2 Samuel 18

¹⁰Joshua got up early the next morning and mobilized his men, and he and the elders of Israel marched before them up to Ai.

⁹So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with the staff of God in my hand.”

¹²He will appoint some for himself as commanders of thousands and of fifties, and others to plow his ground, to reap his harvest, and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.

¹⁶And he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each man a ram’s horn in one hand and a large jar in the other, containing a torch.

¹⁹Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the new king, since you are both a foreigner and an exile from your homeland.

²⁰In fact, you arrived only yesterday; should I make you wander around with us today while I do not know where I am going? Go back and take your brothers with you. May the Lord show you loving devotion and faithfulness.”

¹¹The next day Saul organized the troops into three divisions, and during the morning watch they invaded the camp of the Ammonites and slaughtered them, until the hottest part of the day. And the survivors were so scattered that no two of them were left together.

¹⁹Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the changing of the guard. They blew their horns and broke the jars that were in their hands.

⁶The Lord is on my side; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

⁷The Lord is on my side; He is my helper. Therefore I will look in triumph on those who hate me.

⁴³So he took his men, divided them into three companies, and lay in wait in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he rose up against them and attacked them.

¹⁷But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must never again go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel may not be extinguished.”

⁷Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the man who is My Companion, declares the Lord of Hosts. Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the little ones.

¹¹“If the Arameans are too strong for me,” said Joab, “then you will come to my rescue. And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to your rescue.

²⁰The Lord’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”

²I will attack him while he is weak and weary; I will throw him into a panic, and all the people with him will flee; I will strike down only the king

³¹Now the king of Aram had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel.”

⁶a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and a strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.

²⁴Now David was sitting between the two gates when the watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall, looked out, and saw a man running alone.

¹Then David reviewed his troops and appointed over them commanders of thousands and of hundreds.

²As the Philistine leaders marched out with their units of hundreds and thousands, David and his men marched behind them with Achish.

¹⁸If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined,

¹⁹his father and mother are to lay hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown,

¹⁴Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than that of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had purposed to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom.

¹Furthermore, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men and set out tonight in pursuit of David.

²I will attack him while he is weak and weary; I will throw him into a panic, and all the people with him will flee; I will strike down only the king

¹¹Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my own son, my own flesh and blood, seeks my life. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone and let him curse me, for the Lord has told him so.

³⁴Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up His garments by casting lots.

¹²The man replied, “Even if a thousand shekels of silver were weighed out into my hands, I would not raise my hand against the son of the king. For we heard the king command you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’

¹⁸because the hill country will be yours as well. It is a forest; clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours. Although the Canaanites have iron chariots and although they are strong, you can drive them out.”

¹⁵Joshua answered them, “If you have so many people that the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go to the forest and clear for yourself an area in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim.”

⁴Jephthah then gathered all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are fugitives in Ephraim, living in the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh.”

⁵The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a fugitive from Ephraim would say, “Let me cross over,” the Gileadites would ask him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he answered, “No,”

²¹My son, fear the Lord and the king, and do not associate with the rebellious.

¹⁷The battle that day was intense, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated by the servants of David.

²⁶Then Abner called out to Joab: “Must the sword devour forever? Do you not realize that this will only end in bitterness? How long before you tell the troops to stop pursuing their brothers?”

⁶Absalom did this to all the Israelites who came to the king for justice. In this way he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

⁶For in one day Pekah son of Remaliah killed 120,000 valiant men in Judah. This happened because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers.

²¹Be assured that the wicked will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will escape.

¹⁰But You blew with Your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

¹¹As they fled before Israel along the descent from Beth-horon to Azekah, the Lord cast down on them large hailstones from the sky, and more of them were killed by the hailstones than by the swords of the Israelites.

⁷Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.

²⁰From the heavens the stars fought; from their courses they fought against Sisera.

²¹The River Kishon swept them away, the ancient river, the River Kishon. March on, O my soul, in strength!

³⁰The rest of them fled into the city of Aphek, where the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the remaining men. Ben-hadad also fled to the city and hid in an inner room.

¹Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; deliver me from deceitful and unjust men.

²⁶And when he cut the hair of his head—he shaved it every year because his hair got so heavy—he would weigh it out to be two hundred shekels, according to the royal standard.

¹⁷As for the eye that mocks a father and scorns obedience to a mother, may the ravens of the valley pluck it out and young vultures devour it.

³Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity?

¹⁴But Joab declared, “I am not going to wait like this with you!” And he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak tree.

¹⁰For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’

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

⁵Now the king had commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, “Treat the young man Absalom gently for my sake.” And all the people heard the king’s orders to each of the commanders regarding Absalom.

¹⁹So the king asked, “Is the hand of Joab behind all this?” The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king says. Yes, your servant Joab is the one who gave me orders; he told your maidservant exactly what to say.

²⁰Joab your servant has done this to bring about this change of affairs, but my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the angel of God, to know everything that happens in the land.”

¹³Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

¹⁵Then David summoned one of the young men and said, “Go, execute him!” So the young man struck him down, and he died.

¹⁶For David had said to the Amalekite, “Your blood be on your own head because your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I killed the Lord’s anointed.’”

¹⁰when someone told me, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was a bearer of good news, I seized him and put him to death at Ziklag. That was his reward for his news!

¹¹How much more, when wicked men kill a righteous man in his own house and on his own bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hands and remove you from the earth!”

⁵Now the king had commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, “Treat the young man Absalom gently for my sake.” And all the people heard the king’s orders to each of the commanders regarding Absalom.

⁴⁰For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

³⁰Then Absalom said to his servants, “Look, Joab’s field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire!” And Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.

³While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

²¹But as he lay sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife Jael took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She drove the peg through his temple and into the ground, and he died.

⁵Your arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s foes; the nations fall beneath your feet.

²²Then the woman went to all the people with her wise counsel, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he blew the ram’s horn and his men dispersed from the city, each to his own home. And Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.

²⁸So Joab blew the ram’s horn, and all the troops stopped; they no longer pursued Israel or continued to fight.

²“Make two trumpets of hammered silver to be used for calling the congregation and for having the camps set out.

³When both are sounded, the whole congregation is to assemble before you at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

⁸Again, if the trumpet sounds a muffled call, who will prepare for battle?

²⁶And they heaped over Achan a large pile of rocks that remains to this day. So the Lord turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.

²⁹He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.

²²Then the woman went to all the people with her wise counsel, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he blew the ram’s horn and his men dispersed from the city, each to his own home. And Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.

²⁷At sunset Joshua ordered that they be taken down from the trees and thrown into the cave in which they had hidden. Then large stones were placed against the mouth of the cave, and the stones are there to this day.

¹Now a worthless man named Sheba son of Bichri, a Benjamite, happened to be there, and he blew the ram’s horn and shouted: “We have no share in David, no inheritance in Jesse’s son. Every man to his tent, O Israel!”

¹⁸Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: “They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’

¹⁹He will be buried like a donkey, dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.

¹⁷After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

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

¹²Early in the morning Samuel got up to confront Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel, and behold, he has set up a monument for himself and has turned and gone down to Gilgal.”

³⁰the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”

¹⁸(Now with the reward for his wickedness Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong and burst open in the middle, and all his intestines spilled out.

¹⁹This became known to all who lived in Jerusalem, so they called that field in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

¹¹Their graves are their eternal homes—their dwellings for endless generations—even though their lands were their namesakes.

³⁶Indeed, their two sons, Ahimaaz son of Zadok and Jonathan son of Abiathar, are there with them. Send them to me with everything you hear.”

³¹Just then the Cushite came and said, “May my lord the king hear the good news: Today the Lord has avenged you of all who rose up against you!”

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

⁶Arise, O Lord, in Your anger; rise up against the fury of my enemies. Awake, my God, and ordain judgment.

⁴For You have upheld my just cause; You sit on Your throne judging righteously.

²⁷The watchman said, “The first man appears to me to be running like Ahimaaz son of Zadok.” “This is a good man,” said the king. “He comes with good news.”

²⁸Then Ahimaaz called out to the king, “All is well!” And he bowed facedown before the king. He continued, “Blessed be the Lord your God! He has delivered up the men who raised their hands against my lord the king.”

⁵Now the king had commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, “Treat the young man Absalom gently for my sake.” And all the people heard the king’s orders to each of the commanders regarding Absalom.

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

¹⁶Now send quickly and tell David, ‘Do not spend the night at the fords of the wilderness, but be sure to cross over. Otherwise the king and all the people with him will be swallowed up.’”

