Consequences of Hidden Sin and Royal Messages

1. After this, Absalom the son of David had a beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her. 2. Amnon was so troubled that he became sick because of his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and it seemed hard to Amnon to do anything to her. 3. But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David’s brother; and Jonadab was a very subtle man. 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.” 5. Jonadab said to him, “Lay down on your bed, and pretend to be sick. When your father comes to see you, tell him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me bread to eat, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it from her hand.’” 6. So Amnon lay down and faked being sick. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come, and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand.” 7. Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, “Go now to your brother Amnon’s house, and prepare food for him.” 8. So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house; and he was lying down. She took dough, and kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked the cakes. 9. She took the pan, and poured them out before him; but he refused to eat. Amnon said, “Have all men leave me.” Then every man went out from him. 10. Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the room, that I may eat from your hand.” Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and brought them into the room to Amnon her brother. 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!” 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. 13. As for me, where would 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.” 14. However he would not listen to her voice; but being stronger than she, he forced her, and lay with her. 15. Then Amnon hated her with exceedingly 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!” 16. She said to him, “Not so, because this great wrong in sending me away is worse than the other that you did to me!” But he would not listen to her. 17. Then he called his servant who ministered to him, and said, “Now put this woman out from me, and bolt the door after her.” 18. She had a garment of various colors on her; for the king’s daughters who were virgins dressed in such robes. Then his servant brought her out and bolted the door after her. 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. 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. 21. But when king David heard of all these things, he was very angry. 22. Absalom spoke to Amnon neither good nor bad; for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar. 23. After two full years, Absalom had sheep shearers in Baal Hazor, which is beside Ephraim: and Absalom invited all the king’s sons. 24. Absalom came to the king, and said, “See now, your servant has sheep shearers. Please let the king and his servants go with your servant.” 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. 26. Then Absalom said, “If not, please let my brother Amnon go with us.” The king said to him, “Why should he go with you?” 27. But Absalom pressed him, and he let Amnon and all the king’s sons go with him. 28. Absalom commanded his servants, saying, “Mark now, when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Haven’t I commanded you? Be courageous, and be valiant!” 29. The servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king’s sons arose, and every man got up on his mule, and fled. 30. While they were on the way, the news came to David, saying, “Absalom has slain all the king’s sons, and there is not one of them left!” 31. Then the king arose, and tore his garments, and lay on the earth; and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn. 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. 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 only Amnon is dead.” 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. 35. Jonadab said to the king, “Behold, the king’s sons are coming! It is as your servant said.” 36. As soon as he had finished speaking, behold, the king’s sons came, and lifted up their voice, and wept. The king also and all his servants wept bitterly. 37. But Absalom fled, and went to Talmai the son of Ammihur, king of Geshur. David mourned for his son every day. 38. So Absalom fled, and went to Geshur, and was there three years. 39. King David longed to go out to Absalom; for he was comforted concerning Amnon, since he was dead. 1. Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart was toward Absalom. 2. Joab sent to Tekoa, and brought a wise woman from there, 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 mourned a long time for the dead. 3. Go in to the king, and speak like this to him.” So Joab put the words in her mouth. 4. When the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, showed respect, and said, “Help, O king!” 5. The king said to her, “What ails you?” She answered, “Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead. 6. Your servant had two sons, and they both fought together in the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one struck the other, and killed him. 7. Behold, the whole family has risen against your servant, 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 they would quench my coal which is left, and would leave to my husband neither name nor remainder on the surface of the earth.” 8. The king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give a command concerning you.” 9. The woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord, O king, may the iniquity be on me, and on my father’s house; and may the king and his throne be guiltless.” 10. The king said, “Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he will not bother you any more.” 11. Then she said, “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, not one hair of your son shall fall to the earth.” 12. Then the woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.” He said, “Say on.” 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. 14. For we must die, and are like water spilled 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. 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. Your servant said, ‘I will now speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his servant.’ 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. 17. Then your servant said, ‘Please let the word of my lord the king bring rest; for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad. May Yahweh, your God, be with you.’” 18. Then the king answered the woman, “Please don’t hide anything from me that I ask you.” The woman said, “Let my lord the king now speak.” 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, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab urged me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your servant; 20. to change the face of the matter has your servant Joab done this thing. My lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth.” 21. The king said to Joab, “Behold now, I have done this thing. Go therefore, and bring the young man Absalom back.” 22. Joab fell to the ground on his face, showed respect, and blessed the king. 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.” 23. So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 24. The king said, “Let him return to his own house, but let him not see my face.” So Absalom returned to his own house, and didn’t see the king’s face. 25. Now in all Israel there was no one 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 defect in him. 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. 27. Three sons were born to Absalom, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a woman with a beautiful face. 28. Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem, and he didn’t see the king’s face. 29. Then Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king, but he would not come to him. Then he sent again a second time, but he would not come. 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.” So Absalom’s servants set the field on fire. 31. Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom to his house, and said to him, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?” 32. Absalom answered Joab, “Behold, I sent to you, saying, ‘Come here, that I may send you to the king, to say, “Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to be there still. Now therefore let me see the king’s face, and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me.”’” 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. 1. After this, Absalom prepared a chariot and horses for himself, and fifty men to run before him. 2. Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate. 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.” 3. Absalom said to him, “Behold, your matters are good and right; but there is no man deputized by the king to hear you.” 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!” 5. It was so, that when any man came near to bow down to him, he stretched out his hand, and took hold of him, and kissed him. 6. Absalom did this sort of thing to all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. 7. At the end of forty years, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to Yahweh, in Hebron. 8. For your servant vowed a vow while I stayed at Geshur in Syria, saying, ‘If Yahweh shall indeed bring me again to Jerusalem, then I will serve Yahweh.’” 9. The king said to 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 you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, ‘Absalom is king in Hebron!’” 11. Two hundred men went with Absalom out of Jerusalem, who were invited, and went in their simplicity; and they didn’t know anything. 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. 13. A messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom.” 14. David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee; or else none of us will escape from Absalom. Hurry to depart, lest he overtake us quickly, and bring down evil on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword.” 15. The king’s servants said to the king, “Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king chooses.” 16. The king went out, and all his household after him. The king left ten women, who were concubines, to keep the house. 17. The king went out, and all the people after him; and they stayed in Beth Merhak. 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. 19. Then the king said 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. 20. Whereas you came but yesterday, should I today make you go up and down with us, since I go where I may? Return, and take back your brothers. Mercy and truth be with you.” 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 is, whether for death or for life, your servant will be there also.” 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. 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. 24. Behold, Zadok also came, and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God; and they set down God’s ark; and Abiathar went up, until all the people finished passing out of the city. 25. The king said to Zadok, “Carry God’s ark back into the city. If I find favor in Yahweh’s eyes, he will bring me again, and show me both it, and his habitation; 26. but if he says, ‘I have no delight in you;’ behold, here am I. Let him do to me as seems good to him.” 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. 28. Behold, I will stay at the fords of the wilderness, until word comes from you to inform me.” 29. Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried God’s ark to Jerusalem again; and they stayed there. 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 each covered his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up. 31. Someone told David, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” David said, “Yahweh, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.” 32. When David had come to the top, where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn, and earth on his head. 33. David said to him, “If you pass on with me, then you will be a burden to me; 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.’ 35. Don’t you have Zadok and Abiathar the priests there with you? Therefore whatever you hear out of the king’s house, 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. Send to me everything that you shall hear by them.” 37. So Hushai, David’s friend, came into the city; and Absalom came into Jerusalem.

