Absalom’s Conspiracy
1 After this Absalom vgot himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him. 2 And Absalom used to rise early and stand beside wthe way of the gate. And when any man had a dispute to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, “From what city are you?” And when he said, “Your servant is of such and such a tribe in Israel,” 3 Absalom would say to him, “See, your claims are good and right, but there is no man designated by the king to hear you.” 4 Then Absalom would say, x“Oh that I were judge in the land! Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me, and I would give him justice.” 5 And whenever a man came near to pay homage to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. 6 Thus Absalom did to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
7 And at the end of four1 years Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to the Lord, in Hebron. 8 For your servant zvowed a vow awhile I lived at Geshur in Aram, saying, ‘If the Lord will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will offer worship to2 the Lord.’” 9 The king said to him, b“Go in peace.” So he arose and went to Hebron. 10 But Absalom sent secret messengers throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then say, ‘Absalom is king at Hebron!’” 11 With Absalom went two hundred men from Jerusalem cwho were invited guests, and they went in their innocence and knew nothing. 12 And while Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for3 dAhithophel the Gilonite, eDavid’s counselor, from his city fGiloh. And the conspiracy grew strong, and the people with Absalom gkept increasing.
David Flees Jerusalem
13 And a messenger came to David, saying, h“The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom.” 14 Then David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us iflee, or else there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Go quickly, lest he overtake us quickly and bring down ruin on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.” 15 And the king’s servants said to the king, “Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king decides.” 16 So the king went out, and all his household after him. And the king left jten concubines to keep the house. 17 And the king went out, and all the people after him. And they halted at the last house.
18 And kall his servants passed by him, and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the six hundred Gittites who had followed him from lGath, passed on before the king. 19 Then the king said to mIttai the Gittite, “Why do you also go with us? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner and also an exile from your home. 20 You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you wander about with us, since I go nI know not where? Go back and take your brothers with you, and may the Lord show4 steadfast love and faithfulness to you.” 21 But Ittai answered the king, o“As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, pwherever my lord the king shall be, whether for death or for life, there also will your servant be.” 22 And David said to Ittai, “Go then, pass on.” So Ittai the Gittite passed on with all his men and all the little ones who were with him. 23 And all the land wept aloud as all the people passed by, and the king crossed qthe brook rKidron, and all the people passed on toward sthe wilderness.
24 And tAbiathar came up, and behold, uZadok came also with all the Levites, vbearing the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God until the people had all passed out of the city. 25 Then the king said to Zadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will wbring me back and let me see both it and his xdwelling place. 26 But if he says, ‘I have no ypleasure in you,’ behold, here I am, zlet him do to me what seems good to him.” 27 The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Are you not a aseer? Go back5 to the city in peace, with byour two sons, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. 28 See, I will wait at cthe fords of sthe wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.” 29 So Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and they remained there.
30 But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, dbarefoot and ewith his head covered. And all the people who were with him covered their heads, and they went up, fweeping as they went. 31 And it was told David, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” And David said, “O Lord, please gturn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”
32 While David was coming to the summit, where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai hthe Archite came to meet him iwith his coat torn and idirt on his head. 33 David said to him, “If you go on with me, you will be ja burden to me. 34 But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, k‘I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father’s servant in time past, so now I will be your servant,’ then you will defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel. 35 Are not Zadok and Abiathar the priests with you there? So whatever you hear from the king’s house, ltell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. 36 Behold, mtheir two sons are with them there, Ahimaaz, Zadok’s son, and Jonathan, Abiathar’s son, mand by them you shall send to me everything you hear.” 37 So Hushai, nDavid’s friend, came into the city, ojust as Absalom was entering Jerusalem.
Save Me, O My God
A Psalm of David, nwhen he fled from Absalom his son.
1 O Lord, ohow many are my foes!
Many are prising against me;
2 many are saying of my soul,
3 But you, O Lord, are ra shield sabout me,
my glory, and tthe lifter of my head.
4 I ucried aloud to the Lord,
5 I xlay down and slept;
I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.
6 I ywill not be afraid of many thousands of people
who have zset themselves against me all around.