¹⁷Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En-rogel, where a servant girl would come and pass along information to them. They in turn would go and inform King David, for they dared not be seen entering the city.

²⁹The king asked, “Is the young man Absalom all right?” And Ahimaaz replied, “When Joab sent the king’s servant and your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I do not know what it was.”

²⁷The watchman said, “The first man appears to me to be running like Ahimaaz son of Zadok.” “This is a good man,” said the king. “He comes with good news.”

²⁸Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.

⁴Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or crude joking, which are out of character, but rather thanksgiving.

⁴The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

⁸So the king got up and sat in the gate, and all the people were told: “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate.” So they all came before the king. Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled, each man to his home.

¹³When he arrived, there was Eli, sitting on his chair beside the road and watching, because his heart trembled for the ark of God. When the man entered the city to give a report, the whole city cried out.

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

⁶For this is what the Lord says to me: “Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees.

⁷When he sees chariots with teams of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, he must be alert, fully alert.”

²“Son of man, speak to your people and tell them: ‘Suppose I bring the sword against a land, and the people of that land choose a man from among them, appointing him as their watchman,

³and he sees the sword coming against that land and blows the ram’s horn to warn the people.

⁴“I will do whatever seems best to you,” the king replied. So he stood beside the gate, while all the troops marched out by hundreds and by thousands.

²⁰Again the watchman reported, “He reached them, but he is not coming back. And the charioteer is driving like Jehu son of Nimshi—he is driving like a madman!”

⁴²As he was speaking, suddenly Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest arrived. “Come in,” said Adonijah, “for you are a man of valor. You must be bringing good news.”

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

¹³Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest is a trustworthy messenger to those who send him; he refreshes the soul of his masters.

²⁵Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.

⁷How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

⁴When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell facedown in homage and said, “Help me, O king!”

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

¹After this I heard a sound like the roar of a great multitude in heaven, shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God!

²For His judgments are true and just. He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the blood of His servants that was poured out by her hand.”

²⁷to the pure You show Yourself pure, but to the crooked You show Yourself shrewd.

⁸You have not delivered me to the enemy; You have set my feet in the open.

⁸Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Now, therefore, please let me thrust the spear through him into the ground with one stroke. I will not need to strike him twice!”

²²Ahimaaz son of Zadok, however, persisted and said to Joab, “No matter what, please let me also run behind the Cushite!” “My son,” Joab replied, “why do you want to run, since you will not receive a reward?”

¹⁹Then Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, “Please let me run and tell the king the good news that the Lord has avenged him of his enemies.”

²⁰But Joab replied, “You are not the man to take good news today. You may do it another day, but you must not do so today, because the king’s son is dead.”

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

¹⁹Then Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, “Please let me run and tell the king the good news that the Lord has avenged him of his enemies.”

³⁵Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”

³⁶For the Lord will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.

²⁸Then Ahimaaz called out to the king, “All is well!” And he bowed facedown before the king. He continued, “Blessed be the Lord your God! He has delivered up the men who raised their hands against my lord the king.”

⁷Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay in helping them?

⁸I tell you, He will promptly carry out justice on their behalf. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

²if the Lord had not been on our side when men attacked us,

³when their anger flared against us, then they would have swallowed us alive,

¹⁰The righteous will rejoice when they see they are avenged; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.

³¹So may all Your enemies perish, O Lord! But may those who love You shine like the sun at its brightest.” And the land had rest for forty years.

²⁶Now, my lord, as surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, since the Lord has held you back from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, may your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal.

¹⁹For a time, Daniel, who was also known as Belteshazzar, was perplexed, and his thoughts alarmed him. So the king said, “Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation alarm you.” “My lord,” replied Belteshazzar, “may the dream apply to those who hate you, and its interpretation to your enemies!

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A song. God arises. His enemies are scattered, and those who hate Him flee His presence.

²As smoke is blown away, You will drive them out; as wax melts before the fire, the wicked will perish in the presence of God.

²⁹The king asked, “Is the young man Absalom all right?” And Ahimaaz replied, “When Joab sent the king’s servant and your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I do not know what it was.”

⁴But the king covered his face and cried out at the top of his voice, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!”

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

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

²⁵A foolish son brings grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him.

¹The proverbs of Solomon: A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief to his mother.

¹³As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.

³²Yet now, if You would only forgive their sin.... But if not, please blot me out of the book that You have written.”