Book of Common Prayer

Thanksgiving for Victory

Praise to God the King

A psalm of praise. Of David.

17 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men and chase David tonight. ² I’ll catch him while he is tired and weak, and 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, so I can hear what he says.” ⁶ When 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 cubs. Your father is a skilled fighter. He won’t stay all night with the army. ⁹ He is probably already hiding in a cave or some other place. If the first attack fails, people will hear the news and think, ‘Absalom’s followers are losing!’ ¹⁰ Then even the men who are as brave as lions will be frightened, 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 go to David wherever he is hiding. We will fall on him as dew falls on the ground. We will kill him and all of his men so that no one will be left alive. ¹³ If David escapes into a city, all the Israelites will bring ropes to that city and pull it into the valley. Not a stone will be left!”

¹⁴ Absalom and all the Israelites said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite is better than that of Ahithophel.” (The Lord had planned to destroy the good advice of Ahithophel so the Lord could bring disaster on Absalom.)

¹⁵ Hushai told Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, 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 but to cross over the Jordan River at once. If he crosses the river, he and all his people won’t be destroyed.”

¹⁷ Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En Rogel. They did not want to be seen going into the city, 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 left quickly and 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 and covered it with grain. No one could tell that anyone was hiding there.

²⁰ Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and 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 left, Jonathan and Ahimaaz climbed out of the well and 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 When Ahithophel saw that the Israelites did not accept his advice, he saddled his donkey and went to his hometown. He left orders for his family and property, and then he hanged himself. He died and 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, telling what would happen in the future, 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} So all who believe as Abraham believed are blessed just as Abraham was. 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} Now it is clear that no one can be made right with God by the law, because the Scriptures say, “Those who are right with God will live by faith.”^{[d] 12} The law is not based on faith. It says, “A person who obeys these things will live because of them.”^{[e] 13} Christ took away the curse the law put on us. He changed places with us and put himself under that curse. It is written in the Scriptures, “Anyone whose body is displayed on a tree^[f] is cursed.” ¹⁴ Christ did this so that God’s blessing promised to Abraham might come through Jesus Christ to those who are not Jews. Jesus died so that by our believing we could receive the Spirit that God promised.

Jesus Is God’s Son

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

³¹ “If only I tell people about myself, what I say is not true. 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 people to John, and he has told you the truth. ³⁴ It is not that I need what humans say; I tell you this so 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, which are the things my Father gave me to do, prove that the Father sent me. ³⁷ And the Father himself who sent me has given proof about me. You have never heard his voice or seen what he looks like. ³⁸ His teaching does not live in you, because you don’t believe in the One the Father sent. ³⁹ You carefully study the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. They do in fact tell about me, ⁴⁰ but you refuse to come to me to have that life.

⁴¹ “I don’t need praise from people. ⁴² But I know you—I know that you don’t have God’s love in you. ⁴³ I have come from my Father and speak for him, but you don’t accept me. But when another person comes, speaking only for himself, you will accept him. ⁴⁴ You try to get praise from each other, but you do not 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 you are wrong. The one who says you are wrong is Moses, the one you hoped would save you. ⁴⁶ If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because Moses wrote about me. ⁴⁷ But if you don’t believe what Moses wrote, how can you believe what I say?”