Jumat, 13 September

1.   And David numbered the people who were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. 2.   Then David sent out one third of the people under the hand of Joab, one third under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and one third under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the people, "I also will surely go out with you myself." 3.   But the people answered, "You shall not go out! For if we flee away, they will not care about us; nor if half of us die, will they care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us now. For you are now more help to us in the city." 4.   Then the king said to them, "Whatever seems best to you I will do." So the king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands. 5.   Now the king had commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, saying, " Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom." And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains orders concerning Absalom. 6.   So the people went out into the field of battle against Israel. And the battle was in the woods of Ephraim. 7.   The people of Israel were overthrown there before the servants of David, and a great slaughter of twenty thousand took place there that day. 8.   For the battle there was scattered over the face of the whole countryside, and the woods devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. 9.   Then Absalom met the servants of David. Absalom rode on a mule. The mule went under the thick boughs of a great terebinth tree, and his head caught in the terebinth; so he was left hanging between heaven and earth. And the mule which was under him went on. 10.   Now a certain man saw it and told Joab, and said, "I just saw Absalom hanging in a terebinth tree!" 11.   So Joab said to the man who told him, "You just saw him ! And why did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have given you ten shekels of silver and a belt." 12.   But the man said to Joab, "Though I were to receive a thousand shekels of silver in my hand, I would not raise my hand against the king’s son. For in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘Beware lest anyone touch the young man Absalom!’ 13.   "Otherwise I would have dealt falsely against my own life. For there is nothing hidden from the king, and you yourself would have set yourself against me ." 14.   Then Joab said, "I cannot linger with you." And he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through Absalom’s heart, while he was still alive in the midst of the terebinth tree. 15.   And ten young men who bore Joab’s armor surrounded Absalom, and struck and killed him. 16.   So Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing Israel. For Joab held back the people. 17.   And they took Absalom and cast him into a large pit in the woods, and laid a very large heap of stones over him. Then all Israel fled, everyone to his tent. 18.   Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up a pillar for himself, which is in the King’s Valley. For he said, "I have no son to keep my name in remembrance." He called the pillar after his own name. And to this day it is called Absalom’s Monument. 19.   Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, "Let me run now and take the news to the king, how the LORD has avenged him of his enemies." 20.   And Joab said to him, "You shall not take the news this day, for you shall take the news another day. But today you shall take no news, because the king’s son is dead." 21.   Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." So the Cushite bowed himself to Joab and ran. 22.   And Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said again to Joab, "But whatever happens, please let me also run after the Cushite." So Joab said, "Why will you run, my son, since you have no news ready?" 23.   "But whatever happens," he said , "let me run." So he said to him, "Run." Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain, and outran the Cushite. 24.   Now David was sitting between the two gates. And the watchman went up to the roof over the gate, to the wall, lifted his eyes and looked, and there was a man, running alone. 25.   Then the watchman cried out and told the king. And the king said, "If he is alone, there is news in his mouth." And he came rapidly and drew near. 26.   Then the watchman saw another man running, and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, "There is another man, running alone!" And the king said, "He also brings news." 27.   So the watchman said, "I think the running of the first is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok." And the king said, "He is a good man, and comes with good news." 28.   And Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, "All is well!" Then he bowed down with his face to the earth before the king, and said, "Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delivered up the men who raised their hand against my lord the king!" 29.   The king said, "Is the young man Absalom safe?" Ahimaaz answered, "When Joab sent the king’s servant and me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I did not know what it was about ." 30.   And the king said, "Turn aside and stand here." So he turned aside and stood still. 31.   Just then the Cushite came, and the Cushite said, "There is good news, my lord the king! For the LORD has avenged you this day of all those who rose against you." 32.   And the king said to the Cushite, "Is the young man Absalom safe?" So the Cushite answered, "May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise against you to do harm, be like that young man!" 33.   Then the king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went, he said thus: "O my son Absalom––my son, my son Absalom––if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!"

1.   And Joab was told, "Behold, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom." 2.   So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the people. For the people heard it said that day, "The king is grieved for his son." 3.   And the people stole back into the city that day, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle. 4.   But the king covered his face, and the king cried out with a loud voice, "O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!" 5.   Then Joab came into the house to the king, and said, "Today you have disgraced all your servants who today have saved your life, the lives of your sons and daughters, the lives of your wives and the lives of your concubines, 6.   "in that you love your enemies and hate your friends. For you have declared today that you regard neither princes nor servants; for today I perceive that if Absalom had lived and all of us had died today, then it would have pleased you well. 7.   "Now therefore, arise, go out and speak comfort to your servants. For I swear by the LORD, if you do not go out, not one will stay with you this night. And that will be worse for you than all the evil that has befallen you from your youth until now." 8.   Then the king arose and sat in the gate. And they told all the people, saying, "There is the king, sitting in the gate." So all the people came before the king. For everyone of Israel had fled to his tent.

