Jesus wept. John 11:33

1 Samuel 26-28

1 Samuel 26

David Again Spares Saul

¹ The Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Isn’t David hiding in the hill of Hachilah, which is across from the desert?” ² Then Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having 3,000 chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. ³ Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite Jeshimon, along the road. But David stayed in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness. ⁴ David therefore sent out spies and understood that Saul had certainly come. ⁵ Then David arose and came to the place where Saul had encamped, and David saw the place where Saul lay, with Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his army. Saul was lying inside the camp, and the army was encamped around him.

⁶ Then David answered and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother of Joab, “Who will go down with me to the camp, to Saul?”

Abishai said, “I will go down with you.” ⁷ So David and Abishai came to the people by night, and Saul lay sleeping in the middle of the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the army were lying around him. ⁸ Then Abishai said to David, “God has delivered up your enemy into your hand today. Now therefore please let me strike him to the earth with the spear in one stroke, and I will not strike him the second time.”

⁹ David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?” ¹⁰ David said, “As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go down into battle and perish. ¹¹ The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. But now please take the spear that is at his head, and the jar of water, and let’s go.”

¹² So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul’s head, and they went away, and no man saw it or knew of it, nor did any awaken. They were all asleep because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen on them.

David Reproves Abner

¹³ Then David went over to the other side and stood on the top of the mountain far off, a great space being between them. ¹⁴ David cried to the people and to Abner the son of Ner, “Don’t you answer, Abner?”

Then Abner answered, “Who are you who cries to the king?”

¹⁵ David said to Abner, “Aren’t you a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord, the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king your lord. ¹⁶ This isn’t good what you have done. As the Lord lives, you are worthy to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the Lord’s anointed. Now see where the king’s spear is and the jar of water that was at his head.”

¹⁷ Saul knew David’s voice and said, “Is this your voice, my son David?”

David said, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.” ¹⁸ He said, “Why does my lord pursue his servant? For what have I done? What evil is in my hand? ¹⁹ Now therefore, please let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is so that the Lord has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering. But if it is of men, they are cursed before the Lord, for they have driven me out today that I should not cling to the Lord’s inheritance, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods!’ ²⁰ Now therefore, do not let my blood fall to the earth, away from the presence of the Lord, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains.”

Saul Acknowledges his Sin

²¹ Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no longer do you harm because my life was precious in your eyes today. I have been foolish and have erred greatly.”

²² David answered, “See the spear, O king! Then let one of the young men come over and get it. ²³ The Lord will render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness, because the Lord delivered you into my hand today, and I would not stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. ²⁴ As your life was respected today in my eyes, so let my life be respected in the Lord’s eyes, and let him deliver me out of all oppression.”

²⁵ Then Saul said to David, “You are blessed, my son David. You will do mighty things and will surely prevail.” So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.

1 Samuel 27

David and the Philistines

¹ David said in his heart, “One of these days I am going to die at the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines, and Saul will despair of capturing me and will stop seeking me any more throughout the borders of Israel. So shall I escape from his hand.” ² David arose and crossed over, he and the 600 men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. ³ David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s wife. ⁴ Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, and he no longer sought after him.

⁵ David said to Achish, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may dwell there. Why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?” ⁶ Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag belongs to the kings of Judah to this day. ⁷ The number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.

⁸ David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites, for those had been the inhabitants of the land since ancient times, from the road to Shur up to the land of Egypt. ⁹ David struck the land and left no man or woman alive and took the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing. Then he returned and came to Achish.

¹⁰ Achish said, “Against whom have you made a raid today?”

David said, “Against the South of Judah, against the South of the Jerahmeelites, and against the South of the Kenites.” ¹¹ David left neither man nor woman alive, to bring them to Gath, saying, “Lest they should report on us, saying, ‘David did this, and this has been his way all the time he has lived in the country of the Philistines.’ ”

¹² Achish trusted David, saying, “He has made his people Israel utterly abhor him. Therefore he will be my servant forever.”

1 Samuel 28

Philistines Gather against Israel

¹ In those days, the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. Achish said to David, “Know assuredly that you will go out with me in the army, you and your men.”

² David said to Achish, “Then you will know what your servant can do.”

Achish said to David, “Then I will make you my bodyguard forever.”

³ Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, in his own city. Saul had sent away the mediums and the wizards out of the land. ⁴ The Philistines gathered together and came and encamped in Shunem, and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa. ⁵ When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. ⁶ When Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him by dreams, by Urim, or by prophets.

