2 Samuel 11 Cross References - ISV

¹ David’s AdulteryOne spring day, during the time of year when kings go off to war, David sent out Joab, along with his personal staff and all of Israel’s army. They utterly destroyed the Ammonites and then attacked Rabbah while David remained in Jerusalem. ² Late one afternoon about dusk, David got up from his couch and was walking around on the roof of the royal palace. From there he watched a woman taking a bath, and she was very beautiful to look at.
³ David sent word to inquire about her, and someone told him, “This is Eliam’s daughter Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, isn’t it?” ⁴ So David sent some messengers, took her from her home, and she went to him, and he had sex with her. (She had been consecrating herself following her menstrual separation.) Then she returned to her home.
⁵ The woman conceived, and she sent this message to David: “I’m pregnant.”
⁶ So David summoned Joab, and told him, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷ When Uriah arrived, David inquired about how Joab was doing, how the army was doing, and how the war was progressing.
⁸ Then David told Uriah, “Go on down to your house and relax a while.” So Uriah left the king’s palace, and the king sent a gift along after him. ⁹ But Uriah spent the night sleeping in the alcove of the king’s palace in the company of all his master’s staff members. He refused to go down to his own home.
¹⁰ When David was told that Uriah hadn’t gone home the previous night, he quizzed him, “You just arrived from a long journey, so why didn’t you go down to your own house?”
¹¹ Uriah replied, “The ark, along with Israel and Judah, are encamped in tents, while my commanding officer Joab and my master’s staff members are camping out in the open fields. Should I go home, eat, drink, and have sex with my wife? Not on your life! I won’t do something like this, will I?”
¹² Then David invited Uriah, “Stay here today, and tomorrow I’ll send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem all that day and the next. ¹³ Then at David’s invitation, he and Uriah dined and drank wine together, and David got him drunk. Later that evening, Uriah went out to lie on a couch in the company of his lord’s servants, and he did not go down to his house.
¹⁴ David Orders Uriah KilledThe next morning, David sent a message to Joab that Uriah took with him in his hand. ¹⁵ In the message, he wrote: “Assign Uriah to the most difficult fighting at the battle front, and then withdraw from him so that he will be struck down and killed.” ¹⁶ So as Joab began to attack the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew valiant men would be stationed. ¹⁷ When the men of the city came out to fight Joab, some of David’s army staff members fell, and Uriah the Hittite died, too.
¹⁸ Then Joab sent word to David about everything that had happened at the battle. ¹⁹ He instructed the courier, “When you have finished conveying all the news about the battle to the king, ²⁰ if the king starts to get angry and asks you, ‘Why did you get so near the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot from the wall? ²¹ Who killed Jerubbesheth’s son Abimelech? Didn’t a woman kill him by throwing an upper millstone on him from the wall at Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ then tell him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.’”
²² So the messenger left Joab, set out for Jerusalem, and disclosed to David everything that Joab had sent him to say. ²³ The messenger told David, “The men surprised us and attacked us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. ²⁴ Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s staff members are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite has died as well.”
²⁵ David responded to the messenger, “Here’s what you’re to tell Joab: ‘Don’t be troubled by this incident, because the battle sword consumes one or another from time to time. Consolidate your attack against the city and conquer it.’ Be sure to encourage him.”
²⁶ When Uriah’s wife heard about the death of her husband Uriah, she went into mourning for the head of her household. ²⁷ When her mourning period was completed, David sent for her, brought her to his palace, and she became his wife. Later on, she bore him a son.
Meanwhile, what David had done grieved the LORD,

¹¹ Only King Og of Bashan remained from the remnants of the Rephaim. In fact, his bed was made of iron. It’s in Rabbah of the Ammonites, isn’t it? It was nine cubits long and four cubits wide.”

²⁶ The Ammonites are DefeatedMeanwhile, Joab attacked the Ammonite city of Rabbah and captured its stronghold. ²⁷ Then Joab sent messengers to David to tell him, “I just attacked Rabbah and captured its municipal water supply, ²⁸ so call out the rest of the army, attack the city, and capture it. Otherwise, I’ll take the city myself and name it after me.”

