2 SAMUEL 19:11-20:13
JOHN 21:1-25
PSALM 120:1-7
PROVERBS 16:16-17
2 SAMUEL 19:11-20:13
Then King David sent Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, to say to the leaders of Judah, " Why are you the last ones to reinstate the king? For I have heard that all Israel is ready, and only you are holding out. 12 Yet you are my relatives, my own tribe, my own flesh and blood! Why are you the last ones to welcome me back?" 13 And David told them to tell Amasa, " Since you are my nephew, may God strike me dead if I do not appoint you as commander of my army in place of Joab." 14 Then Amasa convinced all the leaders of Judah, and they responded unanimously. They sent word to the king, " Return to us, and bring back all those who are with you." 15 So the king started back to Jerusalem. And when he arrived at the Jordan River, the people of Judah came to Gilgal to meet him and escort him across the river. 16 Then Shimei son of Gera, the man from Bahurim in Benjamin, hurried across with the men of Judah to welcome King David. 17 A thousand men from the tribe of Benjamin were with him, including Ziba, the servant of Saul, and Ziba's fifteen sons and twenty servants. They rushed down to the Jordan to arrive ahead of the king. 18 They all crossed the ford and worked hard ferrying the king's household across the river, helping them in every way they could. As the king was about to cross the river, Shimei fell down before him. 19 " My lord the king, please forgive me," he pleaded. " Forget the terrible thing I did when you left Jerusalem. 20 I know how much I sinned. That is why I have come here today, the very first person in all Israel to greet you." 21 Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said, " Shimei should die, for he cursed the LORD's anointed king!" 22 " What am I going to do with you sons of Zeruiah!" David exclaimed. " This is not a day for execution but for celebration! I am once again the king of Israel!" 23 Then, turning to Shimei, David vowed, " Your life will be spared." 24 Now Mephibosheth, Saul's grandson, arrived from Jerusalem to meet the king. He had not washed his feet or clothes nor trimmed his beard since the day the king left Jerusalem. 25 " Why didn't you come with me, Mephibosheth?" the king asked him. 26 Mephibosheth replied, " My lord the king, my servant Ziba deceived me. I told him, ` Saddle my donkey so that I can go with the king.' For as you know I am crippled. 27 Ziba has slandered me by saying that I refused to come. But I know that you are like an angel of God, so do what you think is best. 28 All my relatives and I could expect only death from you, my lord, but instead you have honored me among those who eat at your own table! So how can I complain?" 29 " All right," David replied. " My decision is that you and Ziba will divide your land equally between you." 30 " Give him all of it," Mephibosheth said. " I am content just to have you back again, my lord!" 31 Barzillai of Gilead now arrived from Rogelim to conduct the king across the Jordan. 32 He was very old, about eighty, and very wealthy. He was the one who had provided food for the king during his stay in Mahanaim. 33 " Come across with me and live in Jerusalem," the king said to Barzillai. " I will take care of you there." 34 " No," he replied, " I am far too old for that. 35 I am eighty years old today, and I can no longer enjoy anything. Food and wine are no longer tasty, and I cannot hear the musicians as they play. I would only be a burden to my lord the king. 36 Just to go across the river with you is all the honor I need! 37 Then let me return again to die in my own town, where my father and mother are buried. But here is my son Kimham. Let him go with you and receive whatever good things you want to give him."38 " Good," the king agreed. " Kimham will go with me, and I will do for him whatever I would have done for you." 39 So all the people crossed the Jordan with the king. After David had blessed and embraced him, Barzillai returned to his own home. 40 The king then went on to Gilgal, taking Kimham with him. All the army of Judah and half the army of Israel escorted him across the river. 41 But the men of Israel complained to the king that the men of Judah had gotten to do most of the work in helping him cross the Jordan. 42 " Why not?" the men of Judah replied. " The king is one of our own tribe. Why should this make you angry? We have charged him nothing. And he hasn't fed us or even given us gifts!" 43 " But there are ten tribes in Israel," the others replied. " So we have ten times as much right to the king as you do. Why did you treat us with such contempt? Remember, we were the first to speak of bringing him back to be our king again." The argument continued back and forth, and the men of Judah were very harsh in their replies.20:1 THEN a troublemaker named Sheba son of Bicri, a man from the tribe of Benjamin, blew a trumpet and shouted, " We have nothing to do with David. We want no part of this son of Jesse. Come on, you men of Israel, let's all go home!" 2 So the men of Israel deserted David and followed Sheba. But the men of Judah stayed with their king and escorted him from the Jordan River to Jerusalem. 