One Year Bible.

Absalom’s Conspiracy

¹Some 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.”

⁴And 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.”

⁵Also, 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.

⁷After 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.

¹⁰Then 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!’”

¹¹Two 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.

David Flees Jerusalem

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

¹⁴And 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.”

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

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

¹⁷So 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.

¹⁹Then 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.”

²¹But 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.

²³Everyone in the countryside was weeping loudly as all the people passed by. And as the king crossed the Kidron Valley, all the people also passed toward the way of the wilderness.

²⁴Zadok was also there, and all the Levites with him were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had passed out of the city.

²⁵Then the king said to Zadok, “Return the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, He will bring me back and let me see both it and His dwelling place again. ²⁶But if He should say, ‘I do not delight in you,’ then here I am; let Him do to me whatever seems good to Him.”

²⁷The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Are you not a seer? Return to the city in peace— you with your son Ahimaaz, and Abiathar with his son Jonathan. ²⁸See, I will wait at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.”

²⁹So Zadok and Abiathar returned the ark of God to Jerusalem and stayed there.

David Weeps at the Mount of Olives

³⁰But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went up. His head was covered, and he was walking barefoot. And all the people with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went.

³¹Now someone told David: “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.”

So David pleaded, “O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!”

³²When David came to the summit, where he used to worship God, Hushai the Archite was there to meet him with his robe torn and dust on his head.

³³David said to him, “If you go on with me, you will be a burden to me. ³⁴But you can thwart the counsel of Ahithophel for me if you return to the city and say to Absalom: ‘I will be your servant, my king; in the past I was your father’s servant, but now I will be your servant.’

³⁵Will not Zadok and Abiathar the priests be there with you? Report to them everything you hear from the king’s palace. ³⁶Indeed, their two sons, Ahimaaz son of Zadok and Jonathan son of Abiathar, are there with them. Send them to me with everything you hear.”

³⁷So David’s friend Hushai arrived in Jerusalem just as Absalom was entering the city.

David and Ziba

¹When David had gone a little beyond the summit, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth was there to meet him. He had a pair of saddled donkeys loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred clusters of raisins, a hundred summer fruits, and a skin of wine.

²“Why do you have these?” asked the king.

Ziba replied, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride, the bread and summer fruit are for the young men to eat, and the wine is to refresh those who become exhausted in the wilderness.”

³“Where is your master’s grandson?” asked the king.

And Ziba answered, “Indeed, he is staying in Jerusalem, for he has said, ‘Today, the house of Israel will restore to me the kingdom of my grandfather.’”

⁴So the king said to Ziba, “All that belongs to Mephibosheth is now yours!”

“I humbly bow before you,” said Ziba. “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord the king!”

Shimei Curses David

⁵As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the family of the house of Saul was just coming out. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and as he approached, he kept yelling out curses. ⁶He threw stones at David and at all the servants of the king, though the troops and all the mighty men were on David’s right and left.

⁷And as he yelled curses, Shimei said, “Get out, get out, you worthless man of bloodshed! ⁸The LORD has paid you back for all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the LORD has delivered the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, you have come to ruin because you are a man of bloodshed!”

⁹Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!”

¹⁰But the king replied, “What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? If he curses me because the LORD told him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why did you do this?’”

¹¹Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my own son, my own flesh and blood, seeks my life. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone and let him curse me, for the LORD has told him so. ¹²Perhaps the LORD will see my affliction and repay me with good for the cursing I receive today.”

¹³So David and his men proceeded along the road as Shimei went along the ridge of the hill opposite him. As Shimei went, he yelled curses, threw stones, and flung dust at David. ¹⁴Finally, the king and all the people with him arrived, exhausted. And there he refreshed himself.

The Counsel of Ahithophel and Hushai

¹⁵Then Absalom and all the men of Israel came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with him. ¹⁶And David’s friend Hushai the Archite went to Absalom and said to him, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

¹⁷“Is this the loyalty you show your friend?” Absalom replied. “Why did you not go with your friend?”