²² The prophet approached the king of Israel and told him, “Go replenish your forces and prepare for the future, because early this next year the king of Aram will attack you again.”

²⁶ Early the next year, Ben-hadad mustered the Arameans and invaded Aphek in a battle against Israel.

¹ The Capture of Rabbah
Later the next spring, at the time that kings go out to fight, Joab led out the army, ravaged the territory of the Ammonites, and then went out and attacked Rabbah, while David remained behind in Jerusalem. Joab besieged Rabbah and conquered it.

¹⁰ At the beginning of the next year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and brought him to Babylon, along with valuable articles from the LORD’s Temple, and he installed Jehoiachin’s relative Zedekiah as king over Judah and Jerusalem.

⁸ a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

²⁰ Set it to point one way for bringing the sword against Rabbah, the descendants of Ammon, and the other way against Judah and fortified Jerusalem.

³ Then the LORD will go out to battle against those nations, waging war as in a day of battle.

⁶ When the woman saw that the tree produced good food, was attractive in appearance, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. Then she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate some, too.

² some divine beings noticed how attractive human women were, so they took wives for themselves from a selection that pleased them.

² When Hamor the Hivite’s son Shechem, the regional leader, saw her, he grabbed her and raped her, humiliating her.

⁶ Everything that he owned, he entrusted into Joseph’s care. He never concerned himself about anything, except for the food he ate.
Potiphar’s Wife Accuses JosephNow Joseph was well built and good looking.

⁸ “When you build a new house, install a parapet along your roof so that if someone falls from the roof, you won’t bring guilt of bloodshed on your house.”

²⁵ When they had come down from the high place into town, Samuel spoke to Saul on the roof.

⁵ Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, left and arrived during the hottest part of the day at the home of Ish-bosheth while he was taking a noon day nap.

⁷ While they were in the house, they struck him, killed him, and cut off his head while he was lying on his bed in his bedroom. They took his head, and traveled all night along the Arabah road.

¹ Job Asserts His Moral Innocence “I made a covenant with my eyes; how, then, can I focus my attention on a virgin?

³⁷ Turn my eyes away from gazing at worthless things, and revive me by your ways.

²⁵ Do not focus on her beauty in your mind, nor allow her to take you prisoner with her flirting eyes,

¹⁵ Laziness puts one to sleep, and an idle person will go hungry.

³³ “A little sleep! A little slumber! A little folding of my hands to rest!” ³⁴ Then your poverty will come upon you like a robber, your need like an armed bandit.

³⁰ Charm is deceitful and beauty fades; but a woman who fears the LORD will be praised.

¹³ The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be polluted like Topheth, as will be all the houses on whose roofs people burned incense to all the host of heaven and poured out liquid offerings to other gods.”’”

²⁸ But I say to you, anyone who stares at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

²⁷ What I tell you in darkness you must speak in the daylight, and what is whispered in your ear you must shout from the housetops.

⁴⁰ When he went back to the disciples, he found them asleep. He told Peter, “So, you men couldn’t stay awake with me for one hour, could you? ⁴¹ All of you must stay awake and pray that you won’t be tempted. The spirit is indeed willing, but the body is weak.”

⁹ Peter Has a VisionAround noon the next day, while they were on their way and coming close to the town, Peter went up on the roof to pray.

⁶ Therefore, let’s not fall asleep like others do, but let’s stay awake and be sober. ⁷ For people who go to sleep, go to sleep at night; and people who get drunk, get drunk at night.

⁷ Because everything will soon come to an end, be sensible and clear-headed, so you can pray.

¹⁶ For everything that is in the world—the desire for fleshly gratification, the desire for possessions, and worldly arrogance—is not from the Father but is from the world.

³⁹ and Uriah the Hittite—for a total of 37.

⁵ These four children were born to David by Bath-shua daughter of Ammiel while he was living in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon,

⁴¹ Uriah the Hittite, Ahlai’s son Zabad,

⁸ They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each one neighing after his neighbor’s wife.

