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David and Jonathan
20 Then David ran away from Naioth in Ramah. He went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I sinned against your father so that he’s trying to kill me?”
2 Jonathan answered, “No! You won’t die! See, my father doesn’t do anything without first telling me. It doesn’t matter if it is very important or just a small thing. Why would he refuse to tell me he wants to kill you? No, it’s not true!”
3 But David took an oath. He said, “Your father knows very well that I’m your friend. He has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know about it. If he knows, he will tell David.’ But as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I am very close to death!”
4 Jonathan said to David, “I’ll do anything you want me to do.”
5 So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon festival. I am supposed to eat with the king. But let me hide in the field until the third evening. 6 Your father may notice I am gone. If he does, tell him, ‘David begged me to let him go to his hometown of Bethlehem. Every year at this time, his family group offers a sacrifice.’ 7 If your father says, ‘Fine,’ I am safe. But if he becomes angry, you can believe he wants to hurt me. 8 Jonathan, be kind to me, your servant. You have made an agreement with me before the Lord. If I am guilty, you may kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?”
9 Jonathan answered, “No, never! If I learn that my father plans to harm you, I will warn you!”
10 David asked, “Who will let me know if your father answers you unkindly?”
11 Then Jonathan said, “Come, let’s go out into the field.” So Jonathan and David went together into the field.
12 Jonathan said to David, “I promise this before the Lord, the God of Israel: At this same time day after tomorrow, I will find out how my father feels. If he feels good toward you, I’ll send word to you. I’ll let you know. 13 But my father may mean to hurt you. If so, I will let you know and send you away safely. May the Lord punish me terribly if I don’t do this. And may the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. 14 But show me the kindness of the Lord as long as I live. Do this so that I may not die. 15 You must not stop showing your kindness to my family. Don’t do this, even when the Lord has destroyed all your enemies from the earth.”
16 So Jonathan made an agreement with David. He said, “May the Lord punish David’s enemies.” 17 And Jonathan asked David to repeat his promise of love for him. He did this because he loved David as much as he loved himself.
18 Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon festival. Your seat will be empty. So my father will notice you’re gone. 19 On the third day go to the place where you hid when this trouble began. Wait by the rock Ezel. 20 On the third day I will shoot three arrows to the side of the rock. I will shoot as if I am shooting at a target. 21 Then I will send a boy and tell him to go find the arrows. I may say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you. Bring them here.’ If so, you may come out of hiding. You may do this as surely as the Lord lives because you are safe. There is no danger. 22 But I may say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you.’ If I do, you must go, because the Lord has sent you away. 23 Remember what we talked about. The Lord is a witness between you and me forever.”
24 So David hid in the field. And when the New Moon festival came, the king sat down to eat. 25 He sat where he always sat, near the wall. Jonathan sat across from him, and Abner sat next to him. But David’s place was empty. 26 That day Saul said nothing. He thought, “Maybe something has happened to David so that he is unclean.” 27 But the next day was the second day of the month. And David’s place was empty again. So Saul said to Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the festival yesterday or today?”
28 Jonathan answered, “David begged me to let him go to Bethlehem. 29 He said, ‘Let me go, because our family has a sacrifice in the town. And my brother has ordered me to be there. Now if I am your friend, please let me go and see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”
30 Then Saul became very angry with Jonathan. He said, “You son of an evil and disobedient woman! I know you are on the side of David son of Jesse! You bring shame on yourself and on your mother who gave birth to you. 31 As long as Jesse’s son lives, you’ll never be king or have a kingdom. Now send for David and bring him to me. He must die!”
32 Jonathan asked his father, “Why should David be killed? What wrong has he done?” 33 Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan, trying to kill him. So Jonathan knew that his father really wanted to kill David. 34 Jonathan was very angry and left the table. That second day of the month he refused to eat. He was upset about what his father wanted to do to David.
35 The next morning Jonathan went out to the field. He went to meet David as they had agreed. He had a young boy with him. 36 Jonathan said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” When he ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him. 37 The boy ran to the place where Jonathan’s arrow fell. But Jonathan called, “The arrow is beyond you!” 38 Then he shouted, “Hurry! Go quickly! Don’t stop!” The boy picked up the arrow and brought it back to his master. 39 (The boy knew nothing about what this meant. Only Jonathan and David knew.) 40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy. He told him, “Go back to town.”
41 When the boy left, David came out from the south side of the rock. He bowed facedown on the ground before Jonathan. He did this three times. Then David and Jonathan kissed each other. They cried together, but David cried the most.
42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace. We have promised by the Lord that we will be friends. We said, ‘The Lord will be a witness between you and me, and between our descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to town.
David Goes to See Ahimelech
21 David went to Nob to see Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech shook with fear when he saw David. He asked David, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”
2 David answered him, “The king gave me a special order. He told me, ‘No one must know about the work I am sending you to do. And no one must know what I told you to do.’ I told my men where to meet me. 3 Now, what food do you have with you? Give me five loaves of bread or anything you find.”
4 The priest said to David, “I don’t have any plain bread here. But I do have some holy bread[a] here. You may eat it if your men have kept themselves from women.”
5 David answered, “Women have been kept from us. My men always keep their bodies holy, even when we do ordinary work. And this is especially true when the work is holy.”
6 There was no bread except the bread made holy for the Lord. So the priest gave David the bread that showed the people were in the presence of God. This was the bread the priests had taken from the holy table before the Lord. Each day they took this bread away and put hot bread in its place.
7 Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day. He had been held there before the Lord. He was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds.
8 David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword here? The king’s business was very important. I had to leave quickly, and I didn’t bring my sword or any other weapon.”
