The Death of Samuel

25 ^(A)Now Samuel died. And all Israel assembled ^(B)and mourned for him, and they buried him ^(C)in his house at ^(D)Ramah.

David and Abigail

Then David rose and went down to ^(E)the wilderness of Paran. ² And there was a man in ^(F)Maon whose business was in ^(G)Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. ^(H)He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. ³ Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; ^(I)he was a Calebite. ⁴ David heard in the wilderness that Nabal ^(J)was shearing his sheep. ⁵ So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name. ⁶ And thus you shall greet him: ^(K)‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. ⁷ I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, ^(L)and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. ⁸ Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come ^(M)on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

⁹ When David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited. ¹⁰ And Nabal answered David's servants, ^(N)“Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? ^(O)There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. ¹¹ Shall I take ^(P)my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to ^(Q)men who come from I do not know where?” ¹² So David's young men turned away and came back and told him all this. ¹³ And David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And ^(R)about four hundred men went up after David, ^(S)while two hundred ^(T)remained with the baggage.

¹⁴ But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them. ¹⁵ Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, ^(U)and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. ¹⁶ They were ^(V)a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. ¹⁷ Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, ^(W)for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such ^(X)a worthless man that one cannot speak to him.”

¹⁸ Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs^[a] of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. ¹⁹ And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. ²⁰ And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them. ²¹ Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, ^(Y)so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has ^(Z)returned me evil for good. ^22 (AA)God do so to the enemies of David^[b] and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.”

²³ When Abigail saw David, she hurried ^(AB)and got down from the donkey ^(AC)and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground. ²⁴ She fell at his feet and said, ^(AD)“On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. ²⁵ Let not my lord regard ^(AE)this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal^[c] is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. ²⁶ Now then, my lord, ^(AF)as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because ^(AG)the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from ^(AH)saving with your own hand, now then ^(AI)let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. ²⁷ And now let this ^(AJ)present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. ²⁸ Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the Lord will certainly make my lord ^(AK)a sure house, because my lord ^(AL)is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. ²⁹ If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies ^(AM)he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. ³⁰ And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince^[d] over Israel, ³¹ my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord ^(AN)working salvation himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”

³² And David said to Abigail, ^(AO)“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! ³³ Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, ^(AP)who have kept me this day from bloodguilt ^(AQ)and from working salvation with my own hand! ³⁴ For as surely ^(AR)as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, ^(AS)who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.” ³⁵ Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, ^(AT)“Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.”

³⁶ And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, ^(AU)he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart ^(AV)was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing ^(AW)at all until the morning light. ³⁷ In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. ³⁸ And about ten days later ^(AX)the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.

³⁹ When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, ^(AY)“Blessed be the Lord who has ^(AZ)avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, ^(BA)and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. ^(BB)The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and ^(BC)spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife. ⁴⁰ When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.” ⁴¹ And she rose ^(BD)and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” ⁴² And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

⁴³ David also took Ahinoam of ^(BE)Jezreel, ^(BF)and both of them became his wives. ⁴⁴ Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.

David Spares Saul Again

26 ^(BG)Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hachilah, which is on the east of Jeshimon?” ² So Saul arose and went down to ^(BH)the wilderness of Ziph with ^(BI)three thousand chosen men of Israel to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. ³ And Saul encamped on the hill of Hachilah, which is beside the road on the east of Jeshimon. But David remained in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness, ⁴ David sent out spies and learned that Saul had indeed come. ⁵ Then David rose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, with ^(BJ)Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Saul was lying within ^(BK)the encampment, while the army was encamped around him.

⁶ Then David said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Joab's brother ^(BL)Abishai the son of Zeruiah, ^(BM)“Who will go down with me into the camp to Saul?” And Abishai said, “I will go down with you.” ⁷ So David and Abishai went to the army by night. And there lay Saul sleeping within ^(BN)the encampment, with his spear stuck in the ground ^(BO)at his head, and Abner and the army lay around him. ⁸ Then Abishai said to David, ^(BP)“God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.” ⁹ But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand ^(BQ)against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless?” ¹⁰ And David said, ^(BR)“As the Lord lives, ^(BS)the Lord will strike him, or ^(BT)his day will come to die, ^(BU)or he will go down into battle and perish. ^11 (BV)The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. But take now the spear that is ^(BW)at his head and the jar of water, and let us go.” ¹² So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul's head, and they went away. No man saw it or knew it, nor did any awake, for they were all asleep, because ^(BX)a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them.

