2 Samuel 19, 2 Corinthians 12, Ezekiel 26, Psalm 74

2 Samuel 19,

1 Joab was told, "The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom."
 
2 And for the whole army the victory that day was turned into mourning, because on that day the troops heard it said, "The king is grieving for his son."
 
3 The men stole into the city that day as men steal in who are ashamed when they flee from battle.
 
4 The king covered his face and cried aloud, "O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!"
 
5 Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, "Today you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines.
 
6 You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead.
 
7 Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the LORD that if you don't go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come upon you from your youth till now."
 
8 So the king got up and took his seat in the gateway. When the men were told, "The king is sitting in the gateway," they all came before him. Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled to their homes.
 
9 Throughout the tribes of Israel, the people were all arguing with each other, saying, "The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies; he is the one who rescued us from the hand of the Philistines. But now he has fled the country because of Absalom;
 
10 and Absalom, whom we anointed to rule over us, has died in battle. So why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?"
 
11 King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests: "Ask the elders of Judah, 'Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace, since what is being said throughout Israel has reached the king at his quarters?
 
12 You are my brothers, my own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to bring back the king?'
 
13 And say to Amasa, 'Are you not my own flesh and blood? May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if from now on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab.' "
 
14 He won over the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man. They sent word to the king, "Return, you and all your men."
 
15 Then the king returned and went as far as the Jordan. Now the men of Judah had come to Gilgal to go out and meet the king and bring him across the Jordan.
 
16 Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David.
 
17 With him were a thousand Benjamites, along with Ziba, the steward of Saul's household, and his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They rushed to the Jordan, where the king was.
 
18 They crossed at the ford to take the king's household over and to do whatever he wished. When Shimei son of Gera crossed the Jordan, he fell prostrate before the king
 
19 and said to him, "May my lord not hold me guilty. Do not remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king put it out of his mind.
 
20 For I your servant know that I have sinned, but today I have come here as the first of the whole house of Joseph to come down and meet my lord the king."
 
21 Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said, "Shouldn't Shimei be put to death for this? He cursed the LORD's anointed."
 
22 David replied, "What do you and I have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? This day you have become my adversaries! Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Do I not know that today I am king over Israel?"
 
23 So the king said to Shimei, "You shall not die." And the king promised him on oath.
 
24 Mephibosheth, Saul's grandson, also went down to meet the king. He had not taken care of his feet or trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he returned safely.
 
25 When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, "Why didn't you go with me, Mephibosheth?"
 
26 He said, "My lord the king, since I your servant am lame, I said, 'I will have my donkey saddled and will ride on it, so I can go with the king.' But Ziba my servant betrayed me.
 
27 And he has slandered your servant to my lord the king. My lord the king is like an angel of God; so do whatever pleases you.
 
28 All my grandfather's descendants deserved nothing but death from my lord the king, but you gave your servant a place among those who eat at your table. So what right do I have to make any more appeals to the king?"
 
29 The king said to him, "Why say more? I order you and Ziba to divide the fields."
 
30 Mephibosheth said to the king, "Let him take everything, now that my lord the king has arrived home safely."
 
31 Barzillai the Gileadite also came down from Rogelim to cross the Jordan with the king and to send him on his way from there.
 
32 Now Barzillai was a very old man, eighty years of age. He had provided for the king during his stay in Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man.
 
33 The king said to Barzillai, "Cross over with me and stay with me in Jerusalem, and I will provide for you."
 
34 But Barzillai answered the king, "How many more years will I live, that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king?
 
35 I am now eighty years old. Can I tell the difference between what is good and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats and drinks? Can I still hear the voices of men and women singers? Why should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?
 
36 Your servant will cross over the Jordan with the king for a short distance, but why should the king reward me in this way?
 
37 Let your servant return, that I may die in my own town near the tomb of my father and mother. But here is your servant Kimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king. Do for him whatever pleases you."
 
38 The king said, "Kimham shall cross over with me, and I will do for him whatever pleases you. And anything you desire from me I will do for you."
 
39 So all the people crossed the Jordan, and then the king crossed over. The king kissed Barzillai and gave him his blessing, and Barzillai returned to his home.
 
40 When the king crossed over to Gilgal, Kimham crossed with him. All the troops of Judah and half the troops of Israel had taken the king over.
 
41 Soon all the men of Israel were coming to the king and saying to him, "Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, steal the king away and bring him and his household across the Jordan, together with all his men?"
 
42 All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, "We did this because the king is closely related to us. Why are you angry about it? Have we eaten any of the king's provisions? Have we taken anything for ourselves?"
 
43 Then the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, "We have ten shares in the king; and besides, we have a greater claim on David than you have. So why do you treat us with contempt? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king?" But the men of Judah responded even more harshly than the men of Israel.
 

