Moses Returns to Egypt

¹⁸ Moses went back to ^(A)Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” ¹⁹ And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for ^(B)all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” ²⁰ So Moses took ^(C)his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. And Moses took ^(D)the staff of God in his hand.

²¹ And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the ^(E)miracles that I have put in your power. But ^(F)I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. ²² Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, ^(G)Israel is my ^(H)firstborn son, ²³ and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I ^(I)will kill your firstborn son.’”

²⁴ At a lodging place on the way ^(J)the Lord met him and ^(K)sought to put him to death. ²⁵ Then ^(L)Zipporah took a ^(M)flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses'^[a] feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” ²⁶ So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.

²⁷ The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness ^(N)to meet Moses.” So he went and met him at the ^(O)mountain of God and kissed him. ²⁸ And Moses ^(P)told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which he had sent him to speak, and all ^(Q)the signs that he had commanded him to do. ²⁹ Then Moses and Aaron ^(R)went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel. ^30 (S)Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people. ³¹ And the people ^(T)believed; and when they heard that the Lord had ^(U)visited the people of Israel and that he had ^(V)seen their affliction, ^(W)they bowed their heads and worshiped.

David at the Cave of Adullam

22 David departed from there and escaped to ^(A)the cave of ^(B)Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. ^2 (C)And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul,^[a] gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him ^(D)about four hundred men.

³ And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab. And he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother stay^[b] 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 ^(E)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 Kills the Priests at Nob

⁶ Now Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Saul was sitting at Gibeah under ^(F)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, people of Benjamin; will the son of Jesse ^(G)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 ^(H)when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you ^(I)is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, ^(J)to lie in wait, as at this day.” ⁹ Then answered ^(K)Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, “I saw the son of Jesse ^(L)coming to Nob, to ^(M)Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, ^10 (N)and he inquired of the Lord for him and ^(O)gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

¹¹ Then the king sent to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, 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 Ahitub.” 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 ^(P)have inquired of God for him, so that he has risen against me, ^(Q)to lie in wait, as at this day?” ¹⁴ Then Ahimelech 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^[c] your bodyguard, and honored in your house? ¹⁵ Is today the first time ^(R)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, ^(S)much or little.” ¹⁶ And the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father's house.” ¹⁷ And the king said to ^(T)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 out their hand to strike the priests of the Lord. ¹⁸ Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn and strike the priests.” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests, ^(U)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; ^(V)both man and woman, child and infant, ox, donkey and sheep, he put to the sword.

²⁰ But one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named ^(W)Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. ²¹ And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. ²² And David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, ^(X)when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father's house. ^23 (Y)Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping.”

^12 (Y)Who is the man so wise that he can understand this? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined ^(Z)and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? ¹³ And the Lord says: ^(AA)“Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in accord with it, ¹⁴ but ^(AB)have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them. ¹⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(AC)Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them ^(AD)poisonous water to drink. ^16 (AE)I will scatter them among the nations ^(AF)whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will ^(AG)send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”

Why Have You Forsaken Me?

To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.

Jesus Is Buried

^57 (A)When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. ⁵⁹ And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud ⁶⁰ and ^(B)laid it in his own new tomb, ^(C)which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled ^(D)a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. ⁶¹ Mary Magdalene and ^(E)the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

The Guard at the Tomb

⁶² The next day, that is, after the day of ^(F)Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate ⁶³ and said, “Sir, we remember how ^(G)that impostor said, while he was still alive, ^(H)‘After three days I will rise.’ ⁶⁴ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, ^(I)lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” ⁶⁵ Pilate said to them, “You have ^(J)a guard^[a] of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” ⁶⁶ So they went and made the tomb secure by ^(K)sealing the stone and setting a guard.

Wives and Husbands

3 Likewise, wives, ^(A)be subject to your own husbands, so that ^(B)even if some do not obey the word, ^(C)they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, ² when they see your ^(D)respectful and pure conduct. ^3 (E)Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— ⁴ but let your adorning be ^(F)the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. ⁵ For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, ⁶ as Sarah obeyed Abraham, ^(G)calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and ^(H)do not fear anything that is frightening.

⁷ Likewise, ^(I)husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker ^(J)vessel, since they are heirs with you^[a] of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.