David and Ziba

1 When 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. 2 And 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.” 3 And 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.’” 4 Then 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

5 When 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. 6 And 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. 7 And Shimei said as he ^xcursed, “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man! 8 The 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.”

9 Then 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.” 10 But 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?’” 11 And 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. 12 It 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.” 13 So 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. 14 And the king, and all the people who were with him, ^garrived weary at the Jordan.² And there he refreshed himself.

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, ⁱ“Long 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.

The Collection for Christians in Jerusalem

1 Now ^lit is superfluous for me to write to you about ^mthe ministry for the saints, 2 for 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. 3 But ^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. 4 Otherwise, 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. 5 So 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

6 The point is this: ^vwhoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully⁴ will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, ^wnot reluctantly or under compulsion, for ^xGod loves a cheerful giver. 8 And ^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. 9 As it is written,

10 He 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. 11 ^cYou will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which ^dthrough us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying ^ethe needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By 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, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 15 ^hThanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

Oholah and Oholibah

1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 ^h“Son of man, there were ⁱtwo women, the daughters of one mother. 3 ^jThey played the whore in Egypt; ^jthey played the whore ^kin their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms¹ handled. 4 Oholah 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 6 clothed in purple, ^rgovernors and commanders, ^sall of them desirable young men, ^thorsemen riding on horses. 7 She 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. 8 She 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. 9 Therefore ^vI delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. 10 ^wThese 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.

11 ^a“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. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, ^sall of them desirable young men. 13 And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. 14 But she carried her whoring further. She saw men ^cportrayed on the wall, the ^dimages of ^ethe Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, 15 wearing 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. 16 When she saw them, she lusted after them and ^fsent messengers to them ^ein Chaldea. 17 And 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. 18 When 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. 19 Yet she increased her whoring, ⁱremembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt 20 and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses. 21 Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed³ your young breasts.”

22 Therefore, 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: 23 the 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. 24 And 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. 25 And 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. 26 ^rThey shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. 27 ^sThus 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, 29 and ^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 30 have brought this upon you, because ^zyou played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. 31 You have gone the way of your sister; ^atherefore I will give ^bher cup into your hand. 32 Thus says the Lord God:

for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. 35 Therefore 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.”

36 The Lord said to me: ⁱ“Son of man, ^jwill you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. 37 For ^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. 38 Moreover, this they have done to me: ⁿthey have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and ^oprofaned my Sabbaths. 39 For 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. 40 They 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. 41 You sat on ^va stately couch, with a table spread before it ^won which you had placed my incense and ^xmy oil. 42 The ^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 44 For they have gone in to her, as men go in to a prostitute. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, lewd women! 45 But 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.”

46 For thus says the Lord God: ^c“Bring up a vast host against them, and make them ^dan object of terror and ^ea plunder. 47 ^fAnd 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. 48 ⁱThus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done. 49 And 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.”

O Lord, Do Not Delay

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

Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent