17 Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will set out and pursue David tonight. ² I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged and throw him into a panic, and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down only the king,^{(A) 3} and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man,^[a] and all the people will be at peace.” ⁴ The advice pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

The Counsel of Hushai

⁵ Then Absalom said, “Call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear too what he has to say.”^{(B) 6} When Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, “This is what Ahithophel has said; shall we do as he advises? If not, you tell us.” ⁷ Then Hushai said to Absalom, “This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.” ⁸ Hushai continued, “You know that your father and his men are warriors and that they are enraged, 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 troops.^{(C) 9} Even now he has hidden himself in one of the pits or in some other place. And when some of our troops^[b] fall at the first attack, whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the troops who follow Absalom.’ ¹⁰ Then even the valiant warrior whose heart is like the heart of a lion will utterly melt with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a warrior and that those who are with him are valiant warriors.^{(D) 11} But my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you, from Dan to Beer-sheba, like the sand by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person. ¹² So we shall come upon him in whatever place he may be found, and we shall light on him as the dew falls on the ground, and he will not survive, nor will any of those with him. 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 Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring ruin on Absalom.^(E)

Hushai Warns David to Escape

¹⁵ Then Hushai said to the priests Zadok and Abiathar, “Thus and so did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and so I have counseled.^{(F) 16} Therefore send quickly and tell David, ‘Do not lodge tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means cross over, lest the king and all the people who are with him be swallowed up.’ ”^{(G) 17} Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En-rogel; a female slave used to go and tell them, and they would go and tell King David, for they could not risk being seen entering the city.^{(H) 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 Bahurim who had a well in his courtyard, and they went down into it.^{(I) 19} The man’s wife took a covering, stretched it over the well’s mouth, and spread out grain on it, and nothing was known of it.^{(J) 20} When Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house, they said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman said to them, “They have crossed over the brook^[c] of water.” And when they had searched and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.^(K)

²¹ After they had gone, the men came up out of the well and went and told King David. They said to David, “Go and cross the water quickly, for thus and so has Ahithophel counseled against you.”^{(L) 22} So David and all the people who were with him set out and 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 his own city. He set his house in order and hanged himself; he died and was buried in the tomb of his father.^(M)

The Rights of an Apostle

9 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?^{(A) 2} If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.^(B)

³ This is my defense to those who would examine me. ⁴ Do we not have the right to our food and drink?^{(C) 5} Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife,^[a] as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?^{(D) 6} Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?^{(E) 7} Who at any time pays the expenses for doing military service? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not get any of its milk?^(F)

⁸ Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law also say the same? ⁹ For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned?^{(G) 10} Or does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was indeed written for our sake, for whoever plows should plow in hope and whoever threshes should thresh in hope of a share in the crop. ¹¹ If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we harvest material^[b] things?^{(H) 12} If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we still more?

Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.^{(I) 13} Do you not know that those who work in the temple service get their food from the temple and those who serve at the altar share in what is sacrificed on the altar?^{(J) 14} In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.^(K)

¹⁵ But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing this so that they may be applied in my case. Indeed, I would rather die than that—no one will deprive me of my ground for boasting! ¹⁶ If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! ¹⁷ For if I do this of my own will, I have a wage, but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission.^{(L) 18} What then is my wage? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.

¹⁹ For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might gain all the more.^{(M) 20} To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to gain Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might gain those under the law. ²¹ To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not outside God’s law but am within Christ’s law) so that I might gain those outside the law.^{(N) 22} To the weak I became weak, so that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. ²³ I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I might become a partner in it.

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.^{(O) 25} Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.^{(P) 26} So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air, ²⁷ but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.^(Q)

²⁴ Then David came to Mahanaim, while Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel.^{(A) 25} Now Absalom had set Amasa over the army in the place of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Ishmaelite,^[a] who had married Abigal daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.^{(B) 26} The Israelites and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

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

The Defeat and Death of Absalom

18 Then David mustered the men who were with him and set over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds.^{(E) 2} And David sent forth the army: one third under the command of Joab; one third under the command of Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother; and one third under the command of Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the men, “I myself will also go out with you.”^{(F) 3} But the men said, “You shall not go out. For if we flee, they will not care about us. If half of us die, they will not care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us;^[c] therefore it is better that you send us help from the city.”^{(G) 4} The king said to them, “Whatever seems best to you I will do.” So the king stood at the side of the gate, while all the army marched out by hundreds and by thousands.^{(H) 5} The king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders concerning Absalom.^(I)

⁶ So the army went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim.^{(J) 7} The men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David, and the slaughter there was great on that day, twenty thousand men. ⁸ The battle spread over the face of all the country, and the forest claimed more victims that day than the sword.

⁹ Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak. His head caught fast in the oak, and he was left hanging^[d] between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on.^{(K) 10} A man saw it and told Joab, “I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.” ¹¹ Joab said to the man who told him, “What, you saw him! Why then did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have been glad to give you ten pieces of silver and a belt.” ¹² But the man said to Joab, “Even if I felt in my hand the weight of a thousand pieces of silver, I would not raise my hand against the king’s son, for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘For my sake protect the young man Absalom!’^{(L) 13} On the other hand, if I had dealt treacherously against his life^[e] (and there is nothing hidden from the king), then you yourself would have stood aloof.” ¹⁴ Joab said, “I will not waste time like this with you.” He took three spears in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak.^{(M) 15} And ten young men, Joab’s armor-bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him and killed him.

¹⁶ Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and the troops came back from pursuing Israel, for Joab restrained the troops.^{(N) 17} They took Absalom, threw him into a great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones. Meanwhile all the Israelites fled to their homes.^{(O) 18} Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself a pillar that is in the King’s Valley, for he said, “I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.” He called the pillar by his own name; it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day.^(P)

Watchful Slaves

³⁵ “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit;^{(A) 36} be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. ³⁷ Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.^{(B) 38} If he comes during the middle of the night or near dawn and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

³⁹ “But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he^[a] would not have let his house be broken into.^{(C) 40} You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”^(D)

The Faithful or the Unfaithful Slave

⁴¹ Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?” ⁴² And the Lord said, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent manager whom his master will put in charge of his slaves, to give them their allowance of food at the proper time?^{(E) 43} Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. ⁴⁴ Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁵ But if that slave says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the other slaves, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk, ⁴⁶ the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know and will cut him in pieces^[b] and put him with the unfaithful. ⁴⁷ That slave who knew what his master wanted but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted will receive a severe beating.^{(F) 48} But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating. From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required, and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.^(G)

Jesus the Cause of Division

⁴⁹ “I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already ablaze! ⁵⁰ I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!^{(H) 51} Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!^{(I) 52} From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; ⁵³ they will be divided: