2 Samuel 18 Cross References - ISV

¹ The Battle BeginsDavid mustered his forces and appointed officers in charge of regiments and companies. ² Dividing his forces into three groups, he set Joab as commander of one third of his army, Zeruiah’s son Abishai, Joab’s brother, as commander of another third, and Ittai from Gath as commander of another third. The king informed the army, “I’m going out to battle with you, too.”
³ “No way!” his army responded. “If we have to retreat from the battle, Absalom’s men won’t care about us. Even if half of us die, they won’t care about us. But you are worth 10,000 of us. The best thing you can do for us is to remain in the city.”
⁴ So David responded, “I’ll do what you think best.” Then he stood alongside the city gate as the army went out in battle array by hundreds and thousands. ⁵ As they were going out, the king ordered Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, “Treat young Absalom gently for my sake.” Everyone heard what the king had ordered his commanders about Absalom.
⁶ David’s army left for the battlefield to fight Absalom and his Israeli followers, and they also fought in the Ephraim forest, ⁷ where David’s army of servants defeated the Israelis. Many died that day—20,000 men. ⁸ The battle spread throughout the entire countryside, and the forest claimed more casualties that day than did the sword fighting.
⁹ Joab Kills AbsalomAbsalom happened to run into David’s soldiers. While Absalom was trying to get away on his mule, it ran under the thick branches of a giant oak tree, and Absalom’s head got caught in the tree! As his mule ran out from under him, Absalom was left hanging above the ground. ¹⁰ When one of the soldiers saw what had happened, he told Joab, “I saw Absalom stuck in an oak tree!”
¹¹ Joab asked the man who was reporting to him, “What! You saw him? Why didn’t you kill him right then and there? I would’ve given you ten pieces of silver and a warrior’s sash!”
¹² But the soldier replied to Joab, “I wouldn’t have touched the king’s son even if you dropped 1,000 pieces of silver right into my hands, because we heard the king command you, Abishai, and Ittai, ‘Watch how you treat the young man Absalom!’ ¹³ If I had taken his life, the king would have uncovered everything about it, and you would never have protected me!”
¹⁴ “There’s no reason to wait for you!” Joab retorted. Then he took three spears in his hand and stabbed Absalom in the heart while he was still alive, dangling from the branches of the oak tree. ¹⁵ Ten young men who served as Joab’s personal assistants then surrounded Absalom, striking him repeatedly and killing him. ¹⁶ At this, Joab sounded his battle trumpet and his troops stopped pursuing the other Israelis. ¹⁷ Meanwhile, Joab’s army grabbed Absalom’s body, tossed it into a large pit in the forest, and filled it up with a huge pile of rocks. Then the Israelis ran away back to their homes.
¹⁸ While Absalom had been living, he had erected a pillar as a monument to himself in King’s Valley because he had been telling himself, “I don’t have a son to carry on my family name.” So he named the pillar after himself—it’s called Absalom’s Monument even today.
¹⁹ David Learns of Absalom’s DeathZadok’s son Ahimaaz told Joab, “Let me run over to King David and take him the news. I’ll mention that the LORD has delivered him from his enemies.”
²⁰ But Joab answered Ahimaaz, “You’re not the man to deliver news today. Do it any other time, but not today, because the king’s son is dead.” ²¹ So Joab ordered a man from Ethiopia, “Go tell the king what you’ve seen.” So the Ethiopian saluted Joab and then ran to tell David.
²² “Please,” Zadok’s son Ahimaaz continued, “No matter what happens, let me follow the Ethiopian!”
Joab asked him, “Why this request to run, my son? There’s no reward in it for you.”
²³ “No matter what, I’m running,” Ahimaaz replied.
So Joab told Ahimaaz, “Run!” And Ahimaaz ran, taking the Jordan Valley road, passing the Ethiopian.
²⁴ Meanwhile, David was sitting between the inner and outer gates of the city. The watchman was up on the roof of the gateway near the walls, looking around, and there was a man running by himself! ²⁵ So the watchman called out his news to the king.
The king responded, “If he’s alone, he’s bringing some news to report.” As the man continued to draw near and approach the palace, ²⁶ the watchman observed another man running. So he called out to the gatekeeper, “There’s another man running by himself!”
The king replied, “He’s also bringing some news to report!”
²⁷ Then the watchman observed, “It looks to me that the runner out in front is running like Zadok’s son Ahimaaz!”
The king replied, “This is a good man bearing good news!”
²⁸ “Everything’s fine!” Ahimaaz announced to the king. He bowed low with his face to the ground before the king and said, “Praise be to the LORD your God! He has handed over the men who rebelled against your majesty the king.”
²⁹ “Are things fine with respect to the young man Absalom?” the king asked.
Ahimaaz answered, “I saw a lot of confusion about the time Joab was getting ready to send the king’s courier and me, your servant, but I’m not sure what was going on.”
³⁰ The king replied, “Stand here at attention and wait.” So he stepped to the side and stood there waiting.
³¹ Just then the Ethiopian arrived. He reported, “Good news, your majesty the king! The LORD has delivered you from the control of everyone who rebelled against you!”
³² The king asked the Ethiopian, “Is the young man safe?”
The Ethiopian answered, “May the enemies of your majesty the king—including everyone who rebels and tries to harm you—become like that young man….”
³³ David Mourns for AbsalomDeeply shaken, the king went up to the chamber overlooking the city gate, weeping bitterly and crying out as he went along, “My son Absalom! My son! My son Absalom! I wish I had died instead of you, Absalom my son, my son!”

