1 Samuel 25
Samuel’s Death
aThen Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and bmourned for him, and cburied him at his house in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the dwilderness of Paran.
Nabal and Abigail
2 Now there was a man in aMaon whose business was in bCarmel; and the man was very rich, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it came about while che was shearing his sheep in Carmel 3 (now the man’s name was Nabal, and his awife’s name was Abigail. And the woman was intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was ba 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, visit Nabal and greet him in my name; 6 and thus you shall say, ‘Have a long life, apeace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. 7 Now I have heard athat you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us and we have not insulted them, bnor 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 aa festive day. Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”
9 When David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in David’s name; then they waited. 10 But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “aWho 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 atake my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men whose origin I do not know?” 12 So David’s young men retraced their way and went back; and they came and told him according to all these words. 13 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 afour hundred men went up behind David while two hundred bstayed with the baggage.
14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to agreet our master, and he scorned them. 15 Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not ainsulted, nor did we miss anything as long as we went about with them, while we were in the fields. 16 aThey were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep. 17 Now therefore, know and consider what you should do, for evil is plotted against our master and against all his household; and he is such a worthless man that no one can speak to him.”
Abigail Intercedes
18 Then Abigail hurried and atook two hundred loaves of bread and two jugs of wine and five sheep already prepared and five measures of roasted grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19 She said to her young men, “aGo on before me; behold, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20 It came about 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; so she met them. 21 Now David had said, “Surely in vain 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 areturned me evil for good. 22 aMay God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, bif by morning I leave as much as one male of any who belong to him.”
23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from her donkey, and fell on her face before David aand bowed herself to the ground. 24 She fell at his feet and said, “On me alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your maidservant speak to you, and listen to the words of your maidservant. 25 Please do not let my lord pay attention to this worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name and folly is with him; but I your maidservant did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.
26 “Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, since the Lord has restrained you from shedding blood, and afrom avenging yourself by your own hand, now then blet your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal. 27 Now let athis gift which your maidservant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who accompany my lord. 28 Please forgive athe transgression of your maidservant; for bthe Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord is cfighting the battles of the Lord, and devil will not be found in you all your days. 29 Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, then the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; but the lives of your enemies aHe will sling out as from the hollow of a sling. 30 And when the Lord does for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and aappoints you ruler over Israel, 31 this will not cause grief or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having avenged himself. aWhen the Lord deals well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.”
32 Then David said to Abigail, “aBlessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, 33 and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, awho have kept me this day from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand. 34 Nevertheless, as the Lord God of Israel lives, awho has restrained me from harming you, unless you had come quickly to meet me, surely there would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one male.” 35 So David received from her hand what she had brought him and said to her, “aGo up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to you and bgranted your request.”
36 Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding aa feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, bfor he was very drunk; so cshe did not tell him anything at all until the morning light. 37 But in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him so that he became as a stone. 38 About ten days later, athe Lord struck Nabal and he died.
David Marries Abigail
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has apleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal and bhas kept back His servant from evil. The Lord has also returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent ca proposal to Abigail, to take her as his wife. 40 When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you to take you as his wife.” 41 She arose aand bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your maidservant is a maid bto wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” 42 Then aAbigail quickly arose, and rode on a donkey, with her five maidens who attended her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife.
43 David had also taken Ahinoam of aJezreel, and bthey both became his wives.
44 Now Saul had given aMichal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from bGallim.
1 Chronicles 7
Genealogy from Issachar
Now the sons of Issachar were four: Tola, Puah, Jashub and Shimron. 2 The sons of Tola were Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam and Samuel, heads of their fathers’ households. The sons of Tola were mighty men of valor in their generations; atheir number in the days of David was 22,600. 3 The son of Uzzi was Izrahiah. And the sons of Izrahiah were Michael, Obadiah, Joel, Isshiah; all five of them were achief men. 4 With them by their generations according to their fathers’ households were 36,000 troops of the army for war, for they had many wives and sons. 5 Their relatives among all the families of Issachar were mighty men of valor, enrolled by genealogy, in all 87,000.
Descendants of Benjamin
6 aThe sons of Benjamin were three: Bela and Becher and Jediael. 7 The sons of Bela were five: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth and Iri. They were heads of fathers’ households, mighty men of valor, and were 22,034 enrolled by genealogy. 8 The sons of Becher were Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Becher. 9 They were enrolled by genealogy, according to their generations, heads of their fathers’ households, 20,200 mighty men of valor. 10 The son of Jediael was Bilhan. And the sons of Bilhan were Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish and Ahishahar. 11 All these were sons of Jediael, according to the heads of their fathers’ households, 17,200 mighty men of valor, who were ready to go out with the army to war. 12 Shuppim and Huppim were the sons of Ir; Hushim was the son of Aher.
