Month: May 2024

29 The Philistines gathered for battle at Aphek, while the armies of Israel camped near the spring of Jezreel. ² The armies of the Philistines were marching forward by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were marching in the rear with King Achish.

¹¹ So the next morning, David and his men got up early and traveled south to the land of the Philistines, but the Philistine army went north to Jezreel.

30 When David and his men reached Ziklag three days later, they discovered that the Amalekites had raided the desert hill country. They had attacked Ziklag in David’s absence, burned it, ² and carried away the women and all the other inhabitants whom David had left behind. None of them were killed, but they were taken captive and carried back toward Amalek.

³ So David and his men arrived in the burned city and found their wives, daughters, and sons gone, taken captive by the Amalekite raiders. ⁴ And when they saw this, they cried out and wept aloud until they could weep no more. ⁵ David’s wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel, were among those carried off.

⁶ David, too, was in anguish. Some of his men talked about stoning him because they were so bitter about their families being taken. But David took comfort in the Eternal One, his True God.

⁷ He called for the priest, Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, and instructed him to bring the priestly vest, which he did.

^9-10 So David set out with his 600 men. They came to the wadi Besor, a dry creek bed where he left behind 200 men who were too exhausted to continue the pursuit.

¹¹ In the open country beyond, some of his soldiers found an Egyptian. They took him to David, fed him, and gave him water. ¹² They gave him some fig cake and two clusters of raisins. After the man had eaten, he regained his strength. He had not had food or water for three days and nights.

¹⁶ He led David to where the Amalekites were spread out all over the place eating and drinking and dancing, because they had taken such great spoils in their raids against Philistia and Judah. ¹⁷ David fought against them from one twilight to the next, and he killed all of them except for 400 young men who escaped on camels.

¹⁸ So David recovered everything that had been taken, including his two wives. ¹⁹ Nothing was missing—from the smallest thing to the greatest treasure, none of the sons or daughters, no property of any kind. David brought everything home. ²⁰ David also captured their flocks and herds, which they were driving ahead of other livestock, and the people agreed this would be David’s share of the Amalekites’ property.

²¹ David and his people returned to the wadi Besor, where the 200 had remained behind, and those men went out to meet David and all those with him. As David approached, he greeted them. ²² But some of the wicked and greedy ones who had fought alongside David spoke out.

²⁵ In fact, he made this a law and an ordinance, and it remains so in Israel today.

²⁶ And after David returned to Ziklag, he gave part of the spoil he had taken to his friends who ruled over Judah, with the message, “This is a present for you taken from the enemies of the Eternal.”

²⁷ These gifts were sent to Bethel, to Ramoth in the desert south, to Jattir, ²⁸ to Aroer, to Siphmoth, to Eshtemoa, ²⁹ to Racal, to the towns of the Jerahmeelites, to the towns of the Kenites, ³⁰ to Hormah, to Bor-ashan, to Athach, ³¹ and to Hebron—all places where David and his men had lived and traveled.

31 Meanwhile the Philistine and Israelite armies had clashed. The men of Israel ran away, but many of them were killed on the heights of Gilboa. ² The Philistines even followed Saul and his sons and closed in on them; there they killed his sons, Jonathan (the beloved friend of David), Abinadab, and Malchi-shua.

³ The battle closed in around Saul, and he was shot with arrows and badly wounded.

But his armor-bearer was afraid and would not do it. Saul drew his own sword and fell upon it. ⁵ When the armor-bearer saw this, he also drew his sword and fell upon it and died. ⁶ So Saul, his three sons, his armor-bearer, and all his men died together on the same day.

⁷ When the people of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and even those beyond the Jordan River, learned that the Israelite army had been defeated and heard that Saul and his sons were dead, they left their cities and fled. Then the Philistines came and lived in them.

⁸ The next day, as the Philistine army was looting the bodies of the fallen Israelites, they found Saul and his three sons dead on the heights of Gilboa. ⁹ They cut off Saul’s head, stripped his body of his weapons, and sent messengers with the good news to the temples and to the people throughout Philistia. ¹⁰ They put Saul’s armor in the temple of Astarte and nailed his body to the wall at Beth-shan.

¹¹ But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard about this indignity done to Saul by the Philistines, ¹² the brave men among them rose up and traveled through the night. When they arrived, they took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall at Beth-shan. They returned to Jabesh and burned them there. ¹³ Then they took their bones and buried them in Jabesh beneath the tamarisk tree, like the one where Saul had held court in Gibeah, and for seven days they fasted and mourned.

⁵⁵ The Passover was approaching, and Jews everywhere traveled to Jerusalem early so they could purify themselves and prepare for Passover. ⁵⁶ People were looking for Jesus, hoping to catch a glimpse of Him in the city. All the while, some Jews were discussing Him in the temple.

⁵⁷ In the midst of this confusion, the Pharisees and the chief priests ordered that if anyone knew the whereabouts of Jesus of Nazareth, it must be reported immediately so they could arrest Him.

12 Six days before the Passover feast, Jesus journeyed to the village of Bethany, to the home of Lazarus who had recently been raised from the dead, ² where they hosted Him for dinner. Martha was busy serving as the hostess, Lazarus reclined at the table with Him, ³ and Mary took a pound of fine ointment, pure nard (which is both rare and expensive), and anointed Jesus’ feet with it; and then she wiped them with her hair. As the pleasant fragrance of this extravagant ointment filled the entire house, ⁴ Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples (who was plotting to betray Jesus), began to speak.

⁶ This had nothing to do with Judas’s desire to help the poor. The truth is he served as the treasurer, and he helped himself to the money from the common pot at every opportunity.

⁹ Word spread of Jesus’ presence, and a large crowd was gathering to see Jesus and the formerly deceased Lazarus, whom He had brought back from the dead. ¹⁰ The chief priests were secretly plotting Lazarus’s murder since, ¹¹ because of him, many Jews were leaving their teachings and believing in Jesus.

¹² The next day, a great crowd of people who had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem; ¹³ so they gathered branches of palm trees to wave as they celebrated His arrival.

¹⁴ Jesus found a young donkey, sat on it, and rode through the crowds mounted on this small beast. The Scriptures foretold of this day:

¹⁶ The disciples did not understand any of this at the time; these truths did not sink in until Jesus had been glorified. As they reflected on their memories of Jesus, they realized these things happened just as they were written. ¹⁷ Those who witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus enthusiastically spoke of Jesus to all who would listen, ¹⁸ and that is why the crowd went out to meet Him. They had heard of the miraculous sign He had done.

Psalm 118

David Again Spares Saul

26 Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah saying, “David is hiding on the hill of Hachilah opposite Jeshimon.”^{(A) 2} So Saul, accompanied by three thousand of the fit young men of Israel,^(B) went immediately to the Wilderness of Ziph to search for David there. ³ Saul camped beside the road at the hill of Hachilah^(C) opposite Jeshimon. David was living in the wilderness and discovered Saul had come there after him.^{(D) 4} So David sent out spies and knew for certain that Saul had come. ⁵ Immediately, David went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw the place where Saul and Abner son of Ner,^(E) the commander of his army, were lying down. Saul was lying inside the inner circle of the camp with the troops camped around him. ⁶ Then David asked Ahimelech the Hethite^(F) and Joab’s brother Abishai^(G) son of Zeruiah, “Who will go with me into the camp^(H) to Saul?”

“I’ll go with you,” answered Abishai.

⁷ That night, David and Abishai came to the troops, and Saul was lying there asleep in the inner circle of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. Abner and the troops were lying around him. ⁸ Then Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy to you. Let me thrust the spear through him into the ground just once. I won’t have to strike him twice!”

⁹ But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him, for who can lift a hand against the Lord’s anointed and be innocent?” ^{(I) 10} David added, “As the Lord lives, the Lord will certainly strike him down:^(J) either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. ¹¹ However, as the Lord is my witness, I will never lift my hand against the Lord’s anointed.^(K) Instead, take the spear and the water jug by his head, and let’s go.”

¹² So David took the spear and the water jug by Saul’s head, and they went their way. No one saw them, no one knew, and no one woke up; they all remained asleep because a deep sleep from the Lord^(L) came over them. ¹³ David crossed to the other side and stood on top of the mountain at a distance; there was a considerable space between them. ¹⁴ Then David shouted to the troops and to Abner son of Ner, “Aren’t you going to answer, Abner?”

“Who are you who calls to the king?” Abner asked.

¹⁵ David called to Abner, “You’re a man, aren’t you? Who in Israel is your equal? So why didn’t you protect your lord the king when one of the people came to destroy him? ¹⁶ What you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, all of you deserve to die^[a] since you didn’t protect your lord, the Lord’s anointed.^(M) Now look around; where are the king’s spear and water jug that were by his head?”

¹⁷ Saul recognized David’s voice and asked, “Is that your voice, my son David?” ^(N)

“It is my voice, my lord and king,” David said. ¹⁸ Then he continued, “Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done? What crime have I committed?^{(O) 19} Now, may my lord the king please hear the words of his servant: If it is the Lord who has incited you against me,^(P) then may he accept an offering.^(Q) But if it is people,^(R) may they be cursed in the presence of the Lord, for today they have banished me from sharing in the inheritance of the Lord, saying,^(S) ‘Go and worship other gods.’ ²⁰ So don’t let my blood fall to the ground far from the Lord’s presence, for the king of Israel has come out to search for a single flea,^(T) like one who pursues a partridge in the mountains.”

²¹ Saul responded, “I have sinned.^(U) Come back, my son David, I will never harm you again because today you considered my life precious. I have been a fool! I’ve committed a grave error.”

