David and Ziba

16 When David had passed a little beyond ^(A)the summit, ^(B)Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of donkeys saddled, bearing two hundred loaves of bread, ^(C)a hundred bunches of raisins, a hundred of summer fruits, and a skin of wine. ² And the king said to Ziba, “Why have you brought these?” Ziba answered, ^(D)“The donkeys are for the king's household to ride on, the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine for those who ^(E)faint in the wilderness to drink.” ³ And the king said, “And where is your master's son?” ^(F)Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he remains in Jerusalem, for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will give me back the kingdom of my father.’” ⁴ Then the king said to Ziba, “Behold, all that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours.” And Ziba said, “I pay homage; let me ever find favor in your sight, my lord the king.”

Shimei Curses David

⁵ When King David came to ^(G)Bahurim, there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was ^(H)Shimei, the son of Gera, and as he came ^(I)he cursed continually. ⁶ And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. ⁷ And Shimei said as he ^(J)cursed, “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man! ⁸ The Lord ^(K)has avenged on you all ^(L)the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood.”

⁹ Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this ^(M)dead dog ^(N)curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head.” ¹⁰ But the king said, ^(O)“What have I to do with you, ^(P)you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” ¹¹ And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, ^(Q)my own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjaminite! Leave him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. ¹² It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me,^[a] and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today.” ¹³ So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and ^(R)cursed as he went and threw stones at him and flung dust. ¹⁴ And the king, and all the people who were with him, ^(S)arrived weary at the Jordan.^[b] And there he refreshed himself.

Absalom Enters Jerusalem

^15 (T)Now Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. ¹⁶ And when Hushai the Archite, ^(U)David's friend, came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, ^(V)“Long live the king! Long live the king!” ¹⁷ And Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your loyalty to your friend? ^(W)Why did you not go with your friend?” ¹⁸ And Hushai said to Absalom, “No, for whom the Lord and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, his I will be, and with him I will remain. ¹⁹ And again, ^(X)whom should I serve? Should it not be his son? As I have served your father, so I will serve you.”

²⁰ Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give your counsel. What shall we do?” ²¹ Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to ^(Y)your father's concubines, whom he has left to keep the house, and all Israel will hear that you have made yourself a stench to your father, and ^(Z)the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.” ²² So they pitched a tent for Absalom ^(AA)on the roof. And Absalom went in to his father's concubines ^(AB)in the sight of all Israel. ²³ Now in those days the counsel that Ahithophel gave was as if one consulted the word of God; so was all the counsel of Ahithophel esteemed, ^(AC)both by David and by Absalom.

Hushai Saves David

17 Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. ² I will come upon him while he is ^(AD)weary and discouraged and throw him into a panic, and all the people who are with him will flee. ^(AE)I will strike down only the king, ³ and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man,^[c] and all the people will be at peace.” ⁴ And the advice seemed right in the eyes of Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

⁵ Then Absalom said, “Call ^(AF)Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he has to say.” ⁶ And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, “Thus has Ahithophel spoken; shall we do as he says? If not, you speak.” ⁷ Then Hushai said to Absalom, “This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.” ⁸ Hushai said, “You know that your father and his men are mighty men, and that they are enraged,^{[d] (AG)}like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert in war; he will not spend the night with the people. ⁹ Behold, even now he has hidden himself in one of the pits or in some other place. And as soon as some of the people fall^[e] at the first attack, whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’ ¹⁰ Then even the valiant man, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will utterly ^(AH)melt with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and that those who are with him are valiant men. ¹¹ But my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you, ^(AI)from Dan to Beersheba, ^(AJ)as the sand by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person. ¹² So we shall come upon him in some place where he is to be found, and we shall light upon him as the dew falls on the ground, and of him and all the men with him not one will be left. ¹³ If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we shall drag it into the valley, until not even a pebble is to be found there.” ¹⁴ And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” ^(AK)For the Lord had ordained^[f] to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom.

^15 (AL)Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Thus and so did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and so have I counseled. ¹⁶ Now therefore send quickly and tell David, ‘Do not stay tonight at ^(AM)the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king and all the people who are with him be ^(AN)swallowed up.’” ¹⁷ Now ^(AO)Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at ^(AP)En-rogel. A female servant was to go and tell them, and they were to go and tell King David, for they were not to be seen entering the city. ¹⁸ But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So both of them went away quickly and came to the house of a man at ^(AQ)Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard. And they went down into it. ^19 (AR)And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth and scattered grain on it, and nothing was known of it. ²⁰ When Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house, they said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” And the woman said to them, “They have gone over the brook^[g] of water.” And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ After they had gone, the men came up out of the well, and went and told King David. They said to David, ^(AS)“Arise, and go quickly over the water, for thus and so has Ahithophel counseled against you.” ²² Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they crossed the Jordan. By daybreak not one was left who had not crossed the Jordan.

²³ When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to ^(AT)his own city. He ^(AU)set his house in order and ^(AV)hanged himself, and he died and was buried in the tomb of his father.

²⁴ Then David came to ^(AW)Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel. ²⁵ Now Absalom had set ^(AX)Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Ishmaelite,^[h] who had married Abigal the daughter of ^(AY)Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother. ²⁶ And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

²⁷ When David came to Mahanaim, ^(AZ)Shobi the son of Nahash from ^(BA)Rabbah of the Ammonites, and ^(BB)Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and ^(BC)Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, ²⁸ brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans and lentils,^{[i] 29} honey and curds and sheep and cheese from the herd, for David and the people with him to eat, for they said, “The people are hungry and ^(BD)weary and thirsty ^(BE)in the wilderness.”

The Parable of the Sower

4 Again ^(A)he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, ^(B)so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ² And ^(C)he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³ “Listen! Behold, ^(D)a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And ^(E)when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, ^(F)it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among ^(G)thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸ And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and ^(H)a hundredfold.” ⁹ And he said, ^(I)“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰ And ^(J)when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ And he said to them, ^(K)“To you has been given ^(L)the secret of the kingdom of God, but for ^(M)those outside everything is in parables, ^12 (N)so that

^13 (Q)And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ^14 (R)The sower sows ^(S)the word. ¹⁵ And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. ¹⁶ And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it ^(T)with joy. ¹⁷ And they have no root in themselves, but ^(U)endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately ^(V)they fall away.^{[a] 18} And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, ¹⁹ but ^(W)the cares of ^(X)the world and ^(Y)the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²⁰ But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and ^(Z)bear fruit, ^(AA)thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

A Lamp Under a Basket

^21 (AB)And he said to them, ^(AC)“Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? ^22 (AD)For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. ^23 (AE)If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” ²⁴ And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: ^(AF)with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. ^25 (AG)For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

The Parable of the Seed Growing

²⁶ And he said, ^(AH)“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. ²⁷ He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; ^(AI)he knows not how. ²⁸ The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once ^(AJ)he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

^30 (AK)And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? ³¹ It is like ^(AL)a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³² yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

^33 (AM)With many such parables he spoke ^(AN)the word to them, ^(AO)as they were able to hear it. ³⁴ He did not speak to them ^(AP)without a parable, but ^(AQ)privately to his own disciples he ^(AR)explained everything.

Jesus Calms a Storm

^35 (AS)On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶ And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. ³⁷ And a great windstorm arose, and the waves ^(AT)were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. ³⁸ But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And he awoke and ^(AU)rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and ^(AV)there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ He said to them, “Why are you ^(AW)so afraid? Have you still no faith?” ⁴¹ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ^(AX)“Who then is this, that even ^(AY)the wind and the sea obey him?”