1 Samuel 17; 1 Samuel 18; Luke 11:1-28

Viewing Multiple Passages

1 Samuel 17

1 The Philistines gathered for battle in Socoh, a town in Judah; they camped at a place called Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah.

2 Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in Elah Valley, where they got ready to fight the Philistines.

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

4 A man named Goliath, from the city of Gath, came out from the Philistine camp to challenge the Israelites. He was over nine feet tall

5 and wore bronze armor that weighed about 125 pounds and a bronze helmet.

6 His legs were also protected by bronze armor, and he carried a bronze javelin slung over his shoulder.

7 His spear was as thick as the bar on a weaver's loom, and its iron head weighed about fifteen pounds. A soldier walked in front of him carrying his shield.

8 Goliath stood and shouted at the Israelites, "What are you doing there, lined up for battle? I am a Philistine, you slaves of Saul! Choose one of your men to fight me.

9 If he wins and kills me, we will be your slaves; but if I win and kill him, you will be our slaves.

10 Here and now I challenge the Israelite army. I dare you to pick someone to fight me!"

11 When Saul and his men heard this, they were terrified.

12 David was the son of Jesse, who was an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and at the time Saul was king, he was already a very old man.

13 His three oldest sons had gone with Saul to war. The oldest was Eliab, the next was Abinadab, and the third was Shammah.

14 David was the youngest son, and while the three oldest brothers stayed with Saul,

15 David would go back to Bethlehem from time to time, to take care of his father's sheep.

16 Goliath challenged the Israelites every morning and evening for forty days.

17 One day Jesse said to David, "Take a half-bushel of this roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and hurry with them to your brothers in the camp.

18 And take these ten cheeses to the commanding officer. Find out how your brothers are getting along and bring back something to show that you saw them and that they are well.

19 King Saul, your brothers, and all the other Israelites are in Elah Valley fighting the Philistines."

20 David got up early the next morning, left someone else in charge of the sheep, took the food, and went as Jesse had told him to. He arrived at the camp just as the Israelites were going out to their battle line, shouting the war cry.

21 The Philistine and the Israelite armies took positions for battle, facing each other.

22 David left the food with the officer in charge of the supplies, ran to the battle line, went to his brothers, and asked how they were getting along.

23 As he was talking with them, Goliath came forward and challenged the Israelites as he had done before. And David heard him.

24 When the Israelites saw Goliath, they ran away in terror.

25 "Look at him!" they said to each other. "Listen to his challenge! King Saul has promised to give a big reward to the man who kills him; the king will also give him his daughter to marry and will not require his father's family to pay taxes."

26 David asked the men who were near him, "What will the man get who kills this Philistine and frees Israel from this disgrace? After all, who is this heathen Philistine to defy the army of the living God?"

27 They told him what would be done for the man who killed Goliath.

28 Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard David talking to the men. He became angry with David and said, "What are you doing here? Who is taking care of those sheep of yours out there in the wilderness? You smart aleck, you! You just came to watch the fighting!"

29 "Now what have I done?" David asked. "Can't I even ask a question?"

30 He turned to another man and asked him the same question, and every time he asked, he got the same answer.

31 Some men heard what David had said, and they told Saul, who sent for him.

32 David said to Saul, "Your Majesty, no one should be afraid of this Philistine! I will go and fight him."

33 "No," answered Saul. "How could you fight him? You're just a boy, and he has been a soldier all his life!"

34 "Your Majesty," David said, "I take care of my father's sheep. Any time a lion or a bear carries off a lamb,

35 I go after it, attack it, and rescue the lamb. And if the lion or bear turns on me, I grab it by the throat and beat it to death.

36 I have killed lions and bears, and I will do the same to this heathen Philistine, who has defied the army of the living God.

37 The Lord has saved me from lions and bears; he will save me from this Philistine." "All right," Saul answered. "Go, and the Lord be with you."

38 He gave his own armor to David for him to wear: a bronze helmet, which he put on David's head, and a coat of armor.

39 David strapped Saul's sword over the armor and tried to walk, but he couldn't, because he wasn't used to wearing them. "I can't fight with all this," he said to Saul. "I'm not used to it." So he took it all off.

