2 Samuel 13 Cross References - BSB

¹ After some time, David’s son Amnon fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of David’s son Absalom. ² Amnon was sick with frustration over his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed implausible for him to do anything to her. ³ Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah. Jonadab was a very shrewd man, ⁴ so he asked Amnon, “Why are you, the son of the king, so depressed morning after morning? Won’t you tell me?” Amnon replied, “I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.” ⁵ Jonadab told him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend you are ill. When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare it in my sight so I may watch her and eat it from her hand.’” ⁶ So Amnon lay down and feigned illness. When the king came to see him, Amnon said, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my sight, so that I may eat from her hand.” ⁷ Then David sent word to Tamar at the palace: “Please go to the house of Amnon your brother and prepare a meal for him.” ⁸ So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was lying down. She took some dough, kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked them. ⁹ Then she brought the pan and set it down before him, but he refused to eat. “Send everyone away!” said Amnon. And everyone went out. ¹⁰ Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the bedroom, so that I may eat it from your hand.” Tamar took the cakes she had made and went to her brother Amnon’s bedroom. ¹¹ And when she had brought them to him to eat, he took hold of her and said, “Come lie with me, my sister!” ¹² “No, my brother!” she cried. “Do not humiliate me, for such a thing should never be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing! ¹³ Where could I ever take my shame? And you would be like one of the fools in Israel! Please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.” ¹⁴ But Amnon refused to listen to her, and being stronger, he violated her and lay with her. ¹⁵ Then Amnon hated Tamar with such intensity that his hatred was greater than the love he previously had. “Get up!” he said to her. “Be gone!” ¹⁶ “No,” she replied, “sending me away is worse than this great wrong you have already done to me!” But he refused to listen to her. ¹⁷ Instead, he called to his attendant and said, “Throw this woman out and bolt the door behind her!” ¹⁸ So Amnon’s attendant threw her out and bolted the door behind her. Now Tamar was wearing a robe of many colors, because this is what the king’s virgin daughters wore. ¹⁹ And Tamar put ashes on her head and tore her robe. And putting her hand on her head, she went away crying bitterly. ²⁰ Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has your brother Amnon been with you? Be quiet for now, my sister. He is your brother. Do not take this thing to heart.” So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in the house of her brother Absalom. ²¹ When King David heard all this, he was furious. ²² And Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad, because he hated Amnon for disgracing his sister Tamar. ²³ Two years later, when Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, he invited all the sons of the king. ²⁴ And he went to the king and said, “Your servant has just hired shearers. Will the king and his servants please come with me?” ²⁵ “No, my son,” the king replied, “we should not all go, or we would be a burden to you.” Although Absalom urged him, he was not willing to go, but gave him his blessing. ²⁶ “If not,” said Absalom, “please let my brother Amnon go with us.” “Why should he go with you?” the king asked. ²⁷ But Absalom urged him, so the king sent Amnon and the rest of his sons. ²⁸ Now Absalom had ordered his young men, “Watch Amnon until his heart is merry with wine, and when I order you to strike Amnon down, you are to kill him. Do not be afraid. Have I not commanded you? Be courageous and valiant!” ²⁹ So Absalom’s young men did to Amnon just as Absalom had ordered. Then all the other sons of the king got up, and each one fled on his mule. ³⁰ While they were on the way, a report reached David: “Absalom has struck down all the sons of the king; not one of them is left!” ³¹ Then the king stood up, tore his clothes, and lay down on the ground; and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn. ³² But Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, spoke up: “My lord must not think they have killed all the sons of the king, for only Amnon is dead. In fact, Absalom has planned this since the day Amnon violated his sister Tamar. ³³ So now, my lord the king, do not take to heart the report that all the sons of the king are dead. Only Amnon is dead.” ³⁴ Meanwhile, Absalom had fled. When the young man standing watch looked up, he saw many people coming down the road west of him, along the side of the hill. And the watchman went and reported to the king, “I see men coming from the direction of Horonaim, along the side of the hill.” ³⁵ So Jonadab said to the king, “Look, the sons of the king have arrived! It is just as your servant said.” ³⁶ And as he finished speaking, the sons of the king came in, wailing loudly. Then the king and all his servants also wept very bitterly. ³⁷ Now Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. But David mourned for his son every day. ³⁸ After Absalom had fled and gone to Geshur, he stayed there three years. ³⁹ And King David longed to go to Absalom, for he had been consoled over Amnon’s death.

