Amnon, Absalom and Joab · Psalms of David

2 Samuel 14 WEB

¹Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart was toward Absalom. ²Joab sent to Tekoa and brought a wise woman from there, and said to her, “Please act like a mourner, and put on mourning clothing, please, and don’t anoint yourself with oil; but be as a woman who has mourned a long time for the dead. ³Go in to the king and speak like this to him.” So Joab put the words in her mouth. ⁴When the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, showed respect, and said, “Help, O king!” ⁵The king said to her, “What ails you?” She answered, “Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead. ⁶Your servant had two sons; and they both fought together in the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one struck the other and killed him. ⁷Behold, the whole family has risen against your servant, and they say, ‘Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he killed, and so destroy the heir also.’ Thus they would quench my coal which is left, and would leave to my husband neither name nor remainder on the surface of the earth.” ⁸The king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give a command concerning you.” ⁹The woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord, O king, may the iniquity be on me, and on my father’s house; and may the king and his throne be guiltless.” ¹⁰The king said, “Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he will not bother you any more.” ¹¹Then she said, “Please let the king remember the LORD your God, that the avenger of blood destroy not any more, lest they destroy my son.” He said, “As the LORD lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the earth.” ¹²Then the woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.” He said, “Say on.” ¹³The woman said, “Why then have you devised such a thing against the people of God? For in speaking this word the king is as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring home again his banished one. ¹⁴For we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground, which can’t be gathered up again; neither does God take away life, but devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast from him. ¹⁵Now therefore, seeing that I have come to speak this word to my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid. Your servant said, ‘I will now speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his servant.’ ¹⁶For the king will hear, to deliver his servant out of the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God. ¹⁷Then your servant said, ‘Please let the word of my lord the king bring rest; for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad. May the LORD, your God, be with you.’” ¹⁸Then the king answered the woman, “Please don’t hide anything from me that I ask you.” The woman said, “Let my lord the king now speak.” ¹⁹The king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” The woman answered, “As your soul lives, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab urged me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your servant. ²⁰Your servant Joab has done this thing to change the face of the matter. My lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are on the earth.” ²¹The king said to Joab, “Behold now, I have granted this thing. Go therefore, and bring the young man Absalom back.” ²²Joab fell to the ground on his face, showed respect, and blessed the king. Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord, O king, in that the king has performed the request of his servant.” ²³So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. ²⁴The king said, “Let him return to his own house, but let him not see my face.” So Absalom returned to his own house, and didn’t see the king’s face. ²⁵Now in all Israel there was no one to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty. From the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no defect in him. ²⁶When he cut the hair of his head (now it was at every year’s end that he cut it; because it was heavy on him, therefore he cut it), he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels, after the king’s weight. ²⁷Three sons were born to Absalom, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a woman with a beautiful face. ²⁸Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem, and he didn’t see the king’s face. ²⁹Then Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king, but he would not come to him. Then he sent again a second time, but he would not come. ³⁰Therefore he said to his servants, “Behold, Joab’s field is near mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire.” So Absalom’s servants set the field on fire. ³¹Then Joab arose and came to Absalom to his house, and said to him, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?” ³²Absalom answered Joab, “Behold, I sent to you, saying, ‘Come here, that I may send you to the king, to say, “Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to be there still. Now therefore, let me see the king’s face; and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me.”’” ³³So Joab came to the king and told him; and when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king; and the king kissed Absalom.

Psalms 35–36 WEB

^35:1Contend, LORD, with those who contend with me. Fight against those who fight against me. ²Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for my help. ³Brandish the spear and block those who pursue me. Tell my soul, “I am your salvation.” ⁴Let those who seek after my soul be disappointed and brought to dishonor. Let those who plot my ruin be turned back and confounded. ⁵Let them be as chaff before the wind, the LORD’s angel driving them on. ⁶Let their way be dark and slippery, the LORD’s angel pursuing them. ⁷For without cause they have hidden their net in a pit for me. Without cause they have dug a pit for my soul. ⁸Let destruction come on him unawares. Let his net that he has hidden catch himself. Let him fall into that destruction. ⁹My soul shall be joyful in the LORD. It shall rejoice in his salvation. ¹⁰All my bones shall say, “LORD, who is like you, who delivers the poor from him who is too strong for him; yes, the poor and the needy from him who robs him?” ¹¹Unrighteous witnesses rise up. They ask me about things that I don’t know about. ¹²They reward me evil for good, to the bereaving of my soul. ¹³But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I afflicted my soul with fasting. My prayer returned into my own bosom. ¹⁴I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother. I bowed down mourning, as one who mourns his mother. ¹⁵But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn’t know it. They tore at me, and didn’t cease. ¹⁶Like the profane mockers in feasts, they gnashed their teeth at me. ¹⁷Lord, how long will you look on? Rescue my soul from their destruction, my precious life from the lions. ¹⁸I will give you thanks in the great assembly. I will praise you among many people. ¹⁹Don’t let those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me; neither let those who hate me without a cause wink their eyes. ²⁰For they don’t speak peace, but they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land. ²¹Yes, they opened their mouth wide against me. They said, “Aha! Aha! Our eye has seen it!” ²²You have seen it, LORD. Don’t keep silent. Lord, don’t be far from me. ²³Wake up! Rise up to defend me, my God! My Lord, contend for me! ²⁴Vindicate me, LORD my God, according to your righteousness. Don’t let them gloat over me. ²⁵Don’t let them say in their heart, “Aha! That’s the way we want it!” Don’t let them say, “We have swallowed him up!” ²⁶Let them be disappointed and confounded together who rejoice at my calamity. Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me. ²⁷Let those who favor my righteous cause shout for joy and be glad. Yes, let them say continually, “May the LORD be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant!” ²⁸My tongue shall talk about your righteousness and about your praise all day long.

^36:1A revelation is within my heart about the disobedience of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes. ²For he flatters himself in his own eyes, too much to detect and hate his sin. ³The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. He has ceased to be wise and to do good. ⁴He plots iniquity on his bed. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He doesn’t abhor evil. ⁵Your loving kindness, LORD, is in the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. ⁶Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like a great deep. LORD, you preserve man and animal. ⁷How precious is your loving kindness, God! The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings. ⁸They shall be abundantly satisfied with the abundance of your house. You will make them drink of the river of your pleasures. ⁹For with you is the spring of life. In your light we will see light. ¹⁰Oh continue your loving kindness to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart. ¹¹Don’t let the foot of pride come against me. Don’t let the hand of the wicked drive me away. ¹²There the workers of iniquity are fallen. They are thrust down, and shall not be able to rise.