David and the Holy Bread

21 ^[a] Then David came to ^(A)Nob to ^(B)Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech ^(C)came to meet David trembling and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” ² And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. ³ Now then, what do you have at hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” ⁴ And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread at hand, but there is ^(D)holy bread—^(E)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?” ⁶ So the priest gave him ^(F)the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, ^(G)which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.

⁷ Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord. His name was ^(H)Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul's herdsmen.

⁸ Then David said to Ahimelech, “Then have you not here a spear or a sword at hand? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste.” ⁹ And the priest said, ^(I)“The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in ^(J)the Valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it, for there is none but that here.” And David said, “There is none like that; give it to me.”

David Flees to Gath

¹⁰ And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to ^(K)Achish the king of Gath. ¹¹ And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? ^(L)Did they not sing to one another of him in dances,

¹² And David ^(M)took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. ¹³ So he changed his behaviour before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. ¹⁴ Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? ¹⁵ Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”

David at the Cave of Adullam

22 David departed from there and escaped to ^(A)the cave of ^(B)Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. ^2 (C)And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul,^[a] gathered to him. And he became captain over them. And there were with him ^(D)about four hundred men.

³ And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab. And he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother stay^[b] with you, till I know what God will do for me.” ⁴ And he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. ⁵ Then the prophet ^(E)Gad said to David, “Do not remain in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.

Saul Kills the Priests at Nob

⁶ Now Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Saul was sitting at Gibeah under ^(F)the tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him. ⁷ And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, people of Benjamin; will the son of Jesse ^(G)give every one of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, ⁸ that all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me ^(H)when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you ^(I)is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, ^(J)to lie in wait, as at this day.” ⁹ Then answered ^(K)Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, “I saw the son of Jesse ^(L)coming to Nob, to ^(M)Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, ^10 (N)and he enquired of the Lord for him and ^(O)gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

¹¹ Then the king sent to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests who were at Nob, and all of them came to the king. ¹² And Saul said, “Hear now, son of Ahitub.” And he answered, “Here I am, my lord.” ¹³ And Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword and ^(P)have enquired of God for him, so that he has risen against me, ^(Q)to lie in wait, as at this day?” ¹⁴ Then Ahimelech answered the king, “And who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and captain over^[c] your bodyguard, and honoured in your house? ¹⁵ Is today the first time ^(R)that I have enquired of God for him? No! Let not the king impute anything to his servant or to all the house of my father, for your servant has known nothing of all this, ^(S)much or little.” ¹⁶ And the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father's house.” ¹⁷ And the king said to ^(T)the guard who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me.” But the servants of the king would not put out their hand to strike the priests of the Lord. ¹⁸ Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn and strike the priests.” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests, ^(U)and he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod. ¹⁹ And Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; ^(V)both man and woman, child and infant, ox, donkey and sheep, he put to the sword.

²⁰ But one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named ^(W)Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. ²¹ And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. ²² And David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, ^(X)when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father's house. ^23 (Y)Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping.”

Divisions in the Church

3 But I, brothers,^[a] could not address you as ^(A)spiritual people, but as ^(B)people of the flesh, as ^(C)infants in Christ. ^2 (D)I fed you with milk, not solid food, for ^(E)you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, ³ for you are still of the flesh. For while there is ^(F)jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? ⁴ For ^(G)when one says, “I follow Paul”, and another, “I follow Apollos”, ^(H)are you not being merely human?

⁵ What then is Apollos? What is Paul? ^(I)Servants through whom you believed, ^(J)as the Lord assigned to each. ^6 (K)I planted, ^(L)Apollos watered, ^(M)but God gave the growth. ⁷ So ^(N)neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸ He who plants and he who waters are one, and each ^(O)will receive his wages according to his labour. ⁹ For we are ^(P)God's fellow workers. You are God's field, ^(Q)God's building.

^10 (R)According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a ^(S)foundation, and ^(T)someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. ¹¹ For no one can lay a ^(U)foundation other ^(V)than that which is laid, ^(W)which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— ^13 (X)each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed ^(Y)by fire, and ^(Z)the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. ¹⁴ If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, ^(AA)he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, ^(AB)but only as through fire.

^16 (AC)Do you not know that you^[b] are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For ^(AD)God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

^18 (AE)Let no one deceive himself. ^(AF)If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. ¹⁹ For ^(AG)the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, ^(AH)“He catches the wise in their craftiness”, ²⁰ and again, ^(AI)“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” ²¹ So ^(AJ)let no one boast in men. For ^(AK)all things are yours, ²² whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, ²³ and ^(AL)you are Christ's, and ^(AM)Christ is God's.

Ezekiel in Babylon

1 ^(A)In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by ^(B)the Chebar canal, ^(C)the heavens were opened, and I saw ^(D)visions of God.^{[a] 2} On the fifth day of the month (it was ^(E)the fifth year of ^(F)the exile of King Jehoiachin), ³ the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel ^(G)the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by ^(H)the Chebar canal, and ^(I)the hand of the Lord was upon him there.

The Glory of the Lord

⁴ As I looked, behold, ^(J)a stormy wind came ^(K)out of the north, and a great cloud, with ^(L)brightness round it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, ^(M)as it were gleaming metal.^{[b] 5} And from the midst of it came the likeness of ^(N)four living creatures. ^(O)And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, ^6 (P)but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. ⁷ Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot. And they sparkled ^(Q)like burnished bronze. ⁸ Under their wings ^(R)on their four sides ^(S)they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: ⁹ their wings touched one another. ^(T)Each one of them went straight forward, ^(U)without turning as they went. ¹⁰ As for the likeness of their faces, ^(V)each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle. ¹¹ Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while ^(W)two covered their bodies. ^12 (X)And each went straight forward. ^(Y)Wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went. ¹³ As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was ^(Z)like burning coals of fire, ^(AA)like the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the living creatures. ^(AB)And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. ¹⁴ And the living creatures ^(AC)darted to and fro, ^(AD)like the appearance of a flash of lightning.

^15 (AE)Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them.^{[c] 16 (AF)}As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like ^(AG)the gleaming of beryl. ^(AH)And the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel. ^17 (AI)When they went, they went ^(AJ)in any of their four directions^{[d] (AK)}without turning as they went. ¹⁸ And their rims were tall and awesome, ^(AL)and the rims of all four were full of eyes all round. ^19 (AM)And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; ^(AN)and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. ^20 (AO)Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them, ^(AP)for the spirit of the living creatures^[e] was in the wheels. ^21 (AQ)When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; ^(AR)and when those rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them, ^(AS)for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

²² Over the heads of the living creatures there was ^(AT)the likeness of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring ^(AU)crystal, spread out above their heads. ²³ And under the expanse their wings were ^(AV)stretched out straight, one towards another. ^(AW)And each creature had two wings covering its body. ²⁴ And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings ^(AX)like the sound of many waters, like ^(AY)the sound of the ^(AZ)Almighty, a sound of tumult ^(BA)like the sound of an army. When they stood still, they let down their wings. ²⁵ And there came a voice from above ^(BB)the expanse over their heads. When they stood still, they let down their wings.

²⁶ And above the expanse over their heads there was ^(BC)the likeness of a throne, ^(BD)in appearance ^(BE)like sapphire;^[f] and seated above the likeness of a throne was ^(BF)a likeness with a human appearance. ²⁷ And ^(BG)upwards from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were ^(BH)gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all round. And downwards from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and ^(BI)there was brightness around him.^{[g] 28} Like the appearance of ^(BJ)the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all round.

Such was the appearance of the likeness of ^(BK)the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, ^(BL)I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.