² the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives whomever they chose.

¹⁸ Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

²⁰ So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.

³ And his soul was drawn to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young girl and spoke to her tenderly.

⁶ So Potiphar left all that he owned in Joseph’s care; he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, ⁷ and after some time his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.”

² And sons were born to David in Hebron: His firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam of Jezreel; ³ his second was Chileab, by Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; his third was Absalom, the son of Maacah daughter of King Talmai of Geshur;

² One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman.

¹⁵ Then Amnon hated Tamar with such intensity that his hatred was greater than the love he previously had. “Get up!” he said to her. “Be gone!”

²⁷ Three sons were born to Absalom, and a daughter named Tamar, who was a beautiful woman.

¹ King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women.

² the third was Absalom the son of Maacah daughter of King Talmai of Geshur; the fourth was Adonijah the son of Haggith;

⁹ These were all the sons of David, besides the sons by his concubines. And Tamar was their sister.

²⁵ Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.

³⁰ Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

⁴ So Ahab went to his palace, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had told him, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” He lay down on his bed, turned his face away, and refused to eat.

⁸ O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.

¹⁰ Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”

¹ About that time, Judah left his brothers and settled near a man named Hirah, an Adullamite.

²⁰ Now when Judah sent his friend Hirah the Adullamite with the young goat to collect the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her.

²⁰ and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.

⁹ Next Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.”

³² But Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, spoke up: “My lord must not think they have killed all the sons of the king, for only Amnon is dead. In fact, Absalom has planned this since the day Amnon violated his sister Tamar.

² So Joab sent to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, “Please pretend to be a mourner; put on clothes for mourning and do not anoint yourself with oil. Act like a woman who has mourned for the dead a long time.

¹⁹ So the king asked, “Is the hand of Joab behind all this?” The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king says. Yes, your servant Joab is the one who gave me orders; he told your maidservant exactly what to say. ²⁰ Joab your servant has done this to bring about this change of affairs, but my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the angel of God, to know everything that happens in the land.”

¹⁰ Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. And calling for his friends and his wife Zeresh,

¹⁴ His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, “Have them build a gallows fifty cubits high, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself.” The advice pleased Haman, and he had the gallows constructed.

¹³ Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is Jewish, you will not prevail against him—for surely you will fall before him.”

⁶ Many seek the favor of the prince, and everyone is a friend of the gift giver.

²² “For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”

¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”

¹⁵ Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

⁹ You must not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.

¹⁷ If a man marries his sister, whether the daughter of his father or of his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off in the sight of their people. He has uncovered the nakedness of his sister; he shall bear his iniquity.

⁷ But his wife Jezebel said to him, “Do you not reign over Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful, for I will get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

¹³ Yet none of this satisfies me as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.” ¹⁴ His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, “Have them build a gallows fifty cubits high, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself.” The advice pleased Haman, and he had the gallows constructed.

⁹ The expression on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it. Woe to them, for they have brought disaster upon themselves.

¹² Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they will collapse, says the LORD.

³ Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together.

³² Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

²¹ Ahithophel replied, “Sleep with your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the palace. When all Israel hears that you have become a stench to your father, then the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

¹⁸ When you see a thief, you befriend him, and throw in your lot with adulterers. ¹⁹ You unleash your mouth for evil and unharness your tongue for deceit.

²⁷ If you cease to hear instruction, my son, you will stray from the words of knowledge.

