David and Ziba

¹When David had passed a little beyond pthe summit, qZiba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of donkeys saddled, bearing two hundred loaves of bread, ra hundred bunches of raisins, a hundred of summer fruits, and a skin of wine. ²And the king said to Ziba, “Why have you brought these?” Ziba answered, s“The donkeys are for the king's household to ride on, the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine for those who tfaint in the wilderness to drink.” ³And the king said, “And where is your master's son?” uZiba said to the king, “Behold, he remains in Jerusalem, for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will give me back the kingdom of my father.’” ⁴Then the king said to Ziba, “Behold, all that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours.” And Ziba said, “I pay homage; let me ever find favor in your sight, my lord the king.”

Shimei Curses David

⁵When King David came to vBahurim, there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was wShimei, the son of Gera, and as he came xhe cursed continually. ⁶And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. ⁷And Shimei said as he xcursed, “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man! ⁸The Lord yhas avenged on you all zthe blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood.”

⁹Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this adead dog bcurse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head.” ¹⁰But the king said, c“What have I to do with you, dyou sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” ¹¹And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, emy own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjaminite! Leave him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. ¹²It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me,1 and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today.” ¹³So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and fcursed as he went and threw stones at him and flung dust. ¹⁴And the king, and all the people who were with him, garrived weary at the Jordan.2 And there he refreshed himself.

Absalom Enters Jerusalem

¹⁵hNow Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. ¹⁶And when Hushai the Archite, hDavid's friend, came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, i“Long live the king! Long live the king!” ¹⁷And Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your loyalty to your friend? jWhy did you not go with your friend?” ¹⁸And Hushai said to Absalom, “No, for whom the Lord and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, his I will be, and with him I will remain. ¹⁹And again, kwhom should I serve? Should it not be his son? As I have served your father, so I will serve you.”

²⁰Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give your counsel. What shall we do?” ²¹Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to lyour father's concubines, whom he has left to keep the house, and all Israel will hear that you have made yourself a stench to your father, and mthe hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.” ²²So they pitched a tent for Absalom non the roof. And Absalom went in to his father's concubines oin the sight of all Israel. ²³Now in those days the counsel that Ahithophel gave was as if one consulted the word of God; so was all the counsel of Ahithophel esteemed, pboth by David and by Absalom.

The Collection for Christians in Jerusalem

¹Now lit is superfluous for me to write to you about mthe ministry for the saints, ²for I know your readiness, nof which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready osince last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them. ³But pI am sending1 the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, qas I said you would be. ⁴Otherwise, if some Macedonians rcome with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident. ⁵So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the sgift2 you have promised, so that it may be ready tas a willing gift, unot as an exaction.3

The Cheerful Giver

⁶The point is this: vwhoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully4 will also reap bountifully. ⁷Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, wnot reluctantly or under compulsion, for xGod loves a cheerful giver. ⁸And yGod is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency5 in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. ⁹As it is written,

z“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;

his righteousness endures forever.”

¹⁰He who supplies aseed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and bincrease the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹cYou will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which dthrough us will produce thanksgiving to God. ¹²For the ministry of this service is not only supplying ethe needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. ¹³By their approval of this service, fthey6 will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your gconfession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, ¹⁴while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. ¹⁵hThanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

Oholah and Oholibah

¹The word of the Lord came to me: ²h“Son of man, there were itwo women, the daughters of one mother. ³jThey played the whore in Egypt; jthey played the whore kin their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms1 handled. ⁴Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. lThey became mine, and they mbore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is nSamaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

⁵“Oholah played the whore owhile she was mine, and pshe lusted after her lovers qthe Assyrians, warriors ⁶clothed in purple, rgovernors and commanders, sall of them desirable young men, thorsemen riding on horses. ⁷She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted. ⁸She did not give up her whoring uthat she had begun in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their whoring lust upon her. ⁹Therefore vI delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. ¹⁰wThese uncovered her nakedness; xthey seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became ya byword among women, zwhen judgment had been executed on her.

¹¹a“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became bmore corrupt than her sister2 in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister. ¹²She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, sall of them desirable young men. ¹³And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. ¹⁴But she carried her whoring further. She saw men cportrayed on the wall, the dimages of ethe Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, ¹⁵wearing belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them having the appearance of officers, a likeness of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. ¹⁶When she saw them, she lusted after them and fsent messengers to them ein Chaldea. ¹⁷And the Babylonians came to her ginto the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, hshe turned from them in disgust. ¹⁸When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in disgust from her sister. ¹⁹Yet she increased her whoring, iremembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt ²⁰and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses. ²¹Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed3 your young breasts.”

²²Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers hfrom whom you turned in disgust, jand I will bring them against you from every side: ²³the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, kPekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, ldesirable young men, lgovernors and commanders all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. ²⁴And they shall come against you from the north4 with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples. mThey shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet; and nI will commit the judgment to them, and othey shall judge you according to their judgments. ²⁵And I will direct my jealousy against you, pthat they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. qThey shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. ²⁶rThey shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. ²⁷sThus I will put an end to your lewdness and tyour whoring begun in the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.