⁹ Moses told Joshua, “Choose some men for us and go out to fight against the Amalekites. Tomorrow I’ll stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”

¹⁰ In the morning, Joshua got up early, mustered his army, and set off for Ai, accompanied by the elders of Israel in full view of the army.

¹² He will appoint his officers over thousands and officers over fifties—some will plow his fields, reap his harvest, and craft his war implements and equipment for his chariots.

¹⁶ Then he separated the 300 men into three companies, gave them each trumpets to carry, along with jars into which he placed lit torches.

¹⁹ So Gideon and the 100 men with him arrived at the outer perimeter of the encampment at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had posted sentries. They blew their trumpets and smashed the jars that they were carrying in their hands.

⁴³ So he took his army, divided it into three separate companies, and laid in ambush out in the field. When Abimelech noticed the people coming out from the city, his army attacked them and killed them.

¹¹ The next day Saul separated the people into three companies. They came into the camp during the morning watch, and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered so that no two of them remained together.

⁷ In response, David sent out Joab and his entire army of elite soldiers. ⁸ The Ammonites went out in battle formation at the entrance to the city gate, while the Arameans from Zobah and Rehob, along with the army from Tob and Maacah, were out by themselves in the open fields.
⁹ When Joab observed that the battle lines were set up to oppose him both in front and behind, he appointed the best troops in Israel and arrayed them to oppose the Arameans, ¹⁰ putting the rest of his forces under the command of his brother Abishai, who arrayed them to oppose the Ammonites.

¹⁹ Then the king suggested to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you have to go with us? Return and stay with the new king, since you’re a foreigner and exile. Stay where you want to stay. ²⁰ It seems only yesterday that you arrived, so should I make you wander around with us while I go wherever I can? Go back, and take your brothers with you. May gracious love and truth accompany you!”
²¹ “As the LORD lives,” Ittai answered in reply, “and as your majesty the king lives, wherever your majesty my king may be—whether living or dying—that’s where your servant will be!”
²² So David replied, “Come along, then!” So Ittai the Gittite went along also, accompanied by all of his men and all of his little ones.

¹¹ So here’s my advice: Muster everybody from one end of the country to the other! You’ll have an army in number like the sand on the seashore! Then you’ll go into battle!

⁶ I will not fear multitudes of people, who set themselves against me on every side.

¹ Davidic
Confidence in the LORD The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom will I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom will I be afraid? ² When those who practice evil, my enemies, and my oppressors come near me to devour my flesh, they stumble and fall. ³ If an army encamps against me, my heart will not fear. If a war is launched against me, I will even trust in that situation.

⁶ The LORD is with me. I will not be afraid. What can people do to me? ⁷ With the LORD beside me as my helper, I will triumph over those who hate me. ⁸ It is better to take shelter in the LORD than to trust in people.

¹⁰ So Joshua did as Moses told him and fought against the Amalekites, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹ Whenever Moses raised his hand, the Israelis prevailed, but when his hand remained at his side, then the Amalekites prevailed. ¹² When Moses’ hands became heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, and so his hands were steady until the sun went down.

¹¹ He said, “If the Arameans prove too strong for me, then you are to help me. If the Ammonites prove too strong for you, then I will come help you.

² “I’ll catch him while he is still tired and weak. I’ll frighten him so all his people with him desert him. But I’ll only kill the king.

¹⁷ But Zeruiah’s son Abishai came to David’s aid, attacked the Philistine, and killed him. After this, David’s army told him, “You’re not going out anymore with us to battle, so Israel’s beacon won’t be extinguished!”

³¹ Meanwhile, the king of Aram had issued these orders to 32 of his chariot commanders: “Don’t attack unimportant soldiers or ranking officers. Go after only the king of Israel.”

²⁰ The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. About him we had said, “Under his protection we will survive among the nations.”

⁷ “Arise, sword, against my shepherd, against the mighty one who is related to me,” declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. “Strike the shepherd, the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn against the insignificant ones.

² The Philistine leaders were passing in review among the military units, and David and his men were among them in the rear with Achish.

¹ The Battle BeginsDavid mustered his forces and appointed officers in charge of regiments and companies.

