The Daily Audio Bible

Achish Makes David Leave the Battle

29 Then ^(A)the Philistines gathered together all their camps to ^(B)Aphek, while the Israelites were camping by the spring which is in ^(C)Jezreel. ² And the lords of the Philistines were proceeding on by hundreds and by thousands, and ^(D)David and his men were proceeding on in the rear with Achish. ³ 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, ^(E)who has been with me these days, or rather these years, and ^(F)I have found no fault in him from the day he ^[a]deserted to me to this day?” ⁴ 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 ^(G)to his place where you have assigned him, and do not let him go down to battle with us, ^(H)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 ^[b]these men? ⁵ Is this not David, ^(I)of whom they sing in the dances, saying,

⁶ Then Achish called David and said to him, “As Yahweh lives, you have been upright, and ^(J)your going out and your coming in with me in the camp are pleasing in my sight; ^(K)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. ⁷ So now, return and go in peace, that you may not do evil in the sight of the lords of the Philistines.” ⁸ And David said to Achish, “^(L)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?” ⁹ But Achish answered and said to David, “I know that you are pleasing in my sight, ^(M)like an angel of God; nevertheless ^(N)the commanders of the Philistines have said, ‘He must not go up with us to the battle.’ ¹⁰ So now, arise early in the morning ^(O)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.” ¹¹ 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.

David Strikes Down the Amalekites

30 Then it happened when David and his men came to ^(P)Ziklag on the third day, that ^(Q)the Amalekites had made a raid on the ^[c]Negev and on ^(R)Ziklag and had struck Ziklag and burned it with fire; ² and they took captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great—^(S)they did not put anyone to death—and carried them off and went their way. ³ 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. ⁴ So David and the people who were with him ^(T)lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep. ⁵ Now ^(U)David’s two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the ^[d]widow of Nabal the Carmelite. ⁶ Moreover David was greatly distressed because ^(V)the people said to stone him, for all the people were ^[e]embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But ^(W)David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God.

⁷ Then ^(X)David said to ^(Y)Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring the ephod near to me.” So Abiathar brought the ephod near to David. ^8 (Z)And David asked of Yahweh, saying, “^(AA)Shall I pursue this band? Shall I overtake them?” And He said to him, “Pursue, for you will surely overtake them, ^(AB)and you will surely deliver all.” ⁹ So David went, ^(AC)he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those left behind remained. ¹⁰ But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for ^(AD)two hundred who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor remained behind.

¹¹ 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. ¹² And they gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins, and he ate; ^(AE)then his spirit ^[f]revived. For he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. ¹³ 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. ¹⁴ We made a raid on ^(AF)the ^[g]Negev of the Cherethites and on that which belongs to Judah and on ^(AG)the ^[h]Negev of Caleb, and ^(AH)we burned Ziklag with fire.” ¹⁵ 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.”

¹⁶ So he brought him down, and behold, they were ^[i]spread over all the land, ^(AI)eating and drinking and ^[j]celebrating because of ^(AJ)all the great spoil that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. ¹⁷ Then David struck them ^(AK)down from the twilight ^[k]until the evening of ^[l]the next day; and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on ^(AL)camels and fled. ¹⁸ So David ^(AM)delivered all that the Amalekites had taken and ^[m]delivered his two wives. ¹⁹ Indeed nothing of theirs was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that they had taken for themselves; ^(AN)David brought it all back. ²⁰ And David took all the sheep and the cattle which the people drove ahead of ^[n]the other livestock, and they said, “^(AO)This is David’s spoil.”

David Apportions the Spoils

²¹ Then ^(AP)David came to the two hundred men who were too exhausted to follow David, who had also remained at the brook Besor, and they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him, and David approached the people and greeted them. ²² Then all the evil and vile men among those who went with David said, “Because they did not go with ^[o]us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have delivered, except to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart.” ²³ Then David said, “You must not do so, my brothers, with what Yahweh has given us, who has kept us and given into our hand the band that came against us. ²⁴ And who will listen to you in this matter? For ^(AQ)as is the portion of the one who goes down to the battle, so shall the portion be of the one who remains by the baggage; they shall be apportioned together.” ²⁵ So it has been from that day forward, that he made it a statute and a judgment for Israel to this day.

