Lord, when byou rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

²¹When my soul was embittered,

when I was pricked in heart,

²²I was cbrutish and ignorant;

I was like da beast toward you.

²³Nevertheless, I am continually with you;

you ehold my right hand.

²⁴You fguide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will greceive me to glory.

²⁵hWhom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

²⁶iMy flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is jthe strength2 of my heart and my kportion lforever.

²⁷For behold, those who are mfar from you shall perish;

you put an end to everyone who is nunfaithful to you.

²⁸But for me it is good to obe near God;

I have made the Lord God my prefuge,

that I may qtell of all your works.