1 Samuel 26

• 1. Now some messengers from Ziph came back to Saul at Gibeah to tell him, "David is hiding on the hill of Hakilah, which overlooks Jeshimon."
• 2. So Saul took three thousand of his best troops and went to hunt him down in the wilderness of Ziph.
• 3. Saul camped along the road beside the hill of Hakilah, near Jeshimon, where David was hiding. But David knew of Saul's arrival,
• 4. so he sent out spies to watch his movements.
• 5. David slipped over to Saul's camp one night to look around. Saul and his general, Abner son of Ner, were sleeping inside a ring formed by the slumbering warriors.
• 6. "Will anyone volunteer to go in there with me?" David asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother. "I'll go with you," Abishai replied.
• 7. So David and Abishai went right into Saul's camp and found him asleep, with his spear stuck in the ground beside his head. Abner and the warriors were lying asleep around him.
• 8. "God has surely handed your enemy over to you this time!" Abishai whispered to David. "Let me thrust that spear through him. I'll pin him to the ground, and I won't need to strike twice!"
• 9. "No!" David said. "Don't kill him. For who can remain innocent after attacking the LORD's anointed one?
• 10. Surely the LORD will strike Saul down someday, or he will die in battle or of old age.
• 11. But the LORD forbid that I should kill the one he has anointed! But I'll tell you what--we'll take his spear and his jug of water and then get out of here!"
• 12. So David took the spear and jug of water that were near Saul's head. Then he and Abishai got away without anyone seeing them or even waking up, because the LORD had put Saul's men into a deep sleep.
• 13. David climbed the hill opposite the camp until he was at a safe distance.
• 14. Then he shouted down to Abner and Saul, "Wake up, Abner!Who is it?" Abner demanded.
• 15. "Well, Abner, you're a great man, aren't you?" David taunted. "Where in all Israel is there anyone as mighty? So why haven't you guarded your master the king when someone came to kill him?
• 16. This isn't good at all! I swear by the LORD that you and your men deserve to die, because you failed to protect your master, the LORD's anointed! Look around! Where are the king's spear and the jug of water that were beside his head?"
• 17. Saul recognized David's voice and called out, "Is that you, my son David?" And David replied, "Yes, my lord the king.
• 18. Why are you chasing me? What have I done? What is my crime?
• 19. But now let my lord the king listen to his servant. If the LORD has stirred you up against me, then let him accept my offering. But if this is simply a human scheme, then may those involved be cursed by the LORD. For you have driven me from my home, so I can no longer live among the LORD's people and worship as I should.
• 20. Must I die on foreign soil, far from the presence of the LORD? Why has the king of Israel come out to search for a single flea? Why does he hunt me down like a partridge on the mountains?"
• 21. Then Saul confessed, "I have sinned. Come back home, my son, and I will no longer try to harm you, for you valued my life today. I have been a fool and very, very wrong."
• 22. "Here is your spear, O king," David replied. "Let one of your young men come over and get it.
• 23. The LORD gives his own reward for doing good and for being loyal, and I refused to kill you even when the LORD placed you in my power, for you are the LORD's anointed one.
• 24. Now may the LORD value my life, even as I have valued yours today. May he rescue me from all my troubles."
• 25. And Saul said to David, "Blessings on you, my son David. You will do heroic deeds and be a great conqueror." Then David went away, and Saul returned home.