²² David answered, “Here is the king’s spear; have one of the young men come over and get it. ²³ The Lord will repay every man for his righteousness^(V) and his loyalty. I wasn’t willing to lift my hand against the Lord’s anointed, even though the Lord handed you over to me today.^{(W) 24} Just as I considered your life valuable today, so may the Lord consider my life valuable^(X) and rescue me from all trouble.”^(Y)

²⁵ Saul said to him, “You are blessed, my son David. You will certainly do great things and will also prevail.”^(Z) Then David went on his way, and Saul returned home.^(AA)

David Flees to Ziklag

27 David said to himself, “One of these days I’ll be swept away by Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape immediately to the land of the Philistines.^(AB) Then Saul will give up searching for me everywhere in Israel, and I’ll escape from him.” ² So David set out with his six hundred men^(AC) and went over to Achish son of Maoch,^(AD) the king of Gath. ³ David and his men stayed with Achish in Gath. Each man had his family with him,^(AE) and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel,^(AF) Nabal’s widow. ⁴ When it was reported to Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.

⁵ Now David said to Achish, “If I have found favor with you, let me be given a place in one of the outlying towns, so I can live there. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?” ⁶ That day Achish gave Ziklag^(AG) to him, and it still belongs to the kings of Judah today. ⁷ The length of time that David stayed in Philistine territory amounted to a year and four months.^(AH)

⁸ David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites,^(AI) the Girzites,^[b] and the Amalekites.^(AJ) From ancient times they had been the inhabitants of the region through Shur^(AK) as far as the land of Egypt. ⁹ Whenever David attacked the land, he did not leave a single person alive, either man or woman, but he took flocks, herds, donkeys, camels, and clothing.^(AL) Then he came back to Achish, ¹⁰ who inquired, “Where did you raid today?” ^[c](AM)

David replied, “The south country of Judah,” “The south country of the Jerahmeelites,”^(AN) or “The south country of the Kenites.”^(AO)

¹¹ David did not let a man or woman live to be brought to Gath, for he said, “Or they will inform on us and say, ‘This is what David did.’” This was David’s custom during the whole time he stayed in the Philistine territory. ¹² So Achish trusted David, thinking, “Since he has made himself repulsive to his people Israel, he will be my servant forever.”

Saul and the Medium

28 At that time, the Philistines^(AP) gathered their military units into one army to fight against Israel. So Achish said to David, “You know, of course, that you and your men must march out in the army^[d] with me.”

² David replied to Achish, “Good, you will find out what your servant can do.”

So Achish said to David, “Very well, I will appoint you as my permanent bodyguard.”^(AQ)

³ By this time Samuel had died,^(AR) all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his city,^(AS) and Saul had removed the mediums and spiritists from the land.^{(AT) 4} The Philistines gathered and camped at Shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel, and they camped at Gilboa. ⁵ When Saul saw the Philistine camp, he was afraid and his heart pounded. ⁶ He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him in dreams or by the Urim or by the prophets.^{(AU) 7} Saul then said to his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I can go and consult her.”

His servants replied, “There is a woman at En-dor^(AV) who is a medium.”^(AW)

⁸ Saul disguised himself^(AX) by putting on different clothes and set out with two of his men. They came to the woman at night, and Saul said, “Consult a spirit for me.^(AY) Bring up for me the one I tell you.”^(AZ)

⁹ But the woman said to him, “You surely know what Saul has done,^(BA) how he has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why are you setting a trap for me to get me killed?”

¹⁰ Then Saul swore to her by the Lord: “As surely as the Lord lives, no punishment will come to you^[e] from this.”

¹¹ “Who is it that you want me to bring up for you?” the woman asked.

“Bring up Samuel for me,” he answered.

¹² When the woman saw Samuel, she screamed, and then she asked Saul, “Why did you deceive me? You are Saul!”

¹³ But the king said to her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?”

“I see a spirit form^[f] coming up out of the earth,” the woman answered.

¹⁴ Then Saul asked her, “What does he look like?”

“An old man is coming up,” she replied. “He’s wearing a robe.”^(BB) Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he knelt low with his face to the ground and paid homage.^(BC)

¹⁵ “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Samuel asked Saul.

“I’m in serious trouble,” replied Saul. “The Philistines are fighting against me and God has turned away from me.^(BD) He doesn’t answer me anymore,^(BE) either through the prophets or in dreams. So I’ve called on you to tell me what I should do.”

¹⁶ Samuel answered, “Since the Lord has turned away from you and has become your enemy, why are you asking me? ¹⁷ The Lord has done^[g] exactly what he said through me: The Lord has torn the kingship out of your hand and given it to your neighbor David.^{(BF) 18} You did not obey the Lord and did not carry out his burning anger against Amalek;^(BG) therefore the Lord has done this to you today. ¹⁹ The Lord will also hand Israel over to the Philistines along with you. Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me,^[h](BH) and the Lord will hand Israel’s army over to the Philistines.”

²⁰ Immediately, Saul fell flat on the ground. He was terrified by Samuel’s words and was also weak because he had not eaten anything all day and all night. ²¹ The woman came over to Saul, and she saw that he was terrified and said to him, “Look, your servant has obeyed you. I took my life in my hands^(BI) and did what you told me to do. ²² Now please listen to your servant. Let me set some food in front of you. Eat and it will give you strength so you can go on your way.”

²³ He refused, saying, “I won’t eat,” but when his servants and the woman urged him, he listened to them.^(BJ) He got up off the ground and sat on the bed.^(BK)

²⁴ The woman had a fattened calf at her house, and she quickly slaughtered it.^(BL) She also took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread. ²⁵ She served it to Saul and his servants, and they ate. Afterward, they got up and left that night.

Lazarus Dies at Bethany

11 Now a man was sick—Lazarus from Bethany,^(A) the village of Mary and her sister Martha.^{(B) 2} Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair,^(C) and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick. ³ So the sisters sent a message to him: “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

⁴ When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God,^(D) so that the Son of God^(E) may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. ⁶ So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. ⁷ Then after that, he said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea^(F) again.”

⁸ “Rabbi,”^(G) the disciples told him, “just now the Jews tried to stone you,^(H) and you’re going there again?”

⁹ “Aren’t there twelve hours in a day?” Jesus answered. “If anyone walks during the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.^{(I) 10} But if anyone walks during the night,^(J) he does stumble, because the light is not in him.”

¹¹ He said this, and then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,^(K) but I’m on my way to wake him up.”

¹² Then the disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.”

¹³ Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep. ¹⁴ So Jesus then told them plainly, “Lazarus has died. ¹⁵ I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe. But let’s go to him.”

¹⁶ Then Thomas^(L) (called “Twin”^[a]) said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go too so that we may die with him.”

The Resurrection and the Life

¹⁷ When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb^(M) four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was near Jerusalem^(N) (less than two miles^[b] away). ¹⁹ Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.

²⁰ As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house. ²¹ Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. ²² Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

²³ “Your brother will rise^(O) again,” Jesus told her.

²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”^(P)

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am^(Q) the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me,^(R) even if he dies, will live.^{(S) 26} Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.^(T) Do you believe this?”

²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe you are the Messiah,^(U) the Son^(V) of God, who comes into the world.”^(W)

Jesus Shares the Sorrow of Death

²⁸ Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

²⁹ As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.^{(X) 30} Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw that Mary got up quickly and went out. They followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb^(Y) to cry there.

³² As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet^(Z) and told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died!”

³³ When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved^[c] in his spirit^(AA) and troubled. ³⁴ “Where have you put him?” he asked.

“Lord,” they told him, “come and see.”

³⁵ Jesus wept.^(AB)

³⁶ So the Jews said, “See how he loved^(AC) him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Couldn’t he who opened the blind man’s eyes^(AD) also have kept this man from dying?”

The Seventh Sign: Raising Lazarus from the Dead

³⁸ Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.^{(AE) 39} “Remove the stone,” Jesus said.

Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, there is already a stench because he has been dead four days.”

⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory^(AF) of God?”^(AG)

⁴¹ So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank^(AH) you that you heard me.^{(AI) 42} I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so that they may believe you sent^(AJ) me.” ⁴³ After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”

The Plot to Kill Jesus

⁴⁵ Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he did believed in him.^{(AK) 46} But some of them went to the Pharisees^(AL) and told them what Jesus had done.

⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin^(AM) and were saying, “What are we going to do since this man is doing many signs? ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans^(AN) will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

⁴⁹ One of them, Caiaphas,^(AO) who was high priest^(AP) that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! ⁵⁰ You’re not considering that it is to your^[d] advantage that one man should die for the people rather than the whole nation perish.”^{(AQ) 51} He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was going to die^(AR) for the nation, ⁵² and not for the nation only, but also to unite the scattered children^(AS) of God. ⁵³ So from that day on they plotted to kill him.^(AT)

⁵⁴ Jesus therefore no longer walked openly^(AU) among the Jews but departed from there to the countryside near the wilderness,^(AV) to a town called Ephraim, and he stayed there with the disciples.

Psalm 117

Universal Call to Praise

24 After Saul had returned from chasing the Philistines, he was told that David had gone to the wilderness of Engedi. ² He gathered 3,000 hardened fighting men from across Israel and sought David in the vicinity of the Rocks of Wild Goats. ³ When he came to the sheep shelters beside the road, a cave was there, and Saul went inside to relieve himself. Unguarded, he was especially vulnerable to attack.

Now Saul didn’t know it, but David and his men were hiding in the recesses of that very cave. David’s guards thought it was the perfect time to strike.

David crept forward quietly and moved in so close he was able to cut a corner from Saul’s robe. ⁵ But immediately afterward, David felt awful about what he had done.

⁷ David reprimanded his men, refusing to allow them to attack Saul. At last Saul finished and went outside the cave.

⁸ David followed him at a safe distance. When Saul exited the cave, David called out.

Saul turned around to see David bowing low, his face touching the ground to show his respect.

¹⁶ David’s voice fell silent. Saul could hardly believe his eyes and ears.

