Day 99 of 364

^14:1Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart was toward Absalom. ^14:2Joab 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. ^14:3Go in to the king and speak like this to him.” So Joab put the words in her mouth. ^14:4When the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, showed respect, and said, “Help, O king!” ^14:5The king said to her, “What ails you?” She answered, “Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead. ^14:6Your 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. ^14:7Behold, 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.” ^14:8The king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give a command concerning you.” ^14:9The 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.” ^14:10The king said, “Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he will not bother you any more.” ^14:11Then 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.” ^14:12Then the woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.” He said, “Say on.” ^14:13The 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. ^14:14For 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. ^14:15Now 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.’ ^14:16For 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. ^14:17Then 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.’” ^14:18Then 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.” ^14:19The 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. ^14:20Your 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.” ^14:21The king said to Joab, “Behold now, I have granted this thing. Go therefore, and bring the young man Absalom back.” ^14:22Joab 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.” ^14:23So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. ^14:24The 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. ^14:25Now 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. ^14:26When 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. ^14:27Three sons were born to Absalom, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a woman with a beautiful face. ^14:28Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem, and he didn’t see the king’s face. ^14:29Then 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. ^14:30Therefore 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. ^14:31Then Joab arose and came to Absalom to his house, and said to him, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?” ^14:32Absalom 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.”’” ^14:33So 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. ^15:1After this, Absalom prepared a chariot and horses for himself, and fifty men to run before him. ^15:2Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate. When any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgment, then Absalom called to him, and said, “What city are you from?” He said, “Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.” ^15:3Absalom said to him, “Behold, your matters are good and right; but there is no man deputized by the king to hear you.” ^15:4Absalom said moreover, “Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man who has any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice!” ^15:5It was so, that when any man came near to bow down to him, he stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and kissed him. ^15:6Absalom did this sort of thing to all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. ^15:7At the end of forty years, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to the LORD, in Hebron. ^15:8For your servant vowed a vow while I stayed at Geshur in Syria, saying, ‘If the LORD shall indeed bring me again to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD.’” ^15:9The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he arose and went to Hebron. ^15:10But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, ‘Absalom is king in Hebron!’” ^15:11Two hundred men went with Absalom out of Jerusalem, who were invited, and went in their simplicity; and they didn’t know anything. ^15:12Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. The conspiracy was strong, for the people increased continually with Absalom. ^15:13A messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom.” ^15:14David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise! Let’s flee, or else none of us will escape from Absalom. Hurry to depart, lest he overtake us quickly and bring down evil on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword.” ^15:15The king’s servants said to the king, “Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king chooses.” ^15:16The king went out, and all his household after him. The king left ten women, who were concubines, to keep the house. ^15:17The king went out, and all the people after him; and they stayed in Beth Merhak. ^15:18All his servants passed on beside him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came after him from Gath, passed on before the king. ^15:19Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why do you also go with us? Return, and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner and also an exile. Return to your own place. ^15:20Whereas you came but yesterday, should I today make you go up and down with us, since I go where I may? Return, and take back your brothers. Mercy and truth be with you.” ^15:21Ittai answered the king and said, “As the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely in what place my lord the king is, whether for death or for life, your servant will be there also.” ^15:22David said to Ittai, “Go and pass over.” Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones who were with him. ^15:23All the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over. The king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over toward the way of the wilderness. ^15:24Behold, Zadok also came, and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God; and they set down God’s ark; and Abiathar went up until all the people finished passing out of the city. ^15:25The king said to Zadok, “Carry God’s ark back into the city. If I find favor in the LORD’s eyes, he will bring me again, and show me both it and his habitation; ^15:26but if he says, ‘I have no delight in you,’ behold, here I am. Let him do to me as seems good to him.” ^15:27The king said also to Zadok the priest, “Aren’t you a seer? Return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz your son and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. ^15:28Behold, I will stay at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.” ^15:29Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried God’s ark to Jerusalem again; and they stayed there. ^15:30David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered and went barefoot. All the people who were with him each covered his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up. ^15:31Someone told David, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” David said, “LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.” ^15:32When David had come to the top, where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his tunic torn and earth on his head. ^15:33David said to him, “If you pass on with me, then you will be a burden to me; ^15:34but if you return to the city, and tell Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king. As I have been your father’s servant in time past, so I will now be your servant; then you will defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel.’ ^15:35Don’t you have Zadok and Abiathar the priests there with you? Therefore whatever you hear out of the king’s house, tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. ^15:36Behold, they have there with them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok’s son, and Jonathan, Abiathar’s son. Send to me everything that you shall hear by them.” ^15:37So Hushai, David’s friend, came into the city; and Absalom came into Jerusalem. ^16:1When David was a little past the top, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him with a couple of donkeys saddled, and on them two hundred loaves of bread, and one hundred clusters of raisins, and one hundred summer fruits, and a container of wine. ^16:2The king said to Ziba, “What do you mean by these?” Ziba said, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that those who are faint in the wilderness may drink.” ^16:3The king said, “Where is your master’s son?” Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is staying in Jerusalem; for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will restore me the kingdom of my father.’” ^16:4Then the king said to Ziba, “Behold, all that belongs to Mephibosheth is yours.” Ziba said, “I bow down. Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, O king.” ^16:5When King David came to Bahurim, behold, a man of the family of Saul’s house came out, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera. He came out and cursed as he came. ^16:6He cast stones at David and at all the servants of King David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. ^16:7Shimei said when he cursed, “Be gone, be gone, you man of blood, and wicked fellow! ^16:8The LORD has returned on you all the blood of Saul’s house, in whose place you have reigned! The LORD has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son! Behold, you are caught by your own mischief, because you are a man of blood!” ^16:9Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please let me go over and take off his head.” ^16:10The king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? Because he curses, and because the LORD has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” ^16:11David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my son, who came out of my bowels, seeks my life. How much more this Benjamite, now? Leave him alone, and let him curse; for the LORD has invited him. ^16:12It may be that the LORD will look on the wrong done to me, and that the LORD will repay me good for the cursing of me today.” ^16:13So David and his men went by the way; and Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went, threw stones at him, and threw dust. ^16:14The king and all the people who were with him arrived weary; and he refreshed himself there. ^16:15Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. ^16:16When Hushai the Archite, David’s friend, had come to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!” ^16:17Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your kindness to your friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend?” ^16:18Hushai said to Absalom, “No; but whomever the LORD and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, I will be his, and I will stay with him. ^16:19Again, whom should I serve? Shouldn’t I serve in the presence of his son? As I have served in your father’s presence, so I will be in your presence.” ^16:20Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give your counsel what we shall do.” ^16:21Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines that he has left to keep the house. Then all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.” ^16:22So they spread a tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel. ^16:23The counsel of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man inquired at the inner sanctuary of God. All the counsel of Ahithophel was like this both with David and with Absalom.