May 23rd

Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats.

And he came to the sheepfolds on the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the inner recesses of the cave.

Then the men of David said to him, “Behold, this is the day of which Yahweh said to you, ‘Behold, I am about to give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good in your eyes.’ ” Then David arose and cut off the edge of Saul’s robe secretly.

And it happened afterward that David’s heart struck him because he had cut off the edge of Saul’s robe.

So he said to his men, “Far be it from me because of Yahweh that I should do this thing to my lord, the anointed of Yahweh, to send forth my hand against him, since he is the anointed of Yahweh.”

And David tore his men to pieces with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. And Saul arose, left the cave, and went on his way.

Now afterward David arose and went out of the cave and called after Saul, saying, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the ground and prostrated himself.

And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks to do you evil’?

Behold, this day your eyes have seen that Yahweh had given you today into my hand in the cave, and some said to kill you, but my eye had pity on you; and I said, ‘I will not send forth my hand against my lord, for he is the anointed of Yahweh.’

Now, my father, see! Indeed, see the edge of your robe in my hand! For in that I cut off the edge of your robe and did not kill you, know and see that there is no evil or transgression in my hand, and I have not sinned against you, though you are lying in wait for my life to take it.

May Yahweh judge between you and me, and may Yahweh avenge me on you; but my hand shall not be against you.

As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness’; but my hand shall not be against you.

After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? After a dead dog, after a single flea?

Therefore Yahweh be judge and execute justice between you and me; and may He see and plead my cause and execute justice for me to escape from your hand.”

Now it happened that when David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” Then Saul lifted up his voice and wept.

And he said to David, “You are more righteous than I; for you have dealt well with me, while I have dealt evil with you.

And you have declared today that you have done good to me, that Yahweh surrendered me into your hand, and yet you did not kill me.

For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safely? May Yahweh therefore reward you with good in return for what you have done to me this day.

So now, behold, I know that you will surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand.

So now swear to me by Yahweh that you will not cut off my seed after me and that you will not destroy my name from my father’s household.”

So David swore to Saul. And Saul went to his home, but David and his men went up to the fortress.

Then Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and lamented for him and buried him at his house in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

Now there was a man in Maon whose work was in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep and one thousand goats. And it happened, while he was shearing his sheep in Carmel

(now the man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. And the woman was good in insight and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was a Calebite),

that David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.

So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, come to Nabal, and greet him in my name;

and thus you shall say, ‘Have a long life; peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.

So now I have heard that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us; and we have not dishonored them, nor have they missed anything all the days they were in Carmel.

Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on a festive day. Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son, to David.’ ”

Then David’s young men came and spoke to Nabal according to all these words in David’s name. Then they waited.

But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master.

Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men whose origin I do not know?”

So David’s young men went back on their way and returned; and they came and told him according to all these words.

Then David said to his men, “Each of you gird on his sword.” So each man girded on his sword. And David also girded on his sword, and about four hundred men went up behind David, and two hundred stayed with the baggage.

But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, and he rushed at them angrily.

Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not dishonored, nor did we miss anything as long as we went about with them, while we were in the field.

They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them shepherding the sheep.

So now, know and see what you should do, for evil is decided against our master and against all his household; and he is such a vile man that no one can speak to him.”

Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread and two jugs of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of roasted grain and one hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys.

Then she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

So it was happening, as she was riding on her donkey and coming down by the hidden part of the mountain, that behold, David and his men were coming down toward her; and she met them.

Now David had said, “Surely for a lie I have guarded all that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; and he has returned me evil for good.

May God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if by morning I leave as much as one male of any who belong to him.”

Then Abigail saw David; so she hurried and dismounted from her donkey and fell on her face before David and bowed herself to the ground.

And she fell at his feet and said, “On me alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your maidservant speak in your ears, and listen to the words of your maidservant.

Please do not let my lord pay attention to this vile man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and wicked foolishness is with him; but I your maidservant did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.

“So now, my lord, as Yahweh lives and as your soul lives, since Yahweh has restrained you from shedding blood, and from saving yourself by your own hand, so now, let your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal.

So now let this gift which your servant-woman has brought to my lord be given to the young men who went about with my lord.

Please forgive the transgression of your maidservant; for Yahweh will certainly make for my lord an enduring house because my lord is fighting the battles of Yahweh, and evil will not be found in you all your days.

And should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, then the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with Yahweh your God; but the lives of your enemies He will sling out as from the hollow of a sling.

And it will be that when Yahweh does for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and appoints you ruler over Israel,

then this will not cause stumbling or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having saved himself. When Yahweh deals well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.”

Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.

He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.

He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.

As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.

These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?”

But Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples were grumbling at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble?

What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?

The Spirit is the One who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him.

And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

As a result of this many of His disciples went away and were not walking with Him anymore.

So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go?”

Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.

And we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”

Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?”

Now He was speaking of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.