Study Desk

Be of good courage, and let vs play the men, for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the Lord doe that which seemeth him good.

And Nathan said to Dauid, Thou art the man: thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king ouer Israel, and I deliuered thee out of the hand of Saul,

Dauid therfore besought God for the childe, and Dauid fasted, and went in, and lay all night vpon the earth.

And he said, While the child was yet aliue, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell, whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may liue?

Then said she, I pray thee, let the king remember the Lord thy God, that thou wouldest not suffer the reuengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they destroy my sonne. And he said, As the Lord liueth, there shall not one haire of thy sonne fall to the earth.

And the woman said, Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God? For the king doeth speake this thing as one which is faulty, in that the king doeth not fetch home againe his banished.

For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot bee gathered vp againe: neither doeth God respect any person, yet doeth he deuise meanes, that his banished bee not expelled from him.

For the king wil heare, to deliuer his handmayd out of the hand of the man that would destroy mee, and my sonne together out of the inheritance of God:

Then thine handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable: for as an Angel of God, so is my lord the king to discerne good and bad: therfore the Lord thy God will be with thee.

To fetch about this forme of speech hath thy seruant Ioab done this thing: and my lord is wise, according to the wisedome of an Angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth.

And loe, Zadok also, and all the Leuites were with him, bearing the Arke of the Couenant of God, and they set downe the Arke of God; and Abiathar went vp, vntill all the people had done passing out of the citie.

And the King said vnto Zadok, Cary backe the Arke of God into the citie: if I shall finde fauour in the eyes of the Lord, he wil bring me againe, and shew me both it, and his habitation.

Zadok therefore and Abiathar caried the Arke of God againe to Ierusalem; and they taried there.

And it came to passe, that when Dauid 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 vpon his head:

And it came to passe when Hushai the Archite, Dauids friend, was come vnto Absalom, that Hushai said vnto Absalom, God saue the king, God saue the king.

And the counsell of Ahithophel which he counselled in those dayes, was as if a man had enquired at the Oracle of God: so was all the counsell of Ahithophel, both with Dauid and with Absalom.

And Ahimaaz called, and said vnto the King, All is well. And hee fell downe to the earth vpon his face before the King, and saide, Blessed bee the Lord thy God which hath deliuered vp the men that lift vp their hande against my lord the King.

And the king was much moued, and went vp to the chamber ouer the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus hee said, O my sonne Absalom, my sonne, my sonne Absalom: would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my sonne, my sonne.

And say ye to Amasa: Art thou not of my bone, and of my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if thou be not captaine of the hoste before me continually in the roome of Ioab.

And hee hath slandered thy seruant vnto my lord the king, but my lord the King is as an Angel of God: doe therefore what is good in thine eyes.