Old/New Testament

David at Adullam and Mizpah

22 Then David left Gath and he went to a cave near Adullam.^[a] His brothers and his father's family discovered where he had gone. So they all went to visit him. ² Everybody who had trouble went to stay with David. People who had debts and those who were angry also went to him. About 400 men went to be with David and he became their leader.

³ David then went to Mizpah, a town in the land of Moab. David said to the king of Moab, ‘Please let my father and my mother stay with you for a short time. I need to learn what God will do to help me.’ ⁴ So David left his parents to stay with the king of Moab. They stayed with the king all the time that David was hiding near there.

⁵ The prophet Gad said to David, ‘Do not stay and hide here. Go to the land of Judah.’ So David left his safe place and he went to Hereth forest.

Saul kills Ahimelech's family at Nob

⁶ One day, Saul was on the hill near Gibeah. He was sitting under a tamarisk tree. He was holding a spear. All his officers stood round him. Then someone told Saul that they knew where David and his men were hiding. ⁷ Saul said to his officers, ‘Listen to me, you men of Benjamin's tribe. Do you really think that this son of Jesse will give fields and vineyards to all of you? Will he make you all officers and leaders in his army? No! ⁸ So why are you trying to deceive me? None of you told me when my own son promised to be a friend of this son of Jesse. You do not feel sorry for me. Now my son is helping one of my own servants to attack me! Yes, he is waiting for his chance to kill me!’

⁹ Doeg, the man from Edom, was standing there with Saul's officers. He said, ‘I saw that son of Jesse when he came to Nob town. He visited Ahitub's son, Ahimelech. ¹⁰ Ahimelech asked the Lord what David should do. Then he gave some food and the sword of Goliath the Philistine to David.’

¹¹ Then King Saul told his men to fetch Ahitub's son, Ahimelech, the priest. They also brought all his father's family who were priests at Nob. They all came to the king.

¹² Saul said to Ahimelech, ‘Listen to me, son of Ahitub.’ Ahimelech answered, ‘I am listening, my king.’

¹³ Saul said to him, ‘You and this son of Jesse have been trying to kill me! You gave him bread and a sword. You prayed to God on his behalf. Now, at this moment, he is waiting for his chance to kill me!’

¹⁴ Ahimelech answered the king, ‘David is the most faithful servant that you have. He is your daughter's husband. He is the captain of the soldiers who keep you safe. Everyone in your house respects him. ¹⁵ I have often prayed to God on David's behalf. This was not the first time. King Saul, do not say that my family or I have done anything wrong. I do not know anything about what is happening.’

¹⁶ But King Saul said, ‘Ahimelech, you must die, together with all your family.’

¹⁷ Then the king said to the guards who were near him, ‘Now kill the Lord's priests! They have been helping David. They knew that he was running away from me. But they did not tell me.’ But the king's officers refused to hurt the Lord's priests.

¹⁸ So the king said to Doeg, ‘You must kill the priests.’ So Doeg, the man from Edom, killed the priests that same day. He killed 85 priests who wore linen ephods. ¹⁹ He also killed all the people in Nob, which was the town where the priests lived. He killed the men and women, children and babies. He also killed the cows, donkeys and sheep.

²⁰ But one man called Abiathar escaped. He was one of Ahimelech's sons. Abiathar ran away to see David. ²¹ Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the Lord's priests. ²² David said to him, ‘When I went to see your father at Nob, Doeg was there too. I knew that he would tell Saul about me. So I have caused the death of everybody in your father's family. ²³ Please stay here with me. Do not be afraid. Saul wants to kill you and he wants to kill me too. You will be safe with me.’

David saves Keilah town

23 The Philistines were attacking the town of Keilah.^[b] They were taking away the grain that the people had brought from their fields. Someone told David about this. ² So David asked the Lord, ‘Should I go and attack those Philistines?’

The Lord answered him, ‘Go and attack the Philistines. Save Keilah town.’

³ But David's men said to him, ‘We are afraid when we are here in Judah. If we go to attack the Philistine army at Keilah, we will be in even more danger.’ ⁴ So David asked the Lord again. The Lord answered again, ‘Go to Keilah. I will put the Philistines under your power.’

⁵ So David and his men went to Keilah. They fought against the Philistines and they killed many of them. Also, they took away their animals. In that way, David saved the people who lived in Keilah.

⁶ When Ahimelech's son Abiathar had run away, he had come to David at Keilah. And he had brought the priests' ephod with him.

David escapes from Saul again

⁷ Someone told Saul that David was now at Keilah. Saul said, ‘God has now put David under my power. David has gone into a town that has high walls and strong gates. He will not be able to leave that place.’^{[c] 8} So Saul called his army to join him. They prepared to go to Keilah and to attack David and his men.

⁹ Somebody told David that Saul was preparing to attack him. David said to Abiathar the priest, ‘Bring the ephod here.’ ¹⁰ David prayed, ‘Lord, Israel's God. I am your servant. I have heard news that Saul is preparing to attack Keilah. He wants to destroy this town because I am here. ¹¹ Will the leaders in Keilah give me to Saul? Will Saul really come here, as I have heard that he will? Lord, Israel's God, please tell me what will happen.’ The Lord said, ‘Saul will come.’

¹² David asked the Lord again, ‘Will the leaders in Keilah give me and my men to Saul?’ The Lord said, ‘They will do that.’^[d]

¹³ So David and his 600 men left Keilah. They moved around to stay in different places. People told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah. So Saul decided that he would not go there.

¹⁴ David stayed in places where he would be safe. They were in the desert, and in the hill country of Ziph.^[e] Saul always tried to find David. But God did not let Saul catch David.

¹⁵ David was at Horesh in the Ziph Desert. He heard news that Saul was coming there to kill him. ¹⁶ Saul's son, Jonathan, went to visit David at Horesh. He told David to be brave, because God would keep him safe. ¹⁷ Jonathan said to David, ‘Do not be afraid. My father will never be able to hurt you. You will be the next king to rule over Israel. I will be your most important officer. My father Saul also knows that is true.’

¹⁸ Jonathan and David promised again in the Lord's name that they would be faithful friends of one another. Then Jonathan went to his home. David stayed at Horesh.

¹⁹ Some people from Ziph went to visit Saul at Gibeah. They said to Saul, ‘David is hiding among our people. He is on Hakilah hill, south of Jeshimon. He is hiding in the Horesh hills. ²⁰ Now, King Saul, we know that you want to catch David. So you can come to our land at any time. We will help you to catch him.’

²¹ Saul replied, ‘I ask the Lord to bless you, because you have been kind to me. ²² Do a bit more to help me now. Make sure that you know where he is. Find the people who have seen him there. I have heard that David is very clever. ²³ Find all the places where he hides. When you know all about him, come back and tell me. Then I will come with you. If he is still in that region, I will surely find him. I will look through all the land of Judah and I will catch him.’

²⁴ So the people returned to Ziph before Saul himself went there. David and his men were in the Maon Desert. This was south of Jeshimon, in the Jordan Valley. ²⁵ Saul and his men started to look for David. But David heard about this. So he and his men went to hide at a great rock in the Maon Desert. When Saul heard about this, he and his men went into the Maon Desert to find David.

²⁶ Saul and his men were going along one side of the mountain. David and his men were on the other side of the mountain. They were moving quickly to escape from Saul. Saul and his men were getting very near to David and his men. They would soon catch them.

²⁷ But then a man arrived with a message for Saul. He said to Saul, ‘Come quickly. The Philistines are attacking our land!’ ²⁸ So Saul stopped chasing after David. Instead, he went to fight against the Philistines. So people call that place ‘The rock where they escaped’.

