David and Jonathan

20 Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged^(A) your father, that he is trying to kill me?”^(B)

² “Never!” Jonathan replied. “You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without letting me know. Why would he hide this from me? It isn’t so!”

³ But David took an oath^(C) and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.’ Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”

⁴ Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.”

⁵ So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon feast,^(D) and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide^(E) in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. ⁶ If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David earnestly asked my permission^(F) to hurry to Bethlehem,^(G) his hometown, because an annual^(H) sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan.’ ⁷ If he says, ‘Very well,’ then your servant is safe. But if he loses his temper,^(I) you can be sure that he is determined^(J) to harm me. ⁸ As for you, show kindness to your servant, for you have brought him into a covenant^(K) with you before the Lord. If I am guilty, then kill^(L) me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?”

⁹ “Never!” Jonathan said. “If I had the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you?”

¹⁰ David asked, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”

¹¹ “Come,” Jonathan said, “let’s go out into the field.” So they went there together.

¹² Then Jonathan said to David, “I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel, that I will surely sound^(M) out my father by this time the day after tomorrow! If he is favorably disposed toward you, will I not send you word and let you know? ¹³ But if my father intends to harm you, may the Lord deal with Jonathan, be it ever so severely,^(N) if I do not let you know and send you away in peace. May the Lord be with^(O) you as he has been with my father. ¹⁴ But show me unfailing kindness^(P) like the Lord’s kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, ¹⁵ and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family^(Q)—not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”

¹⁶ So Jonathan^(R) made a covenant^(S) with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord call David’s enemies to account.^(T)” ¹⁷ And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath^(U) out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.

¹⁸ Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon feast. You will be missed, because your seat will be empty.^{(V) 19} The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid^(W) when this trouble began, and wait by the stone Ezel. ²⁰ I will shoot three arrows^(X) to the side of it, as though I were shooting at a target. ²¹ Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them here,’ then come, because, as surely as the Lord lives, you are safe; there is no danger. ²² But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond^(Y) you,’ then you must go, because the Lord has sent you away. ²³ And about the matter you and I discussed—remember, the Lord is witness^(Z) between you and me forever.”

²⁴ So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon feast^(AA) came, the king sat down to eat. ²⁵ He sat in his customary place by the wall, opposite Jonathan,^[a] and Abner sat next to Saul, but David’s place was empty.^{(AB) 26} Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, “Something must have happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.^(AC)” ²⁷ But the next day, the second day of the month, David’s place was empty again. Then Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”

²⁸ Jonathan answered, “David earnestly asked me for permission^(AD) to go to Bethlehem. ²⁹ He said, ‘Let me go, because our family is observing a sacrifice^(AE) in the town and my brother has ordered me to be there. If I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away to see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”

³⁰ Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? ³¹ As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom^(AF) will be established. Now send someone to bring him to me, for he must die!”

³² “Why^(AG) should he be put to death? What^(AH) has he done?” Jonathan asked his father. ³³ But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended^(AI) to kill David.

³⁴ Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David.

³⁵ In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with him, ³⁶ and he said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. ³⁷ When the boy came to the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out after him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond^(AJ) you?” ³⁸ Then he shouted, “Hurry! Go quickly! Don’t stop!” The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master. ³⁹ (The boy knew nothing about all this; only Jonathan and David knew.) ⁴⁰ Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and said, “Go, carry them back to town.”

⁴¹ After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground.^(AK) Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most.

⁴² Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace,^(AL) for we have sworn friendship^(AM) with each other in the name of the Lord,^(AN) saying, ‘The Lord is witness^(AO) between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.^(AP)’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.^[b]

That Which Defiles^(A)

7 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus ² and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled,^(B) that is, unwashed. ³ (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders.^{(C) 4} When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.^[a])^(D)

⁵ So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders^(E) instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

⁶ He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

⁸ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”^(G)

⁹ And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe^[c] your own traditions!^{(H) 10} For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’^[d](I) and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’^{[e](J) 11} But you say^(K) that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)— ¹² then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. ¹³ Thus you nullify the word of God^(L) by your tradition^(M) that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”

¹⁴ Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. ¹⁵ Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” ^[16] [f]

¹⁷ After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him^(N) about this parable. ¹⁸ “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? ¹⁹ For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods^(O) clean.)^(P)

²⁰ He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. ²¹ For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed,^(Q) malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³ All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

Jesus Honors a Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith^(R)

²⁴ Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre.^[g](S) He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. ²⁵ In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit^(T) came and fell at his feet. ²⁶ The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

²⁸ “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹ Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰ She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Jesus Heals a Deaf and Mute Man^(U)

³¹ Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre^(V) and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee^(W) and into the region of the Decapolis.^{[h](X) 32} There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk,^(Y) and they begged Jesus to place his hand on^(Z) him.

³³ After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit^(AA) and touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴ He looked up to heaven^(AB) and with a deep sigh^(AC) said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). ³⁵ At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.^(AD)

³⁶ Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone.^(AE) But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. ³⁷ People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Psalm 137