²² David swore this to Saul. Saul went home, and David and his men returned to their hideout.

25 At last, Samuel died, and all of the people of Israel gathered to mourn him. They buried him at his home in Ramah on the border of Benjamin and Ephraim. Once the mourning period was over, David and his men went down to the wilderness of Paran^[a] (the desert area far to the south).

² A certain man in Maon owned property in Carmel, a town south of Hebron near the Dead Sea. This man was very rich: he owned 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. It was sheepshearing time in Carmel, which was celebrated with feasting and generosity. ³ This rich man’s name was Nabal, which means “foolish,” and his wife was Abigail, which means “my father is joy.” She was smart and beautiful, but he was mean-spirited and bad-tempered, an embarrassment to his Calebite tribe.

⁴ From his hiding place in the wilderness, David heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep, ⁵ so David gathered 10 young men to send to Nabal asking for gifts.

⁹ When David’s young men came to Nabal, they delivered David’s message and waited for Nabal’s response.

¹² So David’s young men returned to him by the same road and told him what had happened.

All of them put on their swords, including David, and about 400 of his men followed him while 200 remained behind with their supplies.

¹⁴ One of Nabal’s servants recognized his master’s insolence and told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, what was happening.

¹⁸ Then Abigail, knowing the stakes, rushed about gathering gifts similar to what her husband should have offered: 200 loaves, 2 jugs of wine, 5 sheep (butchered and dressed), more than 50 quarts of roasted grain, 100 clusters of raisins, and 200 fig cakes. She had these loaded on donkeys.

But she never stopped to speak to her husband Nabal. She had decided to approach David herself.

²⁰ As she rode down the mountain on a hidden trail, David and his men were approaching, and they met.

²¹ Earlier David had made an oath.

²³ When Abigail saw David, she dropped quickly from her donkey and fell to the ground in front of him, bowing.

³⁵ Then David accepted her gifts.

³⁶ Abigail returned to Nabal, who was holding a kingly feast in his house. Nabal’s heart was light because he was very drunk, so Abigail chose not to tell him anything until the next morning. ³⁷ The next morning, when he was sober, Abigail told him about her meeting with David and he went cold inside. ³⁸ About 10 days later, the Eternal One struck down Nabal, and he died.

³⁹ When David heard this news, he blessed God.

⁴⁰ Then David sent servants to Carmel asking Abigail to be his wife.

⁴¹ She stood, and then bowed to the ground before David’s servants.

⁴² Then Abigail quickly got up, mounted her donkey, and went with the messengers of David attended by her five handmaidens. Not long after, she married him.

⁴³ David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel; she and Abigail were both wives of David. ⁴⁴ By this time, Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s former wife, to Palti (the son of Laish) from Gallim.

^22-23 It was winter and time for the Festival of Dedication.^[a] While in Jerusalem, Jesus was walking through the temple in an area known as Solomon’s porch, ²⁴ and Jews gathered around Him.

³¹ The Jews gathered stones to execute Jesus right then and there.

³⁹ Once again, some of the Jews tried to capture Him, but He slipped away, eluding their grasp. ⁴⁰ Jesus crossed the Jordan River and returned to the place where John was ritually cleansing the people through baptism^[c] in the early days. He lingered in the area, ⁴¹ and scores of people gathered around Him.

⁴² In that place, many believed in Him.

Psalm 116

Saul’s Increasing Paranoia

22 So David left Gath and took refuge in the cave of Adullam.^(A) When David’s brothers and his father’s whole family heard, they went down and joined him there. ² In addition, every man who was desperate, in debt, or discontented rallied around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.^(B)

³ From there David went to Mizpeh of Moab where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay with you until I know what God will do for me.” ⁴ So he left them in the care of the king of Moab, and they stayed with him the whole time David was in the stronghold.

⁵ Then the prophet Gad^(C) said to David, “Don’t stay in the stronghold. Leave and return to the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.

⁶ Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. At that time Saul was in Gibeah, sitting under the tamarisk tree^(D) at the high place. His spear was in his hand, and all his servants were standing around him. ⁷ Saul said to his servants, “Listen, men of Benjamin: Is Jesse’s son going to give all of you fields and vineyards? Do you think he’ll make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds?^{(E) 8} That’s why all of you have conspired against me! Nobody tells me when my own son makes a covenant with Jesse’s son.^(F) None of you cares about me^(G) or tells me that my son has stirred up my own servant to wait in ambush for me, as is the case today.”

⁹ Then Doeg the Edomite,^(H) who was in charge of Saul’s servants, answered, “I saw Jesse’s son come to Ahimelech son of Ahitub at Nob.^{(I) 10} Ahimelech inquired of the Lord for him^(J) and gave him provisions.^(K) He also gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”^(L)

Slaughter of the Priests

¹¹ The king sent messengers to summon the priest Ahimelech son of Ahitub, and his father’s whole family, who were priests in Nob. All of them came to the king. ¹² Then Saul said, “Listen, son of Ahitub!”

“I’m at your service,^(M) my lord,” he said.

¹³ Saul asked him, “Why did you and Jesse’s son conspire against me? You gave him bread and a sword and inquired of God for him, so he could rise up against me and wait in ambush, as is the case today.”^(N)

¹⁴ Ahimelech replied to the king, “Who among all your servants is as faithful as David?^(O) He is the king’s son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard, and honored in your house. ¹⁵ Was today the first time I inquired of God for him?^(P) Of course not! Please don’t let the king make an accusation against your servant or any of my father’s family, for your servant didn’t have any idea^[a] about all this.”

¹⁶ But the king said, “You will die, Ahimelech—you and your father’s whole family!”

¹⁷ Then the king ordered the guards standing by him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord^(Q) because they sided with David. For they knew he was fleeing, but they didn’t tell me.” But the king’s servants would not lift a hand to execute the priests of the Lord.

¹⁸ So the king said to Doeg, “Go and execute the priests!” So Doeg the Edomite went and executed the priests himself. On that day, he killed eighty-five men^(R) who wore linen ephods.^{(S) 19} He also struck down Nob, the city of the priests, with the sword—both men and women, infants and nursing babies, oxen, donkeys, and sheep.^(T)

²⁰ However, one of the sons of Ahimelech son of Ahitub escaped. His name was Abiathar,^(U) and he fled to David.^{(V) 21} Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. ²² Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew that Doeg the Edomite^(W) was there that day and that he was sure to report to Saul. I myself am responsible for^[b] the lives of everyone in your father’s family. ²³ Stay with me. Don’t be afraid, for the one who wants to take my life wants to take your life.^(X) You will be safe with me.”

Deliverance at Keilah

23 It was reported to David, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah^(Y) and raiding the threshing floors.”

² So David inquired of the Lord:^(Z) “Should I launch an attack against these Philistines?”

The Lord answered David, “Launch an attack against the Philistines and rescue Keilah.”

³ But David’s men said to him, “Look, we’re afraid here in Judah; how much more if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!”

⁴ Once again, David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered him, “Go at once to Keilah, for I will hand the Philistines over to you.”^{(AA) 5} Then David and his men went to Keilah, fought against the Philistines, drove their livestock away, and inflicted heavy losses on them. So David rescued the inhabitants of Keilah. ⁶ Abiathar son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, and he brought an ephod with him.

⁷ When it was reported to Saul that David had gone to Keilah, he said, “God has handed him over to me, for he has trapped himself by entering a town with barred gates.” ⁸ Then Saul summoned all the troops to go to war at Keilah and besiege David and his men.

⁹ When David learned that Saul was plotting evil against him, he said to the priest Abiathar,^(AB) “Bring the ephod.”^(AC)

¹⁰ Then David said, “Lord God of Israel, your servant has reliable information that Saul intends to come to Keilah and destroy the town because of me. ¹¹ Will the citizens of Keilah hand me over to him? Will Saul come down as your servant has heard? Lord God of Israel, please tell your servant.”

The Lord answered, “He will come down.”

¹² Then David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah hand me and my men over to Saul?”

“They will,”^(AD) the Lord responded.

¹³ So David and his men, numbering about six hundred,^(AE) left Keilah at once and moved from place to place.^(AF) When it was reported to Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he called off the expedition. ¹⁴ David then stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph.^(AG) Saul searched for him every day, but God did not hand David over to him.^(AH)

A Renewed Covenant

¹⁵ David was in the Wilderness of Ziph in Horesh when he saw that Saul had come out to take his life. ¹⁶ Then Saul’s son Jonathan came to David in Horesh and encouraged him in his faith^[c] in God,^{(AI) 17} saying, “Don’t be afraid, for my father Saul will never lay a hand on you. You yourself will be king over Israel,^(AJ) and I’ll be your second-in-command. Even my father Saul knows it is true.”^{(AK) 18} Then the two of them made a covenant in the Lord’s presence.^(AL) Afterward, David remained in Horesh, while Jonathan went home.

David’s Narrow Escape

¹⁹ Some Ziphites^(AM) came up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Isn’t it true that David is hiding among us in the strongholds in Horesh on the hill of Hachilah south of Jeshimon? ²⁰ So now, whenever the king wants to come down, let him come down. As for us, we will be glad to hand him over to the king.”^(AN)

²¹ “May you be blessed by the Lord,” replied Saul, “for you have shown concern for me.^{(AO) 22} Go and check again. Investigate^[d] where he goes^[e] and who has seen him there; they tell me he is extremely cunning. ²³ Investigate^[f] all the places where he hides. Then come back to me with accurate information, and I’ll go with you. If it turns out he really is in the region, I’ll search for him among all the clans^[g] of Judah.” ²⁴ So they went to Ziph ahead of Saul.

Now David and his men were in the wilderness near Maon^(AP) in the Arabah south of Jeshimon, ²⁵ and Saul and his men went to look for him. When David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Wilderness of Maon. Saul heard of this and pursued David there.

