Bible Reading
June 18
The World English Bible
June 18
1 Samuel 29, 30
1Sa 29:1 Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek: and the Israelites encamped by the spring which is in Jezreel.
1Sa 29:2 The lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands; and David and his men passed on in the rearward with Achish.
1Sa 29:3 Then said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here? Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, Isn't this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or rather these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell away to me to this day?
1Sa 29:4 But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him; and the princes of the Philistines said to him, Make the man return, that he may go back to his place where you have appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us: for with what should this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? should it not be with the heads of these men?
1Sa 29:5 Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands?
1Sa 29:6 Then Achish called David, and said to him, As Yahweh lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is good in my sight; for I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me to this day: nevertheless the lords don't favor you.
1Sa 29:7 Therefore now return, and go in peace, that you not displease the lords of the Philistines.
1Sa 29:8 David said to Achish, But what have I done? and what have you found in your servant so long as I have been before you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?
1Sa 29:9 Achish answered David, I know that you are good in my sight, as an angel of God: notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle.
1Sa 29:10 Therefore now rise up early in the morning with the servants of your lord who have come with you; and as soon as you are up early in the morning, and have light, depart.
1Sa 29:11 So David rose up early, he and his men, to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. The Philistines went up to Jezreel.
1Sa 30:1 It happened, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid on the South, and on Ziklag, and had struck Ziklag, and burned it with fire,
1Sa 30:2 and had taken captive the women and all who were therein, both small and great: they didn't kill any, but carried them off, and went their way.
1Sa 30:3 When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captive.
1Sa 30:4 Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.
1Sa 30:5 David's two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
1Sa 30:6 David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God.
1Sa 30:7 David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, Please bring me here the ephod. Abiathar brought there the ephod to David.
1Sa 30:8 David inquired of Yahweh, saying, If I pursue after this troop, shall I overtake them? He answered him, Pursue; for you shall surely overtake them, and shall without fail recover all.
1Sa 30:9 So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed.
1Sa 30:10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so faint that they couldn't go over the brook Besor.
1Sa 30:11 They found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he ate; and they gave him water to drink.
1Sa 30:12 They gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him; for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights.
1Sa 30:13 David said to him, To whom do you belong? and where are you from? He said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick.
1Sa 30:14 We made a raid on the South of the Cherethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on the South of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.
1Sa 30:15 David said to him, Will you bring me down to this troop? He said, Swear to me by God, that you will neither kill me, nor deliver me up into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this troop.
1Sa 30:16 When he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the ground, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.
1Sa 30:17 David struck them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day: and there not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who rode on camels and fled.
1Sa 30:18 David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; and David rescued his two wives.
1Sa 30:19 There was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that they had taken to them: David brought back all.
1Sa 30:20 David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before those other livestock, and said, This is David's spoil.
1Sa 30:21 David came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom also they had made to abide at the brook Besor; and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people who were with him: and when David came near to the people, he greeted them.
1Sa 30:22 Then answered all the wicked men and base fellows, of those who went with David, and said, Because they didn't go with us, we will not give them anything of the spoil that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, that he may lead them away, and depart.
1Sa 30:23 Then said David, You shall not do so, my brothers, with that which Yahweh has given to us, who has preserved us, and delivered the troop that came against us into our hand.
1Sa 30:24 Who will listen to you in this matter? for as his share is who goes down to the battle, so shall his share be who tarries by the baggage: they shall share alike.
1Sa 30:25 It was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.
1Sa 30:26 When David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil to the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold, a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of Yahweh:
1Sa 30:27 To those who were in Bethel, and to those who were in Ramoth of the South, and to those who were in Jattir,
1Sa 30:28 and to those who were in Aroer, and to those who were in Siphmoth, and to those who were in Eshtemoa,
1Sa 30:29 and to those who were in Racal, and to those who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to those who were in the cities of the Kenites,
1Sa 30:30 and to those who were in Hormah, and to those who were in Borashan, and to those who were in Athach,
1Sa 30:31 and to those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men used to stay.
Jun. 17, 18
John 17
Joh 17:1 Jesus said these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you;
Joh 17:2 even as you gave him authority over all flesh, he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
Joh 17:3 This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
Joh 17:4 I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.
Joh 17:5 Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
Joh 17:6 I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word.
Joh 17:7 Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are from you,
Joh 17:8 for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came forth from you, and they have believed that you sent me.
Joh 17:9 I pray for them. I don't pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
Joh 17:10 All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
Joh 17:11 I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are.
Joh 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you have given me I have kept. None of them is lost, except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
Joh 17:13 But now I come to you, and I say these things in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves.
Joh 17:14 I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:15 I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.
Joh 17:18 As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.
Joh 17:19 For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
Joh 17:20 Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who believe in me through their word,
Joh 17:21 that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.
Joh 17:22 The glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one;
Joh 17:23 I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me, and loved them, even as you loved me.
Joh 17:24 Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
Joh 17:25 Righteous Father, the world hasn't known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.
Joh 17:26 I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them."
There is a right way to rear children, and there is a wrong way. Abraham chose the right way. He commanded his children to “keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice” (Genesis 18:19, emp. added). Some 2,000 years later, the inspired apostle Paul made sure to tell the Ephesians to bring their children up “in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4, emp. added). The Lord’s way is the right way (Psalm 119:75). The right way includes diligently teaching young people to be (among other things) sensible, modest, discreet, and chaste (Titus 2:4-8; 1 Peter 3:1-5). It also includes warning today’s youth of the dangerous works of the flesh, including the impure, lewd, sensual things that tend to stir up ungodly passions (Galatians 5:19-21; Romans 13:13).
The Outback of Australia is home to this magnificent bird. The hot temperatures and dry climate do not deter the mallee, though. During its mating season, the male creates for its partner’s eggs a nest that has an average circumference of 70 feet, and is over three feet in height. In the 1700s, the first white settlers came upon the mallee fowl’s nests and, due to the unbelievable size of these sandy dunes, at first believed that they were aborigine burial grounds (Junor, 1998).
But building a nest is only half the battle. The other half involves temperature maintenance in the mound. This job, once again, is left to the male mallee. Several times a day, the male inserts his beak into the pile of debris and sand. He proceeds to stick out his tongue, which is such a good thermometer that it can measure a temperature change as small as 1/10 of a degree! After assessing the temperature, the male can act accordingly. If the nest is too hot, he removes some of the sand covering the nest. If the nest is too cold, the male adds sticks to produce more heat, and sand to insulate the mound from the surroundings. The temperature must be kept at exactly 33 degrees Celsius, and must be maintained to within one degree in order for the unborn chicks to survive while still in the nest.