2 Samuel 2
1 Afterward David inquired of the Lord, “Should I go up to one of the cities of Judah?” The Lord told him, “Go up.” David asked, “Where should I go?” The Lord replied, “To Hebron.” 2 So David went up, along with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail, formerly the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 3 David also brought along the men who were with him, each with his family. They settled in the cities of Hebron. 4 The men of Judah came and there they anointed David as king over the people of Judah.
David was told, “The people of Jabesh Gilead are the ones who buried Saul.” 5 So David sent messengers to the people of Jabesh Gilead and told them, “May you be blessed by the Lord because you have shown this kindness to your lord Saul by burying him. 6 Now may the Lord show you true kindness! I also will reward you, because you have done this deed. 7 Now be courageous and prove to be valiant warriors, for your lord Saul is dead. The people of Judah have anointed me as king over them.”
8 Now Abner son of Ner, the general in command of Saul’s army, had taken Saul’s son Ish Bosheth and had brought him to Mahanaim. 9 He appointed him king over Gilead, the Geshurites, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, and all Israel. 10 Ish Bosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he began to rule over Israel. He ruled two years. However, the people of Judah followed David. 11 David was king in Hebron over the people of Judah for seven-and-a-half years.
12 Then Abner son of Ner and the servants of Ish Bosheth son of Saul went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. 13 Joab son of Zeruiah and the servants of David also went out and confronted them at the pool of Gibeon. One group stationed themselves on one side of the pool, and the other group on the other side of the pool. 14 Abner said to Joab, “Let the soldiers get up and fight before us.” Joab said, “So be it!”
15 So they got up and crossed over by number: twelve belonging to Benjamin and to Ish Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve from the servants of David. 16 As they grappled with one another, each one stabbed his opponent with his sword and they fell dead together. So that place is called the Field of Flints; it is in Gibeon.
17 Now the battle was very severe that day; Abner and the men of Israel were overcome by David’s soldiers. 18 The three sons of Zeruiah were there—Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. (Now Asahel was as quick on his feet as one of the gazelles in the field.) 19 Asahel chased Abner, without turning to the right or to the left as he followed Abner.
20 Then Abner turned and asked, “Is that you, Asahel?” He replied, “Yes it is!” 21 Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right or to your left. Capture one of the soldiers and take his equipment for yourself!” But Asahel was not willing to turn aside from following him. 22 So Abner spoke again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me! I do not want to strike you to the ground. How then could I show my face in the presence of Joab your brother?” 23 But Asahel refused to turn aside. So Abner struck him in the abdomen with the back end of his spear. The spear came out his back; Asahel collapsed on the spot and died there right before Abner. Everyone who came to the place where Asahel fell dead paused in respect.
24 So Joab and Abishai chased Abner. At sunset they came to the hill of Ammah near Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. 25 The Benjaminites formed their ranks behind Abner and were like a single army, standing at the top of a certain hill.
26 Then Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize that this will turn bitter in the end? When will you tell the people to turn aside from pursuing their brothers?” 27 Joab replied, “As surely as God lives, if you had not said this, it would have been morning before the people would have abandoned pursuit of their brothers.” 28 Then Joab blew the ram’s horn and all the people stopped in their tracks. They stopped chasing Israel and ceased fighting. 29 Abner and his men went through the rift valley all that night. They crossed the Jordan River and went through the whole region of Bitron and came to Mahanaim.
30 Now Joab returned from chasing Abner and assembled all the people. Nineteen of David’s soldiers were missing, in addition to Asahel. 31 But David’s soldiers had slaughtered the Benjaminites and Abner’s men—in all, 360 men had died! 32 They took Asahel’s body and buried him in his father’s tomb at Bethlehem. Joab and his men then traveled all that night and reached Hebron by dawn.
1 Corinthians 13
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit.
4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. 6 It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, 10 but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Ezekiel 11
1 A wind lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s temple that faces the east. There, at the entrance of the gate, I noticed twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people. 2 The Lord said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who plot evil and give wicked advice in this city. 3 They say, ‘The time is not near to build houses; the city is a cooking pot, and we are the meat in it.’ 4 Therefore, prophesy against them! Prophesy, son of man!”
