May 25th

And David said to Achish, “Very well, you shall know what your servant can do.” So Achish said to David, “Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life.”

Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed from the land those who were mediums and spiritists.

So the Philistines gathered together and came and camped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they camped in Gilboa.

Saul saw the camp of the Philistines and was afraid and his heart trembled greatly.

So Saul asked of Yahweh, but Yahweh did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets.

So Saul said to his servants, “Seek for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a woman who is a medium at En-dor.”

Then Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night; and he said, “Divine for me, please, and bring up for me whom I shall say to you.”

But the woman said to him, “Behold, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who are mediums and spiritists from the land. Why are you then laying a snare for my life to bring about my death?”

Then Saul swore to her by Yahweh, saying, “As Yahweh lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.”

Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” And he said, “Bring up Samuel for me.”

And the woman saw Samuel and cried out with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul.”

And the king said to her, “Do not be afraid; but what do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a divine being coming up out of the earth.”

And he said to her, “What is his form?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped with a robe.” And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and prostrated himself.

Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” And Saul answered, “I am greatly distressed, for the Philistines are waging war against me, and God has turned away from me and no longer answers me, either by the hand of the prophets or by dreams; therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I should do.”

And Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since Yahweh has turned away from you and has become your adversary?

So Yahweh has done accordingly as He spoke by my hand, for Yahweh has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, to David.

As you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh and did not execute His burning anger on Amalek, so Yahweh has done this thing to you this day.

Moreover Yahweh will also give over Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines, therefore tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Indeed Yahweh will give over the camp of Israel into the hands of the Philistines!”

Then Saul quickly fell full length upon the ground and was very afraid because of the words of Samuel; also there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no food all day and all night.

And the woman came to Saul and saw that he was terrified and said to him, “Behold, your servant-woman has listened to your voice, and I have taken my life in my hand and have listened to your words which you spoke to me.

So now also, please listen to the voice of your servant-woman, and let me set a piece of bread before you that you may eat and have strength when you go on your way.”

But he refused and said, “I will not eat.” However, his servants together with the woman urged him, and he listened to them. So he arose from the ground and sat on the bed.

And the woman had a fattened calf in the house, and she quickly sacrificed it; and she took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread from it.

And she brought it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they arose and went away that night.

Then the Philistines gathered together all their camps to Aphek, while the Israelites were camping by the spring which is in Jezreel.

And the lords of the Philistines were proceeding on by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were proceeding on in the rear with Achish.

Then the commanders of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” And Achish said to the commanders of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or rather these years, and I have found no fault in him from the day he deserted to me to this day?”

But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him, and the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Make the man return, that he may return to his place where you have assigned him, and do not let him go down to battle with us, or in the battle he may become an adversary to us. For with what could this man make himself acceptable to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of these men?

Is this not David, of whom they sing in the dances, saying,

Then Achish called David and said to him, “As Yahweh lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the camp are pleasing in my sight; for I have not found evil in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, you are not pleasing in the sight of the lords.

So now, return and go in peace, that you may not do evil in the sight of the lords of the Philistines.”

And David said to Achish, “But what have I done? And what have you found in your servant from the day when I came before you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”

But Achish answered and said to David, “I know that you are pleasing in my sight, like an angel of God; nevertheless the commanders of the Philistines have said, ‘He must not go up with us to the battle.’

So now, arise early in the morning with the servants of your lord who have come with you, and as soon as you have arisen early in the morning and have light, go.”

So David arose early, he and his men, to go in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

Then it happened when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negev and on Ziklag and had struck Ziklag and burned it with fire;

and they took captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great—they did not put anyone to death—and carried them off and went their way.

Then David and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive.

So David and the people who were with him lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep.

Now David’s two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people said to stone him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God.

Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring the ephod near to me.” So Abiathar brought the ephod near to David.

And David asked of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I pursue this band? Shall I overtake them?” And He said to him, “Pursue, for you will surely overtake them, and you will surely deliver all.”

So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those left behind remained.

But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for two hundred who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor remained behind.

Then they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David and gave him bread, and he ate, and they provided him water to drink.

And they gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins, and he ate; then his spirit revived. For he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights.

And David said to him, “To whom do you belong? And where are you from?” And he said, “I am a young man of Egypt, a slave of an Amalekite; and my master forsook me when I fell sick three days ago.

We made a raid on the Negev of the Cherethites and on that which belongs to Judah and on the Negev of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.”

Then David said to him, “Will you bring me down to this band?” And he said, “Swear to me by God that you will not put me to death or surrender me into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this band.”

So he brought him down, and behold, they were spread over all the land, eating and drinking and celebrating because of all the great spoil that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.

Then David struck them down from the twilight until the evening of the next day; and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled.

So David delivered all that the Amalekites had taken and delivered his two wives.

Indeed nothing of theirs was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that they had taken for themselves; David brought it all back.

And David took all the sheep and the cattle which the people drove ahead of the other livestock, and they said, “This is David’s spoil.”

“Did not Moses give you the Law? And yet none of you does the Law. Why do you seek to kill Me?”

The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill You?”

Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel.

For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man.

If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath?

So some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is this not the man whom they are seeking to kill?

And look, He is speaking openly, and they are saying nothing to Him. Do the rulers truly know that this is the Christ?

However, we know where this man is from; but whenever the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from.”

Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know Me and know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.

I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me.”

So they were seeking to seize Him; yet no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.

But many of the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, “When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than this man did?”

The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about Him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to seize Him.

Therefore Jesus said, “For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me.

You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.”

The Jews then said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find Him? Is He intending to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?

What is this statement that He said, ‘You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come’?”

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were going to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Some of the crowd therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, “This truly is the Prophet.”

Others were saying, “This is the Christ.” Still others were saying, “No, for is the Christ going to come from Galilee?

Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”

So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him.

Some of them were wanting to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him.