³¹ When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. ³² And David said to Saul, ^(A)“Let no man's heart fail because of him. ^(B)Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” ³³ And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” ³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, ³⁵ I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. ³⁶ Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, ^(C)for he has defied the armies of the living God.” ³⁷ And David said, ^(D)“The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, ^(E)and the Lord be with you!”

³⁸ Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, ³⁹ and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. ⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.

⁴¹ And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, ^(F)with his shield-bearer in front of him. ⁴² And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ^(G)ruddy and handsome in appearance. ⁴³ And the Philistine said to David, “Am I ^(H)a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh ^(I)to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” ⁴⁵ Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with ^(J)a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, ^(K)whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. ^(L)And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day ^(M)to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, ^(N)that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷ and that all this assembly may know that ^(O)the Lord saves not with sword and spear. ^(P)For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.”

⁴⁸ When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹ And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

⁵⁰ So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. ⁵¹ Then David ran and stood over the Philistine ^(Q)and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, ^(R)they fled. ⁵² And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath^[a] and the gates of ^(S)Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from ^(T)Shaaraim as far as ^(U)Gath and Ekron. ⁵³ And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. ⁵⁴ And David took ^(V)the head of the Philistine ^(W)and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.

Submission to the Authorities

13 Let every person ^(A)be subject to the governing authorities. For ^(B)there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. ² Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³ For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you ^(C)will receive his approval, ⁴ for ^(D)he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, ^(E)an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵ Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also ^(F)for the sake of conscience. ⁶ For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. ^7 (G)Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Fulfilling the Law Through Love

^8 (H)Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for ^(I)the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹ For the commandments, ^(J)“You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ^(K)“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore ^(L)love is the fulfilling of the law.

¹¹ Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you ^(M)to wake from sleep. ^(N)For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. ^12 (O)The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us ^(P)cast off ^(Q)the works of darkness and ^(R)put on the armor of light. ^13 (S)Let us walk properly as in the daytime, ^(T)not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, ^(U)not in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴ But ^(V)put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, ^(W)to gratify its desires.

⁵⁵ As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, ^(A)the commander of the army, “Abner, ^(B)whose son is this youth?” And Abner said, ^(C)“As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.” ⁵⁶ And the king said, “Inquire whose son the boy is.” ⁵⁷ And as soon as David returned from the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul ^(D)with the head of the Philistine in his hand. ⁵⁸ And Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, ^(E)“I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

David and Jonathan's Friendship

18 As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan ^(F)loved him as his own soul. ² And Saul took him that day ^(G)and would not let him return to his father's house. ³ Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because ^(H)he loved him as his own soul. ⁴ And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt. ⁵ And David went out ^(I)and was successful wherever Saul sent him, so that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants.

Saul's Jealousy of David

⁶ As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, ^(J)the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments.^{[a] 7} And the women ^(K)sang to one another as they celebrated,

⁸ And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but ^(M)the kingdom?” ⁹ And Saul eyed David from that day on.

¹⁰ The next day ^(N)a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and ^(O)he raved within his house while David was ^(P)playing the lyre, as he did day by day. ^(Q)Saul had his spear in his hand. ¹¹ And Saul ^(R)hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice.

^12 (S)Saul was afraid of David because ^(T)the Lord was with him ^(U)but had departed from Saul. ¹³ So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand. ^(V)And he went out and came in before the people. ¹⁴ And David ^(W)had success in all his undertakings, ^(X)for the Lord was with him. ¹⁵ And when Saul saw that ^(Y)he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him. ^16 (Z)But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.

³⁹ He also told them a parable: ^(A)“Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? ^40 (B)A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is ^(C)fully trained will be like his teacher. ^41 (D)Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but ^(E)do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴² How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.

A Tree and Its Fruit

⁴³ “For ^(F)no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, ⁴⁴ for ^(G)each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. ^45 (H)The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces ^(I)evil, ^(J)for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Build Your House on the Rock

^46 (K)“Why ^(L)do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? ^47 (M)Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: ⁴⁸ he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.^{[a] 49 (N)}But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and ^(O)the ruin of that house was great.”

Jesus Heals a Centurion's Servant

7 After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, ^(P)he entered Capernaum. ² Now a centurion had a servant^[b] who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. ³ When the centurion^[c] heard about Jesus, ^(Q)he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. ⁴ And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, ^(R)“He is worthy to have you do this for him, ⁵ for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us ^(S)our synagogue.” ⁶ And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, ^(T)do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. ⁷ Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But ^(U)say the word, and let my servant be healed. ⁸ For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” ⁹ When Jesus heard these things, ^(V)he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such ^(W)faith.” ¹⁰ And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.