Absalom Usurps the Throne

15 After this Absalom provided for himself a chariot and horses and fifty men to run ahead of him.^{(A) 2} Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the road into the gate, and when anyone brought a suit before the king for judgment, Absalom would call out and say, “From what city are you?” When the person said, “Your servant is of such and such a tribe in Israel,”^{(B) 3} Absalom would say, “See, your claims are good and right, but there is no one deputed by the king to hear you.” ⁴ Absalom would also say, “If only I were judge in the land! Then all who had a suit or cause might come to me, and I would give them justice.”^{(C) 5} Whenever people came near to do obeisance to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of them and kiss them. ⁶ Thus Absalom did to every Israelite who came to the king for judgment, so Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Israel.^(D)

⁷ At the end of four^[a] years Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron and pay the vow that I have made to the Lord.^{(E) 8} For your servant made a vow while I lived at Geshur in Aram: If the Lord will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord in Hebron.”^{[b](F) 9} The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he got up and went to Hebron. ¹⁰ But Absalom sent secret messengers throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then shout: Absalom has become king at Hebron!” ¹¹ Two hundred men from Jerusalem went with Absalom; they were invited guests, and they went in innocence, knowing nothing of the matter.^{(G) 12} While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for^[c] Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city Giloh. The conspiracy grew in strength, and the people with Absalom kept increasing.^(H)

David Flees from Jerusalem

¹³ A messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the Israelites have gone after Absalom.”^{(I) 14} Then David said to all his officials who were with him at Jerusalem, “Get up! Let us flee, or there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Hurry, or he will soon overtake us, and bring disaster down upon us, and attack the city with the edge of the sword.”^{(J) 15} The king’s officials said to the king, “Your servants are ready to do whatever our lord the king decides.” ¹⁶ So the king left, followed by all his household, except ten concubines whom he left behind to look after the house.^{(K) 17} The king left, followed by all the people, and they stopped at the last house. ¹⁸ All his officials passed by him, and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath passed on before the king.^(L)

Paul Arrested in the Temple

²⁷ When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, who had seen him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd. They seized him,^{(A) 28} shouting, “Fellow Israelites,^[a] help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place; more than that, he has actually brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”^{(B) 29} For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.^{(C) 30} Then all the city was aroused, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.^{(D) 31} While they were trying to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. ³² Immediately he took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. When they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.^{(E) 33} Then the tribune came, arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains; he inquired who he was and what he had done.^{(F) 34} Some in the crowd shouted one thing, some another, and as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.^{(G) 35} When Paul^[b] came to the steps, the violence of the mob was so great that he had to be carried by the soldiers. ³⁶ The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Away with him!”^(H)

A Third Time Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

³² They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, ³³ saying, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the gentiles;^{(A) 34} they will mock him and spit upon him and flog him and kill him, and after three days he will rise again.”^(B)

The Request of James and John

³⁵ James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” ³⁶ And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” ³⁷ And they said to him, “Appoint us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”^{(C) 38} But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”^{(D) 39} They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized you will be baptized,^{(E) 40} but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to appoint, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

⁴¹ When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. ⁴² So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. ⁴³ But it is not so among you; instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant,^{(F) 44} and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.”^(G)