The Daily Audio Bible

Jonathan Is Good to David

20 Then David ran from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said to Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my sin? What have I done wrong to your father, that he wants to kill me?” ² Jonathan said to him, “Far from it, you will not die. See, my father does nothing big or small without telling me about it. So why should my father hide this from me? It is not so!” ³ But David answered, “Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes. He has said, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, because it would fill him with sorrow.’ But it is true. As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is only a step between me and death.” ⁴ Then Jonathan said to David, “I will do for you whatever you say.” ⁵ David said to Jonathan, “See, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should sit down to eat with the king. But let me go. I will hide myself in the field until the third evening. ⁶ If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David asked me to let him leave to run to his city Bethlehem. It is the time for the whole family to gather there for the gift given on the altar in worship each year.’ ⁷ If he says, ‘Good!’ your servant will be safe. But if he is very angry, then you will know that he has decided to do what is bad. ⁸ So be kind to your servant. For you have brought me into an agreement of the Lord with you. But if I am guilty, kill me yourself. For why should you bring me to your father?” ⁹ Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! If I knew that my father has decided to do something bad to you, would I not tell you about it?” ¹⁰ Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father is angry when he answers you?” ¹¹ Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” So both of them went out into the field.

¹² Jonathan said to David, “May the Lord, the God of Israel, see it. I will speak with my father, about this time tomorrow, or the third day. If he feels good about David, will I not send news to you and let you know it? ¹³ But if my father wants to hurt you, may the Lord do the same to Jonathan and even more, if I do not let you know and send you away, so you may be safe. May the Lord be with you as He has been with my father. ¹⁴ If I am still alive, show me the faithful love of the Lord, that I may not die. ¹⁵ Do not stop being faithful to my house forever, not even when the Lord destroys from the earth all who hate David. ¹⁶ Do not let the name of Jonathan be lost from the family of David. And may the Lord punish those who hate you.” ¹⁷ Jonathan made David promise again, by his love for him. For he loved him as he loved his own life.

¹⁸ Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the new moon. You will be missed because your seat will be empty. ¹⁹ On the third day hurry and come to the place where you hid yourself the other time. Stay by the stone called Ezel. ²⁰ I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as if I shot at a mark. ²¹ Then I will send the boy, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to the boy these words, ‘See, the arrows are on this side of you, get them!’ then you may come. For it is safe for you and there is no danger, as the Lord lives. ²² But if I say to the boy, ‘See, the arrows are farther away,’ then go, for the Lord has sent you away. ²³ As for the agreement you and I have spoken, see, the Lord is between you and me forever.”

²⁴ So David hid in the field. When the new moon came, the king sat down to eat food. ²⁵ The king sat on his seat by the wall as he did other times. Jonathan sat on the other side from him, and Abner sat beside Saul. But David’s place was empty. ²⁶ But Saul did not say anything that day. For he thought, “Something has happened to him. He is not clean. For sure he is not clean.” ²⁷ But David’s place was empty the next day, the second day of the new moon. So Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to the supper yesterday and today?” ²⁸ Jonathan answered Saul, “David asked me to let him go to Bethlehem. ²⁹ He said, ‘I beg you, let me go. Our family is giving a gift on the altar in the city. And my brother has told me to be there. Now, if I have found favor in your eyes, let me leave and see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”

³⁰ Then Saul was very angry with Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a sinful woman! Do I not know that you are choosing the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother who gave birth to you? ³¹ As long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you and the power you would have as king will not last. So send for him and bring him to me. For he must die.” ³² Jonathan answered his father Saul, “Why should he be killed? What has he done?” ³³ But Saul threw his spear at Jonathan to kill him, so he knew that his father had decided to kill David. ³⁴ Jonathan rose from the table very angry. He did not eat any food on the second day of the new moon. For he was filled with sorrow for David, because his father had brought shame upon him.

