Book of Common Prayer

Thanksgiving to God

A Davidic Psalm^[a]

Praising God for His Works

17 ¹ “Give me 12,000 men! I’ll leave^[a] tonight and pursue David,” Ahithophel advised Absalom. ² “I’ll catch him while he is still tired and weak.^[b] I’ll frighten him so all his people with him desert him. But I’ll only kill the king. ³ Then I’ll bring everybody else back to you. When the man you’re looking for is dead, all the rest of the people will return quietly.”

⁴ Even though this plan seemed like a good idea to Absalom and to all of the elders of Israel, ⁵ Absalom replied, “Call in Hushai the Archite so I can hear what he has to say, too!” ⁶ When Hushai approached Absalom, Absalom asked him, “Here’s what Ahithophel had to advise. Should we do what he says? Or if not, say so!”

Hushai Counters Ahithophel’s Advice

⁷ “Ahithophel’s advice is not best at this time,” Hushai suggested to Absalom. ⁸ “You know how strong your father and his men are. They’re as mad as a bear robbed of her cubs! Furthermore, your father is a skilled warrior. He won’t stay with his army at night. ⁹ Look! He’s probably already hiding in a cave or someplace like that. If the first attack fails, people will hear about it and think, ‘Absalom’s army is losing!’ ¹⁰ Then even men who would otherwise be as brave as lions will be scared, because every Israeli knows your father is a mighty man, and they know his men are valiant! ¹¹ So here’s my advice: Muster everybody from one end of the country to the other!^[c] You’ll have an army in number like the sand on the seashore! Then you’ll go into battle! ¹² We’ll go find David wherever he’s hiding. We’ll fall on him like dew on the ground! We’ll kill him and all of his men, and we won’t leave even one man alive! ¹³ If he escapes into a city, we’ll bring ropes to that city and tear it down! We won’t leave a single stone left in the valley!”

¹⁴ Absalom and all of the Israelis replied, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than Ahithophel’s!”

Hushai Warns David

But the Lord had planned to circumvent the sound advice of Ahithophel so the Lord could bring Absalom to destruction. ¹⁵ So Hushai told Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, what Ahithophel had suggested to Absalom and the elders of Israel. He also reported what he himself had proposed. Hushai said, ¹⁶ “Quick! Get word to David! Tell him not to spend the night at the crossings that lead to the desert. Instead, he must cross the Jordan River immediately. That way, if he crosses the river, the king and his entourage^[d] will survive.”

¹⁷ Meanwhile, since they could not risk being seen entering the city, Jonathan and Ahimaaz had been waiting at En-rogel, where a young servant woman was to go to inform them and they would then go brief King David. ¹⁸ But a young man observed Jonathan and Ahimaaz and informed Absalom, so they left in a hurry, arrived at the home of a man who lived at Bahurim, and hid inside a well that was in his courtyard. ¹⁹ The man’s wife grabbed a sheet, covered the mouth of the well with it, and spread some dried grain over it. As a result, nobody could tell it was a hiding place.^[e]

²⁰ When Absalom’s servants approached the woman of the house, they asked her, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”

“They’ve already crossed the brook,” the woman answered. So Absalom’s servants went away in search of Jonathan and Ahimaaz, but they couldn’t find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ A little while later, the men crawled up out of the well and went off to talk to King David. They told David, “Get up! Cross the water quickly, because this is what Ahithophel advised about you…” ²² So David got up and all of his entourage crossed the Jordan River.^[f] Everyone had crossed the Jordan River by dawn’s first light.

Ahithophel’s Suicide

²³ Meanwhile, when Ahithophel observed that his counsel was not being acted upon, he saddled his donkey, got up, and left for his hometown. Leaving behind a set of orders for his household, he hanged^[g] himself. After his death he was buried in his father’s tomb.

⁶ In the same way, Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”^[a]

⁷ You see, then, that those who have faith are Abraham’s real descendants. ⁸ Because the Scripture saw ahead of time that God would justify the gentiles^[b] by faith, it announced the gospel to Abraham beforehand when it said, “Through you all nations^[c] will be blessed.”^{[d] 9} Therefore, those who believe are blessed together with Abraham, the one who believed.

No One is Justified by the Law

¹⁰ Certainly all who depend on the actions of the Law are under a curse. For it is written, “A curse on everyone who does not obey everything that is written in the Book of the Law!”^{[e] 11} Now it is obvious that no one is justified in the sight of God by the Law, because “The righteous will live by faith.”^{[f] 12} But the Law has nothing to do with faith. Instead, “The person who keeps the commandments^[g] will have life in them.”^{[h] 13} The Messiah^[i] redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, “A curse on everyone who is hung on a tree!”^{[j] 14} This happened^[k] in order that the blessing promised to^[l] Abraham would come to the gentiles through the Messiah^[m] Jesus, so that we might receive the promised Spirit^[n] through faith.

³⁰ I can do nothing on my own accord. I judge according to what I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.”

Jesus’ Greater Testimony

³¹ “If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not trustworthy. ³² There is another who testifies about me, and I know^[a] that the testimony he gives about me is true. ³³ You have sent messengers^[b] to John, and he has testified to the truth. ³⁴ I myself do not accept human testimony, but I am saying these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵ That man John^[c] was a lamp that burns and brightly shines, and for a while you were willing to rejoice in his light.

³⁶ “But I have a greater testimony than John’s, because the actions that the Father has given me to complete—the very actions that I am doing—testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. ³⁷ Moreover, the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen what he looks like, ³⁸ nor do you have his word at work^[d] in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he sent. ³⁹ You examine the Scriptures carefully because you suppose that in them you have eternal life. Yet they testify about me. ⁴⁰ But you are not willing to come to me to have life.

⁴¹ “I do not accept human praise. ⁴² I know that you do not have the love of God in you. ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me. Yet if another man comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe when you accept each other’s praise and do not look for the praise that comes from the only God?^{[e] 45} Do not suppose that I will be the one to accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope, ⁴⁶ because if you believed Moses, you would believe me, since he wrote about me. ⁴⁷ But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe my words?”