Chapter 24

David Spares Saul.^{[a] 1} David then went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of Engedi. ² When Saul returned from the pursuit of the Philistines, he was told that David was in the desert near Engedi. ³ So Saul took three thousand of the best men from all Israel and went in search of David and his men in the direction of the wild goat crags. ⁴ When he came to the sheepfolds along the way, he found a cave, which he entered to relieve himself. David and his men were occupying the inmost recesses of the cave.^(A)

⁵ David’s servants said to him, “This is the day about which the Lord said to you: I will deliver your enemy into your hand; do with him as you see fit.” So David moved up and stealthily cut off an end of Saul’s robe. ⁶ Afterward, however, David regretted that he had cut off an end of Saul’s robe.^{(B) 7} He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to lay a hand on him, for he is the Lord’s anointed.”^{(C) 8} With these words David restrained his men and would not permit them to attack Saul. Saul then left the cave and went on his way. ⁹ David also stepped out of the cave, calling to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked back, David bowed, his face to the ground in homage, ¹⁰ and asked Saul: “Why do you listen to those who say, ‘David is trying to harm you’? ¹¹ You see for yourself today that the Lord just now delivered you into my hand in the cave. I was told to kill you, but I took pity on you instead. I decided, ‘I will not raise a hand against my master, for he is the Lord’s anointed.’ ¹² Look here, my father. See the end of your robe which I hold. I cut off an end of your robe and did not kill you. Now see and be convinced that I plan no harm and no rebellion. I have done you no wrong, though you are hunting me down to take my life.^{(D) 13} May the Lord judge between me and you. May the Lord exact justice from you in my case. I shall not lay a hand on you. ¹⁴ As the old proverb says, ‘From the wicked comes wickedness.’ Thus I will not lay a hand on you. ¹⁵ What is the king of Israel attacking? What are you pursuing? A dead dog! A single flea!^{(E) 16} The Lord will be the judge to decide between us. May the Lord see this, defend my cause, and give me justice against you!”^(F)

Saul’s Remorse. ¹⁷ When David finished saying these things to Saul, Saul answered, “Is that your voice, my son David?” And he wept freely. ¹⁸ Saul then admitted to David: “You are more in the right than I am. You have treated me graciously, while I have treated you badly. ¹⁹ You have declared this day how you treated me graciously: the Lord delivered me into your hand and you did not kill me. ²⁰ For if someone comes upon an enemy, do they send them graciously on their way? So may the Lord reward you graciously for what you have done this day. ²¹ And now, since I know that you will certainly become king and that the kingship over Israel shall come into your possession,^{(G) 22} swear to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants and that you will not blot out my name from my father’s house.”^{(H) 23} David gave Saul his oath and Saul returned home, while David and his men went up to the stronghold.

Chapter 25

Death of Samuel. ¹ Samuel died, and all Israel gathered to mourn him; they buried him at his home in Ramah.^(I) Then David went down to the wilderness of Paran.

Nabal and Abigail. ² There was a man of Maon who had property in Carmel; he was very wealthy, owning three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. At the time, he was present for the shearing of his flock in Carmel.^{(J) 3} The man’s name was Nabal and his wife was Abigail. The woman was intelligent and attractive, but Nabal, a Calebite, was harsh and bad-mannered.^{(K) 4} While in the wilderness, David heard that Nabal was shearing his flock, ⁵ so he sent ten young men, instructing them: “Go up to Carmel. Pay Nabal a visit and greet him in my name. ⁶ Say to him, ‘Peace be with you, my brother, and with your family, and with all who belong to you. ⁷ I have just heard that shearers are with you. Now, when your shepherds were with us, we did them no injury, neither did they miss anything while they were in Carmel. ⁸ Ask your servants and they will tell you. Look kindly on these young men, since we come at a festival time. Please give your servants and your son David^[b] whatever you can.’”

⁹ When David’s young men arrived, they delivered the entire message to Nabal in David’s name, and then waited. ¹⁰ But Nabal answered the servants of David: “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? Nowadays there are many servants who run away from their masters. ¹¹ Must I take my bread, my wine, my meat that I have slaughtered for my own shearers, and give them to men who come from who knows where?” ¹² So David’s young men retraced their steps and on their return reported to him all that had been said. ¹³ Thereupon David said to his men, “Let everyone strap on his sword.” And everyone did so, and David put on his own sword. About four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.

¹⁴ Abigail, Nabal’s wife, was informed of this by one of the servants, who said: “From the wilderness David sent messengers to greet our master, but he screamed at them. ¹⁵ Yet these men were very good to us. We were not harmed, neither did we miss anything all the while we were living among them during our stay in the open country. ¹⁶ Day and night they were a wall of protection for us, the whole time we were pasturing the sheep near them. ¹⁷ Now, see what you can do, for you must realize that otherwise disaster is in store for our master and for his whole house. He is such a scoundrel that no one can talk to him.” ¹⁸ Abigail quickly got together two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of pressed raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. ¹⁹ She then said to her servants, “Go on ahead; I will follow you.” But to her husband Nabal she said nothing.

