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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.

David Hears of Absalom’s Death

19 Then Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, ‘Let me run, and carry tidings to the king that the Lord has delivered him from the power of his enemies.’ ²⁰Joab said to him, ‘You are not to carry tidings today; you may carry tidings another day, but today you shall not do so, because the king’s son is dead.’ ²¹Then Joab said to a Cushite, ‘Go, tell the king what you have seen.’ The Cushite bowed before Joab, and ran. ²²Then Ahimaaz son of Zadok said again to Joab, ‘Come what may, let me also run after the Cushite.’ And Joab said, ‘Why will you run, my son, seeing that you have no reward^* for the tidings?’ ²³‘Come what may,’ he said, ‘I will run.’ So he said to him, ‘Run.’ Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Cushite.

24 Now David was sitting between the two gates. The sentinel went up to the roof of the gate by the wall, and when he looked up, he saw a man running alone. ²⁵The sentinel shouted and told the king. The king said, ‘If he is alone, there are tidings in his mouth.’ He kept coming, and drew near. ²⁶Then the sentinel saw another man running; and the sentinel called to the gatekeeper and said, ‘See, another man running alone!’ The king said, ‘He also is bringing tidings.’ ²⁷The sentinel said, ‘I think the running of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz son of Zadok.’ The king said, ‘He is a good man, and comes with good tidings.’

28 Then Ahimaaz cried out to the king, ‘All is well!’ He prostrated himself before the king with his face to the ground, and said, ‘Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delivered up the men who raised their hand against my lord the king.’ ²⁹The king said, ‘Is it well with the young man Absalom?’ Ahimaaz answered, ‘When Joab sent your servant,^* I saw a great tumult, but I do not know what it was.’ ³⁰The king said, ‘Turn aside, and stand here.’ So he turned aside, and stood still.

31 Then the Cushite came; and the Cushite said, ‘Good tidings for my lord the king! For the Lord has vindicated you this day, delivering you from the power of all who rose up against you.’ ³²The king said to the Cushite, ‘Is it well with the young man Absalom?’ The Cushite answered, ‘May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up to do you harm, be like that young man.’

David Mourns for Absalom

33 ^*The king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept; and as he went, he said, ‘O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would that I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!’

Final Exhortation and Doxology

14 Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; ¹⁵and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, ¹⁶speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. ¹⁷You therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability. ¹⁸But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.^*