The Daily Audio Bible

Absalom dies

18 David brought together all the men who were with him. He chose some officers to lead groups of 1,000 soldiers, and some to lead groups of 100 soldiers. ² David sent his army out in three groups. Joab led one group. Joab's brother Abishai, Zeruiah's son, led another group. Ittai from Gath led the third group. The king said to them all, ‘I myself will go with you into battle.’

³ But the men replied, ‘No, you must not go with us. If we have to run away quickly, it will not matter to Absalom's men. Even if they kill half of our soldiers, it will not seem important to them. What they really want is to kill you. You are worth 10,000 of us. You must stay here in the city. Then you can send help to us if we need it.’

⁴ The king said to them, ‘I will do whatever you think is good.’ So he stood beside the gate of the city while his army marched out. They marched out in their groups of hundreds and of thousands. ⁵ The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, ‘Because the young man Absalom is my son, do not hurt him.’ All the soldiers heard David give this command to the three officers.

⁶ David's army marched out to fight Israel's army. They fought the battle in the forest of Ephraim. ⁷ David's soldiers won the fight against Israel's soldiers. Many soldiers died in the battle that day. There were 20,000 dead men. ⁸ They fought the battle everywhere in the forest and around it. The forest itself caused the death of more men than the battle did.

⁹ During the battle, Absalom was riding on his mule and he met some of David's soldiers. His mule carried him under a big oak tree. The tree's branches caught Absalom's hair so that he hung there above the ground. His mule ran off and left him there.

¹⁰ One of David's men saw what had happened. He told Joab, ‘I have seen Absalom. He is hanging from an oak tree.’

¹¹ Joab said to the man who told him the news, ‘You saw him there, did you? So why did you not kill him? I would have given you ten silver coins and a brave soldier's belt.’

¹² But the man replied, ‘I would never hurt the king's son, even for a gift of 1,000 silver coins. We all heard the king give this command to you, Abishai and Ittai. He said, “Keep the young man Absalom safe, because he is my son.” ¹³ If I had killed Absalom, my own life would be in danger. The king knows everything that happens! You would not have tried to save me from the king's punishment.’

¹⁴ Joab said, ‘I cannot stay here while you talk like this.’ So he took three spears and he went to the tree where Absalom was hanging. While Absalom was still alive, Joab pushed the spears into Absalom's heart. ¹⁵ Then ten of Joab's own guards came around Absalom. They knocked him down and they killed him.

¹⁶ Then Joab made a sound with his trumpet to stop the battle. So his soldiers stopped chasing after Israel's soldiers. ¹⁷ They took Absalom's dead body and they threw it into a deep hole in the forest. They made a big heap of stones over the body.

All the Israelite soldiers ran back to their homes.

¹⁸ While Absalom was alive, he had built a tall pillar in the King's Valley. He built it so that people would remember him. He thought, ‘I have no son, so my family's name will not continue.’ He put his own name on the pillar, so people still call it Absalom's Pillar.

David hears about Absalom's death

¹⁹ Zadok's son Ahimaaz said to Joab, ‘Let me run to give the king the good news. I will tell him that the Lord has saved him from the power of his enemies.’

²⁰ Joab said, ‘No, it will not be good news for the king. His son is dead. You must not take this news today. Another day there will be good news for you to take to him, but not today.’

²¹ Then Joab spoke to a servant who came from Ethiopia, ‘Go now to the king. Tell him what you have seen.’ The man bent down in front of Joab and then he ran off with the message.

²² Zadok's son Ahimaaz spoke to Joab again. He said, ‘I am not afraid of what may happen to me. Please let me run after the Ethiopian man.’

But Joab replied, ‘Why do you want to go as well? The king will not give you any gift for this news.’

²³ Ahimaaz said, ‘But I do want to go, whatever happens.’

So Joab said, ‘Run after him, then!’

So Ahimaaz ran fast along a road in the Jordan Valley. He arrived near Mahanaim before the Ethiopian man.

²⁴ David was sitting between the two gates of Mahanaim city.^[a] A man went up to the top of the wall, on the roof above the gate. He was watching the road. As he looked, he saw a man who was running towards the city. He was running alone. ²⁵ So the man on the wall shouted a message to the king, to say what he had seen.

The king said, ‘If the man is alone, he is bringing good news.’ The man who was running towards the city came much nearer.

²⁶ Then the man on the wall saw another man who was running towards the city. He called down to the guard at the city's gate, ‘Look! There is another man who is running alone!’

The king said, ‘He will bring good news, too.’

²⁷ The man on the wall said, ‘The first man is running like Zadok's son, Ahimaaz.’

The king said, ‘He is a good man. I am sure that he brings good news.’

²⁸ Then Ahimaaz shouted to the king, ‘All is well!’ He bent down low in front of the king, with his face towards the ground. He said, ‘Praise the Lord your God! He has put your enemies under your power. They turned against you, my lord the king, but they have lost the fight.’

²⁹ The king asked, ‘Is the young man Absalom safe?’

Ahimaaz answered, ‘When Joab sent me, your servant, I saw that many people had come together. There was a lot of noise, but I do not know what was happening.’

³⁰ The king said, ‘Stand over there and wait.’ So Ahimaaz moved away and he waited.

³¹ Then the Ethiopian man arrived. He said, ‘My lord the king, listen to this good news! Today the Lord has helped you to win the fight. He has kept you safe from all the people who turned against you.’

³² The king asked the Ethiopian man, ‘Is the young man Absalom safe?’

The man replied, ‘My lord the king, I hope that your enemies and all those who want to hurt you would be as dead as he is!’

