Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

To the Director: A special Davidic psalm^[a] to the tune of^[b] “Do Not Destroy,” when he fled from Saul into a cave.

A Prayer for Deliverance

² Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel of Judah,^[a] and the man was very rich. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats, and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. ³ The man’s name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. The woman was intelligent and beautiful, while the man was harsh and wicked in his dealings. He was a descendant of Caleb.

⁴ While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep. ⁵ David sent ten young men, saying to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, find Nabal, and greet him in my name. ⁶ Then say, ‘May you live long. Peace to you, peace to your family, and peace to all that you have. ⁷ Now, I’ve heard that the sheep shearers are with you. Now, your shepherds have been with us. We didn’t harm them, and they didn’t miss anything all the time they were in Carmel. ⁸ Ask your young men and they’ll tell you. Therefore let my^[b] young men find favor with you since we came on a special^[c] day. Please give whatever you have available to your servants and to your son David.’”

⁹ David’s young men came to Nabal and told him all this^[d] in David’s name, and then they waited. ¹⁰ Nabal answered David’s servants: “Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are breaking away from their masters. ¹¹ Should I take my food, my water, and my meat that I’ve slaughtered for my shearers and give it to men who came from who knows where?”^[e]

¹² David’s men turned and went on^[f] their way. They came back and told David^[g] everything. ¹³ David told his men, “Put on your swords.” They put on their swords, and David put on his sword. Then about 400 men followed David, while 200 stayed with the supplies.

Abigail Intercedes with David

¹⁴ Now, one of the young men told Nabal’s wife Abigail: “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet^[h] our lord, but he screamed insults at them. ¹⁵ The men were very good to us. They didn’t harm us, and we didn’t miss anything all the time we moved around with them when we were in the field. ¹⁶ They were a wall around us both day and night, all the time we were with them taking care of the sheep. ¹⁷ Now, be aware of this^[i] and consider what you should do. Calamity is being planned against our master and against his entire household. He’s such a worthless person^[j] that no one can talk to him.”

¹⁸ Abigail quickly took 200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, five measures of roasted grain, 100 bunches of raisins, and 200 fig cakes and loaded them on donkeys. ¹⁹ She told her young men, “Go ahead of me, I’ll be coming right behind you.” But she said nothing to her husband Nabal. ²⁰ She was riding on the donkey and as she went down a protected part^[k] of the mountain, David was there with his men, coming down to meet her, and she went toward them.

²¹ Now David had said, “Surely it was for nothing that I protected everything that belonged to this man in the wilderness, and nothing was missing of all that belonged to him. But he has repaid me^[l] with evil for good! ²² May the Lord do this to the enemies of David^[m]—and more also—if by the morning I’ve left alive a single male^[n] of all those who belong to him.”

Morality in Legal Matters

6 When one of you has a complaint against another, does he dare to take the matter before those who are unrighteous and not before the saints? ² You know that the saints will rule the world, don’t you? And if the world is going to be ruled by you, can’t you handle insignificant cases? ³ You know that we will rule angels, not to mention things in this life, don’t you? ⁴ So if you have cases dealing with this life, why do you appoint as judges people who have no standing in the church? ⁵ I say this to make you feel ashamed. Has it come to this, that there is not one person among you who is wise enough to settle disagreements between brothers?^{[a] 6} Instead, one brother goes to court against another brother, and before unbelieving judges,^[b] at that! ⁷ The very fact that you have lawsuits among yourselves is already a defeat for you. Why not rather just accept the wrong? Why not rather be cheated? ⁸ Instead, you yourselves practice doing wrong and cheating others, and brothers at that!

⁹ You know that wicked people will not inherit the kingdom of God, don’t you? Stop deceiving yourselves! Sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, ¹⁰ thieves, greedy people, drunks, slanderers, and robbers will not inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ That is what some of you were! But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah^[c] and by the Spirit of our God.