¹⁸ Then Jonathan said to him, “^(A)Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed since your seat will be empty. ¹⁹ When you have stayed for three days, you shall go down quickly and come to the place where you hid yourself on that eventful day, and you shall remain beside the stone Ezel. ²⁰ And I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a target. ²¹ Then behold, I will send the boy, telling him, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I specifically say to the boy, ‘Behold, the arrows are on this side of you, get them,’ then come, because it is safe for you and there is nothing to harm you, as the Lord lives. ²² But if I ^[a]say to the youth, ‘^(B)Behold, the arrows are beyond you,’ go, because the Lord has sent you away. ^23 (C)As for the ^[b]agreement of which you and I have spoken, behold, ^(D)the Lord is between you and me forever.”

²⁴ So David hid himself in the field; and when the new moon came, the king sat down to eat food. ²⁵ Now the king sat on his seat as usual, the seat by the wall; then Jonathan stood up and Abner sat down by Saul’s side; but ^(E)David’s place was empty. ²⁶ Nevertheless Saul did not say anything that day, because he thought, “It must have been an ^[c]accident; ^(F)he is not clean, undoubtedly he is not clean.” ²⁷ But it came about the next day, the second day of the new moon, that David’s place was empty again; so Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal, either yesterday or today?” ²⁸ And Jonathan answered Saul, “^(G)David earnestly requested leave of me to go to Bethlehem. ²⁹ He said, ‘Please let me go, because our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has ordered me to attend. So now, if I have found favor in your sight, please let me slip away so that I may see my brothers.’ For this reason he has not come to the king’s table.”

Saul Is Angry with Jonathan

³⁰ Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you are choosing the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? ³¹ For, ^[d]as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now then, send men and bring him to me, for ^(H)he is ^[e]doomed to die!” ³² But Jonathan replied to his father Saul and said to him, “^(I)Why must he be put to death? What has he done?” ³³ Then ^(J)Saul hurled his spear at him to strike and kill him; ^(K)so Jonathan knew that his father had decided to put David to death. ³⁴ Then Jonathan got up from the table in the heat of anger, and did not eat food on the second day of the new moon, because he was worried about David since his father had insulted him.

³⁵ Now it came about in the morning that Jonathan went out to the field at the time agreed upon with David, and a little boy was with him. ³⁶ He said to his boy, “^(L)Run, find now the arrows which I am about to shoot.” The boy ran, and he shot ^[f]an arrow past him. ³⁷ When the boy reached the location of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after the boy and said, “^(M)Is the arrow not beyond you?” ³⁸ Then Jonathan called after the boy, “Hurry, be quick, do not stay!” And Jonathan’s boy picked up the arrow and came to his master. ³⁹ But the boy was not aware of anything; only Jonathan and David knew about the matter. ⁴⁰ Then Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy and said to him, “Go, bring them to the city.” ⁴¹ When the boy was gone, David got up from the south side, then he fell on his face to the ground and ^(N)bowed three times. And they kissed each other and wept together, until ^(O)David wept immeasurably. ⁴² Then Jonathan said to David, “^(P)Go ^[g]in safety, since we have sworn to each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘^(Q)The Lord will be between me and you, and between my ^[h]descendants and your ^[i]descendants forever.’” ^[j]So David set out and went on his way, while Jonathan went into the city.

Self-denial in behalf of Others

15 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of ^(A)those without strength, and not just please ourselves. ² Each of us is to ^(B)please his neighbor ^[a]for his good, to his ^(C)edification. ³ For even ^(D)Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written: “^(E)The taunts of those who taunt You have fallen on Me.” ⁴ For ^(F)whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. ⁵ Now may the ^(G)God ^[b]who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you ^(H)to be of the same mind with one another, according to Christ Jesus, ⁶ so that with one purpose and one ^[c]voice you may glorify ^(I)the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷ Therefore, ^[d](J)accept one another, just as Christ also accepted ^[e]us, for the glory of God. ⁸ For I say that Christ has become a servant to ^(K)the circumcision in behalf of the truth of God, to confirm ^(L)the promises given to the fathers, ⁹ and for ^(M)the Gentiles to ^(N)glorify God for His mercy; as it is written:

¹⁰ Again he says,

¹¹ And again,

¹² Again Isaiah says,

¹³ Now may the God of hope fill you with all ^(U)joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope ^(V)by the power of the Holy Spirit.

