Day 147 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 86:6–17

⁶Hear my prayer, O LORD, and attend to my plea for mercy. ⁷In the day of my distress I call on You, because You answer me. ⁸O Lord, there is none like You among the gods, nor any works like Yours. ⁹All the nations You have made will come and bow before You, O Lord, and they will glorify Your name. ¹⁰For You are great and perform wonders; You alone are God. ¹¹Teach me Your way, O LORD, that I may walk in Your truth. Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name. ¹²I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify Your name forever. ¹³For great is Your loving devotion to me; You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol. ¹⁴The arrogant rise against me, O God; a band of ruthless men seeks my life, with no regard for You. ¹⁵But You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness. ¹⁶Turn to me and have mercy; grant Your strength to Your servant; save the son of Your maidservant. ¹⁷Show me a sign of Your goodness, that my enemies may see and be ashamed; for You, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

New Testament·John 7:1–25

¹After this, Jesus traveled throughout Galilee. He did not want to travel in Judea, because the Jews there were trying to kill Him. ²However, the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near. ³So Jesus’ brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go to Judea, so that Your disciples there may see the works You are doing. ⁴For no one who wants to be known publicly acts in secret. Since You are doing these things, show Yourself to the world.” ⁵For even His own brothers did not believe in Him. ⁶Therefore Jesus told them, “Although your time is always at hand, My time has not yet come. ⁷The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify that its works are evil. ⁸Go up to the feast on your own. I am not going up to this feast, because My time has not yet come.” ⁹Having said this, Jesus remained in Galilee. ¹⁰But after His brothers had gone up to the feast, He also went—not publicly, but in secret. ¹¹So the Jews were looking for Him at the feast and asking, “Where is He?” ¹²Many in the crowds were whispering about Him. Some said, “He is a good man.” But others replied, “No, He deceives the people.” ¹³Yet no one would speak publicly about Him for fear of the Jews. ¹⁴About halfway through the feast, Jesus went up to the temple courts and began to teach. ¹⁵The Jews were amazed and asked, “How did this man attain such learning without having studied?” ¹⁶“My teaching is not My own,” Jesus replied. “It comes from Him who sent Me. ¹⁷If anyone desires to do His will, he will know whether My teaching is from God or whether I speak on My own. ¹⁸He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is a man of truth; in Him there is no falsehood. ¹⁹Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps it. Why are you trying to kill Me?” ²⁰“You have a demon,” the crowd replied. “Who is trying to kill You?” ²¹Jesus answered them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. ²²But because Moses gave you circumcision, you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath (not that it is from Moses, but from the patriarchs.) ²³If a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses will not be broken, why are you angry with Me for making the whole man well on the Sabbath? ²⁴Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.” ²⁵Then some of the people of Jerusalem began to say, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?

Old Testament·1 Samuel 26–28

¹Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding on the hill of Hachilah, opposite Jeshimon?” ²So Saul, accompanied by three thousand chosen men of Israel, went down to the Wilderness of Ziph to search for David there. ³Saul camped beside the road at the hill of Hachilah opposite Jeshimon, but David was living in the wilderness. When he realized that Saul had followed him there, ⁴David sent out spies to verify that Saul had arrived. ⁵Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw the place where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the general of his army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the inner circle of the camp, with the troops camped around him. ⁶And David asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” “I will go with you,” answered Abishai. ⁷That night David and Abishai came to the troops, and Saul was lying there asleep in the inner circle of the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. And Abner and the troops were lying around him. ⁸Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Now, therefore, please let me thrust the spear through him into the ground with one stroke. I will not need to strike him twice!” ⁹But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can lift a hand against the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless?” ¹⁰David added, “As surely as the LORD lives, the LORD Himself will strike him down; either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. ¹¹But the LORD forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the LORD’s anointed. Instead, take the spear and water jug by his head, and let us go.” ¹²So David took the spear and water jug by Saul’s head, and they departed. No one saw them or knew about it, nor did anyone wake up; they all remained asleep, because a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen on them. ¹³Then David crossed to the other side and stood atop the mountain at a distance; there was a wide gulf between them. ¹⁴And David shouted to the troops and to Abner son of Ner, “Will you not answer me, Abner?” “Who calls to the king?” Abner replied. ¹⁵So David said to Abner, “You are a man, aren’t you? And who in Israel is your equal? Why then did you not protect your lord the king when one of the people came to destroy him? ¹⁶This thing you have done is not good. As surely as the LORD lives, all of you deserve to die, since you did not protect your lord, the LORD’s anointed. Now look around. Where are the king’s spear and water jug that were by his head?” ¹⁷Then Saul recognized David’s voice and asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” “It is my voice, my lord and king,” David said. ¹⁸And he continued, “Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done? What evil is in my hand? ¹⁹Now please, may my lord the king hear the words of his servant: If the LORD has stirred you up against me, then may He accept an offering. But if men have done it, may they be cursed in the presence of the LORD! For today they have driven me away from sharing in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’ ²⁰So do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the LORD. For the king of Israel has come out to look for a flea, like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.” ²¹Then Saul replied, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son. I will never harm you again, because today you considered my life precious. I have played the fool and have committed a grave error!” ²²“Here is the king’s spear,” David answered. “Let one of the young men come over and get it. ²³May the LORD repay every man for his righteousness and faithfulness. For the LORD delivered you into my hand today, but I would not stretch out my hand against the LORD’s anointed. ²⁴As surely as I valued your life today, so may the LORD value my life and rescue me from all trouble.” ²⁵Saul said to him, “May you be blessed, David my son. You will accomplish great things and will surely prevail.” So David went on his way, and Saul returned home.