⁶ For they have stirred up themselves like an oven as they lie in ambush. Their baker sleeps through the night; in the morning, the oven will be blazing like a fire. ⁷ They all burn like an oven; they have consumed their judges; all their kings have fallen— not even one of them calls on me.

¹⁴ Instead, each person is tempted by his own desire, being lured and trapped by it. ¹⁵ When that desire becomes pregnant, it gives birth to sin; and when that sin grows up, it gives birth to death.

⁷ That’s why, sometime later, Joseph’s master’s wife looked straight at Joseph and propositioned him: “Come on! Let’s have a little sex!”

² “Tell the Israelis that a woman who conceives and bears a son is unclean for seven days. Just like the days of her menstruation, she is unclean. ³ On the eighth day, the flesh of the baby’s foreskin is to be circumcised. ⁴ For 33 days after this, she is to remain in purification due to her blood loss. She is not to touch any sacred thing or enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification have been completed.
⁵ “If she gives birth to a female, then she is to remain unclean for two weeks, just like her menstruation. She is to remain in purification for 66 days due to her blood loss.

¹⁹ On Menstrual Discharges“When a woman has a discharge, and the blood is her monthly menstrual discharge from her body, then for seven days she is to remain in her menstrual uncleanness. Whoever touches her will remain unclean until evening. ²⁰ Everything that she sleeps on during her uncleanness will be unclean. Moreover, everything that she sits on will become unclean. ²¹ Anyone who touches her bed is to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening. ²² Anyone who touches any of the objects on which she has sat is to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening. ²³ Any bed or other object on which she sat that he touches will make him unclean until evening. ²⁴ When a man has sexual relations with her and her menstrual uncleanness touches him, he will be unclean for seven days. Every bed where he sleeps will remain unclean.
²⁵ “When a woman has a continuous discharge of blood many days beyond the time of her menstrual uncleanness, or if she has a discharge that lasts beyond the days of her menstrual uncleanness, her uncleanness is to be treated like the days of her menstruation—she’s unclean. ²⁶ Every bed on which she sleeps the whole time she has the discharge will be her own unclean bed, so that every object on which she sits becomes unclean like her menstrual uncleanness. ²⁷ Whoever touches them will become unclean. He is to wash his clothes and bathe with water and he will remain unclean until evening.
²⁸ “If she becomes clean with her discharge, then she is to count for herself seven days, after which she becomes clean. ²⁹ On the eighth day, she is to take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ³⁰ Then the priest is to offer one for a sin offering and the other for a whole burnt offering. This is how the priest will make atonement in the LORD’s presence for her regarding her unclean discharge.
³¹ “So separate the Israelis from their uncleanness so that they won’t die in their uncleanness if they defile my tent that is in their midst. ³² These are the regulations for one whose discharge of semen causes him to become unclean because of it, ³³ for her whose menstruation causes her to become ill, for anyone who has a discharge (whether male or female), and for the man who has sexual relations with one who is unclean.”

¹⁹ “You are not to approach a menstruating woman to have sexual relations with her.

⁹ No Adultery“If my heart has been seduced by a woman and I’ve laid in wait at my friend’s door, ¹⁰ then let my wife cook for another person and may someone else sleep with her, ¹¹ because something as lascivious as that is an iniquity that should be judged.

¹⁸ When you see a thief, you befriend him, and you keep company with adulterers.

¹ To the Director: A Davidic Psalm. When the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
A Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon Have mercy, God, according to your gracious love, according to your unlimited compassion, erase my transgressions. ² Wash me from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin. ³ For I acknowledge my transgression; my sin remains continuously before me. ⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done what was evil in your sight. As a result, you are just in your pronouncement and clear in your judgment. ⁵ Indeed, in iniquity I was brought forth; in sin my mother conceived me. ⁶ Indeed, you are pleased with truth in the inner person, and you will teach me wisdom in my innermost parts. ⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. ⁸ Let me know joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. ⁹ Hide your countenance from my sins and erase the record of my iniquities. ¹⁰ God, create a pure heart in me, and renew a right attitude within me. ¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence; do not take your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and let a willing attitude control me. ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors about your ways, and sinners will turn to you. ¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of shedding blood, God, God of my salvation. Then my tongue will sing about your righteousness. ¹⁵ Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. ¹⁶ Indeed, you do not delight in sacrifices, or I would give them, nor do you desire burnt offerings. ¹⁷ True sacrifice to God is a broken spirit. A broken and chastened heart, God, you will not despise. ¹⁸ Show favor to Zion in your good pleasure; and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Then you will be pleased with right sacrifices, with burnt offerings, and with whole burnt offerings. Then they will offer bulls on your altar.