²⁶ Saul went along one side of the mountain and David and his men went along the other side. Even though David was hurrying to get away from Saul, Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them.^{(AQ) 27} Then a messenger came to Saul saying, “Come quickly, because the Philistines have raided the land!” ²⁸ So Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to engage the Philistines. Therefore, that place was named the Rock of Separation. ²⁹ From there David went up and stayed in the strongholds of En-gedi.^(AR)

The Good Shepherd

10 “Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber.^{(A) 2} The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd^(B) of the sheep.^{(C) 3} The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers.” ⁶ Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand^(D) what he was telling them.

⁷ Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am^(E) the gate for the sheep.^{(F) 8} All who came before me^[a] are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. ⁹ I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰ A thief comes only to steal^(G) and kill and destroy.^(H) I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd.^(I) The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.^{(J) 12} The hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, leaves them^[b] and runs away when he sees a wolf^(K) coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them. ¹³ This happens because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care about the sheep.

¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father.^(L) I lay down my life^(M) for the sheep. ¹⁶ But I have other sheep^(N) that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd.^{(O) 17} This is why the Father loves me,^(P) because I lay down my life^(Q) so that I may take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”^(R)

¹⁹ Again the Jews were divided^(S) because of these words. ²⁰ Many of them were saying, “He has a demon^(T) and he’s crazy. Why do you listen to him?” ²¹ Others were saying, “These aren’t the words of someone who is demon-possessed. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” ^(U)

Psalm 115

Glory to God Alone

20 David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? Am I guilty of something? What is my sin against your father that makes him seek my life?”

² Jonathan said to him, “A curse on me if that happens.^[a] You will not die. Look, my father does nothing whether important or unimportant without telling me about it. Why would my father hide this from me? It is not so.”

³ But David took an oath and said, “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your eyes, so he might say, ‘Do not let Jonathan know about this, or he will be very upset.’ But as surely as the Lord lives, and as surely as your soul lives, there is only a step between me and death.”

⁴ Then Jonathan said to David, “Ask me for whatever you really want, and I will do it for you.”

⁵ David said to Jonathan, “Listen, tomorrow is the new moon, and I am expected to dine with the king, but let me go so that I can hide in the countryside until the evening of the third day. ⁶ If your father misses me at all, say, ‘David urged me to excuse him so that he could run to Bethlehem, his hometown, because it is the annual sacrifice there for his entire family.’ ⁷ If he says, ‘That is fine,’ your servant will be at peace. But if it really displeases him, then you will know that he is planning evil. ⁸ You must show kindness to your servant, because you have made a covenant in the name of the Lord with me, your servant. But if I am guilty of anything, kill me yourself. Why should you bring me to your father?”

⁹ Jonathan said, “A curse on me if that occurs, because if I knew that my father was planning to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you?”

¹⁰ Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father gives you a harsh response?”

¹¹ Jonathan said to David, “Come, let’s go out into the field.” So the two of them went out into the field. ¹² Jonathan said to David, “I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel! About this time tomorrow or the day after, when I have tested my father to see if he is favorably inclined toward David, I will send word to you so that you hear about it. ¹³ May the Lord punish Jonathan severely and double it,^[b] if my father is planning to harm you and I do not disclose it to you and send you on your way, so that you may go in peace. May the Lord be with you, as he has been with my father. ¹⁴ You must show the mercy of the Lord to me, not only while I am still alive, so that I do not die, ¹⁵ but you also must not cut off your mercy from my house forever—no, not even when the Lord has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” ¹⁶ So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord demand an accounting from David’s enemies.” ¹⁷ Then Jonathan had David repeat the oath, because of the love that he had for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

¹⁸ Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty. ¹⁹ On the third day,^[c] go down quickly to the place where you hid on the previous occasion and stay by the stone named Ezel. ²⁰ I will shoot three arrows off to the side of it, as if I were shooting at a target. ²¹ I will send the boy out and say, ‘Go and find the arrows!’ If I yell to the boy, ‘Hey! The arrows are closer this way. Come and pick them up,’ then you can come to me, because you are safe and, as the Lord lives, there is no danger. ²² But if I yell to the boy, ‘Hey! The arrows are farther out,’ then go on your way, for the Lord has sent you away. ²³ Concerning this matter that you and I have spoken about, the Lord stands as a witness between you and me^[d] forever.”

²⁴ So David hid in the countryside. When the new moon came, the king sat down to eat his meal. ²⁵ The king sat at his usual seat next to the wall. Jonathan was across from him,^[e] and Abner sat next to Saul, but David’s place was empty. ²⁶ Nevertheless, Saul did not say anything that day, since he thought, “Something has happened to him to make him ceremonially unclean. That’s what it is—he must be unclean.”

²⁷ On the day after the new moon, the second day of the month, David’s place was still empty. So Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why didn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”

²⁸ Jonathan answered Saul, “David begged me for permission to go to Bethlehem. ²⁹ He said, ‘Please let me go, because our family has a sacrifice in the city. My brother has ordered me to be there. Now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please excuse me so I can go and see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”

³⁰ Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverted, unfaithful woman! Don’t I know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?^{[f] 31} For as long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, you will not be established, nor will your kingship. So send for him and bring him to me, because he must surely die!”

³² Jonathan answered his father Saul, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”

³³ Saul threw his spear at him to hit him. So Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death. ³⁴ Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger, and he ate no food on the second day of the month, for he grieved for David, because his father had treated David so shamefully.

³⁵ In the morning Jonathan went out into the field at the time he had set with David. He took a young servant boy with him. ³⁶ He said to his boy, “Run out and find the arrows that I shoot.” As the boy ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him. ³⁷ When the boy reached the area where Jonathan’s arrow had landed, Jonathan yelled to the boy, “Isn’t the arrow farther out from you?” ³⁸ Jonathan shouted to the boy, “Go faster! Hurry up! Don’t be slow!” Jonathan’s boy picked up the arrows and came back to his master. ³⁹ The boy did not know anything about what was going on. Only Jonathan and David knew. ⁴⁰ Jonathan gave his equipment to his boy and told him, “Go on ahead. Carry these things into the city.”

⁴¹ As soon as the boy was gone, David got up from the south side of the mound.^[g] He fell down with his face to the ground and bowed three times. They kissed one another and wept together, but David wept more. ⁴² Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, because we have both sworn in the Lord’s name. May the Lord stand between you and me and between my offspring and your offspring forever.” David got up and left, and Jonathan went back into the city.

David and the Priests

21 David came to Ahimelek the priest at Nob. When he came to meet David, Ahimelek was trembling with fear, and he said to David, “Why are you alone? Why isn’t there anyone with you?”^[h]

² David said to Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and told me, ‘Don’t let anyone know anything about where I am sending you or about your orders.’ I have instructed the young men to wait for me at a certain place. ³ So what do you have on hand? Please give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is available.”

⁴ The priest answered David, “I do not have any ordinary bread, but there is holy^[i] bread—I can give it to you^[j] only if your young men have kept themselves away from women.”^[k]

⁵ David answered the priest, “Yes indeed, women have been kept away from us just as they have been on previous occasions. Whenever I go out on a mission, the bodies^[l] of the young men are kept holy even if it is only an ordinary journey. How much more then shall their bodies be holy today?”

⁶ So the priest gave him holy bread, because there was no bread there except for the Bread of the Presence which had been removed from the presence of the Lord and replaced with hot bread.

⁷ Now one of Saul’s servants was present that day, detained before the Lord. His name was Doeg the Edomite. He was in charge of Saul’s shepherds.

⁸ David said to Ahimelek, “Don’t you have a spear or sword on hand here? I didn’t bring my sword or my gear with me, because the king’s mission was so urgent.”

⁹ The priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here. It is wrapped in a cloth behind the place where the special vest is kept. If you would like to take that, take it, because there is nothing else here.”

David said, “There is no other like that one. Give it to me.”

David Among the Philistines

¹⁰ David quickly fled from Saul that day and went to Achish king of Gath. ¹¹ The officials of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Didn’t they dance and sing songs about him, saying, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?”

¹² David took those words to heart, so he was very afraid of Achish king of Gath. ¹³ He changed his behavior in their presence and pretended to be insane while he was in their hands. He scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spit run down his beard. ¹⁴ Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, can’t you see that the man is insane? Why have you brought him to me? ¹⁵ Don’t I have enough madmen? Did you have to bring this madman into my presence? Should I keep this man in my house?”

A Blind Man Sees

9 As Jesus was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³ Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that God’s works might be revealed in connection with him. ⁴ I^[a] must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the World.”

⁶ After saying this, Jesus spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and spread the mud on the man’s eyes. ⁷ “Go,” Jesus told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

⁸ His neighbors and those who had seen him before this as a beggar asked, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?”

⁹ Some said, “He is the one.” Others said, “No, but he looks like him.” He kept saying, “I am the one!”

¹⁰ So they asked him, “How were your eyes opened?”

¹¹ He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

¹² “Where is he?” they asked.

“I don’t know,” he said.

¹³ They brought this man who had been blind to the Pharisees. ¹⁴ Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. ¹⁵ So the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight.

“He put mud on my eyes,” the man told them. “I washed, and now I see.”

¹⁶ Then some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath.” Others were saying, “How can a sinful man work such miraculous signs?”

There was division among them, ¹⁷ so they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸ The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and received his sight, until they summoned the parents of the man who had received his sight. ¹⁹ They asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? How is it, then, that he can see now?”

²⁰ “We know that this is our son,” his parents answered, “and that he was born blind. ²¹ But we do not know how he can see now, or who opened his eyes. Ask him. He is old enough. He will speak for himself.” ²² His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. ²³ That is why his parents said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”

²⁴ So for a second time they summoned the man who had been blind. They told him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”

²⁵ He answered, “I do not know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see.”

²⁶ Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

²⁷ He answered, “I already told you, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?”

