The Covenant Confirmed

24 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, ^(A)Nadab, and Abihu, and ^(B)seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. ² Moses ^(C)alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”

³ Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and ^(D)all the rules.^[a] And all the people answered with one voice and said, ^(E)“All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” ⁴ And ^(F)Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve ^(G)pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. ⁶ And ^(H)Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. ⁷ Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, ^(I)“All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” ^8 (J)And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

⁹ Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and ^(K)seventy of the elders of Israel ^(L)went up, ¹⁰ and they ^(M)saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of ^(N)sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. ¹¹ And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ^(O)ate and drank.

¹² The Lord said to Moses, ^(P)“Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the ^(Q)tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” ¹³ So Moses rose with his assistant ^(R)Joshua, and Moses went up ^(S)into the mountain of God. ¹⁴ And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and ^(T)Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.”

¹⁵ Then Moses went up on the mountain, and ^(U)the cloud covered the mountain. ^16 (V)The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. ¹⁷ Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a ^(W)devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. ¹⁸ Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses ^(X)was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

⁵ Then Absalom said, “Call ^(A)Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he has to say.” ⁶ And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, “Thus has Ahithophel spoken; shall we do as he says? If not, you speak.” ⁷ Then Hushai said to Absalom, “This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.” ⁸ Hushai said, “You know that your father and his men are mighty men, and that they are enraged,^{[a] (B)}like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert in war; he will not spend the night with the people. ⁹ Behold, even now he has hidden himself in one of the pits or in some other place. And as soon as some of the people fall^[b] at the first attack, whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’ ¹⁰ Then even the valiant man, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will utterly ^(C)melt with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and that those who are with him are valiant men. ¹¹ But my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you, ^(D)from Dan to Beersheba, ^(E)as the sand by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person. ¹² So we shall come upon him in some place where he is to be found, and we shall light upon him as the dew falls on the ground, and of him and all the men with him not one will be left. ¹³ If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we shall drag it into the valley, until not even a pebble is to be found there.” ¹⁴ And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” ^(F)For the Lord had ordained^[c] to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom.

^15 (G)Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Thus and so did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and so have I counseled. ¹⁶ Now therefore send quickly and tell David, ‘Do not stay tonight at ^(H)the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king and all the people who are with him be ^(I)swallowed up.’” ¹⁷ Now ^(J)Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at ^(K)En-rogel. A female servant was to go and tell them, and they were to go and tell King David, for they were not to be seen entering the city. ¹⁸ But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So both of them went away quickly and came to the house of a man at ^(L)Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard. And they went down into it. ^19 (M)And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth and scattered grain on it, and nothing was known of it. ²⁰ When Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house, they said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” And the woman said to them, “They have gone over the brook^[d] of water.” And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ After they had gone, the men came up out of the well, and went and told King David. They said to David, ^(N)“Arise, and go quickly over the water, for thus and so has Ahithophel counseled against you.” ²² Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they crossed the Jordan. By daybreak not one was left who had not crossed the Jordan.

²³ When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to ^(O)his own city. He ^(P)set his house in order and ^(Q)hanged himself, and he died and was buried in the tomb of his father.

²⁴ Then David came to ^(R)Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel. ²⁵ Now Absalom had set ^(S)Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Ishmaelite,^[e] who had married Abigal the daughter of ^(T)Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother. ²⁶ And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

²⁷ When David came to Mahanaim, ^(U)Shobi the son of Nahash from ^(V)Rabbah of the Ammonites, and ^(W)Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and ^(X)Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, ²⁸ brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans and lentils,^{[f] 29} honey and curds and sheep and cheese from the herd, for David and the people with him to eat, for they said, “The people are hungry and ^(Y)weary and thirsty ^(Z)in the wilderness.”

The Lord Will Turn Mourning to Joy

31 ^(A)“At that time, declares the Lord, ^(B)I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.”

Why Should I Fear in Times of Trouble?

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of ^(A)the Sons of Korah.

²⁰ And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it ^(A)convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. ²¹ And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²² And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But ^(B)if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” ²³ And Jesus said to him, ^(C)“‘If you can’! ^(D)All things are possible for one who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the father of the child cried out^[a] and said, “I believe; ^(E)help my unbelief!” ²⁵ And when Jesus saw that ^(F)a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ^(G)“You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” ²⁶ And after crying out and ^(H)convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” ²⁷ But Jesus ^(I)took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. ²⁸ And when he had ^(J)entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” ²⁹ And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”^[b]

Peace with God Through Faith

5 ^(A)Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, ^(B)we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ² Through him we have also ^(C)obtained access by faith^[b] into this grace ^(D)in which we stand, and ^(E)we^[c] rejoice^[d] in hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only that, but we ^(F)rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering ^(G)produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and ^(H)hope does not put us to shame, because God's love ^(I)has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

⁶ For ^(J)while we were still weak, at the right time ^(K)Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— ⁸ but ^(L)God shows his love for us in that ^(M)while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Since, therefore, ^(N)we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from ^(O)the wrath of God. ¹⁰ For if ^(P)while we were enemies ^(Q)we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by ^(R)his life. ¹¹ More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received ^(S)reconciliation.