23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried uand got down from the donkey vand fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground. 24 She fell at his feet and said, w“On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. 25 Let not my lord regard qthis worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal1 is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. 26 Now then, my lord, xas the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because ythe Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from zsaving with your own hand, now then alet your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. 27 And now let this bpresent that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28 Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the Lord will certainly make my lord ca sure house, because my lord dis fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. 29 If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies ehe shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. 30 And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince2 over Israel, 31 my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord zworking salvation himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”
32 And David said to Abigail, f“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! 33 Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, ywho have kept me this day from bloodguilt zand from working salvation with my own hand! 34 For as surely gas the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, ywho has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.” 35 Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, h“Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.”
36 And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, ihe was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart jwas merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing kat all until the morning light. 37 In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38 And about ten days later lthe Lord struck Nabal, and he died.
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, f“Blessed be the Lord who has mavenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, nand has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. oThe Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and pspoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife. 40 When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.” 41 And she rose qand bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” 42 And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife.
43 David also took Ahinoam of rJezreel, sand both of them became his wives. 44 Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.
The Ministry of Apostles
1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and nstewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. 3 But 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. 4 oFor I am not aware of anything against myself, pbut I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore 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.
6 I 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. 7 For 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?
8 Already 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! 9 For 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. 10 yWe 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. 11 To the present hour bwe hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and cbuffeted and dhomeless, 12 and we elabor, working with our own hands. fWhen reviled, we bless; gwhen persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. hWe have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, ithe refuse of all things.
14 I do not write these things jto make you ashamed, but to admonish you kas my beloved children. 15 For lthough you have countless2 guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For mI became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 16 I urge you, then, nbe imitators of me. 17 That 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. 18 Some are rarrogant, sas though I were not coming to you. 19 But 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. 20 For uthe kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. 21 What do you wish? vShall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?