³⁵ In the morning Jonathan went out to the field at the time he and David agreed to meet. A little boy was with him. ³⁶ Jonathan said to his boy, “Run, find the arrows I shoot.” As the boy was running, he shot an arrow past him. ³⁷ The boy came to the place where Jonathan had shot the arrow. Jonathan called to the boy and said, “Is not the arrow farther away?” ³⁸ Jonathan called to the boy, “Hurry, be quick, do not stay!” Then Jonathan’s boy picked up the arrow and came to his owner. ³⁹ The boy knew nothing. Only Jonathan and David knew what had happened. ⁴⁰ Then Jonathan gave his bow and arrows to his boy and told him, “Go, take them to the city.” ⁴¹ When the boy was gone, David rose from the south side and fell on his face to the ground. He bowed three times. Then they kissed each other and cried together, but David more. ⁴² Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace. For we have promised each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord will be between me and you, and between my children and your children forever.’” Then David got up and left, and Jonathan went into the city.

David Runs from Saul

21 David came to Ahimelech the religious leader at Nob. Ahimelech came shaking in fear to meet David, and said to him, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?” ² David said to Ahimelech the religious leader, “The king has given me something to do. And he has said to me, ‘Let no one know anything about what I have sent you to do.’ I have told the young men to meet at a certain place. ³ Now, what do you have ready? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you may have.” ⁴ The religious leader answered David, “I only have bread which has been set apart as holy, if only the young men have kept themselves from women.” ⁵ And David told the religious leader, “For sure women have been kept from us while we have traveled. The bodies of the young men are holy even on everyday trips. How much more they are today!” ⁶ So the religious leader gave him holy bread. For there was no bread there but the bread before the Lord. It was taken from before the Lord, so hot bread could be put in its place. ⁷ Now one of Saul’s servants happened to be there that day. His name was Doeg the Edomite, the head of Saul’s shepherds.

⁸ David said to Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or a sword? I did not bring my sword or any spears with me, because I had to hurry to do the king’s work.” ⁹ The religious leader said, “The sword is here that belonged to Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah. See, it is behind the linen vest, with a cloth around it. Take it, if you will. For it is the only one here.” And David said, “There is none like it. Give it to me.”

¹⁰ Then David got up and ran that day from Saul. He went to Achish king of Gath. ¹¹ The servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing to each other about him as they danced, saying, ‘Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?” ¹² David took these words to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. ¹³ So he changed the way he acted in front of them. He pretended to be crazy while he was with them. He made marks on the doors of the gate. He let his spit run down into the hair of his face. ¹⁴ Then Achish said to his servants, “See, you see the man is crazy. Why have you brought him to me? ¹⁵ Do I need any crazy men, that you bring this one to act crazy in front of me? Will this one come into my house?”

Jesus Heals a Man Who Was Born Blind

9 As Jesus went on His way, He saw a man who had been born blind. ² His followers asked Him, “Teacher, whose sin made this man to be born blind? Was it the sin of this man or the sin of his parents?” ³ Jesus answered, “The sin of this man or the sin of his parents did not make him to be born blind. He was born blind so the work of God would be seen in him. ⁴ We must keep on doing the work of Him Who sent Me while it is day. Night is coming when no man can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”

⁶ After Jesus had said this, He spit on the ground. He mixed it with dust and put that mud on the eyes of the blind man. ⁷ Then Jesus said to him, “Go and wash in the pool of Siloam.” (Siloam means Sent.) The man went away and washed. When he came back, he could see.

⁸ Neighbors and others had seen him begging. They said, “Is not this the man who sat and begged?” ⁹ Some said, “This is the one.” Others said, “No, but he looks like him.” But the man who had been blind said, “I am the man.” ¹⁰ They said to him, “How were your eyes opened?” ¹¹ He answered, “A Man called Jesus made mud and put it on my eyes. Then He said to me, ‘Go and wash in the pool of Siloam.’ I went and washed and I can see.” ¹² Then they asked him, “Where is He?” He answered, “I do not know.”

The Proud Religious Law-Keepers Are Troubled about This Healing

¹³ They took the man who had been born blind to the proud religious law-keepers. ¹⁴ It was the Day of Rest when Jesus had made mud and opened his eyes. ¹⁵ Again the proud religious law-keepers asked the man who had been born blind how he had been made to see. He answered them, “Jesus put mud on my eyes. I washed and now I see!” ¹⁶ Some of the proud religious law-keepers said, “The Man Who did this is not from God because He worked on the Day of Rest.” Others said, “How can a sinful man do powerful works?” They could not agree about Jesus. ¹⁷ They spoke again to the blind man, saying, “What do you say about Him since He opened your eyes?” He answered, “He is One Who speaks for God.”

