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24 When Saul had returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “Here’s some news. David is in the Wilderness of En Gedi.”[a] 2 Then Saul took three thousand specially chosen men[b] from all Israel and went to hunt for David and his men along the rocky slopes of the wild goats.[c]
3 Saul came to some sheep pens that were along that route. Saul went into a cave that was there to relieve himself.[d] At that time David and his men were far back in the interior of the cave.
4 David’s men said to him, “Look, this is the day the Lord told you about when he said, ‘I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you will do to him whatever seems good to you.’” So David got up and cut off the edge of Saul’s robe without being noticed.
5 Afterward, David had a guilty conscience, because he had cut off the edge of Saul’s robe. 6 He said to his men, “May I be cursed if I do something like this to my master, who is the Lord’s anointed—that I would stretch out my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed.” 7 With these words David restrained his men and did not allow them to attack Saul.
Saul got up, left the cave, and went on his way. 8 David got up and followed him out of the cave and shouted to him, “My lord the king!”
When Saul looked back at him, David bowed facedown to the ground to show respect. 9 David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of people who say, ‘Watch out! David is seeking to harm you’? 10 This very day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hand in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you, because I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my master, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’ 11 Take a look at this! My father, take a good look at the piece of your robe that is here in my hand. Because I cut off the edge of your robe but did not kill you, you can be sure that I do not have any evil intent and I am not rebelling. I have not sinned against you, even though you keep hunting for me to take my life. 12 May the Lord judge between you and me, and may the Lord avenge me on you, but my hand will not be against you. 13 As the ancient proverb says, ‘Out of the wicked come wicked deeds,’ but my hand will not be against you. 14 Against whom has the king of Israel come out? What are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea? 15 May the Lord, therefore, be the judge who renders a verdict between you and me. May he examine my case, plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand.”
16 When David had finished speaking these words, Saul responded, “Is that your voice, David, my son?” Saul broke down and wept. 17 He said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. 18 You have made it clear today how you have been good to me, because when the Lord delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me. 19 If a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away unharmed? May the Lord reward you with good for what you have done for me today. 20 Now I know without a doubt that you will become king, and that the kingship over Israel will be established in your hand. 21 So swear to me now by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants after me and that you will not destroy my name from my father’s house.”
22 David promised this to Saul with an oath.
Saul went back home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.
The Death of Samuel
25 Samuel died. All Israel gathered together and mourned for him. They buried him at his house in Ramah.
David, Nabal, and Abigail
Then David set out and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.
2 There was a man in Maon who made his livelihood in Carmel. This man was very wealthy. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats, and he was shearing his sheep at Carmel. 3 The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. This woman had good judgment and was beautiful, but her husband was a harsh, unbending man, who behaved badly. He was from the family line of Caleb.
4 In the wilderness David heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5 So David sent ten young men and told them, “Go up to Carmel. Approach Nabal and wish him peace in my name. 6 Tell him this: ‘Long life to you! Peace be with you! Peace be with your household! Peace be with all that you have! 7 Now I hear that you are shearing sheep. Your shepherds have recently been with us, and we did not harm them. Nothing was missing from them the whole time they were in Carmel. 8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on a good day. Please give whatever you can to your servants and to your son David.’”
9 So David’s men came and said all those things to Nabal in the name of David. When they had finished, 10 Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are so many servants breaking away from their masters these days. 11 Should I take my bread, my water, and my meat that I have butchered for my shearers and give it to men when I do not know where they come from?”
12 So David’s men left and went on their way. They came back and told David all these things.
13 David said to his men, “Each of you, strap on your sword!”
So every man strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. About four hundred men followed David, and two hundred stayed with the supplies.
14 One of Nabal’s young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “Listen to me. You need to know what happened. David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he screamed insults at them. 15 Those men have been very good to us, and we have not been harmed, nor have we had anything missing the entire time we were in the countryside with them. 16 They were a wall around us night and day, the whole time we were among them while we were taking care of the sheep. 17 So carefully consider what you should do, for they are determined to bring disaster on our master and on his entire household, since he is such a worthless good-for-nothing that no one can talk to him.”
18 Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers[e] of wine, five sheep that were already prepared, a bushel[f] of roasted grain, one hundred clumps of raisins, and two hundred cakes of dried figs. She loaded these supplies on donkeys. 19 She said to her young men, “Go on ahead of me. I will follow right after you.” But she did not tell her husband, Nabal. 20 As she rode on her donkey and came down to the secluded trail[g] on the mountain, she saw that David and his men were coming down toward her, and she met them.