40 He took his shepherd's stick and then picked up five smooth stones from the stream and put them in his bag. With his sling ready, he went out to meet Goliath.

41 The Philistine started walking toward David, with his shield bearer walking in front of him. He kept coming closer,

42 and when he got a good look at David, he was filled with scorn for him because he was just a nice, good-looking boy.

43 He said to David, "What's that stick for? Do you think I'm a dog?" And he called down curses from his god on David.

44 "Come on," he challenged David, "and I will give your body to the birds and animals to eat."

45 David answered, "You are coming against me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the Israelite armies, which you have defied.

46 This very day the Lord will put you in my power; I will defeat you and cut off your head. And I will give the bodies of the Philistine soldiers to the birds and animals to eat. Then the whole world will know that Israel has a God,

47 and everyone here will see that the Lord does not need swords or spears to save his people. He is victorious in battle, and he will put all of you in our power."

48 Goliath started walking toward David again, and David ran quickly toward the Philistine battle line to fight him.

49 He reached into his bag and took out a stone, which he slung at Goliath. It hit him on the forehead and broke his skull, and Goliath fell face downward on the ground.

50 And so, without a sword, David defeated and killed Goliath with a sling and a stone!

51 He ran to him, stood over him, took Goliath's sword out of its sheath, and cut off his head and killed him. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they ran away.

52 The men of Israel and Judah shouted and ran after them, pursuing them all the way to Gath and to the gates of Ekron. The Philistines fell wounded all along the road that leads to Shaaraim, as far as Gath and Ekron.

53 When the Israelites came back from pursuing the Philistines, they looted their camp.

54 David got Goliath's head and took it to Jerusalem, but he kept Goliath's weapons in his own tent.

55 When Saul saw David going out to fight Goliath, he asked Abner, the commander of his army, "Abner, whose son is he?" "I have no idea, Your Majesty," Abner answered.

56 "Then go and find out," Saul ordered.

57 So when David returned to camp after killing Goliath, Abner took him to Saul. David was still carrying Goliath's head.

58 Saul asked him, "Young man, whose son are you?" "I am the son of your servant Jesse from Bethlehem," David answered.

1 Samuel 18

1 Saul and David finished their conversation. After that, Saul's son Jonathan was deeply attracted to David and came to love him as much as he loved himself.

2 Saul kept David with him from that day on and did not let him go back home.

3 Jonathan swore eternal friendship with David because of his deep affection for him.

4 He took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, together with his armor and also his sword, bow, and belt.

5 David was successful in all the missions on which Saul sent him, and so Saul made him an officer in his army. This pleased all of Saul's officers and men.

6 As David was returning after killing Goliath and as the soldiers were coming back home, women from every town in Israel came out to meet King Saul. They were singing joyful songs, dancing, and playing tambourines and lyres.

7 In their celebration the women sang, "Saul has killed thousands, but David tens of thousands."

8 Saul did not like this, and he became very angry. He said, "For David they claim tens of thousands, but only thousands for me. They will be making him king next!"

9 And so he was jealous and suspicious of David from that day on.

10 The next day an evil spirit from God suddenly took control of Saul, and he raved in his house like a madman. David was playing the harp, as he did every day, and Saul was holding a spear.

11 "I'll pin him to the wall," Saul said to himself, and he threw the spear at him twice; but David dodged each time.

12 Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with David but had abandoned him.

13 So Saul sent him away and put him in command of a thousand men. David led his men in battle

14 and was successful in all he did, because the Lord was with him.

15 Saul noticed David's success and became even more afraid of him.

16 But everyone in Israel and Judah loved David because he was such a successful leader.

17 Then Saul said to David, "Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you as your wife on condition that you serve me as a brave and loyal soldier, and fight the Lord's battles." (Saul was thinking that in this way the Philistines would kill David, and he would not have to do it himself.)