²⁰ This is what an immoral woman is like: she eats, wipes her mouth, then says “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

²² “If a man is caught having sexual relations with a married woman, then both of them must die—the man who had sex with the woman and the woman herself—so that this evil will be removed from Israel.

³⁴ because jealousy incites a strong man’s rage, and he will show no mercy when it’s time for revenge.

⁷ If you do what is appropriate, you’ll be accepted, won’t you? But if you don’t do what is appropriate, sin is crouching near your doorway, turning toward you. Now as for you, will you take dominion over it?”

¹⁸ Then he asked, “What pledge do you want me to give you?”
“Your signet ring, cord, and the staff in your hand,” she suggested. So he gave them to her, had sex with her, and she became pregnant by him. ¹⁹ Then she got up and left. Later, she took off her shawl and put on her mourning clothes.
²⁰ Later on, Judah sent his Adullamite friend to take her a young goat, intending to retrieve what he had put up as security from the woman, but he could not find her. ²¹ He asked the men who lived in that area, “Where’s that temple prostitute who was sitting alongside the road at Enaim?”
But they replied, “There’s been no temple prostitute here.”
²² So he returned to Judah and said, “I haven’t found her. Also, the men who are from there said, ‘There’s been no prostitute here.’”
²³ Then Judah said, “Let her have those things. Otherwise, we’ll become contemptible. I sent this young goat, but you didn’t find her.”

³⁰ “I’ve sinned,” Saul said. “But please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me so I may worship the LORD your God.”

¹² Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth, though he conceals it under his tongue, ¹³ though he savors it and delays swallowing it so he can taste it again and again in his mouth, ¹⁴ his food will turn rancid in his stomach— it will become a cobra’s poison inside him.

¹³ Whoever hides his transgressions will not succeed, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will find mercy.

¹³ A Rebuke of Hypocritical WorshipThen the Lord said: “Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, worship of me has become merely like rules taught by human beings.

⁷⁰ But he denied it in front of them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he exclaimed.

⁷² Again he denied it and swore with an oath, “I don’t know the man!”

⁷⁴ Then he began to curse violently. “I don’t know the man!” he swore solemnly. Just then a rooster crowed.

⁶ So he asked them, “How’s he doing?”
“Very well,” they answered. “As a matter of fact, look over there! That’s his daughter Rachel, coming here with his sheep.”

¹⁴ “Go and see how things are with your brothers,” Israel ordered him. “And see how things are with the flock. Bring back a report for me.” Then he sent Joseph from the valley of Hebron.
When Joseph reached Shechem,

²² David left the supplies he had with him in the care of the supply keeper and ran to the battle line. When he arrived there, he asked his brothers about their well-being.

⁴ I’ll have some water brought to wash your feet while you rest under the tree.

² and said, “Look, my lords! Please come inside your servant’s house, wash your feet, and spend the night. Then you can get up early and be on your way.”
But they responded, “No, we would rather spend the night in the town square.”

²⁴ ushered the men into Joseph’s palace, gave them water to wash their feet, and provided fodder for their donkeys.

³⁴ Joseph himself brought portions to them from his own table, except that he provided to Benjamin five times as much as he did for each of the others. So they feasted together and drank freely with Joseph.

² Everyone speaks lies to his neighbor; they speak with flattering lips and hidden motives.

²¹ wouldn’t God find out since he knows the secrets of the heart?

²¹ His mouth is as smooth as butter, while war is in his heart. His words were as smooth as olive oil, while his sword is drawn.

