David and the Holy Bread

1 ¹ Then David came to ^vNob, to ^wAhimelech the priest. And Ahimelech ^xcame to meet David, trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” 2 And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. 3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” 4 And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is ^yholy bread—^zif the young men have kept themselves from women.” 5 And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” 6 So the priest gave him ^ythe holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, ^awhich is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.

7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord. His name was ^bDoeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s herdsmen.

8 Then David said to Ahimelech, “Then have you not here a spear or a sword at hand? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.” 9 And the priest said, ^c“The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in ^dthe Valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it, for there is none but that here.” And David said, “There is none like that; give it to me.”

David Flees to Gath

10 And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to ^eAchish the king of Gath. 11 And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? ^fDid they not sing to one another of him in dances,

12 And David ^gtook these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. 14 Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? 15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”

David at the Cave of Adullam

1 David departed from there and escaped to ^hthe cave of ⁱAdullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 ^jAnd everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul,² gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him ^kabout four hundred men.

3 And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab. And he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother stay³ with you, till I know what God will do for me.” 4 And he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. 5 Then the prophet ^lGad said to David, “Do not remain in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.

Saul Kills the Priests at Nob

6 Now Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Saul was sitting at Gibeah under ^mthe tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him. 7 And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, people of Benjamin; will the son of Jesse ⁿgive every one of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, 8 that all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me ^owhen my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you ^pis sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, ^qto lie in wait, as at this day.” 9 Then answered ^rDoeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, “I saw the son of Jesse ^scoming to Nob, to ^tAhimelech the son of Ahitub, 10 ^uand he inquired of the Lord for him and ^vgave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

11 Then the king sent to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were at Nob, and all of them came to the king. 12 And Saul said, “Hear now, son of Ahitub.” And he answered, “Here I am, my lord.” 13 And Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword and ^uhave inquired of God for him, so that he has risen against me, ^wto lie in wait, as at this day?” 14 Then Ahimelech answered the king, “And who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, and captain over⁴ your bodyguard, and honored in your house? 15 Is today the first time ^uthat I have inquired of God for him? No! Let not the king impute anything to his servant or to all the house of my father, for your servant has known nothing of all this, ^xmuch or little.” 16 And the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house.” 17 And the king said to ^ythe guard who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me.” But the servants of the king would not put out their hand to strike the priests of the Lord. 18 Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn and strike the priests.” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests, ^zand he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod. 19 And Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; ^aboth man and woman, child and infant, ox, donkey and sheep, he put to the sword.

20 But one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named ^bAbiathar, escaped and fled after David. 21 And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. 22 And David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, ^cwhen Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father’s house. 23 ^dStay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping.”

Divisions in the Church

1 But I, brothers,¹ could not address you as ^aspiritual people, but as ^bpeople of the flesh, as ^cinfants in Christ. 2 ^dI fed you with milk, not solid food, for ^eyou were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is ^fjealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For ^gwhen one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” ^hare you not being merely human?

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? ⁱServants through whom you believed, ^jas the Lord assigned to each. 6 ^kI planted, ^lApollos watered, ^mbut God gave the growth. 7 So ⁿneither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each ^owill receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are ^pGod’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, ^qGod’s building.

10 ^rAccording to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled² master builder I laid a ^sfoundation, and ^tsomeone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a ^ufoundation other ^vthan that which is laid, ^wwhich is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 ^xeach one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed ^yby fire, and ^zthe fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, ^ahe will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, ^bbut only as through fire.

16 ^cDo you not know that you³ are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For ^dGod’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

18 ^eLet no one deceive himself. ^fIf anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19 For ^gthe wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, ^h“He catches the wise in their craftiness,” 20 and again, ⁱ“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” 21 So ^jlet no one boast in men. For ^kall things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and ^lyou are Christ’s, and ^mChrist is God’s.

Ezekiel in Babylon

1 ^aIn the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by ^bthe Chebar canal, ^cthe heavens were opened, and I saw ^dvisions of God.¹ 2 On the fifth day of the month (it was ^ethe fifth year of ^fthe exile of King Jehoiachin), 3 the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel ^gthe priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by ^bthe Chebar canal, and ^hthe hand of the Lord was upon him there.

The Glory of the Lord

4 As I looked, behold, ⁱa stormy wind came ^jout of the north, and a great cloud, with ^kbrightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, ^las it were gleaming metal.² 5 And from the midst of it came the likeness of ^mfour living creatures. ⁿAnd this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, 6 ^obut each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. 7 Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot. And they sparkled ^plike burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings ^qon their four sides ^rthey had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: 9 their wings touched one another. ^sEach one of them went straight forward, ^qwithout turning as they went. 10 As for the likeness of their faces, ^teach had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle. 11 Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while ^utwo covered their bodies. 12 ^sAnd each went straight forward. ^vWherever the spirit³ would go, they went, without turning as they went. 13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was ^wlike burning coals of fire, ^wlike the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the living creatures. ^xAnd the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. 14 And the living creatures ^ydarted to and fro, ^zlike the appearance of a flash of lightning.

15 ^aNow as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them.⁴ 16 ^aAs for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like ^bthe gleaming of beryl. ^cAnd the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel. 17 ^dWhen they went, they went ^ein any of their four directions^{5 f}without turning as they went. 18 And their rims were tall and awesome, ^gand the rims of all four were full of eyes all around. 19 ^hAnd when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; ⁱand when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. 20 ^jWherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them, ^jfor the spirit of the living creatures⁶ was in the wheels. 21 ^hWhen those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; ⁱand when those rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them, ^jfor the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

22 Over the heads of the living creatures there was ^kthe likeness of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring ^lcrystal, spread out above their heads. 23 And under the expanse their wings were ^mstretched out straight, one toward another. ⁿAnd each creature had two wings covering its body. 24 And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings ^olike the sound of many waters, like ^pthe sound of the ^qAlmighty, a sound of tumult ^rlike the sound of an army. When they stood still, they let down their wings. 25 And there came a voice from above ^sthe expanse over their heads. When they stood still, they let down their wings.

26 And above the expanse over their heads there was ^tthe likeness of a throne, ^tin appearance ^ulike sapphire;⁷ and seated above the likeness of a throne was ^va likeness with a human appearance. 27 And ^wupward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were ^xgleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and ^ythere was brightness around him.⁸ 28 Like the appearance of ^zthe bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around.

Such was the appearance of the likeness of ^athe glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, ^bI fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

He Will Not Forsake His Saints

¹ Of David.