The Daily Audio Bible
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The woman from Tekoa
14 Zeruiah's son, Joab, knew how much the king wanted to see Absalom. 2 So he sent a message to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He said to her, ‘Pretend that you are upset because of someone's death. Dress in funeral clothes. Do not use any perfume on your body. You must seem like a woman who has been sad for a long time. 3 Then go to the king to speak to him.’ Then Joab told her the words that she should speak to the king.
4 So the woman from Tekoa went to the king. She bent her body down low with her face towards the ground. She gave honour to the king. Then she said, ‘Please help me, sir!’
5 The king asked her, ‘What is your trouble?’[a]
She said, ‘My husband is dead, sir, and I am a widow. 6 I had two sons. One day, they were fighting in the fields. There was nobody near to stop them. One son knocked down the other son and killed him. 7 Now all my relatives have turned against me. They want to take my son from me, because he killed his brother. They say that he must die. That is the punishment that he deserves. But if they do that, I will have no son. My husband will have no descendants, so the name of our family will not continue.’
8 The king said to the woman, ‘Go to your home. I will make sure that your son is safe.’
9 Then the woman said to the king, ‘My lord the king, I pray that nobody will think that you have done anything wrong. They should call me guilty, but not you or your family.’
10 The king replied, ‘If anyone says anything against you, bring him to me. After that, he will not cause you any more trouble.’
11 Then the woman said, ‘Sir, please stop my relative from punishing my son with death. I do not want this son to die as well as my other son. Please promise me in the name of the Lord your God that it will not happen.’
The king replied, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, I promise that nobody will touch even one hair of your son's head.’
12 Then the woman said, ‘Please sir, there is one other thing that I want to tell you.’
King David said, ‘Tell me.’
13 The woman said, ‘I think that you have done a wrong thing like this against God's own people. You have not let your own son return to his home. He still lives in a foreign city. Because of what you have said to me, you show that you yourself are guilty. 14 We must all die one day. When that happens, we are like water that is poured on the ground. We cannot pick it up again. But God does not remove our lives from us. Instead, he finds a way to bring us back to him when we have gone far away.
15 My lord the king, I have told you this because the people have made me afraid. I thought to myself, “I will speak to the king. I do not deserve it, but perhaps he will do what I ask him to do. 16 Perhaps he will listen to me. Perhaps he will save me from the man who wants to destroy both me and my son. That man wants to take away from us the land that God gave to us.”
17 Now I can say, “I know that the promise of my lord the king will keep me safe. The king can judge things like an angel of God. He knows what is right and what is wrong.” I pray that the Lord your God will be with you!’
18 Then the king said to the woman, ‘Now I want to ask you a question. You must not hide the truth from me.’
She replied, ‘Ask me anything, sir.’
19 The king asked her, ‘Is it Joab who has told you to do this?’
The woman answered, ‘My lord the king, as surely as you live, I cannot hide the truth from you. Yes, it was your servant Joab who told me what to do. He gave me the words to say. 20 He did it because he wanted things to be different. But you, my lord, are as wise as one of God's angels. You know everything that happens in our land.’
21 Then the king spoke to Joab. He said, ‘I have decided to do what you want. Go and bring back the young man Absalom.’
22 Joab bent his body down low with his face towards the ground. He thanked the king. He said, ‘Now I know that you are pleased with me. You have agreed to do what I have asked you to do.’
Joab brings Absalom back to Jerusalem
23 Then Joab went to Geshur. He brought Absalom back to Jerusalem. 24 But the king said, ‘Absalom must go to live in his own house. I do not want him to come to see me.’
So Absalom did not go to see the king. Instead, he went to live in his own house.
25 Everyone in Israel praised Absalom. They all thought that he was the most handsome man in the whole country. His body was perfect, from head to toe. 26 Once every year he cut his hair because it became too heavy. Each time, the hair that he cut off weighed about 2 kilograms.
27 Absalom had three sons and one daughter. Her name was Tamar. She was a very beautiful woman.
28 Absalom lived in Jerusalem for two years, but he never saw the king. 29 Then Absalom sent a message to Joab. He asked Joab to come to him. He wanted Joab to go to the king on his behalf. But Joab refused to come to Absalom. So then Absalom sent another message, but Joab still refused to come. 30 Then Absalom said to his servants, ‘Joab has a field that is next to mine. Some barley is growing in it. Go and light a fire there, so that it all burns.’ So Absalom's servants went to Joab's field and they did that.
