Day 149 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 88:1–9

¹O LORD, the God of my salvation, day and night I cry out before You. ²May my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry. ³For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol. ⁴I am counted among those descending to the Pit. I am like a man without strength. ⁵I am forsaken among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more, who are cut off from Your care. ⁶You have laid me in the lowest Pit, in the darkest of the depths. ⁷Your wrath weighs heavily upon me; all Your waves have submerged me. Selah ⁸You have removed my friends from me; You have made me repulsive to them; I am confined and cannot escape. ⁹My eyes grow dim with grief. I call to You daily, O LORD; I spread out my hands to You.

New Testament·John 8:1–16

¹But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ²Early in the morning He went back into the temple courts. All the people came to Him, and He sat down to teach them. ³The scribes and Pharisees, however, brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before them ⁴and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. So what do You say?” ⁶They said this to test Him, in order to have a basis for accusing Him. But Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with His finger. ⁷When they continued to question Him, He straightened up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to cast a stone at her.” ⁸And again He bent down and wrote on the ground. ⁹When they heard this, they began to go away one by one, beginning with the older ones, until only Jesus was left, with the woman standing there. ¹⁰Then Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹“No one, Lord,” she answered. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Now go and sin no more.” ¹²Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.” ¹³So the Pharisees said to Him, “You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not valid.” ¹⁴Jesus replied, “Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is valid, because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you do not know where I came from or where I am going. ¹⁵You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. ¹⁶But even if I do judge, My judgment is true, because I am not alone; I am with the Father who sent Me.

Old Testament·1 Samuel 31; 2 Samuel 1–2

¹Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa. ²The Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons, and they killed Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua. ³When the battle intensified against Saul, the archers overtook him and wounded him critically. ⁴Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run it through me, or these uncircumcised men will come and run me through and torture me!” But his armor-bearer was terrified and refused to do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. ⁵When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his own sword and died with him. ⁶So Saul, his three sons, his armor-bearer, and all his men died together that same day. ⁷When the Israelites along the valley and those on the other side of the Jordan saw that the army of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their cities and ran away. So the Philistines came and occupied their cities. ⁸The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹They cut off Saul’s head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temples of their idols and among their people. ¹⁰They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and hung his body on the wall of Beth-shan. ¹¹When the people of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹²all their men of valor set out, journeyed all night, and retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth-shan. When they arrived at Jabesh, they burned the bodies there. ¹³Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.

1After the death of Saul, David returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days. ²On the third day a man with torn clothes and dust on his head arrived from Saul’s camp. When he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him homage. ³“Where have you come from?” David asked. “I have escaped from the Israelite camp,” he replied. ⁴“What was the outcome?” David asked. “Please tell me.” “The troops fled from the battle,” he replied. “Many of them fell and died. And Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead.” ⁵Then David asked the young man who had brought him the report, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?” ⁶“I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,” he replied, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and the cavalry closing in on him. ⁷When he turned around and saw me, he called out and I answered, ‘Here I am!’ ⁸‘Who are you?’ he asked. So I told him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’ ⁹Then he begged me, ‘Stand over me and kill me, for agony has seized me, but my life still lingers.’ ¹⁰So I stood over him and killed him, because I knew that after he had fallen he could not survive. And I took the crown that was on his head and the band that was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.” ¹¹Then David took hold of his own clothes and tore them, and all the men who were with him did the same. ¹²They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the people of the LORD and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. ¹³And David inquired of the young man who had brought him the report, “Where are you from?” “I am the son of a foreigner,” he answered. “I am an Amalekite.” ¹⁴So David asked him, “Why were you not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?” ¹⁵Then David summoned one of the young men and said, “Go, execute him!” So the young man struck him down, and he died. ¹⁶For David had said to the Amalekite, “Your blood be on your own head because your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’” ¹⁷Then David took up this lament for Saul and his son Jonathan, ¹⁸and he ordered that the sons of Judah be taught the Song of the Bow. It is written in the Book of Jashar: ¹⁹“Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen! ²⁰Tell it not in Gath; proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, and the daughters of the uncircumcised exult. ²¹O mountains of Gilboa, may you have no dew or rain, no fields yielding offerings of grain. For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, no longer anointed with oil. ²²From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan did not retreat, and the sword of Saul did not return empty. ²³Saul and Jonathan, beloved and delightful in life, were not divided in death. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. ²⁴O daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and luxury, who decked your garments with ornaments of gold. ²⁵How the mighty have fallen in the thick of battle! Jonathan lies slain on your heights. ²⁶I grieve for you, Jonathan, my brother. You were delightful to me; your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women. ²⁷How the mighty have fallen and the weapons of war have perished!”

