Saul Tries to Kill David

¹And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. rBut Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David. ²And Jonathan told David, “Saul my father seeks to kill you. Therefore be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself. ³And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you. And if I learn anything I will tell you.” ⁴And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king ssin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you. ⁵For the took his life in his hand uand he struck down the Philistine, vand the Lord worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against winnocent blood by killing David without cause?” ⁶And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, x“As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death.” ⁷And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence yas before.

⁸And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great blow, so that they fled before him. ⁹zThen a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. aAnd David was playing the lyre. ¹⁰bAnd Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.

¹¹cSaul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” ¹²dSo Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped. ¹³Michal took ean image1 and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats' hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. ¹⁴And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” ¹⁵Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” ¹⁶And when the messengers came in, behold, ethe image was in the bed, with the pillow of goats' hair at its head. ¹⁷Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go. fWhy should I kill you?’”

¹⁸Now David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at gRamah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived at Naioth. ¹⁹And it was told Saul, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.” ²⁰Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, hthe Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, iand they also prophesied. ²¹When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, iand they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, iand they also prophesied. ²²Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in gRamah.” ²³And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. jAnd the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. ²⁴kAnd he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, l“Is Saul also among the prophets?”

Greeting

¹Paul, acalled bby the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,

²To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those csanctified in Christ Jesus, dcalled to be saints together with all those who in every place ecall upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

³dGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving

⁴I fgive thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵that in every way gyou were enriched in him in all hspeech and all knowledge— ⁶even as ithe testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— ⁷so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you jwait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁸kwho will sustain you to the end, lguiltless min the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹nGod is faithful, by whom you were called into the ofellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Divisions in the Church

¹⁰I appeal to you, brothers,1 by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no pdivisions among you, but that you be united qin the same mind and the same judgment. ¹¹For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is rquarreling among you, my brothers. ¹²What I mean is that seach one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow tApollos,” or “I follow uCephas,” or “I follow Christ.” ¹³vIs Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you wbaptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴I thank God that I baptized none of you except xCrispus and yGaius, ¹⁵so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶(I did baptize also zthe household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and anot with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

¹⁸For the word of the cross is bfolly to cthose who are perishing, but to us dwho are being saved it is ethe power of God. ¹⁹For it is written,

f“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

²⁰gWhere is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? hHas not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach2 to save those who believe. ²²For iJews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ jcrucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ kthe power of God and lthe wisdom of God. ²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶For consider your calling, brothers: mnot many of you were wise according to worldly standards,3 not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷But nGod chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; oGod chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸God chose what is low and despised in the world, even pthings that are not, to qbring to nothing things that are, ²⁹so rthat no human being4 might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰And because of him5 you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us swisdom from God, trighteousness and usanctification and vredemption, ³¹so that, as it is written, w“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

The Holy Stones Lie Scattered

¹qHow the gold has grown dim,

how the pure gold is changed!

The holy stones lie scattered

rat the head of every street.

²The precious sons of Zion,

worth their weight in sfine gold,

how they are regarded as tearthen pots,

the work of a potter's hands!

³Even jackals offer the breast;

they nurse their young;

but the daughter of my people has become cruel,

like the ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴The tongue of the nursing infant usticks

to the roof of its mouth for thirst;

vthe children beg for food,

but no one gives to them.

⁵Those who once feasted on delicacies

perish in the streets;

wthose who were brought up in purple

embrace ash heaps.

⁶xFor the chastisement1 of the daughter of my people has been greater

than the punishment2 of Sodom,

ywhich was overthrown in a moment,

and no hands were wrung for her.3

⁷Her princes were purer than snow,

whiter than milk;

their bodies were more ruddy than coral,

the beauty of their form4 was like sapphire.5

⁸zNow their face is blacker than soot;

they are not recognized in the streets;

their skin has shriveled on their bones;

it has become as dry as wood.

⁹Happier were the victims of the sword

than the victims of hunger,

who wasted away, pierced

by lack of the fruits of the field.

¹⁰aThe hands of bcompassionate women

chave boiled their own children;

dthey became their food

during the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹eThe Lord gave full vent to his wrath;

he poured out his hot anger,

and fhe kindled a fire in Zion

that consumed its foundations.

