29th July

¹ And it came to pass after this, that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him.² And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.³ And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right; but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee.⁴ Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice!⁵ And it was so, that when any man came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took him, and kissed him.⁶ And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.⁷ And it came to pass after forty years, that Absalom said unto the king, I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed unto the LORD, in Hebron.⁸ For thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria, saying, If the LORD shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD.⁹ And the king said unto him, Go in peace. So he arose, and went to Hebron.¹⁰ But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as ye hear the sound of the trumpet, then ye shall say, Absalom reigneth in Hebron.¹¹ And with Absalom went two hundred men out of Jerusalem, that were called; and they went in their simplicity, and they knew not any thing.¹² And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counsellor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom.¹³ And there came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom.¹⁴ And David said unto all his servants that were with him at Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee; for we shall not else escape from Absalom: make speed to depart, lest he overtake us suddenly, and bring evil upon us, and smite the city with the edge of the sword.¹⁵ And the king's servants said unto the king, Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint.¹⁶ And the king went forth, and all his household after him. And the king left ten women, which were concubines, to keep the house.¹⁷ And the king went forth, and all the people after him, and tarried in a place that was far off.¹⁸ And all his servants passed on beside him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men which came after him from Gath, passed on before the king.¹⁹ Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, Wherefore goest thou also with us? return to thy place, and abide with the king: for thou art a stranger, and also an exile.²⁰ Whereas thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down with us? seeing I go whither I may, return thou, and take back thy brethren: mercy and truth be with thee.²¹ And Ittai answered the king, and said, As the LORD liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be.²² And David said to Ittai, Go and pass over. And Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones that were with him.²³ And 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.²⁴ And lo Zadok also, and all the Levites were 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.²⁵ And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and shew me both it, and his habitation:²⁶ But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.²⁷ The king said also unto Zadok the priest, Art not thou a seer? return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz thy son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.²⁸ See, I will tarry in the plain of the wilderness, until there come word from you to certify me.²⁹ Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem: and they tarried there.³⁰ And David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot: and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.³¹ And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O LORD, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.³² And it came to pass, that when David was come to the top of the mount, where he worshipped God, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat rent, and earth upon his head:³³ Unto whom David said, If thou passest on with me, then thou shalt be a burden unto me:³⁴ But if thou return to the city, and say unto Absalom, I will be thy servant, O king; as I have been thy father's servant hitherto, so will I now also be thy servant: then mayest thou for me defeat the counsel of Ahithophel.³⁵ And hast thou not there with thee Zadok and Abiathar the priests? therefore it shall be, that what thing soever thou shalt hear out of the king's house, thou shalt tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests.³⁶ Behold, they have there with them their two sons, Ahimaaz Zadok's son, and Jonathan Abiathar's son; and by them ye shall send unto me every thing that ye can hear.³⁷ So Hushai David's friend came into the city, and Absalom came into Jerusalem.

¹ Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests;² And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee,³ And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.⁴ Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;⁵ They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:⁶ Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.⁷ And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.⁸ And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.⁹ And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.¹⁰ Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,¹¹ And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.¹² Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet:¹³ And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.¹⁴ Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD's house; and said to all the people,¹⁵ Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.

¹ What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?² Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.³ For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?⁴ God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.⁵ But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)⁶ God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?⁷ For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?⁸ And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.⁹ What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;¹⁰ As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:¹¹ There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.¹² They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.¹³ Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:¹⁴ Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:¹⁵ Their feet are swift to shed blood:¹⁶ Destruction and misery are in their ways:¹⁷ And the way of peace have they not known:¹⁸ There is no fear of God before their eyes.¹⁹ Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.²⁰ Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.²¹ But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;²² Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:²³ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;²⁴ Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:²⁵ Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;²⁶ To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.²⁷ Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.²⁸ Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.²⁹ Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:³⁰ Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.³¹ Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

¹ What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?² For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.³ For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.⁴ Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.⁵ But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.⁶ Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,⁷ Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.⁸ Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.⁹ Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.¹⁰ How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.¹¹ And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:¹² And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.¹³ For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.¹⁴ For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:¹⁵ Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.¹⁶ Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,¹⁷ (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.¹⁸ Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.¹⁹ And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb:²⁰ He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;²¹ And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.²² And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.²³ Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;²⁴ But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;²⁵ Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.