2Some time later, David inquired of the LORD, “Should I go up to one of the towns of Judah?” “Go up,” the LORD answered. Then David asked, “Where should I go?” “To Hebron,” replied the LORD. ²So David went there with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. ³David also took the men who were with him, each with his household, and they settled in the towns near Hebron. ⁴Then the men of Judah came to Hebron, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul.” ⁵So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead to tell them, “The LORD bless you, because you showed this kindness to Saul your lord when you buried him. ⁶Now may the LORD show you loving devotion and faithfulness, and I will also show you the same favor because you have done this. ⁷Now then, be strong and courageous, for though Saul your lord is dead, the house of Judah has anointed me as their king.” ⁸Meanwhile, Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, took Saul’s son Ish-bosheth, moved him to Mahanaim, ⁹and made him king over Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin—over all Israel. ¹⁰Saul’s son Ish-bosheth was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned for two years. The house of Judah, however, followed David. ¹¹And the length of time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months. ¹²One day Abner son of Ner and the servants of Ish-bosheth son of Saul marched out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. ¹³So Joab son of Zeruiah, along with the servants of David, marched out and met them by the pool of Gibeon. And the two camps took up positions on opposite sides of the pool. ¹⁴Then Abner said to Joab, “Let us have the young men get up and compete before us.” “Let them get up,” Joab replied. ¹⁵So they got up and were counted off—twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth son of Saul, and twelve for David. ¹⁶Then each man grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his sword into his opponent’s side, and they all fell together. So this place, which is in Gibeon, is called Helkath-hazzurim. ¹⁷The battle that day was intense, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated by the servants of David. ¹⁸The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was fleet of foot like a wild gazelle, ¹⁹and he chased Abner, not turning to the right or to the left in his pursuit. ²⁰And Abner glanced back and said, “Is that you, Asahel?” “It is,” Asahel replied. ²¹So Abner told him, “Turn to your right or to your left, seize one of the young men, and take his equipment for yourself.” But Asahel would not stop chasing him. ²²Once again, Abner warned Asahel, “Stop chasing me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How could I show my face to your brother Joab?” ²³But Asahel refused to turn away; so Abner thrust the butt of his spear into his stomach, and it came out his back, and he fell dead on the spot. And every man paused when he came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died. ²⁴But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. By sunset, they had gone as far as the hill of Ammah opposite Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. ²⁵The Benjamites rallied to Abner, formed a single unit, and took their stand atop a hill. ²⁶Then Abner called out to Joab: “Must the sword devour forever? Do you not realize that this will only end in bitterness? How long before you tell the troops to stop pursuing their brothers?” ²⁷“As surely as God lives,” Joab replied, “if you had not spoken up, the troops would have continued pursuing their brothers until morning.” ²⁸So Joab blew the ram’s horn, and all the troops stopped; they no longer pursued Israel or continued to fight. ²⁹And all that night Abner and his men marched through the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, marched all morning, and arrived at Mahanaim. ³⁰When Joab returned from pursuing Abner, he gathered all the troops. In addition to Asahel, nineteen of David’s servants were missing, ³¹but they had struck down 360 Benjamites who were with Abner. ³²Later, they took Asahel and buried him in his father’s tomb in Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men marched all night and reached Hebron at daybreak.