The Daily Audio Bible

The Philistines Mistrust David

29 Now ^(A)the Philistines gathered together all their armies 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 go back, 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 the Lord lives, you have been upright, and ^(J)your going out and your coming in with me in the army 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 Now therefore return and go in peace, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.” ⁸ 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 replied 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 Now then 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, depart.” ¹¹ So David arose early, he and his men, to depart in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

David’s Victory over 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 ^[d]overthrown Ziklag and burned it with fire; ² and they took captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great, ^[e](S)without killing anyone, and carried them off and went their way. ³ When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive. ⁴ Then 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 ^[f]widow of Nabal the Carmelite. ⁶ Moreover David was greatly distressed because ^(V)the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were ^[g]embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But ^(W)David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

⁷ Then ^(X)David said to ^(Y)Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. ^8 (Z)David inquired of the Lord, 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 rescue all.” ⁹ So David went, ^(AC)he and the six hundred men who were with him, and 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 Now 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 They gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins, and he ate; ^(AE)then his spirit ^[h]revived. For he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. ¹³ 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 servant of an Amalekite; and my master left me behind when I fell sick three days ago. ¹⁴ We made a raid on ^(AF)the ^[i]Negev of the Cherethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on ^(AG)the ^[j]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 kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this band.”

¹⁶ When he had brought him down, behold, they were ^[k]spread over all the land, ^(AI)eating and drinking and ^[l]dancing because of ^(AJ)all the great spoil that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. ¹⁷ David ^[m]slaughtered them ^(AK)from the twilight ^[n]until the evening of ^[o]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)recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and ^[p]rescued his two wives. ¹⁹ But 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 So David had ^[q]captured all the sheep and the cattle which the people drove ahead of ^[r]the other livestock, and they said, “^(AO)This is David’s spoil.”

The Spoils Are Divided

²¹ When ^(AP)David came to the two hundred men who were too exhausted to follow David, who had also been left at the brook Besor, and they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him, then David approached the people and greeted them. ²² Then all the wicked and worthless men among those who went with David said, “Because they did not go with ^[s]us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, 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 the Lord has given us, who has kept us and delivered into our hand the band that came against us. ²⁴ And who will listen to you in this matter? For ^(AQ)as his share is who goes down to the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage; they shall share alike.” ²⁵ So it has been from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.

²⁶ Now when David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, “Behold, ^(AR)a ^[t]gift for you from the spoil of ^(AS)the enemies of the Lord: ²⁷ to those who were in ^(AT)Bethel, and to those who were in ^(AU)Ramoth of the ^[u]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 were accustomed to ^(BD)go.”

Saul and His Sons Slain

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 The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons; and the Philistines ^[v]killed ^(BG)Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua the sons of Saul. ^3 (BH)The battle went heavily against Saul, and the archers ^[w]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, otherwise ^(BJ)these uncircumcised will come and pierce me through and make sport of me.” But his armor bearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. ^(BK)So Saul took his sword and fell on it. ⁵ When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, 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 When 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, they abandoned the cities and fled; then the Philistines came and lived in them.

⁸ It came about on the ^[x]next day when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ They cut off his head and stripped off his weapons, and sent them ^[y]throughout the land of the Philistines, ^(BL)to carry the good news ^(BM)to the house of their idols and to the people. ¹⁰ They put his weapons in the ^[z]temple of ^(BN)Ashtaroth, and ^(BO)they fastened his body to the wall of ^(BP)Beth-shan. ¹¹ Now when ^(BQ)the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard ^[aa]what the Philistines had done to Saul, ^12 (BR)all the valiant men rose 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 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 out of the country before the Passover ^(B)to purify themselves. ⁵⁶ So they ^(C)were seeking for 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

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; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. ^3 (I)Mary then took a ^[a]pound of very costly ^(J)perfume of 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 intending to ^[b]betray Him, *said, ⁵ “Why was this perfume not sold for ^[c]three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” 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 pilfer ^(M)what was put into it. ⁷ Therefore Jesus said, “Let her alone, so that she may keep ^[d]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 The ^(P)large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake 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.

Jesus Enters Jerusalem

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 Lord, even the ^(W)King of Israel.” ¹⁴ 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 of Him, and that they had done these things to Him. ¹⁷ So ^(AA)the ^[e]people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him. ^18 (AB)For this reason also the ^[f]people went and met Him, ^(AC)because they heard that He had performed this ^[g]sign. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him.”

Thanksgiving for the Lord’s Saving Goodness.