David’s Kindness to Mephibosheth

9 Then David said, “Is there ^[a]anyone still left of the house of Saul, ^(A)so that I could show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” ² Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they summoned him to David; and the king said to him, “Are you ^(B)Ziba?” And he said, “I am your servant.” ³ Then the king said, “Is there no one remaining of the house of Saul to whom I could show the ^(C)kindness of God?” And Ziba said to the king, “^(D)There is still a son of Jonathan, one who is disabled in both feet.” ⁴ So the king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is ^(E)in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar.” ⁵ Then King David sent ^[b]messengers who brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar. ^6 (F)Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, came to David and ^(G)fell on his face and prostrated himself. And David said, “Mephibosheth.” And he said, “Here is your servant!” ⁷ Then David said to him, “Do not be afraid, for ^(H)I will assuredly show kindness to you for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I ^(I)will restore to you all the ^[c]land of your ^[d]grandfather Saul; and ^(J)you yourself shall ^[e]eat at my table regularly.” ⁸ Again he prostrated himself, and said, “What is your servant, that you should be concerned about ^(K)a dead dog like me?”

⁹ Then the king summoned Saul’s servant Ziba and said to him, “^(L)Everything that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master’s ^[f]grandson. ¹⁰ You and your sons and your servants shall cultivate the land for him, and you shall bring in the produce so that your master’s grandson will have food ^[g]to eat; nevertheless ^(M)Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, ^(N)shall ^[h]eat at my table regularly.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. ¹¹ Then Ziba said to the king, “In accordance ^(O)with everything that my lord the king commands his servant, so your servant will do.” So Mephibosheth ate at ^[i]David’s table as one of the king’s sons. ¹² Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. And all who lived in the house of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth. ¹³ So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because ^(P)he ate at the king’s table regularly. And ^(Q)he was disabled in his two feet.

Lawsuits Discouraged

6 Does any one of you, when he has a ^[a]case against ^[b]his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and ^(A)not before the ^[c]saints? ² Or ^(B)do you not know that ^(C)the ^[d]saints will judge ^(D)the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to form the smallest ^[e]law courts? ^3 (E)Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? ⁴ So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, ^[f]do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church? ^5 (F)I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you anyone wise who will be able to decide between his ^(G)brothers and sisters, ⁶ but brother goes to law with brother, and that before ^(H)unbelievers?

⁷ Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. ^(I)Why not rather suffer the wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸ On the contrary, you yourselves do wrong and defraud. And this to your ^(J)brothers and sisters!

⁹ Or ^(K)do you not know that the unrighteous will not ^(L)inherit the kingdom of God? ^(M)Do not be deceived; ^(N)neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor ^[g]homosexuals, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will ^(O)inherit the kingdom of God. ^11 (P)Such were some of you; but you were ^(Q)washed, but you were ^(R)sanctified, but you were ^(S)justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and ^[h]in the Spirit of our God.

The Body Is the Lord’s

^12 (T)All things are permitted for me, but not all things are of benefit. All things are permitted for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. ^13 (U)Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, however God will ^(V)do away with both ^[i]of them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but ^(W)for the Lord, and ^(X)the Lord is for the body. ¹⁴ Now God has not only ^(Y)raised the Lord, but ^(Z)will also raise us up through His power. ^15 (AA)Do you not know that ^(AB)your bodies are parts of Christ? Shall I then take away the parts of Christ and make them parts of a prostitute? ^[j](AC)Far from it! ¹⁶ Or ^(AD)do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “^(AE)The two shall become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But the one who joins himself to the Lord is ^(AF)one spirit with Him. ^18 (AG)Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the ^[k]sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or ^(AH)do you not know that ^(AI)your body is a ^[l]temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from ^[m]God, and that ^(AJ)you are not your own? ²⁰ For ^(AK)you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify God in ^(AL)your body.

Ammon and Aram Defeated

10 ^(A)Now it happened afterward that ^(B)the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun became king in his place. ² Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of ^(C)Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent ^[a]some of his servants to console him about his father. But when David’s servants came to the land of the Ammonites, ³ the commanders of the Ammonites said to their lord Hanun, “^[b]Do you think that David is simply honoring your father since he has sent you servants ^[c]to console you? ^(D)Has David not sent his servants to you in order to explore the city, to spy it out and overthrow it?” ⁴ So Hanun took David’s servants and ^(E)shaved off half of their beards, and ^(F)cut off their robes in the middle as far as their buttocks, and sent them away. ⁵ When messengers informed David, he sent servants to meet them, because the men were extremely humiliated. And the king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow back, and then you shall return.”

