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Jonathan Supports David over Saul
20 Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my guilt and what is my sin before your father that he is trying to kill me?[a] 2 And he said to him, “Far from it! You will not die! Look, my father does not do[b] anything large or small unless he reveals it to me.[c] Why should my father hide this thing or anything from me?” 3 Then David took an oath[d] again and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he thought, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he worry.’ But as Yahweh lives[e] and as your soul lives,[f] surely there is merely a step between me and death!” 4 Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you wish,[g] I will do for you.” 5 David said to Jonathan, “Look, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should certainly sit with the king to eat. You must send me away so that I can hide myself in the field until the third evening. 6 If your father misses me at all, then you must say, ‘David earnestly asked from me to run to Bethlehem his city, for the yearly sacrifice[h] is there for all the clan.’ 7 If he says ‘Good,’ it will mean peace for your servant; but if he is very angry, know that he has decided to do me harm.[i] 8 So you must show loyal love to your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of Yahweh with you. But if there is guilt in me, then kill me yourself! But why should you bring me to your father?” 9 Then Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! For if I know for certain that my father decided evil should come upon you,[j] would I not have told it to you?” 10 Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if what your father answers you is harsh?” 11 And Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out to the field.” So the two of them went out to the field.
12 Then Jonathan said to David, “Yahweh the God of Israel is my witness[k] that I will question my father by this time the day after tomorrow.[l] And look, if he is well disposed toward you,[m] will I not send word to you and disclose it to you?[n] 13 So may Yahweh punish Jonathan and more[o] if my father decides to do you harm[p] and if I fail to disclose it to you[q] and send word to you that you can go safely. And may Yahweh be with you, as he has been with my father. 14 And not while I am still alive, will you not show the loyal love of Yahweh with me, that I may not die?[r] 15 And do not cut off your loyal love from my family[s] forever, not even when Yahweh exterminates[t] each of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” 16 So Jonathan made a covenant[u] with the house of David, saying, “May Yahweh call the enemies of David to account.”[v] 17 And Jonathan again made David swear an oath, because he loved him; for with the love of his soul he loved him.
18 Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, for your seat will stay empty. 19 On the third day you must go down quickly and go to the place where you hid yourself on the day all this started[w] and remain beside the stone Ezel. 20 I will shoot three arrows to the side as if I were shooting at a target. 21 Then[x] I will send word to my servant, ‘Go, find the arrows!’ If I clearly say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you;[y] bring[z] it,’ then[aa] come, for it means peace for you. And there is no problem, as Yahweh lives.[ab] 22 But if I say this to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’[ac] go, for Yahweh has sent you away. 23 And as for the matter about which you and I spoke, look, Yahweh is between you and me forever.”
24 So David hid himself in the field. When the new moon came,[ad] the king was seated at the feast.[ae] 25 The king sat at his seat as before,[af] the seat by the wall, and Jonathan got up, and Abner sat beside Saul, but David’s place was empty. 26 But Saul said nothing on that day, for he thought, “Something happened to him.[ag] He is not ceremonially clean; surely he is not clean.” 27 And then[ah] on the next day, the second day of the new moon, that David’s place was empty. So Saul asked Jonathan his son, “Why did the son of Jesse not come either yesterday or today to the feast?” 28 Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked permission from me to go up to Bethlehem. 29 He said, ‘Send me away, please, for our clan sacrifice is in the city, and my brother commanded[ai] me to be present. So then, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me slip away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the table of the king.” 30 Then Saul became angry[aj] at Jonathan and said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman![ak] Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? 31 For as long as[al] the son of Jesse is alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established! So then, send and bring him to me, for he will surely die!”[am] 32 But Jonathan answered his father Saul and said to him, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” 33 Then Saul hurled his[an] spear at him to kill him. So Jonathan knew that his father had decided[ao] to kill David.
34 Jonathan got up from the table enraged,[ap] and did not eat on the second day of the new moon because he was upset about David, because his father had disgraced him. 35 And then[aq] in the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointment with David, and a young boy[ar] was with him. 36 He said to his servant,[as] “Run, please find the arrows that I am shooting!” The boy[at] ran, and he shot the arrow to pass over him. 37 When the boy came up to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called out after the boy and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?”[au] 38 Then Jonathan called out after the boy, “Quick, hurry, do not linger!” And Jonathan’s servant collected the arrows and came to his master. 39 But the boy did not know anything about this; only Jonathan and David knew the matter. 40 Jonathan gave his weapons to his servant and said to him, “Go, bring them to the city.” 41 The boy left, and then David got up from the south side,[av] and he fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times. And they kissed each other[aw] and wept together,[ax] but David wept the most. 42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, because we have sworn, the two of us, an oath in the name of Yahweh, saying, “Yahweh will be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring forever.”[ay] Then he got up and left, and Jonathan went into the city.
