1 SAMUEL 24:1-25:44
JOHN 10:22-42
PSALM 116:1-19
PROVERBS 15:20-21
1 SAMUEL 24:1-25:44
After Saul returned from fighting the Philistines, he was told that David had gone into the wilderness of En-gedi. 2 So Saul chose three thousand special troops from throughout Israel and went to search for David and his men near the rocks of the wild goats. 3 At the place where the road passes some sheepfolds, Saul went into a cave to relieve himself. But as it happened, David and his men were hiding in that very cave! 4 " Now's your opportunity!" David's men whispered to him. " Today is the day the LORD was talking about when he said, ` I will certainly put Saul into your power, to do with as you wish.' " Then David crept forward and cut off a piece of Saul's robe.5 But then David's conscience began bothering him because he had cut Saul's robe. 6 " The LORD knows I shouldn't have done it," he said to his men. " It is a serious thing to attack the LORD's anointed one, for the LORD himself has chosen him." 7 So David sharply rebuked his men and did not let them kill Saul. After Saul had left the cave and gone on his way, 8 David came out and shouted after him, " My lord the king!" And when Saul looked around, David bowed low before him. 9 Then he shouted to Saul, " Why do you listen to the people who say I am trying to harm you? 10 This very day you can see with your own eyes it isn't true. For the LORD placed you at my mercy back there in the cave, and some of my men told me to kill you, but I spared you. For I said, ` I will never harm him--he is the LORD's anointed one.' 11 Look, my father, at what I have in my hand. It is a piece of your robe! I cut it off, but I didn't kill you. This proves that I am not trying to harm you and that I have not sinned against you, even though you have been hunting for me to kill me. 12 The LORD will decide between us. Perhaps the LORD will punish you for what you are trying to do to me, but I will never harm you. 13 As that old proverb says, ` From evil people come evil deeds.' So you can be sure I will never harm you. 14 Who is the king of Israel trying to catch anyway? Should he spend his time chasing one who is as worthless as a dead dog or a flea? 15 May the LORD judge which of us is right and punish the guilty one. He is my advocate, and he will rescue me from your power!" 16 Saul called back, " Is that really you, my son David?" Then he began to cry. 17 And he said to David, " You are a better man than I am, for you have repaid me good for evil. 18 Yes, you have been wonderfully kind to me today, for when the LORD put me in a place where you could have killed me, you didn't do it. 19 Who else would let his enemy get away when he had him in his power? May the LORD reward you well for the kindness you have shown me today. 20 And now I realize that you are surely going to be king, and Israel will flourish under your rule. 21 Now, swear to me by the LORD that when that happens you will not kill my family and destroy my line of descendants!" 22 So David promised, and Saul went home. But David and his men went back to their stronghold.25:1 NOW Samuel died, and all Israel gathered for his funeral. They buried him near his home at Ramah. Then David moved down to the wilderness of Maon. 2 There was a wealthy man from Maon who owned property near the village of Carmel. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats, and it was sheep-shearing time. 3 This man's name was Nabal, and his wife, Abigail, was a sensible and beautiful woman. But Nabal, a descendant of Caleb, was mean and dishonest in all his dealings. 4 When David heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep, 5 he sent ten of his young men to Carmel. He told them to deliver this message: 6 " Peace and prosperity to you, your family, and everything you own! 7 I am told that you are shearing your sheep and goats. While your shepherds stayed among us near Carmel, we never harmed them, and nothing was ever stolen from them. 8 Ask your own servants, and they will tell you this is true. So would you please be kind to us, since we have come at a time of celebration? Please give us any provisions you might have on hand." 9 David's young men gave this message to Nabal and waited for his reply. 10 " Who is this fellow David?" Nabal sneered. " Who does this son of Jesse think he is? There are lots of servants these days who run away from their masters. 11 Should I take my bread and water and the meat I've slaughtered for my shearers and give it to a band of outlaws who come from who knows where?" 12 So David's messengers returned and told him what Nabal had said. 13 " Get your swords!" was David's reply as he strapped on his own. Four hundred men started off with David, and two hundred remained behind to guard their equipment. 14 Meanwhile, one of Nabal's servants went to Abigail and told her, " David sent men from the wilderness to talk to our master, and he insulted them. 15 But David's men were very good to us, and we never suffered any harm from them. Nothing was stolen from us the whole time they were with us. 16 In fact, day and night they were like a wall of protection to us and the sheep. 17 You'd better think fast, for there is going to be trouble for our master and his whole family. He's so ill- tempered that no one can even talk to him!" 18 Abigail lost no time. She quickly gathered two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, nearly a bushel of roasted grain, one hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes. She packed them on donkeys and said to her servants, 19 " Go on ahead. I will follow you shortly." But she didn't tell her husband what she was doing. 20 As she was riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David and his men coming toward her. 21 David had just been saying, " A lot of good it did to help this fellow. We protected his flocks in the wilderness, and nothing he owned was lost or stolen. But he has repaid me evil for good. 22 May God deal with me severely if even one man of his household is still alive tomorrow morning!" 