Sons of Naphtali
13 The sons of Naphtali were Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shallum, the sons of Bilhah.
Descendants of Manasseh
14 The sons of Manasseh were Asriel, whom his Aramean concubine bore; she bore Machir the father of Gilead. 15 Machir took a wife for Huppim and Shuppim, whose sister’s name was Maacah. And the name of the second was Zelophehad, and Zelophehad had daughters. 16 Maacah the wife of Machir bore a son, and she named him Peresh; and the name of his brother was Sheresh, and his sons were Ulam and Rakem. 17 The son of Ulam was Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh. 18 His sister Hammolecheth bore Ishhod and Abiezer and Mahlah. 19 The sons of Shemida were Ahian and Shechem and Likhi and Aniam.
Descendants of Ephraim
20 aThe sons of Ephraim were Shuthelah and Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son, 21 Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead whom the men of Gath who were born in the land killed, because they came down to take their livestock. 22 Their father Ephraim amourned many days, and his relatives bcame to comfort him. 23 Then he went in to his wife, and she conceived and bore a son, and he named him Beriah, because misfortune had come upon his house. 24 His daughter was Sheerah, awho built lower and upper Beth-horon, also Uzzen-sheerah. 25 Rephah was his son along with Resheph, Telah his son, Tahan his son, 26 Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son, 27 Non his son and aJoshua his son.
28 aTheir possessions and settlements were Bethel with its towns, and to the east Naaran, and to the west Gezer with its towns, and Shechem with its towns as far as Ayyah with its towns, 29 and along the borders of the sons of Manasseh, Beth-shean with its towns, Taanach with its towns, Megiddo with its towns, Dor with its towns. In these lived the asons of Joseph the son of Israel.
Descendants of Asher
30 aThe sons of Asher were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah, and Serah their sister. 31 The sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel, who was the father of Birzaith. 32 Heber became the father of Japhlet, Shomer and Hotham, and Shua their sister. 33 The sons of Japhlet were Pasach, Bimhal and Ashvath. These were the sons of Japhlet. 34 The sons of Shemer were Ahi and Rohgah, Jehubbah and Aram. 35 The sons of his brother Helem were Zophah, Imna, Shelesh and Amal. 36 The sons of Zophah were Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri and Imrah, 37 Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran and Beera. 38 The sons of Jether were Jephunneh, Pispa and Ara. 39 The sons of Ulla were Arah, Hanniel and Rizia. 40 All these were the sons of Asher, heads of the fathers’ houses, choice and mighty men of valor, heads of the princes. And the number of them enrolled by genealogy for service in war was 26,000 men.
Acts 17
Paul at Thessalonica
Now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to aThessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 And aaccording to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three bSabbaths reasoned with them from cthe Scriptures, 3 explaining and giving evidence that the Christ ahad to suffer and brise again from the dead, and saying, “cThis Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.” 4 aAnd some of them were persuaded and joined bPaul and Silas, along with a large number of the cGod-fearing dGreeks and a number of the eleading women. 5 But athe Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and attacking the house of bJason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people. 6 When they did not find them, they began adragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset bthe world have come here also; 7 and Jason ahas welcomed them, and they all act bcontrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” 8 They stirred up the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things. 9 And when they had received a pledge from aJason and the others, they released them.
Paul at Berea
10 aThe brethren immediately sent bPaul and Silas away by night to cBerea, and when they arrived, they went into dthe synagogue of the Jews. 11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in aThessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. 12 Therefore amany of them believed, along with a number of bprominent Greek cwomen and men. 13 But when the Jews of aThessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in bBerea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds. 14 Then immediately athe brethren sent Paul out to go as far as the sea; and bSilas and cTimothy remained there. 15 Now athose who escorted Paul brought him as far as bAthens; and receiving a command for cSilas and Timothy to dcome to him as soon as possible, they left.
Paul at Athens
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at aAthens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. 17 So he was reasoning ain the synagogue with the Jews and bthe God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present. 18 And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, “What would athis idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was preaching bJesus and the resurrection. 19 And they atook him and brought him to the bAreopagus, saying, “May we know what cthis new teaching is which you are proclaiming? 20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.” 21 (Now all the Athenians and the strangers avisiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)
Sermon on Mars Hill
22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of aAthens, I observe that you are very breligious in all respects. 23 For while I was passing through and examining the aobjects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what byou worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 aThe God who made the world and all things in it, since He is bLord of heaven and earth, does not cdwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, aas though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and aHe made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having bdetermined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, athough He is not far from each one of us; 28 for ain Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ 29 Being then the children of God, we aought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. 30 Therefore having aoverlooked bthe times of ignorance, God is cnow declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed aa day in which bHe will judge cthe world in righteousness through a Man whom He has dappointed, having furnished proof to all men by eraising Him from the dead.”
32 Now when they heard of athe resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, “We shall hear you again concerning this.” 33 So Paul went out of their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the aAreopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
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