Book of Common Prayer

This is a special song that the sons of Korah wrote for the music leader. Sing it to the music that they call ‘Lilies.’

A love song^[a]

The sons of Korah wrote this psalm for the music leader.

God rules the earth!

This is a psalm that the sons of Korah wrote.

Zion is God's city

Samuel dies

25 Then Samuel died. All the Israelites met together and they were very sad. Then they buried Samuel at his home in Ramah.

David went down to the Paran desert.

Nabal insults David

^2-3 There was a very rich man who lived at Maon. His name was Nabal. He was a descendant of Caleb. His wife's name was Abigail. She was wise and beautiful. But Nabal was a cruel man who did evil things.

Nabal had some land near Carmel. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. He was with his men in Carmel as they cut the wool from his sheep.

⁴ While David was in the desert, he heard that Nabal was cutting the wool from his sheep. ⁵ So David sent ten young men to meet with Nabal. He said to them, ‘Go to Carmel and find Nabal. Tell him that David says “hello”. ⁶ Then give him this message: “We hope that you and your family are all well. We hope that everything you have is doing well. ⁷ David has heard that you are now cutting the wool from your sheep. When your shepherds were with us near Carmel, we did not hurt them. We did not take anything from them. ⁸ Your servants will tell you that, if you ask them. Now we have come to you at this special holiday time. So please be kind to the young men that David has sent to see you. They are your servants as well as his servants. Please give any extra food that you have to these young men and to your good friend David.” ’

⁹ David's men went to Carmel. They gave David's message to Nabal. They waited for Nabal to reply. ¹⁰ Nabal answered David's young men, ‘Who is this David? Do I know this son of Jesse? Many servants run away from their masters these days. ¹¹ I have food and drink for the men who are cutting the wool from my sheep. I have cooked meat for them to eat. But I will not give anything to you. You might have come from anywhere!’

¹² David's young men left Nabal. They returned to David and they told him everything that Nabal had said. ¹³ David said to his men, ‘Tie your swords onto your belts.’ So they all did that. David put his sword on his belt too. About 400 men went with David. About 200 men stayed at their camp.

¹⁴ One of Nabal's servants spoke to Nabal's wife, Abigail. He said to her, ‘David sent some of his men from the desert to say “hello” to our master. But our master insulted them. ¹⁵ David's men have been very kind to us. When we were with them in the fields, they did not hurt us. They did not take anything from us the whole time that we were there. ¹⁶ They kept us safe while we took care of Nabal's sheep. They kept us safe all the time, during the day and at night. ¹⁷ So please think carefully about this. Decide what you can do. If you do nothing, there will be great trouble for our master and all his family and servants. He is such a wicked man that he will not listen to anyone.’

¹⁸ Abigail quickly got some food. She got 200 loaves of bread, two leather bags of wine, five sheep that she had cooked, and five jars of grain that she had cooked. She also got 100 blocks of raisins and 200 blocks of dried figs. She put all these things on some donkeys. ¹⁹ She said to her servants, ‘You go first and I will follow you.’ But she did not tell her husband Nabal what she was doing.

²⁰ Abigail rode her donkey along the path beside a mountain. Then she saw David and his men as they were coming towards her. So they all met each other. ²¹ David had just said to his men, ‘I kept Nabal's people and all his things safe in the desert. We did not take anything from him. But that has not helped us. I was kind to him, but he has done an evil thing to me in return. ²² I pray that God will punish me if I do not kill all the men in Nabal's family by tomorrow morning.’

This is what happened in Iconium

14 When Paul and Barnabas arrived in Iconium, they did the same as they had done before. They went to the Jewish meeting place and they spoke God's message there. They spoke very clearly, so that many Jews and Gentiles believed in Jesus. ² But some of the Jews refused to believe God's message. They told the Gentiles that they too should not believe it. The Jews put bad thoughts into the minds of the Gentiles so that they became angry against the believers. ³ So Paul and Barnabas stayed in Iconium for a long time. They were not afraid to tell people the message about the Lord Jesus. The Lord gave them power to do miracles. These showed the people that God was with Paul and Barnabas and that their message was true. They taught that God saves people because he is very kind. ⁴ The people in the city did not agree with each other. Some of them believed the message from the apostles, Paul and Barnabas. But some people agreed with the Jews who did not believe their message. ⁵ Some of the Jews and the Gentiles met with their leaders. They decided to do bad things to Paul and Barnabas. They wanted to throw stones at them and kill them. ⁶ Paul and Barnabas heard that these people wanted to hurt them. So they left Iconium quickly and they went to Lystra and Derbe, and other places near there. These cities were in the region called Lycaonia. ⁷ In all these places, they continued to tell people the good news about Jesus.

