David Delivers Keilah

23 Then they told David, saying, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against ^(A)Keilah and are plundering the threshing floors.” ² So David ^(B)inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go and ^[a]attack these Philistines?” And the Lord said to David, “Go and ^[b]attack the Philistines and deliver Keilah.” ³ But David’s men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the ranks of the Philistines?” ⁴ Then David inquired of the Lord once more. And the Lord answered him and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for ^(C)I will give the Philistines into your hand.” ⁵ So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines; and he led away their livestock and struck them with a great slaughter. Thus David delivered the inhabitants of Keilah.

⁶ Now it came about, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech ^(D)fled to David at Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand. ⁷ When it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, “God has ^[c]delivered him into my hand, for he shut himself in by entering a city with double gates and bars.” ⁸ So Saul summoned all the people for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men. ⁹ Now David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him; so he said to ^(E)Abiathar the priest, “^(F)Bring the ephod here.” ¹⁰ Then David said, “O Lord God of Israel, Your servant has heard for certain that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city on my account. ¹¹ Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down just as Your servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.” ¹² Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “^(G)They will surrender you.” ¹³ Then David and his men, ^(H)about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went ^(I)wherever they could go. When it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he ^[d]gave up the pursuit. ¹⁴ David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of ^(J)Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but ^(K)God did not deliver him into his hand.

Saul Pursues David

¹⁵ Now David ^[e]became aware that Saul had come out to seek his life while David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. ¹⁶ And Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David at Horesh, and ^[f](L)encouraged him in God. ¹⁷ Thus he said to him, “^(M)Do not be afraid, because the hand of Saul my father will not find you, and you will be king over Israel and I will be next to you; and ^(N)Saul my father knows that also.” ¹⁸ So ^(O)the two of them made a covenant before the Lord; and David stayed at Horesh while Jonathan went to his house.

¹⁹ Then ^(P)Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is David not hiding with us in the strongholds at Horesh, on ^(Q)the hill of Hachilah, which is on the ^[g]south of ^[h]Jeshimon? ²⁰ Now then, O king, come down according to all the desire of your soul to ^[i]do so; and ^(R)our part shall be to surrender him into the king’s hand.” ²¹ Saul said, “May you be blessed of the Lord, ^(S)for you have had compassion on me. ²² Go now, make more sure, and investigate and see his place where his ^[j]haunt is, and who has seen him there; for I am told that he is very cunning. ²³ So look, and learn about all the hiding places where he hides himself and return to me with certainty, and I will go with you; and if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.”

²⁴ Then they arose and went to Ziph before Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of ^(T)Maon, in the Arabah to the ^[k]south of ^[l]Jeshimon. ²⁵ When Saul and his men went to seek him, they told David, and he came down to the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard it, he pursued David in the wilderness of Maon. ²⁶ Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain; and David was hurrying to get away from Saul, for Saul and his men ^(U)were surrounding David and his men to seize them. ²⁷ But a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid on the land.” ²⁸ So Saul returned from pursuing David and went to meet the Philistines; therefore they called that place ^[m]the Rock of Escape. ^29 [n]David went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of ^(V)Engedi.

David Spares Saul’s Life

24 Now ^(W)when Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, ^(X)he was told, saying, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” ² Then ^(Y)Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. ³ He came to the sheepfolds on the way, where there was a cave; and Saul ^(Z)went in to ^[o]relieve himself. Now ^(AA)David and his men were sitting in the inner recesses of the cave. ⁴ The men of David said to him, “Behold, ^(AB)this is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold; ^(AC)I am about to give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good ^[p]to you.’” Then David arose and cut off the edge of Saul’s robe secretly. ⁵ It came about afterward that ^(AD)David’s ^[q]conscience bothered him because he had cut off the edge of Saul’s robe. ⁶ So he said to his men, “^(AE)Far be it from me because of the Lord that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed.” ⁷ David ^[r]persuaded his men with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. And Saul arose, ^[s]left the cave, and went on his way.

⁸ Now afterward David arose and went out of the cave and called after Saul, saying, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, ^(AF)David bowed with his face to the ground and prostrated himself. ⁹ David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks ^[t]to harm you’? ^10 (AG)Behold, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord had given you today into my hand in the cave, and ^(AH)some said to kill you, but my eye had pity on you; and I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.’ ¹¹ Now, ^(AI)my father, see! Indeed, see the edge of your robe in my hand! For in that I cut off the edge of your robe and did not kill you, know and perceive that there is no evil or ^[u]rebellion in my hands, and I have not sinned against you, though you ^(AJ)are lying in wait for my life to take it. ^12 (AK)May the Lord judge between ^[v]you and me, and may the Lord avenge me on you; but my hand shall not be against you. ¹³ As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘^(AL)Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness’; but my hand shall not be against you. ¹⁴ After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? ^(AM)A dead dog, ^(AN)a single flea? ^15 (AO)The Lord therefore be judge and decide between ^[w]you and me; and may He see and ^(AP)plead my cause and ^[x]deliver me from your hand.”