¹³ Then David went over to the other side and stood far off on the top of the hill, with a great space between them. ¹⁴ And David called to the army, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, “Will you not answer, Abner?” Then Abner answered, “Who are you who calls to the king?” ¹⁵ And David said to Abner, “Are you not a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king your lord. ¹⁶ This thing that you have done is not good. ^(BY)As the Lord lives, you deserve to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the Lord's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is and the jar of water that was ^(BZ)at his head.”

¹⁷ Saul recognized David's voice and said, ^(CA)“Is this your voice, my son David?” And David said, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.” ¹⁸ And he said, ^(CB)“Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is on my hands? ¹⁹ Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is the Lord who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering, but if it is men, may they be cursed before the Lord, ^(CC)for they have driven me out this day that I should have no share in ^(CD)the heritage of the Lord, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’ ²⁰ Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the Lord, for the king of Israel has come out to seek ^(CE)a single flea like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.”

²¹ Then Saul said, ^(CF)“I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have acted foolishly, and have made a great mistake.” ²² And David answered and said, “Here is the spear, O king! Let one of the young men come over and take it. ^23 (CG)The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. ²⁴ Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and may he deliver me out of all tribulation.” ²⁵ Then Saul said to David, “Blessed be you, my son David! You will do many things and will ^(CH)succeed in them.” So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.

My Soul Thirsts for You

A Psalm of David, ^(A)when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

9 And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to ^(A)his own city. ^2 (B)And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus ^(C)saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ^(D)“Take heart, my son; ^(E)your sins are forgiven.” ³ And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, ^(F)“This man is blaspheming.” ⁴ But Jesus, ^(G)knowing^[a] their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? ⁵ For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? ⁶ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” ⁷ And he rose and went home. ⁸ When the crowds saw it, ^(H)they were afraid, and ^(I)they glorified God, who had ^(J)given such authority to men.

Jesus Calls Matthew

^9 (K)As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called ^(L)Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁰ And as Jesus^[b] reclined at table in the house, behold, many ^(M)tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. ¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ^(N)“Why does your teacher eat with ^(O)tax collectors and sinners?” ¹² But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ Go and learn ^(P)what this means: ^(Q)‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For ^(R)I came not to call the righteous, ^(S)but sinners.”

A Question About Fasting

¹⁴ Then ^(T)the disciples of John came to him, saying, ^(U)“Why do we and ^(V)the Pharisees fast,^[c] but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, ^(W)“Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? ^(X)The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^(Y)then they will fast. ¹⁶ No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. ¹⁷ Neither is new wine put into old ^(Z)wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed

^18 (AA)While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and ^(AB)knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” ¹⁹ And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples. ²⁰ And behold, a woman ^(AC)who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched ^(AD)the fringe of his garment, ²¹ for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” ²² Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ^(AE)“Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” ^(AF)And instantly^[d] the woman was made well. ²³ And when Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw ^(AG)the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, ²⁴ he said, “Go away, for ^(AH)the girl is not dead but ^(AI)sleeping.” And they laughed at him. ²⁵ But ^(AJ)when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and ^(AK)took her by the hand, and the girl arose. ²⁶ And the report of this went through all that district.

Jesus Heals Two Blind Men

^27 (AL)And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, ^(AM)Son of David.” ²⁸ When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” ^29 (AN)Then he touched their eyes, saying, ^(AO)“According to your faith be it done to you.” ³⁰ And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, ^(AP)“See that no one knows about it.” ^31 (AQ)But they went away and spread his fame through all that district.

Jesus Heals a Man Unable to Speak

³² As they were going away, behold, a ^(AR)demon-oppressed man who was mute ^(AS)was brought to him. ³³ And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds ^(AT)marveled, saying, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.” ³⁴ But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”

The Harvest Is Plentiful, the Laborers Few

^35 (AU)And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. ^36 (AV)When he saw the crowds, ^(AW)he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, ^(AX)like sheep without a shepherd. ^37 (AY)Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸ therefore ^(AZ)pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to ^(BA)send out laborers into his harvest.”