Bible Reading
June 24
The World English Bible
June 24
2 Samuel 13-15
2Sa 13:1 It happened after this, that Absalom the son of David had a beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her.
2Sa 13:2 Amnon was so troubled that he fell sick because of his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and it seemed hard to Amnon to do anything to her.
2Sa 13:3 But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother; and Jonadab was a very subtle man.
2Sa 13:4 He said to him, Why, son of the king, are you so sad from day to day? Won't you tell me? Amnon said to him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.
2Sa 13:5 Jonadab said to him, Lay down on your bed, and pretend to be sick: and when your father comes to see you, tell him, Please let my sister Tamar come and give me bread to eat, and dress the food in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it from her hand.
2Sa 13:6 So Amnon lay down, and feigned himself sick: and when the king was come to see him, Amnon said to the king, Please let her sister Tamar come, and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand.
2Sa 13:7 Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, Go now to your brother Amnon's house, and dress him food.
2Sa 13:8 So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house; and he was laid down. She took dough, and kneaded it, and made cakes in his sight, and did bake the cakes.
2Sa 13:9 She took the pan, and poured them out before him; but he refused to eat. Amnon said, Have out all men from me. They went out every man from him.
2Sa 13:10 Amnon said to Tamar, Bring the food into the chamber, that I may eat from your hand. Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and brought them into the chamber to Amnon her brother.
2Sa 13:11 When she had brought them near to him to eat, he took hold of her, and said to her, Come, lie with me, my sister.
2Sa 13:12 She answered him, No, my brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be done in Israel. Don't you do this folly.
2Sa 13:13 I, where shall I carry my shame? and as for you, you will be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, please speak to the king; for he will not withhold me from you.
2Sa 13:14 However he would not listen to her voice; but being stronger than she, he forced her, and lay with her.
2Sa 13:15 Then Amnon hated her with exceeding great hatred; for the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. Amnon said to her, Arise, be gone.
2Sa 13:16 She said to him, Not so, because this great wrong in putting me forth is worse than the other that you did to me. But he would not listen to her.
2Sa 13:17 Then he called his servant who ministered to him, and said, Put now this woman out from me, and bolt the door after her.
2Sa 13:18 She had a garment of various colors on her; for with such robes were the king's daughters who were virgins dressed. Then his servant brought her out, and bolted the door after her.
2Sa 13:19 Tamar put ashes on her head, and tore her garment of various colors that was on her; and she laid her hand on her head, and went her way, crying aloud as she went.
2Sa 13:20 Absalom her brother said to her, Has Amnon your brother been with you? but now hold your peace, my sister: he is your brother; don't take this thing to heart. So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom's house.
2Sa 13:21 But when king David heard of all these things, he was very angry.
2Sa 13:22 Absalom spoke to Amnon neither good nor bad; for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar.
2Sa 13:23 It happened after two full years, that Absalom had sheepshearers in Baal Hazor, which is beside Ephraim: and Absalom invited all the king's sons.
2Sa 13:24 Absalom came to the king, and said, See now, your servant has sheepshearers; please let the king and his servants go with your servant.
2Sa 13:25 The king said to Absalom, No, my son, let us not all go, lest we be burdensome to you. He pressed him: however he would not go, but blessed him.
2Sa 13:26 Then said Absalom, If not, please let my brother Amnon go with us. The king said to him, Why should he go with you?
2Sa 13:27 But Absalom pressed him, and he let Amnon and all the king's sons go with him.
2Sa 13:28 Absalom commanded his servants, saying, Mark now, when Amnon's heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, Smite Amnon, then kill him; don't be afraid; haven't I commanded you? be courageous, and be valiant.
2Sa 13:29 The servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and every man got him up on his mule, and fled.
2Sa 13:30 It happened, while they were in the way, that the news came to David, saying, Absalom has slain all the king's sons, and there is not one of them left.
2Sa 13:31 Then the king arose, and tore his garments, and lay on the earth; and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn.
2Sa 13:32 Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother, answered, Don't let my lord suppose that they have killed all the young men the king's sons; for Amnon only is dead; for by the appointment of Absalom this has been determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar.
2Sa 13:33 Now therefore don't let my lord the king take the thing to his heart, to think that all the king's sons are dead; for Amnon only is dead.
