1 Samuel 23

• 1. One day news came to David that the Philistines were at Keilah stealing grain from the threshing floors.
• 2. David asked the LORD, "Should I go and attack them?Yes, go and save Keilah," the LORD told him.
• 3. But David's men said, "We're afraid even here in Judah. We certainly don't want to go to Keilah to fight the whole Philistine army!"
• 4. So David asked the LORD again, and again the LORD replied, "Go down to Keilah, for I will help you conquer the Philistines."
• 5. So David and his men went to Keilah. They slaughtered the Philistines and took all their livestock and rescued the people of Keilah.
• 6. Abiathar the priest went to Keilah with David, taking the ephod with him to get answers for David from the LORD.
• 7. Saul soon learned that David was at Keilah. "Good!" he exclaimed. "We've got him now! God has handed him over to me, for he has trapped himself in a walled city!"
• 8. So Saul mobilized his entire army to march to Keilah and attack David and his men.
• 9. But David learned of Saul's plan and told Abiathar the priest to bring the ephod and ask the LORD what he should do.
• 10. And David prayed, "O LORD, God of Israel, I have heard that Saul is planning to come and destroy Keilah because I am here.
• 11. Will the men of Keilah surrender me to him? And will Saul actually come as I have heard? O LORD, God of Israel, please tell me." And the LORD said, "He will come."
• 12. Again David asked, "Will these men of Keilah really betray me and my men to Saul?" And the LORD replied, "Yes, they will betray you."
• 13. So David and his men--about six hundred of them now--left Keilah and began roaming the countryside. Word soon reached Saul that David had escaped, so he didn't go to Keilah after all.
• 14. David now stayed in the strongholds of the wilderness and in the hill country of Ziph. Saul hunted him day after day, but God didn't let him be found.
• 15. One day near Horesh, David received the news that Saul was on the way to Ziph to search for him and kill him.
• 16. Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in his faith in God.
• 17. "Don't be afraid," Jonathan reassured him. "My father will never find you! You are going to be the king of Israel, and I will be next to you, as my father is well aware."
• 18. So the two of them renewed their covenant of friendship before the LORD. Then Jonathan returned home, while David stayed at Horesh.
• 19. But now the men of Ziph went to Saul in Gibeah and betrayed David to him. "We know where David is hiding," they said. "He is in the strongholds of Horesh on the hill of Hakilah, which is in the southern part of Jeshimon.
• 20. Come down whenever you're ready, O king, and we will catch him and hand him over to you!"
• 21. "The LORD bless you," Saul said. "At last someone is concerned about me!
• 22. Go and check again to be sure of where he is staying and who has seen him there, for I know that he is very crafty.
• 23. Discover his hiding places, and come back with a more definite report. Then I'll go with you. And if he is in the area at all, I'll track him down, even if I have to search every hiding place in Judah!"
• 24. So the men of Ziph returned home ahead of Saul. Meanwhile, David and his men had moved into the wilderness of Maon in the Arabah Valley south of Jeshimon.
• 25. When David heard that Saul and his men were searching for him, he went even farther into the wilderness to the great rock, and he remained there in the wilderness of Maon. But Saul kept after him.
• 26. He and David were now on opposite sides of a mountain. Just as Saul and his men began to close in on David and his men,
• 27. an urgent message reached Saul that the Philistines were raiding Israel again.
• 28. So Saul quit the chase and returned to fight the Philistines. Ever since that time, the place where David was camped has been called the Rock of Escape.
• 29. David then went to live in the strongholds of En-gedi.

1 Corinthians 4

• 1. So look at Apollos and me as mere servants of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining God's secrets.
• 2. Now, a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful.
• 3. What about me? Have I been faithful? Well, it matters very little what you or anyone else thinks. I don't even trust my own judgment on this point.
• 4. My conscience is clear, but that isn't what matters. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.
• 5. So be careful not to jump to conclusions before the Lord returns as to whether or not someone is faithful. When the Lord comes, he will bring our deepest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. And then God will give to everyone whatever praise is due.
• 6. Dear brothers and sisters, I have used Apollos and myself to illustrate what I've been saying. If you pay attention to the Scriptures, you won't brag about one of your leaders at the expense of another.
• 7. What makes you better than anyone else? What do you have that God hasn't given you? And if all you have is from God, why boast as though you have accomplished something on your own?
• 8. You think you already have everything you need! You are already rich! Without us you have become kings! I wish you really were on your thrones already, for then we would be reigning with you!
• 9. But sometimes I think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor's parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world--to people and angels alike.
• 10. Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you are so wise! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are well thought of, but we are laughed at.
• 11. To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, without enough clothes to keep us warm. We have endured many beatings, and we have no homes of our own.
• 12. We have worked wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us.
• 13. We respond gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world's garbage, like everybody's trash--right up to the present moment.
• 14. I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children.
• 15. For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you.
• 16. So I ask you to follow my example and do as I do.
• 17. That is the very reason I am sending Timothy--to help you do this. For he is my beloved and trustworthy child in the Lord. He will remind you of what I teach about Christ Jesus in all the churches wherever I go.
• 18. I know that some of you have become arrogant, thinking I will never visit you again.
• 19. But I will come--and soon--if the Lord will let me, and then I'll find out whether these arrogant people are just big talkers or whether they really have God's power.
• 20. For the Kingdom of God is not just fancy talk; it is living by God's power.
• 21. Which do you choose? Should I come with punishment and scolding, or should I come with quiet love and gentleness?

Ezekiel 2

• 1. "Stand up, son of man," said the voice. "I want to speak with you."
• 2. The Spirit came into me as he spoke and set me on my feet. I listened carefully to his words.
• 3. "Son of man," he said, "I am sending you to the nation of Israel, a nation that is rebelling against me. Their ancestors have rebelled against me from the beginning, and they are still in revolt to this very day.
• 4. They are a hard-hearted and stubborn people. But I am sending you to say to them, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says!'
• 5. And whether they listen or not--for remember, they are rebels--at least they will know they have had a prophet among them.
• 6. "Son of man, do not fear them. Don't be afraid even though their threats are sharp as thorns and barbed like briers, and they sting like scorpions. Do not be dismayed by their dark scowls. For remember, they are rebels!
• 7. You must give them my messages whether they listen or not. But they won't listen, for they are completely rebellious!
• 8. Son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not join them in being a rebel. Open your mouth, and eat what I give you."
• 9. Then I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me, and it held a scroll.
• 10. He unrolled it, and I saw that both sides were covered with funeral songs, other words of sorrow, and pronouncements of doom.

New Living Translation: 242 of 365 days.