27David, however, said to himself, “One of these days now I will be swept away by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will stop searching for me all over Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.” ²So David set out with his six hundred men and went to Achish son of Maoch, the king of Gath. ³David and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal. ⁴And when Saul learned that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him. ⁵Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let me be assigned a place in one of the outlying towns, so I can live there. For why should your servant live in the royal city with you?” ⁶That day Achish gave him Ziklag, and to this day it still belongs to the kings of Judah. ⁷And the time that David lived in Philistine territory amounted to a year and four months. ⁸Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these people had inhabited the land extending to Shur and Egypt.) ⁹Whenever David attacked a territory, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but he took the flocks and herds, the donkeys, camels, and clothing. Then he would return to Achish, ¹⁰who would ask him, “What have you raided today?” And David would reply, “The Negev of Judah,” or “The Negev of Jerahmeel,” or “The Negev of the Kenites.” ¹¹David did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he said, “Otherwise they will report us, saying, ‘This is what David did.’” And this was David’s custom the whole time he lived in Philistine territory. ¹²So Achish trusted David, thinking, “Since he has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel, he will be my servant forever.”

28Now in those days the Philistines gathered their forces for warfare against Israel. So Achish said to David, “You must understand that you and your men are to go out to battle with me.” ²David replied, “Then you will come to know what your servant can do.” “Very well,” said Achish. “I will make you my bodyguard for life.” ³Now by this time Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the mediums and spiritists from the land. ⁴The Philistines came together and camped at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel and camped at Gilboa. ⁵When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid and trembled violently. ⁶He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets. ⁷Then Saul said to his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I can go and consult her.” “There is a medium at Endor,” his servants replied. ⁸So Saul disguised himself by putting on different clothes, and he set out with two of his men. They came to the woman at night, and Saul said, “Consult a spirit for me. Bring up for me the one I name.” ⁹But the woman replied, “Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has killed the mediums and spiritists in the land. Why have you set a trap to get me killed?” ¹⁰Then Saul swore to her by the LORD: “As surely as the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this.” ¹¹“Whom shall I bring up for you?” the woman asked. “Bring up Samuel,” he replied. ¹²But when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out in a loud voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!” ¹³“Do not be afraid,” the king replied. “What do you see?” “I see a god coming up out of the earth,” the woman answered. ¹⁴“What does he look like?” asked Saul. “An old man is coming up,” she replied. “And he is wearing a robe.” So Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed facedown in reverence. ¹⁵Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” “I am deeply distressed,” replied Saul. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.” ¹⁶“Why do you consult me,” asked Samuel, “since the LORD has turned away from you and become your enemy? ¹⁷He has done exactly what He spoke through me: The LORD has torn the kingship out of your hand and given it to your neighbor David. ¹⁸Because you did not obey the LORD or carry out His burning anger against Amalek, the LORD has done this to you today. ¹⁹Moreover, the LORD will deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. And the LORD will deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.” ²⁰Immediately Saul fell flat on the ground, terrified by the words of Samuel. And his strength was gone, because he had not eaten anything all that day and night. ²¹When the woman came to Saul and saw how distraught he was, she said to him, “Look, your maidservant has obeyed your voice. I took my life in my hands and did as you told me. ²²Now please listen to your servant and let me set a morsel of bread before you so you may eat and have the strength to go on your way.” ²³Saul refused, saying, “I will not eat.” But his servants joined the woman in urging him, and he heeded their voice. He got up from the ground and sat on the bed. ²⁴The woman had a fattened calf at her house, and she quickly slaughtered it. She also took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread. ²⁵She served it to Saul and his servants, and they ate. And that night they got up and left.