Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Let Your Glory Be Above All the Earth

For the choir director. ^[a]Al-tashheth. Of David. A ^[b]Mikhtam. ^[c]When he fled from Saul in the cave.

David and Abigail

² Now there was a man in ^(A)Maon whose work was in ^(B)Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep and one thousand goats. And it happened, while ^(C)he was shearing his sheep in Carmel ³ (now the man’s name was Nabal, and his ^(D)wife’s name was Abigail. And the woman was good in insight and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was ^(E)a Calebite), ⁴ that David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. ⁵ So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, come to Nabal, and greet him in my name; ⁶ and thus you shall say, ‘^[a]Have a long life; ^(F)peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. ⁷ So now I have heard ^(G)that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us; and we have not dishonored them, ^(H)nor have they missed anything all the days they were in Carmel. ⁸ Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on ^(I)a ^[b]festive day. Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son, to David.’”

⁹ Then David’s young men came and spoke to Nabal according to all these words in David’s name. Then they waited. ¹⁰ But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “^(J)Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master. ¹¹ Shall I then ^(K)take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men ^[c]whose origin I do not know?” ¹² So David’s young men went back on their way and returned; and they came and told him according to all these words. ¹³ Then David said to his men, “Each of you gird on his sword.” So each man girded on his sword. And David also girded on his sword, and about ^(L)four hundred men went up behind David, and two hundred ^(M)stayed with the baggage.

¹⁴ But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to ^[d](N)greet our master, and he rushed at them angrily. ¹⁵ Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not ^(O)dishonored, nor did we miss anything ^[e]as long as we went about with them, while we were in the field. ^16 (P)They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them shepherding the sheep. ¹⁷ So now, know and see what you should do, for evil is decided against our master and against all his household; and he is such a ^[f]vile man that no one can speak to him.”

Abigail’s Discernment

¹⁸ Then Abigail hurried and ^(Q)took two hundred loaves of bread and two ^[g]jugs of wine and five sheep already prepared and ^[h]five seahs of roasted grain and one hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. ¹⁹ Then she said to her young men, “^(R)Go on before me; behold, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. ²⁰ So it was happening, as she was riding on her donkey and coming down by the hidden part of the mountain, that behold, David and his men were coming down toward her; and she met them. ²¹ Now David had said, “Surely for a lie I have guarded all that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; and he has ^(S)returned me evil for good. ^22 (T)May God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, ^(U)if by morning I leave as much as one ^[i]male of any who belong to him.”

Lawsuits Among Believers

6 Does any one of you, when he has a ^[a]case against another, dare to be tried before the unrighteous and ^(A)not before the ^[b]saints? ² Or ^(B)do you not know that ^(C)the ^[c]saints will judge ^(D)the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not worthy to ^[d]constitute the smallest law courts? ^3 (E)Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? ⁴ So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint those who are of no account in the church as judges? ^5 (F)I say this to your shame. Is it really this way: there is not one wise man among you who will be able to pass judgment between his ^(G)brothers? ⁶ On the contrary, brother is tried with brother, and that before ^(H)unbelievers!

⁷ Actually, then, it is already a failure for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. ^(I)Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸ On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your ^(J)brothers.

⁹ Or ^(K)do you not know that the unrighteous will not ^(L)inherit the kingdom of God? ^(M)Do not be deceived; ^(N)neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor ^[e]effeminate, nor homosexuals, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will ^(O)inherit the kingdom of God. ^11 (P)And such were some of you; but you were ^(Q)washed, but you were ^(R)sanctified, but you were ^(S)justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.