1 Corinthians 7

• 1. Now about the questions you asked in your letter. Yes, it is good to live a celibate life.
• 2. But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband.
• 3. The husband should not deprive his wife of sexual intimacy, which is her right as a married woman, nor should the wife deprive her husband.
• 4. The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband also gives authority over his body to his wife.
• 5. So do not deprive each other of sexual relations. The only exception to this rule would be the agreement of both husband and wife to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time, so they can give themselves more completely to prayer. Afterward they should come together again so that Satan won't be able to tempt them because of their lack of self-control.
• 6. This is only my suggestion. It's not meant to be an absolute rule.
• 7. I wish everyone could get along without marrying, just as I do. But we are not all the same. God gives some the gift of marriage, and to others he gives the gift of singleness.
• 8. Now I say to those who aren't married and to widows--it's better to stay unmarried, just as I am.
• 9. But if they can't control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It's better to marry than to burn with lust.
• 10. Now, for those who are married I have a command that comes not from me, but from the Lord. A wife must not leave her husband.
• 11. But if she does leave him, let her remain single or else go back to him. And the husband must not leave his wife.
• 12. Now, I will speak to the rest of you, though I do not have a direct command from the Lord. If a Christian man has a wife who is an unbeliever and she is willing to continue living with him, he must not leave her.
• 13. And if a Christian woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he is willing to continue living with her, she must not leave him.
• 14. For the Christian wife brings holiness to her marriage, and the Christian husband brings holiness to his marriage. Otherwise, your children would not have a godly influence, but now they are set apart for him.
• 15. (But if the husband or wife who isn't a Christian insists on leaving, let them go. In such cases the Christian husband or wife is not required to stay with them, for God wants his children to live in peace.)
• 16. You wives must remember that your husbands might be converted because of you. And you husbands must remember that your wives might be converted because of you.
• 17. You must accept whatever situation the Lord has put you in, and continue on as you were when God first called you. This is my rule for all the churches.
• 18. For instance, a man who was circumcised before he became a believer should not try to reverse it. And the man who was uncircumcised when he became a believer should not be circumcised now.
• 19. For it makes no difference whether or not a man has been circumcised. The important thing is to keep God's commandments.
• 20. You should continue on as you were when God called you.
• 21. Are you a slave? Don't let that worry you--but if you get a chance to be free, take it.
• 22. And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, the Lord has now set you free from the awful power of sin. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ.
• 23. God purchased you at a high price. Don't be enslaved by the world.
• 24. So, dear brothers and sisters, whatever situation you were in when you became a believer, stay there in your new relationship with God.
• 25. Now, about the young women who are not yet married. I do not have a command from the Lord for them. But the Lord in his kindness has given me wisdom that can be trusted, and I will share it with you.
• 26. Because of the present crisis, I think it is best to remain just as you are.
• 27. If you have a wife, do not end the marriage. If you do not have a wife, do not get married.
• 28. But if you do get married, it is not a sin. And if a young woman gets married, it is not a sin. However, I am trying to spare you the extra problems that come with marriage.
• 29. Now let me say this, dear brothers and sisters: The time that remains is very short, so husbands should not let marriage be their major concern.
• 30. Happiness or sadness or wealth should not keep anyone from doing God's work.
• 31. Those in frequent contact with the things of the world should make good use of them without becoming attached to them, for this world and all it contains will pass away.
• 32. In everything you do, I want you to be free from the concerns of this life. An unmarried man can spend his time doing the Lord's work and thinking how to please him.
• 33. But a married man can't do that so well. He has to think about his earthly responsibilities and how to please his wife.
• 34. His interests are divided. In the same way, a woman who is no longer married or has never been married can be more devoted to the Lord in body and in spirit, while the married woman must be concerned about her earthly responsibilities and how to please her husband.
• 35. I am saying this for your benefit, not to place restrictions on you. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible.
• 36. But if a man thinks he ought to marry his fiancee because he has trouble controlling his passions and time is passing, it is all right; it is not a sin. Let them marry.
• 37. But if he has decided firmly not to marry and there is no urgency and he can control his passion, he does well not to marry.
• 38. So the person who marries does well, and the person who doesn't marry does even better.
• 39. A wife is married to her husband as long as he lives. If her husband dies, she is free to marry whomever she wishes, but this must be a marriage acceptable to the Lord.
• 40. But in my opinion it will be better for her if she doesn't marry again, and I think I am giving you counsel from God's Spirit when I say this.

Ezekiel 5

• 1. "Son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a razor to shave your head and beard. Use a scale to weigh the hair into three equal parts.
• 2. Place a third of it at the center of your map of Jerusalem. After acting out the siege, burn it there. Scatter another third across your map and slash at it with a sword. Scatter the last third to the wind, for I will scatter my people with the sword.
• 3. Keep just a bit of the hair and tie it up in your robe.
• 4. Then take a few of these hairs out and throw them into the fire, burning them up. A fire will then spread from this remnant and destroy all of Israel.
• 5. "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: This is an illustration of what will happen to Jerusalem. I placed her at the center of the nations,
• 6. but she has rebelled against my regulations and has been even more wicked than the surrounding nations. She has refused to obey the laws I gave her to follow.
• 7. So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Since you have refused to obey my laws and regulations and have behaved even worse than your neighbors,
• 8. I myself, the Sovereign LORD, am now your enemy. I will punish you publicly while all the nations watch.
• 9. Because of your detestable idols, I will punish you more severely than I have punished anyone before or ever will again.
• 10. Parents will eat their own children, and children will eat their parents. And I will punish you by scattering the few who survive to the far reaches of the earth.
• 11. "As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I will cut you off completely. I will show you no pity at all because you have defiled my Temple with idols and vile practices.
• 12. A third of your people will die in the city from famine and disease. A third of them will be slaughtered by the enemy outside the city walls. And I will scatter a third to the winds and chase them with my sword.
• 13. Then at last my anger will be spent, and I will be satisfied. And when my fury against them has subsided, all Israel will know that I, the LORD, have spoken to them in my jealous anger.
• 14. "So I will turn you into a ruin, a mockery in the eyes of the surrounding nations and to everyone who travels by.
• 15. You will become an object of mockery and taunting and horror. You will be a warning to all the nations around you. They will see what happens when the LORD turns against a nation in furious rebuke. I, the LORD, have spoken!
• 16. "I will shower you with the deadly arrows of famine to destroy you. The famine will become more and more severe until every crumb of food is gone.
• 17. And along with the famine, wild animals will attack you, robbing you of your children. Disease and war will stalk your land, and I will bring the sword of the enemy against you. I, the LORD, have spoken!"

New Living Translation: 245 of 365 days.