After Nathan came to David · Psalms of David · Amnon, Absalom and Joab

Psalm 51 WEB

¹Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. ²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. ³For I know my transgressions. My sin is constantly before me. ⁴Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge. ⁵Behold, I was born in iniquity. My mother conceived me in sin. ⁶Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place. ⁷Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. ⁸Let me hear joy and gladness, that the bones which you have broken may rejoice. ⁹Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities. ¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. ¹¹Don’t throw me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. ¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit. ¹³Then I will teach transgressors your ways. Sinners will be converted to you. ¹⁴Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation. My tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. ¹⁵Lord, open my lips. My mouth will declare your praise. ¹⁶For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering. ¹⁷The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart. ¹⁸Do well in your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem. ¹⁹Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings. Then they will offer bulls on your altar.

Psalms 31–33 WEB

^31:1In you, LORD, I take refuge. Let me never be disappointed. Deliver me in your righteousness. ²Bow down your ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be to me a strong rock, a house of defense to save me. ³For you are my rock and my fortress, therefore for your name’s sake lead me and guide me. ⁴Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me, for you are my stronghold. ⁵Into your hand I commend my spirit. You redeem me, LORD, God of truth. ⁶I hate those who regard lying vanities, but I trust in the LORD. ⁷I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness, for you have seen my affliction. You have known my soul in adversities. ⁸You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a large place. ⁹Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am in distress. My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief. ¹⁰For my life is spent with sorrow, my years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity. My bones are wasted away. ¹¹Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors, a horror to my acquaintances. Those who saw me on the street fled from me. ¹²I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man. I am like broken pottery. ¹³For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side, while they conspire together against me, they plot to take away my life. ¹⁴But I trust in you, LORD. I said, “You are my God.” ¹⁵My times are in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me. ¹⁶Make your face to shine on your servant. Save me in your loving kindness. ¹⁷Let me not be disappointed, LORD, for I have called on you. Let the wicked be disappointed. Let them be silent in Sheol. ¹⁸Let the lying lips be mute, which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt. ¹⁹Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have worked for those who take refuge in you, before the sons of men! ²⁰In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man. You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues. ²¹Praise be to the LORD, for he has shown me his marvelous loving kindness in a strong city. ²²As for me, I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before your eyes.” Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you. ²³Oh love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful, and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly. ²⁴Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the LORD.

^32:1Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered. ²Blessed is the man to whom the LORD doesn’t impute iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit. ³When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. ⁴For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was sapped in the heat of summer. Selah. ⁵I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn’t hide my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the LORD, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah. ⁶For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him. ⁷You are my hiding place. You will preserve me from trouble. You will surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. ⁸I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye on you. ⁹Don’t be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding, who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you. ¹⁰Many sorrows come to the wicked, but loving kindness shall surround him who trusts in the LORD. ¹¹Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, you righteous! Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!

^33:1Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous! Praise is fitting for the upright. ²Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre. Sing praises to him with the harp of ten strings. ³Sing to him a new song. Play skillfully with a shout of joy! ⁴For the LORD’s word is right. All his work is done in faithfulness. ⁵He loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of the loving kindness of the LORD. ⁶By the LORD’s word, the heavens were made: all their army by the breath of his mouth. ⁷He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the deeps in storehouses. ⁸Let all the earth fear the LORD. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. ⁹For he spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood firm. ¹⁰The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect. ¹¹The counsel of the LORD stands fast forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. ¹²Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance. ¹³The LORD looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of men. ¹⁴From the place of his habitation he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, ¹⁵he who fashions all of their hearts; and he considers all of their works. ¹⁶There is no king saved by the multitude of an army. A mighty man is not delivered by great strength. ¹⁷A horse is a vain thing for safety, neither does he deliver any by his great power. ¹⁸Behold, the LORD’s eye is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his loving kindness, ¹⁹to deliver their soul from death, to keep them alive in famine. ²⁰Our soul has waited for the LORD. He is our help and our shield. ²¹For our heart rejoices in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. ²²Let your loving kindness be on us, LORD, since we have hoped in you.