¹²gThe kings of the earth did not believe,

nor any of the inhabitants of the world,

that foe or enemy could enter

the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³This was for hthe sins of her prophets

and hthe iniquities of her priests,

who shed in the midst of her

the blood of the righteous.

¹⁴iThey wandered, blind, through the streets;

they were so defiled with blood

jthat no one was able to touch

their garments.

¹⁵“Away! kUnclean!” people cried at them.

“Away! Away! Do not touch!”

So they became fugitives and wanderers;

people said among the nations,

“They shall stay with us no longer.”

¹⁶lThe Lord himself6 has scattered them;

he will regard them no more;

mno honor was shown to the priests,

nno favor to the elders.

¹⁷oOur eyes failed, ever watching

ovainly for help;

in our watching we watched

for pa nation which could not save.

¹⁸qThey dogged our steps

so that we could not walk in our streets;

rour end drew near; our days were numbered,

for our end had come.

¹⁹Our pursuers were sswifter

than the eagles in the heavens;

they chased us on the mountains;

they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

²⁰tThe breath of our nostrils, uthe Lord's anointed,

was captured vin their pits,

of whom we said, w“Under his shadow

we shall live among the nations.”

²¹xRejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,

you who dwell in ythe land of Uz;

but to you also zthe cup shall pass;

you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.

²²aThe punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished;

he will keep you in exile no longer;7

but byour iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish;

he will uncover your sins.

Great Is the Lord

Of David.

¹Contend, O Lord, with those who ycontend with me;

zfight against those who fight against me!

²Take hold of ashield and buckler

and rise for my help!

³Draw the spear and javelin1

against my pursuers!

Say to my soul,

“I am your salvation!”

⁴bLet them be cput to shame and dishonor

who seek after my life!

Let them be dturned back and disappointed

who devise evil against me!

⁵Let them be like echaff before the wind,

with the angel of the Lord driving them away!

⁶Let their way be dark and fslippery,

with the angel of the Lord pursuing them!

⁷For gwithout cause hthey hid their net for me;

without cause they dug ia pit for my life.2

⁸Let jdestruction come upon him kwhen he does not know it!

And let the net that he hid ensnare him;

let him fall into it—to his destruction!

⁹Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord,

lexulting in his salvation.

¹⁰All my mbones shall say,

“O Lord, nwho is like you,

delivering the poor

from him who is too strong for him,

the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

¹¹oMalicious3 witnesses rise up;

they ask me of things that I do not know.

¹²pThey repay me evil for good;

my soul is bereft.4

¹³But I, qwhen they were sick—

I rwore sackcloth;

I safflicted myself with fasting;

I prayed twith head bowed5 on my chest.

¹⁴I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;

as one who laments his mother,

I ubowed down in mourning.

¹⁵But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;

they gathered together against me;

vwretches whom I did not know

tore at me without ceasing;

¹⁶like profane mockers at a feast,6

they wgnash at me with their teeth.

¹⁷How long, O Lord, will you xlook on?

Rescue me from their destruction,

ymy precious life from the lions!

¹⁸I will thank you in zthe great congregation;

in the mighty throng I will praise you.

¹⁹aLet not those rejoice over me

who are bwrongfully my foes,

and let not those cwink the eye

who dhate me ewithout cause.

²⁰For they do not speak peace,

but against those who are quiet in the land

they devise words of deceit.

²¹They fopen wide their mouths against me;

they say, g“Aha, Aha!

Our eyes have seen it!”

²²hYou have seen, O Lord; ibe not silent!

O Lord, jbe not far from me!

²³Awake and krouse yourself for lmy vindication,

for my cause, my God and my Lord!

²⁴mVindicate me, O Lord, my God,

according to your righteousness,

and nlet them not rejoice over me!

²⁵Let them not say in their hearts,

o“Aha, our heart's desire!”

Let them not say, p“We have swallowed him up.”

²⁶Let them be qput to shame and disappointed altogether

who rejoice at my calamity!

Let them be rclothed with shame and dishonor

who smagnify themselves against me!

²⁷Let those who delight in my righteousness

shout for joy and be glad

tand say evermore,

u“Great is the Lord,

who vdelights in the welfare of his servant!”

²⁸Then my wtongue shall tell of your righteousness

and of your praise all the day long.