5 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon me and said to me, “Say: ‘This is what the Lord says: This is what you are thinking, O house of Israel; I know what goes through your minds. 6 You have killed many people in this city; you have filled its streets with corpses.’ 7 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘The corpses you have dumped in the midst of the city are the meat, and this city is the cooking pot, but I will take you out of it. 8 You fear the sword, so the sword I will bring against you,’ declares the Sovereign Lord. 9 ‘But I will take you out of the city. And I will hand you over to foreigners. I will execute judgments on you. 10 You will die by the sword; I will judge you at the border of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 11 This city will not be a cooking pot for you, and you will not be meat within it; I will judge you at the border of Israel. 12 Then you will know that I am the Lord, whose statutes you have not followed and whose regulations you have not carried out. Instead you have behaved according to the regulations of the nations around you!’”
13 Now, while I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I threw myself face down and cried out with a loud voice, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! You are completely wiping out the remnant of Israel!”
14 Then the Lord’s message came to me: 15 “Son of man, your brothers, your relatives, and the whole house of Israel, all of them are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘They have gone far away from the Lord; to us this land has been given as a possession.’
16 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I have removed them far away among the nations and have dispersed them among the countries, I have been a little sanctuary for them among the lands where they have gone.’
17 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I regather you from the peoples and assemble you from the lands where you have been dispersed, I will give you back the country of Israel.’
18 “When they return to it, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. 19 I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them; I will remove the hearts of stone from their bodies and I will give them tender hearts, 20 so that they may follow my statutes and observe my regulations and carry them out. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But those whose hearts are devoted to detestable things and abominations, I hereby repay them for what they have done, says the Sovereign Lord.”
22 Then the cherubim spread their wings with their wheels alongside them while the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them. 23 The glory of the Lord rose up from within the city and stopped over the mountain east of it. 24 Then a wind lifted me up and carried me to the exiles in Babylonia, in the vision given to me by the Spirit of God.
Then the vision I had seen went up from me. 25 So I told the exiles everything the Lord had shown me.
Psalms 50
1 El, God, the Lord has spoken,
and summoned the earth to come from the east and west.
2 From Zion, the most beautiful of all places,
God has come in splendor.
3 “May our God come
and not be silent.”
Consuming fire goes ahead of him,
and all around him a storm rages.
4 He summons the heavens above,
as well as the earth, so that he might judge his people.
5 He says:
“Assemble my covenant people before me,
those who ratified a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6 The heavens declare his fairness,
for God is judge. (Selah)
7 He says:
“Listen, my people. I am speaking!
Listen, Israel. I am accusing you.
I am God, your God!
8 I am not condemning you because of your sacrifices,
or because of your burnt sacrifices that you continually offer me.
9 I do not need to take a bull from your household
or goats from your sheepfolds.
10 For every wild animal in the forest belongs to me,
as well as the cattle that graze on a thousand hills.
11 I keep track of every bird in the hills,
and the insects of the field are mine.
12 Even if I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and all it contains belong to me.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls?
Do I drink the blood of goats?
14 Present to God a thank offering.
Repay your vows to the Most High.
15 Pray to me when you are in trouble.
I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
16 God says this to the evildoer:
“How can you declare my commands,
and talk about my covenant?
17 For you hate instruction
and reject my words.
18 When you see a thief, you join him;
you associate with men who are unfaithful to their wives.
19 You do damage with words,
and use your tongue to deceive.
20 You plot against your brother;
you slander your own brother.
21 When you did these things, I was silent,
so you thought I was exactly like you.
But now I will condemn you
and state my case against you.
22 Carefully consider this, you who reject God.
Otherwise I will rip you to shreds
and no one will be able to rescue you.
23 Whoever presents a thank offering honors me.
To whoever obeys my commands, I will reveal my power to deliver.”
