I am he – Day 4

₉When the people heard what the Law required, they were so moved that they began to cry. So Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra, the priest and scholar of the Law, and the Levites who were explaining the Law told all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God, so you are not to mourn or cry.

₇₄Then Peter said, “I swear that I am telling the truth! May God punish me if I am not! I do not know that man!”

Just then a cock crowed, ₇₅and Peter remembered what Jesus had told him: “Before the cock crows, you will say three times that you do not know me.” He went out and wept bitterly.

₆When Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan and grandson of Saul, arrived, he bowed down before David in respect. David said, “Mephibosheth,” and he answered, “At your service, sir.”

₇“Don't be afraid,” David replied. “I will be kind to you for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will give you back all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always be welcome at my table.”

₈Mephibosheth bowed again and said, “I am no better than a dead dog, sir! Why should you be so good to me?”

₃₂“Is the young man Absalom safe?” the king asked.

The slave answered, “I wish that what has happened to him would happen to all your enemies, sir, and to all who rebel against you.”

₃₃The king was overcome with grief. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he cried, “O my son! My son Absalom! Absalom, my son! If only I had died in your place, my son! Absalom, my son!”

₁Joab was told that King David was weeping and mourning for Absalom. ₂And so the joy of victory was turned into sadness for all David's troops that day, because they heard that the king was mourning for his son. ₃They went back into the city quietly, like soldiers who are ashamed because they are running away from battle. ₄The king covered his face and cried loudly, “O my son! My son Absalom! Absalom, my son!”

₁About this time King Hezekiah fell ill and almost died. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to see him and said to him, “The LORD tells you that you are to put everything in order because you will not recover. Get ready to die.”

₂Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed: ₃“Remember, LORD, that I have served you faithfully and loyally, and that I have always tried to do what you wanted me to.” And he began to cry bitterly.

₄Then the LORD commanded Isaiah ₅to go back to Hezekiah and say to him, “I, the LORD, the God of your ancestor David, have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will let you live fifteen years longer. ₆I will rescue you and this city of Jerusalem from the emperor of Assyria, and I will continue to protect the city.”

₃When David and his men arrived, they found that the town had been burnt down and that their wives, sons, and daughters had been carried away. ₄David and his men started crying and did not stop until they were completely exhausted. ₅Even David's two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail, had been taken away.

₆David was now in great trouble, because his men were all very bitter about losing their children, and they were threatening to stone him; but the LORD his God gave him courage.