1.   The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the instruction of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, 2.   "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: 3.   ‘You said, "Woe is me now! For the LORD has added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest."’ 4.   "Thus you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: "Behold, what I have built I will break down, and what I have planted I will pluck up, that is, this whole land. 5.   "And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them ; for behold, I will bring adversity on all flesh," says the LORD. "But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go."’"

1.   The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations. 2.   Against Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, which was by the River Euphrates in Carchemish, and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: 3.   "Order the buckler and shield, And draw near to battle! 4.   Harness the horses, And mount up, you horsemen! Stand forth with your helmets, Polish the spears, Put on the armor! 5.   Why have I seen them dismayed and turned back? Their mighty ones are beaten down; They have speedily fled, And did not look back, For fear was all around," says the LORD. 6.   "Do not let the swift flee away, Nor the mighty man escape; They will stumble and fall Toward the north, by the River Euphrates. 7.   "Who is this coming up like a flood, Whose waters move like the rivers? 8.   Egypt rises up like a flood, And its waters move like the rivers; And he says, ‘I will go up and cover the earth, I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.’ 9.   Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots! And let the mighty men come forth: The Ethiopians and the Libyans who handle the shield, And the Lydians who handle and bend the bow. 10.   For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, A day of vengeance, That He may avenge Himself on His adversaries. The sword shall devour; It shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood; For the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice In the north country by the River Euphrates. 11.   "Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt; In vain you will use many medicines; You shall not be cured. 12.   The nations have heard of your shame, And your cry has filled the land; For the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty; They both have fallen together." 13.   The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon would come and strike the land of Egypt. 14.   "Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol; Proclaim in Noph and in Tahpanhes; Say, ‘Stand fast and prepare yourselves, For the sword devours all around you.’ 15.   Why are your valiant men swept away? They did not stand Because the LORD drove them away. 16.   He made many fall; Yes, one fell upon another. And they said, ‘Arise! Let us go back to our own people And to the land of our nativity From the oppressing sword.’ 17.   They cried there, ‘Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is but a noise. He has passed by the appointed time!’ 18.   " As I live," says the King, Whose name is the LORD of hosts, "Surely as Tabor is among the mountains And as Carmel by the sea, so he shall come. 19.   O you daughter dwelling in Egypt, Prepare yourself to go into captivity! For Noph shall be waste and desolate, without inhabitant. 20.   "Egypt is a very pretty heifer, But destruction comes, it comes from the north. 21.   Also her mercenaries are in her midst like fat bulls, For they also are turned back, They have fled away together. They did not stand, For the day of their calamity had come upon them, The time of their punishment. 22.   Her noise shall go like a serpent, For they shall march with an army And come against her with axes, Like those who chop wood. 23.   "They shall cut down her forest," says the LORD, "Though it cannot be searched, Because they are innumerable, And more numerous than grasshoppers. 24.   The daughter of Egypt shall be ashamed; She shall be delivered into the hand Of the people of the north." 25.   The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: "Behold, I will bring punishment on Amon of No, and Pharaoh and Egypt, with their gods and their kings––Pharaoh and those who trust in him. 26.   "And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of his servants. Afterward it shall be inhabited as in the days of old," says the LORD. 27.   "But do not fear, O My servant Jacob, And do not be dismayed, O Israel! For behold, I will save you from afar, And your offspring from the land of their captivity; Jacob shall return, have rest and be at ease; No one shall make him afraid. 28.   Do not fear, O Jacob My servant," says the LORD, "For I am with you; For I will make a complete end of all the nations To which I have driven you, But I will not make a complete end of you. I will rightly correct you, For I will not leave you wholly unpunished."

1.   The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before Pharaoh attacked Gaza. 2.   Thus says the LORD: "Behold, waters rise out of the north, And shall be an overflowing flood; They shall overflow the land and all that is in it, The city and those who dwell within; Then the men shall cry, And all the inhabitants of the land shall wail. 3.   At the noise of the stamping hooves of his strong horses, At the rushing of his chariots, At the rumbling of his wheels, The fathers will not look back for their children, Lacking courage, 4.   Because of the day that comes to plunder all the Philistines, To cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains; For the LORD shall plunder the Philistines, The remnant of the country of Caphtor. 5.   Baldness has come upon Gaza, Ashkelon is cut off With the remnant of their valley. How long will you cut yourself? 6.   "O you sword of the LORD, How long until you are quiet? Put yourself up into your scabbard, Rest and be still! 7.   How can it be quiet, Seeing the LORD has given it a charge Against Ashkelon and against the seashore? There He has appointed it."

28.   When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29.   And it came to pass, when He came near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, 30.   saying, "Go into the village opposite you , where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here . 31.   "And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it ?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’" 32.   So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. 33.   But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, "Why are you loosing the colt?" 34.   And they said, "The Lord has need of him." 35.   Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. 36.   And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road. 37.   Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, 38.   saying: "‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" 39.   And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." 40.   But He answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out." 41.   Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, 42.   saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43.   "For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, 44.   "and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation." 45.   Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, 46.   saying to them, "It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’" 47.   And He was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him, 48.   and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to hear Him.