1 Now Joab son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart longed for Absalom. 2So Joab sent to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, “Please pretend to be a mourner; put on clothes for mourning and do not anoint yourself with oil. Act like a woman who has mourned for the dead a long time. 3Then go to the king and speak these words to him.” And Joab put the words in her mouth.

4 When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell facedown in homage and said, “Help me, O king!”

5“What troubles you?” the king asked her.

“Indeed,” she said, “I am a widow, for my husband is dead. 6And your maidservant had two sons who were fighting in the field with no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him. 7Now the whole clan has risen up against your maidservant and said, ‘Hand over the one who struck down his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of the brother whom he killed. Then we will cut off the heir as well!’ So they would extinguish my one remaining ember by not preserving my husband’s name or posterity on the earth.”

8“Go home,” the king said to the woman, “and I will give orders on your behalf.”

9 But the woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord the king, may any blame be on me and on my father’s house, and may the king and his throne be guiltless.”

10“If anyone speaks to you,” said the king, “bring him to me, and he will not trouble you again!”

11“Please,” she replied, “may the king invoke the Lord your God to prevent the avenger of blood from increasing the devastation, so that my son may not be destroyed!”

“As surely as the Lord lives,” he vowed, “not a hair of your son’s head will fall to the ground.”

12 Then the woman said, “Please, may your servant speak a word to my lord the king?”

“Speak,” he replied.

13 The woman asked, “Why have you devised a thing like this against the people of God? When the king says this, does he not convict himself, since he has not brought back his own banished son? 14For we will surely die and be like water poured out on the ground, which cannot be recovered. Yet God does not take away a life, but He devises ways that the banished one may not be cast out from Him.

15 Now therefore, I have come to present this matter to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought, ‘I will speak to the king. Perhaps he will grant the request of his maidservant. 16For the king will hear and deliver his maidservant from the hand of the man who would cut off both me and my son from God’s inheritance.’

17 And now your servant says, ‘May the word of my lord the king bring me rest, for my lord the king is able to discern good and evil, just like the angel of God. May the Lord your God be with you.’”

18 Then the king said to the woman, “I am going to ask you something; do not conceal it from me!”

“Let my lord the king speak,” she replied.

19 So the king asked, “Is the hand of Joab behind all this?”

The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king says. Yes, your servant Joab is the one who gave me orders; he told your maidservant exactly what to say. 20Joab your servant has done this to bring about this change of affairs, but my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the angel of God, to know everything that happens in the land.”

21 Then the king said to Joab, “I hereby grant this request. Go, bring back the young man Absalom.”

22 Joab fell facedown in homage and blessed the king. “Today,” said Joab, “your servant knows that he has found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, because the king has granted his request.”

23 So Joab got up, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 24But the king added, “He may return to his house, but he must not see my face.” So Absalom returned to his own house, but he did not see the face of the king.

25 Now there was not a man in all Israel as handsome and highly praised as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the top of his head, he did not have a single flaw. 26And when he cut the hair of his head— he shaved it every year because his hair got so heavy— he would weigh it out to be two hundred shekels, according to the royal standard.

27 Three sons were born to Absalom, and a daughter named Tamar, who was a beautiful woman.

28 Now Absalom lived in Jerusalem two years without seeing the face of the king. 29Then he sent for Joab to send him to the king, but Joab refused to come to him.

So Absalom sent a second time, but Joab still would not come.

30 Then Absalom said to his servants, “Look, Joab’s field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire!”

And Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.

31 Then Joab came to Absalom’s house and demanded, “Why did your servants set my field on fire?”

32“Look,” said Absalom, “I sent for you and said, ‘Come here. I want to send you to the king to ask: Why have I come back from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there.’ So now, let me see the king’s face, and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me.”

33 So Joab went and told the king, and David summoned Absalom, who came to him and bowed facedown before him. Then the king kissed Absalom.

