1 SAMUEL 22:1-23:29
JOHN 10:1-21
PSALM 115:1-18
PROVERBS 15:18-19
1 SAMUEL 22:1-23:29
So David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. Soon his brothers and other relatives joined him there. 2 Then others began coming--men who were in trouble or in debt or who were just discontented--until David was the leader of about four hundred men. 3 Later David went to Mizpeh in Moab, where he asked the king, " Would you let my father and mother live here under royal protection until I know what God is going to do for me?" 4 The king agreed, and David's parents stayed in Moab while David was living in his stronghold. 5 One day the prophet Gad told David, " Leave the stronghold and return to the land of Judah." So David went to the forest of Hereth. 6 The news of his arrival in Judah soon reached Saul. At the time, the king was sitting beneath a tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, holding his spear and surrounded by his officers. 7 " Listen here, you men of Benjamin!" Saul shouted when he heard the news. " Has David promised you fields and vineyards? Has he promised to make you commanders in his army? 8 Is that why you have conspired against me? For not one of you has ever told me that my own son is on David's side. You're not even sorry for me. Think of it! My own son--encouraging David to try and kill me!" 9 Then Doeg the Edomite, who was standing there with Saul's men, spoke up. " When I was at Nob," he said, " I saw David talking to Ahimelech the priest. 10 Ahimelech consulted the LORD to find out what David should do. Then he gave David food and the sword of Goliath the Philistine." 11 King Saul immediately sent for Ahimelech and all his family, who served as priests at Nob. 12 When they arrived, Saul shouted at him, " Listen to me, you son of Ahitub!" " What is it, my king?" Ahimelech asked. 13 " Why have you and David conspired against me?" Saul demanded. " Why did you give him food and a sword? Why have you inquired of God for him? Why did you encourage him to revolt against me and to come here and attack me?" 14 " But sir," Ahimelech replied, " is there anyone among all your servants who is as faithful as David, your son-in-law? Why, he is the captain of your bodyguard and a highly honored member of your household! 15 This was certainly not the first time I had consulted God for him! Please don't accuse me and my family in this matter, for I knew nothing of any plot against you." 16 " You will surely die, Ahimelech, along with your entire family!" the king shouted. 17 And he ordered his bodyguards, " Kill these priests of the LORD, for they are allies and conspirators with David! They knew he was running away from me, but they didn't tell me!" But Saul's men refused to kill the LORD's priests. 18 Then the king said to Doeg, " You do it." So Doeg turned on them and killed them, eighty-five priests in all, all still wearing their priestly tunics. 19 Then he went to Nob, the city of the priests, and killed the priests' families--men and women, children and babies, and all the cattle, donkeys, and sheep. 20 Only Abiathar, one of the sons of Ahimelech, escaped and fled to David. 21 When he told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD, 22 David exclaimed, " I knew it! When I saw Doeg there that day, I knew he would tell Saul. Now I have caused the death of all your father's family. 23 Stay here with me, and I will protect you with my own life, for the same person wants to kill us both."23:1 ONE day news came to David that the Philistines were at Keilah stealing grain from the threshing floors. 2 David asked the LORD, " Should I go and attack them?" " Yes, go and save Keilah," the LORD told him. 3 But David's men said, " We're afraid even here in Judah. We certainly don't want to go to Keilah to fight the whole Philistine army!" 4 So David asked the LORD again, and again the LORD replied, " Go down to Keilah, for I will help you conquer the Philistines." 5 So David and his men went to Keilah. They slaughtered the Philistines and took all their livestock and rescued the people of Keilah. 6 Abiathar the priest went to Keilah with David, taking the ephod with him to get answers for David from the LORD. 7 Saul soon learned that David was at Keilah. " Good!" he exclaimed. " We've got him now! God has handed him over to me, for he has trapped himself in a walled city!" 8 So Saul mobilized his entire army to march to Keilah and attack David and his men. 9 But David learned of Saul's plan and told Abiathar the priest to bring the ephod and ask the LORD what he should do. 10 And David prayed, " O LORD, God of Israel, I have heard that Saul is planning to come and destroy Keilah because I am here. 11 Will the men of Keilah surrender me to him? And will Saul actually come as I have heard? O LORD, God of Israel, please tell me." And the LORD said, " He will come." 12 Again David asked, " Will these men of Keilah really betray me and my men to Saul?" And the LORD replied, " Yes, they will betray you." 13 So David and his men--about six hundred of them now--left Keilah and began roaming the countryside. Word soon reached Saul that David had escaped, so he didn't go to Keilah after all. 14 David now stayed in the strongholds of the wilderness and in the hill country of Ziph. Saul hunted him day after day, but God didn't let him be found. 