The Daily Audio Bible

²³ The whole country wept and wailed as all the people left. When the king crossed Vadi Kidron, all the people crossed, too, heading toward the desert road. ²⁴ Tzadok also came, accompanied by all the L’vi’im bearing the ark for the covenant of God. They set the ark of God down, but Evyatar went up until all the people had finished leaving the city. ²⁵ The king said to Tzadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in Adonai’s sight, he will bring me back and show me both it and the place where it is kept. ²⁶ But if he says, ‘I am displeased with you,’ then — here I am; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.” ²⁷ The king then said to Tzadok the cohen, “Do you see? Return to the city in peace, your two sons with you — Achima‘atz your own son and Y’honatan the son of Evyatar. ²⁸ I will wait on the desert plains until a message with new information comes from you.” ²⁹ So Tzadok and Evyatar carried the ark of God back to Yerushalayim and stayed there.

³⁰ David continued up the road to the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went up, head covered and barefoot; and all the people with him had their heads covered and wept as they went up. ³¹ One of them told David, “Achitofel is among the conspirators with Avshalom.” David said, “Adonai, please! Turn Achitofel’s advice into foolishness!”

³² When David reached the top of the ascent, where it was customary to worship God, Hushai the Arki came to meet him with his tunic torn and earth on his head. ³³ David said to him, “If you go on with me, you will become a burden to me. ³⁴ But if you go back to the city and tell Avshalom, ‘King, I will be your servant; just as I was your father’s servant in the past, so I will now be your servant’ — then you will be able to frustrate Achitofel’s advice for me. ³⁵ You have Tzadok and Evyatar the cohanim there with you. So whatever you hear from the king’s house, you tell to Tzadok and Evyatar the cohanim. ³⁶ Their two sons, Achima‘atz the son of Tzadok and Y’honatan the son of Evyatar, are there with them; through them send me everything you hear.” ³⁷ So Hushai David’s friend came into the city when Avshalom was about to enter Yerushalayim.

16 When David had gone a little past the summit, there was Tziva, the servant of M’fivoshet, who met him with a pair of donkeys saddled and on them 200 loaves of bread, 100 bunches of raisins, 100 pieces of summer fruit and a skin of wine. ² The king said to Tziva, “What do you mean by these?” Tziva replied, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on; the bread and summer fruit are for the young men to eat; and the wine is for those who collapse in the desert to drink.” ³ The king asked, “Where is your master’s [grand]son?” Tziva answered the king, “He’s staying in Yerushalayim, because he said, ‘Today the house of Isra’el will restore my father’s kingship to me.’” ⁴ The king said to Tziva, “Everything that belongs to M’fivoshet is now yours.” Tziva answered, “I bow down before you; may I find favor in your sight, my lord, king.”

⁵ When King David arrived at Bachurim, there came out from there a man from Sha’ul’s family named Shim‘i the son of Gera; and he came out pronouncing curses ⁶ and throwing stones at David and all King David’s servants; even though all the people, including his bodyguard, surrounded him right and left. ⁷ When Shim‘i cursed, he said, “Get out of here! Get out of here, you killer, you good-for-nothing! ⁸ Adonai has brought back on you all the blood of the house of Sha’ul. You usurped his kingship, but Adonai has handed over the kingdom to Avshalom your son. Now your own evil has overtaken you, because you are a man of blood!”

⁹ Avishai the son of Tz’ruyah said to the king, “Why allow this dead dog to curse my lord the king? Just let me go over and remove his head!” ¹⁰ The king said, “Do you sons of Tz’ruyah and I have anything in common? Let him curse. If Adonai tells him, ‘Curse David,’ who has the right to ask, ‘Why are you doing it?’” ¹¹ David then said to Avishai and all his servants, “Look, my own son, who came from my own body, seeks my life. So how much more now this Binyamini! Let him alone; and let him curse, if Adonai told him to. ¹² Maybe Adonai will notice how I’m treating him, and Adonai will reward me with good instead of his curses.” ¹³ So David and his men went on their way, while on the opposite hillside Shim‘i kept pace with him, cursing, throwing stones and flinging dust as he went. ¹⁴ The king and all the people with him arrived exhausted, so he rested there.

¹⁵ Meanwhile Avshalom and all the people, the men of Isra’el, came to Yerushalayim; Achitofel was with him. ¹⁶ Hushai the Arki, David’s friend, came to Avshalom and said to him, “Long live the king! Long live the king!” ¹⁷ Avshalom asked Hushai, “Is this how you show kindness to your friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend?” ¹⁸ Hushai replied, “No, but whomever Adonai and this people and all the men of Isra’el choose, his I will be; and with him I will stay. ¹⁹ Moreover, whom should I serve? Shouldn’t I serve in the presence of his son? Just as I have served in your father’s presence, so will I be in your presence.”