¹⁶ When David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “^(AQ)Is this your voice, my son David?” Then Saul lifted up his voice and wept. ^17 (AR)He said to David, “You are more righteous than I; for ^(AS)you have dealt well with me, while I have dealt wickedly with you. ¹⁸ You have declared today that you have done good to me, that ^(AT)the Lord delivered me into your hand and yet you did not kill me. ¹⁹ For if a man ^(AU)finds his enemy, will he let him go away ^[y]safely? May the Lord therefore reward you with good in return for what you have done to me this day. ²⁰ Now, behold, ^(AV)I know that you will surely be king, and that ^(AW)the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand. ²¹ So now ^(AX)swear to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my ^[z]descendants after me and that you will not destroy my name from my father’s household.” ²² David swore to Saul. And Saul went to his home, but David and his men went up to ^(AY)the stronghold.

Samuel’s Death

25 ^(AZ)Then Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and ^(BA)mourned for him, and ^(BB)buried him at his house in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the ^(BC)wilderness of Paran.

Nabal and Abigail

² Now there was a man in ^(BD)Maon whose business was in ^(BE)Carmel; and the man was very ^[aa]rich, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it came about while ^(BF)he was shearing his sheep in Carmel ³ (now the man’s name was Nabal, and his ^(BG)wife’s name was Abigail. And the woman was ^[ab]intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was ^(BH)a Calebite), ⁴ that David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. ⁵ So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, ^[ac]visit Nabal and greet him in my name; ⁶ and thus you shall say, ‘^[ad]Have a long life, ^(BI)peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. ⁷ Now I have heard ^(BJ)that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us and we have not insulted them, ^(BK)nor have they missed anything all the days they were in Carmel. ⁸ Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on ^(BL)a ^[ae]festive day. Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

⁹ When David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in David’s name; then they waited. ¹⁰ But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “^(BM)Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master. ¹¹ Shall I then ^(BN)take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men ^[af]whose origin I do not know?” ¹² So David’s young men retraced their way and went back; and they came and told him according to all these words. ¹³ David said to his men, “Each of you gird on his sword.” So each man girded on his sword. And David also girded on his sword, and about ^(BO)four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred ^(BP)stayed with the baggage.

¹⁴ But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to ^[ag](BQ)greet our master, and he scorned them. ¹⁵ Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not ^(BR)insulted, nor did we miss anything ^[ah]as long as we went about with them, while we were in the fields. ^16 (BS)They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep. ¹⁷ Now therefore, know and ^[ai]consider what you should do, for evil is plotted against our master and against all his household; and he is such a ^[aj]worthless man that no one can speak to him.”

Abigail Intercedes

¹⁸ Then Abigail hurried and ^(BT)took two hundred loaves of bread and two jugs of wine and five sheep already prepared and five measures of roasted grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. ¹⁹ She said to her young men, “^(BU)Go on before me; behold, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. ²⁰ It came about as she was riding on her donkey and coming down by the hidden part of the mountain, that behold, David and his men were coming down toward her; so she met them. ²¹ Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have guarded all that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; and he has ^(BV)returned me evil for good. ^22 (BW)May God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, ^(BX)if by morning I leave as much as one ^[ak]male of any who belong to him.”

²³ When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from her donkey, and fell on her face before David ^(BY)and bowed herself to the ground. ²⁴ She fell at his feet and said, “On me ^[al]alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your maidservant speak ^[am]to you, and listen to the words of your maidservant. ²⁵ Please do not let my lord ^[an]pay attention to this ^[ao]worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. ^[ap]Nabal is his name and folly is with him; but I your maidservant did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.

²⁶ “Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, since the Lord has restrained you from ^[aq]shedding blood, and ^(BZ)from ^[ar]avenging yourself by your own hand, now then ^(CA)let your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal. ²⁷ Now let ^(CB)this ^[as]gift which your maidservant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who ^[at]accompany my lord. ²⁸ Please forgive ^(CC)the transgression of your maidservant; for ^(CD)the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord is ^(CE)fighting the battles of the Lord, and ^(CF)evil will not be found in you all your days. ²⁹ Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your ^[au]life, then the ^[av]life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; but the ^[aw]lives of your enemies ^(CG)He will sling out ^[ax]as from the hollow of a sling. ³⁰ And when the Lord does for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and ^(CH)appoints you ruler over Israel, ³¹ this will not ^[ay]cause grief or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having ^[az]avenged himself. ^(CI)When the Lord deals well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.”

³² Then David said to Abigail, “^(CJ)Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, ³³ and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, ^(CK)who have kept me this day from ^[ba]bloodshed and from ^[bb]avenging myself by my own hand. ³⁴ Nevertheless, as the Lord God of Israel lives, ^(CL)who has restrained me from harming you, unless you had come quickly to meet me, surely there would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one ^[bc]male.” ³⁵ So David received from her hand what she had brought him and said to her, “^(CM)Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to ^[bd]you and ^[be](CN)granted your request.”

