DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR SUNDAY APRIL 12:
DAILY BIBLE READING
1 Samuel 15-17 New King James Version (NKJV)
Saul Spares King Agag
15 Samuel also said to Saul, "The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His
people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord.
2 Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to
Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go
and attack[a] Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not
spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and
sheep, camel and donkey.' "
4 So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two
hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul
came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley.
6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, depart, get down from among the
Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the
children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt." So the Kenites departed
from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah
all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 He also took Agag king of
the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of
the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep,
the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling
to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they
utterly destroyed.
Saul Rejected as King
10 Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, 11 "I greatly regret
that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me,
and has not performed My commandments." And it grieved Samuel, and he cried
out to the Lord all night. 12 So when Samuel rose early in the morning to
meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, "Saul went to Carmel, and indeed, he
set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and
gone down to Gilgal." 13 Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him,
"Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord."
14 But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and
the lowing of the oxen which I hear?"
15 And Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the
people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord
your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed."
16 Then Samuel said to Saul, "Be quiet! And I will tell you what the Lord
said to me last night."
And he said to him, "Speak on."
17 So Samuel said, "When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head
of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel?
18 Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, 'Go, and utterly destroy
the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are
[b]consumed.' 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did
you swoop down on the [c]spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?"
20 And Saul said to Samuel, "But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and
gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of
Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of
the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been
utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal."
22 So Samuel said:
"Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.
23
For rebellion is as the sin of [d]witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
He also has rejected you from being king."
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the
commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and
obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with
me, that I may worship the Lord."
26 But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you, for you have
rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king
over Israel."
27 And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe,
and it tore. 28 So Samuel said to him, "The Lord has torn the kingdom of
Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is
better than you. 29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor
relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent."
30 Then he said, "I have sinned; yet honor me now, please, before the elders
of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the
Lord your God." 31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the
Lord.
32 Then Samuel said, "Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me." So Agag
came to him cautiously.
And Agag said, "Surely the bitterness of death is past."
33 But Samuel said, "As your sword has made women childless, so shall your
mother be childless among women." And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before
the Lord in Gilgal.
34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of
Saul. 35 And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death.
Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted that He had
made Saul king over Israel.
David Anointed King
16 Now the Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I
have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and
go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have [e]provided
Myself a king among his sons."
2 And Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me."
But the Lord said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to
sacrifice to the Lord.' 3 Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will
show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you."
4 So Samuel did what the Lord said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of
the town trembled at his coming, and said, "Do you come peaceably?"
5 And he said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Sanctify[f]
yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice." Then he consecrated Jesse
and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice.
6 So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, "Surely the
Lord's anointed is before Him!"
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at his
physical stature, because I have [g]refused him. For[h] the Lord does not
see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks
at the heart."
8 So Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said,
"Neither has the Lord chosen this one." 9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by.
And he said, "Neither has the Lord chosen this one." 10 Thus Jesse made
seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, "The Lord
has not chosen these." 11 And Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all the young men
here?" Then he said, "There remains yet the youngest, and there he is,
keeping the sheep."
And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him. For we will not [i]sit down
till he comes here." 12 So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy,
with [j]bright eyes, and good-looking. And the Lord said, "Arise, anoint
him; for this is the one!" 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed
him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David
from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.
A Distressing Spirit Troubles Saul
14 But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit
from the Lord troubled him. 15 And Saul's servants said to him, "Surely, a
distressing spirit from God is troubling you. 16 Let our master now command
your servants, who are before you, to seek out a man who is a skillful
player on the harp. And it shall be that he will play it with his hand when
the [k]distressing spirit from God is upon you, and you shall be well."
17 So Saul said to his servants, [l]"Provide me now a man who can play well,
and bring him to me."
18 Then one of the servants answered and said, "Look, I have seen a son of
Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a
man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the Lord is with
him."
19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, "Send me your son
David, who is with the sheep." 20 And Jesse took a donkey loaded with
bread, a skin of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by his son David to
Saul. 21 So David came to Saul and stood before him. And he loved him
greatly, and he became his armorbearer. 22 Then Saul sent to Jesse, saying,
"Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight." 23
And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would
take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and
well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him.