¹⁵ A Rebuke to the Deceptive“How terrible it will be for you who go to great depths to hide your plans from the LORD, you whose deeds have been done in the dark, and who say, ‘Who can see us? Who has recognized us?’

⁴⁴ Then, turning to the woman, he told Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You didn’t give me any water for my feet, but this woman has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.

² There is nothing covered up that won’t be exposed and nothing secret that won’t be made known.

¹³ No creature can hide from him, but everyone is exposed and helpless before the eyes of the one to whom we must give a word of explanation.

¹² He frustrates the plans of the crafty; so that what they work for never succeeds. ¹³ He captures the wise in their own craftiness, bringing a quick end to their cunning advice. ¹⁴ They meet with darkness in broad daylight; at noonday they grope around as if it were night.

³⁰ No wisdom, insight, or counsel can prevail against the LORD.

²⁶ Hannah said, “Sir, as surely as you are alive, I’m the woman who stood before you here praying to the LORD.

⁴ So the people sent word to Shiloh and took away from there the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, who sits above the cherubim.
Now the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God.

¹⁸ Saul told Ahijah, “Bring the Ark of God here.” For at that time the Ark of God was with the Israelis.

⁵⁵ When Saul saw David going out to meet the Philistine, he asked Abner, the commander of the army, “Whose son is this young man, Abner?”
Abner said, “As surely as you live, your majesty, I don’t know.”

³ David again took an oath: “Your father certainly knows that I’ve found favor with you, and so he told himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this so he won’t be upset.’ But as certainly as the LORD is alive and living, and as certainly as I’m alive and living, too, there is only a step between me and death.”

²⁶ Now, your majesty, as the LORD lives and as you live, the LORD has kept you from shedding blood and from delivering yourself by your own actions. Now, may your enemies and those seeking to do evil to your majesty be like Nabal.

² he told the prophet Nathan, “Look now, I’m living in a cedar palace, but the Ark of God resides behind a tent curtain.”

⁶ After all, I haven’t lived in a house since the day I brought up the Israelis from Egypt until now. Instead, I’ve moved around in a tent that served as my dwelling place.

¹⁹ Then the king asked, “Is Joab behind all of this with you?”
“As your soul lives, your majesty, the king,” the woman answered, “no one can divert anything left or right from what your majesty the king has spoken! As a matter of fact, it was your servant Joab! He was there, giving me precise orders about everything that your humble servant was to say. Your servant Joab did this,

⁶ So David told Abishai, “Now Bichri’s son Sheba is about to do more damage than did Absalom. So take my personal guards and go after them. Otherwise, he’ll run to one of the fortified cities and escape from us.”

¹² On that day the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies called for weeping and mourning, for shaving heads and wearing sackcloth. ¹³ But look! There is joy and festivity, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating meat and drinking wine. “Let us eat and drink, you say, because we die tomorrow.” ¹⁴ “Nevertheless, the LORD of the Heavenly Armies has revealed himself to my hearing: ‘“Surely because of you this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,’ says the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies.”

²⁴ “A disciple is not above his teacher, and a slave is not above his master. ²⁵ It is enough for a disciple to be like his teacher and a slave to be like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they do the same to those of his household!”

¹⁴ So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you must also wash one another’s feet.

²⁵ Everyone who enters an athletic contest practices self-control in everything. They do it to win a wreath that withers away, but we run to win a prize that never fades. ²⁶ That is the way I run, with a clear goal in mind. That is the way I fight, not like someone shadow boxing. ²⁷ No, I keep on disciplining my body, making it serve me so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified.

³ Join me in suffering like a good soldier of the Messiah Jesus. ⁴ No one serving in the military gets mixed up in civilian matters, for his aim is to please his commanding officer.

¹² Enduring, we with him will reign. Who him denies, he will disclaim.

