Old/New Testament
22 So David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam, where his brothers and other relatives soon joined him. 2 Then others began coming—those who were in any kind of trouble, such as being in debt, or merely discontented—until David was the leader of about four hundred men.
3 (Later David went to Mizpeh in Moab to ask permission of the king for his father and mother to live there under royal protection until David knew what God was going to do for him. 4 They stayed in Moab during the entire period when David was living in the cave.)
5 One day the prophet Gad told David to leave the cave and return to the land of Judah. So David went to the forest of Hereth. 6 The news of his arrival in Judah soon reached Saul. He was in Gibeah at the time, sitting beneath an oak tree playing with his spear, surrounded by his officers.
7 “Listen here, you men of Benjamin!” Saul exclaimed when he heard the news. “Has David promised you fields and vineyards and commissions in his army? 8 Is that why you are against me? For not one of you has ever told me that my own son is on David’s side. You’re not even sorry for me. Think of it! My own son—encouraging David to come and kill me!”
9-10 Then Doeg the Edomite, who was standing there with Saul’s men, spoke up. “When I was at Nob,” he said, “I saw David talking to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech consulted the Lord to find out what David should do, and then gave him food and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
11-12 King Saul immediately summoned Ahimelech and all his family and all the other priests at Nob. When they arrived Saul shouted at him, “Listen to me, you son of Ahitub!”
“What is it?” quavered Ahimelech.
13 “Why have you and David conspired against me?” Saul demanded. “Why did you give him food and a sword and talk to God for him? Why did you encourage him to revolt against me and to come here and attack me?”
14 “But sir,” Ahimelech replied, “is there anyone among all your servants who is as faithful as David your son-in-law? Why, he is the captain of your bodyguard and a highly honored member of your own household! 15 This was certainly not the first time I had consulted God for him! It’s unfair for you to accuse me and my family in this matter, for we knew nothing of any plot against you.”
16 “You shall die, Ahimelech, along with your entire family!” the king shouted. 17 He ordered his bodyguards, “Kill these priests, for they are allies and conspirators with David; they knew he was running away from me, but they didn’t tell me!”
But the soldiers refused to harm the clergy.
18 Then the king said to Doeg, “You do it.”
So Doeg turned on them and killed them, eighty-five priests in all, all wearing their priestly robes. 19 Then he went to Nob, the city of the priests, and killed the priests’ families—men, women, children, and babies, and also all the oxen, donkeys, and sheep. 20 Only Abiathar, one of the sons of Ahimelech, escaped and fled to David.
21 When he told him what Saul had done, 22 David exclaimed, “I knew it! When I saw Doeg there, I knew he would tell Saul. Now I have caused the death of all of your father’s family. 23 Stay here with me, and I’ll protect you with my own life. Any harm to you will be over my dead body.”
23 One day news came to David that the Philistines were at Keilah robbing the threshing floors.
2 David asked the Lord, “Shall I go and attack them?”
“Yes, go and save Keilah,” the Lord told him.
3 But David’s men said, “We’re afraid even here in Judah; we certainly don’t want to go to Keilah to fight the whole Philistine army!”
4 David asked the Lord again, and the Lord again replied, “Go down to Keilah, for I will help you conquer the Philistines.”
5 They went to Keilah and slaughtered the Philistines and confiscated their cattle, and so the people of Keilah were saved. 6 (Abiathar the priest went to Keilah with David, taking his ephod with him to get answers for David from the Lord.) 7 Saul soon learned that David was at Keilah.
“Good!” he exclaimed. “We’ve got him now! God has delivered him to me, for he has trapped himself in a walled city!”
8 So Saul mobilized his entire army to march to Keilah and besiege David and his men. 9 But David learned of Saul’s plan and told Abiathar the priest to bring the ephod and to ask the Lord what he should do.
10 “O Lord God of Israel,” David said, “I have heard that Saul is planning to come and destroy Keilah because I am here. 11 Will the men of Keilah surrender me to him? And will Saul actually come, as I have heard? O Lord God of Israel, please tell me.”
And the Lord said, “He will come.”
12 “And will these men of Keilah betray me to Saul?” David persisted.
And the Lord replied, “Yes, they will betray you.”
13 So David and his men—about six hundred of them now—left Keilah and began roaming the countryside. Word soon reached Saul that David had escaped, so he didn’t go there after all. 14-15 David now lived in the wilderness caves in the hill country of Ziph. One day near Horesh he received the news that Saul was on the way to Ziph to search for him and kill him. Saul hunted him day after day, but the Lord didn’t let him find him.
16 (Prince Jonathan now went to find David; he met him at Horesh and encouraged him in his faith in God.
17 “Don’t be afraid,” Jonathan reassured him. “My father will never find you! You are going to be the king of Israel and I will be next to you, as my father is well aware.” 18 So the two of them renewed their pact of friendship; and David stayed at Horesh while Jonathan returned home.)
19 But now the men of Ziph went to Saul in Gibeah and betrayed David to him.
“We know where he is hiding,” they said. “He is in the caves of Horesh on Hachilah Hill, down in the southern part of the wilderness. 20 Come on down, sir, and we will catch him for you and your fondest wish will be fulfilled!”
21 “Well, praise the Lord!” Saul said. “At last someone has had pity on me! 22 Go and check again to be sure of where he is staying and who has seen him there, for I know that he is very crafty. 23 Discover his hiding places and then come back and give me a more definite report. Then I’ll go with you. And if he is in the area at all, I’ll find him if I have to search every inch of the entire land!”
