5 Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.

² In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord told you, You shall feed My people Israel and be prince over [them].^(A)

³ So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them [there] before the Lord, and they anointed [him] king over Israel.

⁴ David was thirty years old when he began his forty-year reign.

⁵ In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

⁶ And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, You shall not enter here, for the blind and the lame will prevent you; they thought, David cannot come in here.

⁷ Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the City of David.

⁸ David said on that day, Whoever smites the Jebusites, let him get up through the water shaft and smite the lame and the blind who are detested by David’s soul. So they say, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.

⁹ So David dwelt in the stronghold and called it the City of David. And he built round about from the Millo and inward.

¹⁰ David became greater and greater, for the Lord God of hosts was with him.

¹¹ Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, carpenters, and masons; and they built David a house.

¹² And David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel and that He had exalted his kingdom for His people Israel’s sake.

¹³ And David took more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron, and other sons and daughters were born to [him].

¹⁴ And these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,

¹⁵ Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,

¹⁶ Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

¹⁷ When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they all went up to find [him], but [he] heard of it and went down to the stronghold.

¹⁸ The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the Valley of Rephaim.

¹⁹ David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand? And the Lord said to David, Go up, for I will surely deliver [them] into your hand.

²⁰ And David came to Baal-perazim, and he smote them there, and said, The Lord has broken through my enemies before me, like the bursting out of great waters. So he called the name of that place Baal-perazim [Lord of breaking through].

²¹ There the Philistines left their ^[a]images, and David and his men took them away.

²² The Philistines came up again and spread themselves out in the Valley of Rephaim.

²³ When David inquired of the Lord, He said, You shall not go up, but go around behind them and come upon them over opposite the mulberry (or balsam) trees.

²⁴ And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then bestir yourselves, for then has the Lord gone out before you to smite the army of the Philistines.

²⁵ And David did as the Lord had commanded him, and smote the Philistines from Geba to Gezer.

4 So then, let us [apostles] be looked upon as ministering servants of Christ and stewards (trustees) of the mysteries (the secret purposes) of God.

² Moreover, it is [essentially] required of stewards that a man should be found faithful [proving himself worthy of trust].

³ But [as for me personally] it matters very little to me that I should be put on trial by you [on this point], and that you or any other human tribunal should investigate and question and cross-question me. I do not even put myself on trial and judge myself.

⁴ I am not conscious of anything against myself, and I feel blameless; but I am not vindicated and acquitted before God on that account. It is the Lord [Himself] Who examines and judges me.

⁵ So do not make any hasty or premature judgments before the time when the Lord comes [again], for He will both bring to light the secret things that are [now hidden] in darkness and disclose and expose the [secret] aims (motives and purposes) of hearts. Then every man will receive his [due] commendation from God.

⁶ Now I have applied all this [about parties and factions] to myself and Apollos for your sakes, brethren, so that from what I have said of us [as illustrations], you may learn [to think of men in accordance with Scripture and] not to go beyond that which is written, that none of you may be puffed up and inflated with pride and boast in favor of one [minister and teacher] against another.

⁷ For who separates you from the others [as a faction leader]? [Who makes you superior and sets you apart from another, giving you the preeminence?] What have you that was not given to you? If then you received it [from someone], why do you boast as if you had not received [but had gained it by your own efforts]?

⁸ [^[a]You behave as if] you are already filled and think you have enough [you are full and content, feeling no need of anything more]! Already you have become rich [in spiritual gifts and graces]! [Without any counsel or instruction from us, in your conceit], you have ascended your thrones and come into your kingdom without including us! And would that it were true and that you did reign, so that we might be sharing the kingdom with you!

⁹ For it seems to me that God has made an exhibit of us apostles, exposing us to view last [of all, like men in a triumphal procession who are] sentenced to death [and displayed at the end of the line]. For we have become a spectacle to the world [a show in the world’s amphitheater] with both men and angels [as spectators].

¹⁰ We are [looked upon as] fools on account of Christ and for His sake, but you are [supposedly] so amazingly wise and prudent in Christ! We are weak, but you are [so very] strong! You are highly esteemed, but we are in disrepute and contempt!

¹¹ To this hour we have gone both hungry and thirsty; we [^[b]habitually] wear but one undergarment [and shiver in the cold]; we are roughly knocked about and wander around homeless.

¹² And we still toil unto weariness [for our living], working hard with our own hands. When men revile us [^[c]wound us with an accursed sting], we bless them. When we are persecuted, we take it patiently and endure it.

¹³ When we are slandered and defamed, we [try to] answer softly and bring comfort. We have been made and are now the rubbish and filth of the world [the offscouring of all things, the scum of the earth].

¹⁴ I do not write this to shame you, but to warn and counsel you as my beloved children.

¹⁵ After all, though you should have ten thousand teachers (guides to direct you) in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the glad tidings (the Gospel).

¹⁶ So I urge and implore you, be imitators of me.

¹⁷ For this very cause I sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and trustworthy child in the Lord, who will recall to your minds my methods of proceeding and course of conduct and way of life in Christ, such as I teach everywhere in each of the churches.

¹⁸ Some of you have become conceited and arrogant and pretentious, counting on my not coming to you.

¹⁹ But I will come to you [and] shortly, if the Lord is willing, and then I will perceive and understand not what the talk of these puffed up and arrogant spirits amount to, but their force (^[d]the moral power and excellence of soul they really possess).

²⁰ For the kingdom of God consists of and is based on not talk but power (^[e]moral power and excellence of soul).

²¹ Now which do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of correction, or with love and in a spirit of gentleness?

5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, impurity of a sort that is condemned and does not occur even among the heathen; for a man has [his own] father’s wife.^(A)

² And you are proud and arrogant! And you ought rather to mourn (bow in sorrow and in shame) until the person who has done this [shameful] thing is removed from your fellowship and your midst!

³ As for my attitude, though I am absent [from you] in body, I am present in spirit, and I have already decided and passed judgment, as if actually present,

⁴ In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, on the man who has committed such a deed. When you and my own spirit are met together with the power of our Lord Jesus,

⁵ You are to deliver this man over to Satan ^[a]for physical discipline [to destroy carnal lusts which prompted him to incest], that [his] spirit may [yet] be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

⁶ [About the condition of your church] your boasting is not good [indeed, it is most unseemly and entirely out of place]. Do you not know that [just] a little leaven will ferment the whole lump [of dough]?

⁷ Purge (clean out) the old leaven that you may be fresh (new) dough, still uncontaminated [as you are], for Christ, our Passover [Lamb], has been sacrificed.

⁸ Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of vice and malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened [bread] of purity (nobility, honor) and sincerity and [unadulterated] truth.^(B)

⁹ I wrote you in my [previous] letter not to associate [closely and habitually] with unchaste (impure) people—

¹⁰ Not [meaning of course that you must] altogether shun the immoral people of this world, or the greedy graspers and cheats and thieves or idolaters, since otherwise you would need to get out of the world and human society altogether!

¹¹ But now I write to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of [Christian] brother if he is known to be guilty of immorality or greed, or is an idolater [whose soul is devoted to any object that usurps the place of God], or is a person with a foul tongue [railing, abusing, reviling, slandering], or is a drunkard or a swindler or a robber. [No] you must not so much as eat with such a person.

¹² What [business] of mine is it and what right have I to judge outsiders? Is it not those inside [the church] upon whom you are to pass disciplinary judgment [passing censuring sentence on them as the facts require]?

¹³ God alone sits in judgment on those who are outside. Drive out that wicked one from among you [expel him from your church].