²⁸“For thus says the Lord God: uBehold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, vinto the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, ²⁹and wthey shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor xand leave you naked and bare, and ythe nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring ³⁰have brought this upon you, because zyou played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. ³¹You have gone the way of your sister; atherefore I will give bher cup into your hand. ³²Thus says the Lord God:

“You shall drink your sister's cup

that is deep and large;

you shall be laughed at and held in derision,

for it contains much;

³³you will be filled with cdrunkenness and sorrow.

cA cup of horror and desolation,

the cup of dyour sister Samaria;

³⁴eyou shall drink it and drain it out,

and gnaw its shards,

and tear your breasts;

for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. ³⁵Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because fyou have forgotten me and gcast me behind your back, you yourself hmust bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”

³⁶The Lord said to me: i“Son of man, jwill you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. ³⁷For kthey have committed adultery, land blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even moffered up5 to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. ³⁸Moreover, this they have done to me: nthey have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and oprofaned my Sabbaths. ³⁹For when pthey had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day qthey came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, rthis is what they did in my house. ⁴⁰They even sent for men to come from afar, sto whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, tpainted your eyes, uand adorned yourself with ornaments. ⁴¹You sat on va stately couch, with a table spread before it won which you had placed my incense and xmy oil. ⁴²The ysound of a carefree multitude was with her; and with men of the common sort, drunkards6 were brought from the wilderness; and they put zbracelets on the hands of the women, and abeautiful crowns on their heads.

⁴³“Then I said of her who was worn out by adultery, ‘Now they will continue to use her for a whore, even her!’7 ⁴⁴For they have gone in to her, as men go in to a prostitute. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, lewd women! ⁴⁵But righteous men bshall pass judgment on them with the sentence of adulteresses, and with the sentence of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.”

⁴⁶For thus says the Lord God: c“Bring up a vast host against them, and make them dan object of terror and ea plunder. ⁴⁷fAnd the host shall stone them and cut them down with their swords. gThey shall kill their sons and their daughters, and hburn up their houses. ⁴⁸iThus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done. ⁴⁹And they shall return your lewdness upon you, and jyou shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and kyou shall know that I am the Lord God.”

Psalm 70

O Lord, Do Not Delay

To the choirmaster. Of David, ffor the memorial offering.

¹gMake haste, O God, to deliver me!

O Lord, make haste to help me!

²Let them be put to shame and confusion

who seek my life!

Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor

who delight in my hurt!

³Let them turn back because of their shame

who say, “Aha, Aha!”

⁴May all who seek you

rejoice and be glad in you!

May those who love your salvation

say evermore, “God is great!”

⁵But I am poor and needy;

hhasten to me, O God!

You are my help and my deliverer;

O Lord, do not delay!

Psalm 71

Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent

¹iIn you, O Lord, do I take refuge;

let me never be put to shame!

²In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;

incline your ear to me, and save me!

³Be to me a rock of jrefuge,

to which I may continually come;

you have kgiven the command to save me,

for you are my lrock and my fortress.

⁴mRescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.

⁵For you, O Lord, are my nhope,

my trust, O Lord, from my youth.

⁶Upon you I have leaned ofrom before my birth;

you are he who ptook me from my mother's womb.

My praise is continually of you.

⁷I have been as qa portent to many,

but you are my strong refuge.

⁸My rmouth is filled with your praise,

and with your glory all the day.

⁹sDo not cast me off in the time of old age;

forsake me not when my strength is spent.

¹⁰For my enemies speak concerning me;

those who twatch for my life uconsult together

¹¹and say, “God has forsaken him;

pursue and seize him,

for there is none to deliver him.”

¹²O God, be not vfar from me;

O my God, wmake haste to help me!

¹³May my accusers be xput to shame and consumed;

ywith scorn and disgrace may they be covered

who zseek my hurt.

¹⁴But I will ahope continually

and will bpraise you yet more and more.

¹⁵My cmouth will tell of your righteous acts,

of your deeds of salvation all the day,

for dtheir number is past my knowledge.

¹⁶With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;

I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.

¹⁷O God, from my youth you have taught me,

and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.

¹⁸So even to eold age and gray hairs,

O God, fdo not forsake me,

until I proclaim your might to another generation,

your power to all those to come.

¹⁹Your grighteousness, O God,

reaches the high heavens.

You who have done hgreat things,

O God, iwho is like you?

²⁰You who have jmade me see many troubles and calamities

will krevive me again;

from the depths of the earth

you will bring me up again.

²¹You will increase my greatness

and comfort me again.

²²I will also praise you with lthe harp

for your faithfulness, O my God;

I will sing praises to you with the lyre,

O mHoly One of Israel.

²³My lips will shout for joy,

when I sing praises to you;

my soul also, which you have nredeemed.

²⁴And my otongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,

for they have been pput to shame and disappointed

who sought to do me hurt.