²⁴ Then she went out and asked her mother, “What should I request?” And her mother answered, “The head of John the Baptist.” ²⁵ At once the girl hurried back to the king with her request: “I want you to give me the head of John the Baptist on a platter immediately.”

¹⁵ Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him down to you on the pretext of examining his case more carefully. We are ready to kill him on the way.”

⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Prepare three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and bake some bread.”

³³ He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into three measures of flour, until all of it was leavened.”

¹ Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me!” So none of them were with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.

¹⁹ But upon reaching the idols near Gilgal, he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” “Silence,” said the king, and all his attendants left him. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

¹¹ One day, however, Joseph went into the house to attend to his work, and not a single household servant was inside. ¹² She grabbed Joseph by his cloak and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his cloak in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.

² When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the region, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force.

⁷ When Jacob’s sons heard what had happened, they returned from the field. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that should not be done.

¹¹ You must not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father’s wife, born to your father; she is your sister.

²⁹ then the man who lay with her must pay the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she must become his wife because he has violated her. He must not divorce her as long as he lives.

²³ The owner of the house went out and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not do this wicked thing! After all, this man is a guest in my house. Do not commit this outrage.

⁶ Then I took my concubine, cut her into pieces, and sent her throughout the land of Israel’s inheritance, because they had committed a lewd and disgraceful act in Israel.

²² The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him. ²³ He dies for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.

⁷ I saw among the simple, I noticed among the youths, a young man lacking judgment,

⁸ Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them to you, and you can do to them as you please. But do not do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

¹² Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father—though not the daughter of my mother—and she became my wife.

²⁴ Look, let me bring out my virgin daughter and the man’s concubine, and you can use them and do with them as you wish. But do not do such a vile thing to this man.”

²⁵ But if the man encounters a betrothed woman in the open country, and he overpowers her and lies with her, only the man who has done this must die. ²⁶ Do nothing to the young woman, because she has committed no sin worthy of death. This case is just like one in which a man attacks his neighbor and murders him. ²⁷ When he found her in the field, the betrothed woman cried out, but there was no one to save her.

⁵ And during the night, the men of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house. They intended to kill me, but they abused my concubine, and she died.

¹¹ This is what the LORD says: ‘I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to another, and he will lie with them in broad daylight.

⁸ Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually assault the queen while I am in the palace?” As soon as the words had left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

¹⁷ Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. But after she had been defiled by them, she turned away in disgust.

³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons, because Joseph had been born to him in his old age; so he made him a robe of many colors.

²³ So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the robe of many colors he was wearing—

³² They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe or not.”

³⁰ ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil—a girl or two for each warrior, a plunder of dyed garments for Sisera, the spoil of embroidered garments for the neck of the looter?’

¹³ All glorious is the princess in her chamber; her gown is embroidered with gold. ¹⁴ In colorful garments she is led to the king; her virgin companions are brought before you.

⁶ Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown before the ark of the LORD until evening, as did the elders of Israel; and they all sprinkled dust on their heads.

¹² That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line all the way to Shiloh, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.

² On the third day a man with torn clothes and dust on his head arrived from Saul’s camp. When he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him homage.

¹¹ Then David took hold of his own clothes and tore them, and all the men who were with him did the same.

¹ When Mordecai learned of all that had happened, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.

¹² When they lifted up their eyes from afar, they could barely recognize Job. They began to weep aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust in the air over his head.

⁶ Therefore I retract my words, and I repent in dust and ashes.”

³⁷ Moreover, you will leave that place with your hands on your head, for the LORD has rejected those you trust; you will not prosper by their help.”

¹⁵ These are the sons of Leah born to Jacob in Paddan-aram, in addition to his daughter Dinah. The total number of sons and daughters was thirty-three.

²⁴ A hateful man disguises himself with his speech, but he lays up deceit in his heart.