²⁴ Meanwhile, David was sitting between the inner and outer gates of the city. The watchman was up on the roof of the gateway near the walls, looking around, and there was a man running by himself!

⁶ and a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

¹⁸ Death to a Rebellious Son“If a man has a stubborn son who does not obey his parents, and although they try to discipline him, he still refuses to pay attention to them, ¹⁹ then his parents are to seize him and bring him before the elders at the gate of his city. ²⁰ Then they are to declare to the elders of their city: ‘Our son is stubborn and rebellious. He does not obey us. He lives wildly and is a drunkard.’ ²¹ Then all the men of his city are to stone him with stones so that he dies. This is how you will remove this evil from among you. Then all Israel will hear of it and will be afraid.”

¹¹ So David ordered Abishai and all of his staff: “Look! My own son wants to kill me! How much more now is this descendant of Benjamin? Leave him alone and let him go on cursing, because the LORD has ordered him to do this.

¹ “Give me 12,000 men! I’ll leave tonight and pursue David,” Ahithophel advised Absalom. ² “I’ll catch him while he is still tired and weak. I’ll frighten him so all his people with him desert him. But I’ll only kill the king. ³ Then I’ll bring everybody else back to you. When the man you’re looking for is dead, all the rest of the people will return quietly.”
⁴ Even though this plan seemed like a good idea to Absalom and to all of the elders of Israel,

¹⁴ Absalom and all of the Israelis replied, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than Ahithophel’s!”
Hushai Warns DavidBut the LORD had planned to circumvent the sound advice of Ahithophel so the LORD could bring Absalom to destruction.

¹² But the soldier replied to Joab, “I wouldn’t have touched the king’s son even if you dropped 1,000 pieces of silver right into my hands, because we heard the king command you, Abishai, and Ittai, ‘Watch how you treat the young man Absalom!’

¹³ As a father has compassion for his children, so the LORD has compassion for those who fear him.

³⁴ Jesus kept saying, “Father, forgive them, because they don’t know what they’re doing.” Then they divided his clothes among them by throwing dice.

¹⁵ So Joshua replied to them, “Since you’re so numerous, go up to the forest and clear ground there for yourselves in the territory where the Perizzites and Rephaim are, because the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.”

¹⁸ but the hill country will also belong to you. Even though it’s a forest, you will clear it and possess it to its farthest borders. You’ll drive out the Canaanites, even though they have iron chariots and even though they’re strong.”

⁴ Then Jephthah mustered all the men of Gilead, fought the tribe of Ephraim, and defeated them, because they had been claiming, “You descendants of Gilead are fugitives in the midst of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.”
⁵ Shibboleth vs. SibbolethThe descendants of Gilead seized control of the Jordan River’s fords along the border of Ephraim’s territory. Later on, when any fugitive from Ephraim asked them, “Let me cross over,” the men from Gilead would ask him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said “No,” ⁶ they would order him, “Pronounce the word ‘Shibboleth’ right now.” If he said “Sibboleth,” not being able to pronounce it correctly, they would seize him and slaughter him there at the fords of the Jordan River. During those days 42,000 descendants of Ephraim died that way.

¹⁷ The battle was very violent that day, with Abner and the men of Israel being defeated in the presence of David’s servants.

²⁶ Then Abner called out to Joab, “Must the battle sword keep on devouring forever? Don’t you realize that the end result is bitterness? How long will it take for you to order your army to stop pursuing their own relatives?”

³¹ Meanwhile, other soldiers of David had killed 360 of Abner’s men from the tribe of Benjamin.

⁶ By doing all of this to anyone who came to the king for a hearing, Absalom stole the loyalty of the men of Israel.

⁴¹ Petty Quarrels Arise between Israel and JudahNot long afterward, all the men of Israel started coming to the king, complaining to him, “Why did our relatives in Judah’s army sneak you away, taking the king and his household over the Jordan River, along with David’s army?”
⁴² Everybody from Judah shouted to the men from Israel, “We did this because the king is closely related to us. So why are you angry about this? Have we lived off the king’s expense? Have we appropriated anything for ourselves?”
⁴³ But the men from Israel answered the men from Judah: “We represent ten of the tribes of Israel! So we have more right to David than you do! Why haven’t you taken us seriously? Weren’t we the first to talk about bringing back our king?” But what the people of Judah had to say was harsher than what the people of Israel were saying.

¹⁶ When the descendants of Israel ran away from the army of Judah, God handed them over to the army of Judah. ¹⁷ Abijah and his army defeated them in a tremendous slaughter that resulted in 500,000 special forces from Israel being slain.

⁶ Remaliah’s son Pekah killed 120,000 soldiers in a single day, all of them elite forces, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their ancestors.

²¹ Be sure of this: the wicked will not go unpunished, but the descendants of the righteous will go free.

²¹ My son, fear both the LORD and the king, and don’t keep company with rebels.

¹⁰ “You blew with your breath, and the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty water.