David and Goliath
17 Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were
gathered at Sochoh, which belongs to Judah; they encamped between Sochoh and
Azekah, in Ephes Dammim. 2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered
together, and they encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in battle
array against the Philistines. 3 The Philistines stood on a mountain on one
side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley
between them.
4 And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath,
from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a bronze helmet
on his head, and he was [m]armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the
coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 And he had bronze armor on his
legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. 7 Now the staff of his
spear was like a weaver's beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred
shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him. 8 Then he stood and cried out
to the armies of Israel, and said to them, "Why have you come out to line up
for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a
man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight
with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against
him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us." 10 And the
Philistine said, "I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that
we may fight together." 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of
the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name
was Jesse, and who had eight sons. And the man was old, advanced in years,
in the days of Saul. 13 The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone to follow
Saul to the battle. The names of his three sons who went to the battle were
Eliab the firstborn, next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14 David
was the youngest. And the three oldest followed Saul. 15 But David
occasionally went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at
Bethlehem.
16 And the Philistine drew near and presented himself forty days, morning
and evening.
17 Then Jesse said to his son David, "Take now for your brothers an ephah of
this dried grain and these ten loaves, and run to your brothers at the camp.
18 And carry these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how
your brothers fare, and bring back news of them." 19 Now Saul and they and
all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the
Philistines.
20 So David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, and
took the things and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the camp
as the army was going out to the fight and shouting for the battle. 21 For
Israel and the Philistines had drawn up in battle array, army against army.
22 And David left his supplies in the hand of the supply keeper, ran to the
army, and came and greeted his brothers. 23 Then as he talked with them,
there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up
from the armies of the Philistines; and he spoke according to the same
words. So David heard them. 24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the
man, fled from him and were dreadfully afraid. 25 So the men of Israel
said, "Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy
Israel; and it shall be that the man who kills him the king will enrich with
great riches, will give him his daughter, and give his father's house
exemption from taxes in Israel."
26 Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, "What shall be done
for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from
Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the
armies of the living God?"
27 And the people answered him in this manner, saying, "So shall it be done
for the man who kills him."
28 Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's
anger was aroused against David, and he said, "Why did you come down here?
And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your
pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the
battle."
29 And David said, "What have I done now? Is[n] there not a cause?" 30 Then
he turned from him toward another and said the same thing; and these people
answered him as the first ones did.
31 Now when the words which David spoke were heard, they reported them to
Saul; and he sent for him. 32 Then David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart
fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine."
33 And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine
to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth."
34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep his father's sheep,
and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went
out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when
it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. 36
Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised
Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the
living God." 37 Moreover David said, "The Lord, who delivered me from the
paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the
hand of this Philistine."
And Saul said to David, "Go, and the Lord be with you!"
38 So Saul clothed David with his [o]armor, and he put a bronze helmet on
his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. 39 David fastened his
sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David
said to Saul, "I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them." So
David took them off.
40 Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth
stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he
had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine. 41
So the Philistine came, and began drawing near to David, and the man who
bore the shield went before him. 42 And when the Philistine looked about
and saw David, he disdained[p] him; for he was only a youth, ruddy and
good-looking. 43 So the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you
come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44
And the Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to
the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!"
45 Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, with a
spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of
hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day
the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your
head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the
Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that
all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47 Then all this
assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for
the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands."
48 So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet
David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
49 Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it
and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his
forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. 50 So David prevailed over
the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and
killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. 51 Therefore David
ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its
sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it.
And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. 52
Now the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted, and pursued the
Philistines as far as the entrance of [q]the valley and to the gates of
Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell along the road to Shaaraim,
even as far as Gath and Ekron. 53 Then the children of Israel returned from
chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their tents. 54 And David took
the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor
in his tent.
55 When Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner,
the commander of the army, "Abner, whose son is this youth?"
And Abner said, "As your soul lives, O king, I do not know."
56 So the king said, "Inquire whose son this young man is."
57 Then, as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took
him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
58 And Saul said to him, "Whose son are you, young man?"
So David answered, "I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite."
