Inspire 21-Day Devotional: Illuminating God's Word

Is God Enough?—Encouragement From David’s Psalms

What Does God Want Me to Do Next?

One New Humanity: Mission in Ephesians

Holy, Not Superhuman

Forever Forward in Hope

HEAL BOLDLY: Healing Is Holy Work - a 5-Day Devotional Journey for Women Ready to Heal, Grow, and Rise

Losing to Win, Serving to Lead, Dying to Live

Strategy: The Strategic Faith of Caleb in Overcoming the Giants – a 5-Day Devotional by Allma Johnson

Lead Boldly: Leading From Wholeness, Not Wounds

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
   <div class="book bk2SA">
      <div class="chapter ch14" data-usfm="2SA.14">
         <div class="label">14</div><div class="s1"><span class="heading">Absalom Returns to Jerusalem</span></div><div class="p"><span class="content">  </span><span class="verse v1" data-usfm="2SA.14.1"><span class="label">1</span><span class="content">Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the king&#8217;s heart longed for Absalom. </span></span><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="2SA.14.2"><span class="label">2</span><span class="content">So Joab sent someone to Tekoa and had a wise woman brought from there. He said to her, &#8220;Pretend you are in mourning. Dress in mourning clothes, and don&#8217;t use any cosmetic lotions. Act like a woman who has spent many days grieving for the dead. </span></span><span class="verse v3" data-usfm="2SA.14.3"><span class="label">3</span><span class="content">Then go to the king and speak these words to him.&#8221; And Joab put the words in her mouth.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v3" data-usfm="2SA.14.3"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v4" data-usfm="2SA.14.4"><span class="label">4</span><span class="content">When the woman from Tekoa went</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body"><span class="fr">14:4 </span><span class="ft">Many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts </span><span class="fqa">spoke</span></span></span><span class="content"> to the king, she fell with her face to the ground to pay him honor, and she said, &#8220;Help me, Your Majesty!&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v4" data-usfm="2SA.14.4"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="2SA.14.5"><span class="label">5</span><span class="content">The king asked her, &#8220;What is troubling you?&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="2SA.14.5"><span class="content">She said, &#8220;I am a widow; my husband is dead. </span></span><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="2SA.14.6"><span class="label">6</span><span class="content">I your servant had two sons. They got into a fight with each other in the field, and no one was there to separate them. One struck the other and killed him. </span></span><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="2SA.14.7"><span class="label">7</span><span class="content">Now the whole clan has risen up against your servant; they say, &#8216;Hand over the one who struck his brother down, so that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed; then we will get rid of the heir as well.&#8217; They would put out the only burning coal I have left, leaving my husband neither name nor descendant on the face of the earth.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="2SA.14.7"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="2SA.14.8"><span class="label">8</span><span class="content">The king said to the woman, &#8220;Go home, and I will issue an order in your behalf.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="2SA.14.8"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v9" data-usfm="2SA.14.9"><span class="label">9</span><span class="content">But the woman from Tekoa said to him, &#8220;Let my lord the king pardon me and my family, and let the king and his throne be without guilt.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v9" data-usfm="2SA.14.9"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="2SA.14.10"><span class="label">10</span><span class="content">The king replied, &#8220;If anyone says anything to you, bring them to me, and they will not bother you again.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="2SA.14.10"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="2SA.14.11"><span class="label">11</span><span class="content">She said, &#8220;Then let the king invoke the </span><span class="nd"><span class="content">Lord</span></span><span class="content"> his God to prevent the avenger of blood from adding to the destruction, so that my son will not be destroyed.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="2SA.14.11"><span class="content">&#8220;As surely as the </span><span class="nd"><span class="content">Lord</span></span><span class="content"> lives,&#8221; he said, &#8220;not one hair of your son&#8217;s head will fall to the ground.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="2SA.14.11"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="2SA.14.12"><span class="label">12</span><span class="content">Then the woman said, &#8220;Let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="2SA.14.12"><span class="content">&#8220;Speak,&#8221; he replied.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="2SA.14.12"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v13" data-usfm="2SA.14.13"><span class="label">13</span><span class="content">The woman said, &#8220;Why then have you devised a thing like this against the people of God? When the king says this, does he not convict himself, for the king has not brought back his banished son? </span></span><span class="verse v14" data-usfm="2SA.14.14"><span class="label">14</span><span class="content">Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But that is not what God desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v14" data-usfm="2SA.14.14"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="2SA.14.15"><span class="label">15</span><span class="content">&#8220;And now I have come to say this to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought, &#8216;I will speak to the king; perhaps he will grant his servant&#8217;s request. </span></span><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="2SA.14.16"><span class="label">16</span><span class="content">Perhaps the king will agree to deliver his servant from the hand of the man who is trying to cut off both me and my son from God&#8217;s inheritance.&#8217;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="2SA.14.16"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="2SA.14.17"><span class="label">17</span><span class="content">&#8220;And now your servant says, &#8216;May the word of my lord the king secure my inheritance, for my lord the king is like an angel of God in discerning good and evil. May the </span><span class="nd"><span class="content">Lord</span></span><span class="content"> your God be with you.