1 After Saul had returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the wilderness of En-gedi.” 2So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to look for David and his men in the region of the Rocks of the Wild Goats.

3 Soon Saul came to the sheepfolds along the road, where there was a cave, and he went in to relieve himself. And David and his men were hiding in the recesses of the cave. 4So David’s men said to him, “This is the day about which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do with him as you wish.’”

Then David crept up and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.

5 Afterward, David’s conscience was stricken because he had cut off the corner of Saul’s robe. 6So he said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed. May I never lift my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed.”

7 With these words David restrained his men, and he did not let them rise up against Saul. Then Saul left the cave and went on his way.

8 After that, David got up, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!”

When Saul looked behind him, David bowed facedown in reverence 9and said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Look, David intends to harm you’? 10Behold, this day you have seen with your own eyes that the Lord delivered you into my hand in the cave. I was told to kill you, but I spared you and said, ‘I will not lift my hand against my lord, since he is the Lord’s anointed.’

11 See, my father, look at the corner of your robe in my hand. For I cut it off, but I did not kill you. Know and see that there is no evil or rebellion in my hands. I have not sinned against you, even though you are hunting me down to take my life.

12 May the Lord judge between you and me, and may the Lord take vengeance on you, but my hand will never be against you. 13As the old proverb says, ‘Wickedness proceeds from the wicked.’ But my hand will never be against you.

14 Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea? 15May the Lord be our judge and decide between you and me. May He take notice and plead my case and deliver me from your hand.”

16 When David had finished saying these things, Saul called back, “Is that your voice, David my son?”

Then Saul wept aloud 17and said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have rewarded me with good, though I have rewarded you with evil. 18And you have declared this day how you have treated me well, for when the Lord delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me. 19When a man finds his enemy, does he let him go away unharmed? May the Lord reward you with good for what you have done for me this day.

20 Now I know for sure that you will be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. 21So now, swear to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s house.”

22 So David gave his oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

1 When Samuel died, all Israel gathered to mourn for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah.

Then David set out and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.

2 Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very wealthy man with a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. 3His name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.

4 While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. 5So David sent ten young men and instructed them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel. Greet him in my name 6and say to him, ‘Long life to you, and peace to you and to your house and to all that belongs to you. 7Now I hear that it is time for shearing. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel. 8Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on the day of a feast. Please give whatever you can spare to your servants and to your son David.’”

9 When David’s young men arrived, they relayed all these words to Nabal on behalf of David. Then they waited.

10 But Nabal asked them, “Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants these days are breaking away from their masters. 11Why should I take my bread and water and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give them to these men whose origin I do not know?”

12 So David’s men turned around and went back, and they relayed to him all these words.

13 And David said to his men, “Strap on your swords!” So David and all his men strapped on their swords, and about four hundred men followed David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.

14 Meanwhile, one of Nabal’s young men informed Nabal’s wife Abigail, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he screamed at them. 15Yet these men were very good to us. When we were in the field, we were not harassed, and nothing of ours went missing the whole time we lived among them. 16They were a wall around us, both day and night, the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. 17Now consider carefully what you must do, because disaster looms over our master and all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that nobody can speak to him!”

18 Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys 19and said to her young men, “Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

20 As Abigail came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David and his men coming down toward her, and she met them.

21 Now David had just said, “In vain I have protected all that belonged to this man in the wilderness. Nothing that belongs to him has gone missing, yet he has paid me back evil for good. 22May God punish David, and ever so severely, if I let one male belonging to Nabal survive until morning.”

23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey, fell facedown, and bowed before him. 24She fell at his feet and said, “My lord, may the blame be on me alone, but please let your servant speak to you; hear the words of your servant. 25My lord should pay no attention to this scoundrel Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means Fool, and folly accompanies him. I, your servant, did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent.

26 Now, my lord, as surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, since the Lord has held you back from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, may your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal.

27 Now let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow you. 28Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the Lord will surely make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because he fights the Lord’s battles. May no evil be found in you as long as you live.

29 And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the Lord your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.

30 When the Lord has done for my lord all the good He promised, and when He has appointed you ruler over Israel, 31then my lord will have no remorse or guilt of conscience over needless bloodshed and revenge. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, may you remember your servant.”

32 Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this day! 33Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because today you kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand. 34Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, then surely no male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by morning light.”

35 Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and he said to her, “Go home in peace. See, I have heeded your voice and granted your request.”

36 When Abigail returned to Nabal, there he was in the house, holding a feast fit for a king, in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until morning light.

37 In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these events, and his heart failed within him, and he became like a stone. 38About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal dead.

39 On hearing that Nabal was dead, David said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has upheld my cause against the reproach of Nabal and has restrained His servant from evil. For the Lord has brought the wickedness of Nabal down upon his own head.”

Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife. 40When his servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said, “David has sent us to take you as his wife.”

41 She arose, bowed facedown, and said, “Here is your servant, ready to serve and to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”

42 So Abigail hurried and got on a donkey, and attended by five of her maidens, she followed David’s messengers and became his wife.

43 David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. So she and Abigail were both his wives. 44But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was walking in the temple courts in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24So the Jews gathered around Him and demanded, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

25 “I already told you,” Jesus replied, “but you did not believe. The works I do in My Father’s name testify on My behalf. 26But because you are not My sheep, you refuse to believe. 27My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. 29My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30I and the Father are one.”

31 At this, the Jews again picked up stones to stone Him. 32But Jesus responded, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone Me?”

33“We are not stoning You for any good work,” said the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because You, who are a man, make Yourself out to be God.”

34 Jesus replied, “Is it not written in your Law: ‘I have said you are gods’ ? 35If he called them gods to whom the word of God came — and the Scripture cannot be broken — 36then what about the One whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world? How then can you accuse Me of blasphemy for stating that I am the Son of God?

37 If I am not doing the works of My Father, then do not believe Me. 38But if I am doing them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works themselves, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father.”

39 At this, they tried again to seize Him, but He escaped their grasp.

40 Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had first been baptizing, and He stayed there. 41Many came to Him and said, “Although John never performed a sign, everything he said about this man was true.” 42And many in that place believed in Jesus.