Bible Readings for May 15, 2013

Today our passages are 1 Samuel 17:1–18:4; John 8:21-30; Psalm 111:1-10; and Proverbs 15:11. The readings are the Contemporary English Version.

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1 Samuel 17-18:4 (Contemporary English Version)

1 Samuel 17

Goliath Challenges Israel's Army

 ¹The Philistines got ready for war and brought their troops together to attack the town of Socoh in Judah. They set up camp at Ephes-Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah. ^[a] ^2-3King Saul and the Israelite army set up camp on a hill overlooking Elah Valley, and they got ready to fight the Philistine army that was on a hill on the other side of the valley. ⁴The Philistine army had a hero named Goliath who was from the town of Gath and was over nine feet ^[b] tall. ^5-6He wore a bronze helmet and had bronze armor to protect his chest and legs. The chest armor alone weighed about one hundred twenty-five pounds. He carried a bronze sword strapped on his back, ⁷and his spear was so big that the iron spearhead alone weighed more than fifteen pounds. A soldier always walked in front of Goliath to carry his shield. ⁸Goliath went out and shouted to the army of Israel:    Why are you lining up for battle? I'm the best soldier in our army, and all of you are in Saul's army. Choose your best soldier to come out and fight me! ⁹If he can kill me, our people will be your slaves. But if I kill him, your people will be our slaves. ¹⁰Here and now I challenge Israel's whole army! Choose someone to fight me!
    ¹¹Saul and his men heard what Goliath said, but they were so frightened of Goliath that they couldn't do a thing.
   David Decides to Challenge Goliath
    ¹²David's father Jesse was an old man, who belonged to the Ephrath clan and lived in Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons: ^13-14the oldest was Eliab, the next was Abinadab, and Shammah was the third. The three of them had gone off to fight in Saul's army.
   David was Jesse's youngest son. ¹⁵He took care of his father's sheep, and he went back and forth between Bethlehem and Saul's camp.
    ¹⁶Goliath came out and gave his challenge every morning and every evening for forty days.
    ¹⁷One day, Jesse told David, "Hurry and take this sack of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread to your brothers at the army camp. ¹⁸And here are ten large chunks of cheese to take to their commanding officer. Find out how your brothers are doing and bring back something that shows that they're all right. ¹⁹They're with Saul's army, fighting the Philistines in Elah Valley."
    ²⁰David obeyed his father. He got up early the next morning and left someone else in charge of the sheep; then he loaded the supplies and started off. He reached the army camp just as the soldiers were taking their places and shouting the battle cry. ²¹The army of Israel and the Philistine army stood there facing each other.
    ²²David left his things with the man in charge of supplies and ran up to the battle line to ask his brothers if they were well. ²³While David was talking with them, Goliath came out from the line of Philistines and started boasting as usual. David heard him.
    ²⁴When the Israelite soldiers saw Goliath, they were scared and ran off. ²⁵They said to each other, "Look how he keeps coming out to insult us. The king is offering a big reward to the man who kills Goliath. That man will even get to marry the king's daughter, and no one in his family will ever have to pay taxes again."
    ²⁶David asked some soldiers standing nearby, "What will a man get for killing this Philistine and stopping him from insulting our people? Who does that worthless Philistine think he is? He's making fun of the army of the living God!"
    ²⁷The soldiers told David what the king would give the man who killed Goliath.
    ²⁸David's oldest brother Eliab heard him talking with the soldiers. Eliab was angry at him and said, "What are you doing here, anyway? Who's taking care of that little flock of sheep out in the desert? You spoiled brat! You came here just to watch the fighting, didn't you?"
    ²⁹"Now what have I done?" David answered. "Can't I even ask a question?" ³⁰Then he turned and asked another soldier the same thing he had asked the others, and he got the same answer.
    ³¹Some soldiers overheard David talking, so they told Saul what David had said. Saul sent for David, and David came. ³²"Your Majesty," he said, "this Philistine shouldn't turn us into cowards. I'll go out and fight him myself!"
    ³³"You don't have a chance against him," Saul replied. "You're only a boy, and he's been a soldier all his life."
    ³⁴But David told him:
   Your Majesty, I take care of my father's sheep. And when one of them is dragged off by a lion or a bear, ³⁵I go after it and beat the wild animal until it lets the sheep go. If the wild animal turns and attacks me, I grab it by the throat and kill it.
    ³⁶Sir, I have killed lions and bears that way, and I can kill this worthless Philistine. He shouldn't have made fun of the army of the living God! ³⁷The LORD has rescued me from the claws of lions and bears, and he will keep me safe from the hands of this Philistine.
   "All right," Saul answered, "go ahead and fight him. And I hope the LORD will help you."
    ³⁸Saul had his own military clothes and armor put on David, and he gave David a bronze helmet to wear. ³⁹David strapped on a sword and tried to walk around, but he was not used to wearing those things.
   "I can't move with all this stuff on," David said. "I'm just not used to it."
   David took off the armor ⁴⁰and picked up his shepherd's stick. He went out to a stream and picked up five smooth rocks and put them in his leather bag. Then with his sling in his hand, he went straight toward Goliath.
   