¹⁹ Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”

²² Now Eli was very old, and he heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ²³ “Why are you doing these things?” Eli said to his sons. “I hear about your wicked deeds from all these people. ²⁴ No, my sons; it is not a good report I hear circulating among the LORD’s people. ²⁵ If a man sins against another man, God can intercede for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father, since the LORD intended to put them to death.

²⁹ Why then do you kick at My sacrifice and offering that I have prescribed for My dwelling place? You have honored your sons more than Me by fattening yourselves with the best of all the offerings of My people Israel.’

²⁸ Afterward, David heard about this and said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the LORD concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner. ²⁹ May it whirl over the heads of Joab and the entire house of his father, and may the house of Joab never be without one having a discharge or skin disease, or one who leans on a staff or falls by the sword or lacks food.”

⁵ David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan: “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!

¹⁰ Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

⁸ Every morning I will remove all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off every evildoer from the city of the LORD.

⁵⁰ Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the LORD; we have no choice in the matter.

²⁴ But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

²⁹ I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’

¹⁷ You must not harbor hatred against your brother in your heart. Directly rebuke your neighbor, so that you will not incur guilt on account of him. ¹⁸ Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

¹⁸ The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.

⁹ Argue your case with your neighbor without betraying another’s confidence,

⁴ Wrath is cruel and anger is like a flood, but who can withstand jealousy? ⁵ Better an open rebuke than love that is concealed. ⁶ The wounds of a friend are faithful, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

⁹ Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger settles in the lap of a fool.

¹⁵ If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.

²⁶ “Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger,

³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice.

⁹ If anyone claims to be in the light but hates his brother, he is still in the darkness.

¹¹ But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

¹⁵ Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer.

¹² After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah. ¹³ When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,”

² Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very wealthy man with a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.

⁴ While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep.

⁷ Now I hear that it is time for shearing. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel.

³⁶ When Abigail returned to Nabal, there he was in the house, holding a feast fit for a king, in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until morning light.

⁹ And Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened calves near the stone of Zoheleth, which is next to En-rogel. He invited all his royal brothers and all the men of Judah who were servants of the king.

¹⁹ And he has sacrificed an abundance of oxen, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the other sons of the king, as well as Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army. But he did not invite your servant Solomon.

²⁵ For today he has gone down and sacrificed an abundance of oxen, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the sons of the king, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest. And behold, they are eating and drinking before him, saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’

⁴ Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and he would render to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams.

¹⁰ Since he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain, he built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns. And since he was a lover of the soil, he had farmers and vinedressers in the hill country and in the fertile fields.

⁸ Then he said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him. ⁹ But Uriah slept at the door of the palace with all his master’s servants; he did not go down to his house. ¹⁰ And David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” “Haven’t you just arrived from a journey?” David asked Uriah. “Why didn’t you go home?” ¹¹ Uriah answered, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camped in the open field. How can I go to my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing!” ¹² “Stay here one more day,” David said to Uriah, “and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³ Then David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him, and he got Uriah drunk. And in the evening Uriah went out to lie down on his cot with his master’s servants, but he did not go home. ¹⁴ The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. ¹⁵ In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.”

² They lie to one another; they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.

²¹ His speech is smooth as butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are swords unsheathed.

⁶ And Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. When Ishmael encountered the men, he said, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.” ⁷ And when they came into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern.

² and said, “My lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant; wash your feet and spend the night. Then you can rise early and go on your way.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.” ³ But Lot insisted so strongly that they followed him into his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁷ The man got up to depart, but his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed there that night. ⁸ On the fifth day, he got up early in the morning to depart, but the girl’s father said, “Please refresh your heart.” So they waited until late afternoon and the two of them ate. ⁹ When the man got up to depart with his concubine and his servant, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look, the day is drawing to a close. Please spend the night. See, the day is almost over. Spend the night here, that your heart may be merry. Then you can get up early tomorrow for your journey home.” ¹⁰ But the man was unwilling to spend the night. He got up and departed, and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine.

