¹⁸ Then Jonathan said to David, ^(A)“Tomorrow is the New Moon; and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty. ¹⁹ And when you have stayed three days, go down quickly and come to ^(B)the place where you hid on the day of the deed; and remain by the stone Ezel. ²⁰ Then I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a target; ²¹ and there I will send a lad, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I expressly say to the lad, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; get them and come’—then, ^(C)as the Lord lives, there is safety for you and no harm. ²² But if I say thus to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you’—go your way, for the Lord has sent you away. ²³ And as for ^(D)the matter which you and I have spoken of, indeed the Lord be between you and me forever.”

²⁴ Then David hid in the field. And when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat the feast. ²⁵ Now the king sat on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall. And ^[a]Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty. ²⁶ Nevertheless Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him; he is unclean, surely he is ^(E)unclean.” ²⁷ And it happened the next day, the second day of the month, that David’s place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, either yesterday or today?”

²⁸ So Jonathan ^(F)answered Saul, “David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem. ²⁹ And he said, ‘Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. And now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the king’s table.”

³⁰ Then Saul’s anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? ³¹ For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Now therefore, send and bring him to me, for he ^[b]shall surely die.”

³² And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, ^(G)“Why should he be killed? What has he done?” ³³ Then Saul ^(H)cast a spear at him to ^[c]kill him, ^(I)by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David.

³⁴ So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had treated him shamefully.

³⁵ And so it was, in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad was with him. ³⁶ Then he said to his lad, “Now run, find the arrows which I shoot.” As the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. ³⁷ When the lad had come to the place where the arrow was which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried out after the lad and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?” ³⁸ And Jonathan cried out after the lad, “Make haste, hurry, do not delay!” So Jonathan’s lad gathered up the arrows and came back to his master. ³⁹ But the lad did not know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew of the matter. ⁴⁰ Then Jonathan gave his ^[d]weapons to his lad, and said to him, “Go, carry them to the city.”

⁴¹ As soon as the lad had gone, David arose from a place toward the south, fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another; and they wept together, but David more so. ⁴² Then Jonathan said to David, ^(J)“Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘May the Lord be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants, forever.’ ” So he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.

Bearing Others’ Burdens

15 We ^(A)then who are strong ought to bear with the ^[a]scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. ^2 (B)Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to ^[b]edification. ^3 (C)For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, ^(D)“The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.” ⁴ For ^(E)whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the ^[c]patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. ^5 (F)Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, ⁶ that you may ^(G)with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Glorify God Together

⁷ Therefore ^(H)receive one another, just ^(I)as Christ also received ^[d]us, to the glory of God. ⁸ Now I say that ^(J)Jesus Christ has become a ^[e]servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, ^(K)to confirm the promises made to the fathers, ⁹ and ^(L)that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written:

¹⁰ And again he says:

¹¹ And again:

¹² And again, Isaiah says:

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

David and the Holy Bread

21 Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And ^(A)Ahimelech was ^(B)afraid when he met David, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?”

² So David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has ordered me on some business, and said to me, ‘Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you, or what I have commanded you.’ And I have directed my young men to such and such a place. ³ Now therefore, what have you on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever can be found.”

⁴ And the priest answered David and said, “There is no ^[a]common bread on hand; but there is ^(C)holy^[b] bread, ^(D)if the young men have at least kept themselves from women.”

⁵ Then David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out. And ^[c]the ^(E)vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in effect common, even though it was consecrated ^(F)in the vessel this day.”

⁶ So the priest ^(G)gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread ^(H)which had been taken from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.

⁷ Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord. And his name was ^(I)Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.

⁸ And David said to Ahimelech, “Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.”

⁹ So the priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in ^(J)the Valley of Elah, ^(K)there it is, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it. For there is no other except that one here.”

And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

David Flees to Gath

¹⁰ Then David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. ¹¹ And ^(L)the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another in dances, saying:

¹² Now David ^(N)took these words ^[d]to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. ¹³ So ^(O)he changed his behavior before them, pretended ^[e]madness in their hands, ^[f]scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard. ¹⁴ Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me? ¹⁵ Have I need of madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”

David’s Four Hundred Men^(P)

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

³ Then David went from there to Mizpah of ^(U)Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother come here with you, till I know what God will do for me.” ⁴ So he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.

⁵ Now the prophet ^(V)Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold; depart, and go to the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.

A Sinful Woman Forgiven

^36 (A)Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. ³⁷ And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, ³⁸ and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. ³⁹ Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, ^(B)“This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”

⁴⁰ And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”

So he said, “Teacher, say it.”

⁴¹ “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred ^(C)denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴² And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”

⁴³ Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”

And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” ⁴⁴ Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no ^(D)water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. ⁴⁵ You gave Me no ^(E)kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. ^46 (F)You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. ^47 (G)Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

⁴⁸ Then He said to her, ^(H)“Your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹ And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, ^(I)“Who is this who even forgives sins?”

⁵⁰ Then He said to the woman, ^(J)“Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”