²⁰ Hidden by the mountain, she came down riding on a donkey, as David and his men were coming down from the opposite direction. When she met them, ²¹ David had just been saying: “Indeed, it was in vain that I guarded all this man’s possessions in the wilderness, so that nothing of his was missing. He has repaid good with evil. ²² May God do thus to David, and more, if by morning I leave a single male alive among all those who belong to him.”^{(L) 23} As soon as Abigail saw David, she dismounted quickly from the donkey and, falling down, bowed low to the ground before David in homage.

²⁴ As she fell at his feet she said: “My lord, let the blame be mine. Please let your maidservant speak to you; listen to the words of your maidservant.^{(M) 25} My lord, do not pay any attention to that scoundrel Nabal, for he is just like his name. His name means fool,^[c] and he acts the fool. I, your maidservant, did not see the young men whom my lord sent. ²⁶ Now, therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as you live, the Lord has kept you from shedding blood and from avenging yourself by your own hand. May your enemies and those who seek to harm my lord become as Nabal!^{[d](N) 27} Accept this gift, then, which your maidservant has brought for my lord, and let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. ²⁸ Please forgive the offense of your maidservant, for the Lord shall certainly establish a lasting house for my lord, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord. Let no evil be found in you your whole life long.^{(O) 29} If any adversary pursues you to seek your life, may the life of my lord be bound in the bundle of the living^[e] in the care of the Lord your God; may God hurl out the lives of your enemies as from the hollow of a sling.^{(P) 30} And when the Lord fulfills for my lord the promise of success he has made concerning you, and appoints you as ruler over Israel,^{(Q) 31} you shall not have any regrets or burdens on your conscience, my lord, for having shed innocent blood or for having rescued yourself. When the Lord bestows good on my lord, remember your maidservant.” ³² David said to Abigail: “Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today. ³³ Blessed is your good judgment and blessed are you yourself. Today you have prevented me from shedding blood and rescuing myself with my own hand. ³⁴ Otherwise, as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come so promptly to meet me, by dawn Nabal would not have had so much as one male left alive.” ³⁵ David then took from her what she had brought him and said to her: “Go to your home in peace! See, I have listened to your appeal and have granted your request.”

Nabal’s Death. ³⁶ When Abigail came to Nabal, he was hosting a banquet in his house like that of a king, and Nabal was in a festive mood and very drunk. So she said not a word to him until daybreak the next morning. ³⁷ But then, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him what had happened. At this his heart died within him, and he became like a stone. ³⁸ About ten days later the Lord struck Nabal and he died. ³⁹ Hearing that Nabal was dead, David said: “Blessed be the Lord, who has defended my cause against the insult from Nabal, and who restrained his servant from doing evil, but has repaid Nabal for his evil deeds.”

David Marries Abigail and Ahinoam. David then sent a proposal of marriage to Abigail.^{(R) 40} When David’s servants came to Abigail in Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to make his proposal of marriage to you.” ⁴¹ Rising and bowing to the ground, she answered, “Let your maidservant be the slave who washes the feet of my lord’s servants.” ⁴² She got up immediately, mounted a donkey, and followed David’s messengers, with her five maids attending her. She became his wife. ^43 (S)David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. Thus both of them were his wives. ⁴⁴ But Saul gave David’s wife Michal, Saul’s own daughter, to Palti, son of Laish, who was from Gallim.^(T)

Psalm 128^[a]

The Blessed Home of the Just

¹ A song of ascents.

I

II

Chapter 10

Marriage and Divorce. ¹ He set out from there and went into the district of Judea [and] across the Jordan. Again crowds gathered around him and, as was his custom, he again taught them. ^2 [a]The Pharisees approached and asked, “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?” They were testing him.^{(A) 3} He said to them in reply, “What did Moses command you?” ⁴ They replied, “Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her.”^{(B) 5} But Jesus told them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment. ⁶ But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.^{(C) 7} For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother [and be joined to his wife],^{(D) 8} and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. ⁹ Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” ¹⁰ In the house the disciples again questioned him about this. ^11 (E)He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; ¹² and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Blessing of the Children. ^13 (F)And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.^{(G) 14} When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵ Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child^[b] will not enter it.”^{(H) 16} Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.

The Rich Man. ^17 (I)As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸ Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good?^[c] No one is good but God alone. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.’”^{(J) 20} He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” ²¹ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” ²² At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

^23 [d]Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”^{(K) 24} The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ It is easier for a camel to pass through [the] eye of [a] needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁶ They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.” ²⁸ Peter began to say to him, “We have given up everything and followed you.” ²⁹ Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel ³⁰ who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come. ³¹ But many that are first will be last, and [the] last will be first.”^(L)