²⁹ David left that place. He went to hide in the safe places at En Gedi.

David refuses to kill Saul

24 When Saul had finished fighting against the Philistines, he returned to his home. Someone told him that David was in the desert at En Gedi. ² So Saul chose 3,000 of the best soldiers in Israel. They went to look for David and his men near Wild Goat Rocks.

³ Saul came to the place near the road where the shepherds keep their sheep. There was a cave near to this place. Saul went in there to use it as a toilet.

David and his men were hiding at the back of the same cave. ⁴ David's men said to him, ‘This is the day that the Lord told you about! The Lord said to you, “I will give your enemy to you. Then you can decide what is the right thing to do to him.” ’ So David stood up very quietly. He went and he cut off a small piece of cloth from Saul's coat. Saul did not know what had happened.

⁵ After that, David thought that he had done something wrong. He felt sorry that he had cut a piece of cloth from Saul's coat. ⁶ David said to his men, ‘I ask the Lord to stop me doing anything wrong to my master. The Lord has chosen him to be Israel's king. I must never do anything to hurt him. He is the king that the Lord has chosen.’ ⁷ David spoke like this to stop his men from attacking Saul.

Then Saul left the cave and he started to travel along the road.

⁸ After that, David went out of the cave. He shouted to Saul, ‘My master and my king!’ Saul looked behind him. David went down on his knees with his face on the ground to respect the king. ⁹ David said to Saul, ‘You should not listen to the people who say, “David wants to hurt you.” ¹⁰ You can see that the Lord has kept you safe today when I had a chance to hurt you in the cave. Some of my men wanted me to kill you, but I did not agree. I said, “I will not hurt my master, because the Lord has chosen him to be king.” ¹¹ My father, look at what I have in my hand! It is a small piece of your coat. I cut this off the corner of your coat, but I did not kill you. So you must know that I do not want to do anything bad against you. I have not turned against you. I am not guilty of anything, but you are chasing after me so that you can kill me. ¹² The Lord is the judge who will decide which of us is guilty. I pray that he will punish you for what you are doing to me. But I myself will never do anything to hurt you. ¹³ You know the proverb, “Evil people do evil things.” But I will never try to hurt you. ¹⁴ You are Israel's king. So why are you chasing after someone like me? I am less important than a dead dog or a little fly! ¹⁵ The Lord will be the judge to decide who is right. I pray that he will see that I am not guilty. I pray that he will save me from your power.’

¹⁶ When David stopped speaking, Saul said, ‘Is that really you, David my son?’ Then Saul started to weep loudly. ¹⁷ He said to David, ‘You are a better man than I am. You have been kind to me even when I have tried to hurt you. ¹⁸ You have shown me today how kind you have been to me. The Lord gave you a chance to hurt me, but you did not kill me. ¹⁹ If someone catches his enemy, he does not let him escape. But you have not tried to hurt me today. So I ask that the Lord will bless you in return. ²⁰ I know that you will be the king of Israel one day. The kingdom will be strong when you rule. ²¹ So promise me in the Lord's name that you will not kill any of my descendants. Please make sure that people do not forget my family's name.’

²² So David made a strong promise to Saul. Then Saul returned to his home. But David and his men went back to the place where they had been hiding.

Jesus tells the people to be careful how they live

12 While all this was happening, many thousands of people had come together near that place. The crowd was so big that people were almost walking over each other. Jesus began to talk first to his disciples. He said, ‘Be careful! Do not accept the yeast of the Pharisees.^[a] Do not be hypocrites like they are.

² Some people hide the things that they do. But there will be a time when other people will see those things clearly. Everyone will know all their secrets. ³ You may have said things secretly, in the dark of the night. But one day, people will hear those things in the light of day. You may have said things quietly into someone's ear, behind a door that you have shut. But one day, people will shout out those secrets loudly from the tops of the houses.

