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Psalm 57

1  Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, ♦︎
   for my soul takes refuge in you;
2  In the shadow of your wings will I take refuge ♦︎
   until the storm of destruction has passed by.
3  I will call upon the Most High God, ♦︎
   the God who fulfils his purpose for me.
4  He will send from heaven and save me
      and rebuke those that would trample upon me; ♦︎
   God will send forth his love and his faithfulness.
5  I lie in the midst of lions, ♦︎
   people whose teeth are spears and arrows,
      and their tongue a sharp sword.
6  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, ♦︎
   and your glory over all the earth.
7  They have laid a net for my feet;
      my soul is pressed down; ♦︎
   they have dug a pit before me
      and will fall into it themselves.
8  My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready; ♦︎
   I will sing and give you praise.
9  Awake, my soul; awake, harp and lyre, ♦︎
   that I may awaken the dawn.
10  I will give you thanks, O Lord, among the peoples; ♦︎
   I will sing praise to you among the nations.
11  For your loving-kindness is as high as the heavens, ♦︎
   and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
12  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, ♦︎
   and your glory over all the earth.

19It was told Joab, ‘The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.’ ²So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the troops; for the troops heard that day, ‘The king is grieving for his son.’ ³The troops stole into the city that day as soldiers steal in who are ashamed when they flee in battle. ⁴The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, ‘O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!’ ⁵Then Joab came into the house to the king, and said, ‘Today you have covered with shame the faces of all your officers who have saved your life today, and the lives of your sons and your daughters, and the lives of your wives and your concubines, ⁶for love of those who hate you and for hatred of those who love you. You have made it clear today that commanders and officers are nothing to you; for I perceive that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased. ⁷So go out at once and speak kindly to your servants; for I swear by the Lord, if you do not go, not a man will stay with you this night; and this will be worse for you than any disaster that has come upon you from your youth until now.’ ⁸Then the king got up and took his seat in the gate. The troops were all told, ‘See, the king is sitting in the gate’; and all the troops came before the king.

David Recalled to Jerusalem

Meanwhile, all the Israelites had fled to their homes. ⁹All the people were disputing throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, ‘The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies, and saved us from the hand of the Philistines; and now he has fled out of the land because of Absalom. ¹⁰But Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?’

11 King David sent this message to the priests Zadok and Abiathar, ‘Say to the elders of Judah, “Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house? The talk of all Israel has come to the king.^{* 12}You are my kin, you are my bone and my flesh; why then should you be the last to bring back the king?” ¹³And say to Amasa, “Are you not my bone and my flesh? So may God do to me, and more, if you are not the commander of my army from now on, in place of Joab.” ’ ¹⁴Amasa^* swayed the hearts of all the people of Judah as one, and they sent word to the king, ‘Return, both you and all your servants.’ ¹⁵So the king came back to the Jordan; and Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and to bring him over the Jordan.

16 Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite, from Bahurim, hurried to come down with the people of Judah to meet King David; ¹⁷with him were a thousand people from Benjamin. And Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul, with his fifteen sons and his twenty servants, rushed down to the Jordan ahead of the king, ¹⁸while the crossing was taking place,^* to bring over the king’s household, and to do his pleasure.

David’s Mercy to Shimei

Shimei son of Gera fell down before the king, as he was about to cross the Jordan,

35 Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. ³⁷Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; ³⁸for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.’