¹¹ While they were fleeing in front of Israel and descending the slope of Beth-horon, the LORD rained down huge hailstones on them as far as Azekah, and they died. More died because of the hailstones than were killed by the Israelis in battle.

²⁰ The stars fought from heaven; they fought against Sisera from their orbits. ²¹ The current of the Kishon River swept them downstream, that ancient current, the Kishon’s current! March on strongly, my soul!

³⁰ The rest of the Aramean army retreated into Aphek, but the city wall collapsed on 27,000 soldiers who had taken shelter there. Ben-hadad himself ran away and hid inside a closet somewhere in the city.

⁷ Arise, LORD! Deliver me, my God! For you strike the jaw of all my enemies, and you break the teeth of the wicked.

¹ God is my Hope during Times of Trouble You be my judge, God, and plead my case against an unholy nation; rescue me from the deceitful and unjust man.

²³ his body must not remain overnight on the tree. You must bury him that same day, because cursed of God is the one who has been hanged on a tree. Don’t defile your land that the LORD is about to give you as your inheritance.”

¹⁶ “Cursed is the one who treats his father and mother with dishonor.’“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’

²⁰ “Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his father’s wife, because he has disgraced his father.“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’

²⁶ Whenever he cut his hair —he cut it at the end of every year, because it grew thick on his head, which is why he cut it—his hair weighed in at 200 shekels measured by the royal standard.

²³ Ahithophel’s SuicideMeanwhile, when Ahithophel observed that his counsel was not being acted upon, he saddled his donkey, got up, and left for his hometown. Leaving behind a set of orders for his household, he hanged himself. After his death he was buried in his father’s tomb.

¹⁴ “There’s no reason to wait for you!” Joab retorted. Then he took three spears in his hand and stabbed Absalom in the heart while he was still alive, dangling from the branches of the oak tree.

⁸ “For he has stumbled into a net with his own feet; he walked right into the network! ⁹ The trap seizes him by the heel; a snare tightens its hold on him. ¹⁰ A rope lies hidden in the dirt; a trap lies waiting for him where he is walking.”

³ if not calamity that is due the unjust, and misfortune that is due those who practice iniquity?

⁹ But as for those who seek to destroy me, they will go down to the depths of the earth; ¹⁰ May they be given over to the power of the sword; may they become carrion for jackals.

²⁰ Whoever curses his father or mother, his lamp will be extinguished in the deepest darkness.

¹⁷ The eye that mocks a father and looks with a disobedient attitude at a mother— the valley ravens will pluck it out; and vultures will eat it.

⁴⁴ “The one who flees from the terror will fall into a pit. And the one who comes up out of the pit will be caught in a trap. For I’ll bring upon her, that is upon Moab, the time of her punishment,” declares the LORD.

⁵ Then he flung the pieces of silver into the sanctuary, went outside, ran away, and hanged himself.

¹⁰ Because Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever curses his father or mother must certainly be put to death.’

¹³ The Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, “A curse on everyone who is hung on a tree!”

⁵ As they were going out, the king ordered Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, “Treat young Absalom gently for my sake.” Everyone heard what the king had ordered his commanders about Absalom.

¹⁵ Then David called out to one of his young men and ordered him, “Go up to him and cut him down!” So he attacked him and killed him.
¹⁶ David told him, “Your blood is on your own head, because your own words testified against you! After all, you said, ‘I myself have killed the LORD’s anointed!’”

¹⁰ when the man who told me ‘Look! Saul is dead!’ thought he was bringing me good news, I arrested him and had him killed at Ziklag as the reward I gave him for his news. ¹¹ How much worse will it be, then, when evil men kill an innocent man on his own bed in his own house! Shouldn’t I avenge his blood—which you are responsible for shedding—by removing you from the earth?” ¹² So David commanded his personal guards, and they killed Rechab and Baanah, cut off their hands and feet, and hung up their bodies beside the pool at Hebron. They took Ish-bosheth’s head and buried it in Abner’s tomb at Hebron.

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, ²⁰ intending to change the outcome of this matter. Nevertheless, your majesty is wise, like the wisdom of the angel of God, to be aware of everything that’s going on throughout the earth.”

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.

²¹ But Heber’s wife Jael grabbed a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other, crept up to him quietly, and drove the tent peg right through his temple into the ground below after he had fallen sound asleep from exhaustion. That’s how he died.

²⁶ She reached out one hand for the tent peg, and her other for the workman’s mallet. Then she struck Sisera, smashing his head, shattering and piercing his temple.

³¹ “May all of your enemies perish like this, LORD! But may those who love him be like the ascending sun in its strength!”
Then the land enjoyed quiet for 40 years.

³⁰ So Absalom told his servants, “Observe that Joab’s grain field lies next to mine. He has barley planted there. Go set it on fire.” So Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.

⁵ Your arrows are sharpened to penetrate the hearts of the king’s enemies. People will fall under you.