David Kills Goliath

 ⁴¹Goliath came toward David, walking behind the soldier who was carrying his shield. ⁴²When Goliath saw that David was just a healthy, good-looking boy, he made fun of him. ⁴³"Do you think I'm a dog?" Goliath asked. "Is that why you've come after me with a stick?" He cursed David in the name of the Philistine gods ⁴⁴and shouted, "Come on! When I'm finished with you, I'll feed you to the birds and wild animals!"     ⁴⁵David answered:
   You've come out to fight me with a sword and a spear and a dagger. But I've come out to fight you in the name of the LORD All-Powerful. He is the God of Israel's army, and you have insulted him too!
    ⁴⁶Today the LORD will help me defeat you. I'll knock you down and cut off your head, and I'll feed the bodies of the other Philistine soldiers to the birds and wild animals. Then the whole world will know that Israel has a real God. ⁴⁷Everybody here will see that the LORD doesn't need swords or spears to save his people. The LORD always wins his battles, and he will help us defeat you.
    ⁴⁸When Goliath started forward, David ran toward him. ⁴⁹He put a rock in his sling and swung the sling around by its straps. When he let go of one strap, the rock flew out and hit Goliath on the forehead. It cracked his skull, and he fell facedown on the ground. ⁵⁰David defeated Goliath with a sling and a rock. He killed him without even using a sword.
    ⁵¹David ran over and pulled out Goliath's sword. Then he used it to cut off Goliath's head.
   When the Philistines saw what had happened to their hero, they started running away. ⁵²But the soldiers of Israel and Judah let out a battle cry and went after them as far as Gath ^[c] and Ekron. The bodies of the Philistines were scattered all along the road from Shaaraim to Gath and Ekron. ⁵³When the Israelite army returned from chasing the Philistines, they took what they wanted from the enemy camp. ⁵⁴David took Goliath's head to Jerusalem, but he kept Goliath's weapons in his own tent.
   

David Becomes One of Saul's Officers

 ⁵⁵After King Saul had watched David go out to fight Goliath, Saul turned to the commander of his army and said, "Abner, who is that young man?"    "Your Majesty," Abner answered, "I swear by your life that I don't know."
    ⁵⁶"Then find out!" Saul told him.
    ⁵⁷When David came back from fighting Goliath, he was still carrying Goliath's head.
   Abner took David to Saul, ⁵⁸and Saul asked, "Who are you?"
   "I am David the son of Jesse, a loyal Israelite from Bethlehem."
   

1 Samuel 18

 ¹David and Saul finished talking, and soon David and Jonathan ^[d] became best friends. Jonathan thought as much of David as he did of himself. ²From that time on, Saul kept David in his service and would not let David go back to his own family. ³Jonathan liked David so much that they promised to always be loyal friends. ⁴Jonathan took off the robe that he was wearing and gave it to David. He also gave him his military clothes, ^[e] his sword, his bow and arrows, and his belt.

Footnotes:

1. 1 Samuel 17:1 Socoh and Azekah: Socoh was controlled by the Israelites, while Azekah was in Philistine hands.
2. 1 Samuel 17:4 over nine feet: The Standard Hebrew Text; the Dead Sea Scrolls and some manuscripts of one ancient translation have "almost seven feet."
3. 1 Samuel 17:52 Gath: One ancient translation; Hebrew "a valley."
4. 1 Samuel 18:1 Jonathan: Saul's oldest son (see chapter 14).
5. 1 Samuel 18:4 military clothes: Or "armor."

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John 8:21-30 (Contemporary English Version)

You Cannot Go Where I Am Going

 ²¹Jesus also told them, "I am going away, and you will look for me. But you cannot go where I am going, and you will die with your sins unforgiven."     ²²The Jewish leaders asked, "Does he intend to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying we cannot go where he is going?"
    ²³Jesus answered, "You are from below, but I am from above. You belong to this world, but I don't. ²⁴That is why I said you will die with your sins unforgiven. If you don't have faith in me for who I am, ^[a] you will die, and your sins will not be forgiven." ²⁵"Who are you?" they asked Jesus.
   Jesus answered, "I am exactly who I told you at the beginning. ²⁶There is a lot more I could say to condemn you. But the one who sent me is truthful, and I tell the people of this world only what I have heard from him."
    ²⁷No one understood that Jesus was talking to them about the Father.
    ²⁸Jesus went on to say, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, ^[b] you will know who I am. You will also know that I don't do anything on my own. I say only what my Father taught me. ²⁹The one who sent me is with me. I always do what pleases him, and he will never leave me." ³⁰After Jesus said this, many of the people put their faith in him.
   

Footnotes:

1. John 8:24 I am: For the Jewish people the most holy name of God is " Yahweh," which may be translated " I am." In the Gospel of John " I am" is sometimes used by Jesus to show that he is that one.
2. John 8:28 lifted up the Son of Man: See the note at 7.39.

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Psalm 111:1-10 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 111

Praise the LORD for All He Has Done

 ¹Shout praises to the LORD!    With all my heart
   I will thank the LORD
   when his people meet.
    ²The LORD has done
   many wonderful things!
   Everyone who is pleased
   with God's marvelous deeds
   will keep them in mind.
    ³Everything the LORD does
   is glorious and majestic,
   and his power to bring justice
   will never end.
    ⁴The LORD God is famous
   for his wonderful deeds,
   and he is kind and merciful.
    ⁵He gives food to his worshipers
   and always keeps his agreement
   with them.
    ⁶He has shown his mighty power
   to his people
   and has given them the lands
   of other nations.
    ⁷God is always honest and fair,
   and his laws can be trusted.
    ⁸They are true and right
   and will stand forever.
    ⁹God rescued his people,
   and he will never break
   his agreement with them.
   He is fearsome and holy.
    ¹⁰Respect and obey the LORD!
   This is the first step
   to wisdom and good sense. ^[a] God will always be respected.
   

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 111:10 This. . . sense: Or " This is what wisdom and good sense are all about."

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Proverbs 15:11 (Contemporary English Version)

¹¹If the LORD can see everything
   in the world of the dead,
   he can see in our hearts.

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Verse of the Day

“No one can explain how a baby breathes before it is born. So how can anyone explain what God does? After all, he created everything.” - Ecclesiastes 11:5

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

California vineyard operator  Robert Mondavi wrote, “How beautiful it is to excel, and the goodness of giving from your heart.”