^5 (A)Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, ^(B)so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

¹⁵ And he said to the people, “Be ready for the ^(A)third day; ^(B)do not go near a woman.”

¹² The land shall mourn, ^(A)each family^[a] by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of ^(B)Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹³ the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of ^(C)the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹⁴ and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves.

⁴ And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is ^(A)holy bread—^(B)if the young men have kept themselves from women.” ⁵ And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?”

¹¹ But he said to them, ^(A)“Not everyone can receive this saying, but only ^(B)those to ^(C)whom it is given.

⁵ For this reason, ^(A)when I could bear it no longer, ^(B)I sent to learn about your faith, ^(C)for fear that somehow ^(D)the tempter had tempted you and ^(E)our labor would be in vain.

¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, ^(A)Satan! For ^(B)it is written,

^3 (A)saying to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and ^(B)the prophets, “Should I weep and ^(C)abstain in ^(D)the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”