1. This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John, 2. who testified to God’s word, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, about everything that he saw. 3. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for the time is at hand. 4. John, to the seven assemblies that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from God, who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne; 5. and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood; 6. and he made us to be a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen. 8. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” 9. I John, your brother and partner with you in the oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of God’s Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet 11. saying, “What you see, write in a book and send to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” 12. I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lamp stands. 13. And among the lamp stands was one like a son of man, clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest. 14. His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. 15. His feet were like burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters. 16. He had seven stars in his right hand. Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest. 17. When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last, 18. and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades. 19. Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter; 20. the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamp stands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies. The seven lamp stands are seven assemblies. 1. “To the angel of the assembly in Ephesus write: “He who holds the seven stars in his right hand, he who walks among the seven golden lamp stands says these things: 2. “I know your works, and your toil and perseverance, and that you can’t tolerate evil men, and have tested those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and found them false. 3. You have perseverance and have endured for my name’s sake, and have not grown weary. 4. But I have this against you, that you left your first love. 5. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lamp stand out of its place, unless you repent. 6. But this you have, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of my God. 8. “To the angel of the assembly in Smyrna write: “The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life says these things: 9. “I know your works, oppression, and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10. Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. He who overcomes won’t be harmed by the second death. 12. “To the angel of the assembly in Pergamum write: “He who has the sharp two-edged sword says these things: 13. “I know your works and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. You hold firmly to my name, and didn’t deny my faith in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14. But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. 15. So you also have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans likewise. 16. Repent therefore, or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth. 17. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he who receives it. 18. “To the angel of the assembly in Thyatira write: “The Son of God, who has his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like burnished brass, says these things: 19. “I know your works, your love, faith, service, patient endurance, and that your last works are more than the first. 20. But I have this against you, that you tolerate your woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. She teaches and seduces my servants to commit sexual immorality, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. 21. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. 22. Behold, I will throw her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great oppression, unless they repent of her works. 23. I will kill her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. 24. But to you I say, to the rest who are in Thyatira, as many as don’t have this teaching, who don’t know what some call ‘the deep things of Satan,’ to you I say, I am not putting any other burden on you. 25. Nevertheless, hold that which you have firmly until I come. 26. He who overcomes, and he who keeps my works to the end, to him I will give authority over the nations. 27. He will rule them with a rod of iron, shattering them like clay pots; as I also have received of my Father: 28. and I will give him the morning star. 29. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. 1. “And to the angel of the assembly in Sardis write: “He who has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars says these things: “I know your works, that you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2. Wake up, and keep the things that remain, which you were about to throw away, for I have found no works of yours perfected before my God. 3. Remember therefore how you have received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If therefore you won’t watch, I will come as a thief, and you won’t know what hour I will come upon you. 4. Nevertheless you have a few names in Sardis that did not defile their garments. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5. He who overcomes will be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no way blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 6. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. 7. “To the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write: “He who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says these things: 8. “I know your works (behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one can shut), that you have a little power, and kept my word, and didn’t deny my name. 9. Behold, I give some of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 10. Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11. I am coming quickly! Hold firmly that which you have, so that no one takes your crown. 12. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more. I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name. 13. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. 14. “To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write: “The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of God’s creation, says these things: 15. “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. 16. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth. 17. Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing;’ and don’t know that you are the wretched one, miserable, poor, blind, and naked; 18. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich; and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. 19. As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent. 20. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me. 21. He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.”

1. His foundation is in the holy mountains. 2. Yahweh loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. 3. Glorious things are spoken about you, city of God. Selah. 4. I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me. Behold, Philistia, Tyre, and also Ethiopia: “This one was born there.” 5. Yes, of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one was born in her”; the Most High himself will establish her. 6. Yahweh will count, when he writes up the peoples, “This one was born there.” Selah. 7. Those who sing as well as those who dance say, “All my springs are in you.”