2Sa 13:34 But Absalom fled. The young man who kept the watch lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, many people were coming by way of the hillside behind him.
2Sa 13:35 Jonadab said to the king, Behold, the king's sons are come: as your servant said, so it is.
2Sa 13:36 It happened, as soon as he had made an end of speaking, that behold, the king's sons came, and lifted up their voice, and wept: and the king also and all his servants wept very sore.
2Sa 13:37 But Absalom fled, and went to Talmai the son of Ammihur, king of Geshur. David mourned for his son every day.
2Sa 13:38 So Absalom fled, and went to Geshur, and was there three years.
2Sa 13:39 the soul of king David longed to go forth to Absalom: for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.
2Sa 14:1 Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was toward Absalom.
2Sa 14:2 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 don't anoint yourself with oil, but be as a woman who has a long time mourned for the dead:
2Sa 14:3 and go in to the king, and speak on this manner to him. So Joab put the words in her mouth.
2Sa 14:4 When the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help, O king.
2Sa 14:5 The king said to her, What ails you? She answered, Of a truth I am a widow, and my husband is dead.
2Sa 14:6 Your handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and there was none to part them, but the one struck the other, and killed him.
2Sa 14:7 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 will they quench my coal which is left, and will leave to my husband neither name nor remainder on the surface of the earth.
2Sa 14:8 The king said to the woman, Go to your house, and I will give a command concerning you.
2Sa 14:9 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.
2Sa 14:10 The king said, Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall not touch you any more.
2Sa 14:11 Then said she, Please let the king remember Yahweh your God, that the avenger of blood destroy not any more, lest they destroy my son. He said, As Yahweh lives, there shall not one hair of your son fall to the earth.
2Sa 14:12 Then the woman said, Please let your handmaid speak a word to my lord the king. He said, Say on.
2Sa 14:13 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.
2Sa 14:14 For we must needs 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.
2Sa 14:15 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.
2Sa 14:16 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.
2Sa 14:17 Then your handmaid said, Please let the word of my lord the king be comfortable; for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad: and Yahweh your God be with you.
2Sa 14:18 Then the king answered the woman, Please don't hide anything from me that I shall ask you. The woman said, Let my lord the king now speak.
2Sa 14:19 The king said, Is the hand of Joab with you in all this? The woman answered, As your soul lives, my lord the king, none can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your handmaid;
2Sa 14:20 to change the face of the matter has your servant Joab done this thing: and my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth.
2Sa 14:21 The king said to Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom back.
2Sa 14:22 Joab fell to the ground on his face, and did obeisance, and blessed the king: and 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.
2Sa 14:23 So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.
2Sa 14:24 The king said, Let him turn to his own house, but let him not see my face. So Absalom turned to his own house, and didn't see the king's face.
2Sa 14:25 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.
2Sa 14:26 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.
2Sa 14:27 To Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar: she was a woman of a beautiful face.
2Sa 14:28 Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem; and he didn't see the king's face.
2Sa 14:29 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.
2Sa 14:30 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.
2Sa 14:31 Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom to his house, and said to him, Why have your servants set my field on fire?
2Sa 14:32 Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent to you, saying, Come here, that I may send you to the king, to say, Why am I come from Geshur? it were better for me to be there still. Now therefore let me see the king's face; and if there be iniquity in me, let him kill me.
2Sa 14:33 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.
2Sa 15:1 It happened after this, that Absalom prepared him a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him.
2Sa 15:2 Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgment, then Absalom called to him, and said, What city are you from? He said, Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.
2Sa 15:3 Absalom said to him, Behold, your matters are good and right; but there is no man deputized of the king to hear you.
2Sa 15:4 Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man who has any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice!
2Sa 15:5 It was so, that when any man came near to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took hold of him, and kissed him.
2Sa 15:6 In this manner Absalom did to all Israel who came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
2Sa 15:7 It happened at the end of forty years, that Absalom said to the king, please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to Yahweh, in Hebron.
2Sa 15:8 For your servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria, saying, If Yahweh shall indeed bring me again to Jerusalem, then I will serve Yahweh.
2Sa 15:9 The king said to him, Go in peace. So he arose, and went to Hebron.
2Sa 15:10 But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, Absalom is king in Hebron.
2Sa 15:11 With Absalom went two hundred men out of Jerusalem, who were invited, and went in their simplicity; and they didn't know anything.