7 aArise, O Lord!
Save me, O my God!
For you bstrike all my enemies on the cheek;
you cbreak the teeth of the wicked.
8 dSalvation belongs to the Lord;
your blessing be on your people! Selah
Save Me, O God
To the choirmaster: according to tLilies. Of David.
1 Save me, O God!
For uthe waters have come up to my neck.1
2 I sink in deep vmire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood wsweeps over me.
3 xI am weary with my crying out;
ymy throat is parched.
zMy eyes grow dim
with awaiting for my God.
4 bMore in number than the hairs of my head
are cthose who hate me dwithout cause;
mighty are those who would destroy me,
ethose who attack me with lies.
What I did not steal
must I now restore?
5 O God, you know my folly;
the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
6 Let not those who hope in you fbe put to shame through me,
O Lord God of hosts;
let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,
O God of Israel.
7 For it is gfor your sake that I have borne reproach,
that dishonor has covered my face.
8 I have become ha stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my mother’s sons.
9 For izeal for your house has consumed me,
and jthe reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
10 When I wept and humbled2 my soul with fasting,
it became my reproach.
11 When I made ksackcloth my clothing,
I became la byword to them.
12 I am the talk of those who msit in the gate,
and the drunkards make nsongs about me.
13 But as for me, my oprayer is to you, O Lord.
At pan acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
14 Deliver me
from sinking in qthe mire;
rlet me be delivered from my enemies
and from sthe deep waters.
15 Let not the flood sweep over me,
or the deep swallow me up,
16 Answer me, O Lord, for your vsteadfast love is good;
according to your abundant wmercy, xturn to me.
17 yHide not your face from your servant,
zfor I am in distress; amake haste to answer me.
18 Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies!
19 You know my breproach,
and my shame and my dishonor;
my foes are all known to you.
20 bReproaches have broken my heart,
so that I am in cdespair.
I dlooked for epity, but there was none,
and for fcomforters, but I found none.
21 They gave me gpoison for food,
and for my thirst they gave me hsour wine to drink.
22 iLet their own jtable before them become a snare;
kand when they are at peace, let it become a trap.3
23 lLet their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
mand make their loins tremble continually.
24 Pour out your indignation upon them,
and let your burning anger overtake them.
25 nMay their camp be a desolation;
let no one dwell in their tents.
26 For they opersecute him whom pyou have struck down,
and they recount the pain of qthose you have wounded.
27 rAdd to them punishment upon punishment;
may they have no acquittal from you.4
28 Let them be sblotted out of the book of the living;
let them not be tenrolled among the righteous.
29 But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your salvation, O God, uset me on high!
30 I will vpraise the name of God with a song;
I will wmagnify him with xthanksgiving.
31 This will yplease the Lord more than an ox
or a bull zwith horns and hoofs.
32 When athe humble see it they will be glad;
you who seek God, alet your hearts revive.
33 For the Lord hears the needy
and bdoes not despise his own people who are prisoners.
34 Let cheaven and earth praise him,
the seas and everything that moves in them.
35 For dGod will save Zion
and build up the cities of Judah,
and people shall dwell there and possess it;
36 ethe offspring of his servants shall inherit it,
and those who love his name shall dwell in it.
27 Just then ihis disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man jwho told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, k“Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, l“Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, m“My food is nto do the will of him who sent me and oto accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that pthe fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that qsower and rreaper smay rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, t‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap uthat for which you did not labor. Others have labored, vand you have entered into their labor.”
39 Many Samaritans wfrom that town believed in him xbecause of ythe woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed zbecause of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, aand we know that this is indeed bthe Savior cof the world.”
43 After dthe two days he departed for Galilee. 44 (For Jesus himself had testified ethat a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, fhaving seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For gthey too had gone to the feast.
Jesus Heals an Official’s Son
46 So he came again to hCana in Galilee, iwhere he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus jhad come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, k“Unless you1 see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down lbefore my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. 51 As he was going down, his servants2 met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour3 the fever left him.” 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, mand all his household. 54 nThis was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.