18 David answered, "Who am I and what is my family that I should become the king's son-in-law?"

19 But when the time came for Merab to be given to David, she was given instead to a man named Adriel from Meholah.

20 Saul's daughter Michal, however, fell in love with David, and when Saul heard of this, he was pleased.

21 He said to himself, "I'll give Michal to David; I will use her to trap him, and he will be killed by the Philistines." So for the second time Saul said to David, "You will be my son-in-law."

22 He ordered his officials to speak privately with David and tell him, "The king is pleased with you and all his officials like you; now is a good time for you to marry his daughter."

23 So they told this to David, and he answered, "It's a great honor to become the king's son-in-law, too great for someone poor and insignificant like me."

24 The officials told Saul what David had said,

25 and Saul ordered them to tell David: "All the king wants from you as payment for the bride are the foreskins of a hundred dead Philistines, as revenge on his enemies." (This was how Saul planned to have David killed by the Philistines.)

26 Saul's officials reported to David what Saul had said, and David was delighted with the thought of becoming the king's son-in-law. Before the day set for the wedding,

27 David and his men went and killed two hundred Philistines. He took their foreskins to the king and counted them all out to him, so that he might become his son-in-law. So Saul had to give his daughter Michal in marriage to David.

28 Saul realized clearly that the Lord was with David and also that his daughter Michal loved him.

29 So he became even more afraid of David and was his enemy as long as he lived.

30 The Philistine armies would come and fight, but in every battle David was more successful than any of Saul's other officers. As a result David became very famous.

Luke 11:1-28

1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."

2 Jesus said to them, "When you pray, say this: "Father: May your holy name be honored; may your Kingdom come.

3 Give us day by day the food we need.

4 Forgive us our sins, for we forgive everyone who does us wrong. And do not bring us to hard testing.' "

5 And Jesus said to his disciples, "Suppose one of you should go to a friend's house at midnight and say, "Friend, let me borrow three loaves of bread.

6 A friend of mine who is on a trip has just come to my house, and I don't have any food for him!'

7 And suppose your friend should answer from inside, "Don't bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.'

8 Well, what then? I tell you that even if he will not get up and give you the bread because you are his friend, yet he will get up and give you everything you need because you are not ashamed to keep on asking.

9 And so I say to you: Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.

10 For those who ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks.

11 Would any of you who are fathers give your son a snake when he asks for fish?

12 Or would you give him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?

13 As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

14 Jesus was driving out a demon that could not talk; and when the demon went out, the man began to talk. The crowds were amazed,

15 but some of the people said, "It is Beelzebul, the chief of the demons, who gives him the power to drive them out."

16 Others wanted to trap Jesus, so they asked him to perform a miracle to show that God approved of him.

17 But Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said to them, "Any country that divides itself into groups which fight each other will not last very long; a family divided against itself falls apart.

18 So if Satan's kingdom has groups fighting each other, how can it last? You say that I drive out demons because Beelzebul gives me the power to do so.

19 If this is how I drive them out, how do your followers drive them out? Your own followers prove that you are wrong!

20 No, it is rather by means of God's power that I drive out demons, and this proves that the Kingdom of God has already come to you.

21 "When a strong man, with all his weapons ready, guards his own house, all his belongings are safe.

22 But when a stronger man attacks him and defeats him, he carries away all the weapons the owner was depending on and divides up what he stole.

23 "Anyone who is not for me is really against me; anyone who does not help me gather is really scattering.

24 "When an evil spirit goes out of a person, it travels over dry country looking for a place to rest. If it can't find one, it says to itself, "I will go back to my house.'

25 So it goes back and finds the house clean and all fixed up.

26 Then it goes out and brings seven other spirits even worse than itself, and they come and live there. So when it is all over, that person is in worse shape than at the beginning."

27 When Jesus had said this, a woman spoke up from the crowd and said to him, "How happy is the woman who bore you and nursed you!"

28 But Jesus answered, "Rather, how happy are those who hear the word of God and obey it!"

1 Samuel 17; 1 Samuel 18; Luke 11:1-28

Viewing Multiple Passages

Share

Settings

1 Samuel 17

1 Samuel 18

Luke 11:1-28