¹⁸ The Jews did not believe this man had been blind and had been made to see. They called his parents ¹⁹ and asked them, “Is this your son? Do you say he was born blind? How does he see now?” ²⁰ They answered, “We know this is our son and we know he was born blind. ²¹ But we do not know how it is that he can see now. We do not know who opened his eyes. He is old enough, ask him. He can tell you himself.” ²² His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews. The Jews had talked among themselves. They had agreed that the person who said that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the Jewish place of worship. ²³ That is why his parents said, “He is old enough, ask him.”

²⁴ The proud religious law-keepers asked the man again, who had been blind, to come. They said to him, “Give thanks to God. We know this man is a sinner.” ²⁵ The man who had been blind said to them, “I do not know if He is a sinner or not. One thing I know. I was blind, but now I can see.” ²⁶ They asked him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” ²⁷ He answered, “I have told you already. You did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become His followers also?”

²⁸ The proud religious law-keepers became angry at him and said, “You are a follower of Jesus. We are followers of Moses. ²⁹ We know God spoke to Moses. We do not know where this Man is from.” ³⁰ The man said to them, “This is strange! You do not know where He came from and yet He opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners. We know if anyone loves and worships God, and does what He wants, God listens to him. ³² From the beginning of the world no one has ever heard of anyone opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³ If this Man were not from God, He would not be able to do anything like this.”

³⁴ They said to him, “You were born in sin. Are you trying to teach us?” Then they put him out of the place of worship.

Jesus Speaks Sharp Words to the Proud Religious Law-Keepers

³⁵ Jesus heard that the proud religious law-keepers had put the man who had been healed out of the place of worship. He found the man and said to him, “Do you put your trust in the Son of God?” ³⁶ He said, “Who is He, Sir? Tell me so that I can put my trust in Him.” ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “You have seen Him. He is talking with you.” ³⁸ He said, “I do put my trust in You, Lord.” Then he bowed down before Jesus and worshiped Him.

³⁹ Jesus said, “I came into this world to say what is right from wrong. I came so those who do not see might see, and those who do see might be made blind.” ⁴⁰ Some of the proud religious law-keepers who were with Him heard this. They said to Him, “Are we blind also?” ⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But because you say, ‘We see,’ you still are guilty of your sin.

The Lord Helps the Poor

113 Praise the Lord! Praise Him, O you who serve the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. ² Let the name of the Lord be honored, now and forever. ³ The name of the Lord is to be praised from the time the sun rises to when it sets. ⁴ The Lord is high above all nations. His shining-greatness is above the heavens.

⁵ Who is like the Lord our God? He sits on His throne on high. ⁶ He looks down upon the heavens and the earth. ⁷ He raises the poor from the dust. He lifts those in need from the ashes. ⁸ He makes them sit with rulers, with the rulers of His people. ⁹ He gives a home to the woman who could not give birth and makes her the mother of children. Praise the Lord!

God Takes Israel from Egypt

114 Israel came out of Egypt. The house of Jacob came from a people who spoke a strange language. ² Then Judah became His holy place, and Israel became the place of His rule.

³ The sea looked and ran away. The Jordan turned back. ⁴ The mountains jumped like sheep, the hills like lambs. ⁵ Why did you try to get away, O sea? Why did you turn back, O Jordan? ⁶ O mountains, why did you jump like sheep? O hills, why did you jump like lambs?

⁷ Shake in fear before the Lord, O earth, before the God of Jacob. ⁸ He changed the rock into a pool of water. He made water flow out of hard rock.

¹⁵ All the days of the suffering are hard, but a glad heart has a special supper all the time.

¹⁶ A little with the fear of the Lord is better than great riches with trouble.

¹⁷ A dish of vegetables with love is better than eating the best meat with hate.