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="2SA.14.17"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="2SA.14.18"><span class="label">18</span><span class="content">Then the king said to the woman, &#8220;Don&#8217;t keep from me the answer to what I am going to ask you.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="2SA.14.18"><span class="content">&#8220;Let my lord the king speak,&#8221; the woman said.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="2SA.14.18"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v19" data-usfm="2SA.14.19"><span class="label">19</span><span class="content">The king asked, &#8220;Isn&#8217;t the hand of Joab with you in all this?&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v19" data-usfm="2SA.14.19"><span class="content">The woman answered, &#8220;As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything my lord the king says. Yes, it was your servant Joab who instructed me to do this and who put all these words into the mouth of your servant. </span></span><span class="verse v20" data-usfm="2SA.14.20"><span class="label">20</span><span class="content">Your servant Joab did this to change the present situation. My lord has wisdom like that of an angel of God&#8212;he knows everything that happens in the land.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v20" data-usfm="2SA.14.20"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v21" data-usfm="2SA.14.21"><span class="label">21</span><span class="content">The king said to Joab, &#8220;Very well, I will do it. Go, bring back the young man Absalom.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v21" data-usfm="2SA.14.21"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v22" data-usfm="2SA.14.22"><span class="label">22</span><span class="content">Joab fell with his face to the ground to pay him honor, and he blessed the king. Joab said, &#8220;Today your servant knows that he has found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, because the king has granted his servant&#8217;s request.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v22" data-usfm="2SA.14.22"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v23" data-usfm="2SA.14.23"><span class="label">23</span><span class="content">Then Joab went to Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem. </span></span><span class="verse v24" data-usfm="2SA.14.24"><span class="label">24</span><span class="content">But the king said, &#8220;He must go to his own house; he must not see my face.&#8221; So Absalom went to his own house and did not see the face of the king.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v24" data-usfm="2SA.14.24"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v25" data-usfm="2SA.14.25"><span class="label">25</span><span class="content">In all Israel there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the top of his head to the sole of his foot there was no blemish in him. </span></span><span class="verse v26" data-usfm="2SA.14.26"><span class="label">26</span><span class="content">Whenever he cut the hair of his head&#8212;he used to cut his hair once a year because it became too heavy for him&#8212;he would weigh it, and its weight was two hundred shekels</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body"><span class="fr">14:26 </span><span class="ft">That is, about 5 pounds or about 2.3 kilograms</span></span></span><span class="content"> by the royal standard.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v26" data-usfm="2SA.14.26"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v27" data-usfm="2SA.14.27"><span class="label">27</span><span class="content">Three sons and a daughter were born to Absalom. His daughter&#8217;s name was Tamar, and she became a beautiful woman.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v27" data-usfm="2SA.14.27"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v28" data-usfm="2SA.14.28"><span class="label">28</span><span class="content">Absalom lived two years in Jerusalem without seeing the king&#8217;s face. </span></span><span class="verse v29" data-usfm="2SA.14.29"><span class="label">29</span><span class="content">Then Absalom sent for Joab in order to send him to the king, but Joab refused to come to him. So he sent a second time, but he refused to come. </span></span><span class="verse v30" data-usfm="2SA.14.30"><span class="label">30</span><span class="content">Then he said to his servants, &#8220;Look, Joab&#8217;s field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire.&#8221; So Absalom&#8217;s servants set the field on fire.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v30" data-usfm="2SA.14.30"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v31" data-usfm="2SA.14.31"><span class="label">31</span><span class="content">Then Joab did go to Absalom&#8217;s house, and he said to him, &#8220;Why have your servants set my field on fire?&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v31" data-usfm="2SA.14.31"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v32" data-usfm="2SA.14.32"><span class="label">32</span><span class="content">Absalom said to Joab, &#8220;Look, I sent word to you and said, &#8216;Come here so I can send you to the king to ask, &#8220;Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there!&#8221;&#8198;&#8217; Now then, I want to see the king&#8217;s face, and if I am guilty of anything, let him put me to death.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v32" data-usfm="2SA.14.32"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v33" data-usfm="2SA.14.33"><span class="label">33</span><span class="content">So Joab went to the king and told him this. Then the king summoned Absalom, and he came in and bowed down with his face to the ground before the king. And the king kissed Absalom.</span></span></div>
      </div>
   </div>
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New International Version

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
   <div class="book bkPSA">
      <div class="chapter ch96" data-usfm="PSA.96.10">
         <div class="q1"><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="PSA.96.10"><span class="label">10</span><span class="content">Say among the nations, &#8220;The </span><span class="nd"><span class="content">Lord</span></span><span class="content"> reigns.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="PSA.96.10"><span class="content">The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="PSA.96.10"><span class="content">he will judge the peoples with equity.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="PSA.96.10"><span class="content">  </span></span></div>
      </div>
   </div>
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The Life of David Pt2 - 2 SamuelSample

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