⁴ Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and said to the harvesters, “The LORD be with you.” “The LORD bless you,” they replied.

²² Joab fell facedown in homage and blessed the king. “Today,” said Joab, “your servant knows that he has found favor with you, my lord the king, because the king has granted his request.” ²³ So the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.

²⁹ But they pleaded with Him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So He went in to stay with them.

¹⁵ And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

²⁷ When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab pulled him aside into the gateway, as if to speak to him privately, and there Joab stabbed him in the stomach. So Abner died on account of the blood of Joab’s brother Asahel.

⁹ “Are you well, my brother?” Joab asked Amasa. And with his right hand Joab grabbed Amasa by the beard to kiss him.

²⁴ A hateful man disguises himself with his speech, but he lays up deceit in his heart. ²⁵ When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart. ²⁶ Though his hatred is concealed by deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

²¹ But when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent.

³² Come, let us get our father drunk with wine so we can sleep with him and preserve his line.” ³³ So that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the firstborn went in and slept with her father; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up. ³⁴ The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Look, I slept with my father last night. Let us get him drunk with wine again tonight so you can go in and sleep with him and we can preserve our father’s line.” ³⁵ So again that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

¹⁶ “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them on the birthstools. If the child is a son, kill him; but if it is a daughter, let her live.” ¹⁷ The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had instructed; they let the boys live.

¹⁶ They came to Balaam and said, “This is what Balak son of Zippor says: ‘Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me, ¹⁷ for I will honor you richly and do whatever you say. So please come and put a curse on this people for me!’”

⁹ Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

⁶ So they sat down and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Please agree to stay overnight and let your heart be merry.”

⁹ When the man got up to depart with his concubine and his servant, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look, the day is drawing to a close. Please spend the night. See, the day is almost over. Spend the night here, that your heart may be merry. Then you can get up early tomorrow for your journey home.”

²² While they were enjoying themselves, suddenly the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they said to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house, so we can have relations with him!”

⁷ After Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then Ruth went in secretly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.

¹⁷ Then the king ordered the guards at his side, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because they too sided with David. For they knew he was fleeing, but they did not tell me.” But the king’s servants would not lift a hand to strike the priests of the LORD. ¹⁸ So the king ordered Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests!” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests himself. On that day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod.

³⁶ When Abigail returned to Nabal, there he was in the house, holding a feast fit for a king, in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until morning light. ³⁷ In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these events, and his heart failed within him and he became like a stone. ³⁸ About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.

¹⁰ Then Saul swore to her by the LORD: “As surely as the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this.”

¹³ “Do not be afraid,” the king replied. “What do you see?” “I see a god coming up out of the earth,” the woman answered.

¹³ Then David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him, and he got Uriah drunk. And in the evening Uriah went out to lie down on his cot with his master’s servants, but he did not go home.

¹⁵ In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.”

¹⁶ They marched out at noon while Ben-hadad and the 32 kings allied with him were in their tents getting drunk.

¹⁰ On the seventh day, when the king’s heart was merry with wine, he ordered the seven eunuchs who served him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas—

¹⁵ wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil that makes his face to shine, and bread that sustains his heart.

⁷ Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already approved your works:

¹⁹ A feast is prepared for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything.

² Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king could drink from them, along with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines. ³ Thus they brought in the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king drank from them, along with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines. ⁴ As they drank the wine, they praised their gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone. ⁵ At that moment the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. As the king watched the hand that was writing, ⁶ his face grew pale and his thoughts so alarmed him that his hips gave way and his knees knocked together.

³⁰ That very night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slain,

¹⁰ For they will be entangled as with thorns and consumed like the drink of a drunkard—like stubble that is fully dry.

³⁴ But watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life—and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare.

²⁹ But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.

²⁴ These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. (This is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness as he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon.)

¹⁹ You are to keep My statutes. You shall not crossbreed two different kinds of livestock; you shall not sow your fields with two kinds of seed; and you shall not wear clothing made of two kinds of material.

