Book of Common Prayer

Thanksgiving for Victory

Praise to God the King

A song of praise. Of David.

17 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose 12,000 men. I’ll chase David tonight. ² I’ll catch him while he is tired and weak. I’ll frighten him so all his people will run away. But I’ll kill only King David. ³ Then I’ll bring everyone back to you. If the man you are looking for is dead, everyone else will return safely.” ⁴ This plan seemed good to Absalom and to all the leaders of Israel.

⁵ But Absalom said, “Now call Hushai the Arkite. I also want to hear what he says.” ⁶ So Hushai came to Absalom. Absalom said to him, “This is the plan Ahithophel gave. Should we follow it? If not, tell us.”

⁷ Hushai said to Absalom, “Ahithophel’s advice is not good this time.” ⁸ Hushai added, “You know your father and his men are strong. They are as angry as a bear that is robbed of its babies. Your father is a skilled fighter. He won’t stay all night with the people. ⁹ He is probably already hiding in a cave or some other place. If your father attacks your men first, people will hear the news. And they will think, ‘Absalom’s followers are losing!’ ¹⁰ Then even the men who are as brave as a lion will become frightened. This is because all the Israelites know your father is a fighter. They know his men are brave!

¹¹ “This is what I suggest: Gather all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba.^[a] There will be as many people as grains of sand by the sea. Then you yourself must go into the battle. ¹² We will catch David where he is hiding. We will fall on him as dew falls on the ground. We will kill him and all of his men. No one will be left alive. ¹³ What if David escapes into a city? Then all the Israelites will bring ropes to that city. We’ll pull that city into the valley. There won’t be even a small stone left there!”

¹⁴ Absalom and all the Israelites said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite is better than that of Ahithophel.” They said this because the Lord had planned to destroy the good advice of Ahithophel. In this way the Lord could bring disaster on Absalom.

¹⁵ Hushai told these things to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests. He told them what Ahithophel had suggested to Absalom and the elders of Israel. He also reported to them what he himself had suggested. Hushai said, ¹⁶ “Quickly! Send a message to David. Tell him not to stay tonight at the crossings into the desert. Tell him to cross over the Jordan River at once. If he crosses the river, he and all his people won’t be caught.”

¹⁷ Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En Rogel. They did not want to be seen going into the town. So a servant girl would go out to them and give them messages. Then Jonathan and Ahimaaz would go and tell King David.

¹⁸ But a boy saw Jonathan and Ahimaaz and told Absalom. So Jonathan and Ahimaaz ran away quickly. They went to a man’s house in Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it. ¹⁹ The man’s wife spread a sheet over the opening of the well. Then she covered it with grain. No one could tell that Jonathan and Ahimaaz were hiding there.

²⁰ Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house. They asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”

She said to them, “They have already crossed the brook.”

Absalom’s servants then went to look for Jonathan and Ahimaaz. But they could not find them. So they went back to Jerusalem.

²¹ After Absalom’s servants had left, Jonathan and Ahimaaz climbed out of the well. Then they went to tell King David. They said, “Hurry, cross over the river! Ahithophel has said these things against you!” ²² So David and all his people crossed the Jordan River. By dawn, everyone had crossed the Jordan.

²³ Now Ahithophel saw that the Israelites did not accept his advice. So he saddled his donkey and went to his hometown. He gave orders for his family and property. Then he hung himself. After Ahithophel died, he was buried in his father’s tomb.

⁶ The Scriptures say the same thing about Abraham: “Abraham believed God, and God accepted Abraham’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.”^{[a] 7} So you should know that the true children of Abraham are those who have faith. ⁸ The Scriptures told what would happen in the future. They said that God would make the non-Jewish people right through their faith. This Good News was told to Abraham beforehand, as the Scripture says: “All nations will be blessed through you.”^{[b] 9} Abraham believed this, and because he believed, he was blessed. It is the same today. All who believe today are blessed just as Abraham was blessed. ¹⁰ But those who depend on following the law to make them right are under a curse because the Scriptures say, “Anyone will be cursed who does not always obey what is written in the Book of the Law!”^{[c] 11} So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by the law. The Scriptures say, “He who is right with God by faith will live.”^{[d] 12} The law does not use faith. It says, “A person who does these things will live forever because of them.”^{[e] 13} So the law put a curse on us, but Christ took away that curse. He changed places with us and put himself under that curse. It is written in the Scriptures, “Everyone whose body is displayed on a tree^[f] is cursed.” ¹⁴ Christ did this so that God’s blessing promised to Abraham might come to the non-Jews. This blessing comes through Jesus Christ. Jesus died so that we could have the Spirit that God promised and receive this promise by believing.

Jesus Is God’s Son

³⁰ “I can do nothing alone. I judge only the way I am told, so my judgment is right. I don’t try to please myself. I try to please the One who sent me.

³¹ “If I tell people about myself, then they will not accept what I say about myself. ³² But there is another who tells about me. And I know that the things he says about me are true.

³³ “You have sent men to John. And he has told you about the truth. ³⁴ But I don’t need a man to tell about me. I tell you this so that you can be saved. ³⁵ John was like a burning and shining lamp. And you were happy to enjoy his light for a while.

³⁶ “But I have a proof about myself that is greater than that of John. The things I do are my proof. These are the things my Father gave me to do. They show that the Father sent me. ³⁷ And the Father who sent me has given proof about me himself. You have never heard his voice. You have never seen what he looks like. ³⁸ His teaching does not live in you because you don’t believe in the One that the Father sent. ³⁹ You carefully study the Scriptures because you think that they give you eternal life. Those are the same Scriptures that tell about me! ⁴⁰ But you refuse to come to me to have that life.

⁴¹ “I don’t want praise from men. ⁴² But I know you—I know that you don’t have God’s love in you. ⁴³ I have come from my Father—I speak for him. But you don’t accept me. But when another person comes, speaking only for himself, you will accept him. ⁴⁴ You like to have praise from each other. But you never try to get the praise that comes from the only God. So how can you believe? ⁴⁵ Don’t think that I will stand before the Father and say that you are wrong. Moses is the one who says that you are wrong. And he is the one that you hoped would save you. ⁴⁶ If you really believed Moses, you would believe me because Moses wrote about me. ⁴⁷ But you don’t believe what Moses wrote. So how can you believe what I say?”