David Learns of Saul’s Death

1 Now it happened after the death of Saul, when David had returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, that he stayed two days in Ziklag. ² On the third day a man came [unexpectedly] from Saul’s camp with his clothes torn and dust on his head [as in mourning]. When he came to David, he bowed to the ground and lay himself face down [in an act of great respect and submission]. ³ Then David asked him, “Where do you come from?” He said, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.” ⁴ David said to him, “How did it go? Please tell me.” He answered, “The people have fled from the battle. Also, many of the people have fallen and are dead; Saul and Jonathan his son are also dead.” ⁵ So David said to the young man who informed him, “How do you know Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?” ⁶ And the young man who told him explained, “By chance I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and there was Saul leaning on his spear, and the chariots and horsemen [of the Philistines] were close behind him. ⁷ When he turned to look behind him, he saw me, and called to me. And I answered, ‘Here I am.’ ⁸ He asked me, ‘Who are you?’ I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’ ⁹ He said to me, ‘Stand up facing me and kill me, for [terrible] agony has come over me, yet I still live [and I will be taken alive].’ ¹⁰ So I stood facing him ^[a]and killed him, because I knew that he could not live after he had fallen. Then I took the crown which was on his head and the ^[b]band which was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.”^(A)

¹¹ Then David grasped his own clothes and tore them [in mourning]; so did all the men who were with him. ¹² They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and Jonathan his son, and for the Lord’s people and the house of ^[c]Israel, because they had fallen by the sword [in battle]. ¹³ David said to the young man who informed him, “Where are you from?” He answered, “I am the son of a foreigner (resident alien, sojourner), an Amalekite.” ¹⁴ David said to him, “How is it that you were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?” ¹⁵ David called one of the young men and said, “Go, execute him.” So he struck the Amalekite and he died. ¹⁶ David said to the [fallen] man, “^[d]Your blood is on your own head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have killed the Lord’s anointed.’”

David’s Dirge for Saul and Jonathan

¹⁷ Then David sang this dirge (funeral song) over Saul and his son Jonathan, ¹⁸ and he told them to teach the sons of Judah, the song of the bow. Behold, it is written in ^[e]the Book of Jashar:

David Made King over Judah

2 So it happened after this that David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up into one of the cities of Judah?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up.” David asked, “Where shall I go?” And He said, “To Hebron.” ² So David went up there [to Hebron] with his two wives also, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel [in Judah]. ³ And David brought up his men who were with him, each one with his household; and they lived in the cities of Hebron. ⁴ Then the men of Judah came and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.

Then they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul.”^{(B) 5} So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said to them, “May you be blessed by the Lord because you showed this graciousness and loyalty to Saul your lord (king), and buried him. ⁶ Now may the Lord show lovingkindness and truth and faithfulness to you. I too will show this goodness to you, because you have done this thing. ⁷ So now, let your hands be strong and be valiant; for your lord Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

Ish-bosheth Made King over Israel

⁸ Now [Saul’s cousin] Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to ^[j]Mahanaim. ⁹ He made him king over Gilead, over the Ashurites, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, over Benjamin, even over all Israel [except Judah]. ¹⁰ Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned for two years. But the house of Judah followed David. ¹¹ And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

Civil War

¹² Now Abner the son of Ner and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. ¹³ Joab [David’s nephew] the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David also went out and met them by the pool of Gibeon. They sat down, with one group on one side of the pool and the other group on the other side of the pool. ¹⁴ Then Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men now stand and ^[k]have a contest before us.” And Joab said, “Let them stand.” ¹⁵ So they stood up and went over by number, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. ¹⁶ Each one of them seized his opponent by the head and thrust his sword into his opponents side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim [that is, the Field of Sides], which is in Gibeon. ¹⁷ There was a very fierce battle that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.

