The Death of Samuel

25 ^(A)Now Samuel died. And all Israel assembled ^(B)and mourned for him, and they buried him ^(C)in his house at ^(D)Ramah.

David and Abigail

Then David rose and went down to ^(E)the wilderness of Paran. ² And there was a man in ^(F)Maon whose business was in ^(G)Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. ^(H)He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. ³ Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; ^(I)he was a Calebite. ⁴ David heard in the wilderness that Nabal ^(J)was shearing his sheep. ⁵ So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name. ⁶ And thus you shall greet him: ^(K)‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. ⁷ I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, ^(L)and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. ⁸ Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come ^(M)on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

⁹ When David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited. ¹⁰ And Nabal answered David's servants, ^(N)“Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? ^(O)There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. ¹¹ Shall I take ^(P)my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to ^(Q)men who come from I do not know where?” ¹² So David's young men turned away and came back and told him all this. ¹³ And David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And ^(R)about four hundred men went up after David, ^(S)while two hundred ^(T)remained with the baggage.

¹⁴ But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them. ¹⁵ Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, ^(U)and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. ¹⁶ They were ^(V)a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. ¹⁷ Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, ^(W)for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such ^(X)a worthless man that one cannot speak to him.”

¹⁸ Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs^[a] of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. ¹⁹ And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. ²⁰ And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them. ²¹ Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, ^(Y)so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has ^(Z)returned me evil for good. ^22 (AA)God do so to the enemies of David^[b] and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.”

²³ When Abigail saw David, she hurried ^(AB)and got down from the donkey ^(AC)and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground. ²⁴ She fell at his feet and said, ^(AD)“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 ^(AE)this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal^[c] 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, ^(AF)as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because ^(AG)the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from ^(AH)saving with your own hand, now then ^(AI)let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. ²⁷ And now let this ^(AJ)present 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 ^(AK)a sure house, because my lord ^(AL)is 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 ^(AM)he 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 prince^[d] 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 ^(AN)working salvation himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”

³² And David said to Abigail, ^(AO)“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, ^(AP)who have kept me this day from bloodguilt ^(AQ)and from working salvation with my own hand! ³⁴ For as surely ^(AR)as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, ^(AS)who 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, ^(AT)“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, ^(AU)he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart ^(AV)was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing ^(AW)at 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 ^(AX)the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.

³⁹ When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, ^(AY)“Blessed be the Lord who has ^(AZ)avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, ^(BA)and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. ^(BB)The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and ^(BC)spoke 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 ^(BD)and 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 ^(BE)Jezreel, ^(BF)and 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.

Descendants of Issachar

7 The sons^[a] of Issachar: Tola, ^(A)Puah, ^(B)Jashub, and Shimron, four. ² The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their fathers' houses, namely of Tola, mighty warriors of their generations, their number ^(C)in the days of David being 22,600. ³ The son^[b] of Uzzi: Izrahiah. And the sons of Izrahiah: Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah, all five of them were chief men. ⁴ And along with them, by their generations, according to their fathers' houses, were units of the army for war, 36,000, for they had many wives and sons. ⁵ Their kinsmen belonging to all the clans of Issachar were in all 87,000 mighty warriors, enrolled by genealogy.

Descendants of Benjamin

^6 (D)The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, and Jediael, three. ⁷ The sons of Bela: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri, five, heads of fathers' houses, mighty warriors. And their enrollment by genealogies was 22,034. ⁸ The sons of Becher: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, ^(E)Anathoth, and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Becher. ⁹ And their enrollment by genealogies, according to their generations, as heads of their fathers' houses, mighty warriors, was 20,200. ¹⁰ The son of Jediael: Bilhan. And the sons of Bilhan: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar. ¹¹ All these were the sons of Jediael according to the heads of their fathers' houses, mighty warriors, 17,200, able to go to war. ¹² And Shuppim and Huppim were the sons of Ir, Hushim the son of ^(F)Aher.

Descendants of Naphtali

^13 (G)The sons of Naphtali: ^(H)Jahziel, Guni, Jezer and ^(I)Shallum, the descendants of Bilhah.

Descendants of Manasseh

^14 (J)The sons of Manasseh: Asriel, whom his Aramean concubine bore; she bore ^(K)Machir the father of Gilead. ¹⁵ And Machir took a wife for Huppim and for Shuppim. The name of his sister was Maacah. And the name of the second was Zelophehad, and ^(L)Zelophehad had daughters. ¹⁶ And Maacah the wife of Machir bore a son, and she called his name Peresh; and the name of his brother was Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rakem. ¹⁷ The son of Ulam: ^(M)Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead the son of Machir, son of Manasseh. ¹⁸ And his sister Hammolecheth bore Ishhod, Abiezer, and Mahlah. ¹⁹ The sons of Shemida were Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam.