31 Then Joab did go to Absalom's house. He asked Absalom, ‘Why did your servants take fire and burn my field?’
32 Absalom replied, ‘You did not come when I sent messages to you. I wanted you to take a message to the king on my behalf. I wanted to ask the king, “Why have you brought me from Geshur to Jerusalem? It would have been better for me to stay there!” Now I want to go to see the king myself. If he thinks that I am guilty, then he can punish me with death.’
33 So Joab went to the king. He told the king what Absalom had said. King David then sent his men to bring Absalom to him. When Absalom arrived, he bent his body down low in front of the king, with his face towards the ground. The king was happy and he kissed Absalom.
Absalom turns against King David
15 Some time later, Absalom bought a chariot and some horses. He had 50 men who ran in front of the chariot to give him honour. 2 Every day, he got up early in the morning. Then he went to stand at the side of the road near the city's gate. He called out to anyone who was bringing a problem for the king to judge. He would ask them, ‘Which town have you come from?’ Then the man would tell Absalom which tribe of Israel he belonged to. 3 Then Absalom would say, ‘I am sure that you are right. You deserve to receive justice. But the king has not given any of his officers authority to listen to you.’ 4 Absalom would also say, ‘I think that I should have authority to be a judge in Israel. Then when people have a problem to take to court, they could come to me. I would make sure that they receive justice.’
5 When anyone bent his body down low to give honour to Absalom, Absalom would reach out and pull the man towards him. He would kiss the man. 6 Absalom did this to all the Israelites who came to Jerusalem to ask the king for justice. In that way, Absalom turned the people of Israel so that they became faithful to him.
7 After four years, Absalom said to the king, ‘Please let me go to Hebron. I need to make a sacrifice to the Lord, as I promised to do. 8 When I was living at Geshur with the Arameans, I made this promise: “If the Lord brings me back to live in Jerusalem, I will go to Hebron and I will worship him there.” ’
9 The king said, ‘Yes, you may go.’ So Absalom left Jerusalem and he went to Hebron.
10 Then Absalom sent his men to go secretly to all the tribes of Israel. They took this message to the people: ‘When you hear the noise of trumpets, then you must shout, “Absalom has become king in Hebron.” ’
11 200 men had gone with Absalom from Jerusalem. He had asked them to go with him as his friends. They trusted him and they did not know about his ideas. 12 Absalom offered his sacrifices as he had promised to do. But at the same time he sent men to fetch Ahithophel from Giloh, where he lived. Ahithophel was King David's advisor. More and more people agreed to join Absalom and turn against David. So Absalom was becoming more powerful.
David runs away from Jerusalem
13 Somebody brought this message to David: ‘The Israelites are now faithful to Absalom instead of you.’
14 So David said to the officers who were with him in Jerusalem, ‘We must go! We must run away! If we do not do that, no one will escape from Absalom. Hurry, or he will quickly catch us here. Then he will destroy us and our whole city!’
15 The king's officers answered, ‘Our lord the king, we will do anything that you decide is right.’
16 So the king left home. He took all his servants and family with him. But he left ten of his slave wives to take care of the palace. 17 As King David and all his people were leaving, they stopped at the last house on the edge of Jerusalem. 18 All his officers and his personal guards, the Kerethites and Pelethites, went on past him. There were also 600 men who had come with him from Gath. All these people were leaving Jerusalem with the king.
19 Then the king asked Ittai, who came from Gath, ‘Why are you coming with us? Go back into the city and join with Absalom, the new king. You have come from another country and you live here as a foreigner. 20 It seems like only a few days since you arrived here. There is no reason for you to travel with us. I do not even know where we are going! So you should go back. Take your men with you. I pray that the Lord will keep you safe with his faithful love.’
21 But Ittai replied to the king, ‘As surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you live, I promise that I will go with you, sir. Wherever you go, I will be there with you. My lord the king, I will stay with you, even if it brings death.’
