Day 151 of 365

1 Sam 26:1–27:12

26:1 The Ziphites came to Saul to Gibeah, saying, "Doesn't David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert?"

26:2 Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

26:3 Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert, by the way. But David stayed in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness.

26:4 David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul had certainly come.

26:5 David arose, and came to the place where Saul had encamped; and David saw the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his army: and Saul lay within the place of the wagons, and the people were encamped around him.

26:6 Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, "Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp?" Abishai said, "I will go down with you."

26:7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the place of the wagons, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the people lay around him.

26:8 Then Abishai said to David, "God has delivered up your enemy into your hand this day. Now therefore please let me strike him with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not strike him the second time."

26:9 David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him; for who can put forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless?"

26:10 David said, "As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall go down into battle and perish.

26:11 The Lord forbid that I should put forth my hand against the Lord's anointed; but now please take the spear that is at his head, and the jar of water, and let us go."

26:12 So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul's head; and they went away: and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither did any awake; for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen on them.

26:13 Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of the mountain afar off; a great space being between them;

26:14 and David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, "Do you not answer, Abner?" Then Abner answered, "Who are you who cries to the king?"

26:15 David said to Abner, "Aren't you a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord, the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king your lord.

26:16 This thing isn't good that you have done. As the Lord lives, you are worthy to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the Lord's anointed. Now see where the king's spear is, and the jar of water that was at his head."

26:17 Saul knew David's voice, and said, "Is this your voice, my son David?" David said, "It is my voice, my lord, O king."

26:18 He said, "Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? Or what evil is in my hand?

26:19 Now therefore, please let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is so that the Lord has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering. But if it is the children of men, they are cursed before the Lord; for they have driven me out this day that I shouldn't cling to the Lord's inheritance, saying, 'Go, serve other gods!'

26:20 Now therefore, do not let my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the Lord; for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains."

26:21 Then Saul said, "I have sinned. Return, my son David; for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly."

26:22 David answered, "Behold the spear, O king! Then let one of the young men come over and get it.

26:23 The Lord will render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness; because the Lord delivered you into my hand today, and I wouldn't put forth my hand against the Lord's anointed.

26:24 Behold, as your life was respected this day in my eyes, so let my life be respected in the eyes of the Lord, and let him deliver me out of all oppression."

26:25 Then Saul said to David, "You are blessed, my son David. You shall both do mightily, and shall surely prevail." So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.

27:1 David said in his heart, "I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel. So shall I escape out of his hand."

27:2 David arose, and passed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

27:3 David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife.

27:4 It was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought no more again for him.

27:5 David said to Achish, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?"

27:6 Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: why Ziklag pertains to the kings of Judah to this day.

27:7 The number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.

27:8 David and his men went up, and made a raid on the Geshurites, and the Girzites, and the Amalekites; for those were the inhabitants of the land, who were of old, as you go to Shur, even to the land of Egypt.

27:9 David struck the land, and saved neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the cattle, and the donkeys, and the camels, and the clothing; and he returned, and came to Achish.

27:10 Achish said, "Against whom have you made a raid today?" David said, "Against the Negev of Judah, against the Negev of the Jerahmeelites, and against the Negev of the Kenites."

27:11 David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring them to Gath, saying, "Lest they should tell of us, saying, 'David has done this, and this has been his way all the time he has lived in the country of the Philistines.'"

27:12 Achish believed David, saying, "He has made his people Israel utterly to abhor him. Therefore he shall be my servant forever."

John 12:1–29

1 Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom he raised from the dead.

2 So they made him a supper there. Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.

3 Mary, therefore, took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.

4 Then Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who would betray him, said,

5 "Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred denarii, and given to the poor?"

6 Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the money box, used to steal what was put into it.

7 But Jesus said, "Leave her alone, that she may keep this for the day of my burial.

8 For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

9 A large crowd therefore of the Judeans learned that he was there, and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.

10 But the chief priests conspired to put Lazarus to death also,

11 because on account of him many of the Jewish people went away and believed in Jesus.

12 On the next day a great multitude had come to the feast. When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

13 they took the branches of the palm trees, and went out to meet him, and were shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!"

14 Jesus, having found a young donkey, sat on it. As it is written,

15 "Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Behold, your King comes, sitting on a donkey's colt."

16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him, and that they had done these things to him.

17 The multitude therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from the dead, was testifying about it.

18 For this cause also the multitude went and met him, because they heard that he had done this sign.

19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "See how you accomplish nothing. Behold, the world has gone after him."

20 Now there were certain Greeks among those that went up to worship at the feast.

21 These, therefore, came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, "Sir, we want to see Jesus."

22 Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn, Andrew came with Philip, and they told Jesus.

23 Jesus answered them, "The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

24 Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.

25 He who loves his life loses it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life.

26 If anyone serves me, let him follow me. Where I am, there will my servant also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

27 "Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say? 'Father, save me from this time?' But for this cause I came to this time.

28 Father, glorify your name!" Then there came a voice out of the sky, saying, "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again."

29 The multitude therefore, who stood by and heard it, said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him."

Ps 65:1–13

1 Praise waits for you, God, in Zion. To you shall vows be performed.

2 You who hear prayer, to you all men will come.

3 Sins overwhelmed me, but you atoned for our transgressions.

4 Blessed is one whom you choose, and cause to come near, that he may live in your courts. We will be filled with the goodness of your house, your holy temple.

5 By awesome deeds of righteousness, you answer us, God of our salvation. You who are the hope of all the ends of the earth, of those who are far away on the sea;

6 Who by his power forms the mountains, having armed yourself with strength;

7 who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations.

8 They also who dwell in faraway places are afraid at your wonders. You call the morning's dawn and the evening with songs of joy.

9 You visit the earth, and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide them grain, for so you have ordained it.

10 You drench its furrows. You level its ridges. You soften it with showers. You bless it with a crop.

11 You crown the year with your bounty. Your carts overflow with abundance.

12 The wilderness grasslands overflow. The hills are clothed with gladness.

13 The pastures are covered with flocks. The valleys also are clothed with grain. They shout for joy! They also sing.