Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 118

Psalm 145

A Psalm of Praise. Of David.

17 Ahithophel also said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men so that I may arise and pursue David tonight. ² I will overtake him while he is weary and weak and strike him with terror; all of the people who are with him will flee. Then I will strike only the king, ³ and I will return all of the people to you. When all return except the man whom you are seeking, all of the people will be at peace.” ⁴ The advice pleased Absalom and all of the elders of Israel.

⁵ So Absalom said, “Summon Hushai the Arkite so that we may hear what he has to say as well.” ⁶ When Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, “This is what Ahithophel had advised. Should we do this thing? If not, you should tell us.”

⁷ Hushai said to Absalom, “At this time, the advice that Ahithophel has given is not good.” ⁸ Moreover, Hushai said, “You know that your father and his men are warriors, and they have been provoked like a bear robbed of her cubs. Your father is a veteran of warfare. He will not spend the night with the people. ⁹ Even now, he has hidden himself in a ravine or some other place, and when one of them falls in the first attack, whoever hears will say, ‘It was a defeat for the people who follow Absalom.’ ¹⁰ Then even the valiant one, whose heart is like that of a lion, will completely despair, for all of Israel knows that your father is a warrior, and those who are with him are brave.

¹¹ “Therefore my advice is for all of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, to be completely gathered to you like the multitude of the sand along the shoreline and for you to go to battle in person. ¹² We will come upon him in one of the places where he may be found, and we will fall upon him like the dew upon the ground. Neither he nor any of the men who are with him will remain, not a single one. ¹³ If he withdraws into a city, then all of Israel will bring ropes to that city. We will raze it until it is a valley, until there cannot be found there even a pebble.”

¹⁴ Then Absalom and all of the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite is better than the advice of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had decided to undermine the prudent advice of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring calamity to Absalom.

Hushai Warns David to Escape

¹⁵ Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel to do one thing, but I advised them to do another thing. ¹⁶ Now quickly send someone to report to David, ‘Do not spend the night at the fords of the wilderness, but instead cross over. Otherwise, the king and all of the people who are with him will be swallowed up.’ ”

¹⁷ Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En Rogel. A servant girl would go report to them, and they would go report to King David, because they could not be seen entering the city. ¹⁸ But a young man saw them and reported this to Absalom. So the two of them went quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they went down into it. ¹⁹ The wife took a covering and spread it over the opening of the well. Then she scattered grain over it so that nothing could be discerned.

²⁰ The servants of Absalom came to the woman at the house and said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”

She said, “They crossed over the brook of water.” When they searched, they could not find them. So they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ After they left, they came up from the well, went, and reported to King David. They said to David, “Arise and quickly cross over the water because thus has Ahithophel advised against you.” ²² So David and all of the people who were with him arose and crossed over the Jordan. By daybreak, there was not one left who had not crossed over the Jordan.

²³ When Ahithophel realized that his advice was not followed, he saddled his donkey and returned to his house in his own city. He gave instruction to his household, then he hanged himself and died; he was interred in the tomb of his father.

⁶ Even Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”^{[a] 7} Therefore know that those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham. ⁸ And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel in advance to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”^{[b] 9} So then those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

¹⁰ For all who rely on the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the Book of the Law, to do them.”^{[c] 11} Now it is evident that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, for “The just shall live by faith.”^{[d] 12} But the law is not of faith, for “The man who does them shall live by them.”^{[e] 13} Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us—as it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”^[f]— ¹⁴ so that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

³⁰ I can do nothing of Myself. As I hear, I judge. My judgment is just, because I seek not My own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me.

Witnesses to Jesus

³¹ “If I bear witness of Myself, My testimony is not true. ³² There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the testimony which He bears of Me is true.

³³ “You sent to John, and he bore witness of the truth. ³⁴ I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. ³⁵ He was a burning and a shining lamp, and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.

³⁶ “I have greater testimony than that of John. The works which the Father has given Me to finish, the very works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. ³⁷ The Father Himself, who has sent Me, has borne witness of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. ³⁸ You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe the One He has sent. ³⁹ You search the Scriptures, because you think in them you have eternal life. These are they who bear witness of Me. ⁴⁰ Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

⁴¹ “I do not receive honor from men. ⁴² But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. ⁴³ I have come in My Father’s name, but you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

⁴⁵ “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. ⁴⁶ For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote of Me. ⁴⁷ But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”