2 Corinthians 12,

1 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.
 
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know-God knows.
 
3 And I know that this man-whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows-
 
4 was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.
 
5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.
 
6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.
 
7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
 
8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
 
9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
 
10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
 
11 I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the "super-apostles," even though I am nothing.
 
12 The things that mark an apostle-signs, wonders and miracles-were done among you with great perseverance.
 
13 How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!
 
14 Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
 
15 So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less?
 
16 Be that as it may, I have not been a burden to you. Yet, crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery!
 
17 Did I exploit you through any of the men I sent you?
 
18 I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our brother with him. Titus did not exploit you, did he? Did we not act in the same spirit and follow the same course?
 
19 Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening.
 
20 For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.
 
21 I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.
 

Ezekiel 26,

1 In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
 
2 "Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, 'Aha! The gate to the nations is broken, and its doors have swung open to me; now that she lies in ruins I will prosper,'
 
3 therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the sea casting up its waves.
 
4 They will destroy the walls of Tyre and pull down her towers; I will scrape away her rubble and make her a bare rock.
 
5 Out in the sea she will become a place to spread fishnets, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD. She will become plunder for the nations,
 
6 and her settlements on the mainland will be ravaged by the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD.
 
7 "For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: From the north I am going to bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, with horsemen and a great army.
 
8 He will ravage your settlements on the mainland with the sword; he will set up siege works against you, build a ramp up to your walls and raise his shields against you.
 
9 He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and demolish your towers with his weapons.
 
10 His horses will be so many that they will cover you with dust. Your walls will tremble at the noise of the war horses, wagons and chariots when he enters your gates as men enter a city whose walls have been broken through.
 
11 The hoofs of his horses will trample all your streets; he will kill your people with the sword, and your strong pillars will fall to the ground.
 
12 They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise; they will break down your walls and demolish your fine houses and throw your stones, timber and rubble into the sea.
 
13 I will put an end to your noisy songs, and the music of your harps will be heard no more.
 
14 I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread fishnets. You will never be rebuilt, for I the LORD have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD.
 
15 "This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Tyre: Will not the coastlands tremble at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan and the slaughter takes place in you?
 
16 Then all the princes of the coast will step down from their thrones and lay aside their robes and take off their embroidered garments. Clothed with terror, they will sit on the ground, trembling every moment, appalled at you.
 
17 Then they will take up a lament concerning you and say to you: " 'How you are destroyed, O city of renown, peopled by men of the sea! You were a power on the seas, you and your citizens; you put your terror on all who lived there.
 
18 Now the coastlands tremble on the day of your fall; the islands in the sea are terrified at your collapse.'
 
19 "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When I make you a desolate city, like cities no longer inhabited, and when I bring the ocean depths over you and its vast waters cover you,
 
20 then I will bring you down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of long ago. I will make you dwell in the earth below, as in ancient ruins, with those who go down to the pit, and you will not return or take your place in the land of the living.
 
21 I will bring you to a horrible end and you will be no more. You will be sought, but you will never again be found, declares the Sovereign LORD."
 

Psalm 74

1 Why have you rejected us forever, O God? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
 
2 Remember the people you purchased of old, the tribe of your inheritance, whom you redeemed-Mount Zion, where you dwelt.
 
3 Turn your steps toward these everlasting ruins, all this destruction the enemy has brought on the sanctuary.
 
4 Your foes roared in the place where you met with us; they set up their standards as signs.
 
5 They behaved like men wielding axes to cut through a thicket of trees.
 
6 They smashed all the carved paneling with their axes and hatchets.
 
7 They burned your sanctuary to the ground; they defiled the dwelling place of your Name.
 
8 They said in their hearts, "We will crush them completely!" They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.
 
9 We are given no miraculous signs; no prophets are left, and none of us knows how long this will be.
 
10 How long will the enemy mock you, O God? Will the foe revile your name forever?
 
11 Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!
 
12 But you, O God, are my king from of old; you bring salvation upon the earth.
 
13 It was you who split open the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monster in the waters.
 
14 It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave him as food to the creatures of the desert.
 
15 It was you who opened up springs and streams; you dried up the ever flowing rivers.
 
16 The day is yours, and yours also the night; you established the sun and moon.
 
17 It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter.
 
18 Remember how the enemy has mocked you, O LORD, how foolish people have reviled your name.
 
19 Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts; do not forget the lives of your afflicted people forever.
 
20 Have regard for your covenant, because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
 
21 Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace; may the poor and needy praise your name.
 
22 Rise up, O God, and defend your cause; remember how fools mock you all day long.
 
23 Do not ignore the clamor of your adversaries, the uproar of your enemies, which rises continually.