Samuel’s Death

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

Nabal and Abigail

² Now there was a man in ^(E)Maon whose business was in ^(F)Carmel; and the man was very ^[a]rich, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it came about while ^(G)he was shearing his sheep in Carmel ³ (now the man’s name was Nabal, and his ^(H)wife’s name was Abigail. And the woman was ^[b]intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was ^(I)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, ^[c]visit Nabal and greet him in my name; ⁶ and thus you shall say, ‘^[d]Have a long life, ^(J)peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. ⁷ Now I have heard ^(K)that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us and we have not insulted them, ^(L)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 ^(M)a ^[e]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, “^(N)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 ^(O)take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men ^[f]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 ^(P)four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred ^(Q)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 ^[g](R)greet our master, and he scorned them. ¹⁵ Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not ^(S)insulted, nor did we miss anything ^[h]as long as we went about with them, while we were in the fields. ^16 (T)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 ^[i]consider what you should do, for evil is plotted against our master and against all his household; and he is such a ^[j]worthless man that no one can speak to him.”

Abigail Intercedes

¹⁸ Then Abigail hurried and ^(U)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, “^(V)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 ^(W)returned me evil for good. ^22 (X)May God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, ^(Y)if by morning I leave as much as one ^[k]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 ^(Z)and bowed herself to the ground. ²⁴ She fell at his feet and said, “On me ^[l]alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your maidservant speak ^[m]to you, and listen to the words of your maidservant. ²⁵ Please do not let my lord ^[n]pay attention to this ^[o]worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. ^[p]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 ^[q]shedding blood, and ^(AA)from ^[r]avenging yourself by your own hand, now then ^(AB)let your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal. ²⁷ Now let ^(AC)this ^[s]gift which your maidservant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who ^[t]accompany my lord. ²⁸ Please forgive ^(AD)the transgression of your maidservant; for ^(AE)the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord is ^(AF)fighting the battles of the Lord, and ^(AG)evil will not be found in you all your days. ²⁹ Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your ^[u]life, then the ^[v]life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; but the ^[w]lives of your enemies ^(AH)He will sling out ^[x]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 ^(AI)appoints you ruler over Israel, ³¹ this will not ^[y]cause grief or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having ^[z]avenged himself. ^(AJ)When the Lord deals well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.”

³² Then David said to Abigail, “^(AK)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, ^(AL)who have kept me this day from ^[aa]bloodshed and from ^[ab]avenging myself by my own hand. ³⁴ Nevertheless, as the Lord God of Israel lives, ^(AM)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 ^[ac]male.” ³⁵ So David received from her hand what she had brought him and said to her, “^(AN)Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to ^[ad]you and ^[ae](AO)granted your request.”

³⁶ Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding ^(AP)a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, ^(AQ)for he was very drunk; so ^(AR)she did not tell him anything ^[af]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, ^(AS)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 ^(AT)pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal and ^(AU)has kept back His servant from evil. The Lord has also returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent ^[ag](AV)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 ^(AW)and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your maidservant is a maid ^(AX)to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” ⁴² Then ^(AY)Abigail quickly arose, and rode on a donkey, with her five maidens who ^[ah]attended her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

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

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

Genealogy from Issachar

7 Now the sons of Issachar were four: Tola, ^[a]Puah, ^[b]Jashub and Shimron. ² The sons of Tola were Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam and Samuel, heads of their fathers’ households. The sons of Tola were mighty men of valor in their generations; ^(A)their number in the days of David was 22,600. ³ The ^[c]son of Uzzi was Izrahiah. And the sons of Izrahiah were Michael, Obadiah, Joel, Isshiah; all five of them were ^(B)chief men. ⁴ With them by their generations according to their fathers’ households were 36,000 ^[d]troops of the army for war, for they had many wives and sons. ⁵ Their ^[e]relatives among all the families of Issachar were mighty men of valor, enrolled by genealogy, in all 87,000.

Descendants of Benjamin

^6 (C)The sons of Benjamin were three: Bela and Becher and Jediael. ⁷ The sons of Bela were five: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth and Iri. They were heads of fathers’ households, mighty men of valor, and were 22,034 enrolled by genealogy. ⁸ The sons of Becher were Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Becher. ⁹ They were enrolled by genealogy, according to their generations, heads of their fathers’ households, 20,200 mighty men of valor. ¹⁰ The ^[f]son of Jediael was Bilhan. And the sons of Bilhan were Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish and Ahishahar. ¹¹ All these were sons of Jediael, according to the heads of their fathers’ households, 17,200 mighty men of valor, who were ^[g]ready to go out with the army to war. ^12 [h]Shuppim and ^[i]Huppim were the sons of ^[j]Ir; Hushim was the ^[k]son of ^[l]Aher.

Sons of Naphtali

¹³ The sons of Naphtali were ^[m]Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and ^[n]Shallum, the sons of Bilhah.

Descendants of Manasseh

¹⁴ The sons of Manasseh were Asriel, whom his Aramean concubine bore; she bore Machir the father of Gilead. ¹⁵ Machir took a wife for Huppim and Shuppim, ^[o]whose sister’s name was Maacah. And the name of the second was Zelophehad, and Zelophehad had daughters. ¹⁶ Maacah the wife of Machir bore a son, and she named him Peresh; and the name of his brother was Sheresh, and his sons were Ulam and Rakem. ¹⁷ The ^[p]son of Ulam was Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh. ¹⁸ His sister Hammolecheth bore Ishhod and ^[q]Abiezer and Mahlah. ¹⁹ The sons of Shemida were Ahian and Shechem and Likhi and Aniam.