¹ We Must Look Off to JesusTherefore, having so vast a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, and throwing off everything that hinders us and especially the sin that so easily entangles us, let us keep running with endurance the race set before us, ² fixing our attention on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of the faith, who, in view of the joy set before him, endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

²² Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Lord GOD.
²³ Israel’s Passion for Sin“How can you say, ‘I’m not defiled. I haven’t gone after the Baals.’? Look at what you’ve done in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift young camel galloping aimlessly;

³⁷ You will also go out from this place with your hands over your heads. For the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, and you won’t prosper through them.”

³² Come on! Let’s make our father drink wine, and then we’ll have sex with him so we can preserve our father’s lineage.”
³³ So they had their father drink wine that night, and the older one had sexual relations with her father, but he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up. ³⁴ The next day the firstborn told the younger one, “Look! I had sex with my father last night. Let’s make him drink wine tonight again as well. Then you have sex with him, too. That way we’ll preserve our father’s lineage.” ³⁵ So they made their father drink wine that night as well, so he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

²¹ Then Moses asked Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you brought such great sin upon them?”

¹ Advice on How to Live Wine causes mocking, and beer causes fights; everyone led astray by them lacks wisdom.

¹⁵ Judgment on the Violent“Woe to the one who supplies his neighbor with a drink! You are forcing your bottle on him, making him drunk so you can see them naked.

⁸ So she wrote some memos in Ahab’s name, set his personal seal to them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived with Naboth in his city. ⁹ In the memos, she wrote the following directives: “Proclaim a public fast and seat Naboth in the front row. ¹⁰ Seat two wicked men in front of him, and make them testify against him. Tell them to claim ‘You cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”

¹³ Preserve your servant from arrogant people; do not let them rule over me. Then I will be upright and acquitted of great wickedness.

² Your tongue, like a sharp razor, devises wicked things and crafts treachery.

⁹ Human beings are a mere vapor, while people in high positions are not what they appear. When they are placed on the scales, they weigh nothing; even when weighed together, they are less than nothing.

¹ The LORD’s Sorrow for His People “Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, for then I would cry day and night for those of my people who have been killed. ² Oh, that I had a lodging place for travelers in the desert, so that I could leave my people and go away from them. For all of them are adulterers, a band of traitors. ³ They use their tongues like a bow. Lies rather than truth fly throughout the land. They progress from one evil to another, and they don’t know me,” declares the LORD. ⁴ “Beware of your neighbors, and don’t trust any of your relatives. For all of your relatives act deceitfully, and every friend goes around as a slanderer.

⁹ The Deceitfulness of the Human Heart“The heart is more deceitful than anything. It is incurable— who can know it?

³ And speaking of evil, they practice it eagerly—with both hands! Both leader and judge demand a bribe, the famous confess their perverted desires, and they scheme together. ⁴ The best of them is like a thorn, and their most upright like a hedge of thorns. The day announced by your watchmen— and by your own calculations—approaches. Now it’s your time to be confused! ⁵ Don’t trust your friends, don’t confide in a companion, watch what you say to your wife.

¹⁷ David Marries Saul’s DaughterSaul told David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I’ll give her to you as a wife. Just be an excellent soldier for me and fight the LORD’s battles.” Now Saul told himself, “I won’t harm him myself. Instead, I’ll let the Philistines harm him.”

²¹ Saul told himself, “I’ll give her to him and she can be a snare to him and the Philistines will harm him.” So Saul told David, “For a second time you can be my son-in-law today.”

²⁵ Saul said, “This is what you are to tell David, ‘The king desires no bride price except 100 Philistine foreskins to take vengeance on the king’s enemies.’” Now Saul thought he would cause David to die at the hand of the Philistines.

¹⁷ When the men of the city came out to fight Joab, some of David’s army staff members fell, and Uriah the Hittite died, too.

⁹ “‘Why did you despise what the LORD has promised by doing what is detestable in his sight?
“‘You struck down Uriah the Hittite with a battle sword.
“‘You took his wife to be your own.
“‘You killed him with the sword of the Ammonite army.

⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done what was evil in your sight. As a result, you are just in your pronouncement and clear in your judgment.

¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of shedding blood, God, God of my salvation. Then my tongue will sing about your righteousness.