2 Samuel 13 WEB

¹After this, Absalom the son of David had a beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her. ²Amnon was so troubled that he became sick because of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed hard to Amnon to do anything to her. ³But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab the son of Shimeah, David’s brother; and Jonadab was a very subtle man. ⁴He said to him, “Why, son of the king, are you so sad from day to day? Won’t you tell me?” Amnon said to him, “I love Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.” ⁵Jonadab said to him, “Lay down on your bed and pretend to be sick. When your father comes to see you, tell him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me bread to eat, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’” ⁶So Amnon lay down and faked being sick. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand.” ⁷Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, “Go now to your brother Amnon’s house, and prepare food for him.” ⁸So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house; and he was lying down. She took dough, kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked the cakes. ⁹She took the pan and poured them out before him, but he refused to eat. Amnon said, “Have all men leave me.” Then every man went out from him. ¹⁰Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the room, that I may eat from your hand.” Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and brought them into the room to Amnon her brother. ¹¹When she had brought them near to him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, “Come, lie with me, my sister!” ¹²She answered him, “No, my brother, do not force me! For no such thing ought to be done in Israel. Don’t you do this folly! ¹³As for me, where would I carry my shame? And as for you, you will be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, please speak to the king; for he will not withhold me from you.” ¹⁴However, he would not listen to her voice; but being stronger than she, he forced her and lay with her. ¹⁵Then Amnon hated her with exceedingly great hatred; for the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. Amnon said to her, “Arise, be gone!” ¹⁶She said to him, “Not so, because this great wrong in sending me away is worse than the other that you did to me!” But he would not listen to her. ¹⁷Then he called his servant who ministered to him, and said, “Now put this woman out from me, and bolt the door after her.” ¹⁸She had a garment of various colors on her, for the king’s daughters who were virgins dressed in such robes. Then his servant brought her out and bolted the door after her. ¹⁹Tamar put ashes on her head, and tore her garment of various colors that was on her; and she laid her hand on her head and went her way, crying aloud as she went. ²⁰Absalom her brother said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? But now hold your peace, my sister. He is your brother. Don’t take this thing to heart.” So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom’s house. ²¹But when King David heard of all these things, he was very angry. ²²Absalom spoke to Amnon neither good nor bad; for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar. ²³After two full years, Absalom had sheep shearers in Baal Hazor, which is beside Ephraim; and Absalom invited all the king’s sons. ²⁴Absalom came to the king and said, “See now, your servant has sheep shearers. Please let the king and his servants go with your servant.” ²⁵The king said to Absalom, “No, my son, let’s not all go, lest we be burdensome to you.” He pressed him; however he would not go, but blessed him. ²⁶Then Absalom said, “If not, please let my brother Amnon go with us.” The king said to him, “Why should he go with you?” ²⁷But Absalom pressed him, and he let Amnon and all the king’s sons go with him. ²⁸Absalom commanded his servants, saying, “Mark now, when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Haven’t I commanded you? Be courageous, and be valiant!” ²⁹The servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king’s sons arose, and every man got up on his mule and fled. ³⁰While they were on the way, the news came to David, saying, “Absalom has slain all the king’s sons, and there is not one of them left!” ³¹Then the king arose, and tore his garments, and lay on the earth; and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn. ³²Jonadab the son of Shimeah, David’s brother, answered, “Don’t let my lord suppose that they have killed all the young men, the king’s sons, for Amnon only is dead; for by the appointment of Absalom this has been determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar. ³³Now therefore don’t let my lord the king take the thing to his heart, to think that all the king’s sons are dead; for only Amnon is dead.” ³⁴But Absalom fled. The young man who kept the watch lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, many people were coming by way of the hillside behind him. ³⁵Jonadab said to the king, “Behold, the king’s sons are coming! It is as your servant said.” ³⁶As soon as he had finished speaking, behold, the king’s sons came, and lifted up their voices and wept. The king also and all his servants wept bitterly. ³⁷But Absalom fled and went to Talmai the son of Ammihur, king of Geshur. David mourned for his son every day. ³⁸So Absalom fled and went to Geshur, and was there three years. ³⁹King David longed to go out to Absalom, for he was comforted concerning Amnon, since he was dead.