A Rebellious Son

¹⁸ If someone has a stubborn and rebellious^(A) son^(B) who does not obey his father and mother^(C) and will not listen to them when they discipline him, ¹⁹ his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. ²⁰ They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” ²¹ Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death.^(D) You must purge the evil^(E) from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.^(F)

Saying 17

¹⁴ Joab^(A) said, “I’m not going to wait like this for you.” So he took three javelins in his hand and plunged them into Absalom’s heart while Absalom was still alive in the oak tree. ¹⁵ And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him.^(B)

¹⁶ Then Joab^(C) sounded the trumpet, and the troops stopped pursuing Israel, for Joab halted them. ¹⁷ They took Absalom, threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled up^(D) a large heap of rocks^(E) over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled to their homes.

¹⁰ Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest till the rain poured down from the heavens on the bodies, she did not let the birds touch them by day or the wild animals by night.^(A)

⁴⁴ “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds^(A) and the wild animals!^(B)”

²⁶ Your carcasses will be food for all the birds^(A) and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.^(B)

⁹ “‘Anyone who curses their father^(A) or mother^(B) is to be put to death.^(C) Because they have cursed their father or mother, their blood will be on their own head.^(D)