⁴⁰ because just as Jonah was in the stomach of the sea creature for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

³ When people say, “There is peace and security,” destruction will strike them as suddenly as labor pains come to a pregnant woman, and they will not be able to escape.

² “Make two trumpets, crafting them from beaten silver, for use in calling the congregation together and for notifying the camps to set out for travel. ³ Sound them when the whole assembly is to gather together at the entrance to the appointed place of meeting. ⁴ When one trumpet is blown, the elders and the heads of the thousands of the Israelis are to gather to you. ⁵ When you sound an alarm, the ones encamped on the east side are to begin to travel. ⁶ When you sound the alarm the second time, those encamped on the south are to begin to travel. Alarms are to be sounded for their travels. ⁷ But when you blow the trumpet to assemble the whole congregation, don’t use the same sound as you do for sounding an alarm. ⁸ The descendants of Aaron the priest are to blow the trumpets. Have them do this for you permanently throughout your generations to come.”
⁹ Sounding the Trumpet in Battle“When you wage war in your land against an enemy who is hostile to you, you are to sound an alarm with the trumpets. Then you will be remembered before the face of the LORD your God and you will be delivered from your enemies. ¹⁰ At the beginning of the month, during your time of rejoicing at the appointed place, sound the trumpet over your burnt offering, then sacrifice your peace offering, since they are to be your memorial before the LORD your God. I am the LORD your God.”

²⁸ So Joab sounded his battle trumpet, his entire army stopped pursuing Israel any longer, and they quit fighting.

²² Then the woman wisely went back to her people. They cut off the head of Bichri’s son Sheba and threw it out to Joab, so Joab sounded his battle trumpet and they withdrew from the city. Everybody went back home and Joab returned to the king at Jerusalem.

⁸ For example, if a bugle doesn’t sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?

²⁶ piling up a large mound of boulders that remains to this day. After this, the LORD turned his burning anger away, and that is why that place is called “the Valley of Achor” to this day.

²⁹ He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until dusk, and at sunset Joshua ordered his body brought down from the tree and laid at the entrance to the gate of the town. There he raised over it a large mound of stones, which stands there to this day.

²⁷ When evening had come, Joshua gave a command to remove the bodies from the gallows and bury them in the cave where they had hidden. The army sealed the mouth of the cave with large stones that remain there to this very day.

⁸ So the king got up and took his seat in the gateway. When the army was informed, “The king is sitting in the gateway!” they all gathered together in his presence.
David is Reinstated as KingMeanwhile, the Israelis had run away back to their own homes.

¹ Sheba’s RebellionRight about then, Bichri’s son Sheba, an ungodly man from the tribe of Benjamin, sounded a battle trumpet and announced: We’ve never been a part of David! We’ll never gain anything from Jesse’s son! It’s every man to his tent, Israel!

⁷ The reputation of the righteous leads to blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.

¹⁸ Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Josiah’s son Jehoiakim, king of Judah, “They won’t lament for him with these words: ‘How terrible, my brother, How terrible, my sister!’ They won’t lament for him with these words: ‘How terrible, lord, How terrible, your majesty!’ ¹⁹ He will receive a donkey’s burial, dragged out and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.”

⁴ Then they said, “Come on! Let’s build ourselves a city and a tower, with its summit in the heavens, and let’s make a name for ourselves so we won’t be scattered over the surface of the whole earth.”

⁹ Therefore it was called Babylon, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth, and from there the LORD scattered them over the surface of the entire earth.

¹⁷ The Blessing of MelchizedekAfter Abram’s return from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with them, the king of Sodom went out to meet with him in the Shaveh Valley (that is, the King’s Valley).

¹² Samuel got up early in the morning to meet Saul, but Samuel was told, “Saul went up to Carmel to set up a monument for himself. Then he turned around and traveled on to Gilgal.”

²⁷ Absalom fathered three sons and one daughter, whom he named Tamar. She was a beautiful woman, both in form and appearance.

¹⁶ His roots wither underneath, while his branches above are being cut off. ¹⁷ No one remembers him anywhere in the land; no one names streets in his honor.

¹¹ Their inner thoughts are on their homes forever; their dwellings from generation to generation. They even name their lands after themselves.

¹³ May his descendants be eliminated, and their memory be erased from the next generation.

³⁰ This is what the LORD says: ‘Write this man off as childless, a man who does not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will succeed in sitting on the throne of David, or ever ruling in Judah again.’”

³⁰ he commented to himself, “Isn’t Babylon great? I’ve built a royal palace in it by my own might and power, for the sake of my majesty.”

¹⁸ (Now this man bought a field with the money he got for his crime. Falling on his face, he burst open in the middle, and all his intestines gushed out. ¹⁹ This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that this field is called in their language Hakeldama, that is, “The Field of Blood”.)

³⁶ Their two sons—Zadok’s son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan—are with them there. You’ll be sending me everything that you hear through them.”

