King David was settled in his palace, and the LORD kept him safe from all his enemies.

Nathan answered, "Do whatever you have in mind, because the LORD is with you."

"Go and tell my servant David that I say to him, 'You are not the one to build a temple for me to live in.

The LORD said to Gad, David's prophet, "Go and tell David that I am giving him three choices. I will do whichever he chooses." The next morning, after David had gotten up,

Gad went to him, told him what the LORD had said, and asked, "Which is it to be? Three years of famine in your land or three months of running away from your enemies or three days of an epidemic in your land? Now think it over, and tell me what answer to take back to the LORD."

At the LORD's command a prophet from Judah went to Bethel and arrived there as Jeroboam stood at the altar to offer the sacrifice.

After some time, in the third year of the drought, the LORD said to Elijah, "Go and present yourself to King Ahab, and I will send rain."

But an angel of the LORD commanded Elijah, the prophet from Tishbe, to go and meet the messengers of King Ahaziah and ask them, "Why are you going to consult Baalzebub, the god of Ekron? Is it because you think there is no god in Israel?

When David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he asked him, "You have just returned after a long absence; why didn't you go home?"

So David said, "Then stay here the rest of the day, and tomorrow I'll send you back." So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.

The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah.

So while Joab was besieging the city, he sent Uriah to a place where he knew the enemy was strong.

We will all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which can't be gathered again. Even God does not bring the dead back to life, but the king can at least find a way to bring a man back from exile.

I was angry with them because of their sin and greed, and so I punished them and abandoned them. But they were stubborn and kept on going their own way.

"I have seen how they acted, but I will heal them. I will lead them and help them, and I will comfort those who mourn.

Be merciful to me, O God, because of your constant love. Because of your great mercy wipe away my sins!

"What do you want?" he asked her. "I am a poor widow, sir," she answered. "My husband is dead.

And now, sir, all my relatives have turned against me and are demanding that I hand my son over to them, so that they can kill him for murdering his brother. If they do this, I will be left without a son. They will destroy my last hope and leave my husband without a son to keep his name alive."

"Your Majesty," she said, "whatever you do, my family and I will take the blame; you and the royal family are innocent."

She said, "Your Majesty, please pray to the LORD your God, so that my relative who is responsible for avenging the death of my son will not commit a greater crime by killing my other son." "I promise by the living LORD," David replied, "that your son will not be harmed in the least."

When Jotham heard about this, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim and shouted out to them, "Listen to me, you men of Shechem, and God may listen to you!

The olive tree answered, 'In order to govern you, I would have to stop producing my oil, which is used to honor gods and human beings.'

But the fig tree answered, 'In order to govern you, I would have to stop producing my good sweet fruit.'

But the vine answered, 'In order to govern you, I would have to stop producing my wine, that makes gods and human beings happy.'

The thorn bush answered, 'If you really want to make me your king, then come and take shelter in my shade. If you don't, fire will blaze out of my thorny branches and burn up the cedars of Lebanon.'

At the LORD's command a member of a group of prophets ordered a fellow prophet to hit him. But he refused,

Then this same prophet went to another man and said, "Hit me!" This man did so; he hit him a hard blow and hurt him.

As the king was passing by, the prophet called out to him and said, "Your Majesty, I was fighting in the battle when a soldier brought a captured enemy to me and said, 'Guard this man; if he escapes, you will pay for it with your life or else pay a fine of three thousand pieces of silver.'

The prophet tore the cloth from his face, and at once the king recognized him as one of the prophets.

Listen while I sing you this song, a song of my friend and his vineyard: My friend had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

So now my friend says, "You people who live in Jerusalem and Judah, judge between my vineyard and me.

"Here is what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge around it, break down the wall that protects it, and let wild animals eat it and trample it down.

Israel is the vineyard of the LORD Almighty; the people of Judah are the vines he planted. He expected them to do what was good, but instead they committed murder. He expected them to do what was right, but their victims cried out for justice.

"Listen to another parable," Jesus said. "There was once a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a hole for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to tenants and left home on a trip.

The tenants grabbed his slaves, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

Last of all he sent his son to them. 'Surely they will respect my son,' he said.

So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

"He will certainly kill those evil men," they answered, "and rent the vineyard out to other tenants, who will give him his share of the harvest at the right time."

"And so I tell you," added Jesus, "the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce the proper fruits."

The chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables and knew that he was talking about them,

Jesus went on to say, "There was once a man who had two sons.

After a few days the younger son sold his part of the property and left home with the money. He went to a country far away, where he wasted his money in reckless living.

So he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him out to his farm to take care of the pigs.

At last he came to his senses and said, 'All my father's hired workers have more than they can eat, and here I am about to starve!

I am no longer fit to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired workers." '

'Father,' the son said, 'I have sinned against God and against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son.'

Then go and get the prize calf and kill it, and let us celebrate with a feast!

"In the meantime the older son was out in the field. On his way back, when he came close to the house, he heard the music and dancing.

'Your brother has come back home,' the servant answered, 'and your father has killed the prize calf, because he got him back safe and sound.'

But he spoke back to his father, 'Look, all these years I have worked for you like a slave, and I have never disobeyed your orders. What have you given me? Not even a goat for me to have a feast with my friends!

'My son,' the father answered, 'you are always here with me, and everything I have is yours.

"There was once a rich man who dressed in the most expensive clothes and lived in great luxury every day.

hoping to eat the bits of food that fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs would come and lick his sores.

and in Hades, where he was in great pain, he looked up and saw Abraham, far away, with Lazarus at his side.

But Abraham said, 'Remember, my son, that in your lifetime you were given all the good things, while Lazarus got all the bad things. But now he is enjoying himself here, while you are in pain.

The rich man said, 'Then I beg you, father Abraham, send Lazarus to my father's house,

Abraham said, 'Your brothers have Moses and the prophets to warn them; your brothers should listen to what they say.'

But Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone were to rise from death.' "