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Daily Readings for July 9
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1Samuel 21
1.Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, "Why are you alone, and no man with you?" 2.David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king has commanded me a business, and has said to me, 'Let no man know anything of the business about which I send you, and what I have commanded you; and I have appointed the young men to such and such a place.' 3.Now therefore what is under your hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever there is present."
4.The priest answered David, and said, "There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women."
5.David answered the priest, and said to him, "Truly, women have been kept from us about these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be holy?" 6.So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the show bread, that was taken from before Yahweh, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
7.Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Yahweh; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the best of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul. 8.David said to Ahimelech, "Isn't there here under your hand spear or sword? For I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste."
9.The priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it; for there is no other except that here."
David said, "There is none like that. Give it to me."
10.David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11.The servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David the king of the land? Didn't they sing one to another about him in dances, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands?'" 12.David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13.He changed his behavior before them, and pretended to be mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down on his beard. 14.Then Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? 15.Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?"
1Samuel 22
1.David therefore departed there, and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. 2.Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented, gathered themselves to him; and he became captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men. 3.David went there to Mizpeh of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and my mother come out with you, until I know what God will do for me." 4.He brought them before the king of Moab; and they lived with him all the while that David was in the stronghold. 5.The prophet Gad said to David, "Don't stay in the stronghold. Depart, and go into the land of Judah."
Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth. 6.Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Now Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree in Ramah, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him. 7.Saul said to his servants who stood about him, "Hear now, you Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse give everyone of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, 8.that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none who discloses to me when my son makes a treaty with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you who is sorry for me, or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?"
9.Then Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, answered and said, "I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. 10.He inquired of Yahweh for him, gave him food, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine."
11.Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests who were in Nob: and they came all of them to the king. 12.Saul said, "Hear now, you son of Ahitub."
He answered, "Here I am, my lord."
13.Saul said to him, "Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread, and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?"
14.Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, "Who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and is taken into your council, and is honorable in your house? 15.Have I today begun to inquire of God for him? Be it far from me! Don't let the king impute anything to his servant, nor to all the house of my father; for your servant knows nothing of all this, less or more."
16.The king said, "You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you, and all your father's house." 17.The king said to the guard who stood about him, "Turn, and kill the priests of Yahweh; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew that he fled, and didn't disclose it to me." But the servants of the king wouldn't put forth their hand to fall on the priests of Yahweh. 18.The king said to Doeg, "Turn and attack the priests!"
Doeg the Edomite turned, and he attacked the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five people who wore a linen ephod. 19.He struck Nob, the city of the priests, with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing babies, and cattle and donkeys and sheep, with the edge of the sword. 20.One of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David. 21.Abiathar told David that Saul had slain Yahweh's priests. 22.David said to Abiathar, "I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of all the persons of your father's house. 23.Stay with me, don't be afraid; for he who seeks my life seeks your life. For with me you shall be in safeguard."
Isaiah 65
1."I am inquired of by those who didn't ask; I am found by those who didn't seek me: I said, See me, see me, to a nation that was not called by my name. 2.I have spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts; 3.a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens, and burning incense on bricks; 4.who sit among the graves, and lodge in the secret places; who eat pig's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; 5.who say, Stand by yourself, don't come near to me, for I am holier than you. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day.
6."Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, yes, I will recompense into their bosom, 7. your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together," says Yahweh, "who have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed me on the hills; therefore will I first measure their work into their bosom."
8.Thus says Yahweh, "As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, 'Don't destroy it, for a blessing is in it:' so will I do for my servants' sake, that I may not destroy them all. 9.I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains; and my chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. 10.Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down in, for my people who have sought me.
11."But you who forsake Yahweh, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny; 12.I will destine you to the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you didn't answer; when I spoke, you didn't listen; but you did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I didn't delight."
13.Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, "Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be disappointed; 14.behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall wail for anguish of spirit. 15.You shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen; and the Lord Yahweh will kill you; and he will call his servants by another name: 16.so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes.
17."For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18.But be you glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19.I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and there shall be heard in her no more the voice of weeping and the voice of crying.
20."There shall be no more there an infant of days, nor an old man who has not filled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, and the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed. 21.They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 22.They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23.They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for calamity; for they are the seed of the blessed of Yahweh, and their offspring with them. 24.It shall happen that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. 25.The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain," says Yahweh.
Matthew 10
1.He called to himself his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every sickness. 2.Now the names of the twelve apostles are these. The first, Simon, who is called Peter; Andrew, his brother; James the son of Zebedee; John, his brother; 3.Philip; Bartholomew; Thomas; Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus; Lebbaeus, whose surname was49 Thaddaeus; 4.Simon the Canaanite; and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
5.Jesus sent these twelve out, and commanded them, saying, "Don't go among the Gentiles, and don't enter into any city of the Samaritans. 6.Rather, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7.As you go, preach, saying, 'The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!' 8.Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers[50], and cast out demons. Freely you received, so freely give. 9.Don't take any gold, nor silver, nor brass in your money belts. 10.Take no bag for your journey, neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staff: for the laborer is worthy of his food. 11.Into whatever city or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy; and stay there until you go on. 12.As you enter into the household, greet it. 13.If the household is worthy, let your peace come on it, but if it isn't worthy, let your peace return to you. 14.Whoever doesn't receive you, nor hear your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake off the dust from your feet. 15.Most certainly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.
16."Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. 17.But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you. 18.Yes, and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the nations. 19.But when they deliver you up, don't be anxious how or what you will say, for it will be given you in that hour what you will say. 20.For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.
21."Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. 22.You will be hated by all men for my name's sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved. 23.But when they persecute you in this city, flee into the next, for most certainly I tell you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel, until the Son of Man has come.
24."A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord. 25.It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household! 26.Therefore don't be afraid of them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed; and hidden that will not be known. 27.What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim on the housetops. 28.Don't be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.51
29."Aren't two sparrows sold for an assarion coin52? Not one of them falls on the ground apart from your Father's will, 30.but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31.Therefore don't be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows. 32.Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. 33.But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.
34."Don't think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn't come to send peace, but a sword. 35.For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36.A man's foes will be those of his own household.[53] 37.He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn't worthy of me. 38.He who doesn't take his cross and follow after me, isn't worthy of me. 39.He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. 40.He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me. 41.He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. He who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. 42.Whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, most certainly I tell you he will in no way lose his reward."