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David and Jonathan
20 David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my offense? And what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?”
2 And he said to him, “Far from it! You shall not die. Look, my father does nothing either great or small that he does not reveal to me. Why would my father hide this thing from me? It is not so.”
3 David vowed again and said, “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your sight. And he says, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be distressed.’ However, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.”
4 Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do it for you.”
5 David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go that I may hide myself in the field until the evening of the third day. 6 If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David asked for leave from me that he might run to Bethlehem his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.’ 7 If he says, ‘Good,’ it will be well for your servant. But if he gets angry, know that evil is determined by him. 8 Therefore deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. But if there is any guilt in me, kill me yourself. For why should you bring me to your father?”
9 Then Jonathan said, “Far be it from you. For if I indeed knew that my father had determined evil against you, would I not tell it you?”
10 David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me? Or what if your father answers you roughly?”
11 So Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” And the two of them went out to the field.
12 Then Jonathan said to David, “The Lord God of Israel is witness. When I have sounded out my father about this time tomorrow, or by the third day, and if he is favorable toward David, then will I not send and reveal it to you? 13 May the Lord do so to Jonathan and much more. If it pleases my father to do you evil, then I will reveal it you and send you away that you may go in peace. And may the Lord be with you as He has been with my father. 14 And if I live, not only will you show me the kindness of the Lord, that I shall not die, 15 but you will not cut off your faithfulness from my house forever, even when the Lord has cut off each one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.”
16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David saying, “May the Lord require it at the hand of the enemies of David.” 17 Jonathan made David swear again, because he loved him. For he loved him as he loved his own soul.
18 Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon, and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 19 When you have stayed three days, you will surely go down and come to the place where you hid yourself on the day this happened, and wait there beside the stone Ezel. 20 And I will shoot three arrows to its side, as though I shot at a target. 21 Then I will send a boy, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I expressly say to the boy, ‘See, the arrows are on this side of you, take them,’ then come, for it will be safe for you. And as the Lord lives, it is nothing of concern. 22 But if I say to the young man, ‘See, the arrows are beyond you,’ go, for the Lord has sent you away. 23 As for the matter upon which you and I have spoken, the Lord is between you and me forever.”
24 So David hid himself in the field. And when the New Moon appeared, the king sat down over food to eat. 25 Now the king sat on his seat, as at other times, even on a seat by the wall. Then Jonathan arose and Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty. 26 Nevertheless Saul did not say anything that day. For he thought, “Something has happened. He is not clean; surely he is not clean.” 27 It happened on the following day, which was the second day of the month, that David’s place remained empty. So Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat food either yesterday or today?”
28 And Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked leave from me to go to Bethlehem. 29 And he said, ‘Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city and my brother has commanded me to come. Now, if I have found favor in your sight, please let me leave and see my brothers.’ This is why he has not come to the king’s table.”
30 Then Saul was angry with Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse rebellious woman, do I not know that you are choosing the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? 31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now, send and bring him to me, for he is a dead man.”
32 Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, “Why should he be killed? What has he done?” 33 So Saul cast a spear at him to strike him. Therefore Jonathan knew that his father was determined to kill David.
34 And Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger and did not eat food on the second day of the month. For he was grieved for David, because his father had dishonored him.
35 In the morning Jonathan went out to the field at the time appointed with David, and a little boy was with him. 36 And he said to his boy, “Run, find the arrows which I shoot.” He ran, and he shot the arrow over him. 37 When the boy came to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after the boy and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?” 38 Then Jonathan cried after the boy, “Hurry quickly! Do not stay!” And Jonathan’s boy gathered up the arrow and came to his master. 39 But the boy did not know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew the matter. 40 Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy and said to him, “Go, carry them to the city.”
41 When the boy had gone, David arose from the south side of the stone, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times. They kissed one another and wept together, but David wept more.
42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, since the two of us swore in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord will be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants forever.’ ” So he arose and departed, but Jonathan went into the city.
David at Nob
21 Then David came to Nob to Ahimelek the priest. And Ahimelek trembled coming to meet David and said to him, “Why are you alone and no man is with you?”
