Absalom Plans Rebellion

15 After this, Absalom provided a chariot and horses for himself, and an escort of fifty men. ² He would get up early and go and stand by the road at the city gate. Whenever someone came there with a dispute that he wanted the king to settle, Absalom would call him over and ask him where he was from. And after the man had told him what tribe he was from, ³ Absalom would say, “Look, the law is on your side, but there is no representative of the king to hear your case.” ⁴ And he would add, “How I wish I were a judge! Then anyone who had a dispute or a claim could come to me, and I would give him justice.” ⁵ When the man would approach Absalom to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out, take hold of him, and kiss him. ⁶ Absalom did this with every Israelite who came to the king for judgment, and so he won their loyalty.

⁷ After four^[a] years Absalom said to King David, “Sir, let me go to Hebron and keep a promise I made to the Lord. ⁸ While I was living in Geshur in Syria, I promised the Lord that if he would take me back to Jerusalem, I would worship him in Hebron.”^[b]

⁹ “Go in peace,” the king said. So Absalom went to Hebron. ¹⁰ But he sent messengers to all the tribes of Israel to say, “When you hear the sound of trumpets, shout, ‘Absalom has become king at Hebron!’” ¹¹ There were two hundred men who at Absalom's invitation had gone from Jerusalem with him; they knew nothing of the plot and went in all good faith. ¹² And while he was offering sacrifices, Absalom also sent to the town of Gilo for Ahithophel, who was one of King David's advisers. The plot against the king gained strength, and Absalom's followers grew in number.

David Flees from Jerusalem

¹³ A messenger reported to David, “The Israelites are pledging their loyalty to Absalom.”

¹⁴ So David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, “We must get away at once if we want to escape from Absalom! Hurry! Or else he will soon be here and defeat us and kill everyone in the city!”

¹⁵ “Yes, Your Majesty,” they answered. “We are ready to do whatever you say.” ¹⁶ So the king left, accompanied by all his family and officials, except for ten concubines, whom he left behind to take care of the palace.

¹⁷ As the king and all his men were leaving the city, they stopped at the last house. ¹⁸ All his officials stood^[c] next to him as the royal bodyguards passed by in front of him. The six hundred soldiers who had followed him from Gath also passed by, ¹⁹ and the king said to Ittai, their leader, “Why are you going with us? Go back and stay with the new king. You are a foreigner, a refugee away from your own country. ²⁰ You have lived here only a short time, so why should I make you wander around with me? I don't even know where I'm going. Go back and take all your people with you—and may the Lord be kind and faithful to you.”^[d]

²¹ But Ittai answered, “Your Majesty, I swear to you in the Lord's name that I will always go with you wherever you go, even if it means death.”

²² “Fine!” David answered. “March on!” So Ittai went on with all his men and their dependents. ²³ The people cried loudly as David's followers left. The king crossed Kidron Brook, followed by his men, and together they went out toward the wilderness.

²⁴ Zadok the priest was there, and with him were the Levites, carrying the sacred Covenant Box. They set it down^[e] and didn't pick it up again until all the people had left the city. The priest Abiathar was there too.^{[f] 25} Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the Covenant Box back to the city. If the Lord is pleased with me, some day he will let me come back to see it and the place where it stays. ²⁶ But if he isn't pleased with me—well, then, let him do to me what he wishes.” ²⁷ And he went on to say to Zadok, “Look,^[g] take your son Ahimaaz and Abiathar's son Jonathan and go back to the city in peace. ²⁸ Meanwhile, I will wait at the river crossings in the wilderness until I receive news from you.” ²⁹ So Zadok and Abiathar took the Covenant Box back into Jerusalem and stayed there.

³⁰ David went on up the Mount of Olives crying; he was barefoot and had his head covered as a sign of grief. All who followed him covered their heads and cried also. ³¹ When David was told^[h] that Ahithophel had joined Absalom's rebellion, he prayed, “Please, Lord, turn Ahithophel's advice into nonsense!”

³² When David reached the top of the hill, where there was a place of worship, his trusted friend Hushai the Archite met him with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head. ³³ David said to him, “You will be of no help to me if you come with me, ³⁴ but you can help me by returning to the city and telling Absalom that you will now serve him as faithfully as you served his father. And do all you can to oppose any advice that Ahithophel gives. ³⁵ The priests Zadok and Abiathar will be there; tell them everything you hear in the king's palace. ³⁶ They have their sons Ahimaaz and Jonathan with them, and you can send them to me with all the information you gather.”

³⁷ So Hushai, David's friend, returned to the city just as Absalom was arriving.

Christian Giving

8 ^(A)Our friends, we want you to know what God's grace has accomplished in the churches in Macedonia. ² They have been severely tested by the troubles they went through; but their joy was so great that they were extremely generous in their giving, even though they are very poor. ³ I can assure you that they gave as much as they could, and even more than they could. Of their own free will ⁴ they begged us and pleaded for the privilege of having a part in helping God's people in Judea. ⁵ It was more than we could have hoped for! First they gave themselves to the Lord; and then, by God's will they gave themselves to us as well. ⁶ So we urged Titus, who began this work, to continue it and help you complete this special service of love. ⁷ You are so rich in all you have: in faith, speech, and knowledge, in your eagerness to help and in your love for us.^[a] And so we want you to be generous also in this service of love.

