2 Samuel 19, Additional Reading Isaiah 19

Sunday, January 19, 2025
 

Joab Reproves David’s Lament

19 Then it was told Joab, “Behold, the king is weeping and mourns for Absalom.” 2 The [a]victory that day was turned to mourning for all the people, for the people heard it said that day, “The king is grieved for his son.” 3 So the people went by stealth into the city that day, as people who are humiliated steal away when they flee in battle. 4 The king covered his face and [b]cried out with a loud voice, “O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!” 5 Then Joab came into the house to the king and said, “Today you have covered with shame the faces of all your servants, who today have saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters, the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines, 6 by loving those who hate you, and by hating those who love you. For you have shown today that [c]princes and servants are nothing to you; for I know this day that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then [d]you would be pleased. 7 Now therefore arise, go out and speak [e]kindly to your servants, for I swear by the Lord, if you do not go out, surely not a man will pass the night with you, and this will be worse for you than all the evil that has come upon you from your youth until now.”

David Restored as King

8 So the king arose and sat in the gate. When they told all the people, saying, “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate,” then all the people came before the king.

Now Israel had fled, each to his tent. 9 All the people were quarreling throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “The king delivered us from the [f]hand of our enemies and saved us from the [g]hand of the Philistines, but now he has fled out of the land from Absalom. 10 However, Absalom, whom we anointed over us, has died in battle. Now then, why are you silent about bringing the king back?”

11 Then King David sent to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, saying, “Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, ‘Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house, since the word of all Israel has come to the king, even to his house? 12 You are my brothers; you are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be the last to bring back the king?’ 13 Say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? May God do so to me, and more also, if you will not be commander of the army before me continually in place of Joab.’” 14 Thus he turned the hearts of all the men of Judah as one man, so that they sent word to the king, saying, “Return, you and all your servants.” 15 The king then returned and came as far as the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal in order to go to meet the king, to bring the king across the Jordan.

16 Then Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite who was from Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David. 17 There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, with Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they rushed to the Jordan before the king. 18 Then they kept crossing the ford to bring over the king’s household, and to do what was good in his sight. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king as he was about to cross the Jordan. 19 So he said to the king, “Let not my lord consider me guilty, nor remember what your servant did wrong on the day when my lord the king came out from Jerusalem, so that the king would [h]take it to heart. 20 For your servant knows that I have sinned; therefore behold, I have come today, the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.” 21 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah said, “Should not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the Lord’s anointed?” 22 David then said, “What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be an adversary to me? Should any man be put to death in Israel today? For do I not know that I am king over Israel today?” 23 The king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” Thus the king swore to him.

24 Then Mephibosheth the [i]son of Saul came down to meet the king; and he had neither [j]cared for his feet, nor [k]trimmed his mustache, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came home in peace. 25 It was when he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?” 26 So he answered, “O my lord, the king, my servant deceived me; for your servant said, ‘I will saddle a donkey for myself that I may ride on it and go with the king,’ because your servant is lame. 27 Moreover, he has slandered your servant to my lord the king; but my lord the king is like the angel of God, therefore do what is good in your sight. 28 For all my father’s household was nothing but dead men before my lord the king; yet you set your servant among those who ate at your own table. What right do I have yet that I should [l]complain anymore to the king?” 29 So the king said to him, “Why do you still speak of your affairs? I have [m]decided, ‘You and Ziba shall divide the land.’” 30 Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him even take it all, since my lord the king has come safely to his own house.”

31 Now Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim; and he went on to the Jordan with the king to [n]escort him over the Jordan. 32 Now Barzillai was very old, being eighty years old; and he had [o]sustained the king while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very great man. 33 The king said to Barzillai, “You cross over with me and I will [p]sustain you in Jerusalem with me.” 34 But Barzillai said to the king, “How long [q]have I yet to live, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? 35 I am [r]now eighty years old. Can I distinguish between good and bad? Or can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Or can I hear anymore the voice of singing men and women? Why then should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king? 36 Your servant would merely cross over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king compensate me with this reward? 37 Please let your servant return, that I may die in my own city near the grave of my father and my mother. However, here is your servant Chimham, let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him what is good in your sight.” 38 The king answered, “Chimham shall cross over with me, and I will do for him what is good in your sight; and whatever you [s]require of me, I will do for you.” 39 All the people crossed over the Jordan and the king crossed too. The king then kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and he returned to his place.