³³ The king became very upset. He went upstairs to the room above the gate. He wept loudly. As he went, he cried, ‘My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! It would be better if I had died instead of you! Absalom, my son, my son!’

Joab warns King David

19 Someone told Joab that the king was very sad and he was weeping because Absalom was dead. ² All the people heard the news that the king was very sad about his son's death. King David's army had won the battle, so everyone should have been very happy. But instead, they were all sad. ³ The soldiers came very quietly back into Mahanaim city. It seemed like they were ashamed because they had run away from the battle. ⁴ The king covered his face and he cried, ‘Absalom, Absalom! My son, my son!’

⁵ Then Joab went to see the king in his room. He said to the king, ‘Today you have made your men feel ashamed. But the army has saved your life today. We have saved the lives of your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your slave wives. ⁶ You seem to love the people who hate you. And you seem to hate the people who love you! You have shown today that your officers and soldiers are not important to you. It seems that you would be happy if Absalom were still alive, and all the rest of us were dead. ⁷ Now go out and speak to your soldiers. Thank them that they have fought well. If you do not do that, none of your men will remain here tonight. I tell you in the Lord's name, that will certainly happen. That would bring worse trouble to you than anything that has happened in your whole life.’

⁸ So the king went out from his room. He went to sit by the city's gate. People heard the news, ‘The king is sitting by the gate.’ So they all came there to listen to him.

David returns to Jerusalem as king

At this time, the Israelite soldiers had run back to their own homes. ⁹ People in all the Israelite tribes were quarrelling with each other. They were saying, ‘King David saved us from the power of the Philistines and all our other enemies. But now Absalom has chased him out of our land. ¹⁰ We chose Absalom to be our king, but now he has died in the battle. We should surely go and bring David back to be our king again.’

The hole in the rock is empty

20 Early on the first day of the week, Mary from Magdala went to the hole in the rock. It was still dark. She saw that someone had removed the big stone from the front of the hole. ² So she ran to where Simon Peter was. He was with the other disciple, the one that Jesus loved. She said to them, ‘Somebody has taken the Lord's body out of the hole. We do not know where they have put him!’

³ So Peter and the other disciple started to go to the place where Jesus' body had been. ⁴ Both of them were running. But the other disciple ran faster than Peter ran. So he reached the hole first. ⁵ He bent himself down and he looked inside the hole. He saw the pieces of linen cloth that were lying there. But he did not go in. ⁶ Simon Peter had run behind the other disciple. When he arrived, he went into the hole. He saw the pieces of cloth that were lying there. ⁷ Also, he saw the piece of cloth that had been around Jesus' head. This was not in the same place as the long pieces of linen cloth. Someone had put it carefully in a separate place. ⁸ The other disciple had reached the place first, and now he also went inside. He saw and he believed. ⁹ They still did not understand what the Bible already said. It said that Jesus had to become alive again after he had died.^[a]

Jesus appears to Mary from Magdala

¹⁰ Then the disciples returned to the place where they were staying. ¹¹ But Mary stood outside the hole in the rock. She was crying. While she cried, she bent herself down to look inside the hole. ¹² She saw two angels there. They were wearing white clothes. They were sitting where Jesus' dead body had been. One angel was sitting where Jesus' head had been. The other angel was sitting where his feet had been.

¹³ They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ She replied, ‘They have taken away my Lord. I do not know where they have put him.’ ¹⁴ When she had said this, she turned round. She saw a man who was standing there. It was Jesus, but she did not recognize him. ¹⁵ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?’ Mary thought that he was the gardener. So she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away somewhere, please tell me. Tell me where you have put him. Then I will go and I will take him away.’

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned towards him and she said in the Jewish language, ‘Rabboni!’ (This means ‘Teacher’.) ¹⁷ Jesus said, ‘Do not hold on to me because I have not gone up to the Father yet. But go to my brothers, the disciples. Tell them, “Now I will go up to my Father. He is also your Father. He is my God, and he is your God.” ’ ¹⁸ Mary from Magdala took this message to the disciples. She went to them and she said, ‘I have seen the Lord!’ Then she told them the things that Jesus had said to her.

Jesus appears to his disciples

¹⁹ On the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the disciples were meeting together. They had locked the doors of the room because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Then Jesus came and he stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ ²⁰ After he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were very, very happy when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, in the same way I am now sending you.’ ²² When he had said this, he breathed on them. He said, ‘Receive God's Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive a person's sins, God will forgive them too. If you do not forgive them, God will not forgive them.’

Jesus shows himself to Thomas

²⁴ One of the 12 disciples was called Thomas. (He was also called ‘the Twin’.) He was not with the other disciples when Jesus came to them. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But Thomas said to them, ‘I will never believe that he is alive again unless I myself see him. I want to see the marks of the nails in his hands. I want to touch where the nails were with my finger. I want to put my hand into his side where the spear went in. If I cannot do that, I will not believe.’

²⁶ Eight days after that, the disciples were in the house again. This time Thomas was with them. They had locked the door. But Jesus came and he stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger in here. Look at my hands. Put your hand here, in my side. Do not refuse to believe what is true. Now, believe.’ ²⁸ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord, and my God!’ ²⁹ Jesus said to him, ‘You believe because you have seen me. Other people have not seen me, but they do believe in me. God is really happy with those people.’

The purpose of this book

³⁰ Jesus did many other miracles while the disciples were with him. I have not written about all of them in this book. ³¹ But I have written about these things, so that you will be able to believe the truth. You will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Because you believe in him, you will have life with God.

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