⁸ I am not laying down any rules. But by showing how eager others are to help, I am trying to find out how real your own love is. ⁹ You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; rich as he was, he made himself poor for your sake, in order to make you rich by means of his poverty.

¹⁰ My opinion is that it is better for you to finish now what you began last year. You were the first, not only to act, but also to be willing to act. ¹¹ On with it, then, and finish the job! Be as eager to finish it as you were to plan it, and do it with what you now have. ¹² If you are eager to give, God will accept your gift on the basis of what you have to give, not on what you don't have.

^13-14 I am not trying to relieve others by putting a burden on you; but since you have plenty at this time, it is only fair that you should help those who are in need. Then, when you are in need and they have plenty, they will help you. In this way both are treated equally. ^15 (B)As the scripture says, “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”

Titus and His Companions

¹⁶ How we thank God for making Titus as eager as we are to help you! ¹⁷ Not only did he welcome our request; he was so eager to help that of his own free will he decided to go to you. ¹⁸ With him we are sending the brother who is highly respected in all the churches for his work in preaching the gospel. ¹⁹ And besides that, he has been chosen and appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this service of love for the sake of the Lord's glory and in order to show that we want to help.

²⁰ We are being careful not to stir up any complaints about the way we handle this generous gift. ^21 (C)Our purpose is to do what is right, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of others.

²² So we are sending our brother with them; we have tested him many times and found him always very eager to help. And now that he has so much confidence in you, he is all the more eager to help. ²³ As for Titus, he is my partner and works with me to help you; as for the other brothers who are going with him, they represent the churches and bring glory to Christ. ²⁴ Show your love to them, so that all the churches will be sure of it and know that we are right in boasting about you.

The Crimes of Jerusalem

22 The Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “are you ready to judge the city that is full of murderers? Make clear to her all the disgusting things she has done. ³ Tell the city what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: Because you have murdered so many of your own people and have defiled yourself by worshiping idols, your time is coming. ⁴ You are guilty of those murders and are defiled by the idols you made, and so your day is coming, your time is up! That is why I have let the nations make fun of you and all the countries sneer at you. ⁵ Countries nearby and countries far away sneer at you because of your lawlessness. ⁶ All Israel's leaders trust in their own strength and commit murder. ^7 (A)None of you in the city honor your parents. You cheat foreigners and take advantage of widows and orphans. ^8 (B)You have no respect for the holy places, and you don't keep the Sabbath. ⁹ Some of your people tell lies about others in order to have them put to death. Some of them eat sacrifices offered to idols. Some are always satisfying their lusts. ^10 (C)Some of them sleep with their father's wife. Some force women to have intercourse with them during their period. ¹¹ Some commit adultery, and others seduce their daughters-in-law or their half sisters. ^12 (D)Some of your people murder for pay. Some charge interest on the loans they make to other Israelites and get rich by taking advantage of them. They have forgotten me.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

¹³ “I will bring my fist down on your robberies and murders. ¹⁴ Do you think you will have any courage left or have strength enough to lift your hand when I am finished with you? I, the Lord, have spoken, and I keep my word. ¹⁵ I will scatter your people to every country and nation and will put an end to your evil actions. ¹⁶ And so the other nations will dishonor you, but you will know that I am the Lord.”

God's Refining Furnace

¹⁷ The Lord said to me, ¹⁸ “Mortal man, the Israelites are of no use to me. They are like waste metal—copper, tin, iron, and lead—left over after silver has been refined in a furnace. ¹⁹ So now I, the Sovereign Lord, am telling them that they are just as useless as that. I will bring them all together in Jerusalem ²⁰ in the same way that the ore of silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin is put in a refining furnace. My anger and rage will melt them the way fire melts ore. ²¹ Yes, I will gather them in Jerusalem, build a fire under them, and melt them with my anger. ²² They will be melted in Jerusalem the way silver is melted in a furnace, and then they will know that they are feeling the anger of the Lord.”

The Sins of Israel's Leaders

²³ The Lord spoke to me again. ²⁴ “Mortal man,” he said, “tell the Israelites that their land is unholy, and so I am punishing it in my anger. ²⁵ The leaders^[a] are like lions roaring over the animals they have killed. They kill the people, take all the money and property they can get, and by their murders leave many widows. ^26 (E)The priests break my law and have no respect for what is holy. They make no distinction between what is holy and what is not. They do not teach the difference between clean and unclean things, and they ignore the Sabbath. As a result the people of Israel do not respect me. ²⁷ The government officials are like wolves tearing apart the animals they have killed. They commit murder in order to get rich. ²⁸ The prophets have hidden these sins like workers covering a wall with whitewash. They see false visions and make false predictions. They claim to speak the word of the Sovereign Lord, but I, the Lord, have not spoken to them. ²⁹ The wealthy cheat and rob. They mistreat the poor and take advantage of foreigners. ³⁰ I looked for someone who could build a wall, who could stand in the places where the walls have crumbled and defend the land when my anger is about to destroy it, but I could find no one. ³¹ So I will turn my anger loose on them, and like a fire I will destroy them for what they have done.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

A Cry for Help^[a]