⁷ “‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat^(A) them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing.

²¹ David had just said, “It’s been useless—all my watching over this fellow’s property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing.^(A) He has paid^(B) me back evil^(C) for good.

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.

⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

¹⁵ so that you may become blameless^(A) and pure, “children of God^(B) without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”^[a](C) Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky

¹⁴ Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely^(A)—be content with your pay.”

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.