¹It happened after this that David inquired of the Lᴏʀᴅ, saying, “Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah?” And the Lᴏʀᴅ said to him, “Go up.” David said, “Where shall I go up?” And He said, “To Hebron.” ²So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. ³And David brought up the men who were with him, every man with his household. So they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. ⁴Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, “The men of Jabesh Gilead were the ones who buried Saul.” ⁵So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead, and said to them, “You are blessed of the Lᴏʀᴅ, for you have shown this kindness to your lord, to Saul, and have buried him. ⁶And now may the Lᴏʀᴅ show kindness and truth to you. I also will repay you this kindness, because you have done this thing. ⁷Now therefore, let your hands be strengthened, and be valiant; for your master Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.” ⁸But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Ishbosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim; ⁹and he made him king over Gilead, over the Ashurites, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, over Benjamin, and over all Israel. ¹⁰Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. Only the house of Judah followed David. ¹¹And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months. ¹²Now Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. ¹³And Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out and met them by the pool of Gibeon. So they sat down, one on one side of the pool and the other on the other side of the pool. ¹⁴Then Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men now arise and compete before us.” And Joab said, “Let them arise.” ¹⁵So they arose and went over by number, twelve from Benjamin, followers of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and twelve from the servants of David. ¹⁶And each one grasped his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent’s side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called the Field of Sharp Swords, which is in Gibeon. ¹⁷So there was a very fierce battle that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David. ¹⁸Now the three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab and Abishai and Asahel. And Asahel was as fleet of foot as a wild gazelle. ¹⁹So Asahel pursued Abner, and in going he did not turn to the right hand or to the left from following Abner. ²⁰Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Are you Asahel?” He answered, “I am.” ²¹And Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and lay hold on one of the young men and take his armor for yourself.” But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. ²²So Abner said again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I face your brother Joab?” ²³However, he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him in the stomach with the blunt end of the spear, so that the spear came out of his back; and he fell down there and died on the spot. So it was that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died, stood still. ²⁴Joab and Abishai also pursued Abner. And the sun was going down when they came to the hill of Ammah, which is before Giah by the road to the Wilderness of Gibeon. ²⁵Now the children of Benjamin gathered together behind Abner and became a unit, and took their stand on top of a hill. ²⁶Then Abner called to Joab and said, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it will be bitter in the latter end? How long will it be then until you tell the people to return from pursuing their brethren?” ²⁷And Joab said, “As God lives, unless you had spoken, surely then by morning all the people would have given up pursuing their brethren.” ²⁸So Joab blew a trumpet; and all the people stood still and did not pursue Israel anymore, nor did they fight anymore. ²⁹Then Abner and his men went on all that night through the plain, crossed over the Jordan, and went through all Bithron; and they came to Mahanaim. ³⁰So Joab returned from pursuing Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing of David’s servants nineteen men and Asahel. ³¹But the servants of David had struck down, of Benjamin and Abner’s men, three hundred and sixty men who died. ³²Then they took up Asahel and buried him in his father’s tomb, which was in Bethlehem. And Joab and his men went all night, and they came to Hebron at daybreak.

¹Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ²And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. ⁴Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ⁸Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part. ¹⁰But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. ¹¹When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹²For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. ¹³And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

¹Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the East Gate of the Lᴏʀᴅ’s house, which faces eastward; and there at the door of the gate were twenty-five men, among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. ²And He said to me: “Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and give wicked counsel in this city, ³who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses; this city is the caldron, and we are the meat.’ ⁴Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man!” ⁵Then the Spirit of the Lᴏʀᴅ fell upon me, and said to me, “Speak! ‘Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: “Thus you have said, O house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind. ⁶You have multiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled its streets with the slain.” ⁷Therefore thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ God: “Your slain whom you have laid in its midst, they are the meat, and this city is the caldron; but I shall bring you out of the midst of it. ⁸You have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ God. ⁹“And I will bring you out of its midst, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and execute judgments on you. ¹⁰You shall fall by the sword. I will judge you at the border of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lᴏʀᴅ. ¹¹This city shall not be your caldron, nor shall you be the meat in its midst. I will judge you at the border of Israel. ¹²And you shall know that I am the Lᴏʀᴅ; for you have not walked in My statutes nor executed My judgments, but have done according to the customs of the Gentiles which are all around you.” ‘ ” ¹³Now it happened, while I was prophesying, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell on my face and cried with a loud voice, and said, “Ah, Lᴏʀᴅ God! Will You make a complete end of the remnant of Israel?” ¹⁴Again the word of the Lᴏʀᴅ came to me, saying, ¹⁵“Son of man, your brethren, your relatives, your countrymen, and all the house of Israel in its entirety, are those about whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Get far away from the Lᴏʀᴅ; this land has been given to us as a possession.’ ¹⁶Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ God: “Although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.” ’ ¹⁷Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ God: “I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” ’ ¹⁸And they will go there, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there. ¹⁹Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, ²⁰that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. ²¹But as for those whose hearts follow the desire for their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ God. ²²So the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was high above them. ²³And the glory of the Lᴏʀᴅ went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain, which is on the east side of the city. ²⁴Then the Spirit took me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to those in captivity. And the vision that I had seen went up from me. ²⁵So I spoke to those in captivity of all the things the Lᴏʀᴅ had shown me.

¹A Psalm of Asaph. The Mighty One, God the Lᴏʀᴅ, Has spoken and called the earth From the rising of the sun to its going down. ²Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth. ³Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; A fire shall devour before Him, And it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. ⁴He shall call to the heavens from above, And to the earth, that He may judge His people: ⁵“Gather My saints together to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” ⁶Let the heavens declare His righteousness, For God Himself is Judge. Selah ⁷“Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you; I am God, your God! ⁸I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices Or your burnt offerings, Which are continually before Me. ⁹I will not take a bull from your house, Nor goats out of your folds. ¹⁰For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills. ¹¹I know all the birds of the mountains, And the wild beasts of the field are Mine. ¹²“If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness. ¹³Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? ¹⁴Offer to God thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High. ¹⁵Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” ¹⁶But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to declare My statutes, Or take My covenant in your mouth, ¹⁷Seeing you hate instruction And cast My words behind you? ¹⁸When you saw a thief, you consented with him, And have been a partaker with adulterers. ¹⁹You give your mouth to evil, And your tongue frames deceit. ²⁰You sit and speak against your brother; You slander your own mother’s son. ²¹These things you have done, and I kept silent; You thought that I was altogether like you; But I will rebuke you, And set them in order before your eyes. ²²“Now consider this, you who forget God, Lest I tear you in pieces, And there be none to deliver: ²³Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; And to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God.”