David Encounters the Priests of Nob
21 Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came trembling to meet David, and he said to him, “Why are you alone and there are no men with you?” 2 So David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘No one must know anything about this matter on which I am sending you, with which I have charged you and the servants.’” So I have arranged to meet with my servants at a certain place.[az] 3 Now then, what do you have at hand?[ba] Give me five loaves of bread or whatever is here.”[bb] 4 The priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread here at hand;[bc] there is only holy bread, but only if the young men have kept themselves from women.” 5 David answered the priest and said to him, “Indeed, women were held back from us as it has been when I’ve gone out before.[bd] And the things[be] of the young men are holy when[bf] it is an ordinary journey. How much more[bg] today[bh] will the things[bi] be holy?” 6 So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence, which was removed from before Yahweh, in order to set hot bread there on the day when it was taken away.
7 Now there was a man from the servants of Saul on that day, detained before Yahweh, whose name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds. 8 David asked Ahimelech, “Is there not at your disposal[bj] a spear or a sword? For I took neither my sword nor my weapons with me because the king’s matter was urgent.” 9 So the priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine whom you killed in the valley of Elah is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want to take it for yourself, then take it, for there is no other except it here.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”
David Flees to Achish in Gath
10 So David got up and fled on that day from the presence of Saul, and he came to Achish the king of Gath. 11 The servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? Is it not for this one that they sang in the dances, saying, ‘Saul killed his thousands, but David his ten thousands?’” 12 David took these words seriously[bk] and felt severely threatened by[bl] Achish the king of Gath. 13 So he changed his behavior before them[bm] and pretended to be mad in their presence.[bn] He made scratches on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down into his beard. 14 Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see a madman! Why did you bring him to me? 15 Do I lack madmen that you have brought this one to act like a madman before me? Should this one enter my household?”
A Man Born Blind Is Given Sight
9 And as he[a] went away, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?” 3 Jesus replied, “Neither this man sinned nor his parents, but it happened[b] so that the works of God could be revealed in him. 4 It is necessary for us to do the deeds of the one who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work! 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 When he[c] had said these things, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes. 7 And he said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated “sent”). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
8 Then the neighbors and those who saw him previously (because he was a beggar) began to say,[d] “Is this man not the one who used to sit and beg?” 9 Others were saying, “It is this man”; others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” That one was saying, “I am he!” 10 So they began to say[e] to him, “How[f] were your eyes opened?” 11 He replied, “The man who is called Jesus made clay and smeared it[g] on my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash!’ So I went, and I washed, and[h] I received sight.” 12 And they said to him, “Where is that man?” He said, “I do not know.”
The Reaction of the Pharisees to the Healing
13 They brought him—the one formerly blind—to the Pharisees. 14 (Now the day on which Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes was the Sabbath.) 15 So the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received sight. And he said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 So some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God, because he does not observe the Sabbath!” Others[i] were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17 So they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.”
18 So the Jews did not believe concerning him that he had been blind and received sight, until they summoned the parents of the one[j] who received sight. 19 And they asked them, saying, “Is this man your son, whom you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?” 20 So his parents answered and said, “We know that this man is our son, and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. Ask him! He is a mature adult;[k] he will speak for himself!” 22 (His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already decided that if anyone should confess him to be Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue. 23 Because of this his parents said, “He is a mature adult;[l] ask him.”)
24 So they summoned the man who had been blind for the second time and said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner!” 25 Then that man replied, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I know—that although I[m] was blind, now I see!” 26 So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He replied to them, “I told you already and you did not listen! Why do you want to hear it[n] again? You do not want to become his disciples also, do you?”[o] 28 They reviled[p] him and said, “You are his disciple! But we are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but we do not know where this man is from.” 30 The man answered and said to them, “For the remarkable thing is this, that you do not know where he is from, and he opened my eyes! 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if someone is devout and does his will, he listens to this one. 32 From time immemorial[q] it has not been heard that someone opened the eyes of one born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything!” 34 They answered and said to him, “You were born completely in sin, and are you attempting to teach[r] us?” And they threw him out.
Jesus as the Son of Man
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered and said, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen him, and he is the one who is speaking with you.” [[38 And he said, “I believe, Lord!” and he worshiped him. 39 And Jesus said,]][s] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind!” 40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and said to him, “We are not also blind, are we?”[t] 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
God’s Majesty and Care for the Needy
113 Praise Yah![a]
Praise, O servants of Yahweh,
praise the name of Yahweh.
2 Let the name of Yahweh be blessed,
from now until forever.
3 From the rising of the sun to its setting,
let the name of Yahweh be blessed.
4 Yahweh is high above all nations;
his glory is above the heavens.
5 Who is like Yahweh our God,
who is enthroned on high,[b]
6 who condescends to look at[c]
what is in the heavens and in the earth?
7 He raises the helpless from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap,
8 to seat them with princes,
with the princes of his people.
9 He causes the barren woman of the house to dwell
as the happy mother of children.
Praise Yah![d]
Praise to God for His Works During the Exodus
114 When Israel went out from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of a strange language,
2 Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
3 The sea looked and fled;
the Jordan turned back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.[e]
5 What’s with you, O sea, that you fled?
O Jordan, that you turned back?
6 O mountains, that you skipped like rams?
O hills, like lambs?
7 At the presence of the Lord writhe, O earth,[f]
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 who turned the rock into a pool of water,
flinty stone into a spring of water.
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