David Takes Consecrated Bread

21 Then David came to ^(A)Nob, to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech ^(B)came trembling to meet David and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” ² David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commissioned me with a matter and has said to me, ‘^(C)No one is to know anything about the matter on which I am sending you and with which I have commissioned you; and I have directed the young men to a certain place.’ ³ Now then, what ^[a]do you have on hand? Give ^[b]me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.” ⁴ The priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread ^[c]on hand, but there is ^(D)consecrated bread, if only the young men have ^(E)kept themselves from women.” ⁵ David answered the priest and said to him, “^(F)Be assured, women have been denied to us as previously when I left and the ^[d](G)bodies of the young men were consecrated, though it was an ordinary journey; how much more then will ^[e]their bodies be consecrated today?” ⁶ So ^(H)the priest gave him consecrated bread; for there was no bread there except the ^(I)bread of the Presence which was removed from its place before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day it was taken away.

⁷ Now one of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord; and his name was ^(J)Doeg the Edomite, the ^(K)chief of Saul’s shepherds.

⁸ David said to Ahimelech, “Now is there no spear or sword ^[f]on hand? For I brought neither my sword nor my weapons ^[g]with me, because the king’s matter was urgent.” ⁹ Then the priest said, “^(L)The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you ^[h]killed ^(M)in the Valley of Elah, behold, it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if you would take it for yourself, take it. For there is no other except it here.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

¹⁰ Then David set out and fled that day from Saul, and went to ^(N)Achish king of Gath. ¹¹ But the ^(O)servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David, the king of the land? ^(P)Did they not sing of this one as they danced, saying,

¹² David ^(Q)took these words ^[i]to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath. ¹³ So he ^(R)disguised his sanity while in their sight and acted insanely in their ^[j]custody, and he scribbled on the doors of the gate, and drooled on his beard. ¹⁴ Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is behaving like an insane person. Why do you bring him to me? ¹⁵ Do I lack insane people, that you have brought this one to behave like an insane person in my presence? Shall this one come into my house?”

Priests Killed at Nob

22 So David departed from there and ^(S)escaped to ^(T)the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father’s household heard about it, they went down there to him. ² Then everyone who was in distress, and everyone who ^[k]was in debt, and everyone who was ^[l]discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were ^(U)about four hundred men with him.

³ And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.” ⁴ Then he ^[m]left them with the king of Moab; and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. ⁵ But ^(V)Gad the prophet said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold; leave, and go into the land of Judah.” So David left and went into the forest of Hereth.

The Anointing in Galilee

³⁶ Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to eat with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ^37 (A)And there was a woman in the city who was a ^[a]sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, ³⁸ and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, and began kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. ³⁹ Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were ^(B)a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a ^[b]sinner!”

Parable of Two Debtors

⁴⁰ And Jesus responded and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he ^[c]replied, “Say it, Teacher.” ⁴¹ “A moneylender had two debtors: the one owed five hundred ^[d](C)denarii, and the other, fifty. ⁴² When they ^(D)were unable to repay, he canceled the debts of both. So which of them will love him more?” ⁴³ Simon answered and said, “I assume the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” ⁴⁴ And turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you ^(E)gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You ^[e](F)gave Me no kiss; but she has not stopped kissing My feet since the time I came in. ^46 (G)You did not ^[f]anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. ⁴⁷ For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” ⁴⁸ And He said to her, “^(H)Your sins have been forgiven.” ⁴⁹ And then those who were reclining at the table with Him began saying ^[g]to themselves, “^(I)Who is this man who even forgives sins?” ⁵⁰ And He said to the woman, “^(J)Your faith has saved you; ^(K)go in peace.”