This is what happened in Lystra

⁸ There was a man who lived in Lystra. His feet had been weak since he was born. So he had never been able to walk. ⁹ While Paul was speaking God's message, this man listened to him. Paul looked at him carefully. He could see that the man believed in Jesus. The man believed that God could make him well. ¹⁰ So Paul said to him loudly, ‘Stand up on your feet!’ Immediately the man jumped up and he began to walk about.

¹¹ The crowd saw what Paul had done. They began to shout in their own language that the people of Lycaonia spoke. ‘The gods have become like men and they have come down from the sky to us,’ they said. ¹² They called Barnabas ‘Zeus’. They called Paul ‘Hermes’, because he was the one who spoke the message to the people.^[a]

¹³ The temple of Zeus was very near to the town. The priest who worked there brought bulls and flowers to the town gate. Many people had come together in that place. The priest and the crowd wanted to kill the animals as sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas.^[b]

¹⁴ Paul and Barnabas heard what the people wanted to do. So they tore their own clothes to show that they were very upset. They ran into the middle of the crowd, ¹⁵ and they shouted, ‘Stop! You people should not do this. We are only men like you. We are not gods. We came here to tell you some good news about the great God. You must stop worshipping these gods who are really nothing. Instead worship the God who lives. He made the sky, the earth and the sea. He also made everything that is in them.

¹⁶ In past times, God let people everywhere do what they wanted to do. ¹⁷ But God has showed everybody very clearly what he is like. He has showed you that he is kind. He causes the rain to fall from the sky. He causes the plants to give you food at the right time each year. He gives you plenty of food to eat. In these ways he makes you very happy.’

¹⁸ Even when Paul had said all this, the people still wanted to offer sacrifices to him and Barnabas. Finally Paul and Barnabas were able to stop them.

People put a light in a high place

²¹ Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Nobody brings a lamp into a house and puts it under a pot or under a bed. You do not do that. You put it up on a high place.^{[a] 22} God hides some things now. But there will be a time when people will see them. God keeps some things secret now. But there will be a time when people will understand those things.’ ²³ Then Jesus said, ‘You have ears, so listen well to what I say.’

²⁴ Jesus then said, ‘Think carefully about the things that you hear. God will give to you in the same way that you give to other people. And you will receive even more. ²⁵ A person who has received some things will receive more things. Some other people have nothing. They will lose even the little bit that they do have.’^[b]

Jesus tells a story about seeds

²⁶ Then Jesus said, ‘I will tell you a story about the kingdom of God. It is like this: A man throws seeds in his field. ²⁷ Then he sleeps each night and he wakes up each day. The seeds start to grow into plants. They continue to grow. The man does not know how this happens. ²⁸ The soil causes the plants to grow. The leaves of the plant grow first. Then the flowers appear. Then the plant makes new seeds. ²⁹ When the new seeds have completely grown, the man will cut down the plants. It is time for him to take the seeds to use for food.’

Jesus tells a story about a very small seed

³⁰ Jesus said, ‘I will tell you another story about the kingdom of God. This story shows what the kingdom of God is like. ³¹ It is like this: A man takes a seed of the plant called mustard. He plants it in the soil. It is smaller than any other seed that people plant in the soil. ³² But when it starts to grow, it becomes bigger than the largest bush. It will have big branches. Then the birds will come and they will live there. They will build their nests in the shade of the branches.’

³³ Jesus taught God's message to the people. He used many stories like these. He told the people as much as they could understand. ³⁴ He always used stories to teach the people. Then he explained everything to his own disciples when he was alone with them.