⁶ Now when the sons of Ammon saw that ^(G)they had become repulsive to David, the sons of Ammon sent messengers and ^(H)hired the Arameans of ^(I)Beth-rehob and the ^(J)Arameans of Zobah, twenty thousand foot soldiers, and the king of ^(K)Maacah with a thousand men, and the men of Tob with twelve thousand men. ⁷ When David heard about this, he sent Joab and all the army, the warriors. ⁸ And the sons of Ammon came out and lined up for battle ^(L)at the entrance of the ^[d]city, while the Arameans of Zobah and of Rehob and the men of ^(M)Tob and Maacah were stationed by themselves in the field.

⁹ Now when Joab saw that ^[e]the battle was set against him at the front and at the rear, he selected warriors from all the choice men in Israel, and lined them up against the Arameans. ¹⁰ But the remainder of the people he placed ^[f]under the command of his brother Abishai, and he lined them up against the sons of Ammon. ¹¹ And he said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come to help you. ^12 (N)Be strong, and let’s show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and the cities of our God; and ^(O)may the Lord do what is good in His sight.” ¹³ So Joab and the people who were with him advanced to the battle against the Arameans, and ^(P)they fled from him. ¹⁴ When the sons of Ammon saw that the Arameans had fled, they also fled from Abishai and entered the city. ^(Q)Then Joab returned from fighting against the sons of Ammon and came to Jerusalem.

¹⁵ When the Arameans saw that they had been ^[g]defeated by Israel, they assembled together. ^16 (R)And Hadadezer sent word and brought out the Arameans who were beyond the Euphrates River, and they came to Helam; and ^(S)Shobach the commander of the army of Hadadezer ^[h]led them. ¹⁷ Now when it was reported to David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Arameans lined up against David and fought him. ¹⁸ But the Arameans fled from Israel, and David killed ^(T)seven hundred charioteers of the Arameans and forty thousand horsemen, and struck Shobach the commander of their army, and he died there. ¹⁹ When all the kings, servants of Hadadezer, saw that they had been ^[i]defeated by Israel, ^(U)they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Arameans were afraid to help the sons of Ammon anymore.

Instruction about Prayer

11 It happened that while ^[a]Jesus was praying in a certain place, when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.” ² And He said to them, “^(A)When you pray, say:

⁵ And He said to them, “^[f]Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, ⁶ because a friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to serve him’; ⁷ and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children ^[g]and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything just because he is his friend, yet ^(D)because of his ^[h]shamelessness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

⁹ “So I say to you, ^[i](E)ask, and it will be given to you; ^[j]seek, and you will find; ^[k]knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened. ¹¹ Now ^[l]which one of you fathers will his son ask for a ^[m]fish, and instead of a fish, he will give him a snake? ¹² Or he will even ask for an egg, and his father will give him a scorpion? ¹³ So ^(F)if you, despite being ^[n]evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will ^[o]your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Pharisees’ Blasphemy

^14 (G)And He was casting out a mute demon; when the demon had gone out, the man who was previously unable to speak talked, and the crowds were amazed. ¹⁵ But some of them said, “He casts out the demons ^(H)by ^(I)Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” ¹⁶ Others, ^[p]to test Him, ^(J)were demanding of Him a ^[q]sign from heaven. ^17 (K)But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against ^[r]itself falls. ¹⁸ And if ^(L)Satan also has been divided against himself, how will his kingdom ^[s]stand? For you claim that I cast out the demons by ^(M)Beelzebul. ¹⁹ Yet if by ^(N)Beelzebul I cast out the demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if I cast out the demons by ^[t]the ^(O)finger of God, then ^(P)the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²¹ When ^[u]a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are ^[v]secure. ²² But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, that man takes away his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder. ^23 (Q)The one who is not with Me is against Me; and the one who does not gather with Me scatters.

²⁴ “^(R)When the unclean spirit comes out of ^[w]a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it then says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ²⁵ And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. ²⁶ Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they come in and live there; and the last condition of that person becomes worse than the first.”

²⁷ While ^[x]Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “^(S)Blessed is the womb that carried You, and the breasts at which You nursed!” ²⁸ But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are ^(T)those who hear the word of God and follow it.”