One Year Bible.

Goliath’s Challenge

¹Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war at Socoh in Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim. ²Saul and the men of Israel assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah, arraying themselves for battle against the Philistines.

³The Philistines stood on one hill and the Israelites stood on another, with the valley between them.

⁴Then a champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was six cubits and a span in height, ⁵and he had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a bronze coat of mail weighing five thousand shekels, ⁶and he had armor of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. ⁷The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. In addition, his shield bearer went before him.

⁸And 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. ⁹If 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 work for us.”

¹⁰Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day! Give me a man to fight!”

¹¹On hearing the words of the Philistine, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and greatly afraid.

David Accepts the Challenge

¹²Now David was the son of a man named Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah who had eight sons. And in the days of Saul, Jesse was old and well along in years. ¹³The three older sons of Jesse had followed Saul into battle: The firstborn was Eliab, the second was Abinadab, and the third was Shammah. ¹⁴And David was the youngest.

The three oldest had followed Saul, ¹⁵but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.

¹⁶For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening to take his stand.

¹⁷One 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. ¹⁸Take 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. ¹⁹They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”

²⁰So 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. ²¹And Israel and the Philistines arrayed in formation against each other.

²²Then 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. ²³And as he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the ranks of the Philistines and shouted his usual words, which David also heard.

²⁴When all the men of Israel saw Goliath, they fled from him in great fear.

²⁵Now the men of Israel had been saying, “Do you see how this man 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.”

²⁶David 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?”

²⁷The people told him about the offer, saying, “That is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

²⁸Now 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?” ³⁰Then he turned from him toward another and asked about the offer, and those people answered him just as the first ones had answered.

³¹Now David’s words were overheard and reported to Saul, who sent for him.

³²And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of this Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him!”

³³But 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.”

³⁴David 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, ³⁵I 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. ³⁶Your 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.”

³⁷David 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.”

David Slays Goliath

³⁸Then Saul clothed David in his own tunic, put a bronze helmet on his head, and dressed him in armor. ³⁹David 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. ⁴⁰And 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.

⁴¹Now the Philistine came closer and closer to David, with his shield-bearer before him. ⁴²When 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!”

⁴⁵But 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. ⁴⁶This 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 Philistine army 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. ⁴⁷And 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.”

⁴⁸As the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. ⁴⁹Then 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.

⁵⁰Thus 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. ⁵¹David 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. ⁵²Then 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.

⁵³When the Israelites returned from their pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps. ⁵⁴David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.

⁵⁵As 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.

⁵⁷So 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.

The Dispute over Circumcision

¹Then some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” ²And after engaging these men in sharp debate, Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.

³Sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, recounting the conversion of the Gentiles and bringing great joy to all the brothers. ⁴On their arrival in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and apostles and elders, to whom they reported all that God had done through them.

The Council at Jerusalem

⁵But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and declared, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.” ⁶So the apostles and elders met to look into this matter.

⁷After much discussion, Peter got up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you that the Gentiles would hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. ⁸And God, who knows the heart, showed His approval by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us. ⁹He made no distinction between us and them, for He cleansed their hearts by faith.

¹⁰Now then, why do you test God by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? ¹¹On the contrary, we believe it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

¹²The whole assembly fell silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul describing the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. ¹³When they had finished speaking, James declared, “Brothers, listen to me! ¹⁴Simon has told us how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people to be His own. ¹⁵The words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written:

¹⁶‘After this I will return and rebuild

the fallen tent of David.

Its ruins I will rebuild,

and I will restore it,

¹⁷so that the remnant of men may seek the Lord,

and all the Gentiles who are called by My name,

says the Lord who does these things

¹⁸that have been known for ages.’

¹⁹It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not cause trouble for the Gentiles who are turning to God. ²⁰Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood. ²¹For Moses has been proclaimed in every city from ancient times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

The Letter to the Gentile Believers

²²Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to select men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, two leaders among the brothers, ²³and sent them with this letter:

The apostles and the elders, your brothers,

To the brothers among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia:

Greetings.

²⁴It has come to our attention that some went out from us without our authorization and unsettled you, troubling your minds by what they said. ²⁵So we all agreed to choose men to send to you along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, ²⁶men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to tell you in person the same things we are writing.

²⁸It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond these essential requirements: ²⁹You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.

Farewell.

The Believers at Antioch Rejoice

³⁰So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they assembled the congregation and delivered the letter. ³¹When the people read it, they rejoiced at its encouraging message.

³²Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers. ³³After spending some time there, they were sent off by the brothers in peace to return to those who had sent them. ³⁵But Paul and Barnabas remained at Antioch, along with many others, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord.

Paul’s Second Missionary Journey Begins

³⁶Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in every town where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, to see how they are doing.” ³⁷Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark. ³⁸But Paul thought it best not to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work.

³⁹Their disagreement was so sharp that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, ⁴⁰but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. ⁴¹And he traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Timothy Joins Paul and Silas

¹Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where he found a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman and a Greek father. ²The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. ³Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, so he took him and circumcised him on account of the Jews in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

⁴As they went from town to town, they delivered the decisions handed down by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. ⁵So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

Paul’s Vision of the Macedonian

⁶After the Holy Spirit had prevented them from speaking the word in the province of Asia, they traveled through the region of Phrygia and Galatia. ⁷And when they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit them. ⁸So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.

⁹During the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰As soon as Paul had seen the vision, we got ready to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi

¹¹We sailed from Troas straight to Samothrace, and the following day on to Neapolis. ¹²From there we went to the Roman colony of Philippi, the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

¹³On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river, where it was customary to find a place of prayer. After sitting down, we spoke to the women who had gathered there.

¹⁴Among those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. ¹⁵And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

Paul and Silas Imprisoned

¹⁶One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl with a spirit of divination, who earned a large income for her masters by fortune-telling. ¹⁷This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!”

¹⁸She continued this for many days. Eventually Paul grew so aggravated that he turned and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” And the spirit left her at that very moment.

¹⁹When the girl’s owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities in the marketplace. ²⁰They brought them to the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews and are throwing our city into turmoil ²¹by promoting customs that are unlawful for us Romans to adopt or practice.”

²²The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered that they be stripped and beaten with rods. ²³And after striking them with many blows, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to guard them securely. ²⁴On receiving this order, he placed them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

The Conversion of the Jailer

²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶Suddenly a strong earthquake shook the foundations of the prison. At once all the doors flew open and everyone’s chains came loose.

²⁷When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, presuming that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself! We are all here!”

²⁹Calling for lights, the jailer rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.” ³²Then Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house. ³³At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds. And without delay, he and all his household were baptized. ³⁴Then he brought them into his home and set a meal before them. So he and all his household rejoiced that they had come to believe in God.

An Official Apology

³⁵When daylight came, the magistrates sent their officers with the order: “Release those men.”

³⁶The jailer informed Paul: “The magistrates have sent orders to release you. Now you may go on your way in peace.”

³⁷But Paul said to the officers, “They beat us publicly without a trial and threw us into prison, even though we are Roman citizens. And now do they want to send us away secretly? Absolutely not! Let them come themselves and escort us out!”

³⁸So the officers relayed this message to the magistrates, who were alarmed to hear that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. ³⁹They came to appease them and led them out, requesting that they leave the city. ⁴⁰After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house to see the brothers and encourage them. Then they left the city.