²⁸ They ridiculed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹ We know that God has spoken to Moses. But this man—we do not know where he comes from.”

³⁰ “That’s amazing!” the man answered. “You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners. But he does listen to anyone who worships God and does his will. ³² From the beginning of time, no one has ever heard of anyone opening the eyes of someone born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

³⁴ They answered him, “You were entirely born in sinfulness! Yet you presume to teach us?” And they threw him out.

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had thrown him out. When he found him, he asked, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”^[b]

³⁶ “Who is he, sir,” the man replied, “that I may believe in him?”

³⁷ Jesus answered, “You have seen him, and he is the very one who is speaking with you.”

³⁸ Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” and he knelt down and worshipped him.

³⁹ Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, in order that those who do not see will see, and those who do see will become blind.”

⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and asked, “We are not blind too, are we?”

⁴¹ Jesus told them, “If you were blind, you would not hold on to sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

Psalm 113

The Mighty Deliverer

Invitation to Praise

The Basis for Praise

Psalm 114

When Israel Came Out of Egypt

⁵ David went out wherever Saul sent him, and he was successful. So Saul put him in charge of a group of soldiers. All the people approved, as did Saul’s officials.

⁶ As the army was coming back from battle, when David was returning from striking down the Philistine, women came out from all the cities of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful music, with hand drums, and with noisemakers.^{[a] 7} The women sang to each other as they played:

⁸ Saul became furious, because he resented this statement. He said, “They have credited David with tens of thousands, but to me they have credited only thousands. What more can be given to him but the kingship?” ⁹ So Saul eyed David suspiciously from that day on.

¹⁰ On the next day, an evil spirit from God overcame Saul, and in a frenzy he prophesied inside the house. David had a lyre in his hand. He was playing as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. ¹¹ He hurled the spear, because he thought, “I will pin David to the wall!” But David escaped from his presence twice.

¹² Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had departed from Saul. ¹³ So Saul sent David away from his court and made him a commander over a unit of a thousand. So David led the army out to battle and back again. ¹⁴ David was successful in everything he did, and the Lord was with him. ¹⁵ When Saul saw that David was so successful, he was even more afraid of him. ¹⁶ But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them out to battle and back again.

¹⁷ Saul said to David, “Look, here is my oldest daughter Merab. I will give her to you as your wife. Just be a strong warrior for me, and fight the Lord’s battles.” For Saul thought, “It won’t be my hand against him, but it will be the hand of the Philistines against him.”

¹⁸ David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is the status of my father’s clan in Israel, that I would be able to become the son-in-law of the king?”

¹⁹ When the time came that Saul’s daughter Merab was supposed to have been given to David, she was given to Adriel of Meholah as his wife.

²⁰ Michal, Saul’s other daughter, loved David. When they told Saul about it, this situation pleased him. ²¹ Saul said, “I will give her to him, so that she will be a snare for him, and the hand of the Philistines will be against him.”

So Saul said to David, “Today you have another opportunity to become my son-in-law.”

²² Saul commanded his officials to speak with David privately and to say, “Look, the king is delighted with you, and all his officials love you, so you should become the king’s son-in-law.” ²³ Saul’s officials spoke those words to David’s ears.

But David said, “Does it seem to you to be a trivial thing for me to be the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man and not highly regarded?”

²⁴ Then Saul’s officials told him what David had said.

²⁵ So Saul said, “Tell David that the king desires no price for the bride except one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, for revenge against the king’s enemies.” Saul intended to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

²⁶ When Saul’s officials told David these words, David was very pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the deadline, ²⁷ David got up and went out with his men and killed two hundred men of the Philistines. Then David brought their foreskins and counted them out for the king, so that he could become the king’s son-in-law.

Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to David as his wife. ²⁸ Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that Michal, his daughter, loved David. ²⁹ So Saul was even more afraid of David, and he was hostile to David all the time.

³⁰ The commanders of the Philistines were regularly going out for battle, and as often as they went out, David was more successful than all the other officers of Saul. So his name was highly regarded.

19 Saul told his son Jonathan and all his officials that they should kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan had great admiration and respect for David. ² So Jonathan told David, “My father Saul wants to kill you. So be careful tomorrow morning. Settle down in a hiding place and conceal yourself. ³ I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will talk with my father about you. I will see what the situation is, and I will tell you.”

⁴ Jonathan spoke favorably about David to his father Saul. He said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and his actions have served you very well. ⁵ He took his life into his hands when he struck the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great victory for all Israel. You saw it, and you celebrated. Why then would you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?”

⁶ Saul listened to the advice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death.”

⁷ So Jonathan called David and told him about all those things. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he served in his presence as he had before.

⁸ Later, war broke out again. David went out and fought against the Philistines and inflicted a severe defeat on them, and they fled from him.

⁹ An evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. David was playing the lyre. ¹⁰ Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear, but David evaded Saul’s attempt, and Saul’s spear stuck in the wall. That night David fled and successfully escaped.

¹¹ Saul sent messengers to watch David’s house and to kill him in the morning, but David’s wife Michal told him, “If you do not do something to save your life tonight, by tomorrow you will be put to death.” ¹² So Michal let David down through the window. He took off, got away, and escaped. ¹³ Michal took a household idol and laid it in the bed. She put something made of goat hair on its head and covered the statue with clothing. ¹⁴ When Saul sent messengers to capture David, she said, “He is sick.”

¹⁵ So Saul sent the messengers to see David for themselves. He said, “Bring him to me on the bed, so I can kill him.” ¹⁶ When the messengers came in, they saw that the idol was in the bed with the goat hair on its head.

¹⁷ Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?”

Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I have to kill you?’”

¹⁸ So David ran away and successfully escaped.

David’s Flight From Saul

David came to Samuel at Ramah and told him about everything that Saul had done to him. So he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth. ¹⁹ Saul was told, “Look, David is at Naioth in Ramah.”

²⁰ Saul sent messengers to seize David, but when they saw an assembly^[b] of the prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came on Saul’s messengers, and they also prophesied. ²¹ When Saul was told about it, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. So Saul sent messengers a third time, and they also prophesied.

²² Then Saul himself went to Ramah and came to the large cistern at Seku. He asked, “Where are Samuel and David?”

Someone told him, “They are at Naioth in Ramah.”

²³ So Saul headed for Naioth in Ramah. Then the Spirit of God came on him also, and he walked along prophesying, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. ²⁴ He also stripped off his clothing and prophesied in the presence of Samuel. He fell down and lay there naked all that day and all that night. Therefore it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

³¹ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my word, you are really my disciples. ³² You will also know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

³³ “We are Abraham’s descendants,” they answered, “and we have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say, ‘You will be set free’?”

³⁴ Jesus answered, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Everyone who keeps committing sin is a slave to sin. ³⁵ But a slave does not remain in the family forever. A son does remain forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free. ³⁷ I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because there is no place for my word in you. ³⁸ I am telling you what I have seen at the side of the Father. As for you, you do what you have heard^[a] at the side of your father.”

³⁹ “Our father is Abraham!” they answered.

“If you were Abraham’s children,” Jesus told them, “you would do the works of Abraham. ⁴⁰ But now you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard at the side of God. Abraham did not do this. ⁴¹ You are doing the works of your father.”

“We were not born of sexual immorality!” they said. “We have one Father: God.”

⁴² Jesus replied, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and I am here. Indeed, I have not come on my own, but he sent me. ⁴³ Why do you not understand my message? It is because you are not able to listen to my word. ⁴⁴ You belong to your father, the Devil, and you want to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and did not remain standing in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks from what is his, because he is a liar and the father of lying. ⁴⁵ But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. ⁴⁶ Who of you can convict me of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷ Whoever belongs to God listens to what God says. The reason you do not listen is that you do not belong to God.”

⁴⁸ The Jews responded, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”

⁴⁹ Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon. On the contrary, I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. ⁵¹ Amen, Amen, I tell you: If anyone holds on to my word, he will certainly never see death.”

⁵² So the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets. Yet you say, ‘If anyone holds on to my word, he will certainly never taste death.’ ⁵³ You are not greater than our father, Abraham, are you? He died. And the prophets died. Who do you think you are?”

⁵⁴ Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, about whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ ⁵⁵ Yet you do not really know him, but I do know him. If I said, ‘I do not know him,’ I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I hold on to his word. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham was glad that he would see my day. He saw it and rejoiced.”

⁵⁷ The Jews replied, “You aren’t even fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?”

⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Before Abraham was born, I am.” ⁵⁹ Then they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden and left the temple area.^[b]

Psalm 112

The Man Who Fears the Lord

The Man Who Fears the Lord

The End of the Wicked

David and Goliath

17 Now the Philistines gathered their troops for battle. They gathered at Sokoh,^[a] which belongs to Judah, and they camped between Sokoh and Azekah at Ephes Dammim. ² Saul and the men of Israel also gathered together and camped in the Valley of Elah. They lined up in battle formation opposite the Philistines. ³ The Philistines took up a position in front of the mountain on one side of the valley, and the Israelites stationed themselves in front of the mountain on the other side of the valley.

⁴ A challenger who represented the Philistines came out from the camp of the Philistines. He was named Goliath of Gath. He was nine feet, six inches tall.^{[b] 5} He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he wore scaled body armor, which was made of more than one hundred pounds^[c] of bronze. ⁶ He had bronze greaves on his shins and a bronze spear slung between his shoulders. ⁷ The shaft^[d] of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spearhead was made of fifteen pounds^[e] of iron. His shield bearer went out ahead of him.

⁸ He would stand up and shout to the armies of Israel, “Why have you come out to line up in battle formation? I am a Philistine, and you are servants of Saul, aren’t you? Choose a man to represent you, and let him come down to me. ⁹ If he is able to fight with me and kill me, we will be your servants. But if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our servants, and you will serve us.” ¹⁰ The Philistine would say, “I defy the ranks of Israel today! Give me a man, and we will fight each other!” ¹¹ When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified.

