Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Prayer for Safety from Enemies^(A)

To the Chief Musician. Set to ^[a]“Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David ^(B)when he fled from Saul into the cave.

David and the Wife of Nabal

² Now there was a man ^(A)in Maon whose business was in ^(B)Carmel, and the man was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. ³ The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his doings. He was of the house of ^(C)Caleb.

⁴ When David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was ^(D)shearing his sheep, ⁵ David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. ⁶ And thus you shall say to him who lives in prosperity: ^(E)‘Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have! ⁷ Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds were with us, and we did not hurt them, ^(F)nor was there anything missing from them all the while they were in Carmel. ⁸ Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore ^[a]let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on ^(G)a feast day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.’ ”

⁹ So when David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David, and waited.

¹⁰ Then Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, ^(H)“Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master. ^11 (I)Shall I then take my bread and my water and my ^[b]meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?”

¹² So David’s young men turned on their heels and went back; and they came and told him all these words. ¹³ Then David said to his men, “Every man gird on his sword.” So every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred ^(J)stayed with the supplies.

¹⁴ Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master; and he ^[c]reviled them. ¹⁵ But the men were very good to us, and ^(K)we were not hurt, nor did we miss anything as long as we accompanied them, when we were in the fields. ¹⁶ They were ^(L)a wall to us both by night and day, all the time we were with them keeping the sheep. ¹⁷ Now therefore, know and consider what you will do, for ^(M)harm is determined against our master and against all his household. For he is such a ^(N)scoundrel^[d] that one cannot speak to him.”

¹⁸ Then Abigail made haste and ^(O)took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. ¹⁹ And she said to her servants, ^(P)“Go on before me; see, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

²⁰ So it was, as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of the hill; and there were David and his men, coming down toward her, and she met them. ²¹ Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belongs to him. And he has ^(Q)repaid me evil for good. ^22 (R)May God do so, and more also, to the enemies of David, if I ^(S)leave ^(T)one male of all who belong to him by morning light.”

Do Not Sue the Brethren

6 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the ^(A)saints? ² Do you not know that ^(B)the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? ³ Do you not know that we shall ^(C)judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? ⁴ If then you have ^[a]judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? ⁵ I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? ⁶ But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!

⁷ Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. ^(D)Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? ⁸ No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! ⁹ Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. ^(E)Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor ^[b]homosexuals, nor ^[c]sodomites, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were ^(F)some of you. ^(G)But you were washed, but you were ^[d]sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.