1 Samuel 22; 1 Samuel 23; 1 Samuel 24; Luke 12:1-31

1 David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him.

2 And every one who was in distress, and every one who was in debt, and every one who was discontented, gathered to him; and he became captain over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.

3 And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, "Pray let my father and my mother stay with you, till I know what God will do for me."

4 And he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.

5 Then the prophet Gad said to David, "Do not remain in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah." So David departed, and went into the forest of Hereth.

6 Now Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Saul was sitting at Gib'e-ah, under the tamarisk tree on the height, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him.

7 And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, "Hear now, you Benjaminites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds,

8 that all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me when my son makes a league with the son of Jesse, none of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day."

9 Then answered Do'eg the E'domite, who stood by the servants of Saul, "I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahim'elech the son of Ahi'tub,

10 and he inquired of the LORD for him, and gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine."

11 Then the king sent to summon Ahim'elech the priest, the son of Ahi'tub, and all his father's house, the priests who were at Nob; and all of them came to the king.

12 And Saul said, "Hear now, son of Ahi'tub." And he answered, "Here I am, my lord."

13 And Saul said to him, "Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, so that he has risen against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?"

14 Then Ahim'elech answered the king, "And who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and captain over your bodyguard, and honored in your house?

15 Is today the first time that I have inquired of God for him? No! Let not the king impute anything to his servant or to all the house of my father; for your servant has known nothing of all this, much or little."

16 And the king said, "You shall surely die, Ahim'elech, you and all your father's house."

17 And the king said to the guard who stood about him, "Turn and kill the priests of the LORD; because their hand also is with David, and they knew that he fled, and did not disclose it to me." But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the LORD.

18 Then the king said to Do'eg, "You turn and fall upon the priests." And Do'eg the E'domite turned and fell upon the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod.

19 And Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; both men and women, children and sucklings, oxen, asses and sheep, he put to the sword.

20 But one of the sons of Ahim'elech the son of Ahi'tub, named Abi'athar, escaped and fled after David.

21 And Abi'athar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD.

22 And David said to Abi'athar, "I knew on that day, when Do'eg the E'domite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father's house.

23 Stay with me, fear not; for he that seeks my life seeks your life; with me you shall be in safekeeping."

1 Now they told David, "Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Kei'lah, and are robbing the threshing floors."

2 Therefore David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" And the LORD said to David, "Go and attack the Philistines and save Kei'lah."

3 But David's men said to him, "Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Kei'lah against the armies of the Philistines?"

4 Then David inquired of the LORD again. And the LORD answered him, "Arise, go down to Kei'lah; for I will give the Philistines into your hand.

5 And David and his men went to Kei'lah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and made a great slaughter among them. So David delivered the inhabitants of Kei'lah.

6 When Abi'athar the son of Ahim'elech fled to David to Kei'lah, he came down with an ephod in his hand.

7 Now it was told Saul that David had come to Kei'lah. And Saul said, "God has given him into my hand; for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars."

8 And Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Kei'lah, to besiege David and his men.

9 David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him; and he said to Abi'athar the priest, "Bring the ephod here."

10 Then said David, "O LORD, the God of Israel, thy servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Kei'lah, to destroy the city on my account.

11 Will the men of Kei'lah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as thy servant has heard? O LORD, the God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant." And the LORD said, "He will come down."

12 Then said David, "Will the men of Kei'lah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?" And the LORD said, "They will surrender you."

13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed from Kei'lah, and they went wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Kei'lah, he gave up the expedition.

14 And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand

15 And David was afraid because Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the Wilderness of Ziph at Horesh.

16 And Jonathan, Saul's son, rose, and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God.

17 And he said to him, "Fear not; for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you; you shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you; Saul my father also knows this."

18 And the two of them made a covenant before the LORD; David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home.

19 Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gib'e-ah, saying, "Does not David hide among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachi'lah, which is south of Jeshi'mon

20 Now come down, O king, according to all your heart's desire to come down; and our part shall be to surrender him into the king's hand."

21 And Saul said, "May you be blessed by the LORD; for you have had compassion on me

22 Go, make yet more sure; know and see the place where his haunt is, and who has seen him there; for it is told me that he is very cunning.

23 See therefore, and take note of all the lurking places where he hides, and come back to me with sure information. Then I will go with you; and if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah."

24 And they arose, and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Ma'on, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshi'mon.

25 And Saul and his men went to seek him. And David was told; therefore he went down to the rock which is in the wilderness of Ma'on. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Ma'on.

26 Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain; and David was making haste to get away from Saul, as Saul and his men were closing in upon David and his men to capture them,

27 when a messenger came to Saul, saying, "Make haste and come; for the Philistines have made a raid upon the land."

28 So Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines; therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape.

29 And David went up from there, and dwelt in the strongholds of En-ge'di.

1 When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, "Behold, David is in the wilderness of En-ge'di."

2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats' Rocks.

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

4 And the men of David said to him, "Here is the day of which the LORD said to you, 'Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.'" Then David arose and stealthily cut off the skirt of Saul's robe.

5 And afterward David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt.

6 He said to his men, "The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD'S anointed, to put forth my hand against him, seeing he is the LORD'S anointed."

7 So David persuaded his men with these words, and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave, and went upon his way.

8 Afterward David also arose, and went out of the cave, and called after Saul, "My lord the king!" And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and did obeisance.

9 And David said to Saul, "Why do you listen to the words of men who say, 'Behold, David seeks your hurt'?

10 Lo, this day your eyes have seen how the LORD gave you today into my hand in the cave; and some bade me kill you, but I spared you. I said, 'I will not put forth my hand against my lord; for he is the LORD'S anointed.'

11 See, my father, see the skirt of your robe in my hand; for by the fact that I cut off the skirt of your robe, and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it.

12 May the LORD judge between me and you, may the LORD avenge me upon you; but my hand shall not be against you.

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

14 After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog! After a flea!

15 May the LORD therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and you, and see to it, and plead my cause, and deliver me from your hand."

16 When David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, "Is this your voice, my son David?" And Saul lifted up his voice and wept.

17 He said to David, "You are more righteous than I; for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil.

18 And you have declared this day how you have dealt well with me, in that you did not kill me when the LORD put me into your hands.

19 For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe? So may the LORD reward you with good for what you have done to me this day.

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

21 Swear to me therefore by the LORD that you will not cut off my descendants after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house."

22 And David swore this to Saul. Then Saul went home; but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

1 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the multitude had gathered together that they trod upon one another, he began to say to his disciples first, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

4 "I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear him!

6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.

7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

8 "And I tell you, every one who acknowledges me before men, the Son of man also will acknowledge before the angels of God;

9 but he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.

10 And every one who speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious how or what you are to answer or what you are to say;

12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."

13 One of the multitude said to him, "Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me."

14 But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?"

15 And he said to them, "Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

16 And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully;

17 and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?'

18 And he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.'

20 But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'

21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

22 And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, nor about your body, what you shall put on.

23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!

25 And which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his span of life?

26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?

27 Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

28 But if God so clothes the grass which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O men of little faith!

29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be of anxious mind.

30 For all the nations of the world seek these things; and your Father knows that you need them.

31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things shall be yours as well.