21 Now David had said, “It was all for nothing that I have protected everything that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missing from everything that belonged to him. But he has repaid me evil for good. 22 May God punish the enemies of David[h] severely and double it, if by the morning light I leave alive so much as one person who urinates against a wall.”[i]
23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got off her donkey. She bowed and fell facedown on the ground in David’s presence. 24 She fell at his feet and said, “To me, my lord—charge the guilt to me! Please let your servant speak to you. Listen to the words of your servant. 25 Please, my lord, do not pay attention to this worthless good-for-nothing Nabal, for he is exactly what his name suggests. Nabal[j] is his name, and foolishness is never far from him. But I, your servant, did not see my lord’s young men, whom you sent. 26 Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, since the Lord has held you back from the guilt of bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now let your enemies and those who seek to do evil against my lord be like Nabal. 27 Please distribute this gift that I, your servant,[k] have brought to my lord for the young men who follow my lord. 28 Please forgive your servant’s offense. For the Lord will certainly make an enduring house[l] for my lord, because my lord is fighting the Lord’s battles. May no evil be found in you all your days. 29 Though men may rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, may the life of my lord be safely wrapped up in the bundle of the living, with the Lord your God. But the lives of your enemies he will hurl away like a stone from the pocket of a sling. 30 Then, when the Lord has done for my lord all the good things that he has spoken concerning you, and he has appointed you leader over Israel, 31 you will not be burdened by grief or a guilty conscience because you, my lord, have shed blood without cause or have avenged yourself. Then, when the Lord has dealt well with you, my lord, remember your servant.”
32 David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today! 33 Your good judgment is blessed, and you are blessed, because today you have kept me from the guilt of shedding blood and from avenging myself with my own hand. 34 For truly, as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, unless you had come quickly to meet me, certainly by the morning light there would not have been left for Nabal so much as one person who urinates against a wall.”[m]
35 So David received from her hand what she had brought for him. Then he said to her, “Go up to your house in peace. You see, I have listened to your voice and have shown you favor.”
36 Abigail came to Nabal and saw that he was holding a feast[n] in his house, a feast fit for a king. Nabal was in good spirits, because he had drunk a lot. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light.
37 In the morning, when the wine had worn off for Nabal, his wife told him about these things, and his heart died within him, and he became like a stone.[o] 38 About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has passed judgment on Nabal’s insults against me and has kept his servant from doing evil. The Lord has returned the evil done by Nabal back on his own head.”
Then David sent messengers to make arrangements with Abigail for him to take her as his wife. 40 When David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her and said, “David has sent us to you to bring you to him as his wife.”
41 She got up and bowed down with her face to the ground. She said, “Behold. I, your humblest servant,[p] am here ready to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” 42 Abigail hurried and set out, riding on a donkey, with five young women who were her attendants following her. She went with the messengers of David and became his wife.
43 David also married Ahinoam of Jezre’el, so they both became his wives. 44 But Saul gave his daughter Michal, who was David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.
“I and the Father Are One”
22 Then the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple area in Solomon’s Colonnade.
24 So the Jews gathered around Jesus, asking, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered them, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I am doing in my Father’s name testify about me. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not my sheep, as I said to you.[a] 27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
31 Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?”
33 “We are not going to stone you for a good work,” the Jews answered, “but for blasphemy, because although you are a man, you make yourself out to be God.”
34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said you are gods’?[b] 35 If he called those people ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken, 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world? Do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? 37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not believe me. 38 But if I am doing them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works so that you will know and understand[c] that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.”
39 So they tried to arrest him again, but he eluded their grasp. 40 He went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he stayed there.
41 Many came to him and were saying, “John never did a miraculous sign, but everything John said about this man was true.” 42 And many believed in him there.
Psalm 116
Deliverance From Death
Overview
1 I love the Lord, because he hears my voice.
He hears my cry for mercy.
2 Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call to him all my days.
3 The ropes of death entangled me.
The walls of the grave hemmed me in.[a]
I found distress and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“Ah, Lord, please save my life!”
5 The Lord is gracious and righteous,
and our God is compassionate.
6 The Lord protects the inexperienced.[b]
In my weakness he saves me too.
Past Deliverance
7 Return, my soul, to your rest,
for the Lord has accomplished his purpose for you.
8 Indeed, you have delivered my soul from death,
my eye from weeping, my foot from stumbling,
9 so that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
10 I believed. Therefore, I have spoken:
“I am greatly afflicted.”
11 In my haste I said:
“All people are deceptive.”
Future Devotion
12 How can I repay the Lord for all his benefits to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation,
and I will call on[c] the name of the Lord.
14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord,
now in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his favored ones.
16 Ah, Lord, truly I am your servant.
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
You opened my chains.
17 To you I will sacrifice a thank offering,
and I will call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
here in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courtyards of the house of the Lord,
in the middle of Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord.
Advice for a Wise Son
20 A wise son brings joy to his father,
but a foolish person despises his mother.
21 Stupidity delights a person who lacks sense,
but one who has understanding stays on course.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.