³⁶ Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding ^(CO)a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, ^(CP)for he was very drunk; so ^(CQ)she did not tell him anything ^[bf]at all until the morning light. ³⁷ But in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him so that he became as a stone. ³⁸ About ten days later, ^(CR)the Lord struck Nabal and he died.

David Marries Abigail

³⁹ When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has ^(CS)pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal and ^(CT)has kept back His servant from evil. The Lord has also returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent ^[bg](CU)a proposal to Abigail, to take her as his wife. ⁴⁰ When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you to take you as his wife.” ⁴¹ She arose ^(CV)and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your maidservant is a maid ^(CW)to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” ⁴² Then ^(CX)Abigail quickly arose, and rode on a donkey, with her five maidens who ^[bh]attended her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

⁴³ David had also taken Ahinoam of ^(CY)Jezreel, and ^(CZ)they both became his wives.

⁴⁴ Now Saul had given ^(DA)Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from ^(DB)Gallim.

The Crown of Thorns

19 Pilate then took Jesus and ^[a](A)scourged Him. ^2 (B)And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him; ³ and they began to come up to Him and say, “^(C)Hail, King of the Jews!” and to ^(D)give Him slaps in the face. ⁴ Pilate ^(E)came out again and *said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that ^(F)I find no guilt in Him.” ⁵ Jesus then came out, ^(G)wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate *said to them, “Behold, the Man!” ⁶ So when the chief priests and the ^(H)officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate *said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for ^(I)I find no guilt in Him.” ⁷ The Jews answered him, “^(J)We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He ^(K)made Himself out to be the Son of God.”

⁸ Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid; ⁹ and he ^(L)entered into the ^[b]Praetorium again and *said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But ^(M)Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ So Pilate *said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” ¹¹ Jesus answered, “^(N)You would have no authority ^[c]over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason ^(O)he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” ¹² As a result of this Pilate ^[d]made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, “^(P)If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king ^[e]opposes Caesar.”

¹³ Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and ^(Q)sat down on the judgment seat at a place called ^[f]The Pavement, but ^(R)in ^[g]Hebrew, Gabbatha. ¹⁴ Now it was ^(S)the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the ^[h](T)sixth hour. And he *said to the Jews, “Behold, ^(U)your King!” ¹⁵ So they cried out, “^(V)Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate *said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

The Crucifixion

¹⁶ So he then ^(W)handed Him over to them to be crucified.

^17 (X)They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, ^[i](Y)bearing His own cross, to the place called ^(Z)the Place of a Skull, which is called ^(AA)in ^[j]Hebrew, Golgotha. ¹⁸ There they crucified Him, and with Him ^(AB)two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between. ¹⁹ Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, “^(AC)JESUS THE NAZARENE, ^(AD)THE KING OF THE JEWS.” ²⁰ Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written ^(AE)in ^[k]Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. ²¹ So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘^(AF)The King of the Jews’; but that He said, ‘I am ^(AG)King of the Jews.’” ²² Pilate answered, “^(AH)What I have written I have written.”

²³ Then ^(AI)the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made ^(AJ)four parts, a part to every soldier and also the ^[l]tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven ^[m]in one piece. ²⁴ So they said to one another, “^(AK)Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; ^(AL)this was to fulfill the Scripture: “They ^(AM)divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast ^[n]lots.” ²⁵ Therefore the soldiers did these things.

^(AN)But standing by the cross of Jesus were ^(AO)His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and ^(AP)Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ When Jesus then saw His mother, and ^(AQ)the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He *said to His mother, “^(AR)Woman, behold, your son!” ²⁷ Then He *said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into ^(AS)his own household.

²⁸ After this, Jesus, ^(AT)knowing that all things had already been accomplished, ^(AU)to fulfill the Scripture, *said, “^(AV)I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so ^(AW)they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. ³⁰ Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “^(AX)It is finished!” And He bowed His head and ^(AY)gave up His spirit.

Care of the Body of Jesus

³¹ Then the Jews, because it was ^(AZ)the day of preparation, so that ^(BA)the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (^[o]for that Sabbath was a ^(BB)high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. ³² So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was ^(BC)crucified with Him; ³³ but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. ³⁴ But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately ^(BD)blood and water came out. ³⁵ And he who has seen has ^(BE)testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. ³⁶ For these things came to pass ^(BF)to fulfill the Scripture, “^(BG)Not a bone of Him shall be ^[p]broken.” ³⁷ And again another Scripture says, “^(BH)They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”

^38 (BI)After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a ^(BJ)secret one for ^(BK)fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body. ^39 (BL)Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, ^(BM)bringing a ^[q]mixture of ^(BN)myrrh and aloes, about a ^(BO)hundred ^[r]pounds weight. ⁴⁰ So they took the body of Jesus and ^(BP)bound it in ^(BQ)linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. ⁴¹ Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a ^(BR)new tomb ^(BS)in which no one had yet been laid. ⁴² Therefore because of the Jewish day of ^(BT)preparation, since the tomb was ^(BU)nearby, they laid Jesus there.