2 Samuel 16:15–18:18; John 11:23–44; Psalm 70; Proverbs 14:19–20

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2 Samuel 16:15–18:18

Absalom Enters Jerusalem

15 hNow Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. 16 And when Hushai the Archite, hDavid’s friend, came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, iLong live the king! Long live the king! 17 And Absalom said to Hushai, Is this your loyalty to your friend? jWhy did you not go with your friend? 18 And 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. 19 And again, kwhom should I serve? Should it not be his son? As I have served your father, so I will serve you.

20 Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, Give your counsel. What shall we do? 21 Ahithophel 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. 22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom non the roof. And Absalom went in to his father’s concubines oin the sight of all Israel. 23 Now 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.

Hushai Saves David

Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. I 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, and 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. And the advice seemed right in the eyes of Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

Then Absalom said, Call sHushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he has to say. And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, Thus has Ahithophel spoken; shall we do as he says? If not, you speak. Then Hushai said to Absalom, This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good. Hushai 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. Behold, 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. 10 Then 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. 11 But 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. 12 So 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. 13 If 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. 14 And 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.

15 yThen 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. 16 Now 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. 17 Now 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. 18 But 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. 19 eAnd the woman took and spread a covering over the well’s mouth and scattered grain on it, and nothing was known of it. 20 When 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.

21 After they had gone, the men came up out of the well, and went and told King David. They said to David, fArise, and go quickly over the water, for thus and so has Ahithophel counseled against you. 22 Then 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.

23 When 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.

24 Then David came to jMahanaim. And Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel. 25 Now 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. 26 And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

27 When 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, 28 brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans and lentils,7 29 honey 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.

Absalom Killed

Then David mustered the men who were with him and set over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. And 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. tBut 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. The 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. And 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.

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

And 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,8 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. 10 And a certain man saw it and told Joab, Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak. 11 Joab 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. 12 But 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. 13 On the other hand, if I had dealt treacherously against his life9 (and there is nothing hidden from the king), then you yourself would have stood aloof. 14 Joab 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. 15 And ten young men, Joab’s armor-bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him and killed him.

16 Then Joab blew the trumpet, and the troops came back from pursuing Israel, for Joab restrained them. 17 And 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. 18 Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself athe pillar that is in bthe King’s Valley, for he said, cI have no son to keep my name in remembrance. He called the pillar after his own name, and it is called Absalom’s monument10 to this day.


John 11:23–44

23 Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. 24 hMartha said to him, I know that he will rise again in ithe resurrection on the last day. 25 Jesus said to her, jI am the resurrection and kthe life.1 Whoever believes in me, lthough he die, myet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me nshall never die. Do you believe this? 27 She said to him, Yes, Lord; oI believe that pyou are the Christ, the Son of God, qwho is coming into the world.

Jesus Weeps

28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, rThe Teacher is here and is calling for you. 29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews swho were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, tLord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he uwas deeply moved2 in his spirit and vgreatly troubled. 34 And he said, Where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. 35 wJesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, See xhow he loved him! 37 But some of them said, Could not he ywho opened the eyes of the blind man zalso have kept this man from dying?

Jesus Raises Lazarus

38 Then Jesus, adeeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was ba cave, and ca stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for dhe has been dead four days. 40 Jesus said to her, eDid I not tell you that if you believed you would see fthe glory of God? 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus glifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 hI knew that you always hear me, but I said this ion account of the people standing around, jthat they may believe that you sent me. 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. 44 kThe man who had died came out, lhis hands and feet bound with linen strips, and mhis face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, Unbind him, and let him go.


Psalm 70

O Lord, Do Not Delay

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

gMake haste, O God, to deliver me!

O Lord, make haste to help me!

Let 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!

Let them turn back because of their shame

who say, Aha, Aha!

May all who seek you

rejoice and be glad in you!

May those who love your salvation

say evermore, God is great!

But I am poor and needy;

hhasten to me, O God!

You are my help and my deliverer;

O Lord, do not delay!


Proverbs 14:19–20

19  dThe evil bow down before the good,

the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

20  eThe poor is disliked even by his neighbor,

fbut the rich has many friends.