2 Samuel 12; 2 Samuel 13; Luke 16

1 So the LORD sent Nathan to David. When Nathan arrived he said, “There were two men in the same city, one rich, one poor.

2 The rich man had a lot of sheep and cattle,

3 but the poor man had nothing—just one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised that lamb, and it grew up with him and his children. It would eat from his food and drink from his cup—even sleep in his arms! It was like a daughter to him.

4 "Now a traveler came to visit the rich man, but he wasn't willing to take anything from his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had arrived. Instead, he took the poor man's ewe lamb and prepared it for the visitor."

5 David got very angry at the man, and he said to Nathan, "As surely as the LORD lives, the one who did this is demonic!

6 He must restore the ewe lamb seven times over because he did this and because he had no compassion."

7 "You are that man!" Nathan told David. “This is what the LORD God of Israel says: I anointed you king over Israel and delivered you from Saul's power.

8 I gave your master's house to you, and gave his wives into your embrace. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. If that was too little, I would have given even more.

9 Why have you despised the LORD's word by doing what is evil in his eyes? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and taken his wife as your own. You used the Ammonites to kill him.

10 Because of that, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own, the sword will never leave your own house.

11 "This is what the LORD says: I am making trouble come against you from inside your own family. Before your very eyes I will take your wives away and give them to your friend, and he will have sex with your wives in broad daylight.

12 You did what you did secretly, but I will do what I am doing before all Israel in the light of day."

13 "I've sinned against the LORD!" David said to Nathan. "The LORD has removed your sin," Nathan replied to David. "You won't die.

14 However, because you have utterly disrespected the LORD by doing this, the son born to you will definitely die."

15 Then Nathan went home. The LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife had borne for David, and he became very sick.

16 David begged God for the boy. He fasted and spent the night sleeping on the ground.

17 The senior servants of his house approached him to lift him up off the ground, but he refused, and he wouldn't eat with them either.

18 On the seventh day, the child died. David's servants were afraid to tell him that the child had died. "David wouldn't listen to us when we talked to him while the child was still alive," they said. "How can we tell him the child has died? He'll do something terrible!"

19 But when David saw his servants whispering, he realized the child had died. "Is the child dead?" David asked his servants. "Yes," they said, "he is dead."

20 Then David rose from the ground, bathed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes. He entered the LORD's house and bowed down. Then he entered his own house. He requested food, which was brought to him, and he ate.

21 "Why are you acting this way?" his servants asked. "When the child was alive, you fasted and cried and kept watch, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat food!"

22 David replied, "While the child was alive I fasted and wept because I thought, Who knows? The LORD may have mercy on me and let the child live.

23 But he is dead now. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? No. I am going where he is, but he won't come back to me."

24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and had sex with her. She gave birth to a son and named him Solomon. The LORD loved him

25 and sent word by the prophet Nathan to name him Jedidiah because of the LORD's grace.

26 Meanwhile, Joab fought the Ammonites at Rabbah and captured the royal city.

27 Joab then sent messengers to David, saying, "I have fought against Rabbah and captured the city's water supply.

28 So gather the rest of the troops, attack the city, and capture it. Otherwise, I will capture the city myself, and it will be named after me."

29 So David gathered all the troops, marched to Rabbah, fought against it, and captured it.

30 David took Milcom's crown off his head. It weighed one kikkar of gold and was set with a valuable stone. It was placed on David's head. The amount of loot David took from the city was huge.

31 He brought out the people who were in the city and put them to work making bricks. David demolished the city with saws, iron picks, and axes; he did this to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the troops returned to Jerusalem.

1 Some time later, David's son Amnon fell in love with Tamar the beautiful sister of Absalom, who was also David's son.

2 Amnon was so upset over his half sister that he made himself sick. She was a virgin, and it seemed impossible in Amnon's view to do anything to her.

3 But Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, Shimeah's son, David's brother, who was a very clever man.

4 "Prince," Jonadab said to him, "why are you so down, morning after morning? Tell me about it." So Amnon told him, "I'm in love with Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom."

5 "Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick," Jonadab said to him. "When your father comes to see you, tell him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me some food to eat. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I can watch and eat from her own hand.'"

6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. The king came to see him, and Amnon told the king, "Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of heart-shaped cakes in front of me so I can eat from her hand."

7 David sent word to Tamar at the palace: "Please go to your brother Amnon's house and prepare some food for him."

8 So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house where he was lying down. She took dough, kneaded it, made heart-shaped cakes in front of him, and then cooked them.

9 She took the pan and served Amnon, but he refused to eat. "Everyone leave me," Amnon said. So everyone left him.

10 Then Amnon said to Tamar, "Bring the food into the bedroom so I can eat from your hand." So Tamar took the heart-shaped cakes she had made and brought them to her brother Amnon in the bedroom.

11 When she served him the food, he grabbed her and said, "Come have sex with me, my sister."

12 But she said to him, "No, my brother! Don't rape me. Such a thing shouldn't be done in Israel. Don't do this horrible thing.

13 Think about me—where could I hide my shame? And you—you would become like some fool in Israel! Please, just talk to the king! He won't keep me from marrying you."

14 But Amnon refused to listen to her. He was stronger than she was, and so he raped her.

15 But then Amnon felt intense hatred for her. In fact, his hatred for her was greater than the love he had felt for her. So Amnon told her, "Get out of here!"

