Hushai Saves David

¹Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. ²I will come upon him while he is qweary and discouraged and throw him into a panic, and all the people who are with him will flee. rI will strike down only the king, ³and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man,1 and all the people will be at peace.” ⁴And the advice seemed right in the eyes of Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

⁵Then Absalom said, “Call sHushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he has to say.” ⁶And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, “Thus has Ahithophel spoken; shall we do as he says? If not, you speak.” ⁷Then Hushai said to Absalom, “This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.” ⁸Hushai said, “You know that your father and his men are mighty men, and that they are enraged,2 tlike a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert in war; he will not spend the night with the people. ⁹Behold, even now he has hidden himself in one of the pits or in some other place. And as soon as some of the people fall3 at the first attack, whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’ ¹⁰Then even the valiant man, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will utterly umelt with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and that those who are with him are valiant men. ¹¹But my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you, vfrom Dan to Beersheba, was the sand by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person. ¹²So we shall come upon him in some place where he is to be found, and we shall light upon him as the dew falls on the ground, and of him and all the men with him not one will be left. ¹³If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we shall drag it into the valley, until not even a pebble is to be found there.” ¹⁴And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” xFor the Lord had ordained4 to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom.

¹⁵yThen Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Thus and so did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and so have I counseled. ¹⁶Now therefore send quickly and tell David, ‘Do not stay tonight at zthe fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king and all the people who are with him be aswallowed up.’” ¹⁷Now bJonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at cEn-rogel. A female servant was to go and tell them, and they were to go and tell King David, for they were not to be seen entering the city. ¹⁸But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So both of them went away quickly and came to the house of a man at dBahurim, who had a well in his courtyard. And they went down into it. ¹⁹eAnd the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth and scattered grain on it, and nothing was known of it. ²⁰When Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house, they said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” And the woman said to them, “They have gone over the brook5 of water.” And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹After they had gone, the men came up out of the well, and went and told King David. They said to David, f“Arise, and go quickly over the water, for thus and so has Ahithophel counseled against you.” ²²Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they crossed the Jordan. By daybreak not one was left who had not crossed the Jordan.

²³When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to ghis own city. He hset his house in order and ihanged himself, and he died and was buried in the tomb of his father.

²⁴Then David came to jMahanaim. And Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel. ²⁵Now Absalom had set kAmasa over the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Ishmaelite,6 who had married Abigal the daughter of lNahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother. ²⁶And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

²⁷When David came to Mahanaim, mShobi the son of Nahash from nRabbah of the Ammonites, and oMachir the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and pBarzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, ²⁸brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans and lentils,7 ²⁹honey and curds and sheep and cheese from the herd, for David and the people with him to eat, for they said, “The people are hungry and qweary and thirsty rin the wilderness.”

Paul Defends His Ministry

¹iI, Paul, myself entreat you, by the jmeekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— ²I beg of you kthat when I am present I may not have to show lboldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. ³For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. ⁴For the mweapons of nour warfare are not of the flesh but have odivine power pto destroy strongholds. ⁵We destroy arguments and qevery lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to robey Christ, ⁶sbeing ready to punish every disobedience, twhen your obedience is complete.

⁷uLook at what is before your eyes. vIf anyone is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that just as whe is Christ's, xso also are we. ⁸For even if I boast a little too much of your authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. ⁹I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. ¹⁰For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but zhis bodily presence is weak, and ahis speech of no account.” ¹¹Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present. ¹²Not that we dare to classify or bcompare ourselves with some of those who care commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are dwithout understanding.

¹³But we will not boast ebeyond limits, but will fboast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, gto reach even to you. ¹⁴For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. hFor we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. ¹⁵We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that ias your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be jgreatly enlarged, ¹⁶so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another's area of influence. ¹⁷“Let kthe one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” ¹⁸For it is lnot the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one mwhom the Lord commends.

The Siege of Jerusalem

¹lIn the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ²m“Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day. ³And nutter a parable to othe rebellious house and say to them, Thus says the Lord God:

“Set on pthe pot, set it on;

pour in water also;

⁴put in it the pieces of meat,

all the good pieces, qthe thigh and the shoulder;

fill it with choice bones.

⁵Take the choicest one of the flock;

pile the logs1 under it;

boil it well;

seethe also its bones in it.