Descendants of Ephraim

²⁰ The ^(N)sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, and Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son, ²¹ Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead, whom the men of Gath who were born in the land killed, because they came down to raid their livestock. ²² And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him. ²³ And Ephraim went in to his wife, and she conceived and bore a son. And he called his name Beriah, because disaster had befallen his house.^{[c] 24} His daughter was Sheerah, who built both Lower and Upper ^(O)Beth-horon, and Uzzen-sheerah. ²⁵ Rephah was his son, Resheph his son, Telah his son, Tahan his son, ²⁶ Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, ^(P)Elishama his son, ²⁷ Nun^[d] his son, ^(Q)Joshua his son. ^28 (R)Their possessions and settlements were Bethel and its towns, and to the east Naaran, and to the west ^(S)Gezer and its towns, Shechem and its towns, and Ayyah and its towns; ^29 (T)also in possession of the Manassites, ^(U)Beth-shean and its towns, Taanach and its towns, Megiddo and its towns, Dor and its towns. In these lived the sons of Joseph the son of Israel.

Descendants of Asher

^30 (V)The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. ³¹ The sons of Beriah: Heber, and Malchiel, who fathered Birzaith. ³² Heber fathered Japhlet, Shomer, Hotham, and their sister Shua. ³³ The sons of Japhlet: Pasach, Bimhal, and Ashvath. These are the sons of Japhlet. ³⁴ The sons of Shemer his brother: Rohgah, Jehubbah, and Aram. ³⁵ The sons of Helem his brother: Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amal. ³⁶ The sons of Zophah: Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah. ³⁷ Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran, and Beera. ³⁸ The sons of Jether: Jephunneh, Pispa, and Ara. ³⁹ The sons of Ulla: Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia. ⁴⁰ All of these were men of Asher, heads of fathers' houses, approved, mighty warriors, chiefs of the princes. Their number enrolled by genealogies, for service in war, was 26,000 men.

Paul and Silas in Thessalonica

17 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to ^(A)Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. ² And Paul went in, ^(B)as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them ^(C)from the Scriptures, ^3 (D)explaining and proving that it was necessary for ^(E)the Christ to suffer and ^(F)to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” ⁴ And ^(G)some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did ^(H)a great many of the devout ^(I)Greeks and not a few of the leading women. ^5 (J)But the Jews^{[a] (K)}were jealous, and taking ^(L)some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. ⁶ And when they could not find them, ^(M)they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, ⁷ and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against ^(N)the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is ^(O)another king, Jesus.” ⁸ And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. ⁹ And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

Paul and Silas in Berea

^10 (P)The brothers^[b] immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they ^(Q)went into the Jewish synagogue. ¹¹ Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, ^(R)examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. ^12 (S)Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek ^(T)women of high standing as well as men. ¹³ But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, ^(U)agitating and stirring up the crowds. ¹⁴ Then the brothers ^(V)immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and ^(W)Timothy remained there. ^15 (X)Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as ^(Y)Athens, and after receiving a command ^(Z)for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

Paul in Athens

¹⁶ Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was ^(AA)provoked within him as he saw that the city was ^(AB)full of idols. ¹⁷ So ^(AC)he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. ¹⁸ Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, ^(AD)“What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because ^(AE)he was preaching ^(AF)Jesus and the resurrection. ¹⁹ And they took him and brought him to ^(AG)the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this ^(AH)new teaching is that you are presenting? ²⁰ For you bring some ^(AI)strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” ²¹ Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

Paul Addresses the Areopagus

²² So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. ²³ For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ^(AJ)‘To the unknown god.’ ^(AK)What therefore you worship ^(AL)as unknown, this I proclaim to you. ^24 (AM)The God who made the world and everything in it, being ^(AN)Lord of heaven and earth, ^(AO)does not live in temples made by man,^{[c] 25} nor is he served by human hands, ^(AP)as though he needed anything, since he himself ^(AQ)gives to all mankind ^(AR)life and breath and everything. ²⁶ And ^(AS)he made from one man every nation of mankind to live ^(AT)on all the face of the earth, ^(AU)having determined allotted periods and ^(AV)the boundaries of their dwelling place, ^27 (AW)that they should seek God, ^(AX)and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. ^(AY)Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, ²⁸ for

as even some of ^(BA)your own poets have said,

^29 (BB)Being then God's offspring, ^(BC)we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. ^30 (BD)The times of ignorance ^(BE)God overlooked, but ^(BF)now he ^(BG)commands all people everywhere to repent, ³¹ because he has fixed ^(BH)a day on which ^(BI)he will judge the world ^(BJ)in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and ^(BK)of this he has given assurance to all ^(BL)by raising him from the dead.”

³² Now when they heard of ^(BM)the resurrection of the dead, ^(BN)some mocked. But others said, ^(BO)“We will hear you again about this.” ³³ So Paul went out from their midst. ³⁴ But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius ^(BP)the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.