Cain and Abel

4 Now the man ^[a]had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have obtained a male child with the help of the Lord.” ² And again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now ^(A)Abel was ^(B)a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a cultivator of the ground. ³ So it came about ^[b]in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the ground. ^4 (C)Abel, on his part also brought an offering, from the firstborn of his flock and from their fat portions. And ^(D)the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering; ⁵ but ^(E)for Cain and his offering He had no regard. So ^(F)Cain became very angry and his face ^[c]was gloomy.

The Sin of Nadab and Abihu

10 Now ^(A)Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective ^(B)firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on ^[a]the fire and offered ^[b]strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. ^2 (C)And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. ³ Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the Lord spoke, saying,

So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.

Samuel Rebukes Saul

¹⁰ Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, ¹¹ “^(A)I regret that I have made Saul king, because ^(B)he has turned back from ^[a]following Me and has not carried out My commands.” And Samuel was furious and ^(C)cried out to the Lord all night. ¹² Samuel got up early in the morning to meet Saul; and it was reported to Samuel, saying, “Saul came to ^(D)Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, then turned and proceeded on ^[b]down to ^(E)Gilgal.” ¹³ So Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “^(F)Blessed are you of the Lord! I have carried out the command of the Lord.” ¹⁴ But Samuel said, “^(G)What then is this ^[c]bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the ^[d]bellowing of the oxen which I hear?” ¹⁵ Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for ^(H)the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God; but the rest we have completely destroyed.” ¹⁶ Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop, and let me inform you of what the Lord said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak!”

¹⁷ So Samuel said, “^[e]Is it not true, ^(I)though you were ^[f]insignificant in your own eyes, that you became the head of the tribes of Israel? For the Lord anointed you as king over Israel. ¹⁸ And the Lord sent you on a ^[g]mission, and said, ‘^(J)Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are eliminated.’ ¹⁹ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? ^(K)Instead, you loudly rushed upon the spoils and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord!”

²⁰ Then Saul said to Samuel, “^(L)I did obey the voice of the Lord, for I went on the ^[h]mission on which the Lord sent me; and I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have completely destroyed the Amalekites. ²¹ But ^(M)the people took some of the spoils, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things designated for destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” ²² Samuel said,

Peril in Moving the Ark

6 ^(A)Now David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. ² And David ^[a]departed from ^[b](B)Baale-judah, with all the people who were with him, to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the ^(C)Name, the very name of the Lord of armies who ^(D)is ^[c]enthroned above the cherubim. ³ They had mounted the ark of God on ^(E)a new cart and moved it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were leading the new cart. ⁴ So ^(F)they brought it with the ark of God from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and Ahio was walking ahead of the ark. ⁵ Meanwhile, David and all the house of Israel ^(G)were celebrating before the Lord ^(H)with all kinds of instruments made of juniper wood, and with ^[d]lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals.

⁶ But when they came to the ^(I)threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah ^(J)reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it, because the oxen nearly overturned it. ⁷ And the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, and ^(K)God struck him down there for ^[e]his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God.