16 "No, my brother!" she said. "Sending me away would be worse than the wrong you've already done." But Amnon wouldn't listen to her.

17 He summoned his young servant and said, "Get this woman out of my presence and lock the door after her."

18 (She was wearing a long-sleeved robe because that was what the virgin princesses wore as garments.) So Amnon's servant put her out and locked the door after her.

19 Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long-sleeved robe she was wearing. She put her hand on her head and walked away, crying as she went.

20 Her brother Absalom said to her, "Has your brother Amnon been with you? Keep quiet about it for now, sister; he's your brother. Don't let it bother you." So Tamar, a broken woman, lived in her brother Absalom's house.

21 When King David heard about all this he got very angry, but he refused to punish his son Amnon because he loved him as his oldest child.

22 Absalom never spoke to Amnon, good word or bad, because he hated him for raping his sister Tamar.

23 Two years later, Absalom was shearing sheep at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, and he invited all the king's sons.

24 Absalom approached the king and said, "Your servant is shearing sheep. Would the king and his advisors please join me?"

25 But the king said to Absalom, "No, my son. We shouldn't all go, or we would be a burden on you." Although Absalom urged him, the king wasn't willing to go, although he gave Absalom a blessing.

26 Then Absalom said, "If you won't come, then let my brother Amnon go with us." "Why should he go with you?" they asked him.

27 But Absalom urged him until he sent Amnon and all the other princes. Then Absalom made a banquet fit for a king.

28 Absalom commanded his servants, "Be on the lookout! When Amnon is happy with wine and I tell you to strike Amnon down, then kill him! Don't be afraid, because I myself am giving you the order. Be brave and strong men."

29 So Absalom's servants did to Amnon just what he had commanded. Then all the princes got up, jumped onto their mules, and fled.

30 While they were on the way, the report came to David: "Absalom has killed all of the princes! Not one remains."

31 The king got up, tore his garments, and lay on the ground. All his servants stood near him, their garments torn as well.

32 But Jonadab, the son of David's brother Shimeah, said, "My master shouldn't think that all the young princes have been killed—only Amnon is dead. This has been Absalom's plan ever since the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar.

33 So don't let this bother you, my master; don't think that all the princes are dead, because only Amnon is dead,

34 and Absalom has fled." Just then the young man on watch looked up and saw many people coming on the road behind him alongside the mountain.

35 Jonadab told the king, "Look, the princes are coming, just as I, your servant, said they would."

36 When Jonadab finished speaking, the princes arrived. They broke into loud crying, and the king and his servants cried hard as well.

37 Meanwhile, Absalom had fled and gone to Geshur's King Talmai, Ammihud's son. David mourned for his son a long time.

38 But Absalom, after fleeing to Geshur, stayed there for three years.

39 Then the king's desire to go out after Absalom faded away because he had gotten over Amnon's death.

1 Jesus also said to the disciples, “A certain rich man heard that his household manager was wasting his estate.

2 He called the manager in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give me a report of your administration because you can no longer serve as my manager.'

3 “The household manager said to himself, What will I do now that my master is firing me as his manager? I'm not strong enough to dig and too proud to beg.

4 I know what I'll do so that, when I am removed from my management position, people will welcome me into their houses.

5 “One by one, the manager sent for each person who owed his master money. He said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?'

6 He said, ‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil.' The manager said to him, ‘Take your contract, sit down quickly, and write four hundred fifty gallons.'

7 Then the manager said to another, ‘How much do you owe?' He said, ‘One thousand bushels of wheat.' He said, ‘Take your contract and write eight hundred.'

8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he acted cleverly. People who belong to this world are more clever in dealing with their peers than are people who belong to the light.

9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves so that when it's gone, you will be welcomed into the eternal homes.

10 "Whoever is faithful with little is also faithful with much, and the one who is dishonest with little is also dishonest with much.

11 If you haven't been faithful with worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?

12 If you haven't been faithful with someone else's property, who will give you your own?

13 No household servant can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

14 The Pharisees, who were money-lovers, heard all this and sneered at Jesus.

15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before other people, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued by people is deeply offensive to God.

16 Until John, there was only the Law and the Prophets. Since then, the good news of God's kingdom is preached, and everyone is urged to enter it.

17 It's easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest stroke of a pen in the Law to drop out.

18 Any man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and a man who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

19 “There was a certain rich man who clothed himself in purple and fine linen, and who feasted luxuriously every day.

20 At his gate lay a certain poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores.

21 Lazarus longed to eat the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. Instead, dogs would come and lick his sores.

22 “The poor man died and was carried by angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried.

23 While being tormented in the place of the dead, he looked up and saw Abraham at a distance with Lazarus at his side.

24 He shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I'm suffering in this flame.'

25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received good things, whereas Lazarus received terrible things. Now Lazarus is being comforted and you are in great pain.

26 Moreover, a great crevasse has been fixed between us and you. Those who wish to cross over from here to you cannot. Neither can anyone cross from there to us.'

27 "The rich man said, ‘Then I beg you, Father, send Lazarus to my father's house.

28 I have five brothers. He needs to warn them so that they don't come to this place of agony.'

29 Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets. They must listen to them.'

30 The rich man said, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will change their hearts and lives.'

31 Abraham said, ‘If they don't listen to Moses and the Prophets, then neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.'"