David Saves the City of Keilah

¹Now they told David, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against eKeilah and are robbing the threshing floors.” ²Therefore David finquired of the Lord, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the Lord said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.” ³But David's men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” ⁴Then David finquired of the Lord again. And the Lord answered him, “Arise, go down to Keilah, gfor I will give the Philistines into your hand.” ⁵And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their livestock and struck them with a great blow. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

⁶hWhen Abiathar the son of Ahimelech had fled to David to Keilah, he had come down with an ephod in his hand. ⁷Now it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, “God has given him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.” ⁸And Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men. ⁹David knew that Saul was plotting harm against him. And he said to Abiathar the priest, i“Bring the ephod here.” ¹⁰Then David said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city on my account. ¹¹Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O Lord, the God of Israel, please tell your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.” ¹²Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, j“They will surrender you.” ¹³Then David and his men, kwho were about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went lwherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the expedition. ¹⁴And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country mof the wilderness of nZiph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.

Saul Pursues David

¹⁵David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. ¹⁶And Jonathan, Saul's son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God. ¹⁷And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. oSaul my father also knows this.” ¹⁸pAnd the two of them made a covenant before the Lord. David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home.

¹⁹qThen the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of rJeshimon? ²⁰Now come down, O king, according to all your heart's desire to come down, sand our part shall be to surrender him into the king's hand.” ²¹And Saul said, t“May you be blessed by the Lord, ufor you have had compassion on me. ²²Go, make yet more sure. Know and see the place where his foot is, and who has seen him there, for it is told me that he is very cunning. ²³See therefore and take note of all the lurking places where he hides, and come back to me with sure information. Then I will go with you. And if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.” ²⁴And they arose and went to Ziph ahead of Saul.

Now David and his men were vin the wilderness of Maon, win the Arabah to the south of rJeshimon. ²⁵And Saul and his men went to seek him. And David was told, so he went down to the rock and lived in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon. ²⁶Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them, ²⁷a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.” ²⁸So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape.1 ²⁹2 And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of xEngedi.

The Ministry of Apostles

¹This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and nstewards of the mysteries of God. ²Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. ³But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. ⁴oFor I am not aware of anything against myself, pbut I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. ⁵Therefore qdo not pronounce judgment before the time, rbefore the Lord comes, swho will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. tThen each one will receive his commendation from God.

⁶I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers,1 that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may ube puffed up in favor of one against another. ⁷For who sees anything different in you? vWhat do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

⁸Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! ⁹For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, wlike men sentenced to death, because we xhave become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. ¹⁰yWe are fools for Christ's sake, but zyou are wise in Christ. aWe are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. ¹¹To the present hour bwe hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and cbuffeted and dhomeless, ¹²and we elabor, working with our own hands. fWhen reviled, we bless; gwhen persecuted, we endure; ¹³when slandered, we entreat. hWe have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, ithe refuse of all things.

¹⁴I do not write these things jto make you ashamed, but to admonish you kas my beloved children. ¹⁵For lthough you have countless2 guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For mI became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ¹⁶I urge you, then, nbe imitators of me. ¹⁷That is why oI sent3 you Timothy, pmy beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ,4 qas I teach them everywhere in every church. ¹⁸Some are rarrogant, sas though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹But tI will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. ²⁰For uthe kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. ²¹What do you wish? vShall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

Ezekiel's Call

¹And he said to me, c“Son of man,1 dstand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” ²And as he spoke to me, ethe Spirit entered into me and fset me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. ³And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to gnations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. hThey and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. ⁴The descendants also are iimpudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ ⁵And jwhether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are ga rebellious house) kthey will know that a prophet has been among them. ⁶And you, son of man, lbe not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, mthough briers and thorns are with you and you sit on nscorpions.2 Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. ⁷And you shall speak my words to them, jwhether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.

⁸“But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. oBe not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and peat what I give you.” ⁹And when I looked, behold, qa hand was stretched out to me, and behold, ra scroll of a book was in it. ¹⁰And he spread it before me. And it had writing son the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe.

Do Not Forsake Me, O Lord

A Psalm of David, lfor the memorial offering.

¹O Lord, mrebuke me not in your anger,

nor discipline me in your wrath!

²For your narrows have sunk into me,

and your hand ohas come down on me.

³There is pno soundness in my flesh

because of your indignation;

there is no health in my qbones

because of my sin.

⁴For my riniquities have gone over my head;

like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

⁵My wounds stink and fester

because of my foolishness,

⁶I am sutterly bowed down and tprostrate;

all the day I ugo about mourning.

⁷For my sides are filled with burning,

and there is pno soundness in my flesh.

⁸I am feeble and crushed;

I vgroan because of the tumult of my heart.

⁹O Lord, all my longing is before you;

my wsighing is not hidden from you.

¹⁰My heart throbs; my strength fails me,

and xthe light of my eyes—it also has gone from me.

¹¹My yfriends and companions zstand aloof from my aplague,

and my nearest kin bstand far off.

¹²Those who seek my life clay their snares;

those who seek my hurt dspeak of ruin

and meditate etreachery all day long.

¹³But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear,

like fa mute man who does not open his mouth.

¹⁴I have become like a man who does not hear,

and in whose mouth are no grebukes.

¹⁵But for hyou, O Lord, do I wait;

it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.

¹⁶For I said, “Only ilet them not rejoice over me,

who jboast against me when my kfoot slips!”

¹⁷For I am lready to fall,

and my pain is ever before me.

¹⁸I mconfess my iniquity;

I am nsorry for my sin.

¹⁹But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty,

and many are those who hate me owrongfully.

²⁰Those who prender me evil for good

qaccuse me because I rfollow after good.

²¹Do not forsake me, O Lord!

O my God, be not sfar from me!

²²tMake haste to help me,

O Lord, my usalvation!