1 Some time later, Absalom provided for himself a chariot with horses and fifty men to run ahead of him. 2He would get up early and stand beside the road leading to the city gate.

Whenever anyone had a grievance to bring before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out and ask, “What city are you from?” And if he replied, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel,” 3Absalom would say, “Look, your claims are good and right, but the king has no deputy to hear you.”

4 And he would add, “If only someone would appoint me judge in the land, then everyone with a grievance or dispute could come to me, and I would give him justice.”

5 Also, when anyone approached to bow down to him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him, and kiss him. 6Absalom did this to all the Israelites who came to the king for justice. In this way he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

7 After four years had passed, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron to fulfill a vow I have made to the Lord. 8For your servant made a vow while dwelling in Geshur of Aram, saying: ‘If indeed the Lord brings me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord in Hebron.’”

9“Go in peace,” said the king. So Absalom got up and went to Hebron.

10 Then Absalom sent spies throughout the tribes of Israel with this message: “When you hear the sound of the horn, you are to say, ‘Absalom reigns in Hebron!’”

11 Two hundred men from Jerusalem accompanied Absalom. They had been invited as guests and they went along innocently, for they knew nothing about the matter. 12While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, to come from his hometown of Giloh.

So the conspiracy gained strength, and Absalom’s following kept increasing.

13 Then a messenger came to David and reported, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.”

14 And David said to all the servants with him in Jerusalem, “Arise and let us flee, or we will not escape from Absalom! We must leave quickly, or he will soon overtake us, heap disaster on us, and put the city to the sword.”

15 The king’s servants replied, “Whatever our lord the king decides, we are your servants.”

16 Then the king set out, and his entire household followed him. But he left behind ten concubines to take care of the palace.

17 So the king set out with all the people following him. He stopped at the last house, 18and all his servants marched past him — all the Cherethites and Pelethites, and six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath.

19 Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the new king, since you are both a foreigner and an exile from your homeland. 20In fact, you arrived only yesterday; should I make you wander around with us today while I do not know where I am going? Go back and take your brothers with you. May the Lord show you loving devotion and faithfulness.”

21 But Ittai answered the king, “As surely as the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be!”

22“March on then,” said David to Ittai. So Ittai the Gittite marched past with all his men and all the little ones who were with him.

1 After Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples across the Kidron Valley, where they entered a garden. 2Now Judas His betrayer also knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with His disciples. 3So Judas brought a band of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees. They arrived at the garden carrying lanterns, torches, and weapons.

4 Jesus, knowing all that was coming upon Him, stepped forward and asked them, “Whom are you seeking?”

5“Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered.

Jesus said, “I am He.”

And Judas His betrayer was standing there with them. 6When Jesus said, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

7 So He asked them again, “Whom are you seeking?”

“Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered.

8 “I told you that I am He,” Jesus replied. “So if you are looking for Me, let these men go.” 9This was to fulfill the word He had spoken: “I have not lost one of those You have given Me.”

10 Then Simon Peter drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.

11 “Put your sword back in its sheath!” Jesus said to Peter. “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me?”

12 Then the band of soldiers, with its commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him. 13They brought Him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 14Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be better if one man died for the people.

15 Now Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he also went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest. 16But Peter stood outside at the door. Then the disciple who was known to the high priest went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in.

17 At this, the servant girl watching the door said to Peter, “Aren’t you also one of this man’s disciples?”

“I am not,” he answered.

18 Because it was cold, the servants and officers were standing around a charcoal fire they had made to keep warm. And Peter was also standing with them, warming himself.

19 Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about His disciples and His teaching.

20 “I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus answered. “I always taught in the synagogues and at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. 21Why are you asking Me? Ask those who heard My message. Surely they know what I said.”

22 When Jesus had said this, one of the officers standing nearby slapped Him in the face and said, “Is this how You answer the high priest?”

23 Jesus replied, “If I said something wrong, testify as to what was wrong. But if I spoke correctly, why did you strike Me?”

24 Then Annas sent Him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.