Psalm 19^[a]

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

David, Nabal and Abigail

25 Now Samuel died,^(A) and all Israel assembled and mourned^(B) for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah.^(C) Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran.^[a]

² A certain man in Maon,^(D) who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy.^(E) He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing^(F) in Carmel. ³ His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail.^(G) She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings—he was a Calebite.^(H)

⁴ While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. ⁵ So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. ⁶ Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health^(I) to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!^(J)

⁷ “‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat^(K) them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. ⁸ Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever^(L) you can find for them.’”

⁹ When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name. Then they waited.

¹⁰ Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who^(M) is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. ¹¹ Why should I take my bread^(N) and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”

¹² David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. ¹³ David said to his men^(O), “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went^(P) up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.^(Q)

¹⁴ One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings,^(R) but he hurled insults at them. ¹⁵ Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat^(S) us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing.^{(T) 16} Night and day they were a wall^(U) around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. ¹⁷ Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked^(V) man that no one can talk to him.”

¹⁸ Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs^[b] of roasted grain,^(W) a hundred cakes of raisins^(X) and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys.^{(Y) 19} Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead;^(Z) I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell^(AA) her husband Nabal.

²⁰ As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them. ²¹ David had just said, “It’s been useless—all my watching over this fellow’s property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing.^(AB) He has paid^(AC) me back evil^(AD) for good. ²² May God deal with David,^[c] be it ever so severely,^(AE) if by morning I leave alive one male^(AF) of all who belong to him!”

In Iconium

14 At Iconium^(A) Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue.^(B) There they spoke so effectively that a great number^(C) of Jews and Greeks believed. ² But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.^{(D) 3} So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly^(E) for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.^{(F) 4} The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles.^{(G) 5} There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews,^(H) together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them.^{(I) 6} But they found out about it and fled^(J) to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, ⁷ where they continued to preach^(K) the gospel.^(L)

In Lystra and Derbe

⁸ In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth^(M) and had never walked. ⁹ He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed^{(N) 10} and called out, “Stand up on your feet!”^(O) At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.^(P)

¹¹ When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”^{(Q) 12} Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.^{(R) 13} The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.

¹⁴ But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes^(S) and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: ¹⁵ “Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human,^(T) like you. We are bringing you good news,^(U) telling you to turn from these worthless things^(V) to the living God,^(W) who made the heavens and the earth^(X) and the sea and everything in them.^{(Y) 16} In the past, he let^(Z) all nations go their own way.^{(AA) 17} Yet he has not left himself without testimony:^(AB) He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons;^(AC) he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”^{(AD) 18} Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.

A Lamp on a Stand

²¹ He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand?^{(A) 22} For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.^{(B) 23} If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”^(C)

²⁴ “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more.^{(D) 25} Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”^(E)

The Parable of the Growing Seed

²⁶ He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like.^(F) A man scatters seed on the ground. ²⁷ Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. ²⁸ All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. ²⁹ As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”^(G)

The Parable of the Mustard Seed^(H)

³⁰ Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like,^(I) or what parable shall we use to describe it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. ³² Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

³³ With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand.^{(J) 34} He did not say anything to them without using a parable.^(K) But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.