The Ark of the Covenant

^10 (A)“They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits^[a] and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. ¹¹ You shall overlay it with ^(B)pure gold, inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it. ¹² You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its ^(C)four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. ¹³ You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ¹⁴ And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them. ¹⁵ The ^(D)poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. ^16 (E)And you shall put into the ark the ^(F)testimony that I shall give you.

^17 (G)“You shall make a mercy seat^[b] of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. ¹⁸ And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of ^(H)hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. ¹⁹ Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. ^(I)Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. ^20 (J)The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. ²¹ And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. ^22 (K)There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from ^(L)between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.

David Hears of Absalom's Death

¹⁹ Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, ^(A)“Let me run and carry news to the king that ^(B)the Lord has delivered him from the hand of his enemies.” ²⁰ And Joab said to him, “You are not to carry news today. You may carry news another day, but today you shall carry no news, because the king's son is dead.” ²¹ Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed before Joab, and ran. ²² Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said again to Joab, “Come what may, let me also run after the Cushite.” And Joab said, “Why will you run, my son, seeing that you will have no reward for the news?” ²³ “Come what may,” he said, “I will run.” So he said to him, “Run.” Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of ^(C)the plain, and outran the Cushite.

²⁴ Now David ^(D)was sitting between the two gates, and ^(E)the watchman went up to the roof of the gate by the wall, and when he lifted up his eyes and looked, he saw a man running alone. ²⁵ The watchman called out and told the king. And the king said, “If he is alone, there is news in his mouth.” And he drew nearer and nearer. ²⁶ The watchman saw another man running. And the watchman called to the gate and said, “See, another man running alone!” The king said, “He also brings news.” ²⁷ The watchman said, “I think the running of the first is ^(F)like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.” And the king said, ^(G)“He is a good man and comes with good news.”

²⁸ Then Ahimaaz cried out to the king, “All is well.” And he bowed before the king with his face to the earth and said, ^(H)“Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delivered up the men who raised their hand against my lord the king.” ²⁹ And the king said, ^(I)“Is it well with the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king's servant, your servant, I saw a great commotion, but I do not know what it was.” ³⁰ And the king said, “Turn aside and stand here.” So he turned aside and stood still.

David's Grief

³¹ And behold, the Cushite came, and the Cushite said, “Good news for my lord the king! For ^(J)the Lord has delivered you this day from the hand of all who rose up against you.” ³² The king said to the Cushite, ^(K)“Is it well with the young man Absalom?” And the Cushite answered, ^(L)“May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up against you for evil be like that young man.”

The New Covenant

^31 (A)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make ^(B)a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³² not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when ^(C)I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, ^(D)though I was their husband, declares the Lord. ^33 (E)For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: ^(F)I will put my law within them, and I will write it ^(G)on their hearts. ^(H)And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴ And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ ^(I)for they shall all know me, ^(J)from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For ^(K)I will forgive their iniquity, and ^(L)I will remember their sin no more.”

^38 (R)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord ^(S)from the Tower of Hananel to ^(T)the Corner Gate. ^39 (U)And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. ^40 (V)The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the ^(W)brook Kidron, to the corner of ^(X)the Horse Gate toward the east, ^(Y)shall be sacred to the Lord. ^(Z)It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.”

God Himself Is Judge

A Psalm of ^(A)Asaph.

Anyone Not Against Us Is for Us

^38 (A)John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone ^(B)casting out demons in your name,^[a] and ^(C)we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” ³⁹ But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. ^40 (D)For the one who is not against us is for us. ⁴¹ For truly, I say to you, ^(E)whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.

Temptations to Sin

^42 (F)“Whoever causes one of ^(G)these little ones who believe in me to sin,^{[b] (H)}it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. ^43 (I)And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to ^(J)hell,^[c] to ^(K)the unquenchable fire.^{[d] 45 (L)}And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into ^(M)hell. ^47 (N)And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into ^(O)hell, ⁴⁸ ‘where ^(P)their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ ⁴⁹ For everyone will be salted with fire.^{[e] 50 (Q)}Salt is good, ^(R)but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? ^(S)Have salt in yourselves, and ^(T)be at peace with one another.”

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6 What shall we say then? ^(A)Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ² By no means! How can ^(B)we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Do you not know that all of us ^(C)who have been baptized ^(D)into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were ^(E)buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as ^(F)Christ was raised from the dead by ^(G)the glory of the Father, we too might walk in ^(H)newness of life.

⁵ For ^(I)if we have been united with him in ^(J)a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that ^(K)our old self^{[a] (L)}was crucified with him in order that ^(M)the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For ^(N)one who has died ^(O)has been set free^[b] from sin. ⁸ Now ^(P)if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that ^(Q)Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; ^(R)death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died he died to sin, ^(S)once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves ^(T)dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹² Let not ^(U)sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. ^13 (V)Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but ^(W)present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. ¹⁴ For ^(X)sin ^(Y)will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.