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.

The Lord Will Not Forsake His People

Ananias and Sapphira

5 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, ² and with his wife's knowledge ^(A)he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and ^(B)laid it at the apostles' feet. ³ But Peter said, “Ananias, why has ^(C)Satan filled your heart to lie ^(D)to the Holy Spirit and ^(E)to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? ⁴ While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but ^(F)to God.” ⁵ When Ananias heard these words, he ^(G)fell down and breathed his last. And ^(H)great fear came upon all who heard of it. ⁶ The young men rose and ^(I)wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

⁷ After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸ And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you^[a] sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” ⁹ But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together ^(J)to test ^(K)the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” ¹⁰ Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹ And ^(L)great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

Many Signs and Wonders Done

¹² Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people ^(M)by the hands of the apostles. And they were all ^(N)together in ^(O)Solomon's Portico. ¹³ None of the rest dared join them, but ^(P)the people held them in high esteem. ¹⁴ And ^(Q)more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, ^15 (R)so that they even ^(S)carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by ^(T)at least his shadow might fall on some of them. ¹⁶ The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, ^(U)bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

The Apostles Arrested and Freed

¹⁷ But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of ^(V)the Sadducees), and filled with ^(W)jealousy ¹⁸ they arrested the apostles and ^(X)put them in the public prison. ¹⁹ But during the night ^(Y)an angel of the Lord ^(Z)opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, ²⁰ “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all ^(AA)the words of ^(AB)this ^(AC)Life.” ²¹ And when they heard this, ^(AD)they entered the temple ^(AE)at daybreak and began to teach.

Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. ²² But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, ²³ “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” ²⁴ Now when ^(AF)the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. ²⁵ And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison ^(AG)are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” ²⁶ Then ^(AH)the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for ^(AI)they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

²⁷ And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, ²⁸ saying, ^(AJ)“We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you ^(AK)intend to bring this man's blood upon us.” ²⁹ But Peter and the apostles answered, ^(AL)“We must obey God rather than men. ^30 (AM)The God of our fathers ^(AN)raised Jesus, ^(AO)whom you killed by hanging him on ^(AP)a tree. ³¹ God exalted ^(AQ)him at his right hand as ^(AR)Leader and ^(AS)Savior, ^(AT)to give ^(AU)repentance to Israel and ^(AV)forgiveness of sins. ³² And ^(AW)we are witnesses to these things, and ^(AX)so is the Holy Spirit, ^(AY)whom God has given to those who obey him.”

³³ When they heard this, they ^(AZ)were enraged and wanted to kill them. ³⁴ But a Pharisee in the council named ^(BA)Gamaliel, ^(BB)a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. ³⁵ And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. ³⁶ For ^(BC)before these days Theudas rose up, ^(BD)claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. ³⁷ After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of ^(BE)the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. ³⁸ So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for ^(BF)if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; ³⁹ but ^(BG)if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You ^(BH)might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice, ⁴⁰ and ^(BI)when they had called in the apostles, ^(BJ)they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. ⁴¹ Then they left the presence of the council, ^(BK)rejoicing that they were counted worthy ^(BL)to suffer dishonor for ^(BM)the name. ⁴² And every day, ^(BN)in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and ^(BO)preaching ^(BP)that the Christ is Jesus.