⁴ You are my friends, so I tell you this: do not be afraid of those people who can kill only your body. After that, they can do nothing worse to you. ⁵ But I tell you, it is God that you should be afraid of. He has the power to kill people and then to throw them into hell. Yes, I am telling you, be very afraid of him.

⁶ Think about this. People sell five birds for two small coins. But each little bird is valuable to God. He knows about them all and takes care of them. ⁷ God even knows how many hairs there are on your head. So do not be afraid of those people who are against you. You are more valuable to God than many little birds.

⁸ I tell you this. You should say clearly to other people, “I believe in Jesus.” If you do this, I, the Son of Man, will say to the angels of God, “This is someone who is my disciple.” ⁹ But if you say to other people, “I do not believe in Jesus,” I will say to the angels of God, “I do not know this person. He is not one of my disciples.”

¹⁰ Somebody may speak against me, the Son of Man, and God will forgive him. But if somebody says bad things against the Holy Spirit, God will not forgive that person.^[b]

¹¹ People will take you into their meeting places. They will make you stand in front of rulers and other people that have authority. They will want to show that you have done bad things. But do not be afraid of them. Do not worry about what you should say. ¹² At that time, the Holy Spirit will teach you. He will tell you what words you should say.’

A story about a rich fool

¹³ Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, I have a problem with my brother. Our father has died. Tell my brother to give me my part of the things that our father left us.’^[c]

¹⁴ Jesus replied, ‘It is not my job to say which of you is right or wrong. And it is not my job to say how much each of you should have.’ ¹⁵ Then he said to all the people, ‘Be very careful! Do not want more things than you really need. A person's life is worth more than the things that he has, even if he is very rich.’

¹⁶ Jesus then told them a story: ‘A man had some very good ground, where he planted seeds. The plants grew very well. When they became ripe, he had much more than he planted. ¹⁷ He thought about how much he would soon have. “I have nowhere to store all the food from my plants,” he said to himself. ¹⁸ But then he decided what to do. He thought, “I will pull down the building where I now store my food. Then I will build a bigger place to store it all, as well as everything else that is mine. ¹⁹ Then I will say to myself, ‘You have plenty of things stored safely. These will be enough for you for many years. Now you can live an easy life. Eat and drink as much as you want. Enjoy yourself.’ ”

²⁰ But then God said to the man, “You are a fool! Tonight you will die. You will have to leave everything behind that you have stored. Somebody else will have them, but you will not!” ’

²¹ Then Jesus said, ‘Some people think only about having many things for themselves. This story shows how those people live. But God says about them, “They have nothing of value at all.” ’

Do not have troubles in your mind

²² Jesus said to his disciples, ‘I tell you this: You should not worry about how to stay alive. Do not worry about the food that you need to stay alive. Do not worry about the clothes that you need to wear. ²³ Your life is more important than the food that you eat. Your body is more important than your clothes.

²⁴ Think about the birds. They do not plant seeds in the ground. They do not cut down plants to eat. They have no buildings to store food. But God gives them food to eat. You are much more valuable than the birds. ²⁵ Even if you always worry about your life, you cannot make it as much as one hour longer! ²⁶ No, you cannot even do a small thing like that. So, if you are always worrying about the things that you need, will that really help you?

²⁷ Think about how the wild flowers grow. They do not do work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you this about them: Even one wild flower is more beautiful than King Solomon was. And King Solomon wore the most beautiful clothes. ²⁸ It is God that gives beautiful clothes even to the grass. One day the grass is growing in the field, but the next day people will cut it and burn it.^[d] God will certainly take care of you, much more than he takes care of the grass. You should trust him more than you do!

²⁹ Do not always be thinking about the food and drink that you need. Do not worry about things like that. ³⁰ People who do not know God are always trying to get these things. But as for you, your Father God knows that you need them. ³¹ Instead, always think about the things that are important in the kingdom of God. Then God will also give you the things that you need each day.