The Daily Audio Bible

17 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men. I will set out to pursue David tonight. ² I will come upon him when he is tired and weak and cause him to panic. All the people with him will flee. Then I will strike down only the king. ³ I will bring back the rest of the people to you. The life of the man whom you are seeking will gain the return of all of them.^[a] All the rest of the people will be safe.” ⁴ Ahithophel’s plan seemed good to all the elders of Israel.

⁵ But Absalom said, “Call Hushai the Arkite. We should also hear what he has to say.” ⁶ So Hushai came to Absalom, and Absalom said to him, “This is what Ahithophel has said. Shall we do it? If you disagree, speak up.”

⁷ Hushai said to Absalom, “This time the advice Ahithophel has given is not good.” ⁸ Hushai continued, “You know your father and his men. They are fierce warriors, like an enraged bear in the open country who has lost her cubs. Your father is a fighter. He will not spend the night with the people. ⁹ Certainly, by now he has hidden himself in one of the caves or in some other place. What if he attacks and some of our men fall first? Whoever hears about it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the followers of Absalom.’ ¹⁰ Even the very brave, whose hearts are like the heart of a lion, will melt with fear, because all Israel knows that your father is a fierce warrior, and that those who are with him are brave men. ¹¹ So, I advise you to gather all Israel to you from Dan to Beersheba, as many as the sand beside the sea, and that you personally lead them into battle. ¹² We should attack the king in whatever place he is found. We will come down on him like the dew that falls upon the ground. There will not even be one survivor from him and from all the men with him. ¹³ If he withdraws into a city, all Israel should bring ropes to that city. We will drag it into the valley until there will not be even one pebble found there.”

¹⁴ Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite is better than the advice of Ahithophel.”

The Lord had arranged to defeat the good advice of Ahithophel, so that the Lord could bring disaster upon Absalom.

¹⁵ Then Hushai told Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, “This is what Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel. But this is what I have advised. ¹⁶ Now send a message quickly and tell David, ‘Do not stay tonight at the fords in the wilderness. Also, be sure to cross over the river, or the king and all the people who are with him will be swallowed up.’”

¹⁷ Jonathan and Ahima’az were to wait at En Rogel because they could not risk being seen going into the city. A female servant was to go out and inform them. Then they could go and tell King David. ¹⁸ However, a young man saw them and told Absalom. So the two of them quickly went to the house of a man at Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it. ¹⁹ His wife took a cover, spread it over the mouth of the well, and scattered grain on it. Nobody knew that she did it.

²⁰ Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and said, “Where are Ahima’az and Jonathan?”

The woman said to them, “They have passed by toward the river.”^[b] Absalom’s servants pursued them but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ When they left, Ahima’az and Jonathan climbed out of the well. They went and reported to King David, and they said to him, “Get up and cross over the river quickly because this is what Ahithophel advised against you.” ²² So David and all the people who were with him set out and crossed the Jordan, beginning at the first light of day and continuing until everyone had crossed over the Jordan.

²³ When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey, set out, went to his house in his hometown, and set his household in order. Then he hanged himself. He died, and he was buried in the tomb of his father.

²⁴ David went to Mahanaim, and Absalom crossed over the Jordan with all the men of Israel. ²⁵ Absalom had put Amasa in command of the army instead of Joab. (Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra, an Ishmaelite^[c] who had gone to Abigal,^[d] the daughter of Nahash, the sister of Zeruiah, the mother of Joab.)

²⁶ Israel and Absalom set up camp in the land of Gilead.

²⁷ When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Makir son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim ²⁸ brought beds, basins, pottery, wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils,^{[e] 29} honey, cheese curds, sheep, and cheese from cow’s milk for David and for the people with him to eat, because they said, “The people are hungry, tired, and thirsty in the wilderness.”

²³ When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier. They also took his tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. ²⁴ So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it. Instead, let’s cast lots to see who gets it.” This was so that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says:

So the soldiers did these things.

Jesus’ Compassion for His Mother

²⁵ Jesus’ mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene were standing near the cross.

²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son!” ²⁷ Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother!” And from that time this disciple took her into his own home.

Jesus Gives Up His Life

²⁸ After this, knowing that everything had now been finished, and to fulfill the Scripture, Jesus said, “I thirst.”

²⁹ A jar full of sour wine was sitting there. So they put a sponge soaked in sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.

³⁰ When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished!” Then, bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.

The Piercing of Jesus’ Side

³¹ Since it was the Preparation Day, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses over the Sabbath (because that Sabbath was a particularly important day). They asked Pilate to have the men’s legs broken and the bodies taken away. ³² So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who was crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other man.

³³ But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear. Immediately blood and water came out. ³⁵ The one who saw it has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. ³⁶ Indeed, these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, “Not one of his bones will be broken.”^{[b] 37} Again another Scripture says, “They will look at the one they pierced.”^[c]

Jesus’ Burial

³⁸ After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him remove Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave him permission, he came and took Jesus’ body away. ³⁹ Nicodemus, who earlier had come to Jesus at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-two pounds.^[d]

⁴⁰ They took Jesus’ body and bound it with linen strips along with the spices, in accord with Jewish burial customs.

⁴¹ There was a garden at the place where Jesus was crucified. And in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴² So they laid Jesus there, because it was the Jewish Preparation Day, and the tomb was near.

Pe: Streams of Tears

Tsadhe: My Zeal for the Word

Qoph: I Will Obey