^{[f] 12} Now David was the son of an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse. Jesse had eight sons. In the days of Saul, Jesse was a very old man. ¹³ The three oldest sons of Jesse had accompanied Saul to the battleground. The names of his three sons who went to the battle were his firstborn Eliab, next Abinadab, and third Shammah. ¹⁴ David was the youngest son. The three oldest accompanied Saul. ¹⁵ During this time David went back and forth from Saul to take care of his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

¹⁶ The Philistine came out each morning and evening for forty days and presented his challenge.

¹⁷ Jesse said to his son David, “Take twenty-five pounds^[g] of this roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers. Deliver them quickly to the camp for your brothers. ¹⁸ Also take these ten blocks of cheese to the commander of their unit.^[h] See how your brothers are doing and bring back some assurance they are okay.”

¹⁹ Now Saul, David’s brothers, and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah to fight with the Philistines.

²⁰ David got up early in the morning and left the sheep with someone who would watch them. He took the supplies and set out as Jesse had commanded him. He arrived at the outer defense line of the camp just as the army was marching out to line up in battle formation, shouting war cries as they went. ²¹ Israel and the Philistines were lining up for battle, one formation against the other. ²² After David had handed over his provisions to the supply officer, he ran to the battlefront, where he met and greeted his brothers.

²³ As he was talking with them there, he saw the Philistine challenger named Goliath of Gath coming up out of the ranks of the Philistines. He repeated his usual words, and David heard them. ²⁴ (Whenever they saw the man, all the men of Israel fled from him and were terrified.) ²⁵ An Israelite had said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? He keeps coming up to taunt Israel. The king will give great riches to the man who kills him. He will give his daughter to him in marriage and make his father’s house exempt from taxes in Israel.”

²⁶ David spoke to the men who stood near him. He asked, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine who dares to defy the troops of the living God?”

²⁷ The people again told him what would be done for the man who killed Goliath.

²⁸ When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard David speaking to the men, he burned with anger against David. He said, “Why have you come down? Who is taking care of those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the mischief in your heart. You have come down just to see the battle.”

²⁹ David said, “What have I done now? Can’t I say anything?”^{[i] 30} So David turned away from him toward another person, and he asked the same thing again, and the soldiers again answered him the same way. ³¹ When they heard what David said, they reported it to Saul, and he sent for David. ³² David said to Saul, “Do not let anyone lose heart because of this Philistine! Your servant will go and fight him.”

³³ But Saul said to David, “You cannot go against this Philistine to fight with him, because you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior since he was a youth.”

³⁴ David said to Saul, “Your servant has been taking care of his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, ³⁵ I went after it and struck it and rescued the lamb out of its mouth. When the lion reared up against me, I grabbed it by its mane, struck it, and killed it. ³⁶ Your servant struck both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has defied the ranks of the living God.” ³⁷ David added, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go then! May the Lord be with you.” ³⁸ So Saul dressed David in his own gear.^[j] He placed a bronze helmet on his head and dressed him in scaled body armor. ³⁹ David strapped his sword over his gear. David tried to walk around in them, since he had never trained with this kind of equipment before.

David said to Saul, “I cannot go in these, because I have never trained with them.” So David took them off.

⁴⁰ Then David took his staff in his hand and picked five smooth stones out of the stream bed and put them into the pouch of his shepherd’s bag. He took his sling in his hand and approached the Philistine.

⁴¹ The Philistine kept walking and got closer and closer to David. The man who was carrying his shield was walking ahead of him. ⁴² When the Philistine got a good look at David, he despised him, because David was just a boy, nothing but a good-looking, red-headed boy.^[k]

⁴³ The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come against me with sticks?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will feed your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the countryside.”

⁴⁵ Then David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ Today the Lord will hand you over to me. I will strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth. Then all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷ and all those gathered here will know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the battle belongs to the Lord, and he will deliver you into our hand.”

⁴⁸ Then, when the Philistine started advancing to attack David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹ David put his hand into his bag, took a stone from it, shot it from his sling, and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown to the ground.

⁵⁰ So David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. He struck the Philistine and killed him, even though David did not have a sword in his hand. ⁵¹ So David ran, stood over the Philistine, took hold of his sword, drew it out of its sheath, killed him, and cut off his head with it.

When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. ⁵² The men of Israel and Judah got up, cheering loudly, and pursued the Philistines toward the entrance of the valley, all the way to the gates of Ekron. Fatally-wounded Philistines lined the road from Sha’araim all the way to Gath and Ekron. ⁵³ When the Israelites returned from pursuing the Philistines, they plundered their camp. ⁵⁴ David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put the Philistine’s armor and weapons into his tent.

David and Saul’s Family

⁵⁵ When Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?”

Abner said, “As your soul lives, my King, I do not know.”

⁵⁶ The king said, “Inquire whose son the young man is!”

⁵⁷ As David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the head of the Philistine in his hand. ⁵⁸ Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?”

David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”

18 When David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul^[l] of Jonathan became bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved David as he loved his own soul.^{[m] 2} Saul took David into his service that day and would not let him go back to his father’s house anymore. ³ Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because Jonathan loved David as his own soul. ⁴ Jonathan took off the robe that he was wearing and gave it to David, as well as his other gear, including his sword, his bow, and his belt.

²¹ So he told them again, “I am going away. You will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”

²² So the Jews asked, “He won’t kill himself, will he, because he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”

²³ “You are from below,” he told them. “I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. ²⁴ That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am the one, you will die in your sins.”

²⁵ “Who are you?” they asked.

Jesus replied, “What I have been telling you from the beginning. ²⁶ I have many things to say and to judge concerning you. But the one who sent me is true. And what I heard from him, these are the things I am telling the world.” ²⁷ They did not understand that he was talking to them about the Father.

²⁸ So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one, and that I do nothing on my own. But I speak exactly as the Father taught me. ²⁹ The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”

³⁰ As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

Psalm 111

God’s Works and God’s Word

Opening Praise

God’s Works

God’s Word

Closing Praise

Saul Is Rejected

15 Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you to be king over his people Israel. Therefore, listen to the voice of the Lord. ² This is what the Lord of Armies says. I will repay Amalek for what they did to Israel when they blocked Israel’s way as it was coming up out of Egypt. ³ Go and strike Amalek. Devote everything they have to destruction. Do not spare them. Kill both men and women, infants and nursing babies, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.”

⁴ So Saul summoned the troops and organized them for battle at Telaim. There were two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men from Judah. ⁵ Then Saul came to the city of Amalek and set up an ambush in the ravine. ⁶ Saul said to the Kenites, “Go! Leave! Get away from the Amalekites, so that I do not destroy you along with them, because you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.

⁷ Saul struck the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which borders Egypt. ⁸ He took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive, and he devoted all the people to destruction with the edge of the sword. ⁹ But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the cattle, the fattened calves, and the lambs, along with everything else that was good, because they were not willing to devote them to destruction. But everything that was undesirable and worthless, that they devoted to destruction.

¹⁰ Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: ¹¹ “I regret^[a] that I have set up Saul to be king, for he has turned back from following me, and he has not carried out my words.” Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.

¹² Samuel got up to meet Saul early in the morning, but Samuel was told, “Saul went to Carmel, and he set up a monument for himself there. Then he turned and continued down to Gilgal.”

⎣So Samuel went to Saul, and there he saw Saul, offering a burnt offering to the Lord from the best of the spoils that he had brought from the Amalekites.⎦^[b]

¹³ When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, “You are blessed by the Lord! I have carried out the word of the Lord.”

¹⁴ Samuel said, “Then what does this mean—this bleating of sheep in my ears and the lowing of cattle that I hear?”

¹⁵ Saul said, “They have been brought here from the Amalekites, because the people spared the best of the sheep and the cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God. But we have completely destroyed the rest.”

¹⁶ Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop right there! Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”

He said to him, “Tell me.”

¹⁷ Samuel said, “Though you were insignificant in your own sight, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel. The Lord anointed you king over Israel. ¹⁸ Then the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go and devote the Amalekites, that sinful people, to destruction. Fight against them until they are exterminated.’ ¹⁹ Why didn’t you listen to the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the plunder and do what was evil in the Lord’s sight?”

²⁰ Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and have completed the mission that the Lord gave me. I have captured Agag king of Amalek, and I have completely destroyed the Amalekites. ²¹ But the people took some of the plunder: sheep, cattle, and the best of what was devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

²² Samuel said, “Does the Lord take as much pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obedience to the voice of the Lord? Know this! To obey is better than sacrifice, and to pay attention is better than the fat of rams. ²³ For rebellion is the same as the sin of witchcraft, and arrogance is like having useless idols or consulting household gods. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you as king.”

²⁴ Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed against the command^[c] of the Lord, as well as against your words, because I was afraid of the people, so I listened to their voice. ²⁵ But now, please pardon my sin and come back with me again, so that I may worship the Lord.”

²⁶ But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, because you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

²⁷ As Samuel turned to leave, Saul grabbed the edge of his robe, and it tore. ²⁸ Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you today, and he has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. ²⁹ The Splendor of Israel will not lie or change his mind, because he is not a man, who changes his mind.”

³⁰ Then Saul said, “I have sinned, but please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.” ³¹ So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshipped the Lord.

³² Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag the king of the Amalekites here to me!”

Agag came to him confidently. He said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”^[d]

³³ Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women!” Then Samuel cut Agag to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

³⁴ Samuel then went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul. ³⁵ Until the day of his death, Samuel never again came to see Saul. Samuel did, however, mourn for Saul, but the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

David Is Chosen as King

16 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I see a king for myself among his sons.”

² Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”

The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ³ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will let you know what you are to do. You are to anoint for me the person that I point out to you.”

