Death of Samuel

25 Then ^(A)Samuel died; and the Israelites gathered together and ^(B)lamented for him, and buried him at his home in Ramah. And David arose and went down ^(C)to the Wilderness of ^[a]Paran.

David and the Wife of Nabal

² Now there was a man ^(D)in Maon whose business was in ^(E)Carmel, and the man was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. ³ The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his doings. He was of the house of ^(F)Caleb.

⁴ When David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was ^(G)shearing his sheep, ⁵ David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. ⁶ And thus you shall say to him who lives in prosperity: ^(H)‘Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have! ⁷ Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds were with us, and we did not hurt them, ^(I)nor was there anything missing from them all the while they were in Carmel. ⁸ Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore ^[b]let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on ^(J)a feast day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.’ ”

⁹ So when David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David, and waited.

¹⁰ Then Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, ^(K)“Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master. ^11 (L)Shall I then take my bread and my water and my ^[c]meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?”

¹² So David’s young men turned on their heels and went back; and they came and told him all these words. ¹³ Then David said to his men, “Every man gird on his sword.” So every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred ^(M)stayed with the supplies.

¹⁴ Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master; and he ^[d]reviled them. ¹⁵ But the men were very good to us, and ^(N)we were not hurt, nor did we miss anything as long as we accompanied them, when we were in the fields. ¹⁶ They were ^(O)a wall to us both by night and day, all the time we were with them keeping the sheep. ¹⁷ Now therefore, know and consider what you will do, for ^(P)harm is determined against our master and against all his household. For he is such a ^(Q)scoundrel^[e] that one cannot speak to him.”

¹⁸ Then Abigail made haste and ^(R)took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. ¹⁹ And she said to her servants, ^(S)“Go on before me; see, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

²⁰ So it was, as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of the hill; and there were David and his men, coming down toward her, and she met them. ²¹ Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belongs to him. And he has ^(T)repaid me evil for good. ^22 (U)May God do so, and more also, to the enemies of David, if I ^(V)leave ^(W)one male of all who belong to him by morning light.”

²³ Now when Abigail saw David, she ^(X)dismounted quickly from the donkey, fell on her face before David, and bowed down to the ground. ²⁴ So she fell at his feet and said: “On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be! And please let your maidservant ^[f]speak in your ears, and hear the words of your maidservant. ²⁵ Please, let not my lord ^[g]regard this scoundrel Nabal. For as his name is, so is he: ^[h]Nabal is his name, and folly is with him! But I, your maidservant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent. ²⁶ Now therefore, my lord, ^(Y)as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, since the Lord has ^(Z)held you back from coming to bloodshed and from ^(AA)avenging^[i] yourself with your own hand, now then, ^(AB)let your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be as Nabal. ²⁷ And now ^(AC)this present which your maidservant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. ²⁸ Please forgive the trespass of your maidservant. For ^(AD)the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord ^(AE)fights the battles of the Lord, ^(AF)and evil is not found in you throughout your days. ²⁹ Yet a man has risen to pursue you and seek your life, but the life of my lord shall be ^(AG)bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; and the lives of your enemies He shall ^(AH)sling out, as from the pocket of a sling. ³⁰ And it shall come to pass, when the Lord has done for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you ^(AI)ruler over Israel, ³¹ that this will be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. But when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.”

³² Then David said to Abigail: ^(AJ)“Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! ³³ And blessed is your advice and blessed are you, because you have ^(AK)kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand. ³⁴ For indeed, as the Lord God of Israel lives, who has ^(AL)kept me back from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely ^(AM)by morning light no males would have been left to Nabal!” ³⁵ So David received from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, ^(AN)“Go up in peace to your house. See, I have heeded your voice and ^(AO)respected your person.”

³⁶ Now Abigail went to Nabal, and there he was, ^(AP)holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk; therefore she told him nothing, little or much, until morning light. ³⁷ So it was, in the morning, when the wine had gone from Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became like a stone. ³⁸ Then it happened, after about ten days, that the Lord ^(AQ)struck Nabal, and he died.