¹⁸“Not at all,” Hushai answered. “For the one chosen by the LORD, by this people, and by all the men of Israel — his I will be, and with him I will remain. ¹⁹Furthermore, whom should I serve if not his son? As I served in your father’s presence, so also I will serve in yours.”

²⁰Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give me counsel. What should we do?”

²¹Ahithophel replied, “Sleep with your father’s concubines, whom he has left to take care of the palace. When all Israel hears that you have become a stench to your father, then the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

²²So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

²³Now in those days the advice of Ahithophel was like the consultation of the word of God. Such was the regard that both David and Absalom had for Ahithophel’s advice.

The LORD’s Power Shown in Leviathan

¹“Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook

or tie down his tongue with a rope?

²Can you put a cord through his nose

or pierce his jaw with a hook?

³Will he beg you for mercy

or speak to you softly?

⁴Will he make a covenant with you

to take him as a slave for life?

⁵Can you pet him like a bird

or put him on a leash for your maidens?

⁶Will traders barter for him

or divide him among the merchants?

⁷Can you fill his hide with harpoons

or his head with fishing spears?

⁸If you lay a hand on him,

you will remember the battle and never repeat it!

⁹Surely hope of overcoming him is false.

Is not the sight of him overwhelming?

¹⁰No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan.

Then who is able to stand against Me?

¹¹Who has given to Me that I should repay him?

Everything under heaven is Mine.

¹²I cannot keep silent about his limbs,

his power and graceful form.

¹³Who can strip off his outer coat?

Who can approach him with a bridle?

¹⁴Who can open his jaws,

ringed by his fearsome teeth?

¹⁵His rows of scales are his pride,

tightly sealed together.

¹⁶One scale is so near to another

that no air can pass between them.

¹⁷They are joined to one another;

they clasp and cannot be separated.

¹⁸His snorting flashes with light,

and his eyes are like the rays of dawn.

¹⁹Firebrands stream from his mouth;

fiery sparks shoot forth!

²⁰Smoke billows from his nostrils

as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.

²¹His breath sets coals ablaze,

and flames pour from his mouth.

²²Strength resides in his neck,

and dismay leaps before him.

²³The folds of his flesh are tightly joined;

they are firm and immovable.

²⁴His chest is as hard as a rock,

as hard as a lower millstone!

²⁵When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified;

they withdraw before his thrashing.

²⁶The sword that reaches him has no effect,

nor does the spear or dart or arrow.

²⁷He regards iron as straw

and bronze as rotten wood.

²⁸No arrow can make him flee;

slingstones become like chaff to him.

²⁹A club is regarded as straw,

and he laughs at the sound of the lance.

³⁰His undersides are jagged potsherds,

spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge.

³¹He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron;

he makes the sea like a jar of ointment.

³²He leaves a glistening wake behind him;

one would think the deep had white hair!

³³Nothing on earth is his equal—

a creature devoid of fear!

³⁴He looks down on all the haughty;

he is king over all the proud.”

Job Submits Himself to the LORD

¹Then Job replied to the LORD:

²“I know that You can do all things

and that no plan of Yours can be thwarted.

³You asked, ‘Who is this

who conceals My counsel without knowledge?’

Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,

things too wonderful for me to know.

⁴You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak.

I will question you, and you shall inform Me.’

⁵My ears had heard of You,

but now my eyes have seen You.

⁶Therefore I despise myself,

and I repent in dust and ashes.”

The LORD Rebukes Job’s Friends

⁷After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has. ⁸So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has.”

⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD had told them; and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.

The LORD Blesses Job

¹⁰After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his prosperity and doubled his former possessions. ¹¹All his brothers and sisters and prior acquaintances came and dined with him in his house. They consoled him and comforted him over all the adversity that the LORD had brought upon him. And each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.

¹²So the LORD blessed Job’s latter days more than his first. He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. ¹³And he also had seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴He named his first daughter Jemimah, his second Keziah, and his third Keren-happuch. ¹⁵No women as beautiful as Job’s daughters could be found in all the land, and their father granted them an inheritance among their brothers.

¹⁶After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. ¹⁷And so Job died, old and full of years.