20 One day as Jesus was instructing the people in the temple [^[a]porches] and preaching the good news (the Gospel), the chief priests and the scribes came up with the elders (members of the Sanhedrin)

² And said to Him, Tell us by what [sort of] authority You are doing these things? Or who is it who gave You this authority?

³ He replied to them, I will also ask you a question. Now answer Me:

⁴ Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men?

⁵ And they argued and discussed [it] and reasoned together ^[b]with themselves, saying, If we reply, From heaven, He will say, Why then did you not believe him?

⁶ But if we answer, From men, all the people will stone us ^[c]to death, for they are ^[d]long since firmly convinced that John was a prophet.

⁷ So they replied that they did not know from where it came.

⁸ Then Jesus said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

⁹ Then He began to relate to the people this parable (^[e]this story to figuratively portray what He had to say): A man planted a vineyard and leased it to some vinedressers and went into another country for a long stay.^(A)

¹⁰ When the [right] season came, he sent a bond servant to the tenants, that they might give him [his part] of the fruit of the vineyard; but the tenants beat (^[f]thrashed) him and sent him away empty-handed.

¹¹ And he sent still another servant; him they also beat (^[g]thrashed) and dishonored and insulted him ^[h]disgracefully and sent him away empty-handed.

¹² And he sent yet a third; this one they wounded and threw out [of the vineyard].

¹³ Then the owner of the vineyard said, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; it is ^[i]probable that they will respect him.

¹⁴ But when the tenants saw him, they argued among themselves, saying, This is the heir; let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.

¹⁵ So they drove him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

¹⁶ He will come and [^[j]utterly] put an end to those tenants and will give the vineyard to others. When they [the chief priests and the scribes and the elders] heard this, they said, May it never be!

¹⁷ But [Jesus] looked at them and said, What then is [the meaning of] this that is written: The [very] Stone which the builders rejected has become the chief Stone of the corner [Cornerstone]?^(B)

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that Stone will be broken [in pieces]; but upon whomever It falls, It will crush him [winnow him and ^[k]scatter him as dust].^(C)

¹⁹ The scribes and the chief priests desired and tried to find a way to arrest Him at that very hour, but they were afraid of the people; for they discerned that He had related this parable against them.

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18 When David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own life.

² Saul took David that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.

³ Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own life.

⁴ And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, even his sword, his bow, and his girdle.

⁵ And David went out wherever Saul sent him, and he prospered and behaved himself wisely; and Saul set him over the men of war. And it was satisfactory both to the people and to Saul’s servants.

⁶ As they were coming home, when David returned from killing the Philistine, the women came out of all the Israelite towns, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul with timbrels, songs of joy, and instruments of music.

⁷ And the women responded as they laughed and frolicked, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.

⁸ And Saul was very angry, for the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed only thousands. What more can he have but the kingdom?

⁹ And Saul [jealously] eyed David from that day forward.

¹⁰ The next day an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, and he raved [madly] in his house, while David played [the lyre] with his hand, as at other times; and there was a javelin in Saul’s hand.

¹¹ And Saul cast the javelin, for he thought, I will pin David to the wall. And David evaded him twice.

¹² Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul.

¹³ So Saul removed David from him and made him his commander over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.

¹⁴ David acted wisely in all his ways and succeeded, and the Lord was with him.

¹⁵ When Saul saw how capable and successful David was, he stood in awe of him.

¹⁶ But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.

¹⁷ Saul said to David, My elder daughter Merab I will give you as wife; only serve me courageously and fight the Lord’s battles. For Saul thought, Let not my hand, but the Philistines’ hand, be upon him.

¹⁸ David said to Saul, Who am I, and what is my life or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be the king’s son-in-law?

¹⁹ But at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as wife.

²⁰ Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David; and they told Saul, and it pleased him.

²¹ Saul thought, I will give her to him that she may be a snare to him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. So Saul said to David a second time, You shall now be my son-in-law.

²² And Saul commanded his servants to speak to David privately and say, The king delights in you, and all his servants love you; now then, become [his] son-in-law.

²³ Saul’s servants told those words to David. David said, Does it seem to you a light thing to be a king’s son-in-law, seeing I am a poor man and lightly esteemed?

²⁴ And the servants of Saul told him what David said.

²⁵ Saul said, Say this to David, The king wants no dowry but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to avenge himself of the king’s enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the Philistines’ hands.

²⁶ When his servants told David these words, it pleased [him] well to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the days expired,

²⁷ David went, he and his men, and slew two hundred Philistine men, and brought their foreskins and gave them in full number to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife.

²⁸ When Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David and that Michal [his] daughter loved him,

²⁹ Saul was still more afraid of David; and Saul became David’s constant enemy.

³⁰ Then the Philistine princes came out to battle, and when they did so, David had more success and behaved himself more wisely than all Saul’s servants, so that his name was very dear and highly esteemed.

19 Now Saul told Jonathan his son and all his servants that they must kill David.

² But Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted much in David, and he told David, Saul my father is seeking to kill you. Now therefore, take heed to yourself in the morning, and stay in a secret place and hide yourself.

³ And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are; and I will converse with my father about you and if I learn anything, I will tell you.

⁴ And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, Let not the king sin against his servant David, for he has not sinned against you, and his deeds have been of good service to you.

⁵ For he took his life in his hands and slew the Philistine, and the Lord wrought a great deliverance for all Israel; you saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood and kill David without a cause?

⁶ Saul heeded Jonathan and swore, As the Lord lives, David shall not be slain.

⁷ So Jonathan called David and told him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as in times past.

⁸ Then there was war again, and David went out and fought with the Philistines, and made a great slaughter among them and they fled before him.

⁹ Then an evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing [the lyre] with his hand.

¹⁰ Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away, so that Saul struck the spear into the wall. Then David fled and escaped that night.

¹¹ Saul sent messengers that night to David’s house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.

¹² So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled and escaped.

¹³ And Michal took the teraph (household good luck image) and laid it in the bed, put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head, and covered it with a bedspread.

¹⁴ And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick.

¹⁵ Then Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him.

¹⁶ And when the messengers came in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats’ hair at its head.

¹⁷ Saul said to Michal, Why have you deceived me so and sent away my enemy so that he has escaped? Michal answered Saul, He said to me, Let me go. Why should I kill you?

¹⁸ So David fled and escaped and came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth.

¹⁹ And it was told Saul, Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.

²⁰ And Saul sent messengers to take David; and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul and they also prophesied.

²¹ When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied.

²² Then Saul himself went to Ramah and came to a great well that is in Secu; and he asked, Where are Samuel and David? And he was told, They are at Naioth in Ramah.

²³ So he went on to Naioth in Ramah; and the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went on he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

²⁴ He took off his royal robes and prophesied before Samuel and lay down stripped thus all that day and night. So they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?^(A)