Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

To the director: To the tune “Don’t Destroy.” A miktam of David written when he escaped from Saul and went into the cave.

² There was a very rich man living in Maon. He had 3000 sheep and 1000 goats. That man was in Carmel taking care of some business. He went there to cut the wool from his sheep. ³ This man’s name was Nabal.^[a] He was from Caleb’s family. Nabal’s wife was named Abigail. She was a wise and beautiful woman, but Nabal was a mean and cruel man.

⁴ David was in the desert when he heard that Nabal was cutting the wool from his sheep. ⁵ David sent ten young men to talk to Nabal. He told them, “Go to Carmel. Find Nabal and tell him ‘Hello’ for me.” ⁶ David gave them this message for Nabal: “May you and your family be well and all that you own be well. ⁷ I heard that you are cutting wool from your sheep. Your shepherds were with us for a while, and we did nothing wrong to them. We never took anything from your shepherds while they were at Carmel. ⁸ Ask your servants and they will tell you this is true. Please be kind to my young men. We come to you now, at this happy time. Please give these young men anything you can. Please do this for me, your friend^[b] David.”

⁹ David’s men went to Nabal. They gave his message to Nabal, ¹⁰ but Nabal said, “Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? There are many slaves who have run away from their masters these days. ¹¹ I have bread and water, and I have the meat I killed for my servants who cut the wool from my sheep. But I won’t give them to men I don’t even know.”

¹² David’s men went back and told him everything that Nabal had said. ¹³ David’s response was, “Put on your swords.” So David and his men put on their swords. About 400 men went with David while 200 of them stayed with the supplies.

Abigail Prevents Trouble

¹⁴ One of Nabal’s servants spoke to Nabal’s wife Abigail. The servant said, “David sent messengers from the desert to meet our master, but Nabal was rude to them. ¹⁵ These men were very good to us while we were out in the fields with the sheep. David’s men were with us the whole time, and they never did anything wrong to us. They did not take anything from us. ¹⁶ His men protected us night and day. They were like a wall around us—they protected us while we were with them caring for the sheep. ¹⁷ Nabal was foolish to say what he did. Terrible trouble is coming to our master and all his family. You need to think of something to do.”

¹⁸ Abigail quickly gathered up 200 loaves of bread, two full wine bags, five cooked sheep, about a bushel^[c] of cooked grain, about 2 quarts^[d] of raisins, and 200 cakes of pressed figs. She put them on donkeys. ¹⁹ Then Abigail told her servants, “Go on. I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell her husband.

²⁰ Abigail rode her donkey down to the other side of the mountain. She met David and his men coming from the other direction.

²¹ David was saying, “I protected Nabal’s property in the desert. I made sure not one of his sheep was missing. I did all that for nothing. I was good to him, but he was rude to me. ²² I swear,^[e] I won’t let even one man in Nabal’s family live until tomorrow morning.”

Judging Problems Between Believers

6 When one of you has something against someone else in your group, why do you go to the judges in the law courts? The way they think and live is wrong. So why do you let them decide who is right? Why don’t you let God’s holy people decide who is right? ² Don’t you know that God’s people will judge the world? So if you will judge the world, then surely you can judge small arguments like this. ³ You know that in the future we will judge angels. So surely we can judge life’s ordinary problems. ⁴ So if you have such matters to be judged, why do you take them to those who are not part of the church? They mean nothing to you. ⁵ I say this to shame you. Surely there is someone in your group wise enough to judge a complaint between two believers. ⁶ But now one believer goes to court against another, and you let people who are not believers judge their case!

⁷ The lawsuits that you have against each other show that you are already defeated. It would be better for you to let someone wrong you. It would be better to let someone cheat you. ⁸ But you are the ones doing wrong and cheating. And you do this to your own brothers and sisters in Christ!

^9-10 Surely you know that people who do wrong will not get to enjoy God’s kingdom. Don’t be fooled. These are the people who will not get to enjoy his kingdom: those who sin sexually, those who worship idols, those who commit adultery, men who let other men use them for sex or who have sex with other men, those who steal, those who are greedy, those who drink too much, those who abuse others with insults, and those who cheat. ¹¹ In the past some of you were like that. But you were washed clean, you were made holy, and you were made right with God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.