2Sa 15:12 Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. The conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom.
2Sa 15:13 There came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom.
2Sa 15:14 David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee; for else none of us shall escape from Absalom: make speed to depart, lest he overtake us quickly, and bring down evil on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword.
2Sa 15:15 The king's servants said to the king, Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king shall choose.
2Sa 15:16 The king went forth, and all his household after him. The king left ten women, who were concubines, to keep the house.
2Sa 15:17 The king went forth, and all the people after him; and they stayed in Beth Merhak.
2Sa 15:18 All his servants passed on beside him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came after him from Gath, passed on before the king.
2Sa 15:19 Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, Why do you also go with us? return, and stay with the king: for you are a foreigner, and also an exile; return to your own place.
2Sa 15:20 Whereas you came but yesterday, should I this day make you go up and down with us, seeing I go where I may? return, and take back your brothers; mercy and truth be with you.
2Sa 15:21 Ittai answered the king, and said, As Yahweh lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether for death or for life, even there also will your servant be.
2Sa 15:22 David said to Ittai, Go and pass over. Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones who were with him.
2Sa 15:23 All the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness.
2Sa 15:24 Behold, Zadok also came, and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God; and they set down the ark of God; and Abiathar went up, until all the people had done passing out of the city.
2Sa 15:25 The king said to Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favor in the eyes of Yahweh, he will bring me again, and show me both it, and his habitation:
2Sa 15:26 but if he say thus, I have no delight in you; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seems good to him.
2Sa 15:27 The king said also to Zadok the priest, "Aren't you a seer? Return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.
2Sa 15:28 Behold, I will stay at the fords of the wilderness, until word comes from you to inform me."
2Sa 15:29 Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem: and they abode there.
2Sa 15:30 David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went barefoot: and all the people who were with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.
2Sa 15:31 One told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. David said, Yahweh, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.
2Sa 15:32 It happened that when David had come to the top of the ascent, where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn, and earth on his head.
2Sa 15:33 David said to him, If you pass on with me, then you will be a burden to me:
2Sa 15:34 but if you return to the city, and tell Absalom, I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father's servant in time past, so will I now be your servant; then will you defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel.
2Sa 15:35 Don't you have Zadok and Abiathar the priests there with you? therefore it shall be, that whatever thing you shall hear out of the king's house, you shall tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests.
2Sa 15:36 Behold, they have there with them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok's son, and Jonathan, Abiathar's son; and by them you shall send to me everything that you shall hear.
2Sa 15:37 So Hushai, David's friend, came into the city; and Absalom came into Jerusalem.
Jun. 23, 24
John 20
Joh 20:1 Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw the stone taken away from the tomb.
Joh 20:2 Therefore she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have laid him!"
Joh 20:3 Therefore Peter and the other disciple went out, and they went toward the tomb.
Joh 20:4 They both ran together. The other disciple outran Peter, and came to the tomb first.
Joh 20:5 Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths lying, yet he didn't enter in.
Joh 20:6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and entered into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying,
Joh 20:7 and the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself.
Joh 20:8 So then the other disciple who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed.
Joh 20:9 For as yet they didn't know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
Joh 20:10 So the disciples went away again to their own homes.
Joh 20:11 But Mary was standing outside at the tomb weeping. So, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb,
Joh 20:12 and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
Joh 20:13 They told her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they have laid him."
Joh 20:14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, and didn't know that it was Jesus.
Joh 20:15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?" She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."
Joh 20:16 Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him, "Rhabbouni!" which is to say, "Teacher!"
Joh 20:17 Jesus said to her, "Don't touch me, for I haven't yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers, and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "
Joh 20:18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her.
Joh 20:19 When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be to you."
Joh 20:20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord.
Joh 20:21 Jesus therefore said to them again, "Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you."
Joh 20:22 When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit!
Joh 20:23 Whoever's sins you forgive, they are forgiven them. Whoever's sins you retain, they have been retained."
Joh 20:24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn't with them when Jesus came.
Joh 20:25 The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."
Joh 20:26 After eight days again his disciples were inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace be to you."
Joh 20:27 Then he said to Thomas, "Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don't be unbelieving, but believing."
Joh 20:28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
Joh 20:29 Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed."
Joh 20:30 Therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book;
Joh 20:31 but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