³⁹ So when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, ^(AR)“Blessed be the Lord, who has ^(AS)pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has ^(AT)kept His servant from evil! For the Lord has ^(AU)returned the wickedness of Nabal on his own head.”

And David sent and proposed to Abigail, to take her as his wife. ⁴⁰ When the servants of David had come to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her saying, “David sent us to you, to ask you to become his wife.”

⁴¹ Then she arose, bowed her face to the earth, and said, “Here is your maidservant, a servant to ^(AV)wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” ⁴² So Abigail rose in haste and rode on a donkey, ^[j]attended by five of her maidens; and she followed the messengers of David, and became his wife. ⁴³ David also took Ahinoam ^(AW)of Jezreel, ^(AX)and so both of them were his wives.

⁴⁴ But Saul had given ^(AY)Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to ^[k]Palti the son of Laish, who was from ^(AZ)Gallim.

The Family of Issachar^(A)

7 The sons of Issachar were ^(B)Tola, ^[a]Puah, ^[b]Jashub, and Shimron—four in all. ² The sons of Tola were Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Jibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their father’s house. The sons of Tola were mighty men of valor in their generations; ^(C)their number in the days of David was twenty-two thousand six hundred. ³ The son of Uzzi was Izrahiah, and the sons of Izrahiah were Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Ishiah. All five of them were chief men. ⁴ And with them, by their generations, according to their fathers’ houses, were thirty-six thousand troops ready for war; for they had many wives and sons.

⁵ Now their brethren among all the families of Issachar were mighty men of valor, listed by their genealogies, eighty-seven thousand in all.

The Family of Benjamin^(D)

⁶ The sons of ^(E)Benjamin were Bela, Becher, and Jediael—three in all. ⁷ The sons of Bela were Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri—five in all. They were heads of their fathers’ houses, and they were listed by their genealogies, twenty-two thousand and thirty-four mighty men of valor.

⁸ The sons of Becher were Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jerimoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth. All these are the sons of Becher. ⁹ And they were recorded by genealogy according to their generations, heads of their fathers’ houses, twenty thousand two hundred mighty men of valor. ¹⁰ The son of Jediael was Bilhan, and the sons of Bilhan were Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tharshish, and Ahishahar.

¹¹ All these sons of Jediael were heads of their fathers’ houses; there were seventeen thousand two hundred mighty men of valor fit to go out for war and battle. ^12 [c]Shuppim and ^[d]Huppim were the sons of ^[e]Ir, and Hushim was the son of ^[f]Aher.

The Family of Naphtali^(F)

¹³ The ^(G)sons of Naphtali were ^[g]Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and ^[h]Shallum, the sons of Bilhah.

The Family of Manasseh (West)

¹⁴ The ^(H)descendants of Manasseh: his Syrian concubine bore him ^(I)Machir the father of Gilead, the father of Asriel. ¹⁵ Machir took as his wife the sister of ^[i]Huppim and ^[j]Shuppim, whose name was Maachah. The name of Gilead’s ^[k]grandson was ^(J)Zelophehad, but Zelophehad begot only daughters. ¹⁶ (Maachah the wife of Machir bore a son, and she called his name Peresh. The name of his brother was Sheresh, and his sons were Ulam and Rakem. ¹⁷ The son of Ulam was ^(K)Bedan.) These were the descendants of Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh.

¹⁸ His sister Hammoleketh bore Ishhod, ^[l]Abiezer, and Mahlah.

¹⁹ And the sons of Shemida were Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam.

The Family of Ephraim

^20 (L)The sons of Ephraim were Shuthelah, Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eladah his son, Tahath his son, ²¹ Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead. The men of Gath who were born in that land killed them because they came down to take away their cattle. ²² Then Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him.