15 One day near Horesh, David received the news that Saul was on the way to Ziph to search for him and kill him. 16 Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in his faith in God. 17 " Don't be afraid," Jonathan reassured him. " My father will never find you! You are going to be the king of Israel, and I will be next to you, as my father is well aware." 18 So the two of them renewed their covenant of friendship before the LORD. Then Jonathan returned home, while David stayed at Horesh. 19 But now the men of Ziph went to Saul in Gibeah and betrayed David to him. " We know where David is hiding," they said. " He is in the strongholds of Horesh on the hill of Hakilah, which is in the southern part of Jeshimon. 20 Come down whenever you're ready, O king, and we will catch him and hand him over to you!" 21 " The LORD bless you," Saul said. " At last someone is concerned about me! 22 Go and check again to be sure of where he is staying and who has seen him there, for I know that he is very crafty. 23 Discover his hiding places, and come back with a more definite report. Then I'll go with you. And if he is in the area at all, I'll track him down, even if I have to search every hiding place in Judah!" 24 So the men of Ziph returned home ahead of Saul. Meanwhile, David and his men had moved into the wilderness of Maon in the Arabah Valley south of Jeshimon. 25 When David heard that Saul and his men were searching for him, he went even farther into the wilderness to the great rock, and he remained there in the wilderness of Maon. But Saul kept after him. 26 He and David were now on opposite sides of a mountain. Just as Saul and his men began to close in on David and his men, 27 an urgent message reached Saul that the Philistines were raiding Israel again. 28 So Saul quit the chase and returned to fight the Philistines. Ever since that time, the place where David was camped has been called the Rock of Escape. 29 David then went to live in the strongholds of En-gedi.
JOHN 10:1-21
" I [Jesus] assure you, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! 2 For a shepherd enters through the gate. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they recognize his voice. 5 They won't follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don't recognize his voice." 6 Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn't understand what he meant, 7 so he explained it to them. " I assure you, I am the gate for the sheep," he said. 8 " All others who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. 9 Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. Wherever they go, they will find green pastures. 10 The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness. 11 " I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will leave the sheep because they aren't his and he isn't their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. 13 The hired hand runs away because he is merely hired and has no real concern for the sheep. 14 " I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, 15 just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice; and there will be one flock with one shepherd. 17 " The Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may have it back again. 18 No one can take my life from me. I lay down my life voluntarily. For I have the right to lay it down when I want to and also the power to take it again. For my Father has given me this command." 19 When he said these things, the people were again divided in their opinions about him. 20 Some of them said, " He has a demon, or he's crazy. Why listen to a man like that?" 21 Others said, " This doesn't sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"
PSALM 115:1-18
Not to us, O LORD, but to you goes all the glory
for your unfailing love and faithfulness.
2 Why let the nations say,
" Where is their God?"
3 For our God is in the heavens,
and he does as he wishes.
4 Their idols are merely things of silver and gold,
shaped by human hands.
5 They cannot talk, though they have mouths,
or see, though they have eyes!
6 They cannot hear with their ears,
or smell with their noses,
7 or feel with their hands,
or walk with their feet,
or utter sounds with their throats!
8 And those who make them are just like them,
as are all who trust in them.
9 O Israel, trust the LORD!
He is your helper; he is your shield.
10 O priests of Aaron, trust the LORD!
He is your helper; he is your shield.
11 All you who fear the LORD, trust the LORD!
He is your helper; he is your shield.
12 The LORD remembers us,
and he will surely bless us.
He will bless the people of Israel
and the family of Aaron, the priests.
13 He will bless those who fear the LORD,
both great and small.
14 May the LORD richly bless
both you and your children.
15 May you be blessed by the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
16 The heavens belong to the LORD,
but he has given the earth to all humanity.
17 The dead cannot sing praises to the LORD,
for they have gone into the silence of the grave.
18 But we can praise the LORD
both now and forever!
Praise the LORD!
PROVERBS 15:18-19
A hothead starts fights; a cool-tempered person tries to stop them. A lazy person has trouble all through life; the path of the upright is easy!
JOHN 10:1-21
PSALM 115:1-18
PROVERBS 15:18-19
1 SAMUEL 22:1-23:29
So David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. Soon his brothers and other relatives joined him there. 2 Then others began coming--men who were in trouble or in debt or who were just discontented--until David was the leader of about four hundred men. 3 Later David went to Mizpeh in Moab, where he asked the king, " Would you let my father and mother live here under royal protection until I know what God is going to do for me?" 4 The king agreed, and David's parents stayed in Moab while David was living in his stronghold. 5 One day the prophet Gad told David, " Leave the stronghold and return to the land of Judah." So David went to the forest of Hereth. 6 The news of his arrival in Judah soon reached Saul. At the time, the king was sitting beneath a tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, holding his spear and surrounded by his officers. 7 " Listen here, you men of Benjamin!" Saul shouted when he heard the news. " Has David promised you fields and vineyards? Has he promised to make you commanders in his army? 8 Is that why you have conspired against me? For not one of you has ever told me that my own son is on David's side. You're not even sorry for me. Think of it! My own son--encouraging David to try and kill me!" 9 Then Doeg the Edomite, who was standing there with Saul's men, spoke up. " When I was at Nob," he said, " I saw David talking to Ahimelech the priest. 10 Ahimelech consulted the LORD to find out what David should do. Then he gave David food and the sword of Goliath the Philistine." 11 King Saul immediately sent for Ahimelech and all his family, who served as priests at Nob. 12 When they arrived, Saul shouted at him, " Listen to me, you son of Ahitub!" " What is it, my king?" Ahimelech asked. 13 " Why have you and David conspired against me?" Saul demanded. " Why did you give him food and a sword? Why have you inquired of God for him? Why did you encourage him to revolt against me and to come here and attack me?" 14 " But sir," Ahimelech replied, " is there anyone among all your servants who is as faithful as David, your son-in-law? Why, he is the captain of your bodyguard and a highly honored member of your household! 15 This was certainly not the first time I had consulted God for him! Please don't accuse me and my family in this matter, for I knew nothing of any plot against you." 16 " You will surely die, Ahimelech, along with your entire family!" the king shouted. 17 And he ordered his bodyguards, " Kill these priests of the LORD, for they are allies and conspirators with David! They knew he was running away from me, but they didn't tell me!" But Saul's men refused to kill the LORD's priests. 18 Then the king said to Doeg, " You do it." So Doeg turned on them and killed them, eighty-five priests in all, all still wearing their priestly tunics. 19 Then he went to Nob, the city of the priests, and killed the priests' families--men and women, children and babies, and all the cattle, donkeys, and sheep. 20 Only Abiathar, one of the sons of Ahimelech, escaped and fled to David. 21 When he told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD, 22 David exclaimed, " I knew it! When I saw Doeg there that day, I knew he would tell Saul. Now I have caused the death of all your father's family. 23 Stay here with me, and I will protect you with my own life, for the same person wants to kill us both."23:1 ONE day news came to David that the Philistines were at Keilah stealing grain from the threshing floors. 2 David asked the LORD, " Should I go and attack them?" " Yes, go and save Keilah," the LORD told him. 3 But David's men said, " We're afraid even here in Judah. We certainly don't want to go to Keilah to fight the whole Philistine army!" 4 So David asked the LORD again, and again the LORD replied, " Go down to Keilah, for I will help you conquer the Philistines." 5 So David and his men went to Keilah. They slaughtered the Philistines and took all their livestock and rescued the people of Keilah. 6 Abiathar the priest went to Keilah with David, taking the ephod with him to get answers for David from the LORD. 7 Saul soon learned that David was at Keilah. " Good!" he exclaimed. " We've got him now! God has handed him over to me, for he has trapped himself in a walled city!" 8 So Saul mobilized his entire army to march to Keilah and attack David and his men. 9 But David learned of Saul's plan and told Abiathar the priest to bring the ephod and ask the LORD what he should do. 10 And David prayed, " O LORD, God of Israel, I have heard that Saul is planning to come and destroy Keilah because I am here. 11 Will the men of Keilah surrender me to him? And will Saul actually come as I have heard? O LORD, God of Israel, please tell me." And the LORD said, " He will come." 12 Again David asked, " Will these men of Keilah really betray me and my men to Saul?" And the LORD replied, " Yes, they will betray you." 13 So David and his men--about six hundred of them now--left Keilah and began roaming the countryside. Word soon reached Saul that David had escaped, so he didn't go to Keilah after all. 14 David now stayed in the strongholds of the wilderness and in the hill country of Ziph. Saul hunted him day after day, but God didn't let him be found. 15 One day near Horesh, David received the news that Saul was on the way to Ziph to search for him and kill him. 16 Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in his faith in God. 17 " Don't be afraid," Jonathan reassured him. " My father will never find you! You are going to be the king of Israel, and I will be next to you, as my father is well aware." 18 So the two of them renewed their covenant of friendship before the LORD. Then Jonathan returned home, while David stayed at Horesh. 19 But now the men of Ziph went to Saul in Gibeah and betrayed David to him. " We know where David is hiding," they said. " He is in the strongholds of Horesh on the hill of Hakilah, which is in the southern part of Jeshimon. 20 Come down whenever you're ready, O king, and we will catch him and hand him over to you!" 21 " The LORD bless you," Saul said. " At last someone is concerned about me! 22 Go and check again to be sure of where he is staying and who has seen him there, for I know that he is very crafty. 23 Discover his hiding places, and come back with a more definite report. Then I'll go with you. And if he is in the area at all, I'll track him down, even if I have to search every hiding place in Judah!" 24 So the men of Ziph returned home ahead of Saul. Meanwhile, David and his men had moved into the wilderness of Maon in the Arabah Valley south of Jeshimon. 25 When David heard that Saul and his men were searching for him, he went even farther into the wilderness to the great rock, and he remained there in the wilderness of Maon. But Saul kept after him. 26 He and David were now on opposite sides of a mountain. Just as Saul and his men began to close in on David and his men, 27 an urgent message reached Saul that the Philistines were raiding Israel again. 28 So Saul quit the chase and returned to fight the Philistines. Ever since that time, the place where David was camped has been called the Rock of Escape. 29 David then went to live in the strongholds of En-gedi.
JOHN 10:1-21
" I [Jesus] assure you, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! 2 For a shepherd enters through the gate. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they recognize his voice. 5 They won't follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don't recognize his voice." 6 Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn't understand what he meant, 7 so he explained it to them. " I assure you, I am the gate for the sheep," he said. 8 " All others who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. 9 Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. Wherever they go, they will find green pastures. 10 The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness. 11 " I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will leave the sheep because they aren't his and he isn't their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. 13 The hired hand runs away because he is merely hired and has no real concern for the sheep. 14 " I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, 15 just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice; and there will be one flock with one shepherd. 17 " The Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may have it back again. 18 No one can take my life from me. I lay down my life voluntarily. For I have the right to lay it down when I want to and also the power to take it again. For my Father has given me this command." 19 When he said these things, the people were again divided in their opinions about him. 20 Some of them said, " He has a demon, or he's crazy. Why listen to a man like that?" 21 Others said, " This doesn't sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"
PSALM 115:1-18
Not to us, O LORD, but to you goes all the glory
for your unfailing love and faithfulness.
2 Why let the nations say,
" Where is their God?"
3 For our God is in the heavens,
and he does as he wishes.
4 Their idols are merely things of silver and gold,
shaped by human hands.
5 They cannot talk, though they have mouths,
or see, though they have eyes!
6 They cannot hear with their ears,
or smell with their noses,
7 or feel with their hands,
or walk with their feet,
or utter sounds with their throats!
8 And those who make them are just like them,
as are all who trust in them.
9 O Israel, trust the LORD!
He is your helper; he is your shield.
10 O priests of Aaron, trust the LORD!
He is your helper; he is your shield.
11 All you who fear the LORD, trust the LORD!
He is your helper; he is your shield.
12 The LORD remembers us,
and he will surely bless us.
He will bless the people of Israel
and the family of Aaron, the priests.
13 He will bless those who fear the LORD,
both great and small.
14 May the LORD richly bless
both you and your children.
15 May you be blessed by the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
16 The heavens belong to the LORD,
but he has given the earth to all humanity.
17 The dead cannot sing praises to the LORD,
for they have gone into the silence of the grave.
18 But we can praise the LORD
both now and forever!
Praise the LORD!
PROVERBS 15:18-19
A hothead starts fights; a cool-tempered person tries to stop them. A lazy person has trouble all through life; the path of the upright is easy!