22 So David said to Ittai, ‘Go on ahead of me.’ So Ittai, with all his men and their families, went on ahead of David.
Soldiers take Jesus to the leader of the priests
18 When Jesus had finished praying, he and his disciples went out. They went across the Kidron valley. On the other side, there was a garden. Jesus and his disciples went into it. 2 Judas, who sold Jesus to his enemies, knew the garden. He knew the place because Jesus and his disciples had met there often. 3 The leaders of the priests and the Pharisees sent a group of soldiers and some officers with Judas. He led these soldiers and officers to the garden.[a] The soldiers had weapons and they carried lights.
4 Jesus knew everything that would soon happen to him. He went towards them and he asked them, ‘Who are you looking for?’ 5 They answered, ‘Jesus, who comes from Nazareth.’ Jesus said, ‘That is who I am.’
Judas, who sold Jesus to his enemies, was standing there with the soldiers. 6 When Jesus said the words, ‘I am,’ the soldiers quickly moved away from him.[b] They fell down to the ground. 7 So Jesus asked them again, ‘Who are you looking for?’ They said, ‘Jesus, who comes from Nazareth.’ 8 Jesus replied, ‘I have told you already, that is who I am. Since it is me that you are looking for, let these other men go.’ 9 Jesus said this because earlier he had said, ‘I have lost none of those people that you gave to me.’ This made what he had spoken earlier really happen.
10 Simon Peter had a sword. He took hold of it and he attacked the servant of the leader of the priests. He cut off the servant's right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. 11 Then Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword away in its place! My Father has decided what great pain I must have. I will obey him completely.’
12 The group of soldiers, with their captain and the Jewish officers, took hold of Jesus. They tied him with ropes. 13 They led him first to Annas, who was the father of Caiaphas's wife. Caiaphas was the leader of the priests that year. 14 It was Caiaphas who had already spoken to the Jewish leaders. He had told them, ‘It is better that one man should die on behalf of the people.’[c]
Peter says that he does not know Jesus
15 Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. That other disciple and the leader of the priests knew each other. So that disciple went with Jesus into the yard of the house of the leader of the priests. 16 But Peter stayed outside by the gate. Then the other disciple went out again. He spoke to the girl who was watching at the gate. Then he brought Peter into the yard. 17 The girl who was at the gate asked Peter, ‘Are you another of this man's disciples?’ Peter replied, ‘No, I am not!’
18 It was cold. So the servants and the officers had made a fire. They were standing around it to make themselves warm. Peter went to stand with them, so that he could make himself warm too.
The leader of the priests asks Jesus questions
19 The leader of the priests asked Jesus questions about his disciples. He also asked about what Jesus taught. 20 Jesus answered him, ‘I have always taught in the Jewish meeting places, or at the temple. Those are public places where all the Jews meet together. I have said nothing secretly. 21 So you do not need to ask me these questions. You can ask the people who heard me when I taught them. They know what I said.’
22 When Jesus said this, one of the soldiers hit him on the face. The soldier said, ‘You should not speak to the leader of the priests like that!’ 23 Jesus replied, ‘If I said something wrong, tell us what it is. But if I said something that is true, you should not have hit me.’[d] 24 Then Annas sent Jesus to Caiaphas, the leader of the priests.[e] Jesus still had ropes tied round his arms.
MEM
97 I love your Law very much.
I think about it all the time.
98 Your commands make me wiser than my enemies.
They are always in my thoughts.
99 I understand more than all my teachers,
because I think about your rules.
100 I understand more than people who are old,
because I respect your teaching.
101 I do not follow evil ways,
so that I can obey your word.
102 I do not turn away from your rules,
because you are my teacher.
103 Your words are very good.
They taste sweeter than honey in my mouth!
104 Your teaching helps me to understand things,
so I hate anything that is false.
NUN
105 Your word is like a lamp that shines as my guide.
It shows me the right way to live.
106 I have made a strong promise
that I will always obey your righteous rules.
107 I have a lot of trouble and pain.
Lord, please keep me safe,
as you have promised to do.
108 Lord, please accept the praise
that I choose to offer to you.
Teach me your rules.
109 My life is always in danger,
but I never forget your Law.
110 Wicked people try to catch me in a trap,
but I do not turn away from your teaching.
111 Your laws will always be with me.
They make me happy deep inside.
112 I have decided to obey your commands always,
until the end of my life.
8 If you do what is right but you are not rich,
that is better than to be rich because you cheat people.
9 People make plans for what they will do,
but it is the Lord who leads them in the right way.
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