23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed low before him. 24 She fell at his feet and said, " I accept all blame in this matter, my lord. Please listen to what I have to say. 25 I know Nabal is a wicked and ill-tempered man; please don't pay any attention to him. He is a fool, just as his name suggests. But I never even saw the messengers you sent. 26 " Now, my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, since the LORD has kept you from murdering and taking vengeance into your own hands, let all your enemies be as cursed as Nabal is. 27 And here is a present I have brought to you and your young men. 28 Please forgive me if I have offended in any way. The LORD will surely reward you with a lasting dynasty, for you are fighting the LORD's battles. And you have not done wrong throughout your entire life. 29 " Even when you are chased by those who seek your life, you are safe in the care of the LORD your God, secure in his treasure pouch! But the lives of your enemies will disappear like stones shot from a sling! 30 When the LORD has done all he promised and has made you leader of Israel, 31 don't let this be a blemish on your record. Then you won't have to carry on your conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed and vengeance. And when the LORD has done these great things for you, please remember me!" 32 David replied to Abigail, " Praise the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you to meet me today! 33 Thank God for your good sense! Bless you for keeping me from murdering the man and carrying out vengeance with my own hands. 34 For I swear by the LORD, the God of Israel, who has kept me from hurting you, that if you had not hurried out to meet me, not one of Nabal's men would be alive tomorrow morning." 35 Then David accepted her gifts and told her, " Return home in peace. We will not kill your husband." 36 When Abigail arrived home, she found that Nabal had thrown a big party and was celebrating like a king. He was very drunk, so she didn't tell him anything about her meeting with David until the next morning. 37 The next morning when he was sober, she told him what had happened. As a result he had a stroke, and he lay on his bed paralyzed. 38 About ten days later, the LORD struck him and he died. 39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, " Praise the LORD, who has paid back Nabal and kept me from doing it myself. Nabal has received the punishment for his sin." Then David wasted no time in sending messengers to Abigail to ask her to become his wife. 40 When the messengers arrived at Carmel, they told Abigail, " David has sent us to ask if you will marry him." 41 She bowed low to the ground and responded, " Yes, I am even willing to become a slave to David's servants!" 42 Quickly getting ready, she took along five of her servant girls as attendants, mounted her donkey, and went with David's messengers. And so she became his wife. 43 David also married Ahinoam from Jezreel, making both of them his wives. 44 Saul, meanwhile, had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to a man from Gallim named Palti son of Laish.
JOHN 10:22-42
It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah. 23 He was at the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon's Colonnade. 24 The Jewish leaders surrounded him and asked, " How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." 25 Jesus replied, " I have already told you, and you don't believe me. The proof is what I do in the name of my Father. 26 But you don't believe me because you are not part of my flock. 27 My sheep recognize my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them away from me, 29 for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. So no one can take them from me. 30 The Father and I are one." 31 Once again the Jewish leaders picked up stones to kill him. 32 Jesus said, " At my Father's direction I have done many things to help the people. For which one of these good deeds are you killing me?" 33 They replied, " Not for any good work, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, have made yourself God." 34 Jesus replied, " It is written in your own law that God said to certain leaders of the people, ` I say, you are gods!' 35 And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered. So if those people, who received God's message, were called ` gods,' 36 why do you call it blasphemy when the Holy One who was sent into the world by the Father says, ` I am the Son of God'? 37 Don't believe me unless I carry out my Father's work. 38 But if I do his work, believe in what I have done, even if you don't believe me. Then you will realize that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father."39 Once again they tried to arrest him, but he got away and left them. 40 He went beyond the Jordan River to stay near the place where John was first baptizing. 41 And many followed him. " John didn't do miracles," they remarked to one another, " but all his predictions about this man have come true." 42 And many believed in him there.
PSALM 116:1-19
I love the LORD because he hears
and answers my prayers.
2 Because he bends down and listens,
I will pray as long as I have breath!
3 Death had its hands around my throat;
the terrors of the grave overtook me.
I saw only trouble and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of the LORD:
" Please, LORD, save me!"
5 How kind the LORD is! How good he is!
So merciful, this God of ours!
6 The LORD protects those of childlike faith;
I was facing death, and then he saved me.
7 Now I can rest again,
for the LORD has been so good to me.
8 He has saved me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling.
9 And so I walk in the LORD's presence
as I live here on earth!
10 I believed in you, so I prayed,
" I am deeply troubled, LORD."
11 In my anxiety I cried out to you,
" These people are all liars!"
12 What can I offer the LORD
for all he has done for me?
13 I will lift up a cup symbolizing his salvation;
I will praise the LORD's name for saving me.
14 I will keep my promises to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.
15 The LORD's loved ones are precious to him;
it grieves him when they die.
16 O LORD, I am your servant;
yes, I am your servant, the son of your handmaid,
and you have freed me from my bonds!
17 I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the LORD.
18 I will keep my promises to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the house of the LORD,
in the heart of Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD!
PROVERBS 15:20-21
Sensible children bring joy to their father; foolish children despise their mother. Foolishness brings joy to those who have no sense; a sensible person stays on the right path.