3 When the king arrived at his palace in Jerusalem, he instructed that the ten concubines he had left to keep house should be placed in seclusion. Their needs were to be cared for, he said, but he would no longer sleep with them. So each of them lived like a widow until she died. 4 Then the king instructed Amasa to mobilize the army of Judah within three days and to report back at that time. 5 So Amasa went out to notify the troops, but it took him longer than the three days he had been given. 6 Then David said to Abishai, " That troublemaker Sheba is going to hurt us more than Absalom did. Quick, take my troops and chase after him before he gets into a fortified city where we can't reach him." 7 So Abishai and Joab set out after Sheba with an elite guard from Joab's army and the king's own bodyguard. 8 As they arrived at the great stone in Gibeon, Amasa met them, coming from the opposite direction. Joab was wearing his uniform with a dagger strapped to his belt. As he stepped forward to greet Amasa, he secretly slipped the dagger from its sheath. 9 " How are you, my cousin?" Joab said and took him by the beard with his right hand as though to kiss him. 10 Amasa didn't notice the dagger in his left hand, and Joab stabbed him in the stomach with it so that his insides gushed out onto the ground. Joab did not need to strike again, and Amasa soon died. Joab and his brother Abishai left him lying there and continued after Sheba. 11 One of Joab's young officers shouted to Amasa's troops, " If you are for Joab and David, come and follow Joab." 12 But Amasa lay in his blood in the middle of the road, and Joab's officer saw that a crowd was gathering around to stare at him. So he pulled him off the road into a field and threw a cloak over him. 13 With Amasa's body out of the way, everyone went on with Joab to capture Sheba.
JOHN 21:1-25
Later Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. This is how it happened. 2 Several of the disciples were there--Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples. 3 Simon Peter said, " I'm going fishing." " We'll come, too," they all said. So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night. 4 At dawn the disciples saw Jesus standing on the beach, but they couldn't see who he was. 5 He called out, " Friends, have you caught any fish?" " No," they replied. 6 Then he said, " Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you'll get plenty of fish!" So they did, and they couldn't draw in the net because there were so many fish in it. 7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, " It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and swam ashore. 8 The others stayed with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for they were only out about three hundred feet. 9 When they got there, they saw that a charcoal fire was burning and fish were frying over it, and there was bread. 10 " Bring some of the fish you've just caught," Jesus said. 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were 153 large fish, and yet the net hadn't torn. 12 " Now come and have some breakfast!" Jesus said. And no one dared ask him if he really was the Lord because they were sure of it. 13 Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. 14 This was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead. 15 After breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, " Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" " Yes, Lord," Peter replied, " you know I love you." " Then feed my lambs," Jesus told him. 16 Jesus repeated the question: " Simon son of John, do you love me?" " Yes, Lord," Peter said, " you know I love you." " Then take care of my sheep," Jesus said. 17 Once more he asked him, " Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, " Lord, you know everything. You know I love you." Jesus said, " Then feed my sheep. 18 The truth is, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked and go wherever you wanted to. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will direct you and take you where you don't want to go." 19 Jesus said this to let him know what kind of death he would die to glorify God. Then Jesus told him, " Follow me." 20 Peter turned around and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them--the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, " Lord, who among us will betray you?" 21 Peter asked Jesus, " What about him, Lord?" 22 Jesus replied, " If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You follow me." 23 So the rumor spread among the community of believers that that disciple wouldn't die. But that isn't what Jesus said at all. He only said, " If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?" 24 This is that disciple who saw these events and recorded them here. And we all know that his account of these things is accurate. 25 And I suppose that if all the other things Jesus did were written down, the whole world could not contain the books.
PSALM 120:1-7
A song for the ascent to Jerusalem.
1 I took my troubles to the LORD;
I cried out to him, and he answered my prayer.
2 Rescue me, O LORD, from liars
and from all deceitful people.
3 O deceptive tongue, what will God do to you?
How will he increase your punishment?
4 You will be pierced with sharp arrows
and burned with glowing coals.
5 How I suffer among these scoundrels of Meshech!
It pains me to live with these people from Kedar!
6 I am tired of living here
among people who hate peace.
7 As for me, I am for peace;
but when I speak, they are for war!
PROVERBS 16:16-17
How much better to get wisdom than gold, and understanding than silver! The path of the upright leads away from evil; whoever follows that path is safe.
