David and Mephibosheth Meet

²⁴ Mephibosheth grandson of Saul came down to meet the king; he had not taken care of his feet or trimmed his beard or washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he came back in safety.^{(A) 25} When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?”^{(B) 26} He answered, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me, for your servant said to him, ‘Saddle a donkey for me^[a] so that I may ride on it and go with the king.’ For your servant is lame.^{(C) 27} He has slandered your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like the angel of God; do therefore what seems good to you.^{(D) 28} For all my father’s house were doomed to death before my lord the king, but you set your servant among those who eat at your table. What further right have I, then, to appeal to the king?”^{(E) 29} The king said to him, “Why speak any more of your affairs? I have decided: you and Ziba shall divide the land.” ³⁰ Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him take it all, since my lord the king has arrived home safely.”

David’s Kindness to Barzillai

³¹ Now Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim; he went on with the king to the Jordan to escort him over the Jordan.^{(F) 32} Barzillai was a very aged man, eighty years old. He had provided the king with food while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man.^{(G) 33} The king said to Barzillai, “Come over with me, and I will provide for you in Jerusalem at my side.” ³⁴ But Barzillai said to the king, “How many years have I still to live, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? ³⁵ Today I am eighty years old; can I discern what is pleasant and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or what he drinks? Can I still listen to the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?^{(H) 36} Your servant will go a little way over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king recompense me with such a reward? ³⁷ Please let your servant return, so that I may die in my own town, near the graves of my father and my mother. But here is your servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king and do for him whatever seems good to you.”^{(I) 38} The king answered, “Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do for him whatever seems good to you, and all that you desire of me I will do for you.” ³⁹ Then all the people crossed over the Jordan, and the king crossed over; the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and he returned to his own home.^{(J) 40} The king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went on with him; all the people of Judah, and also half the people of Israel, brought the king on his way.

⁴¹ Then all the people of Israel came to the king and said to him, “Why have our kindred the people of Judah stolen you away and brought the king and his household over the Jordan and all David’s men with him?”^{(K) 42} All the people of Judah answered the people of Israel, “Because the king is near of kin to us. Why then are you angry over this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king’s expense? Or has he given us any gift?”^{(L) 43} But the people of Israel answered the people of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king, and in David also we have more than you. Why then did you despise us? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king?” But the words of the people of Judah were fiercer than the words of the people of Israel.^(M)

Head Coverings

² I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions just as I handed them on to you.^{(A) 3} But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man^[a] is the head of the woman,^[b] and God is the head of Christ.^{(B) 4} Any man who prays or prophesies with something on his head shames his head,^{(C) 5} but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled shames her head—it is one and the same thing as having her head shaved. ⁶ For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair, but if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or to be shaved, she should wear a veil. ⁷ For a man ought not to have his head veiled, since he is the image and reflection^[c] of God, but woman is the reflection^[d] of man.^{(D) 8} Indeed, man was not made from woman but woman from man.^{(E) 9} Neither was man created for the sake of woman but woman for the sake of man.^{(F) 10} For this reason a woman ought to have authority over her head,^[e] because of the angels.^{(G) 11} Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man or man independent of woman. ¹² For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman, but all things come from God. ¹³ Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head unveiled? ¹⁴ Does not nature itself teach you that, if a man wears long hair, it is dishonoring to him, ¹⁵ but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. ¹⁶ But if anyone is disposed to be contentious—we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.^(H)

Abuses at the Lord’s Supper

¹⁷ Now in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. ¹⁸ For, to begin with, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it.^{(I) 19} Indeed, there have to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are genuine.^{(J) 20} When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s supper. ²¹ For when the time comes to eat, each of you proceeds to eat your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk. ²² What! Do you not have households to eat and drink in? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter I do not commend you!

The Institution of the Lord’s Supper

²³ For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread,^{(K) 24} and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for^[f] you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.^(L)

Partaking of the Supper Unworthily

²⁷ Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord.^{(M) 28} Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup.^{(N) 29} For all who eat and drink^[g] without discerning the body^[h] eat and drink judgment against themselves. ³⁰ For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.^{[i] 31} But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged.^{(O) 32} But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined^[j] so that we may not be condemned along with the world.^(P)

³³ So then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. ³⁴ If you are hungry, eat at home,^[k] so that when you come together, it will not be for your condemnation. About the other things I will give instructions when I come.^(Q)

The Last Words of David

23 Now these are the last words of David:

David’s Mighty Men

⁸ These are the names of the warriors whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite; he was chief of the Three;^[d] he wielded his spear^[e] against eight hundred whom he killed at one time.

⁹ Next to him among the three warriors was Eleazar son of Dodo son of Ahohi. He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle. The Israelites withdrew,^{(G) 10} but he stood his ground. He struck down the Philistines until his arm grew weary, though his hand clung to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day. Then the people came back to him—but only to strip the dead.^(H)

¹¹ Next to him was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the army fled from the Philistines.^{(I) 12} But he took his stand in the middle of the plot, defended it, and killed the Philistines, and the Lord brought about a great victory.

¹³ Toward the beginning of harvest three of the thirty chiefs went down to join David at the cave of Adullam while a band of Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim.^{(J) 14} David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem.^{(K) 15} David said longingly, “Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” ¹⁶ Then the three warriors broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it; he poured it out to the Lord, ¹⁷ for he said, “The Lord forbid that I should do this. Can I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. The three warriors did these things.^(L)

Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman

¹⁰ Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. ¹¹ And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” ¹³ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.^{(A) 14} But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured and not on the Sabbath day.”^{(B) 15} But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it to water?^{(C) 16} And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?”^{(D) 17} When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame, and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things being done by him.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

¹⁸ He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? ¹⁹ It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

The Parable of the Yeast

²⁰ And again he said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God? ²¹ It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

The Narrow Door

²² Jesus^[a] went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.^{(E) 23} Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” He said to them, ²⁴ “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.^{(F) 25} Once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then in reply he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’^{(G) 26} Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ ²⁷ But he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!’^{(H) 28} There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out.^{(I) 29} Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and take their places at the banquet in the kingdom of God. ³⁰ Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”^(J)

The Lament over Jerusalem

³¹ At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” ³² He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me,^[b] ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.^{(K) 33} Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ ³⁴ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!^{(L) 35} See, your house is left to you.^[c] And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when^[d] you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”^(M)