⁴ So Samuel did what the Lord had told him to do and went to Bethlehem. Trembling with fear, the elders of the city came to meet him. They said, “Do you come in peace?”

⁵ He said, “Yes, in peace. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” He consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

⁶ When they had come, he looked at Eliab and said, “Certainly this is the Lord’s anointed.”

⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at how tall he is, because I have rejected him. For the Lord does not look at things the way man does. For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

⁸ Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.”

⁹ Then Jesse had Shammah pass by. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.”

¹⁰ Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel. Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” ¹¹ Samuel said to Jesse, “Is that all of the young men?”

Jesse said, “There still is the youngest, but he is tending the sheep.”

Samuel said to Jesse, “Send for him, for we cannot sit down to eat until he comes.”

¹² He sent for him and brought him in. David had red hair^[e] and striking eyes, and was good-looking. The Lord said, “Get up! Anoint him, because this is the one.”

¹³ So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers. The Spirit of the Lord rushed on David with power from that day forward. After that Samuel set out and returned to Ramah.

David and Saul Meet

¹⁴ The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil^[f] spirit from the Lord tormented him.

¹⁵ So Saul’s servants said to him, “Please listen to us. An evil spirit from God is tormenting you. ¹⁶ Our lord, please command your servants who are here with you to seek out a man who is skilled at playing the lyre. Then when the evil spirit from God is on you, he will play the lyre,^[g] and you will feel better.”

¹⁷ So Saul said to his servants, “Find a man who can play well and bring him to me.”

¹⁸ Then one of the young attendants replied, “As a matter of fact, I have seen a son of Jesse from Bethlehem who is a skillful player. He is a strong, brave man, fit for war. He shows good judgment in what he says and is a handsome man. And the Lord is with him.”

¹⁹ So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.”

²⁰ Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a container of wine, and a young goat, and he sent them with his son David to Saul. ²¹ David came to Saul and stood before him. Saul loved him, and David became his armor bearer. ²² So Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Permit David to remain and serve me, for I am very pleased with him.” ²³ Whenever the spirit from God came over Saul, David would take the lyre in his hand and play. So Saul would be soothed and feel better, and the evil spirit would depart from him.

The Adulteress

8 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² Early in the morning, he came back into the temple courts. And all the people kept coming to him. He sat down and taught them.

³ Then the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery and had her stand in the center. ⁴ “Teacher,” they said to him, “this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery. ⁵ In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” ⁶ They asked this to test him, so that they might have evidence to accuse him.

Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. ⁷ But when they kept on asking him for an answer, he stood up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Then he stooped down again and wrote on the ground.

⁹ When they heard this, they went away one by one, beginning with the older men. Jesus was left alone with the woman in the center. ¹⁰ Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹ “No one, Lord,” she answered.

Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”

Jesus Is the Light of the World

¹² When Jesus spoke to them again, he said, “I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

¹³ So the Pharisees said to him, “You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.”

¹⁴ “Even if I testify about myself,” Jesus replied, “my testimony is valid, because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you do not know where I came from or where I am going. ¹⁵ You judge according to the flesh. I am not judging anyone. ¹⁶ But even if I were to judge, my judgment would be true, because I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me. ¹⁷ Even in your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is valid. ¹⁸ I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”

¹⁹ Then they asked him, “Where is your Father?”

“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”

²⁰ He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the offering box. But no one arrested him, because his time had not arrived yet.

Psalm 110

The Lord’s Decree to My Lord

Heading
By David. A psalm.

The First Decree of the Lord

Description of King Messiah’s Rule

The Second Decree of the Lord

Description of King Messiah’s Rule

14 ¹ One day Jonathan son of Saul said to his young armor-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side.” But he did not tell his father.

² Saul was staying^(A) on the outskirts of Gibeah^(B) under a pomegranate tree^(C) in Migron.^(D) With him were about six hundred men, ³ among whom was Ahijah, who was wearing an ephod. He was a son of Ichabod’s^(E) brother Ahitub^(F) son of Phinehas, the son of Eli,^(G) the Lord’s priest in Shiloh.^(H) No one was aware that Jonathan had left.

⁴ On each side of the pass^(I) that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff; one was called Bozez and the other Seneh. ⁵ One cliff stood to the north toward Mikmash, the other to the south toward Geba.^(J)

⁶ Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised^(K) men. Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. Nothing^(L) can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many^(M) or by few.^(N)”

⁷ “Do all that you have in mind,” his armor-bearer said. “Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.”

⁸ Jonathan said, “Come on, then; we will cross over toward them and let them see us. ⁹ If they say to us, ‘Wait there until we come to you,’ we will stay where we are and not go up to them. ¹⁰ But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ we will climb up, because that will be our sign^(O) that the Lord has given them into our hands.^(P)”

¹¹ So both of them showed themselves to the Philistine outpost. “Look!” said the Philistines. “The Hebrews^(Q) are crawling out of the holes they were hiding^(R) in.” ¹² The men of the outpost shouted to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, “Come up to us and we’ll teach you a lesson.^(S)”

So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, “Climb up after me; the Lord has given them into the hand^(T) of Israel.”

¹³ Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer right behind him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer followed and killed behind him. ¹⁴ In that first attack Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of about half an acre.

Israel Routs the Philistines

¹⁵ Then panic^(U) struck the whole army—those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding^(V) parties—and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God.^[a]

¹⁶ Saul’s lookouts^(W) at Gibeah in Benjamin saw the army melting away in all directions. ¹⁷ Then Saul said to the men who were with him, “Muster the forces and see who has left us.” When they did, it was Jonathan and his armor-bearer who were not there.

¹⁸ Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring^(X) the ark^(Y) of God.” (At that time it was with the Israelites.)^{[b] 19} While Saul was talking to the priest, the tumult in the Philistine camp increased more and more. So Saul said to the priest,^(Z) “Withdraw your hand.”

²⁰ Then Saul and all his men assembled and went to the battle. They found the Philistines in total confusion, striking^(AA) each other with their swords. ²¹ Those Hebrews who had previously been with the Philistines and had gone up with them to their camp went^(AB) over to the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. ²² When all the Israelites who had hidden^(AC) in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were on the run, they joined the battle in hot pursuit. ²³ So on that day the Lord saved^(AD) Israel, and the battle moved on beyond Beth Aven.^(AE)

Jonathan Eats Honey

²⁴ Now the Israelites were in distress that day, because Saul had bound the people under an oath,^(AF) saying, “Cursed be anyone who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies!” So none of the troops tasted food.

²⁵ The entire army entered the woods, and there was honey on the ground. ²⁶ When they went into the woods, they saw the honey oozing out; yet no one put his hand to his mouth, because they feared the oath. ²⁷ But Jonathan had not heard that his father had bound the people with the oath, so he reached out the end of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it into the honeycomb.^(AG) He raised his hand to his mouth, and his eyes brightened.^{[c] 28} Then one of the soldiers told him, “Your father bound the army under a strict oath, saying, ‘Cursed be anyone who eats food today!’ That is why the men are faint.”

²⁹ Jonathan said, “My father has made trouble^(AH) for the country. See how my eyes brightened when I tasted a little of this honey. ³⁰ How much better it would have been if the men had eaten today some of the plunder they took from their enemies. Would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been even greater?”

³¹ That day, after the Israelites had struck down the Philistines from Mikmash^(AI) to Aijalon,^(AJ) they were exhausted. ³² They pounced on the plunder^(AK) and, taking sheep, cattle and calves, they butchered them on the ground and ate them, together with the blood.^{(AL) 33} Then someone said to Saul, “Look, the men are sinning against the Lord by eating meat that has blood^(AM) in it.”

“You have broken faith,” he said. “Roll a large stone over here at once.” ³⁴ Then he said, “Go out among the men and tell them, ‘Each of you bring me your cattle and sheep, and slaughter them here and eat them. Do not sin against the Lord by eating meat with blood still^(AN) in it.’”

So everyone brought his ox that night and slaughtered it there. ³⁵ Then Saul built an altar^(AO) to the Lord; it was the first time he had done this.

³⁶ Saul said, “Let us go down and pursue the Philistines by night and plunder them till dawn, and let us not leave one of them alive.”

“Do whatever seems best to you,” they replied.

But the priest said, “Let us inquire^(AP) of God here.”

³⁷ So Saul asked God, “Shall I go down and pursue the Philistines? Will you give them into Israel’s hand?” But God did not answer^(AQ) him that day.

³⁸ Saul therefore said, “Come here, all you who are leaders of the army, and let us find out what sin has been committed^(AR) today. ³⁹ As surely as the Lord who rescues Israel lives,^(AS) even if the guilt lies with my son Jonathan,^(AT) he must die.”^(AU) But not one of them said a word.

⁴⁰ Saul then said to all the Israelites, “You stand over there; I and Jonathan my son will stand over here.”

“Do what seems best to you,” they replied.

⁴¹ Then Saul prayed to the Lord, the God of Israel, “Why have you not answered your servant today? If the fault is in me or my son Jonathan, respond with Urim, but if the men of Israel are at fault,^[d] respond with Thummim.” Jonathan and Saul were taken by lot, and the men were cleared. ⁴² Saul said, “Cast the lot^(AV) between me and Jonathan my son.” And Jonathan was taken.

⁴³ Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.”^(AW)

So Jonathan told him, “I tasted a little honey^(AX) with the end of my staff. And now I must die!”

⁴⁴ Saul said, “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely,^(AY) if you do not die, Jonathan.^(AZ)”

⁴⁵ But the men said to Saul, “Should Jonathan die—he who has brought about this great deliverance in Israel? Never! As surely as the Lord lives, not a hair^(BA) of his head will fall to the ground, for he did this today with God’s help.” So the men rescued^(BB) Jonathan, and he was not put to death.

⁴⁶ Then Saul stopped pursuing the Philistines, and they withdrew to their own land.