¹⁸ Three sons of Zeruiah [the half sister of David] were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was as light and swift-footed as one of the [wild] gazelles in the field. ¹⁹ Asahel pursued Abner and did not turn to the right or to the left as he followed him. ²⁰ Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Is that you, Asahel?” He answered, “It is I.” ²¹ So Abner said to him, “Turn to your right or to your left, and grab one of the young men and take his armor for yourself.” But Asahel was not willing to turn away from pursuing Abner. ²² Abner repeated again, “Turn away from following me. Why should I have to strike you to the ground? How would I ^[l]be able to face Joab your brother [and look him in the eye]?” ²³ But Asahel refused to turn away; so Abner struck him in the abdomen with the ^[m]butt end of his spear, and the spear came out his back; and he fell there and died on that spot. And it came about that everyone who came to the place where Asahel fell and died, stood still [and reflected].

²⁴ But Joab and Abishai [Asahel’s brothers] pursued Abner. When the sun was going down, they came to the hill of Ammah, which is in front of Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. ²⁵ And the sons of [the tribe of] Benjamin gathered together behind Abner and became one troop, and took their stand on the top of a hill. ²⁶ Then Abner called to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it will be bitter in the end? How long [will it be] before you tell the people to stop pursuing their brothers?” ²⁷ Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, then the people certainly would have stopped pursuing their brothers in the morning.” ²⁸ So Joab blew the trumpet; and all the people halted and no longer pursued Israel, nor did they fight anymore. ²⁹ Then Abner and his men went through the Arabah (desert region) all that night, crossed the Jordan, went through Bithron and walked the whole morning and came to Mahanaim [where Ish-bosheth ruled Israel].

³⁰ Joab returned from pursuing Abner; and when he had gathered all the people together, nineteen of David’s servants were missing, besides Asahel. ³¹ But the servants of David had struck down many of Benjamin and Abner’s men; so that three hundred and sixty men died. ³² And they picked up [the body of] Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father in Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men walked all night and they arrived in Hebron at daybreak.

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

14 It happened one Sabbath, when He went for a meal at the house of one of the ruling Pharisees, that they were watching Him closely and carefully [hoping to entrap Him]. ² And there in front of Him was a man who had ^[a]dropsy (extreme swelling). ³ And Jesus asked the lawyers and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” ⁴ But they kept silent. Then He took hold of the man and healed him, and sent him on his way. ⁵ Then He said to them, “Which one of you, having a son or an ox that falls into a well, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” ⁶ And they were unable to reply to this.

Parable of the Guests

⁷ Now Jesus began telling a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been selecting the places of honor at the table, saying to them, ⁸ “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down [to eat] at the place of honor, since a more distinguished person than you may have been invited by the host,^{(A) 9} and he who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your place,’ and then, in disgrace you proceed to take the last place. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, go and sit down [to eat] at the last place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; and then you will be honored in the presence of all who are at the table with you. ¹¹ For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled [before others], and he who habitually humbles himself (keeps a realistic self-view) will be exalted.”

¹² Jesus also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or wealthy neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. ¹³ But when you give a banquet or a reception, invite the poor, the disabled, the lame, and the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the ^[b]righteous (the just, the upright).”

¹⁵ When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed (happy, prosperous, to be admired) is he who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

Parable of the Dinner

¹⁶ But Jesus said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many guests; ¹⁷ and at the dinner hour he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, because everything is ready now.’ ¹⁸ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have purchased a piece of land and I have to go out and see it; please consider me excused.’ ¹⁹ Another one said, ‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ ²⁰ And another said, ‘I have [recently] married a wife, and for that reason I am unable to come.’^{(B) 21} So the servant came back and reported this to his master. Then [his master,] the head of the household, became angry [at the rejections of his invitation] and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and the disabled and the blind and the lame.’ ²² And the servant [after returning] said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ ²³ Then the master told the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled [with guests]. ²⁴ For I tell you, not one of those who were invited [and declined] will taste my dinner.’”