Monday in Season after Pentecost

13Verse 13. Then a messenger came to David and reported, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.” 14Verse 14. And David said to all the servants with him in Jerusalem, “Arise and let us flee, or we will not escape from Absalom! We must leave quickly, or he will soon overtake us, heap disaster on us, and put the city to the sword.” 15Verse 15. The king’s servants replied, “Whatever our lord the king decides, we are your servants.” 16Verse 16. Then the king set out, and his entire household followed him. But he left behind ten concubines to take care of the palace. 17Verse 17. So the king set out with all the people following him. He stopped at the last house, 18Verse 18. and all his servants marched past him — all the Cherethites and Pelethites, and six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath. 19Verse 19. Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the new king, since you are both a foreigner and an exile from your homeland. 20Verse 20. In fact, you arrived only yesterday; should I make you wander around with us today while I do not know where I am going? Go back and take your brothers with you. May the LORD show you loving devotion and faithfulness. ” 21Verse 21. But Ittai answered the king, “As surely as the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be!” 22Verse 22. “March on then,” said David to Ittai. So Ittai the Gittite marched past with all his men and all the little ones who were with him. 23Verse 23. Everyone in the countryside was weeping loudly as all the people passed by. And as the king crossed the Kidron Valley, all the people also passed toward the way of the wilderness. 24Verse 24. Zadok was also there, and all the Levites with him were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had passed out of the city. 25Verse 25. Then the king said to Zadok, “Return the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, He will bring me back and let me see both it and His dwelling place again. 26Verse 26. But if He should say, ‘I do not delight in you,’ then here I am; let Him do to me whatever seems good to Him.” 27Verse 27. The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Are you not a seer? Return to the city in peace— you with your son Ahimaaz, and Abiathar with his son Jonathan. 28Verse 28. See, I will wait at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.” 29Verse 29. So Zadok and Abiathar returned the ark of God to Jerusalem and stayed there. 30Verse 30. But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went up. His head was covered, and he was walking barefoot. And all the people with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went. 31Verse 31. Now someone told David: “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David pleaded, “O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!”

1Verse 1. Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!” 2Verse 2. Then a revelation from the LORD came to Elijah: 3Verse 3. “Leave here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan. 4Verse 4. And you are to drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5Verse 5. So Elijah did what the LORD had told him, and he went and lived by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan. 6Verse 6. The ravens would bring him bread and meat in the morning and evening, and he would drink from the brook. 7Verse 7. Some time later, however, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8Verse 8. Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: 9Verse 9. “Get up and go to Zarephath of Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10Verse 10. So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow gathering sticks. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, so that I may drink.” 11Verse 11. And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread.” 12Verse 12. But she replied, “As surely as the LORD your God lives, I have no bread— only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. Look, I am gathering a couple of sticks to take home and prepare a meal for myself and my son, so that we may eat it and die.” 13Verse 13. “Do not be afraid,” Elijah said to her. “Go and do as you have said. But first make me a small cake of bread from what you have, and bring it out to me. Afterward, make some for yourself and your son, 14Verse 14. for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be exhausted and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain upon the face of the earth.’” 15Verse 15. So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and there was food every day for Elijah and the woman and her household. 16Verse 16. The jar of flour was not exhausted and the jug of oil did not run dry, according to the word that the LORD had spoken through Elijah.