Day 149 of 365

1 Sam 23:1–24:22

23:1 David was told, "Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing floors."

23:2 Therefore David inquired of the Lord, saying, "Shall I go and strike these Philistines?" The Lord said to David, "Go strike the Philistines, and save Keilah."

23:3 David's men said to him, "Behold, we are afraid here in Judah: how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?"

23:4 Then David inquired of the Lord yet again. The Lord answered him, and said, "Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand."

23:5 David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their livestock, and killed them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

23:6 It happened, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.

23:7 It was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. Saul said, "God has delivered him into my hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that has gates and bars."

23:8 Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.

23:9 David knew that Saul was devising mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod here."

23:10 Then David said, "O Lord, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake.

23:11 Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? Lord, the God of Israel, I beg you, tell your servant." The Lord said, "He will come down."

23:12 Then David said, "Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?" The Lord said, "They will deliver you up."

23:13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went wherever they could go. It was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he gave up going there.

23:14 David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.

23:15 David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the wood.

23:16 Jonathan, Saul's son, arose, and went to David into the woods, and strengthened his hand in God.

23:17 He said to him, "Do not be afraid; for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you; and you shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you; and that also Saul my father knows."

23:18 They both made a covenant before the Lord: and David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his house.

23:19 Then the Ziphites came up to Saul to Gibeah, saying, "Doesn't David hide himself with us in the strongholds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert?

23:20 Now therefore, O king, come down, according to all the desire of your soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him up into the king's hand."

23:21 Saul said, "You are blessed by the Lord; for you have had compassion on me.

23:22 Please go make yet more sure, and know and see his place where his haunt is, and who has seen him there; for it is told me that he deals very subtly.

23:23 See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides himself, and come again to me with certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall happen, if he is in the land, that I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah."

23:24 They arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah on the south of the desert.

23:25 Saul and his men went to seek him. When David was told, he went down to the rock, and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard that, he pursued David in the wilderness of Maon.

23:26 Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain: and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men surrounded David and his men to take them.

23:27 But a messenger came to Saul, saying, "Hurry and come; for the Philistines have made a raid on the land!"

23:28 So Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Sela Hammahlekoth.

23:29 David went up from there, and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.

24:1 It happened, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, "Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi."

24:2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats.

24:3 He came to the sheep pens by the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were abiding in the innermost parts of the cave.

24:4 The men of David said to him, "Behold, the day of which the Lord said to you, 'Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.'" Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe secretly.

24:5 It happened afterward, that David's heart struck him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt.

24:6 He said to his men, "The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed, to put forth my hand against him, since he is the Lord's anointed."

24:7 So David checked his men with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.

24:8 David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and showed respect.

24:9 David said to Saul, "Why do you listen to men's words, saying, 'Behold, David seeks your hurt?'

24:10 Behold, this day your eyes have seen how that the Lord had delivered you today into my hand in the cave. Some urged me to kill you; but I spared you; and I said, I will not put forth my hand against my lord; for he is the Lord's anointed.

24:11 Moreover, my father, behold, yes, see the skirt of your robe in my hand; for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe, and did not kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor disobedience in my hand, and I have not sinned against you, though you hunt for my life to take it.

24:12 May the Lord judge between me and you, and may the Lord avenge me of you; but my hand shall not be on you.

24:13 As the proverb of the ancients says, 'Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness;' but my hand shall not be on you.

24:14 Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea?

24:15 May the Lord therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and you, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand."

24:16 It came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, "Is this your voice, my son David?" Saul lifted up his voice, and wept.

24:17 He said to David, "You are more righteous than I; for you have done good to me, whereas I have done evil to you.

24:18 You have declared this day how you have dealt well with me, because when the Lord had delivered me up into your hand, you did not kill me.

24:19 For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away unharmed? Therefore may the Lord reward you good for that which you have done to me this day.

24:20 Now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.

24:21 Swear now therefore to me by the Lord, that you will not cut off my seed after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house."

24:22 David swore to Saul. Saul went home; but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

John 11:16–41

16 Thomas therefore, who is called The Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us go also, that we may die with him."

17 So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.

18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away.

19 Many of the Judeans had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother.

20 Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house.

21 Therefore Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you would have been here, my brother would not have died.

22 Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you."

23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."

24 Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.

26 Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, God's Son, he who comes into the world."

28 When she had said this, she went away, and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, "The Teacher is here, and is calling you."

29 When she heard this, she arose quickly, and went to him.

30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met him.

31 Then the Judeans who were with her in the house, and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

32 Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you would have been here, my brother would not have died."

33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Judeans weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,

34 and said, "Where have you put him?" They told him, "Lord, come and see."

35 Jesus wept.

36 The Judeans therefore said, "See how much affection he had for him!"

37 Some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?"

38 Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.

39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."

40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see God's glory?"

41 So they took away the stone. Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, "Father, I thank you that you listened to me.

Eccl 2:19–26

19 Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

20 Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun.

21 For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, with knowledge, and with skillfulness; yet he shall leave it for his portion to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

22 For what has a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart, in which he labors under the sun?

23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

24 There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.

25 For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?

26 For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.