¹³ Sing to the LORD, give praise to the LORD! For he saves the life of the poor from the hand of the wicked.

¹⁷ The king told the guards, who were standing beside him, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD because they supported David, and because they knew he was fleeing, but didn’t inform me.” But the officials of the king did not want to lift their hands to attack the priests of the LORD.
¹⁸ Then the king told Doeg, “You turn and attack the priests.” Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests. That day he killed eighty-five men who carry the linen ephod. ¹⁹ He attacked the priestly town of Nob with the sword. Men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys and sheep were put to the sword.

²⁷ When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab brought him aside within the gateway to talk to him alone and then stabbed him in the abdomen. So he died for shedding the blood of Joab’s brother Asahel.

²¹ Who killed Jerubbesheth’s son Abimelech? Didn’t a woman kill him by throwing an upper millstone on him from the wall at Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ then tell him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.’”

⁹ Joab asked Amasa, “Is everything going well with you, my brother?” As Joab took Amasa by his beard to greet him, ¹⁰ Amasa did not notice the sword that Joab was holding in his hand. Joab stabbed him in the abdomen, spilling his intestines to the ground in a single stroke and killing him. After this, Joab and his brother pursued Bichri’s son Sheba.

⁵ “Furthermore, you’re aware of what Zeruiah’s son Joab did to me and to those two commanders of the armies of Israel, Ner’s son Abner and Jether’s son Amasa, whom he killed, and how he shed the blood of wartime during times of peace, staining the very belt he wears around his waist and the sandals he wears on his feet.

³¹ The king replied to him, “Do just what he asked. Kill him and bury him so that you may remove from me and from my father’s household the guilt that Joab shed needlessly. ³² The LORD will repay him for his bloodshed because, without my father David’s consent he attacked and murdered two men more righteous and better than he, Ner’s son Abner, the commander of Israel’s army and Jether’s son Amasa, commander of Judah’s army. ³³ May their blood be repaid to Joab and to his descendants forever, and may there be peace shown from the LORD forever to David, to his descendants, to his household, and to his throne.”
³⁴ Jehoiada’s son Benaiah then approached Joab, attacked him, killed him, and had him buried at Joab’s home in the wilderness.

¹² They proclaimed a public fast and seated Naboth in the front row. ¹³ Two wicked men came in, sat down in front of them, and testified against Naboth in public, “Naboth cursed God and the king!” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death.
¹⁴ Afterwards, they sent a message to Jezebel that said, “Naboth has been stoned. He’s dead.”

⁶ But Jehu wrote them another letter: “If you’re loyal to me, and if you intend to obey my commands, then bring the heads of your master’s sons and meet me in Jezreel about this time tomorrow.”
Now the king’s sons, totaling 70 men, were living with the leading men of the city, who were their guardians.

¹² When a ruler is listening to lies, all of his officials tend to become wicked.

¹¹ Ephraim is crushed, broken by judgment, because he willingly pursued idols.

²⁹ But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men!

³² So that very day he named Gideon Jerubbaal, that is, “Let Baal fight,” since he had torn down his altar.

¹ God Chooses Gideon’s 300 SoldiersThen Jerubbaal, also known as Gideon, got up early along with all of his soldiers. They encamped near the Harod Spring. The Midian encampment lay in the valley to their north, near the hill of Moreh.

⁵⁰ The Death of AbimelechLater on, Abimelech went to Thebez, set up a siege encampment there, and captured it. ⁵¹ But there was a fortified tower in the center of the city, and all the men, women, and leaders of the city escaped to it, shut themselves in, and went up to the roof of the tower. ⁵² So Abimelech approached the tower, attacked it, and approached the tower’s gate, intending to burn it down. ⁵³ But a certain woman threw an upper millstone down on Abimelech’s head, fracturing his skull.
⁵⁴ So he cried out to his young armor bearer and ordered him, “Draw your sword and kill me, so no one will say about me that ‘A woman killed him.’” So the young man pierced him through, and he died.

³⁴ Your hands were not bound, nor were your feet in irons. As one falls before the wicked, you have fallen.”
Then all the people cried again because of him.