¹⁸ So the king ordered Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests!” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests himself. On that day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. ¹⁹ He also put to the sword Nob, the city of the priests, with its men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep.

⁹ Now Absalom was riding on his mule when he met the servants of David, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s head was caught fast in the tree. The mule under him kept going, so that he was suspended in midair.

³³ “Take my servants with you,” said the king. “Set my son Solomon on my own mule and take him down to Gihon.

¹¹ So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city did as Jezebel had instructed in the letters she had written to them. ¹² They proclaimed a fast and gave Naboth a seat of honor among the people. ¹³ And the two scoundrels came in and sat opposite Naboth, and these men testified against him before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king!” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death.

⁹ Then King Ahaziah sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. So the captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down!’” ¹⁰ Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his fifty men. ¹¹ So the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. And the captain said to Elijah, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down at once!’” ¹² Again Elijah replied, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his fifty men.

¹² If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials will be wicked.

²⁹ When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes,

³⁴ Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

³¹ Then David ordered Joab and all the people with him, “Tear your clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner.” And King David himself walked behind the funeral bier.

¹⁶ David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted and went into his house and spent the night lying in sackcloth on the ground.

²⁰ Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped,

⁴¹ Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

³ Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah. Jonadab was a very shrewd man,

¹⁴ Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.

¹¹ Rescue those being led away to death, and restrain those stumbling toward the slaughter. ¹² If you say, “Behold, we did not know about this,” does not He who weighs hearts consider it? Does not the One who guards your life know? Will He not repay a man according to his deeds?

¹⁹ and said, “My lord, do not hold me guilty, and do not remember your servant’s wrongdoing on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king not take it to heart.

⁸ Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. ⁹ And the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I do not know!” he answered. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰ “What have you done?” replied the LORD. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. ¹¹ Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you till the ground, it will no longer yield its produce to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” ¹³ But Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. ¹⁴ Behold, this day You have driven me from the face of the earth, and from Your face I will be hidden; I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

³⁷ Now Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. But David mourned for his son every day. ³⁸ After Absalom had fled and gone to Geshur, he stayed there three years.

¹⁷ A man burdened by bloodguilt will flee into the Pit; let no one support him.

¹⁹ It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall, only to be bitten by a snake.

²¹ “What is this you have done?” his servants asked. “While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but when he died, you got up and ate.”

³³ The king was shaken and went up to the gate chamber and wept. And as he walked, he cried out, “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

³ his second was Chileab, by Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; his third was Absalom, the son of Maacah daughter of King Talmai of Geshur;

³⁴ Meanwhile, Absalom had fled. When the young man standing watch looked up, he saw many people coming down the road west of him, along the side of the hill. And the watchman went and reported to the king, “I see men coming from the direction of Horonaim, along the side of the hill.”

²³ So Joab got up, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.

³² “Look,” said Absalom, “I sent for you and said, ‘Come here. I want to send you to the king to ask: Why have I come back from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there.’ So now, let me see the king’s face, and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me.”

⁸ For your servant made a vow while dwelling in Geshur of Aram, saying: ‘If indeed the LORD brings me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the LORD in Hebron.’”

⁶⁷ And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah as his wife. And Isaac loved her and was comforted after his mother’s death.

³⁰ Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?”

³⁵ All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.

¹² After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah.

³² Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, while your eyes grow weary looking for them day after day, with no power in your hand.

¹⁹ When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he perceived that the child was dead. So he asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” “He is dead,” they replied. ²⁰ Then David got up from the ground, washed and anointed himself, changed his clothes, and went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they set food before him, and he ate. ²¹ “What is this you have done?” his servants asked. “While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but when he died, you got up and ate.” ²² David answered, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let him live.’ ²³ But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”

² My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

²⁰ My soul is consumed with longing for Your judgments at all times.

²⁶ For he has been longing for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill.