The Friendship of David and Jonathan

20 David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came before Jonathan and said, “What have I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin against your father that he is trying to take my life?”^{(A) 2} He said to him, “Far from it! You shall not die. My father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me, and why should my father hide this from me? Never!” ³ But David also swore, “Your father knows well that you like me, and he thinks, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, or he will be grieved.’ But truly, as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.” ⁴ Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.” ⁵ David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at the meal, but let me go, so that I may hide in the field until the third evening.^{(B) 6} If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked leave of me to run to Bethlehem his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.’^{(C) 7} If he says, ‘Good!’ it will be well with your servant, but if he is angry, then know that evil has been determined by him. ⁸ Therefore deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a sacred covenant^[a] with you. But if there is guilt in me, kill me yourself; why should you bring me to your father?”^{(D) 9} Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! If I knew that it was decided by my father that evil should come upon you, would I not tell you?” ¹⁰ Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?” ¹¹ Jonathan replied to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” So they both went out into the field.

¹² Jonathan said to David, “By the Lord, the God of Israel! When I have sounded out my father, about this time tomorrow or on the third day, if he is well disposed toward David, shall I not then send and disclose it to you? ¹³ But if my father intends to do you harm, the Lord do so to Jonathan and more also, if I do not disclose it to you and send you away, so that you may go in safety. May the Lord be with you, as he has been with my father.^{(E) 14} If I am still alive, show me the faithful love of the Lord, but if I die,^{[b] 15} never cut off your faithful love from my house, even if the Lord were to cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.”^{(F) 16} Thus Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord seek out the enemies of David.” ¹⁷ Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own life.^(G)

¹⁸ Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon; you will be missed because your place will be empty.^{(H) 19} On the day after tomorrow, you shall go a long way down; go to the place where you hid yourself earlier, and remain beside the stone there.^{[c](I) 20} I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I shot at a mark. ²¹ Then I will send the boy, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; collect them,’ then you are to come, for, as the Lord lives, it is safe for you and there is no danger. ²² But if I say to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then go, for the Lord has sent you away.^{(J) 23} As for the matter about which you and I have spoken, the Lord be between you and me forever.”^(K)

¹⁸ When morning came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. ¹⁹ When Herod had searched for him and could not find him, he examined the guards and ordered them to be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.^(A)

The Death of Herod

²⁰ Now Herod^[a] was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came to him in a body, and after winning over Blastus, the king’s personal attendant, they asked for a reconciliation, because their country depended on the king’s country for food.^{(B) 21} On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat on the platform, and delivered a public address to them. ²² The people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a mortal!” ²³ And immediately, because he had not given the glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.^(C)

²⁴ But the word of God continued to advance and gain adherents.^{(D) 25} Then after completing their mission Barnabas and Saul returned to^[b] Jerusalem and brought with them John, whose other name was Mark.^(E)

Jesus Calls Levi

¹³ Jesus^[a] went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them.^{(A) 14} As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.^(B)

¹⁵ And as he sat at dinner^[b] in Levi’s^[c] house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting^[d] with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ When the scribes of^[e] the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat^[f] with tax collectors and sinners?”^{(C) 17} When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”^(D)

The Question about Fasting

¹⁸ Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and people^[g] came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹ Jesus said to them, “The wedding attendants cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.^(E)

²¹ “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. ²² Similarly, no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins, but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”^[h]