²³ And when he went in to his wife, she conceived and bore a son; and he called his name ^[m]Beriah, because tragedy had come upon his house. ²⁴ Now his daughter was Sheerah, who built Lower and Upper ^(M)Beth Horon and Uzzen Sheerah; ²⁵ and Rephah was his son, as well as Resheph, and Telah his son, Tahan his son, ²⁶ Laadan his son, Ammihud his son, ^(N)Elishama his son, ^27 [n]Nun his son, and ^(O)Joshua his son.

²⁸ Now their ^(P)possessions and dwelling places were Bethel and its towns: to the east ^[o]Naaran, to the west Gezer and its towns, and Shechem and its towns, as far as ^[p]Ayyah and its towns; ²⁹ and by the borders of the children of ^(Q)Manasseh were Beth Shean and its towns, Taanach and its towns, ^(R)Megiddo and its towns, Dor and its towns. In these dwelt the children of Joseph, the son of Israel.

The Family of Asher^(S)

^30 (T)The sons of Asher were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. ³¹ The sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel, who was the father of ^[q]Birzaith. ³² And Heber begot Japhlet, ^[r]Shomer, ^[s]Hotham, and their sister Shua. ³³ The sons of Japhlet were Pasach, Bimhal, and Ashvath. These were the children of Japhlet. ³⁴ The sons of ^(U)Shemer were Ahi, Rohgah, Jehubbah, and Aram. ³⁵ And the sons of his brother Helem were Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amal. ³⁶ The sons of Zophah were Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah, ³⁷ Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, ^[t]Jithran, and Beera. ³⁸ The sons of Jether were Jephunneh, Pispah, and Ara. ³⁹ The sons of Ulla were Arah, Haniel, and Rizia.

⁴⁰ All these were the children of Asher, heads of their fathers’ houses, choice men, mighty men of valor, chief leaders. And they were recorded by genealogies among the army fit for battle; their number was twenty-six thousand.

Preaching Christ at Thessalonica

17 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to ^(A)Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. ² Then Paul, as his custom was, ^(B)went in to them, and for three Sabbaths ^(C)reasoned with them from the Scriptures, ³ explaining and demonstrating ^(D)that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” ^4 (E)And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and ^(F)Silas.

Assault on Jason’s House

⁵ But the Jews ^[a]who were not persuaded, ^[b]becoming ^(G)envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of ^(H)Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. ⁶ But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, ^(I)“These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. ⁷ Jason has ^[c]harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, ^(J)saying there is another king—Jesus.” ⁸ And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. ⁹ So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

Ministering at Berea

¹⁰ Then ^(K)the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. ¹¹ These were more ^[d]fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and ^(L)searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. ¹² Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. ¹³ But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds. ^14 (M)Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there. ¹⁵ So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens; and ^(N)receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.

The Philosophers at Athens

¹⁶ Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, ^(O)his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was ^[e]given over to idols. ¹⁷ Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. ^18 [f]Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this ^[g]babbler want to say?”

Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them ^(P)Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹ And they took him and brought him to the ^[h]Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? ²⁰ For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” ²¹ For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

Addressing the Areopagus

²² Then Paul stood in the midst of the ^[i]Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; ²³ for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: ^24 (Q)God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is ^(R)Lord of heaven and earth, ^(S)does not dwell in temples made with hands. ²⁵ Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He ^(T)gives to all life, breath, and all things. ²⁶ And He has made from one ^[j]blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and ^(U)the boundaries of their dwellings, ^27 (V)so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, ^(W)though He is not far from each one of us; ²⁸ for ^(X)in Him we live and move and have our being, ^(Y)as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ ²⁹ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, ^(Z)we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. ³⁰ Truly, ^(AA)these times of ignorance God overlooked, but ^(AB)now commands all men everywhere to repent, ³¹ because He has appointed a day on which ^(AC)He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by ^(AD)raising Him from the dead.”

³² And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” ³³ So Paul departed from among them. ³⁴ However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.