David’s Kingdom Strengthened

18 Now after this ^(A)it came about that David ^[a]defeated the Philistines and subdued them and took Gath and its towns from the hand of the Philistines. ² And he defeated Moab, and the Moabites became servants to David, bringing tribute.

³ David also defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah as far as Hamath, as he went to establish his ^[b]rule to the river Euphrates. ⁴ David took from him a thousand chariots and seven thousand horsemen and twenty thousand foot soldiers, and David hamstrung almost all the chariot horses, but left enough of them for a hundred chariots.

⁵ When the Arameans of ^[c]Damascus came to help Hadadezer king ^(B)of Zobah, David ^[d]killed twenty-two thousand men of the Arameans. ⁶ Then David put garrisons among the Arameans of ^[e]Damascus; and the Arameans became servants to David, bringing tribute. And the Lord helped David wherever he went. ⁷ And David took the shields of gold which were ^[f]carried by the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ Also from ^[g]Tibhath and Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took a very large amount of bronze, with which ^(C)Solomon made the bronze ^[h]Sea and the pillars and the bronze utensils.

⁹ Now when ^[i]Tou king of Hamath heard that David had ^[j]defeated all the army of Hadadezer king of Zobah, ¹⁰ he sent ^[k]Hadoram his son to King David to ^[l]greet him and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and had ^[m]defeated him; for Hadadezer had been at war with Tou. And Hadoram brought all kinds of articles of gold and silver and bronze. ¹¹ King David also dedicated these to the Lord, with the silver and the gold which he had carried away from all the nations: from Edom, Moab, the sons of Ammon, the Philistines, and from Amalek.

¹² Moreover, Abishai the son of Zeruiah ^[n]defeated eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. ¹³ Then he put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became servants to David. And the Lord helped David wherever he went.

¹⁴ So David reigned over all Israel; and he ^[o]administered justice and righteousness for all his people. ^15 (D)Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was secretary; ¹⁶ and Zadok the son of Ahitub and Abimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, and Shavsha was secretary; ¹⁷ and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and the sons of David were chiefs at the king’s side.

God, the King of the Earth.

For the music director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

Jesus in Gethsemane

^32 (A)They *came to a place named ^[a]Gethsemane; and He *said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.” ³³ And He *took with Him Peter, ^[b]James, and John, and began to be very ^(B)distressed and troubled. ³⁴ And He *said to them, “^(C)My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and ^[c]keep watch.” ³⁵ And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began praying that if it were possible, ^(D)the hour might ^[d]pass Him by. ³⁶ And He was saying, “^(E)Abba! ^[e]Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; ^(F)yet not what I will, but what You will.” ³⁷ And He *came and *found them sleeping, and *said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not ^[f]keep watch for one hour? ^38 [g](G)Keep watching and praying, so that you will not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ³⁹ And again He went away and prayed, saying the same ^[h]words. ⁴⁰ And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to say in reply to Him. ⁴¹ And He *came the third time, and *said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? That is enough. ^(H)The hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being ^[i]betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴² Get up, let’s go; behold, the one who is betraying Me is near!”

Betrayal and Arrest

^43 (I)And immediately, while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, *came up, ^[j]accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs who were from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. ⁴⁴ Now he who was betraying Him had given them a signal, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; arrest Him and lead Him away ^[k]under guard.” ⁴⁵ And after coming, Judas immediately went to Him and *said, “^(J)Rabbi!” and kissed Him. ⁴⁶ And they laid hands on Him and arrested Him. ⁴⁷ But one of those who stood by drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and ^[l]cut off his ear. ⁴⁸ And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me, as you would against a man inciting a revolt? ⁴⁹ Every day I was with you ^(K)within the temple grounds teaching, and you did not arrest Me; but this has taken place so that the Scriptures will be fulfilled.” ⁵⁰ And ^[m]His disciples all left Him and fled.

⁵¹ A young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body; and they *seized him. ⁵² But he ^[n]pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked.

Jesus before His Accusers

^53 (L)They led Jesus away to the high priest; and all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes *gathered together. ⁵⁴ And Peter had followed Him at a distance, ^(M)right into ^(N)the courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting with the ^[o]officers and ^(O)warming himself at the ^[p]fire. ⁵⁵ Now the chief priests and the entire ^[q](P)Council were trying to obtain testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, and they were not finding any. ⁵⁶ For many people were giving false testimony against Him, and so their testimonies were not consistent. ⁵⁷ And then some stood up and began giving false testimony against Him, saying, ⁵⁸ “We heard Him say, ‘^(Q)I will destroy this ^[r]temple that was made by hands, and in three days I will build another, made without hands.’” ⁵⁹ And not even in this respect was their testimony consistent. ⁶⁰ And then the high priest stood up and came forward and questioned Jesus, saying, “Do You not offer any answer for what these men are testifying against You?” ^61 (R)But He kept silent and did not offer any answer. ^(S)Again the high priest was questioning Him, and *said to Him, “Are You the ^[s]Christ, the Son of ^[t]the Blessed One?” ⁶² And Jesus said, “I am; and you shall see ^(T)the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and ^(U)coming with the clouds of heaven.” ^63 (V)Tearing his clothes, the high priest *said, “What further need do we have of witnesses? ⁶⁴ You have heard the ^(W)blasphemy; how does it seem to you?” And they all condemned Him as deserving of death. ⁶⁵ And some began to ^(X)spit on Him, and ^[u](Y)to blindfold Him, and to beat Him with their fists and say to Him, “^(Z)Prophesy!” Then the officers took custody of Him ^[v]and slapped Him in the face.

Peter’s Denials

^66 (AA)And while Peter was below in ^(AB)the courtyard, one of the slave women of the high priest *came, ⁶⁷ and seeing Peter ^(AC)warming himself, she looked at him and *said, “You were with Jesus the ^(AD)Nazarene as well.” ⁶⁸ But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.” And he ^(AE)went out onto the ^[w]porch.^{[x] 69} The slave woman saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them!” ⁷⁰ But again ^(AF)he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders were again saying to Peter, “You really are one of them, ^(AG)for you are a Galilean as well.” ⁷¹ But he began to ^[y]curse himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak!” ⁷² And immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, “Before ^(AH)a rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And ^[z]he hurried on and began to weep.