Monday in Easter

1Verse 1. Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? How have I sinned against your father, that he wants to take my life?” 2Verse 2. “Far from it!” Jonathan replied. “You will not die. Indeed, my father does nothing, great or small, without telling me. So why would he hide this matter from me? This cannot be true!” 3Verse 3. But David again vowed, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or he will be grieved.’ As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.” 4Verse 4. Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you desire, I will do for you.” 5Verse 5. So David told him, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I am supposed to dine with the king. Instead, let me go and hide in the field until the third evening from now. 6Verse 6. If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David urgently requested my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because there is an annual sacrifice for his whole clan.’ 7Verse 7. If he says, ‘Good,’ then your servant is safe, but if he is enraged, you will know he has evil intentions. 8Verse 8. Therefore show kindness to your servant, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before the LORD. If there is iniquity in me, then kill me yourself; why should you bring me to your father?” 9Verse 9. “Never!” Jonathan replied. “If I ever found out that my father had evil intentions against you, would I not tell you?” 10Verse 10. Then David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?” 11Verse 11. “Come,” he replied, “let us go out to the field.” So the two of them went out into the field, 12Verse 12. and Jonathan said, “By the LORD, the God of Israel, I will sound out my father by this time tomorrow or the next day. If he is favorable toward you, will I not send for you and tell you? 13Verse 13. But if my father intends to bring evil on you, then may the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if I do not tell you and send you on your way in safety. May the LORD be with you, just as He has been with my father. 14Verse 14. And as long as I live, treat me with the LORD’s loving devotion, that I may not die, 15Verse 15. and do not ever cut off your loving devotion from my household— not even when the LORD cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.” 16Verse 16. So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD hold David’s enemies accountable.” 17Verse 17. And Jonathan had David reaffirm his vow out of love for him, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself. 18Verse 18. Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon, and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 19Verse 19. When you have stayed three days, hurry down to the place you hid on the day this trouble began, and remain beside the stone Ezel. 20Verse 20. I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as if I were aiming at a target. 21Verse 21. Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows!’ Now, if I expressly say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them,’ then come, because as surely as the LORD lives, it is safe for you, and there is no danger. 22Verse 22. But if I say to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, for the LORD has sent you away. 23Verse 23. And as for the matter you and I have discussed, the LORD is a witness between you and me forever.” 35Verse 35. In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointment with David, and a small boy was with him. 36Verse 36. He said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” And as the boy ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him. 37Verse 37. When the boy reached the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called to him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?” 38Verse 38. Then Jonathan cried out, “Hurry! Make haste! Do not delay!” So the boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master. 39Verse 39. But the boy did not know anything; only Jonathan and David knew the arrangement. 40Verse 40. Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the boy and said, “Go, take it back to the city.” 41Verse 41. When the young man had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone, fell facedown, and bowed three times. Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and wept together — though David wept more. 42Verse 42. And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be a witness between you and me, and between your descendants and mine forever.’” Then David got up and departed, and Jonathan went back into the city.

19Verse 19. Meanwhile those scattered by the persecution that began with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message only to Jews. 20Verse 20. But some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21Verse 21. The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. 22Verse 22. When news of this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23Verse 23. When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts. 24Verse 24. Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. 25Verse 25. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26Verse 26. and when he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. So for a full year they met together with the church and taught large numbers of people. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.