The Anointing Oil and Incense

²² The Lord said to Moses, ²³ “Take the ^(A)finest spices: of liquid myrrh 500 shekels, and of sweet-smelling cinnamon half as much, that is, 250, and 250 of ^(B)aromatic cane, ²⁴ and 500 of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a ^(C)hin^[a] of olive oil. ²⁵ And you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the ^(D)perfumer; it shall be a ^(E)holy anointing oil. ^26 (F)With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony, ²⁷ and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, ²⁸ and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the ^(G)basin and its stand. ²⁹ You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy. ^(H)Whatever touches them will become holy. ^30 (I)You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. ³¹ And you shall say to the people of Israel, ‘This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. ³² It shall not be poured on the body of an ordinary person, and you shall make no other like it in composition. ^(J)It is holy, and it shall be holy to you. ^33 (K)Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.’”

³⁴ The Lord said to Moses, ^(L)“Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part), ³⁵ and make an ^(M)incense blended as by the ^(N)perfumer, ^(O)seasoned with salt, pure and holy. ³⁶ You shall beat some of it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting ^(P)where I shall meet with you. ^(Q)It shall be most holy for you. ³⁷ And the incense that you shall make ^(R)according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the Lord. ^38 (S)Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people.”

David in His Old Age

1 Now King David was old and advanced in years. And although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm. ² Therefore his servants said to him, “Let a young woman be sought for my lord the king, and let her wait on the king and be in his service. Let her lie in your arms,^[a] that my lord the king may be warm.” ³ So they sought for a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the ^(A)Shunammite, and brought her to the king. ⁴ The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, but the king knew her not.

Adonijah Sets Himself Up as King

⁵ Now ^(B)Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” ^(C)And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. ⁶ His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, “Why have you done thus and so?” He was also a very handsome man, ^(D)and he was born next after Absalom. ⁷ He conferred with ^(E)Joab the son of Zeruiah and with ^(F)Abiathar the priest. And they followed Adonijah and helped him. ⁸ But ^(G)Zadok the priest and ^(H)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and ^(I)Nathan the prophet and ^(J)Shimei and Rei and ^(K)David's mighty men were not with Adonijah.

⁹ Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened cattle by the Serpent's Stone, which is beside ^(L)En-rogel, and he invited all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the royal officials of Judah, ¹⁰ but he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the mighty men or ^(M)Solomon his brother.

Nathan and Bathsheba Before David

¹¹ Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, “Have you not heard that ^(N)Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king and David our lord does not know it? ¹² Now therefore come, let me give you advice, that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. ¹³ Go in at once to King David, and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord the king, swear to your servant, saying, ^(O)“Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne”? Why then is Adonijah king?’ ¹⁴ Then while you are still speaking with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm^[b] your words.”

¹⁵ So Bathsheba went to the king in his chamber (now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was attending to the king). ¹⁶ Bathsheba bowed and paid homage to the king, and the king said, “What do you desire?” ¹⁷ She said to him, “My lord, you swore to your servant by the Lord your God, saying, ^(P)‘Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne.’ ¹⁸ And now, behold, Adonijah is king, although you, my lord the king, do not know it. ^19 (Q)He has sacrificed oxen, fattened cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the sons of the king, ^(R)Abiathar the priest, and Joab the commander of the army, but ^(S)Solomon your servant he has not invited. ²⁰ And now, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. ²¹ Otherwise it will come to pass, when my lord the king ^(T)sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be counted offenders.”

²² While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in. ²³ And they told the king, “Here is Nathan the prophet.” And when he came in before the king, he bowed before the king, with his face to the ground. ²⁴ And Nathan said, “My lord the king, have you said, ‘Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne’? ²⁵ For he has gone down this day and ^(U)has sacrificed oxen, fattened cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the king's sons, the commanders^[c] of the army, and Abiathar the priest. And behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and saying, ^(V)‘Long live King Adonijah!’ ^26 (W)But me, your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon he has not invited. ²⁷ Has this thing been brought about by my lord the king and you have not told your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”

Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah Again

¹⁴ King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance of the temple of the Lord. The king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you a question; hide nothing from me.” ¹⁵ Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.” ¹⁶ Then King Zedekiah swore ^(A)secretly to Jeremiah, ^(B)“As the Lord lives, ^(C)who made our souls, I will not put you to death or deliver you into the hand of ^(D)these men who seek your life.”

¹⁷ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(E)If you will surrender to ^(F)the officials of the king of Babylon, ^(G)then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. ¹⁸ But if you do not surrender to ^(H)the officials of the king of Babylon, ^(I)then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, ^(J)and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.” ¹⁹ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans ^(K)who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they deal cruelly with me.” ²⁰ Jeremiah said, “You shall not be given to them. Obey now the voice of the Lord in what I say to you, ^(L)and it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared. ²¹ But if you refuse to ^(M)surrender, this is the vision which the Lord has shown to me: ²² Behold, all the women left in the house of the king of Judah were being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon and were saying,

²³ All your wives and ^(O)your sons shall be led out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city shall be burned with fire.”

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die. ²⁵ If ^(P)the officials hear that I have spoken with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; hide nothing from us and we will not put you to death,’ ²⁶ then you shall say to them, ^(Q)‘I made a humble plea to the king that he would not send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” ²⁷ Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him, and he answered them as the king had instructed him. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been overheard. ²⁸ And Jeremiah remained ^(R)in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

Lead Me to the Rock

To the choirmaster: with ^(A)stringed instruments. Of David.

The Great Commandment

^28 (A)And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The most important is, ^(B)‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, ^(C)the Lord is one. ³⁰ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ^31 (D)The second is this: ^(E)‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment ^(F)greater than these.” ³² And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that ^(G)he is one, and ^(H)there is no other besides him. ³³ And to love him with all the heart and with all ^(I)the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, ^(J)is much more than all ^(K)whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴ And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” ^(L)And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Whose Son Is the Christ?

^35 (M)And as ^(N)Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that ^(O)the Christ is the son of David? ³⁶ David himself, ^(P)in the Holy Spirit, declared,

³⁷ David himself calls him Lord. So ^(S)how is he his son?” And the great throng ^(T)heard him gladly.

The Remnant of Israel

11 I ask, then, ^(A)has God rejected his people? By no means! For ^(B)I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham,^[a] a member of the tribe of Benjamin. ^2 (C)God has not rejected his people whom he ^(D)foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? ^3 (E)“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” ⁴ But what is God's reply to him? ^(F)“I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ⁵ So too at the present time there is ^(G)a remnant, chosen by grace. ^6 (H)But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

⁷ What then? ^(I)Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest ^(J)were hardened, ⁸ as it is written,

⁹ And David says,