⁴⁷ After Saul had assumed rule over Israel, he fought against their enemies on every side: Moab,^(BC) the Ammonites,^(BD) Edom,^(BE) the kings^[e] of Zobah,^(BF) and the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he inflicted punishment on them.^{[f] 48} He fought valiantly and defeated the Amalekites,^(BG) delivering Israel from the hands of those who had plundered them.

Saul’s Family

⁴⁹ Saul’s sons were Jonathan, Ishvi and Malki-Shua.^(BH) The name of his older daughter was Merab, and that of the younger was Michal.^{(BI) 50} His wife’s name was Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz. The name of the commander of Saul’s army was Abner^(BJ) son of Ner, and Ner was Saul’s uncle.^{(BK) 51} Saul’s father Kish^(BL) and Abner’s father Ner were sons of Abiel.

⁵² All the days of Saul there was bitter war with the Philistines, and whenever Saul saw a mighty or brave man, he took^(BM) him into his service.

³¹ Still, many in the crowd believed in him.^(A) They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs^(B) than this man?”

³² The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.

³³ Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time,^(C) and then I am going to the one who sent me.^{(D) 34} You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”^(E)

³⁵ The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered^(F) among the Greeks,^(G) and teach the Greeks? ³⁶ What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”^(H)

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the festival,^(I) Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.^{(J) 38} Whoever believes^(K) in me, as Scripture has said,^(L) rivers of living water^(M) will flow from within them.”^{[a](N) 39} By this he meant the Spirit,^(O) whom those who believed in him were later to receive.^(P) Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.^(Q)

⁴⁰ On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”^(R)

⁴¹ Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee?^{(S) 42} Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants^(T) and from Bethlehem,^(U) the town where David lived?” ⁴³ Thus the people were divided^(V) because of Jesus. ⁴⁴ Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.^(W)

Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders

⁴⁵ Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

⁴⁶ “No one ever spoke the way this man does,”^(X) the guards replied.

⁴⁷ “You mean he has deceived you also?”^(Y) the Pharisees retorted. ⁴⁸ “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?^{(Z) 49} No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”

⁵⁰ Nicodemus,^(AA) who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, ⁵¹ “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”

⁵² They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”^(AB)

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[The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53—8:11. A few manuscripts include these verses, wholly or in part, after John 7:36, John 21:25, Luke 21:38 or Luke 24:53.]

⁵³ Then they all went home,

Psalm 109

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

Samuel’s Farewell Speech

12 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened^(A) to everything you said to me and have set a king^(B) over you. ² Now you have a king as your leader.^(C) As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons^(D) are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day. ³ Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed.^(E) Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey^(F) have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe^(G) to make me shut my eyes? If I have done^(H) any of these things, I will make it right.”^(I)

⁴ “You have not cheated or oppressed us,” they replied. “You have not taken anything from anyone’s hand.”

⁵ Samuel said to them, “The Lord is witness^(J) against you, and also his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything^(K) in my hand.^(L)”

“He is witness,” they said.

⁶ Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought^(M) your ancestors up out of Egypt. ⁷ Now then, stand^(N) here, because I am going to confront^(O) you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts^(P) performed by the Lord for you and your ancestors.

⁸ “After Jacob^(Q) entered Egypt, they cried^(R) to the Lord for help, and the Lord sent^(S) Moses and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.

⁹ “But they forgot^(T) the Lord their God; so he sold them^(U) into the hand of Sisera,^(V) the commander of the army of Hazor,^(W) and into the hands of the Philistines^(X) and the king of Moab,^(Y) who fought against them. ¹⁰ They cried^(Z) out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned; we have forsaken^(AA) the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths.^(AB) But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.’ ¹¹ Then the Lord sent Jerub-Baal,^[a](AC) Barak,^[b](AD) Jephthah^(AE) and Samuel,^[c](AF) and he delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around you, so that you lived in safety.

¹² “But when you saw that Nahash^(AG) king^(AH) of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule^(AI) over us’—even though the Lord your God was your king. ¹³ Now here is the king^(AJ) you have chosen, the one you asked^(AK) for; see, the Lord has set a king over you. ¹⁴ If you fear^(AL) the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel^(AM) against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God—good! ¹⁵ But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against^(AN) his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors.

¹⁶ “Now then, stand still^(AO) and see^(AP) this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes! ¹⁷ Is it not wheat harvest^(AQ) now? I will call^(AR) on the Lord to send thunder^(AS) and rain.^(AT) And you will realize what an evil^(AU) thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king.”

¹⁸ Then Samuel called on the Lord,^(AV) and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe^(AW) of the Lord and of Samuel.

¹⁹ The people all said to Samuel, “Pray^(AX) to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die,^(AY) for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.”

²⁰ “Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil;^(AZ) yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. ²¹ Do not turn away after useless^(BA) idols.^(BB) They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. ²² For the sake^(BC) of his great name^(BD) the Lord will not reject^(BE) his people, because the Lord was pleased to make^(BF) you his own. ²³ As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray^(BG) for you. And I will teach^(BH) you the way that is good and right. ²⁴ But be sure to fear^(BI) the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart;^(BJ) consider^(BK) what great^(BL) things he has done for you. ²⁵ Yet if you persist^(BM) in doing evil, both you and your king^(BN) will perish.”^(BO)

Samuel Rebukes Saul

13 Saul was thirty^[d] years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-^[e] two years.

² Saul chose three thousand men from Israel; two thousand^(BP) were with him at Mikmash^(BQ) and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah^(BR) in Benjamin. The rest of the men he sent back to their homes.

³ Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost^(BS) at Geba,^(BT) and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul had the trumpet^(BU) blown throughout the land and said, “Let the Hebrews hear!” ⁴ So all Israel heard the news: “Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost, and now Israel has become obnoxious^(BV) to the Philistines.” And the people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal.

⁵ The Philistines assembled^(BW) to fight Israel, with three thousand^[f] chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand^(BX) on the seashore. They went up and camped at Mikmash,^(BY) east of Beth Aven.^{(BZ) 6} When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid^(CA) in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns.^{(CB) 7} Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad^(CC) and Gilead.

Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking^(CD) with fear. ⁸ He waited seven^(CE) days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. ⁹ So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered^(CF) up the burnt offering. ¹⁰ Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel^(CG) arrived, and Saul went out to greet^(CH) him.

¹¹ “What have you done?” asked Samuel.

Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash,^{(CI) 12} I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal,^(CJ) and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.^(CK)’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”

¹³ “You have done a foolish thing,^(CL)” Samuel said. “You have not kept^(CM) the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.^{(CN) 14} But now your kingdom^(CO) will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart^(CP) and appointed^(CQ) him ruler^(CR) of his people, because you have not kept^(CS) the Lord’s command.”

¹⁵ Then Samuel left Gilgal^[g] and went up to Gibeah^(CT) in Benjamin, and Saul counted the men who were with him. They numbered about six hundred.^(CU)

Israel Without Weapons

¹⁶ Saul and his son Jonathan and the men with them were staying in Gibeah^[h](CV) in Benjamin, while the Philistines camped at Mikmash. ¹⁷ Raiding^(CW) parties went out from the Philistine camp in three detachments. One turned toward Ophrah^(CX) in the vicinity of Shual, ¹⁸ another toward Beth Horon,^(CY) and the third toward the borderland overlooking the Valley of Zeboyim^(CZ) facing the wilderness.

¹⁹ Not a blacksmith^(DA) could be found in the whole land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears!^(DB)” ²⁰ So all Israel went down to the Philistines to have their plow points, mattocks, axes and sickles^[i] sharpened. ²¹ The price was two-thirds of a shekel^[j] for sharpening plow points and mattocks, and a third of a shekel^[k] for sharpening forks and axes and for repointing goads.

²² So on the day of the battle not a soldier with Saul and Jonathan^(DC) had a sword or spear^(DD) in his hand; only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.

Jonathan Attacks the Philistines

²³ Now a detachment of Philistines had gone out to the pass^(DE) at Mikmash.^(DF)

Jesus Goes to the Festival of Tabernacles

7 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want^[a] to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders^(A) there were looking for a way to kill him.^{(B) 2} But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles^(C) was near, ³ Jesus’ brothers^(D) said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. ⁴ No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” ⁵ For even his own brothers did not believe in him.^(E)

⁶ Therefore Jesus told them, “My time^(F) is not yet here; for you any time will do. ⁷ The world cannot hate you, but it hates me^(G) because I testify that its works are evil.^{(H) 8} You go to the festival. I am not^[b] going up to this festival, because my time^(I) has not yet fully come.” ⁹ After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.

¹⁰ However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. ¹¹ Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus^(J) and asking, “Where is he?”

¹² Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.”

Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.”^{(K) 13} But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders.^(L)

Jesus Teaches at the Festival

¹⁴ Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach.^{(M) 15} The Jews^(N) there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning^(O) without having been taught?”^(P)

¹⁶ Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.^{(Q) 17} Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out^(R) whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. ¹⁸ Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory,^(S) but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. ¹⁹ Has not Moses given you the law?^(T) Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”^(U)

²⁰ “You are demon-possessed,”^(V) the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”

²¹ Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle,^(W) and you are all amazed. ²² Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision^(X) (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs),^(Y) you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. ²³ Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? ²⁴ Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”^(Z)

Division Over Who Jesus Is

²⁵ At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?^{(AA) 26} Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities^(AB) really concluded that he is the Messiah?^{(AC) 27} But we know where this man is from;^(AD) when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”

²⁸ Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts,^(AE) cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from.^(AF) I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true.^(AG) You do not know him, ²⁹ but I know him^(AH) because I am from him and he sent me.”^(AI)

³⁰ At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him,^(AJ) because his hour had not yet come.^(AK)

Psalm 108^[a](A)(B)

A song. A psalm of David.