²⁶ Then David came to Ziklag and sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, “Behold, ^(AR)a ^[p]gift for you from the spoil of ^(AS)the enemies of Yahweh: ²⁷ to those who were in ^(AT)Bethel, and to those who were in ^(AU)Ramoth of the ^[q]Negev, and to those who were in ^(AV)Jattir, ²⁸ and to those who were in ^(AW)Aroer, and to those who were in Siphmoth, and to those who were in ^(AX)Eshtemoa, ²⁹ and to those who were in Racal, and to those who were in the cities of ^(AY)the Jerahmeelites, and to those who were in the cities of ^(AZ)the Kenites, ³⁰ and to those who were in ^(BA)Hormah, and to those who were in ^(BB)Bor-ashan, and to those who were in Athach, ³¹ and to those who were in ^(BC)Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men ^(BD)went about.”

The Death of Saul and His Sons

31 ^(BE)Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines and fell slain ^(BF)on Mount Gilboa. ² And the Philistines closely pursued Saul and his sons; and the Philistines struck down ^(BG)Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. ^3 (BH)And the battle became heavy against Saul, and the archers ^[r]hit him; and he was badly wounded by the archers. ^4 (BI)Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and pierce me through with it, lest ^(BJ)these uncircumcised come and pierce me through and abuse me.” But his armor bearer was not willing, for he was greatly afraid. ^(BK)So Saul took his sword and fell on it. ⁵ Then his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, so he also fell on his sword and died with him. ⁶ Thus Saul died with his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men on that day together.

⁷ Then the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, with those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead. So they forsook the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them.

⁸ Now it happened on the ^[s]next day, that the Philistines came to strip the slain, and they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ Then they cut off his head and stripped off his weapons and sent them all around the land of the Philistines, ^(BL)to proclaim the good news ^(BM)to the house of their idols and to the people. ¹⁰ And they placed his weapons in the ^[t]house of ^(BN)Ashtaroth and ^(BO)fastened his body to the wall of ^(BP)Beth-shan. ¹¹ Then ^(BQ)the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard ^[u]what the Philistines had done to Saul, ^12 (BR)so all the valiant men arose and walked all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and ^(BS)burned them there. ¹³ And they took their bones and ^(BT)buried them under ^(BU)the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and ^(BV)fasted seven days.

⁵⁵ Now ^(A)the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the region before the Passover ^(B)to purify themselves. ⁵⁶ So they ^(C)were seeking Jesus, and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That He will not come to the feast at all?” ⁵⁷ Now ^(D)the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might seize Him.

Mary Anoints Jesus with Costly Perfume

12 ^(E)Jesus, therefore, six days before ^(F)the Passover, came to ^(G)Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² So they made Him a supper there, and ^(H)Martha was serving; and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. ^3 (I)Mary then took a ^[a]litra of ^(J)perfume of very costly pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. ⁴ But ^(K)Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was going to ^[b]betray Him, *said, ⁵ “Why was this perfume not sold for ^[c]three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” ⁶ Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he ^(L)had the money box, he used to take from ^(M)what was put into it. ⁷ Therefore Jesus said, “Let her alone, so that she may keep it for ^(N)the day of My burial. ^8 (O)For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.”

⁹ Then the ^(P)large crowd from the Jews learned that He was there. And they came, not because of Jesus only, but that they might also see Lazarus, ^(Q)whom He raised from the dead. ¹⁰ But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; ¹¹ because ^(R)on account of him ^(S)many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.

The Triumphal Entry

¹² On the next day ^(T)the large crowd who had come to ^(U)the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, ¹³ took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “^(V)Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the ^[d]Lord, even the ^(W)King of Israel.” ¹⁴ And Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, ¹⁵ “^(X)Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” ^16 (Y)These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus ^(Z)was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him, and that they had done these things to Him. ¹⁷ So ^(AA)the crowd, who was with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to bear witness about Him. ^18 (AB)For this reason also the crowd went and met Him, ^(AC)because they heard that He had done this ^[e]sign. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing; look, the world has gone after Him.”

Yahweh’s Lovingkindness Endures Forever