Saul and the Medium of Endor

⁷ Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.”
His servants said to him, “There is a woman who is a medium at Endor.”

⁸ Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. Then he said, “Please consult the spirits for me and bring up for me, whomever I shall name to you.”

⁹ The woman said to him, “You know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the wizards from the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?”

¹⁰ Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, “As the Lord lives, no punishment will happen to you for this thing.”

¹¹ Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up to you?”
He said, “Bring Samuel up for me.”

¹² When the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice, and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!”

¹³ The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid! What do you see?”
The woman said to Saul, “I see a god coming up out of the earth.”

¹⁴ He said to her, “What does he look like?”
She said, “An old man is coming up. He is covered with a robe.” Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and showed respect.

¹⁵ Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me, bringing me up?”

Saul answered, “I am very distressed, for the Philistines are waging war with me, and God has departed from me and no longer answers me by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I shall do.”

¹⁶ Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has departed from you and has become your adversary? ¹⁷ The Lord has done to you as he spoke through me. The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, to David. ¹⁸ Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not execute his fierce wrath on Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you today. ¹⁹ Moreover the Lord will deliver Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will deliver the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.”

²⁰ Then Saul fell immediately, his full length on the ground and was terrified because of Samuel’s words. There was no strength in him, for he had eaten no bread all day long or all night long.

²¹ The woman came to Saul and saw that he was very troubled and said to him, “Your servant has listened to your voice, and I have put my life in my hand and have listened to your words which you spoke to me. ²² Now therefore, please listen also to the voice of your servant and let me set a morsel of bread before you. Eat, that you may have strength when you go on your way.”

²³ But he refused and said, “I will not eat.” But his servants, together with the woman, urged him, and he listened to them. So he got up from the ground and sat on the bed. ²⁴ The woman had a fattened calf in the house. She hurried and killed it, and she took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread from it.

²⁵ She brought it before Saul and before his servants, and they ate. Then they rose up and went away that night.

John 11

The Death of Lazarus

¹ Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, from the village of Mary and her sister, Martha. ² It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick. ³ The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Lord, the one for whom you have great affection is sick.” ⁴ But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death, but for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.” ⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was. ⁷ Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let’s go into Judea again.”

⁸ The disciples asked him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you. Are you going back there?”

⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰ But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” ¹¹ He said these things, and after that he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awaken him from sleep.”

¹² The disciples said, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”

¹³ Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep. ¹⁴ So Jesus said to them plainly then, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵ I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let’s go to him.”

¹⁶ Then Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go also, that we may die with him.”

Jesus Comforts Martha and Mary

¹⁷ So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already. ¹⁸ Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, less than two miles away. ¹⁹ Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. ²⁰ Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. ²² Now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”

²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. ²⁶ Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, God’s Son, who is to come into the world.”

²⁸ When she had said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Teacher is here and is calling you.”

²⁹ When she heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him. ³¹ Then the Jews who were with her in the house and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she got up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.” ³² When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”

³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping, who came with her, he was deeply moved in the spirit and was troubled, ³⁴ and said, “Where have you laid him?”
They told him, “Lord, come and see.”

³⁵ Jesus wept.

Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead

³⁶ The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!” ³⁷ Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”

³⁸ Jesus, deeply moved, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

⁴¹ So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me. ⁴²  I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

⁴⁴ He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and a cloth was wrapped around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Unbind him and let him go.”

The Plot to Kill Jesus

⁴⁵ Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him. ⁴⁶ But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What are we doing? For this man does many signs. ⁴⁸ If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

⁴⁹ But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, ⁵⁰ nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” ⁵¹ Now he did not say this of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, ⁵² and not for the nation only, but that he might also unite the children of God who are scattered abroad. ⁵³ So from that day forward they took counsel that they might put him to death. ⁵⁴ Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim. He stayed there with his disciples.

⁵⁵ Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand. Many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. ⁵⁶ Then they sought for Jesus and spoke with one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think—that he isn’t coming to the feast at all?” ⁵⁷ Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had commanded that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it, that they might seize him.

Psalm 117

Extol Him, All You Peoples!

¹ Praise the Lord, all you nations!
Extol him, all you peoples!
² For his loving kindness is great toward us.
The Lord’s faithfulness endures forever.
Praise the Lord!

Proverbs 15:22-23

²² Where there is no counsel, plans fail,
but in a multitude of counselors they are established.
²³ Joy comes to a man with the reply of his mouth.
How good is a word at the right time!

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