40 Now the king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went on with him; and all the people of Judah and also half the people of Israel [t]accompanied the king. 41 And behold, all the men of Israel came to the king and said to the king, “Why had our brothers the men of Judah stolen you away, and brought the king and his household and all David’s men with him over the Jordan?” 42 Then all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is a close relative to [u]us. Why then [v]are you angry about this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king’s expense, or has [w]anything been taken for us?” 43 But the men of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, “[x]We have ten parts in the king, therefore [y]we also have more claim on David than you. Why then did you treat us with contempt? Was it not [z]our advice first to bring back [aa]our king?” Yet the words of the men of Judah were harsher than the words of the men of Israel.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 19:2 Lit salvation
  2. 2 Samuel 19:4 Lit the king cried
  3. 2 Samuel 19:6 Or commanders
  4. 2 Samuel 19:6 Lit it would be right in your eyes
  5. 2 Samuel 19:7 Lit to the heart
  6. 2 Samuel 19:9 Lit palm
  7. 2 Samuel 19:9 Lit palm
  8. 2 Samuel 19:19 Lit set
  9. 2 Samuel 19:24 I.e. grandson
  10. 2 Samuel 19:24 Lit done
  11. 2 Samuel 19:24 Lit done
  12. 2 Samuel 19:28 Lit cry out
  13. 2 Samuel 19:29 Lit said
  14. 2 Samuel 19:31 Lit send
  15. 2 Samuel 19:32 Or provided food for
  16. 2 Samuel 19:33 Or provide food for
  17. 2 Samuel 19:34 Lit are the days of the years of my life
  18. 2 Samuel 19:35 Lit today
  19. 2 Samuel 19:38 Lit choose
  20. 2 Samuel 19:40 Lit crossed over with
  21. 2 Samuel 19:42 Lit me
  22. 2 Samuel 19:42 Lit is it hot to you
  23. 2 Samuel 19:42 Or a gift
  24. 2 Samuel 19:43 Singular in Heb
  25. 2 Samuel 19:43 Singular in Heb
  26. 2 Samuel 19:43 Singular in Heb
  27. 2 Samuel 19:43 Singular in Heb
 
 

Message to Egypt

19 The [a]oracle concerning Egypt.

Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt;
The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence,
And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
2 “So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians;
And they will each fight against his brother and each against his neighbor,
City against city and kingdom against kingdom.
3 “Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them;
And I will confound their strategy,
So that they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead
And to [b]mediums and spiritists.
4 “Moreover, I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel master,
And a [c]mighty king will rule over them,” declares the Lord [d]God of hosts.

5 The waters from the sea will dry up,
And the river will be parched and dry.
6 The [e]canals will emit a stench,
The [f]streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up;
The reeds and rushes will rot away.
7 The bulrushes by the Nile, by the [g]edge of the Nile
And all the sown fields by the Nile
Will become dry, be driven away, and be no more.
8 And the fishermen will lament,
And all those who cast a [h]line into the Nile will mourn,
And those who spread nets on the waters will [i]pine away.
9 Moreover, the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax
And the weavers of white cloth will be [j]utterly dejected.
10 And [k]the pillars of Egypt will be crushed;
All the hired laborers will be grieved in soul.

11 The princes of [l]Zoan are mere fools;
The advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become [m]stupid.
How can you men say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings”?
12 Well then, where are your wise men?
Please let them tell you,
And let them [n]understand what the Lord of hosts
Has purposed against Egypt.
13 The princes of [o]Zoan have acted foolishly,
The princes of Memphis are deluded;
Those who are the cornerstone of her tribes
Have [p]led Egypt astray.
14 The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of distortion;
They have led Egypt astray in all [q]that it does,
As a drunken man [r]staggers in his vomit.
15 There will be no work for Egypt
Which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.

16 In that day the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble and be in dread because of the waving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which He is going to wave over them. 17 The land of Judah will become a [s]terror to Egypt; everyone [t]to whom it is mentioned will be in dread of it, because of the purpose of the Lord of hosts which He is purposing against them.

18 In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and swearing allegiance to the Lord of hosts; one will be called the City of [u]Destruction.

19 In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord near its border. 20 It will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a [v]Champion, and He will deliver them. 21 Thus the Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the Lord and perform it. 22 The Lord will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the Lord, and He will respond to them and will heal them.

23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

24 In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 19:1 Or burden of
  2. Isaiah 19:3 Or ghosts and spirits
  3. Isaiah 19:4 Or fierce
  4. Isaiah 19:4 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
  5. Isaiah 19:6 Lit rivers
  6. Isaiah 19:6 Or Nile branches; i.e. the delta
  7. Isaiah 19:7 Or mouth
  8. Isaiah 19:8 Lit hook
  9. Isaiah 19:8 Or languish
  10. Isaiah 19:9 Lit ashamed
  11. Isaiah 19:10 Lit her pillars or, her weavers
  12. Isaiah 19:11 Or Tanis
  13. Isaiah 19:11 Or brutish
  14. Isaiah 19:12 Or know
  15. Isaiah 19:13 Or Tanis
  16. Isaiah 19:13 Or have caused Egypt to stagger
  17. Isaiah 19:14 Lit its work
  18. Isaiah 19:14 Or goes astray
  19. Isaiah 19:17 Or cause of shame
  20. Isaiah 19:17 Lit who mentions it will be in dread to it
  21. Isaiah 19:18 Some ancient mss and versions read the Sun
  22. Isaiah 19:20 Lit Mighty One

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