Day 161 of 365

2 Sam 14:1–33

1 Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was toward Absalom.

2 Joab sent to Tekoa, and fetched there a wise woman, and said to her, "Please act like a mourner, and put on mourning clothing, please, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but be as a woman who has mourned a long time for the dead.

3 Go in to the king, and speak like this to him." So Joab put the words in her mouth.

4 When the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, showed respect, and said, "Help, O king!"

5 The king said to her, "What ails you?" She answered, "Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead.

6 Your handmaid had two sons, and they both fought together in the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one struck the other, and killed him.

7 Behold, the whole family has risen against your handmaid, and they say, 'Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he killed, and so destroy the heir also.' Thus they would quench my coal which is left, and would leave to my husband neither name nor remainder on the surface of the earth."

8 The king said to the woman, "Go to your house, and I will give a command concerning you."

9 The woman of Tekoa said to the king, "My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father's house; and the king and his throne be guiltless."

10 The king said, "Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall not touch you any more."

11 Then she said, "Please let the king remember the Lord your God, that the avenger of blood destroy not any more, lest they destroy my son." He said, "As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground."

12 Then the woman said, "Please let your handmaid speak a word to my lord the king." He said, "Say on."

13 The woman said, "Why then have you devised such a thing against the people of God? For in speaking this word the king is as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring home again his banished one.

14 For we must die, and are as water split on the ground, which can't be gathered up again; neither does God take away life, but devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast from him.

15 Now therefore seeing that I have come to speak this word to my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid: and your handmaid said, 'I will now speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his servant.'

16 For the king will hear, to deliver his servant out of the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God.

17 Then your handmaid said, 'Please let the word of my lord the king bring rest; for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad. May the Lord, your God, be with you.'"

18 Then the king answered the woman, "Please do not hide anything from me that I ask you." The woman said, "Let my lord the king now speak."

19 The king said, "Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?" The woman answered, "As your soul lives, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab, he urged me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your handmaid;

20 to change the face of the matter has your servant Joab done this thing. My lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth."

21 The king said to Joab, "Behold now, I have done this thing. Go therefore, bring the young man Absalom back."

22 Joab fell to the ground on his face, showed respect, and blessed the king. Joab said, "Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord, king, in that the king has performed the request of his servant."

23 So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.

24 The king said, "Let him return to his own house, but let him not see my face." So Absalom returned to his own house, and did not see the king's face.

25 Now in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.

26 When he cut the hair of his head (now it was at every year's end that he cut it; because it was heavy on him, therefore he cut it); he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels, after the king's weight.

27 To Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar: she was a woman of a beautiful face.

28 Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem; and he did not see the king's face.

29 Then Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king; but he would not come to him: and he sent again a second time, but he would not come.

30 Therefore he said to his servants, "Behold, Joab's field is near mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire." Absalom's servants set the field on fire. [And the servants of Joab came to him with their clothes rent, and they said to him, "The servants of Absalom have set the field on fire."]

31 Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom to his house, and said to him, "Why have your servants set my field on fire?"

32 Absalom answered Joab, "Behold, I sent to you, saying, 'Come here, that I may send you to the king, to say, "Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to be there still. Now therefore let me see the king's face; and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me."'"

33 So Joab came to the king, and told him; and when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king, and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king: and the king kissed Absalom.

John 18:31–19:11

18:31 Pilate therefore said to them, "Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law." Therefore the Jewish leaders said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,"

18:32 that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what kind of death he should die.

18:33 Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, called Jesus, and said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?"

18:34 Jesus answered him, "Do you say this by yourself, or did others tell you about me?"

18:35 Pilate answered, "I'm not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done?"

18:36 Jesus answered, "My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I would not be delivered to the Jewish leaders. But now my Kingdom is not from here."

18:37 Pilate therefore said to him, "Are you a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this reason I have been born, and for this reason I have come into the world, that I should testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice."

18:38 Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" When he had said this, he went out again to the Jewish leaders, and said to them, "I find no basis for a charge against him.

18:39 But you have a custom, that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Therefore do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?"

18:40 Then they shouted again, saying, "Not this man, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a robber.

19:1 So Pilate then took Jesus, and flogged him.

19:2 The soldiers twisted thorns into a crown, and put it on his head, and dressed him in a purple garment.

19:3 And they kept coming up to him and saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" and they struck him with their hands.

19:4 Then Pilate went out again, and said to them, "Behold, I bring him out to you, that you may know that I find no basis for a charge against him."

19:5 Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. Pilate said to them, "Behold, the man!"

19:6 When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they shouted, saying, "Crucify! Crucify!" Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves, and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against him."

19:7 The Jewish leaders answered him, "We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God."

19:8 When therefore Pilate heard this saying, he was more afraid.

19:9 He entered into the Praetorium again, and said to Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus gave him no answer.

19:10 Pilate therefore said to him, "Are not you speaking to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and have power to crucify you?"

19:11 Jesus answered, "You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin."

Eccl 5:12–20

12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.

13 There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.

14 Those riches perish by misfortune, and if he has fathered a son, there is nothing in his hand.

15 As he came forth from his mother's womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.

16 This also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labors for the wind?

17 All his days he also eats in darkness, he is frustrated, and has sickness and wrath.

18 Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion.

19 Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor-this is the gift of God.

20 For he shall not often reflect on the days of his life; because God occupies him with the joy of his heart.