24-25 So the men of Ziph returned home. But when David heard that Saul was on his way to Ziph, he and his men went even further into the wilderness of Maon in the south of the desert. But Saul followed them there. 26 He and David were now on opposite sides of a mountain. As Saul and his men began to close in, David tried his best to escape, but it was no use. 27 But just then a message reached Saul that the Philistines were raiding Israel again, 28 so Saul quit the chase and returned to fight the Philistines. Ever since that time the place where David was camped has been called, “The Rock of Escape.” 29 David then went to live in the caves of Engedi.
24 After Saul’s return from his battle with the Philistines, he was told that David had gone into the wilderness of Engedi; 2 so he took three thousand special troops and went to search for him among the rocks and wild goats of the desert. 3 At the place where the road passes some sheepfolds, Saul went into a cave to go to the bathroom, but as it happened, David and his men were hiding in the cave!
4 “Now’s your time!” David’s men whispered to him. “Today is the day the Lord was talking about when he said, ‘I will certainly put Saul into your power, to do with as you wish’!” Then David crept forward and quietly slit off the bottom of Saul’s robe! 5 But then his conscience began bothering him.
6 “I shouldn’t have done it,” he said to his men. “It is a serious sin to attack God’s chosen king in any way.”
7-8 These words of David persuaded his men not to kill Saul.
After Saul had left the cave and gone on his way, David came out and shouted after him, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked around, David bowed low before him.
9-10 Then he shouted to Saul, “Why do you listen to the people who say I am trying to harm you? This very day you have seen it isn’t true. For the Lord placed you at my mercy back there in the cave, and some of my men told me to kill you, but I spared you. For I said, ‘I will never harm him—he is the Lord’s chosen king.’ 11 See what I have in my hand? It is the hem of your robe! I cut it off, but I didn’t kill you! Doesn’t this convince you that I am not trying to harm you and that I have not sinned against you, even though you have been hunting for my life?
12 “The Lord will decide between us. Perhaps he will kill you for what you are trying to do to me, but I will never harm you. 13 As that old proverb says, ‘Wicked is as wicked does,’ but despite your wickedness, I’ll not touch you. 14 And who is the king of Israel trying to catch, anyway? Should he spend his time chasing one who is as worthless as a dead dog or a flea? 15 May the Lord judge as to which of us is right and punish whichever one of us is guilty. He is my lawyer and defender, and he will rescue me from your power!”
16 Saul called back, “Is it really you, my son David?” Then he began to cry. 17 And he said to David, “You are a better man than I am, for you have repaid me good for evil. 18 Yes, you have been wonderfully kind to me today, for when the Lord delivered me into your hand, you didn’t kill me. 19 Who else in all the world would let his enemy get away when he had him in his power? May the Lord reward you well for the kindness you have shown me today. 20 And now I realize that you are surely going to be king, and Israel shall be yours to rule. 21 Oh, swear to me by the Lord that when that happens you will not kill my family and destroy my line of descendants!”
22 So David promised, and Saul went home, but David and his men went back to their cave.
12 Meanwhile the crowds grew until thousands upon thousands were milling about and crushing each other. He turned now to his disciples and warned them, “More than anything else, beware of these Pharisees and the way they pretend to be good when they aren’t. But such hypocrisy cannot be hidden forever. 2 It will become as evident as yeast in dough. 3 Whatever they[a] have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms shall be broadcast from the housetops for all to hear!
4 “Dear friends, don’t be afraid of these who want to murder you. They can only kill the body; they have no power over your souls. 5 But I’ll tell you whom to fear—fear God who has the power to kill and then cast into hell.
6 “What is the price of five sparrows? A couple of pennies? Not much more than that. Yet God does not forget a single one of them. 7 And he knows the number of hairs on your head! Never fear, you are far more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows.
8 “And I assure you of this: I, the Messiah,[b] will publicly honor you in the presence of God’s angels if you publicly acknowledge me here on earth as your Friend. 9 But I will deny before the angels those who deny me here among men. 10 (Yet those who speak against me[c] may be forgiven—while those who speak against the Holy Spirit shall never be forgiven.)
11 “And when you are brought to trial before these Jewish rulers and authorities in the synagogues, don’t be concerned about what to say in your defense, 12 for the Holy Spirit will give you the right words even as you are standing there.”
13 Then someone called from the crowd, “Sir, please tell my brother to divide my father’s estate with me.”
14 But Jesus replied, “Man, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that? 15 Beware! Don’t always be wishing for what you don’t have. For real life and real living are not related to how rich we are.”
16 Then he gave an illustration: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 In fact, his barns were full to overflowing—he couldn’t get everything in. He thought about his problem, 18 and finally exclaimed, ‘I know—I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones! Then I’ll have room enough. 19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “Friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Wine, women, and song for you!”’[d]
20 “But God said to him, ‘Fool! Tonight you die. Then who will get it all?’
21 “Yes, every man is a fool who gets rich on earth but not in heaven.”
22 Then turning to his disciples he said, “Don’t worry about whether you have enough food to eat or clothes to wear. 23 For life consists of far more than food and clothes. 24 Look at the ravens—they don’t plant or harvest or have barns to store away their food, and yet they get along all right—for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds!
25 “And besides, what’s the use of worrying? What good does it do? Will it add a single day to your life? Of course not! 26 And if worry can’t even do such little things as that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?
27 “Look at the lilies! They don’t toil and spin, and yet Solomon in all his glory was not robed as well as they are. 28 And if God provides clothing for the flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, don’t you suppose that he will provide clothing for you, you doubters? 29 And don’t worry about food—what to eat and drink; don’t worry at all that God will provide it for you. 30 All mankind scratches for its daily bread, but your heavenly Father knows your needs. 31 He will always give you all you need from day to day if you will make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.