2 And David said to Ahimelek the priest, “The king commanded me a matter and said to me, ‘Let no man know anything of the business which I am sending you and what I have commanded you.’ But to the young men I made known a certain place to meet. 3 Now therefore what is in your hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever can be found.”
4 The priest answered David and said, “There is no common bread at hand. But there is holy bread, if the young men have indeed been kept from women.”
5 David answered the priest and said to him, “Indeed women have been kept from us. As previously, when I went out the vessels of the young men were holy even if it was an ordinary journey. How much more then today will their vessels be holy?” 6 So the priest gave him holy bread. For there was no bread there but the showbread that was removed from before the Lord, in order to place hot bread there on the day when it was taken away.
7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord. And his name was Doeg, the Edomite, chief of the shepherds of Saul.
8 David said to Ahimelek, “Is there not a spear or a sword here at hand? For neither my sword nor my weapons did I bring with me, because the king’s business was urgent.”
9 The priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in the Valley of Elah, is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it. For there is none other but that here.”
And David said, “There is none like it. Give it me.”
David Flees to Gath
10 David arose and fled that day from Saul. And he went to Achish the king of Gath. 11 The servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing with dances for him, saying,
‘Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’? ”
12 And David took these words to heart and greatly feared Achish the king of Gath. 13 Therefore he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands. And he scratched on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard.
14 Then said Achish to his servants, “You see the man is acting like a madman. Why then have you brought him to me? 15 Am I one who lacks lunatics, that you brought this one to behave as a madman in my presence? Will this man come into my house?”
The Healing of a Man Born Blind
9 As Jesus passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. But it happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 I must do the works of Him who sent Me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva. He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away and washed, and returned seeing.
8 The neighbors and those who had previously seen that he was blind said, “Is this not he who sat and begged?” 9 Some said, “This is he.”
Others said, “He is like him.”
But he said, “I am he.”
10 So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11 He answered, “A Man called Jesus made clay, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received my sight.”
12 They said to him, “Where is He?”
He said, “I do not know.”
The Pharisees Investigate the Healing
13 They brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath day.”
Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” So there was division among them.
17 Then they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?”
He said, “He is a prophet.”
18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of the one who had received his sight. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
20 His parents answered them, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees, we do not know, or who opened his eyes, we do not know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this, because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed that He was the Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.”
24 So again they called the man who was blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this Man is a sinner.”
25 He said, “I do not know if He is a sinner. I know one thing: I was blind, but now I see.”
26 Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”
27 He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”
28 Then they insulted him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. As for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.”
30 The man answered, “Well, here is an amazing thing! You do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. But if anyone is a worshipper of God and does His will, He hears him. 32 Since the world began, it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”
34 They answered him, “You were completely born in sin. Are you teaching us?” And they threw him out.
Spiritual Blindness
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when He found him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”
36 He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”
37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen Him, and it is He who speaks with you.”
38 Then he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshipped Him.
39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”
40 Some Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we also blind?”
41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.
Psalm 113
1 Praise the Lord!
Praise, O you servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord.
2 Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time forth and for evermore.
3 From the rising of the sun to its going down,
the Lord’s name is to be praised.
4 The Lord is high above all nations,
and His glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like the Lord our God,
who dwells on high,
6 who looks down on the things
that are in heaven and on the earth?
7 He raises up the poor out of the dust
and lifts the needy out of the ash heap,
8 to make them sit with princes,
even with the princes of His people.
9 He gives the barren woman a dwelling,
making her the joyful mother of children.
Praise the Lord!
Psalm 114
1 When Israel went out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
2 Judah was His sanctuary,
and Israel His dominion.
3 The sea saw it and fled;
the Jordan was driven back;
4 the mountains skipped like rams
and the hills like lambs.
5 What alarmed you, O sea, that you fled,
O Jordan, that you turned back,
6 O mountains, that you skipped like rams,
O hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob
8 who turned the rock into a pool of water,
the hard stone into a spring of waters.
15 All the days of the afflicted are evil,
but he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast.
16 Better is little with the fear of the Lord
than great treasure with trouble.
17 Better is a dinner of herbs where love is
than a fatted calf with hatred.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.