⁸ Deliver me from all my transgressions, and do not let fools scorn me.”

¹⁰ In answer, all of them will tell you, ‘You’ve also become as weak as we are! You have become just like us!’

⁵¹ Samaria didn’t commit half of your sins—you practiced more detestable deeds than they did! You’ve caused your sister to be more righteous than you, because of the detestable practices that you’ve committed. ⁵² So now, bear your own shame as you mediate for your sisters. The sins that you’ve committed are more detestable than theirs. That makes them more righteous than you. Indeed, be ashamed and bear your reproach, because you’ve made your sisters to be more righteous than you.”

⁸ Lord, what am I to say, now that Israel has run away from its enemies? ⁹ The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of this, will surround us, and eliminate us from the earth! Then what will you do about your great reputation?”

⁹ Keep watching it. If it goes up along the road to its own territory to Beth-shemesh, it’s the LORD who has done this great evil to us. But if it does not, then we will know that he wasn’t pressuring us. It happened to us as a natural event.”

²⁶ The Ammonites are DefeatedMeanwhile, Joab attacked the Ammonite city of Rabbah and captured its stronghold.

¹ God’s SovereigntyIn light of all of this, I committed myself to explain it this way: the righteous and the wise, along with everything they do, are in the hands of God. Furthermore, as to love and hate, no human being knows everything concerning them. ² Everyone shares the same experience: a single event affects the righteous, the wicked, the good, the clean, the unclean, whoever sacrifices, and whoever does not sacrifice. As it is with the good person, so also it is with the sinner; as it is with someone who takes an oath, so also it is with someone who fears taking an oath.
³ The Universality of DeathThere is a tragedy that infects everything that happens on earth: a common event happens to everyone. In fact, the hearts of human beings are full of evil. Madness remains in their hearts while they live, and afterwards they join the dead.

¹¹ I considered and observed on earth the following: The race doesn’t go to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor food to the wise, nor wealth to the smart, nor recognition to the skilled. Instead, timing and circumstances meet them all.
¹² In addition, no human being knows his time: Like fish captured in a cruel net, or as birds caught in a snare, so also are human beings caught by bad timing that surprises them.

⁴¹ So Esau harbored animosity toward Jacob because of the way his father had blessed him. Esau kept saying to himself, “The time to mourn for my father is very near. That’s when I’m going to kill my brother Jacob.”

³¹ David ordered Joab and all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourn for Abner.” King David walked behind the funeral procession,

² so he sent messengers to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, “Please play the role of a mourner, wear the clothes of a mourner, and refrain from using makeup. Act like a woman who’s been in mourning for the dead for many days.

¹⁰ The LORD considered what Onan was doing to be evil, so he put him to death, too.

²⁹ then the man who raped her must give 50 shekels of silver to the girl’s father. Furthermore, he must marry her. Because he had violated her, he is to not divorce her as long as he lives.

² During this time, sons were born to David while he was living in Hebron. His firstborn was Amnon by Ahinoam from Jezreel, ³ his second was Chileab by Abigail, widow of Nabal from Carmel, his third was Absalom by Maacah, daughter of King Talmai from Geshur, ⁴ his fourth was Adonijah by Haggith, his fifth was Shephatiah by Abital, ⁵ and his sixth was Ithream by David’s wife Eglah. They were all born to David in Hebron.

¹³ But after arriving in Jerusalem after leaving Hebron, David took more wives and mistresses, and more sons and daughters were born to David. ¹⁴ These are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, ¹⁵ Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, ¹⁶ Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

⁷ David Chooses His Punishment
God considered this behavior to be evil, so he attacked Israel.

⁶ You will destroy those who speak lies. The LORD abhors the person of bloodshed and deceit.

⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done what was evil in your sight. As a result, you are just in your pronouncement and clear in your judgment. ⁵ Indeed, in iniquity I was brought forth; in sin my mother conceived me.

⁴ Let marriage be kept honorable in every way, and the marriage bed undefiled. For God will judge those who commit sexual sins, especially those who commit adultery.