God Will Judge with Equity

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Do Not Destroy. ^(B)A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

Who Can Stand Before You?

To the choirmaster: with ^(A)stringed instruments. A Psalm of ^(B)Asaph. A Song.

Saul Tries to Kill David

19 And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. ^(A)But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David. ² And Jonathan told David, “Saul my father seeks to kill you. Therefore be on your guard in the morning. 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 speak to 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 ^(B)sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you. ⁵ For ^(C)he took his life in his hand ^(D)and he struck down the Philistine, ^(E)and the Lord worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against ^(F)innocent blood by killing David without cause?” ⁶ And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, ^(G)“As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death.” ⁷ And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence ^(H)as before.

⁸ And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great blow, so that they fled before him. ^9 (I)Then a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. ^(J)And David was playing the lyre. ^10 (K)And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.

^11 (L)Saul sent messengers 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 escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” ^12 (M)So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped. ¹³ Michal took ^(N)an image^[a] and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats' hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. ¹⁴ And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” ¹⁵ Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” ¹⁶ And when the messengers came in, behold, ^(O)the image was in the bed, with the pillow of goats' hair at its head. ¹⁷ Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go. ^(P)Why should I kill you?’”

¹⁸ Now David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at ^(Q)Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived at Naioth. ¹⁹ And it was told Saul, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.” ²⁰ Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, ^(R)the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, ^(S)and they also prophesied. ²¹ When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, ^(T)and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, ^(U)and they also prophesied. ²² Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in ^(V)Ramah.” ²³ And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. ^(W)And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. ^24 (X)And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, ^(Y)“Is Saul also among the prophets?”

The People of Israel Confess Their Sin

9 Now on the twenty-fourth day of ^(A)this month the people of Israel were assembled ^(B)with fasting ^(C)and in sackcloth, ^(D)and with earth on their heads. ^2 (E)And the Israelites^[a] separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. ^3 (F)And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God. ⁴ On the stairs of the Levites stood ^(G)Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani; and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God. ⁵ Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. ^(H)Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

^{6 [b] (I)}“You are the Lord, you alone. ^(J)You have made heaven, ^(K)the heaven of heavens, ^(L)with all their host, ^(M)the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; ^(N)and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you. ⁷ You are the Lord, the God ^(O)who chose Abram and brought him out of ^(P)Ur of the Chaldeans ^(Q)and gave him the name Abraham. ^8 (R)You found his heart faithful before you, ^(S)and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring ^(T)the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. ^(U)And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.

^9 (V)“And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard ^(W)their cry at the Red Sea, ^10 (X)and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that ^(Y)they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And ^(Z)you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. ^11 (AA)And you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths, ^(AB)as a stone into mighty waters. ¹² By ^(AC)a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go. ^13 (AD)You came down on Mount Sinai ^(AE)and spoke with them from heaven and gave them ^(AF)right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, ^14 (AG)and you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. ^15 (AH)You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and ^(AI)brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you ^(AJ)told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.

^26 (A)“Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you ^(B)and cast your law behind their back ^(C)and killed your prophets, who ^(D)had warned them in order to turn them back to you, ^(E)and they committed great blasphemies. ^27 (F)Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. ^(G)And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them ^(H)saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. ^28 (I)But after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, ^(J)and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. ^29 (K)And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet ^(L)they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, ^(M)which if a person does them, he shall live by them, ^(N)and they turned a stubborn shoulder ^(O)and stiffened their neck and would not obey. ³⁰ Many years ^(P)you bore with them ^(Q)and warned them ^(R)by your Spirit through your prophets. ^(S)Yet they would not give ear. ^(T)Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. ³¹ Nevertheless, ^(U)in your great mercies ^(V)you did not make an end of them or forsake them, ^(W)for you are a gracious and merciful God.

³² “Now, therefore, our God, ^(X)the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, ^(Y)since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. ^33 (Z)Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully ^(AA)and we have acted wickedly. ³⁴ Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. ³⁵ Even in their own kingdom, ^(AB)and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and ^(AC)rich land that you set before them, ^(AD)they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. ³⁶ Behold, ^(AE)we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. ^37 (AF)And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.

^38 [a] “Because of all this ^(AG)we make a firm covenant in writing; on ^(AH)the sealed document are the names of^[b] our princes, our Levites, and our priests.

²⁵ “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(A)an hour is coming, and is now here, when ^(B)the dead will hear ^(C)the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear ^(D)will live. ^26 (E)For as the Father has life in himself, ^(F)so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷ And he ^(G)has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not marvel at this, for ^(H)an hour is coming when ^(I)all who are in the tombs will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out, ^(J)those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

Witnesses to Jesus

^30 (K)“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and ^(L)my judgment is just, because ^(M)I seek not my own will ^(N)but the will of him who sent me. ^31 (O)If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. ³² There is ^(P)another who bears witness about me, and ^(Q)I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. ^33 (R)You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. ³⁴ Not that ^(S)the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵ He was a burning and ^(T)shining lamp, and ^(U)you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. ³⁶ But ^(V)the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For ^(W)the works that the Father has given me ^(X)to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, ^(Y)bear witness about me that ^(Z)the Father has sent me. ³⁷ And the Father who sent me ^(AA)has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, ^(AB)his form you have never seen, ³⁸ and ^(AC)you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. ^39 (AD)You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and ^(AE)it is they that bear witness about me, ⁴⁰ yet ^(AF)you refuse to come to me that you may have life. ^41 (AG)I do not receive glory from people. ⁴² But ^(AH)I know that you do not have ^(AI)the love of God within you. ⁴³ I have come ^(AJ)in my Father's name, and ^(AK)you do not receive me. ^(AL)If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and ^(AM)do not seek the glory that comes from ^(AN)the only God? ⁴⁵ Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, ^(AO)on whom you have set your hope. ⁴⁶ For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for ^(AP)he wrote of me. ⁴⁷ But ^(AQ)if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”