David Mourns for Saul and Jonathan

1 After the death of Saul, when David had returned from the slaughter of the Amal′ekites, David remained two days in Ziklag; ² and on the third day, behold, a man came from Saul’s camp, with his clothes rent and earth upon his head. And when he came to David, he fell to the ground and did obeisance. ³ David said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.” ⁴ And David said to him, “How did it go? Tell me.” And he answered, “The people have fled from the battle, and many of the people also have fallen and are dead; and Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead.” ⁵ Then David said to the young man who told him, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?” ⁶ And the young man who told him said, “By chance I happened to be on Mount Gilbo′a; and there was Saul leaning upon his spear; and lo, the chariots and the horsemen were close upon him. ⁷ And when he looked behind him, he saw me, and called to me. And I answered, ‘Here I am.’ ⁸ And he said to me, ‘Who are you?’ I answered him, ‘I am an Amal′ekite.’ ⁹ And he said to me, ‘Stand beside me and slay me; for anguish has seized me, and yet my life still lingers.’ ¹⁰ So I stood beside him, and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen; and I took the crown which was on his head and the armlet which was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.”

¹¹ Then David took hold of his clothes, and rent them; and so did all the men who were with him; ¹² and they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son and for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. ¹³ And David said to the young man who told him, “Where do you come from?” And he answered, “I am the son of a sojourner, an Amal′ekite.” ¹⁴ David said to him, “How is it you were not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?” ¹⁵ Then David called one of the young men and said, “Go, fall upon him.” And he smote him so that he died. ¹⁶ And David said to him, “Your blood be upon your head; for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have slain the Lord’s anointed.’”

¹⁷ And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and Jonathan his son, ¹⁸ and he said it^[a] should be taught to the people of Judah; behold, it is written in the Book of Jashar.^[b] He said:

David Anointed King of Judah

2 After this David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up.” David said, “To which shall I go up?” And he said, “To Hebron.” ² So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahin′o-am of Jezre′el, and Ab′igail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. ³ And David brought up his men who were with him, every one with his household; and they dwelt in the towns of Hebron. ⁴ And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.

When they told David, “It was the men of Ja′besh-gil′ead who buried Saul,” ⁵ David sent messengers to the men of Ja′besh-gil′ead, and said to them, “May you be blessed by the Lord, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord, and buried him! ⁶ Now may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you! And I will do good to you because you have done this thing. ⁷ Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant; for Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

Ishbaal King of Israel

⁸ Now Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ish-bo′sheth^[e] the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahana′im; ⁹ and he made him king over Gilead and the Ash′urites and Jezre′el and E′phraim and Benjamin and all Israel. ¹⁰ Ish-bo′sheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. ¹¹ And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

The Battle of Gibeon

¹² Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bo′sheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahana′im to Gibeon. ¹³ And Jo′ab the son of Zeru′iah, and the servants of David, went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon; and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. ¹⁴ And Abner said to Jo′ab, “Let the young men arise and play^[f] before us.” And Jo′ab said, “Let them arise.” ¹⁵ Then they arose and passed over by number, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bo′sheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. ¹⁶ And each caught his opponent by the head, and thrust his sword in his opponent’s side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Hel′kath-hazzu′rim,^[g] which is at Gibeon. ¹⁷ And the battle was very fierce that day; and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.

¹⁸ And the three sons of Zeru′iah were there, Jo′ab, Abi′shai, and As′ahel. Now As′ahel was as swift of foot as a wild gazelle; ¹⁹ and As′ahel pursued Abner, and as he went he turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. ²⁰ Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Is it you, As′ahel?” And he answered, “It is I.” ²¹ Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and seize one of the young men, and take his spoil.” But As′ahel would not turn aside from following him. ²² And Abner said again to As′ahel, “Turn aside from following me; why should I smite you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Jo′ab?” ²³ But he refused to turn aside; therefore Abner smote him in the belly with the butt of his spear, so that the spear came out at his back; and he fell there, and died where he was. And all who came to the place where As′ahel had fallen and died, stood still.

²⁴ But Jo′ab and Abi′shai pursued Abner; and as the sun was going down they came to the hill of Ammah, which lies before Gi′ah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. ²⁵ And the Benjaminites gathered themselves together behind Abner, and became one band, and took their stand on the top of a hill. ²⁶ Then Abner called to Jo′ab, “Shall the sword devour for ever? Do you not know that the end will be bitter? How long will it be before you bid your people turn from the pursuit of their brethren?” ²⁷ And Jo′ab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely the men would have given up the pursuit of their brethren in the morning.” ²⁸ So Jo′ab blew the trumpet; and all the men stopped, and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight any more.

²⁹ And Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah; they crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole forenoon they came to Mahana′im. ³⁰ Jo′ab returned from the pursuit of Abner; and when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing of David’s servants nineteen men besides As′ahel. ³¹ But the servants of David had slain of Benjamin three hundred and sixty of Abner’s men. ³² And they took up As′ahel, and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was at Bethlehem. And Jo′ab and his men marched all night, and the day broke upon them at Hebron.

Song of Quiet Trust

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

¹⁵ And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons; ¹⁶ and he would not allow any one to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷ And he taught, and said to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” ¹⁸ And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and sought a way to destroy him; for they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching. ¹⁹ And when evening came they^[a] went out of the city.

The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree

²⁰ As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. ²¹ And Peter remembered and said to him, “Master,^[b] look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered.” ²² And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. ²³ Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will. ²⁵ And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”^[c]

Jesus’ Authority Is Questioned

²⁷ And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, ²⁸ and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” ²⁹ Jesus said to them, “I will ask you a question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰ Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? Answer me.” ³¹ And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ³² But shall we say, ‘From men’?”—they were afraid of the people, for all held that John was a real prophet. ³³ So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”