² All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered^(A) around him, and he became their commander. About four hundred men were with him.

²⁸ “Come to me,^(A) all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.^(B)

²² But all the evil men and troublemakers among David’s followers said, “Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go.”

²³ David replied, “No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us. ²⁴ Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.^(A)”

⁶ David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning^(A) him; each one was bitter^(B) in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength^(C) in the Lord his God.

¹³ David said to his men^(A), “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went^(B) up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.^(C)

²⁵ Since he was not able to pay,^(A) the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold^(B) to repay the debt.

²⁶ “At this the servant fell on his knees before him.^(C) ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ ²⁷ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

²⁸ “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.^[a] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

²⁹ “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

³⁰ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹ When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

³² “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

¹² On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’^[a](A) For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”^(B)

¹⁵ Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat^(A) us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing.^{(B) 16} Night and day they were a wall^(C) around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them.