⁶“Therefore thus says the Lord God: rWoe to the bloody city, to pthe pot whose corrosion is in it, and whose corrosion has not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece, without making any choice.2 ⁷For the blood she has shed is in her midst; she put it on sthe bare rock; tshe did not pour it out on the ground to cover it with dust. ⁸To rouse my wrath, to take vengeance, I have set on the bare rock the blood she has shed, that it may not be covered. ⁹Therefore thus says the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city! uI also will make the pile great. ¹⁰Heap on the logs, kindle the fire, boil the meat well, mix in the spices,3 and let the bones be burned up. ¹¹Then set it empty upon the coals, that it may become hot, and its copper may burn, vthat its uncleanness may be melted in it, its corrosion consumed. ¹²wShe has wearied herself with toil;4 its abundant corrosion does not go out of it. Into the fire with its corrosion! ¹³On account of your unclean lewdness, because I would have cleansed you and you were not cleansed from your uncleanness, xyou shall not be cleansed anymore till yI have satisfied my fury upon you. ¹⁴zI am the Lord. I have spoken; it shall come to pass; I will do it. I will not go back; aI will not spare; bI will not relent; caccording to your ways and your deeds you will be judged, declares the Lord God.”

Ezekiel's Wife Dies

¹⁵The word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁶d“Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. ¹⁷Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. eBind on your turban, and fput your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, gnor eat the bread of men.” ¹⁸So I spoke to the people in the morning, and hat evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did ias I was commanded.

¹⁹And jthe people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are acting thus?” ²⁰Then I said to them, “The word of the Lord came to me: ²¹‘Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: kBehold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes, and the yearning of your soul, and lyour sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword. ²²And myou shall do as I have done; myou shall not cover your lips, gnor eat the bread of men. ²³mYour turbans shall be on your heads and your shoes on your feet; you shall not mourn or weep, but nyou shall rot away in your iniquities and groan to one another. ²⁴Thus shall Ezekiel be to you oa sign; maccording to all that he has done you shall do. When this comes, then pyou will know that I am the Lord God.’

²⁵“As for you, qson of man, surely on the day when I take from them rtheir stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes and their soul's desire, and also their sons and daughters, ²⁶son that day a fugitive will come to you to report to you the news. ²⁷On that day your mouth twill be opened to the fugitive, and you shall speak and be no longer mute. uSo you will be a sign to them, and vthey will know that I am the Lord.”

Give the King Your Justice

Of qSolomon.

¹Give the king your rjustice, O God,

and your righteousness to the royal son!

²May he sjudge your people with righteousness,

and your poor with justice!

³Let the mountains bear tprosperity for the people,

and the hills, in righteousness!

⁴May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,

give deliverance to the children of the needy,

and crush the oppressor!

⁵May they fear you1 while uthe sun endures,

and as long as the moon, vthroughout all generations!

⁶May he be like wrain that falls on xthe mown grass,

like yshowers that water the earth!

⁷In his days may zthe righteous flourish,

and apeace abound, till the moon be no more!

⁸May he have dominion from bsea to sea,

and from bthe River2 to the cends of the earth!

⁹May desert tribes dbow down before him,

and his enemies elick the dust!

¹⁰May the kings of fTarshish and of gthe coastlands

render him htribute;

may the kings of iSheba and jSeba

bring gifts!

¹¹May all kings kfall down before him,

all nations serve him!

¹²For he delivers lthe needy when he calls,

the poor and him who has no helper.

¹³He has pity on the weak and the needy,

and saves the lives of the needy.

¹⁴From oppression and violence he redeems their life,

and mprecious is their blood in his sight.

¹⁵Long may he live;

may ngold of Sheba be given to him!

May prayer be made ofor him continually,

and blessings invoked for him all the day!

¹⁶May there be abundance of grain in the land;

on the tops of the mountains may it wave;

may its fruit be like Lebanon;

and may people pblossom in the cities

like the qgrass of the field!

¹⁷rMay his name endure forever,

his fame continue as long as the sun!

sMay people be blessed in him,

tall nations call him blessed!

¹⁸uBlessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

who alone does vwondrous things.

¹⁹Blessed be his wglorious name forever;

may xthe whole earth be filled with his glory!

yAmen and Amen!

²⁰zThe prayers of aDavid, the son of Jesse, are ended.