9 The priest answered, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine is here. He is the one you killed in the Valley of Elah. His sword is wrapped in a cloth. It is behind the holy vest. If you want it, you may take it. There’s no other sword here but that one.”
David said, “There is no other sword like Goliath’s. Give it to me.”
David Goes to Gath
10 That day David ran away from Saul. He went to Achish king of Gath. 11 But the servants of Achish said to him, “This is David king of the Israelites. He’s the man the Israelite women sing about when they dance. They sing:
‘Saul has killed thousands of his enemies.
But David has killed tens of thousands.’”
12 David paid attention to these words. And he was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. 13 So he pretended to be insane in front of Achish and his servants. While he was with them, he acted like a madman. He made marks on the doors of the gate. He let spit run down his beard.
14 Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He’s insane! Why do you bring him to me? 15 I have enough madmen. I don’t need you to bring him here to act like this in front of me! Don’t leave him in my house!”
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been born blind. 2 His followers asked him, “Teacher, whose sin caused this man to be born blind—his own sin or his parents’ sin?”
3 Jesus answered, “It is not this man’s sin or his parents’ sin that made him blind. This man was born blind so that God’s power could be shown in him. 4 While it is daytime, we must continue doing the work of the One who sent me. The night is coming. And no one can work at night. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 After Jesus said this, he spit on the ground and made some mud with it. He put the mud on the man’s eyes. 7 Then he told the man, “Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam.” (Siloam means Sent.) So the man went to the pool. He washed and came back. And he was able to see.
8 Some people had seen this man begging before. They and the man’s neighbors said, “Look! Is this the same man who always sits and begs?”
9 Some said, “Yes! He is the one.” But others said, “No, he’s not the same man. He only looks like him.”
So the man himself said, “I am the man.”
10 They asked, “What happened? How did you get your sight?”
11 He answered, “The man named Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. Then he told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and came back seeing.”
12 They asked him, “Where is this man?”
The man answered, “I don’t know.”
Pharisees Question the Healing
13 Then the people took to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 The day Jesus had made mud and healed his eyes was a Sabbath day. 15 So now the Pharisees asked the man, “How did you get your sight?”
He answered, “He put mud on my eyes. I washed, and now I can see.”
16 Some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man does not keep the Sabbath day. He is not from God!”
Others said, “But a man who is a sinner can’t do miracles like these.” So they could not agree with each other.
17 They asked the man again, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
The man answered, “He is a prophet.”
18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and could now see again. So they sent for the man’s parents 19 and asked them, “Is this your son? You say that he was born blind. Then how does he see now?”
20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and we know that he was born blind. 21 But we don’t know how he can see now. We don’t know who opened his eyes. Ask him. He is old enough to answer for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews. The Jews had already decided that anyone who said that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That is why his parents said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”
24 So for the second time, they called the man who had been blind. They said, “You should give God the glory by telling the truth. We know that this man is a sinner.”
25 He answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. But one thing I do know. I was blind, and now I can see.”
26 They asked, “What did he do to you? How did he make you see again?”
27 He answered, “I have already told you that. But you would not listen to me. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his followers, too?”
28 Then they insulted him and said, “You are his follower. We are followers of Moses. 29 We know that God spoke to Moses. But we don’t even know where this man comes from!”
30 The man answered, “This is a very strange thing. You don’t know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We all know that God does not listen to sinners. But God listens to anyone who worships and obeys him. 32 Nobody has ever heard of anyone giving sight to a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 They answered, “You were born full of sin! Are you trying to teach us?” And they threw the man out.
Spiritual Blindness
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out. So Jesus found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36 He asked, “Who is the Son of Man, sir? Tell me, so I can believe in him!”
37 Jesus said to him, “You have already seen him. The Son of Man is the one talking with you now.”
38 He said, “Yes, Lord, I believe!” Then the man bowed and worshiped Jesus.
39 Jesus said, “I came into this world so that the world could be judged. I came so that the blind[a] could see and so that those who see will become blind.”
40 Some of the Pharisees were near Jesus. When they heard him say this, they asked, “What? Are you saying that we are blind, too?”
41 Jesus said, “If you were really blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But now that you say you can see, your guilt remains.”
Praise for God’s Kindness
113 Praise the Lord!
Praise him, you servants of the Lord.
Praise the name of the Lord.
2 The Lord’s name should be praised
now and forever.
3 The Lord’s name should be praised
from where the sun rises to where it sets.
4 The Lord is supreme over all the nations.
His glory reaches to the skies.
5 No one is like the Lord our God.
He rules from heaven.
6 He bends down to look
at the skies and the earth.
7 The Lord lifts the poor from the dirt.
He takes the helpless from the ashes.
8 And he seats them with princes,
the princes of his people.
9 He gives children to the woman who has none.
He makes her a happy mother.
Praise the Lord!
God Brought Israel from Egypt
114 The Israelites went out of Egypt.
The people of Jacob left that foreign country.
2 Then Judah became God’s holy place.
Israel became the land he ruled.
3 The Red Sea looked and ran away.
The Jordan River turned back.
4 The mountains danced like sheep
and the hills like little lambs.
5 Sea, why did you run away?
Jordan, why did you turn back?
6 Mountains, why did you dance like sheep?
Hills, why did you dance like little lambs?
7 Earth, shake with fear before the Lord.
Tremble in the presence of the God of Jacob.
8 He turned a rock into a pool of water.
He changed a hard rock into a spring of water.
15 Every day is hard for those who suffer.
But a happy heart makes it like a continual feast.
16 It is better to be poor and respect the Lord
than to be wealthy and have much trouble.
17 It is better to eat vegetables with those who love you
than to eat meat with those who hate you.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.