²⁰ Avshalom said to Achitofel, “Give your advice as to what we should do.” ²¹ Achitofel answered Avshalom, “Go in, and sleep with your father’s concubines, the ones he left to take care of the palace. All Isra’el will hear that your father utterly despises you, and this will strengthen the position of all those who are on your side.” ²² So they set up a tent for Avshalom on the roof of the palace; and Avshalom went in to sleep with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Isra’el. ²³ In those days Achitofel’s advice was regarded as highly as if someone had sought out the word of God; it was this way with Achitofel’s advice both to David and to Avshalom.

²⁵ Meanwhile, Shim‘on Kefa was standing and warming himself. They said to him, “Aren’t you also one of his talmidim?” He denied it, saying, “No, I am not.” ²⁶ One of the slaves of the cohen hagadol, a relative of the man whose ear Kefa had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you with him in the grove of trees?” ²⁷ So again Kefa denied it, and instantly a rooster crowed.

²⁸ They led Yeshua from Kayafa to the governor’s headquarters. By now it was early morning. They did not enter the headquarters building because they didn’t want to become ritually defiled and thus unable to eat the Pesach meal. ²⁹ So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What charge are you bringing against this man?” ³⁰ They answered, “If he hadn’t done something wrong, we wouldn’t have brought him to you.” ³¹ Pilate said to them, “You take him and judge him according to your own law.” The Judeans replied, “We don’t have the legal power to put anyone to death.” ³² This was so that what Yeshua had said, about how he was going to die, might be fulfilled.

³³ So Pilate went back into the headquarters, called Yeshua and said to him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” ³⁴ Yeshua answered, “Are you asking this on your own, or have other people told you about me?” ³⁵ Pilate replied, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and head cohanim have handed you over to me; what have you done?” ³⁶ Yeshua answered, “My kingship does not derive its authority from this world’s order of things. If it did, my men would have fought to keep me from being arrested by the Judeans. But my kingship does not come from here.” ³⁷ “So then,” Pilate said to him, “You are a king, after all.” Yeshua answered, “You say I am a king. The reason I have been born, the reason I have come into the world, is to bear witness to the truth. Every one who belongs to the truth listens to me.” ³⁸ Pilate asked him, “What is truth?”

Having said this, Pilate went outside again to the Judeans and told them, “I don’t find any case against him. ³⁹ However, you have a custom that at Passover I set one prisoner free. Do you want me to set free for you the ‘king of the Jews’?” ⁴⁰ But they yelled back, “No, not this man but Bar-Abba!” (Bar-Abba was a revolutionary.)

19 Pilate then took Yeshua and had him flogged. ² The soldiers twisted thorn-branches into a crown and placed it on his head, put a purple robe on him, ³ and went up to him, saying over and over, “Hail, ‘king of the Jews’!” and hitting him in the face.

⁴ Pilate went outside once more and said to the crowd, “Look, I’m bringing him out to you to get you to understand that I find no case against him.” ⁵ So Yeshua came out, wearing the thorn-branch crown and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Look at the man!” ⁶ When the head cohanim and the Temple guards saw him they shouted, “Put him to death on the stake! Put him to death on the stake!” Pilate said to them, “You take him out yourselves and put him to death on the stake, because I don’t find any case against him.” ⁷ The Judeans answered him, “We have a law; according to that law, he ought to be put to death, because he made himself out to be the Son of God.” ⁸ On hearing this, Pilate became even more frightened.

⁹ He went back into the headquarters and asked Yeshua, “Where are you from?” But Yeshua didn’t answer. ¹⁰ So Pilate said to him, “You refuse to speak to me? Don’t you understand that it is in my power either to set you free or to have you executed on the stake?” ¹¹ Yeshua answered, “You would have no power over me if it hadn’t been given to you from above; this is why the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” ¹² On hearing this, Pilate tried to find a way to set him free; but the Judeans shouted, “If you set this man free, it means you’re not a ‘Friend of the Emperor’! Everyone who claims to be a king is opposing the Emperor!” ¹³ When Pilate heard what they were saying, he brought Yeshua outside and sat down on the judge’s seat in the place called The Pavement (in Aramaic, Gabta); ¹⁴ it was about noon on Preparation Day for Pesach. He said to the Judeans, “Here’s your king!” ¹⁵ They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Put him to death on the stake!” Pilate said to them, “You want me to execute your king on a stake?” The head cohanim answered, “We have no king but the Emperor.” ¹⁶ Then Pilate handed Yeshua over to them to have him put to death on the stake.

So they took charge of Yeshua. ¹⁷ Carrying the stake himself he went out to the place called Skull (in Aramaic, Gulgolta). ¹⁸ There they nailed him to the stake along with two others, one on either side, with Yeshua in the middle. ¹⁹ Pilate also had a notice written and posted on the stake; it read,

YESHUA FROM NATZERET

THE KING OF THE JEWS

²⁰ Many of the Judeans read this notice, because the place where Yeshua was put on the stake was close to the city; and it had been written in Hebrew, in Latin and in Greek. ²¹ The Judeans’ head cohanim therefore said to Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but ‘He said, “I am King of the Jews.”’” ²² Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

ס (Samekh)

ע (‘Ayin)