David and His Followers at Adul′lam

22 David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. ² And every one who was in distress, and every one who was in debt, and every one who was discontented, gathered to him; and he became captain over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.

³ And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Pray let my father and my mother stay^[a] with you, till I know what God will do for me.” ⁴ And he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. ⁵ Then the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not remain in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah.” So David departed, and went into the forest of Hereth.

Saul Slaughters the Priests at Nob

⁶ Now Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Saul was sitting at Gib′e-ah, under the tamarisk tree on the height, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him. ⁷ And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, you Benjaminites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, ⁸ that all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me when my son makes a league with the son of Jesse, none of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day.” ⁹ Then answered Do′eg the E′domite, who stood by the servants of Saul, “I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahim′elech the son of Ahi′tub, ¹⁰ and he inquired of the Lord for him, and gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.” ¹¹ Then the king sent to summon Ahim′elech the priest, the son of Ahi′tub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were at Nob; and all of them came to the king. ¹² And Saul said, “Hear now, son of Ahi′tub.” And he answered, “Here I am, my lord.” ¹³ And Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, so that he has risen against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?” ¹⁴ Then Ahim′elech answered the king, “And who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, and captain over^[b] your bodyguard, and honored in your house? ¹⁵ Is today the first time that I have inquired of God for him? No! Let not the king impute anything to his servant or to all the house of my father; for your servant has known nothing of all this, much or little.” ¹⁶ And the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahim′elech, you and all your father’s house.” ¹⁷ And the king said to the guard who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord; because their hand also is with David, and they knew that he fled, and did not disclose it to me.” But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the Lord. ¹⁸ Then the king said to Do′eg, “You turn and fall upon the priests.” And Do′eg the E′domite turned and fell upon the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod. ¹⁹ And Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; both men and women, children and sucklings, oxen, asses and sheep, he put to the sword.

²⁰ But one of the sons of Ahim′elech the son of Ahi′tub, named Abi′athar, escaped and fled after David. ²¹ And Abi′athar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. ²² And David said to Abi′athar, “I knew on that day, when Do′eg the E′domite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father’s house. ²³ Stay with me, fear not; for he that seeks my life seeks your life; with me you shall be in safekeeping.”

David Saves the City of Keilah

23 Now they told David, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Ke-i′lah, and are robbing the threshing floors.” ² Therefore David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the Lord said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Ke-i′lah.” ³ But David’s men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Ke-i′lah against the armies of the Philistines?” ⁴ Then David inquired of the Lord again. And the Lord answered him, “Arise, go down to Ke-i′lah; for I will give the Philistines into your hand.” ⁵ And David and his men went to Ke-i′lah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and made a great slaughter among them. So David delivered the inhabitants of Ke-i′lah.

⁶ When Abi′athar the son of Ahim′elech fled to David to Ke-i′lah, he came down with an ephod in his hand. ⁷ Now it was told Saul that David had come to Ke-i′lah. And Saul said, “God has given him into my hand; for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.” ⁸ And Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Ke-i′lah, to besiege David and his men. ⁹ David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him; and he said to Abi′athar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.” ¹⁰ Then said David, “O Lord, the God of Israel, thy servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Ke-i′lah, to destroy the city on my account. ¹¹ Will the men of Ke-i′lah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as thy servant has heard? O Lord, the God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.” ¹² Then said David, “Will the men of Ke-i′lah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will surrender you.” ¹³ Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed from Ke-i′lah, and they went wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Ke-i′lah, he gave up the expedition. ¹⁴ And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.

David Eludes Saul in the Wilderness

¹⁵ And David was afraid because^[c] Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the Wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. ¹⁶ And Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose, and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God. ¹⁷ And he said to him, “Fear not; for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you; you shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you; Saul my father also knows this.” ¹⁸ And the two of them made a covenant before the Lord; David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home.

¹⁹ Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gib′e-ah, saying, “Does not David hide among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachi′lah, which is south of Jeshi′mon? ²⁰ Now come down, O king, according to all your heart’s desire to come down; and our part shall be to surrender him into the king’s hand.” ²¹ And Saul said, “May you be blessed by the Lord; for you have had compassion on me. ²² Go, make yet more sure; know and see the place where his haunt is, and who has seen him there; for it is told me that he is very cunning. ²³ See therefore, and take note of all the lurking places where he hides, and come back to me with sure information. Then I will go with you; and if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.” ²⁴ And they arose, and went to Ziph ahead of Saul.

Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Ma′on, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshi′mon. ²⁵ And Saul and his men went to seek him. And David was told; therefore he went down to the rock which is^[d] in the wilderness of Ma′on. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Ma′on. ²⁶ Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain; and David was making haste to get away from Saul, as Saul and his men were closing in upon David and his men to capture them, ²⁷ when a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Make haste and come; for the Philistines have made a raid upon the land.” ²⁸ So Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines; therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape. ^29 [e] And David went up from there, and dwelt in the strongholds of En-ge′di.

God’s Blessings in the Home

A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.

Jesus Again Foretells His Death and Resurrection

³⁰ They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he would not have any one know it; ³¹ for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” ³² But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to ask him.

Who Is the Greatest?

³³ And they came to Caper′na-um; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” ³⁴ But they were silent; for on the way they had discussed with one another who was the greatest. ³⁵ And he sat down and called the twelve; and he said to them, “If any one would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” ³⁶ And he took a child, and put him in the midst of them; and taking him in his arms, he said to them, ³⁷ “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

Another Exorcist

³⁸ John said to him, “Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name,^[a] and we forbade him, because he was not following us.” ³⁹ But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. ⁴⁰ For he that is not against us is for us. ⁴¹ For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward.

Temptations to Sin

⁴² “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,^[b] it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the sea. ⁴³ And if your hand causes you to sin,^[c] cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell,^[d] to the unquenchable fire.^{[e] 45} And if your foot causes you to sin,^[f] cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell.^{[g][h] 47} And if your eye causes you to sin,^[i] pluck it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell,^{[j] 48} where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. ⁴⁹ For every one will be salted with fire.^[k]