Book of Common Prayer

A song celebrating the king’s marriage.

For the Chief Musician; set to ^[a]Shoshannim. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Maschil. A Song of loves.

God the King of the Earth.

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

The beauty and glory of Zion.

A Song; a Psalm of the sons of Korah.

25 And Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

² And there was a man in Maon, whose ^[a]possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. ³ Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail; and the woman was of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb. ⁴ And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. ⁵ And David sent ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name: ⁶ and ^[b]thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be unto thee, and peace be to thy house, and peace be unto all that thou hast. ⁷ And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: thy shepherds have now been with us, and we ^[c]did them no hurt, neither was there aught missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel. ⁸ Ask thy young men, and they will tell thee: wherefore let the young men find favor in thine eyes; for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thy hand, unto thy servants, and to thy son David.

⁹ And when David’s young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ^[d]ceased. ¹⁰ And Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there are many servants now-a-days that break away every man from his master. ¹¹ Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my ^[e]flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men of whom I know not whence they are? ¹² So David’s young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him according to all these words. ¹³ And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the baggage.

¹⁴ But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to ^[f]salute our master; and he railed at them. ¹⁵ But the men were very good unto us, and we were not ^[g]hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields: ¹⁶ they were a wall unto us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. ¹⁷ Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his house: for he is such a worthless fellow, that one cannot speak to him.

¹⁸ Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two ^[h]bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched grain, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. ¹⁹ And she said unto her young men, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal. ²⁰ And it was so, as she rode on her ass, and came down by the covert of the mountain, that, behold, David and his men came down toward her; and she met them. ²¹ Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath returned me evil for good. ²² God do so ^[i]unto the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light so much as one man-child.

14 And it came to pass in Iconium that they entered together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake that a great multitude both of Jews and of Greeks believed. ² But the Jews that were disobedient stirred up the souls of the Gentiles, and made them evil affected against the brethren. ³ Long time therefore they tarried there speaking boldly in the Lord, who bare witness unto the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. ⁴ But the multitude of the city was divided; and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles. ⁵ And when there was made an onset both of the Gentiles and of the Jews with their rulers, to treat them shamefully and to stone them, ⁶ they became aware of it, and fled unto the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe, and the region round about: ⁷ and there they ^[a]preached the gospel.

⁸ And at Lystra there sat a certain man, impotent in his feet, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked. ⁹ The same heard Paul speaking: who, fastening his eyes upon him, and seeing that he had faith to be made whole, ¹⁰ said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped up and walked. ¹¹ And when the multitude saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. ¹² And they called Barnabas, ^[b]Jupiter; and Paul, ^[c]Mercury, because he was the chief speaker. ¹³ And the priest of Jupiter whose temple was before the city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the multitudes. ¹⁴ But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they rent their garments, and sprang forth among the multitude, crying out ¹⁵ and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like ^[d]passions with you, and bring you good tidings, that ye should turn from these vain things unto a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that in them is: ¹⁶ who in the generations gone by suffered all the ^[e]nations to walk in their own ways. ¹⁷ And yet he left not himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness. ¹⁸ And with these sayings scarce restrained they the multitudes from doing sacrifice unto them.

²¹ And he said unto them, Is the lamp brought to be put under the bushel, or under the bed, and not to be put on the stand? ²² For there is nothing hid, save that it should be manifested; neither was anything made secret, but that it should come to light. ²³ If any man hath ears to hear, let him hear. ²⁴ And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete it shall be measured unto you; and more shall be given unto you. ²⁵ For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath.

²⁶ And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth; ²⁷ and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how. ²⁸ The earth ^[a]beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹ But when the fruit ^[b]is ripe, straightway he ^[c]putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come.

³⁰ And he said, How shall we liken the kingdom of God? or in what parable shall we set it forth? ^31 [d]It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown upon the earth, though it be less than all the seeds that are upon the earth, ³² yet when it is sown, groweth up, and becometh greater than all the herbs, and putteth out great branches; so that the birds of the heaven can lodge under the shadow thereof.

³³ And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it; ³⁴ and without a parable spake he not unto them: but privately to his own disciples he expounded all things.