Saturday, March 25, 2023

 2 Samuel 13:23–39

²³Two years later, when Absalom's sheepshearers were at Baal Hazor near the border of Ephraim, he invited all the king's sons to come there. ²⁴Absalom went to the king and said, "Your servant has had shearers come. Will the king and his officials please join me?"

²⁵"No, my son," the king replied. "All of us should not go; we would only be a burden to you." Although Absalom urged him, he still refused to go, but gave him his blessing.

²⁶Then Absalom said, "If not, please let my brother Amnon come with us."

The king asked him, "Why should he go with you?" ²⁷But Absalom urged him, so he sent with him Amnon and the rest of the king's sons.

²⁸Absalom ordered his men, "Listen! When Amnon is in high spirits from drinking wine and I say to you, 'Strike Amnon down,' then kill him. Don't be afraid. Have not I given you this order? Be strong and brave." ²⁹So Absalom's men did to Amnon what Absalom had ordered. Then all the king's sons got up, mounted their mules and fled.

³⁰While they were on their way, the report came to David: "Absalom has struck down all the king's sons; not one of them is left." ³¹The king stood up, tore his clothes and lay down on the ground; and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn.

³²But Jonadab son of Shimeah, David's brother, said, "My lord should not think that they killed all the princes; only Amnon is dead. This has been Absalom's expressed intention ever since the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar. ³³My lord the king should not be concerned about the report that all the king's sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead."

³⁴Meanwhile, Absalom had fled.

Now the man standing watch looked up and saw many people on the road west of him, coming down the side of the hill. The watchman went and told the king, "I see men in the direction of Horonaim, on the side of the hill."

³⁵Jonadab said to the king, "See, the king's sons are here; it has happened just as your servant said."

³⁶As he finished speaking, the king's sons came in, wailing loudly. The king, too, and all his servants wept very bitterly.

³⁷Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. But King David mourned for his son every day.

³⁸After Absalom fled and went to Geshur, he stayed there three years. ³⁹And the spirit of the king longed to go to Absalom, for he was consoled concerning Amnon's death.

 

 

Psalm 78:36–72

³⁶But then they would flatter him with their mouths, lying to him with their tongues; ³⁷their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant. ³⁸Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath. ³⁹He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return. ⁴⁰How often they rebelled against him in the desert and grieved him in the wasteland! ⁴¹Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel. ⁴²They did not remember his power-- the day he redeemed them from the oppressor, ⁴³the day he displayed his miraculous signs in Egypt, his wonders in the region of Zoan. ⁴⁴He turned their rivers to blood; they could not drink from their streams. ⁴⁵He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them. ⁴⁶He gave their crops to the grasshopper, their produce to the locust. ⁴⁷He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamore-figs with sleet. ⁴⁸He gave over their cattle to the hail, their livestock to bolts of lightning. ⁴⁹He unleashed against them his hot anger, his wrath, indignation and hostility-- a band of destroying angels. ⁵⁰He prepared a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death but gave them over to the plague. ⁵¹He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham. ⁵²But he brought his people out like a flock; he led them like sheep through the desert. ⁵³He guided them safely, so they were unafraid; but the sea engulfed their enemies. ⁵⁴Thus he brought them to the border of his holy land, to the hill country his right hand had taken. ⁵⁵He drove out nations before them and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance; he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes. ⁵⁶But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High; they did not keep his statutes. ⁵⁷Like their fathers they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow. ⁵⁸They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols. ⁵⁹When God heard them, he was very angry; he rejected Israel completely. ⁶⁰He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among men. ⁶¹He sent [the ark of] his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy. ⁶²He gave his people over to the sword; he was very angry with his inheritance. ⁶³Fire consumed their young men, and their maidens had no wedding songs; ⁶⁴their priests were put to the sword, and their widows could not weep. ⁶⁵Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, as a man wakes from the stupor of wine. ⁶⁶He beat back his enemies; he put them to everlasting shame. ⁶⁷Then he rejected the tents of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim; ⁶⁸but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved. ⁶⁹He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth that he established forever. ⁷⁰He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; ⁷¹from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. ⁷²And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.

 

 

2 Timothy 2:1–13

¹You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ²And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. ³Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs--he wants to please his commanding officer. ⁵Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. ⁶The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. ⁷Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.

⁸Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, ⁹for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained. ¹⁰Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

¹¹Here is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him, we will also live with him; ¹²if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; ¹³if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.