¹⁷ Meanwhile, since they could not risk being seen entering the city, Jonathan and Ahimaaz had been waiting at En-rogel, where a young servant woman was to go to inform them and they would then go brief King David.

²³ “No matter what, I’m running,” Ahimaaz replied.
So Joab told Ahimaaz, “Run!” And Ahimaaz ran, taking the Jordan Valley road, passing the Ethiopian.

²⁷ Then the watchman observed, “It looks to me that the runner out in front is running like Zadok’s son Ahimaaz!”
The king replied, “This is a good man bearing good news!”
²⁸ “Everything’s fine!” Ahimaaz announced to the king. He bowed low with his face to the ground before the king and said, “Praise be to the LORD your God! He has handed over the men who rebelled against your majesty the king.”
²⁹ “Are things fine with respect to the young man Absalom?” the king asked.
Ahimaaz answered, “I saw a lot of confusion about the time Joab was getting ready to send the king’s courier and me, your servant, but I’m not sure what was going on.”

³¹ Just then the Ethiopian arrived. He reported, “Good news, your majesty the king! The LORD has delivered you from the control of everyone who rebelled against you!”

⁶ Get up, LORD, in your anger! Rise up, because of the fury of my enemies; Arouse yourself for me; you have ordained justice.

⁸ For the LORD will judge the peoples. Judge me according to my righteousness, LORD, and according to my integrity, Exalted One. ⁹ Let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous. For you are the righteous God who discerns the inner thoughts.

⁴ For you have brought about justice for me and my cause; you sit on the throne judging righteously.

¹⁶ The LORD has made himself known, executing judgment. The wicked are ensnared by what their hands have made. Interlude

¹⁴ But you do see! You take note of trouble and grief in order to take the matter into your own hand. The helpless one commits himself to you; you have been the orphan’s helper.

¹⁸ to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed, so that men of the earth may cause terror no more.

¹⁹ Do not take revenge, dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me. I will pay them back, declares the Lord.”

¹⁶ “Quick! Get word to David! Tell him not to spend the night at the crossings that lead to the desert. Instead, he must cross the Jordan River immediately. That way, if he crosses the river, the king and his entourage will survive.”
¹⁷ Meanwhile, since they could not risk being seen entering the city, Jonathan and Ahimaaz had been waiting at En-rogel, where a young servant woman was to go to inform them and they would then go brief King David. ¹⁸ But a young man observed Jonathan and Ahimaaz and informed Absalom, so they left in a hurry, arrived at the home of a man who lived at Bahurim, and hid inside a well that was in his courtyard. ¹⁹ The man’s wife grabbed a sheet, covered the mouth of the well with it, and spread some dried grain over it. As a result, nobody could tell it was a hiding place.
²⁰ When Absalom’s servants approached the woman of the house, they asked her, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”
“They’ve already crossed the brook,” the woman answered. So Absalom’s servants went away in search of Jonathan and Ahimaaz, but they couldn’t find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.
²¹ A little while later, the men crawled up out of the well and went off to talk to King David. They told David, “Get up! Cross the water quickly, because this is what Ahithophel advised about you…”

²⁷ Then the watchman observed, “It looks to me that the runner out in front is running like Zadok’s son Ahimaaz!”
The king replied, “This is a good man bearing good news!”

²⁹ “Are things fine with respect to the young man Absalom?” the king asked.
Ahimaaz answered, “I saw a lot of confusion about the time Joab was getting ready to send the king’s courier and me, your servant, but I’m not sure what was going on.”

³³ David Mourns for AbsalomDeeply shaken, the king went up to the chamber overlooking the city gate, weeping bitterly and crying out as he went along, “My son Absalom! My son! My son Absalom! I wish I had died instead of you, Absalom my son, my son!”

²⁸ Furthermore, because they did not think it worthwhile to keep knowing God fully, God delivered them to degraded minds to perform acts that should not be done.

⁴ Obscene, flippant, or vulgar talk is totally inappropriate. Instead, let there be thanksgiving.

⁴ The two of them were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and came to the tomb first.

¹³ When he arrived, Eli was sitting there on a seat beside the road, watching because his heart trembled for the Ark of God. The man went into the town to give the report, and the whole town cried out.

³⁴ Meanwhile, Absalom had run away. While the young man standing watch was looking around, all of a sudden he observed many people coming down the road behind and to the west of the mountain! So the watchman left his post and reported, “I have seen men coming from the direction of Horonaim.”

⁴ So David responded, “I’ll do what you think best.” Then he stood alongside the city gate as the army went out in battle array by hundreds and thousands.

