Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

To the chief Musician. 'Destroy not.' Of David. Michtam; when he fled from Saul in the cave.

57 Be gracious unto me, O God, be gracious unto me; for my soul taketh refuge in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings do I take refuge, until the calamities be overpast.

² I will call unto God, the Most High; unto God that performeth [all] for me.

³ He will send from the heavens and save me; he hath covered with reproach him that would swallow me up. Selah. God hath sent forth his loving-kindness and his truth.

⁴ My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down [among] them that breathe out flames, the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

⁵ Be exalted above the heavens, O God; let thy glory be above all the earth!

⁶ They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down: they have digged a pit before me; they are fallen into the midst thereof. Selah.

⁷ My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing, yea, I will sing psalms.

⁸ Awake, my glory; awake, lute and harp: I will wake the dawn.

⁹ I will give thee thanks among the peoples, O Lord; of thee will I sing psalms among the nations:

¹⁰ For thy loving-kindness is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.

¹¹ Be exalted above the heavens, O God; let thy glory be above all the earth!

² And there was a man at Maon, whose business was at Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats; and he was shearing his sheep at Carmel.

³ And the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail; and the woman was of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance; but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was a Calebite.

⁴ And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.

⁵ Then David sent out ten young men; and David said to the young men, Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name.

⁶ And thus shall ye say: Long life [to thee]! and peace be to thee, and peace be to thy house, and peace be to all that thou hast!

⁷ And now I have heard that thou hast shearers; now thy shepherds who were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there aught missed by them, all the while they were in Carmel.

⁸ Ask thy young men, and they will tell thee. Therefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes; for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, what thy hand may find to thy servants, and to thy son David.

⁹ And David's young men came, and spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.

¹⁰ And Nabal answered David's servants and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there are many servants now-a-days that break away every man from his master.

¹¹ And shall I take my bread, and my water, and my flesh which I have killed for my shearers, and give [it] to men whom I know not whence they are?

¹² And David's young men turned their way, and went back, and came and reported to him according to all those words.

¹³ And David said to his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword; and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the baggage.

¹⁴ And one of [Nabal's] young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to bless our master; and he has insulted them.

¹⁵ And the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as we companied with them, when we were in the fields.

¹⁶ They were a wall to us both by night and day, all the while we were with them feeding the sheep.

¹⁷ And now know and consider what thou wilt do, for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household; and he is such a son of Belial, that one cannot speak to him.

¹⁸ And Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two skin-bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched [corn], and a hundred raisin-cakes, and two hundred fig-cakes, and laid them on asses.

¹⁹ And she said to her young men, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

²⁰ And as she was riding on the ass, and coming down by the covert of the hill, behold, David and his men came down opposite to her; and she met them.

²¹ Now David had said, Surely, in vain have I kept all that this [man] had in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that was his; and he has requited me evil for good.

²² So and more also do God to the enemies of David, if I leave of all that is his by the morning light any male.

6 Dare any one of you, having a matter against another, prosecute his suit before the unjust, and not before the saints?

² Do ye not then know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world is judged by you, are ye unworthy of [the] smallest judgments?

³ Do ye not know that we shall judge angels? and not then matters of this life?

⁴ If then ye have judgments as to things of this life, set those [to judge] who are little esteemed in the assembly.

⁵ I speak to you [to put you] to shame. Thus there is not a wise person among you, not even one, who shall be able to decide between his brethren!

⁶ But brother prosecutes his suit with brother, and that before unbelievers.

⁷ Already indeed then it is altogether a fault in you that ye have suits between yourselves. Why do ye not rather suffer wrong? why are ye not rather defrauded?

⁸ But *ye* do wrong, and defraud, and this [your] brethren.

⁹ Do ye not know that unrighteous [persons] shall not inherit [the] kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who make women of themselves, nor who abuse themselves with men,

¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor abusive persons, nor [the] rapacious, shall inherit [the] kingdom of God.

¹¹ And these things were some of you; but ye have been washed, but ye have been sanctified, but ye have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.