Day 90: 1 Samuel 17 - 19

Bible in a year reading for day 90.

1 Samuel 17

8 And Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and array yourselves for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose one of your men and have him come down against me.
9 If he is able to fight me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and labor for us.”
10 Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day! Give me a man to fight!”
11 On hearing the words of the Philistine, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and greatly afraid.
12 Now David was the son of a man named Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah who had eight sons in the days of Saul. And Jesse was old and well along in years.
13 The three older sons of Jesse had followed Saul into battle: The firstborn was Eliab, the second was Abinadab, and the third was Shammah.
14 And David was the youngest. The three oldest had followed Saul,
15 but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.
16 For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening to take his stand.
17 One day Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp.
18 Take also these ten portions of cheese to the commander of their unit. Check on the welfare of your brothers and bring back an assurance from them.
19 They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”
20 So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with a keeper, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had instructed him. He reached the camp as the army was marching out to its position and shouting the battle cry.
21 And Israel and the Philistines arrayed in formation against each other.
22 Then David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were doing.
23 And as he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the Philistines and shouted his usual words, which David also heard.
24 When all the men of Israel saw Goliath, they fled from him in great fear.
25 Now the men of Israel had been saying, “Do you see this man who keeps coming out to defy Israel? To the man who kills him the king will give great riches. And he will give him his daughter in marriage and exempt his father’s house from taxation in Israel.”
26 David asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
27 The people told him about the offer, saying, “That is what will be done for the man who kills him.”
28 Now when David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, his anger burned against David. “Why have you come down here?” he asked. “And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and wickedness of heart—you have come down to see the battle!”
29 “What have I done now?” said David. “Was it not just a question?”
30 Then he turned from him toward another and asked about the offer, and those people answered him just as the first ones had answered.
31 Now David’s words were overheard and reported to Saul, who called for him.
32 And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of this Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him!”
33 But Saul replied, “You cannot go out against this Philistine to fight him. You are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
34 David replied, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep, and whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock,
35 I went after it, struck it down, and delivered the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it.
36 Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”
37 David added, “The LORD, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” “Go,” said Saul, “and may the LORD be with you.”
38 Then Saul clothed David in his own tunic, put a bronze helmet on his head, and dressed him in armor.
39 David strapped his sword over the tunic and tried to walk, but he was not accustomed to them. “I cannot walk in these,” David said to Saul. “I am not accustomed to them.” So David took them off.
40 And David took his staff in his hand, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag. And with his sling in hand, he approached the Philistine.
41 Now the Philistine came closer and closer to David, with his shield-bearer before him.
42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a boy, ruddy and handsome.
43 “Am I a dog,” he said to David, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44 “Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”
45 But David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand. This day I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the carcasses of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the creatures of the earth. Then the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.
47 And all those assembled here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.”
48 As the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.
49 Then David reached into his bag, took out a stone, and slung it, striking the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
50 Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
51 David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword and pulled it from its sheath and killed him; and he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.
52 Then the men of Israel and Judah charged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. And the bodies of the Philistines were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.
53 When the Israelites returned from their pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps.
54 David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.
55 As Saul had watched David going out to confront the Philistine, he said to Abner the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” “As surely as you live, O king,” Abner replied, “I do not know.”
56 “Find out whose son this young man is!” said the king.
57 So when David returned from killing the Philistine, still holding his head in his hand, Abner took him and brought him before Saul.
58 “Whose son are you, young man?” asked Saul. “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David replied.

1 Samuel 18

1 After David had finished speaking with Saul, the souls of Jonathan and David were knit together, and Jonathan loved him as himself.
2 And from that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father’s house.
3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.
4 And Jonathan removed the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt.
5 So David marched out and prospered in everything Saul sent him to do, and Saul set him over the men of war. And this was pleasing in the sight of all the people, and of Saul’s officers as well.
6 As the troops were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs, and with tambourines and other instruments.
7 And as the women danced, they sang out: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.”
8 And Saul was furious and resented this song. “They have ascribed tens of thousands to David,” he said, “but only thousands to me. What more can he have but the kingdom?”
9 And from that day forward Saul kept a jealous eye on David.
10 The next day a spirit of distress sent from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied inside the house while David played the harp as usual. Now Saul was holding a spear,
11 and he hurled it, thinking, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice.
12 So Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David but had departed from Saul.
13 Therefore Saul sent David away and gave him command of a thousand men. David led the troops out to battle and back,
14 and he continued to prosper in all his ways, because the LORD was with him.
15 When Saul saw that David was very successful, he was afraid of him.
16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he was leading them out to battle and back.
17 Then Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage. Only be valiant for me and fight the LORD’s battles.” But Saul was thinking, “I need not raise my hand against him; let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”
18 And David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my family or my father’s clan in Israel, that I should become the son-in-law of the king?”
19 So when it was time to give Saul’s daughter Merab to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.
20 Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David, and when this was reported to Saul, it pleased him.
21 “I will give her to David,” Saul thought, “so that she may be a snare to him, and the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “For a second time now you can be my son-in-law.”
22 Then Saul ordered his servants, “Speak to David privately and tell him, ‘Behold, the king is pleased with you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore, become his son-in-law.’”
23 But when Saul’s servants relayed these words to David, he replied, “Does it seem trivial in your sight to be the son-in-law of the king? I am a poor man and lightly esteemed.”
24 And the servants told Saul what David had said.
25 Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king desires no other dowry but a hundred Philistine foreskins as revenge on his enemies.’” But Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.
26 When the servants reported these terms to David, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the wedding day arrived,
27 David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented them as payment in full to become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to David in marriage.
28 When Saul realized that the LORD was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David,
29 he grew even more afraid of David. So from then on Saul was David’s enemy.
30 Every time the Philistine commanders came out for battle, David was more successful than all of Saul’s officers, so that his name was highly esteemed.

1 Samuel 19

1 Then Saul ordered his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Jonathan delighted greatly in David,
2 so he warned David, saying, “My father Saul intends to kill you. Be on your guard in the morning; find a secret place and hide there.
3 I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, so I can ask about you. And if I find out anything, I will tell you.”
4 Then Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David; he has not sinned against you. In fact, his actions have been highly beneficial to you.

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