Day 145 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 85

¹You showed favor to Your land, O LORD; You restored Jacob from captivity. ²You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered all their sin. Selah ³You withheld all Your fury; You turned from Your burning anger. ⁴Restore us, O God of our salvation, and put away Your displeasure toward us. ⁵Will You be angry with us forever? Will You draw out Your anger to all generations? ⁶Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? ⁷Show us Your loving devotion, O LORD, and grant us Your salvation. ⁸I will listen to what God the LORD will say; for He will surely speak peace to His people and His saints; He will not let them return to folly. ⁹Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, that His glory may dwell in our land. ¹⁰Loving devotion and faithfulness have joined together; righteousness and peace have kissed. ¹¹Faithfulness sprouts from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. ¹²The LORD will indeed provide what is good, and our land will yield its increase. ¹³Righteousness will go before Him to prepare the way for His steps.

New Testament·John 6:32–53

³²Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴“Sir,” they said, “give us this bread at all times.” ³⁵Jesus answered, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst. ³⁶But as I stated, you have seen Me and still you do not believe. ³⁷Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away. ³⁸For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me. ³⁹And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” ⁴¹At this, the Jews began to grumble about Jesus because He had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴²They were asking, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then can He say, ‘I have come down from heaven?’” ⁴³“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus replied. ⁴⁴“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me— ⁴⁶not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God; only He has seen the Father. ⁴⁷Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. ⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And this bread, which I will give for the life of the world, is My flesh.” ⁵²At this, the Jews began to argue among themselves, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” ⁵³So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you.

Old Testament·1 Samuel 23–24

¹Now it was reported to David, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and looting the threshing floors.” ²So David inquired of the LORD, “Should I go and attack these Philistines?” And the LORD said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.” ³But David’s men said to him, “Look, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” ⁴Once again, David inquired of the LORD, and the LORD answered him: “Go at once to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.” ⁵Then David and his men went to Keilah, fought against the Philistines, and carried off their livestock, striking them with a mighty blow. So David saved the people of Keilah. ⁶(Now Abiathar son of Ahimelech had brought the ephod with him when he fled to David at Keilah.) ⁷When Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, he said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars.” ⁸Then Saul summoned all his troops to go to war at Keilah and besiege David and his men. ⁹When David learned that Saul was plotting evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.” ¹⁰And David said, “O LORD, God of Israel, Your servant has heard that Saul intends to come to Keilah and destroy the city on my account. ¹¹Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as Your servant has heard? O LORD, God of Israel, please tell Your servant.” “He will,” said the LORD. ¹²So David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” “They will,” said the LORD. ¹³Then David and his men, about six hundred strong, set out and departed from Keilah, moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he declined to go forth. ¹⁴And David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God would not deliver David into his hand. ¹⁵While David was in Horesh in the Wilderness of Ziph, he saw that Saul had come out to take his life. ¹⁶And Saul’s son Jonathan came to David in Horesh and strengthened his hand in God, ¹⁷saying, “Do not be afraid, for my father Saul will never lay a hand on you. And you will be king over Israel, and I will be your second-in-command. Even my father Saul knows this is true.” ¹⁸So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. And David remained in Horesh, while Jonathan went home. ¹⁹Then the Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah south of Jeshimon? ²⁰Now, O king, come down whenever your soul desires, and we will be responsible for delivering him into your hand.” ²¹“May you be blessed by the LORD,” replied Saul, “for you have had compassion on me. ²²Please go and prepare further. Investigate and watch carefully where he goes and who has seen him there, for I am told that he is extremely cunning. ²³Observe and find out all the places where he hides. Then come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. If he is in the land, I will search him out among all the clans of Judah.” ²⁴So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Wilderness of Maon in the Arabah south of Jeshimon, ²⁵and Saul and his men went to seek him. When David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard of this, he pursued David there. ²⁶Saul was proceeding along one side of the mountain, and David and his men along the other side. Even though David was hurrying to get away, Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them. ²⁷Then a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Come quickly, for the Philistines have raided the land!” ²⁸So Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why that place is called Sela-hammahlekoth. ²⁹And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En-gedi.

24After Saul had returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the wilderness of En-gedi.” ²So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to look for David and his men in the region of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. ³Soon Saul came to the sheepfolds along the road, where there was a cave, and he went in to relieve himself. And David and his men were hiding in the recesses of the cave. ⁴So David’s men said to him, “This is the day about which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do with him as you wish.’” Then David crept up secretly and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. ⁵Afterward, David’s conscience was stricken because he had cut off the corner of Saul’s robe. ⁶So he said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed. May I never lift my hand against him, since he is the LORD’s anointed.” ⁷With these words David restrained his men, and he did not let them rise up against Saul. Then Saul left the cave and went on his way. ⁸After that, David got up, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed facedown in reverence ⁹and said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Look, David intends to harm you’? ¹⁰Behold, this day you have seen with your own eyes that the LORD delivered you into my hand in the cave. I was told to kill you, but I spared you and said, ‘I will not lift my hand against my lord, since he is the LORD’s anointed.’ ¹¹See, my father, look at the corner of your robe in my hand. For I cut it off, but I did not kill you. See and know that there is no evil or rebellion in my hands. I have not sinned against you, even though you are hunting me down to take my life. ¹²May the LORD judge between you and me, and may the LORD take vengeance on you, but my hand will never be against you. ¹³As the old proverb says, ‘Wickedness proceeds from the wicked.’ But my hand will never be against you. ¹⁴Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea? ¹⁵May the LORD be our judge and decide between you and me. May He take notice and plead my case and deliver me from your hand.” ¹⁶When David had finished saying these things, Saul called back, “Is that your voice, David my son?” Then Saul wept aloud ¹⁷and said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have rewarded me with good, though I have rewarded you with evil. ¹⁸And you have shown this day how well you have dealt with me; for when the LORD delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me. ¹⁹When a man finds his enemy, does he let him go away unharmed? May the LORD reward you with good for what you have done for me this day. ²⁰Now I know for sure that you will be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. ²¹So now, swear to me by the LORD that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s house.” ²²So David gave his oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.