The Parable of the Revealed Light^(A)

^16 (B)“No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the ^(C)light. ^17 (D)For nothing is secret that will not be ^(E)revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. ¹⁸ Therefore take heed how you hear. ^(F)For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he ^[a]seems to ^(G)have will be taken from him.”

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers Come to Him^(H)

^19 (I)Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd. ²⁰ And it was told Him by some, who said, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You.”

²¹ But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”

Wind and Wave Obey Jesus^(J)

^22 (K)Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” And they launched out. ²³ But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in ^[b]jeopardy. ²⁴ And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!”

Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. ²⁵ But He said to them, ^(L)“Where is your faith?”

And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, ^(M)“Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”

¹⁶ So let no one ^(A)judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a ^[a]festival or a new moon or sabbaths, ^17 (B)which are a shadow of things to come, but the ^[b]substance is of Christ. ¹⁸ Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has ^[c]not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to ^(C)the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, ^(D)grows with the increase that is from God.

^20 [d]Therefore, if you ^(E)died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, ^(F)why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— ^21 (G)“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” ²² which all concern things which perish with the using—^(H)according to the commandments and doctrines of men? ^23 (I)These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and ^[e]neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

Blessings of Those Who Fear the Lord

A Song of Ascents.

Tragic End of Saul and His Sons^(A)

10 Now ^(B)the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. ² Then the Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons. And the Philistines killed Jonathan, ^[a]Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons. ³ The battle became fierce against Saul. The archers hit him, and he was wounded by the archers. ⁴ Then Saul said to his armorbearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised men come and abuse me.” But his armorbearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it. ⁵ And when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died. ⁶ So Saul and his three sons died, and all his house died together. ⁷ And when all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that they had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook their cities and fled; then the Philistines came and dwelt in them.

⁸ So it happened the next day, when the Philistines came to ^[b]strip the slain, that they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ And they stripped him and took his head and his armor, and sent word throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among the people. ^10 (C)Then they put his armor in the ^[c]temple of their gods, and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon.

¹¹ And when all Jabesh Gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹² all the ^(D)valiant men arose and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons; and they brought them to ^(E)Jabesh, and buried their bones under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

¹³ So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had ^[d]committed against the Lord, ^(F)because he did not keep the word of the Lord, and also because ^(G)he consulted a medium for guidance. ¹⁴ But he did not inquire of the Lord; therefore He killed him, and ^(H)turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.

David Made King over All Israel^(I)

11 Then ^(J)all Israel came together to David at Hebron, saying, “Indeed we are your bone and your flesh. ² Also, in time past, even when Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them in; and the Lord your ^(K)God said to you, ‘You shall ^(L)shepherd My people Israel, and be ruler over My people Israel.’ ” ³ Therefore all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord. And ^(M)they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the Lord ^[e]by ^(N)Samuel.

The City of David^(O)

⁴ And David and all Israel ^(P)went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus, ^(Q)where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. ⁵ But the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You shall not come in here!” Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (that is, the City of David). ⁶ Now David said, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites first shall be ^[f]chief and captain.” And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, and became chief. ⁷ Then David dwelt in the stronghold; therefore they called it ^[g]the City of David. ⁸ And he built the city around it, from ^[h]the Millo to the surrounding area. Joab ^[i]repaired the rest of the city. ⁹ So David ^(R)went on and became great, and the Lord of hosts was with ^(S)him.

The Mighty Men of David^(T)

¹⁰ Now ^(U)these were the heads of the mighty men whom David had, who strengthened themselves with him in his kingdom, with all Israel, to make him king, according to ^(V)the word of the Lord concerning Israel.

¹¹ And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had: ^(W)Jashobeam the son of a Hachmonite, ^(X)chief of ^[j]the captains; he had lifted up his spear against three hundred, killed by him at one time.

¹² After him was Eleazar the son of ^(Y)Dodo, the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighty men. ¹³ He was with David at ^[k]Pasdammim. Now there the Philistines were gathered for battle, and there was a piece of ground full of barley. So the people fled from the Philistines. ¹⁴ But they ^[l]stationed themselves in the middle of that field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory.

¹⁵ Now three of the thirty chief men ^(Z)went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam; and the army of the Philistines encamped ^(AA)in the Valley of ^[m]Rephaim. ¹⁶ David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. ¹⁷ And David said with longing, “Oh, that someone would give me a drink of water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” ¹⁸ So the three broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless David would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord. ¹⁹ And he said, “Far be it from me, O my God, that I should do this! Shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their lives in jeopardy? For at the risk of their lives they brought it.” Therefore he would not drink it. These things were done by the three mighty men.

^20 (AB)Abishai the brother of Joab was chief of another ^[n]three. He had lifted up his spear against three hundred men, killed them, and won a name among these three. ^21 (AC)Of the three he was more honored than the other two men. Therefore he became their captain. However he did not attain to the first three.

²² Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from Kabzeel, who ^[o]had done many deeds. ^(AD)He had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. ²³ And he killed an Egyptian, a man of great height, ^[p]five cubits tall. In the Egyptian’s hand there was a spear like a weaver’s beam; and he went down to him with a staff, wrested the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with his own spear. ²⁴ These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and won a name among three mighty men. ²⁵ Indeed he was more honored than the thirty, but he did not attain to the first three. And David appointed him over his guard.

²⁶ Also the mighty warriors were ^(AE)Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, ^27 [q]Shammoth the Harorite, ^(AF)Helez the ^[r]Pelonite, ^28 (AG)Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, ^(AH)Abiezer the Anathothite, ^29 [s]Sibbechai the Hushathite, ^[t]Ilai the Ahohite, ^30 (AI)Maharai the Netophathite, ^[u]Heled the son of Baanah the Netophathite, ^31 [v]Ithai the son of Ribai of Gibeah, of the sons of Benjamin, ^(AJ)Benaiah the Pirathonite, ^32 [w]Hurai of the brooks of Gaash, ^[x]Abiel the Arbathite, ³³ Azmaveth the ^[y]Baharumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite, ³⁴ the sons of ^[z]Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan the son of Shageh the Hararite, ³⁵ Ahiam the son of ^[aa]Sacar the Hararite, ^[ab]Eliphal the son of ^[ac]Ur, ³⁶ Hepher the Mecherathite, Ahijah the Pelonite, ^37 [ad]Hezro the Carmelite, ^[ae]Naarai the son of Ezbai, ³⁸ Joel the brother of Nathan, Mibhar the son of Hagri, ³⁹ Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the ^[af]Berothite (the armorbearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah), ⁴⁰ Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ^41 (AK)Uriah the Hittite, ^[ag]Zabad the son of Ahlai, ⁴² Adina the son of Shiza the Reubenite (a chief of the Reubenites) and thirty with him, ⁴³ Hanan the son of Maachah, Joshaphat the Mithnite, ⁴⁴ Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and Jeiel the sons of Hotham the Aroerite, ⁴⁵ Jediael the son of Shimri, and Joha his brother, the Tizite, ⁴⁶ Eliel the Mahavite, Jeribai and Joshaviah the sons of Elnaam, Ithmah the Moabite, ⁴⁷ Eliel, Obed, and Jaasiel the Mezobaite.