One Year Bible.

The Amalekites Raid Ziklag

¹On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down. ²They had taken captive the women and all who were there, both young and old. They had not killed anyone, but had carried them off as they went on their way.

³When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned down and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. ⁴So David and the troops with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no strength left to weep.

⁵David’s two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel, had been taken captive. ⁶And David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of every man grieved for his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.

David Destroys the Amalekites

⁷Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.”

So Abiathar brought it to him, ⁸and David inquired of the LORD: “Should I pursue these raiders? Will I overtake them?”

“Pursue them,” the LORD replied, “for you will surely overtake them and rescue the captives.”

⁹So David and his six hundred men went to the Brook of Besor, where some stayed behind ¹⁰because two hundred men were too exhausted to cross the brook. But David and four hundred men continued in pursuit.

¹¹Now his men found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David. They gave the man water to drink and food to eat — ¹²a piece of a fig cake and two clusters of raisins. So he ate and was revived, for he had not had any food or water for three days and three nights.

¹³Then David asked him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?”

“I am an Egyptian,” he replied, “the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me three days ago when I fell ill. ¹⁴We raided the Negev of the Cherethites, the territory of Judah, and the Negev of Caleb, and we burned down Ziklag.”

¹⁵“Will you lead me to these raiders?” David asked.

And the man replied, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hand of my master, and I will lead you to them.”

¹⁶So he led David down, and there were the Amalekites spread out over all the land, eating, drinking, and celebrating the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and the land of Judah. ¹⁷And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man escaped, except four hundred young men who fled, riding off on camels.

¹⁸So David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. ¹⁹Nothing was missing, young or old, son or daughter, or any of the plunder the Amalekites had taken. David brought everything back. ²⁰And he took all the flocks and herds, which his men drove ahead of the other livestock, calling out, “This is David’s plunder!”

The Spoils Are Divided

²¹When David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Brook of Besor, they came out to meet him and the troops with him. As David approached the men, he greeted them, ²²but all the wicked and worthless men among those who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered, except for each man’s wife and children. They may take them and go.”

²³But David said, “My brothers, you must not do this with what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiders who came against us. ²⁴Who will listen to your proposal? The share of the one who went to battle will match the share of the one who stayed with the supplies. They will share alike.”

²⁵And so it has been from that day forward. David established this statute and ordinance for Israel to this very day.

²⁶When David arrived in Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the LORD’s enemies.” ²⁷He sent gifts to those in Bethel, Ramoth Negev, and Jattir; ²⁸to those in Aroer, Siphmoth, and Eshtemoa; ²⁹to those in Racal and in the cities of the Jerahmeelites and Kenites; ³⁰to those in Hormah, Bor-ashan, and Athach; ³¹and to those in Hebron and in all the places where David and his men had roamed.

Saul’s Overthrow and Death

¹Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa.

²The Philistines hotly pursued Saul and his sons, and they killed Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua. ³When the battle intensified against Saul, the archers overtook him and wounded him critically.

⁴Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised men will come and run me through and torture me!”

But his armor-bearer was terrified and refused to do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.

⁵When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his own sword and died with him.

⁶So Saul, his three sons, his armor-bearer, and all his men died together that same day.

The Philistines Possess the Towns

⁷When the Israelites along the valley and those on the other side of the Jordan saw that the army of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their cities and ran away. So the Philistines came and occupied their cities.

⁸The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹They cut off Saul’s head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temples of their idols and among their people. ¹⁰They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and hung his body on the wall of Beth-shan.

Jabesh-gilead’s Tribute to Saul

¹¹When the people of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹²all their men of valor set out, journeyed all night, and retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth-shan.

When they arrived at Jabesh, they burned the bodies there. ¹³Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.

Job Longs for God

¹Then Job answered:

²“Even today my complaint is bitter.

His hand is heavy despite my groaning.

³If only I knew where to find Him,

so that I could go to His seat.

⁴I would plead my case before Him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would learn how He would answer,

and consider what He would say.

⁶Would He contend with me in His great power?

No, He would certainly take note of me.

⁷Then an upright man could reason with Him,

and I would be delivered forever from my Judge.

⁸If I go east, He is not there,

and if I go west, I cannot find Him.

⁹When He is at work in the north, I cannot behold Him;

when He turns to the south, I cannot see Him.

¹⁰Yet He knows the way I have taken;

when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

¹¹My feet have followed in His tracks;

I have kept His way without turning aside.

¹²I have not departed from the command of His lips;

I have treasured the words of His mouth

more than my daily bread.

¹³But He is unchangeable, and who can oppose Him?

He does what He desires.

¹⁴For He carries out His decree against me,

and He has many such plans.

¹⁵Therefore I am terrified in His presence;

when I consider this, I fear Him.

¹⁶God has made my heart faint;

the Almighty has terrified me.

¹⁷Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,

by the thick darkness that covers my face.[’’]

Job: Judgment for the Wicked

¹“Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment?

Why may those who know Him never see His days?

²Men move boundary stones;

they pasture stolen flocks.

³They drive away the donkey of the fatherless

and take the widow’s ox in pledge.

⁴They push the needy off the road

and force all the poor of the land into hiding.

⁵Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert,

the poor go to work foraging for food;

the wasteland is food for their children.

⁶They gather fodder in the fields

and glean the vineyards of the wicked.

⁷Without clothing, they spend the night naked;

they have no covering against the cold.

⁸Drenched by mountain rains,

they huddle against the rocks for want of shelter.

⁹The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast;

the nursing child of the poor is seized for a debt.

¹⁰Without clothing, they wander about naked.

They carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.

¹¹They crush olives within their walls;

they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.

¹²From the city, men groan,

and the souls of the wounded cry out,

yet God charges no one with wrongdoing.

¹³Then there are those who rebel against the light,

not knowing its ways or staying on its paths.

¹⁴When daylight is gone, the murderer rises

to kill the poor and needy;

in the night he is like a thief.

¹⁵The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight.

Thinking, ‘No eye will see me,’ he covers his face.

¹⁶In the dark they dig through houses;

by day they shut themselves in,

never to experience the light.

¹⁷For to them, deep darkness is their morning;

surely they are friends with the terrors of darkness!

¹⁸They are but foam on the surface of the water;

their portion of the land is cursed,

so that no one turns toward their vineyards.

¹⁹As drought and heat consume the melting snow,

so Sheol steals those who have sinned.

²⁰The womb forgets them;

the worm feeds on them;

they are remembered no more.

So injustice is broken like a tree.

²¹They prey on the barren and childless,

and show no kindness to the widow.

²²Yet by His power, God drags away the mighty;

though rising up, they have no assurance of life.

²³He gives them a sense of security,

but His eyes are on their ways.

²⁴They are exalted for a moment,

then they are gone;

they are brought low and gathered up like all others;

they are cut off like heads of grain.

²⁵If this is not so, then who can prove me a liar

and reduce my words to nothing?”