¹⁷ While the watchman was standing guard in the tower at Jezreel, he watched Jehu’s entourage arrive. So he called out, “I see a group arriving.”
Joram ordered, “Take a horseman, send him out to meet them, and have him ask, ‘Have you come in peace?’”
¹⁸ So a horseman went out, greeted Jehu and said, “This is what the king said: ‘Have you come in peace?’”
But Jehu responded, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.”
The watchman reported, “The messenger arrived there, but he hasn’t returned.”
¹⁹ Then Joram sent out a second horseman, who went out to them and said, “This is what the king said: ‘Have you come in peace?’”
Jehu responded, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.”
²⁰ The watchman reported to Joram, “He arrived there, but he hasn’t returned. Also, he drives like Nimshi’s son Jehu drives—irrationally!”

⁶ The Fall of BabylonFor this is what the LORD told me: “Go post a lookout. Have him report what he sees. ⁷ When he sees chariots, each man with a pair of horses, riders on donkeys or riders on camels, let him pay attention, full attention.” ⁸ Then the lookout shouted: “Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and I am stationed at my post throughout the night. ⁹ Look! Here come riders, each man with a pair of horses!” They’re shouting out the answer: “Babylon has fallen, has fallen, and they have shattered all the images of her gods on the ground!

¹¹ A Message about DumahA message concerning Dumah. “Someone is calling to me from Seir: ‘Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?’ ¹² The watchman replies: ‘Morning is coming, but also the night. If you want to ask, then ask; come back again.’”

² “Son of Man, speak to your nation’s children and tell them: ‘If I bring war to a land, and the people of that land appoint one of their conscripted men to serve as a sentinel, ³ and if he notices that violence is approaching and sounds an alarm to warn the people, ⁴ then if anyone who hears the sound of the alarm does not heed the warning, when the sword arrives and destroys him, his shed blood will remain his own responsibility. ⁵ After all, he heard the alarm sounding, but did not heed the warning, so his shed blood will remain his own responsibility. If he had heeded the warning, he would have saved himself. ⁶ If that sentinel notices that violence is approaching, but does not sound an alarm, then because the nation does not take warning and the sword arrives and destroys their lives because of their guilt, I’ll seek retribution for their shed blood from the one who was acting as sentinel.’”
⁷ Warning for Ezekiel“Now as for you, Son of Man, I’ve established you as a sentinel for the house of Israel. So whenever you hear a message from me, you are to warn the people from me.

⁴² While he was still asking that question, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the priest arrived, so Adonijah told him, “Come on in, since you’re a worthy man and are bringing us good news!”

²⁰ The watchman reported to Joram, “He arrived there, but he hasn’t returned. Also, he drives like Nimshi’s son Jehu drives—irrationally!”

¹³ Like cold snow during harvest time is a faithful messenger to those who send him; he refreshes his masters.

²⁵ Cold water to someone who is thirsty— that’s what good news from a distant land is.

⁷ “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the one who brings news of peace, who announces good things, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’

¹⁵ And how can people preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are those who bring the good news!”

²⁰ and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your control.”
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

²⁷ “Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hasn’t held back his gracious love and faithfulness from my master! The LORD has led me to the house of my master’s relatives!”

¹⁸ You have explained how you treated me well, in that the LORD delivered me into your hand but you didn’t kill me.

⁸ Abishai told David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Let me run the spear through him into the ground with a single blow. I won’t need to strike him twice!”

² The next day, a man escaped from Saul’s camp! With torn clothes and dirty hair, he approached David, fell to the ground, and bowed down to him.

⁴ When the woman from Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, prostrating herself to address him, “Help, your majesty!”

²⁷ In the company of the pure you demonstrate your purity. In the company of the perverted you will appear to be perverse.

²⁶ A Victory Celebration in Beracah ValleyThree days later, they assembled together in the Beracah Valley, where they blessed the LORD, which is why the name of that place is called Beracah Valley to this day.

⁸ You have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy, but you have set my feet in a sturdy place.

¹ The Impotence of Idols Not to us, LORD, not to us, but to your name be given glory on account of your gracious love and faithfulness.

⁶ Blessed be the LORD, who did not give us as prey to their teeth.

¹ Davidic
A Song for God’s Provision Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for battle and my fingers for warfare, ² he is my gracious love and my fortress, my strong tower and my deliverer, my shield and the one in whom I find refuge, who subdues peoples under me.

¹ The Vision of WorshipAfter these things, I heard what sounded like the loud voice of a large crowd in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation, glory, and power belong to our God. ² His judgments are true and just. He has condemned the notorious prostitute who corrupted the world with her immorality. He has taken revenge on her for the blood of his servants.” ³ A second time they said, “Hallelujah! The smoke goes up from her forever and ever.”

¹⁹ David Learns of Absalom’s DeathZadok’s son Ahimaaz told Joab, “Let me run over to King David and take him the news. I’ll mention that the LORD has delivered him from his enemies.”
²⁰ But Joab answered Ahimaaz, “You’re not the man to deliver news today. Do it any other time, but not today, because the king’s son is dead.”

²² “Please,” Zadok’s son Ahimaaz continued, “No matter what happens, let me follow the Ethiopian!”
Joab asked him, “Why this request to run, my son? There’s no reward in it for you.”