Descendants of Ephraim

^20 (D)The sons of Ephraim were Shuthelah and ^[r]Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son, ²¹ Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead whom the men of Gath who were born in the land killed, because they came down to take their livestock. ²² Their father Ephraim ^(E)mourned many days, and his relatives ^(F)came to comfort him. ²³ Then he went in to his wife, and she conceived and bore a son, and he named him ^[s]Beriah, because misfortune had come upon his house. ²⁴ His daughter was Sheerah, ^(G)who built lower and upper Beth-horon, also Uzzen-sheerah. ²⁵ Rephah was his son along with Resheph, Telah his son, Tahan his son, ²⁶ Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son, ^27 [t]Non his son and ^(H)Joshua his son.

^28 (I)Their possessions and settlements were Bethel with its towns, and to the east ^[u]Naaran, and to the west Gezer with its towns, and Shechem with its towns as far as ^[v]Ayyah with its towns, ²⁹ and along the borders of the sons of Manasseh, Beth-shean with its towns, Taanach with its towns, Megiddo with its towns, Dor with its towns. In these lived the ^(J)sons of Joseph the son of Israel.

Descendants of Asher

^30 (K)The sons of Asher were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah, and Serah their sister. ³¹ The sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel, who was the father of Birzaith. ³² Heber ^[w]became the father of Japhlet, ^[x]Shomer and Hotham, and Shua their sister. ³³ The sons of Japhlet were Pasach, Bimhal and Ashvath. These were the sons of Japhlet. ³⁴ The sons of ^[y]Shemer were Ahi and Rohgah, Jehubbah and Aram. ³⁵ The ^[z]sons of his brother Helem were Zophah, Imna, Shelesh and Amal. ³⁶ The sons of Zophah were Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri and Imrah, ³⁷ Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran and Beera. ³⁸ The sons of Jether were Jephunneh, Pispa and Ara. ³⁹ The sons of Ulla were Arah, Hanniel and Rizia. ⁴⁰ All these were the sons of Asher, heads of the fathers’ houses, choice and mighty men of valor, heads of the princes. And the number of them enrolled by genealogy for service in war was 26,000 men.

Paul at Thessalonica

17 Now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to ^(A)Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. ² And ^(B)according to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three ^(C)Sabbaths reasoned with them from ^(D)the Scriptures, ^3 [a]explaining and ^[b]giving evidence that the ^[c]Christ ^(E)had to suffer and ^(F)rise again from the dead, and saying, “^(G)This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the ^[d]Christ.” ^4 (H)And some of them were persuaded and joined ^(I)Paul and Silas, ^[e]along with a large number of the ^(J)God-fearing ^(K)Greeks and ^[f]a number of the ^(L)leading women. ⁵ But ^(M)the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and attacking the house of ^(N)Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people. ⁶ When they did not find them, they began ^(O)dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset ^[g](P)the world have come here also; ^7 [h]and Jason ^(Q)has welcomed them, and they all act ^(R)contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” ⁸ They stirred up the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things. ⁹ And when they had received a ^[i]pledge from ^(S)Jason and the others, they released them.

Paul at Berea

^10 (T)The brethren immediately sent ^(U)Paul and Silas away by night to ^(V)Berea, ^[j]and when they arrived, they went into ^(W)the synagogue of the Jews. ¹¹ Now these were more noble-minded than those in ^(X)Thessalonica, ^[k]for they received the word with ^[l]great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. ¹² Therefore ^(Y)many of them believed, ^[m]along with a number of ^(Z)prominent Greek ^(AA)women and men. ¹³ But when the Jews of ^(AB)Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in ^(AC)Berea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds. ¹⁴ Then immediately ^(AD)the brethren sent Paul out to go as far as the sea; and ^(AE)Silas and ^(AF)Timothy remained there. ¹⁵ Now ^(AG)those who escorted Paul brought him as far as ^(AH)Athens; and receiving a command for ^(AI)Silas and Timothy to ^(AJ)come to him as soon as possible, they left.

Paul at Athens

¹⁶ Now while Paul was waiting for them at ^(AK)Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. ¹⁷ So he was reasoning ^(AL)in the synagogue with the Jews and ^(AM)the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present. ¹⁸ And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were ^[n]conversing with him. Some were saying, “What would ^(AN)this ^[o]idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was preaching ^(AO)Jesus and the resurrection. ¹⁹ And they ^(AP)took him and brought him ^[p]to the ^[q](AQ)Areopagus, saying, “May we know what ^(AR)this new teaching is ^[r]which you are proclaiming? ²⁰ For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.” ²¹ (Now all the Athenians and the strangers ^(AS)visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)

Sermon on Mars Hill

²² So Paul stood in the midst of the ^[s]Areopagus and said, “Men of ^(AT)Athens, I observe that you are very ^(AU)religious in all respects. ²³ For while I was passing through and examining the ^(AV)objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what ^(AW)you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. ^24 (AX)The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is ^(AY)Lord of heaven and earth, does not ^(AZ)dwell in temples made with hands; ²⁵ nor is He served by human hands, ^(BA)as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; ²⁶ and ^(BB)He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having ^(BC)determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, ²⁷ that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, ^(BD)though He is not far from each one of us; ²⁸ for ^(BE)in Him we live and move and ^[t]exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ ²⁹ Being then the children of God, we ^(BF)ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. ³⁰ Therefore having ^(BG)overlooked ^(BH)the times of ignorance, God is ^(BI)now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, ³¹ because He has fixed ^(BJ)a day in which ^(BK)He will judge ^[u](BL)the world in righteousness ^[v]through a Man whom He has ^(BM)appointed, having furnished proof to all men ^[w]by ^(BN)raising Him from the dead.”

³² Now when they heard of ^(BO)the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, “We shall hear you ^[x]again concerning this.” ³³ So Paul went out of their midst. ³⁴ But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the ^(BP)Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.