Your Throne, O God, Is Forever

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Maskil^[a] of ^(A)the Sons of Korah; a love song.

Absalom Returns to Jerusalem

14 Now Joab the son of Zeruiah knew ^(A)that the king's heart went out to Absalom. ² And Joab sent to ^(B)Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman and said to her, “Pretend to be a mourner and put on mourning garments. ^(C)Do not anoint yourself with oil, but behave like a woman who has been mourning many days for the dead. ³ Go to the king and speak thus to him.” So Joab ^(D)put the words in her mouth.

⁴ When the woman of Tekoa came to the king, ^(E)she fell on her face to the ground and paid homage and said, ^(F)“Save me, O king.” ⁵ And the king said to her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, ^(G)“Alas, I am a widow; my husband is dead. ⁶ And your servant had two sons, and they quarreled with one another in the field. There was no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him. ⁷ And now the whole clan has risen against your servant, and they say, ‘Give up the man who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed.’ And so they would ^(H)destroy the heir also. Thus they would quench my coal that is left and leave to my husband neither name nor ^(I)remnant on the face of the earth.”

⁸ Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you.” ⁹ And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, ^(J)“On me be the guilt, my lord the king, and on my father's house; let the king and his throne be guiltless.” ¹⁰ The king said, “If anyone says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall never touch you again.” ¹¹ Then she said, “Please let the king invoke the Lord your God, that ^(K)the avenger of blood kill no more, and my son be not destroyed.” He said, ^(L)“As the Lord lives, ^(M)not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”

¹² Then the woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.” He said, “Speak.” ¹³ And the woman said, “Why then have you planned such a thing against ^(N)the people of God? For in giving this decision the king convicts himself, inasmuch as the king does not bring ^(O)his banished one home again. ¹⁴ We must all die; we are ^(P)like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God will not take away life, and he devises means ^(Q)so that the banished one will not remain an outcast. ¹⁵ Now I have come to say this to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid, and your servant thought, ‘I will speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his servant. ¹⁶ For the king will hear and deliver his servant from the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together from ^(R)the heritage of God.’ ¹⁷ And your servant thought, ‘The word of my lord the king will set me at rest,’ for my lord the king is ^(S)like the angel of God to discern good and evil. The Lord your God be with you!”

¹⁸ Then the king answered the woman, “Do not hide from me anything I ask you.” And the woman said, “Let my lord the king speak.” ¹⁹ The king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” The woman answered and said, ^(T)“As surely as you live, my lord the king, one cannot turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has said. It was your servant Joab who commanded me; ^(U)it was he who put all these words in the mouth of your servant. ²⁰ In order to change the course of things your servant Joab did this. But my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of ^(V)the angel of God to know all things that are on the earth.”

²¹ Then the king said to Joab, “Behold now, I grant this; go, bring back the young man Absalom.” ²² And Joab fell on his face to the ground and paid homage ^(W)and blessed the king. And Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord the king, in that the king has granted the request of his servant.” ²³ So Joab arose and went to ^(X)Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. ²⁴ And the king said, “Let him dwell apart in his own house; he is not to come into my presence.” So Absalom lived apart in his own house and did not come into the king's presence.

²⁵ Now in all Israel there was no one so much to be praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. ^(Y)From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. ²⁶ And when he cut the hair of his head (for at the end of every year he used to cut it; when it was heavy on him, he ^(Z)cut it), he weighed the hair of his head, two hundred shekels^[a] by the king's weight. ²⁷ There were born ^(AA)to Absalom three sons, and one daughter whose name was Tamar. She was a beautiful woman.

²⁸ So Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem, without coming into the king's presence. ²⁹ Then Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king, but Joab would not come to him. And he sent a second time, but Joab would not come. ³⁰ Then he said to his servants, “See, Joab's field is next to mine, and he has barley there; go and set it on fire.” So Absalom's servants set the field on fire.^{[b] 31} Then Joab arose and went to Absalom at his house and said to him, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?” ³² Absalom answered Joab, “Behold, I sent word to you, ‘Come here, that I may send you to the king, to ask, “Why have I come from ^(AB)Geshur? It would be better for me to be there still.” Now therefore let me go into the presence of the king, ^(AC)and if there is guilt in me, let him put me to death.’” ³³ Then Joab went to the king and told him, and he summoned Absalom. So he came to the king and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king, and the king kissed Absalom.

The Sign of Jonah

^29 (A)When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, ^(B)“This generation is an evil generation. ^(C)It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. ³⁰ For as ^(D)Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. ^31 (E)The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and ^(F)condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, ^(G)something greater than Solomon is here. ^32 (H)The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and ^(I)condemn it, for ^(J)they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, ^(K)something greater than Jonah is here.

The Light in You

^33 (L)“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. ³⁴ Your eye is ^(M)the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is ^(N)bad, your body is full of darkness. ^35 (O)Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. ³⁶ If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, ^(P)as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”

Woes to the Pharisees and Lawyers

³⁷ While Jesus^[a] was speaking, ^(Q)a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. ³⁸ The Pharisee was astonished to see ^(R)that he did not first wash before dinner. ³⁹ And the Lord said to him, ^(S)“Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of ^(T)greed and wickedness. ^40 (U)You fools! ^(V)Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹ But ^(W)give as alms those things that are within, and behold, ^(X)everything is clean for you.

^42 (Y)“But woe to you Pharisees! For ^(Z)you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect ^(AA)justice and ^(AB)the love of God. ^(AC)These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. ⁴³ Woe to you Pharisees! For ^(AD)you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. ⁴⁴ Woe to you! ^(AE)For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.”

⁴⁵ One of ^(AF)the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” ⁴⁶ And he said, “Woe to you ^(AG)lawyers also! For ^(AH)you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. ^47 (AI)Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. ^48 (AJ)So you are witnesses and you ^(AK)consent to the deeds of ^(AL)your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹ Therefore also ^(AM)the Wisdom of God said, ^(AN)‘I will send them ^(AO)prophets and apostles, ^(AP)some of whom they will ^(AQ)kill and persecute,’ ⁵⁰ so that ^(AR)the blood of all the prophets, shed ^(AS)from the foundation of the world, may be ^(AT)charged against this generation, ⁵¹ from the blood of ^(AU)Abel to the blood of ^(AV)Zechariah, who perished between ^(AW)the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be ^(AX)required of this generation. ⁵² Woe to you ^(AY)lawyers! ^(AZ)For you have taken away the key of ^(BA)knowledge. You ^(BB)did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”

⁵³ As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, ^54 (BC)lying in wait for him, ^(BD)to catch him in something he might say.