⁹ Joab asked Amasa, “Is everything going well with you, my brother?” As Joab took Amasa by his beard to greet him,

³⁵ To me belong vengeance and recompense. In due time their feet will slip, because their time of calamity is near and the things prepared for them draw near. ³⁶ For the LORD will vindicate his people and bring comfort to his servants, because he will observe that their power has waned, when neither prisoner nor free person remain.

¹⁹ David Learns of Absalom’s DeathZadok’s son Ahimaaz told Joab, “Let me run over to King David and take him the news. I’ll mention that the LORD has delivered him from his enemies.”

²⁸ “Everything’s fine!” Ahimaaz announced to the king. He bowed low with his face to the ground before the king and said, “Praise be to the LORD your God! He has handed over the men who rebelled against your majesty the king.”

⁴⁸ The God who keeps on avenging me, subjugating people beneath me, ⁴⁹ delivering me from my enemies. You exalted me above those who rebelled against me, delivering me from violent men.

¹⁰ The righteous person will rejoice when he sees your vengeance; when he washes his feet in the blood of the wicked.

¹ God Avenges His Own God of vengeance, LORD God of vengeance, display your splendor! ² Stand up, judge of the earth, and repay the proud. ³ How long will the wicked, LORD, how long will the wicked continue to triumph? ⁴ When they speak, they spew arrogance. Everyone who practices iniquity brags about it.

² if the LORD had not been on our side, when men came against us, ³ then they would have devoured us alive, when their anger burned against us.

⁷ Won’t God grant his chosen people justice when they cry out to him day and night? Is he slow to help them? ⁸ I tell you, he will give them justice quickly. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

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.

¹ To the Director of music: A Psalm. A song.
A Song of Praise to God God arises, and his enemies are scattered. Those who hate him flee from his presence. ² As smoke is driven away, so you drive them away. As wax melts in the presence of fire, so the wicked die in the presence of God.

¹⁹ Daniel’s InterpretationThen Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar) was greatly troubled for a while and was terrified by his thoughts. The king said, “Belteshazzar, don’t let the dream or its meaning terrify you.”
Belteshazzar responded, “Your majesty, if only the dream were about your enemies and its meaning about those who oppose you!

³² Now, if you will, forgive their sin—but if not, blot me out of your book which you have written.”

¹⁰ “‘Therefore the sword will never leave your household, because you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
¹¹ “This is what the LORD says:
“‘Listen very carefully!
“‘I’m raising up evil against you right out of your own household.
“‘I’m going to take your wives away from you right before your eyes.
“‘Then I’ll give them to your neighbor.
“‘And then he’s going to have sex with your wives in broad daylight!
¹² “‘What you did in secret I’m going to do right in front of all Israel and in broad daylight as well!’”
¹³ At this point, David told Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
Nathan responded to David, “There’s one other thing: the LORD has forgiven your sin. You won’t die. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, because you have despised the LORD’s enemies with utter contempt, the son born to you will most certainly die.” ¹⁵ Then Nathan went home.
David’s Infant Son DiesAfter this, the LORD afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife had born to David, and the child became very ill. ¹⁶ David begged God on behalf of the youngster. He fasted, went inside, and spent the night lying on the ground. ¹⁷ His closest advisors at the palace got up, remained with him, and tried to help him get up from the ground, but he would not do so. He also wouldn’t eat with them.
¹⁸ A week later, the child died, and David’s staff was afraid to tell him that the child had died. They were telling themselves, “Look, when the child was still alive, we talked to him but he wouldn’t listen to what we said. Now what kind of trouble will he bring on himself if we tell him that the child has died?”
¹⁹ But as David observed his staff whispering together, he perceived that the child had died, so he asked his staff, “Is the child dead?”
They replied, “He has died.”
²⁰ At this, David got up from the ground, washed, anointed himself, changed his clothes, and went into the LORD’s tent to worship. Then he went back to his palace where, at his request, they served him food and he ate.
²¹ His staff asked him, “What’s this about? When the child was alive, you fasted and cried. Now that the child has died, you get up and eat!”
²² He answered, “When the child was alive, I fasted and cried. I asked myself, ‘Who knows? Maybe the LORD will show grace to me and the child will live.’ ²³ But now that he has died, what’s the point of fasting? Can I bring him back again? I’ll be going to be with him, but he won’t be returning to me.”

⁴ Meanwhile, the king veiled his face and kept on crying loudly, “My son Absalom! Absalom my son, my son!”

¹ Solomon’s SayingsThe proverbs of Solomon. A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grieves his mother.

²⁵ A foolish son brings grief to his father and bitterness to his mother.

³ for I could wish that I myself were condemned and cut off from the Messiah for the sake of my brothers, my own people,

¹⁷ Elijah was a person just like us, and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and rain never came to the land for three years and six months.