Then he defeated the Moabites. He made the prisoners lie down on the ground and put two out of every three of them to death. So the Moabites became his subjects and paid taxes to him.

David captured seventeen hundred of his cavalry and twenty thousand of his foot soldiers. He kept enough horses for a hundred chariots and crippled all the rest.

Then he set up military camps in their territory, and they became his subjects and paid taxes to him. The LORD made David victorious everywhere.

He also took a great quantity of bronze from Betah and Berothai, cities ruled by Hadadezer.

So he sent his son Joram to greet King David and congratulate him for his victory over Hadadezer, against whom Toi had fought many times. Joram took David presents made of gold, silver, and bronze.

Edom, Moab, Ammon, Philistia, and Amalek---as well as part of the loot he had taken from Hadadezer.

He set up military camps throughout Edom, and the people there became his subjects. The LORD made David victorious everywhere.

Joab, whose mother was Zeruiah, was the commander of the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was in charge of the records;

Benaiah son of Jehoiada was in charge of David's bodyguards; and David's sons were priests.

There was a servant of Saul's family named Ziba, and he was told to go to David. "Are you Ziba?" the king asked. "At your service, sir," he answered.

"Where is he?" the king asked. "At the home of Machir son of Ammiel in Lodebar," Ziba answered.

When 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."

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

You, your sons, and your servants will farm the land for your master Saul's family and bring in the harvest, to provide food for them. But Mephibosheth himself will always be a guest at my table." (Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. All the members of Ziba's family became servants of Mephibosheth.

He also defeated the Moabites, who became his subjects and paid taxes to him.

David captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand cavalry troops, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He kept enough horses for a hundred chariots and crippled all the rest.

Then he set up military camps in their territory, and they became his subjects and paid taxes to him. The LORD made David victorious everywhere.

He also took a great quantity of bronze from Tibhath and Kun, cities ruled by Hadadezer. (Solomon later used this bronze to make the tank, the columns, and the bronze utensils for the Temple.)

So he sent his son Joram to greet King David and congratulate him for his victory over Hadadezer, against whom Toi had fought many times. Joram brought David presents made of gold, silver, and bronze.

Abishai, whose mother was Zeruiah, defeated the Edomites in Salt Valley and killed eighteen thousand of them.

David ruled over all Israel and made sure that his people were always treated fairly and justly.

Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was court secretary;

King David said, "I must show loyal friendship to Hanun, as his father Nahash did to me." So David sent messengers to express his sympathy. When they arrived in Ammon and called on King Hanun,

Hanun seized David's messengers, shaved off their beards, cut off their clothes at the hips, and sent them away.

King Hanun and the Ammonites realized that they had made David their enemy, so they paid nearly forty tons of silver to hire chariots and charioteers from Upper Mesopotamia and from the Syrian states of Maacah and Zobah.

When David heard what was happening, he sent out Joab and the whole army.

Joab saw that the enemy troops would attack him in front and from the rear, so he chose the best of Israel's soldiers and put them in position facing the Syrians.

Joab said to him, "If you see that the Syrians are defeating me, come and help me, and if the Ammonites are defeating you, I will go and help you.

Joab and his men advanced to attack, and the Syrians fled.

The Syrians realized that they had been defeated by the Israelites, so they brought troops from the Syrian states on the east side of the Euphrates River and placed them under the command of Shobach, commander of the army of King Hadadezer of Zobah.

and the Israelites drove the Syrian army back. David and his men killed seven thousand Syrian chariot drivers and forty thousand foot soldiers. They also killed the Syrian commander, Shobach.

with these instructions: "Go to the village there ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied up with her colt beside her. Untie them and bring them to me.

This happened in order to make come true what the prophet had said:

So the disciples went and did what Jesus had told them to do:

A large crowd of people spread their cloaks on the road while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was thrown into an uproar. "Who is he?" the people asked.

Jesus went into the Temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the stools of those who sold pigeons,

The blind and the crippled came to him in the Temple, and he healed them.

So they asked Jesus, "Do you hear what they are saying?" "Indeed I do," answered Jesus. "Haven't you ever read this scripture? 'You have trained children and babies to offer perfect praise.' "

On his way back to the city early next morning, Jesus was hungry.

The disciples saw this and were astounded. "How did the fig tree dry up so quickly?" they asked.

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

Jesus answered them, "I will ask you just one question, and if you give me an answer, I will tell you what right I have to do these things.

But if we say, 'From human beings,' we are afraid of what the people might do, because they are all convinced that John was a prophet."

"Now, what do you think? There was once a man who had two sons. He went to the older one and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'

Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. 'Yes, sir,' he answered, but he did not go.

For John the Baptist came to you showing you the right path to take, and you would not believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. Even when you saw this, you did not later change your minds and believe him.

When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent his slaves to the tenants to receive his share of the harvest.

Again the man sent other slaves, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.

But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the owner's son. Come on, let's kill him, and we will get his property!'

"Now, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" Jesus asked.

Jesus said to them, "Haven't you ever read what the Scriptures say? 'The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most important of all. This was done by the Lord; what a wonderful sight it is!'

OMITTED TEXT

so they tried to arrest him. But they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet.