Daily Bible GNT June 06 Scroll

God's Mercy on All

Romans 11 ²⁵There is a secret truth, my friends, which I want you to know, for it will keep you from thinking how wise you are. It is that the stubbornness of the people of Israel is not permanent, but will last only until the complete number of Gentiles comes to God. ²⁶And this is how all Israel will be saved. As the scripture says,

"The Savior will come from Zion

and remove all wickedness from the descendants of Jacob.

²⁷I will make this covenant with them

when I take away their sins."
²⁸Because they reject the Good News, the Jews are God's enemies for the sake of you Gentiles. But because of God's choice, they are his friends because of their ancestors. ²⁹For God does not change his mind about whom he chooses and blesses. ³⁰As for you Gentiles, you disobeyed God in the past; but now you have received God's mercy because the Jews were disobedient. ³¹In the same way, because of the mercy that you have received, the Jews now disobey God, in order that they also may now receive God's mercy. ³²For God has made all people prisoners of disobedience, so that he might show mercy to them all.

Praise to God

³³How great are God's riches! How deep are his wisdom and knowledge! Who can explain his decisions? Who can understand his ways? ³⁴As the scripture says,

"Who knows the mind of the Lord?

Who is able to give him advice?

³⁵Who has ever given him anything,

so that he had to pay it back?"
³⁶For all things were created by him, and all things exist through him and for him. To God be the glory forever! Amen.

David Flees from Saul

1 Samuel 21 David went to the priest Ahimelech in Nob. Ahimelech came out trembling to meet him and asked, "Why did you come here all by yourself ?"

²"I am here on the king's business," David answered. "He told me not to let anyone know what he sent me to do. As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. ³Now, then, what supplies do you have? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have."

⁴The priest said, "I don't have any ordinary bread, only sacred bread; you can have it if your men haven't had sexual relations recently."

⁵"Of course they haven't," answered David. "My men always keep themselves ritually pure even when we go out on an ordinary mission; how much more this time when we are on a special mission!"

⁶So the priest gave David the sacred bread, because the only bread he had was the loaves offered to God, which had been removed from the sacred table and replaced by fresh bread.

( ⁷ Saul's chief herdsman, Doeg, who was from Edom, happened to be there that day, because he had to fulfill a religious obligation.)

⁸David said to Ahimelech, "Do you have a spear or a sword you can give me? The king's orders made me leave in such a hurry that I didn't have time to get my sword or any other weapon."

⁹Ahimelech answered, "I have the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in Elah Valley; it is behind the ephod, wrapped in a cloth. If you want it, take it--it's the only weapon here."

"Give it to me," David said. "There is not a better sword anywhere!"

¹⁰So David left, fleeing from Saul, and went to King Achish of Gath. ¹¹The king's officials said to Achish, "Isn't this David, the king of his country? This is the man about whom the women sang, as they danced, 'Saul has killed thousands, but David has killed tens of thousands.'"

¹²Their words made a deep impression on David, and he became very much afraid of King Achish. ¹³So whenever David was around them, he pretended to be insane and acted like a madman when they tried to restrain him; he would scribble on the city gates and let spit drool down his beard. ¹⁴So Achish said to his officials, "Look! The man is crazy! Why did you bring him to me? ¹⁵Don't I have enough madmen already? Why bring another one to bother me with his crazy actions right here in my own house?"

The Slaughter of the Priests

1 Samuel 22 David fled from the city of Gath and went to a cave near the town of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of the family heard that he was there, they joined him. ²People who were oppressed or in debt or dissatisfied went to him, about four hundred men in all, and he became their leader.

³David went on from there to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and mother come and stay with you until I find out what God is going to do for me." ⁴So David left his parents with the king of Moab, and they stayed there as long as David was hiding out in the cave.

⁵Then the prophet Gad came to David and said, "Don't stay here; go at once to the land of Judah." So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.

⁶One day Saul was in Gibeah, sitting under a tamarisk tree on a hill, with his spear in his hand, and all his officers were standing around him. He was told that David and his men had been located, ⁷and he said to his officers, "Listen, men of Benjamin! Do you think that David will give fields and vineyards to all of you, and make you officers in his army? ⁸Is that why you are plotting against me? Not one of you told me that my own son had made an alliance with David. No one is concerned about me or tells me that David, one of my own men, is right now looking for a chance to kill me, and that my son has encouraged him!"

⁹Doeg was standing there with Saul's officers, and he said, "I saw David when he went to Ahimelech son of Ahitub in Nob. ¹⁰Ahimelech asked the LORD what David should do, and then he gave David some food and the sword of Goliath the Philistine."

¹¹So King Saul sent for the priest Ahimelech and all his relatives, who were also priests in Nob, and they came to him. ¹²Saul said to Ahimelech, "Listen, Ahimelech!"

"At your service, sir," he answered.

¹³Saul asked him, "Why are you and David plotting against me? Why did you give him some food and a sword, and consult God for him? Now he has turned against me and is waiting for a chance to kill me!"

¹⁴Ahimelech answered, "David is the most faithful officer you have! He is your own son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard, and highly respected by everyone in the royal court. ¹⁵Yes, I consulted God for him, and it wasn't the first time. As for plotting against you, Your Majesty must not accuse me or anyone else in my family. I don't know anything about this matter!"

¹⁶The king said, "Ahimelech, you and all your relatives must die." ¹⁷Then he said to the guards standing near him, "Kill the LORD's priests! They conspired with David and did not tell me that he had run away, even though they knew it all along." But the guards refused to lift a hand to kill the LORD's priests. ¹⁸So Saul said to Doeg, "You kill them!"--and Doeg killed them all. On that day he killed eighty-five priests who were qualified to carry the ephod. ¹⁹Saul also had all the other inhabitants of Nob, the city of priests, put to death: men and women, children and babies, cattle, donkeys, and sheep--they were all killed.

²⁰But Abiathar, one of Ahimelech's sons, escaped, and went and joined David. ²¹He told him how Saul had slaughtered the priests of the LORD. ²²David said to him, "When I saw Doeg there that day, I knew that he would be sure to tell Saul. So I am responsible for the death of all your relatives. ²³Stay with me and don't be afraid. Saul wants to kill both you and me, but you will be safe with me."

A Song of Praise and Thanksgiving

Psalm 66 Praise God with shouts of joy, all people!

²Sing to the glory of his name;

offer him glorious praise!

³Say to God, "How wonderful are the things you do!

Your power is so great

that your enemies bow down in fear before you.

⁴Everyone on earth worships you;

they sing praises to you,

they sing praises to your name."

⁵Come and see what God has done,

his wonderful acts among people.

⁶He changed the sea into dry land;

our ancestors crossed the river on foot.

There we rejoiced because of what he did.

⁷He rules forever by his might

and keeps his eyes on the nations.

Let no rebels rise against him.

⁸Praise our God, all nations;

let your praise be heard.

⁹He has kept us alive

and has not allowed us to fall.

¹⁰You have put us to the test, God;

as silver is purified by fire,

so you have tested us.

¹¹You let us fall into a trap

and placed heavy burdens on our backs.

¹²You let our enemies trample us;

we went through fire and flood,

but now you have brought us to a place of safety.

¹³I will bring burnt offerings to your house;

I will offer you what I promised.

¹⁴I will give you what I said I would

when I was in trouble.

¹⁵I will offer sheep to be burned on the altar;

I will sacrifice bulls and goats,

and the smoke will go up to the sky.

¹⁶Come and listen, all who honor God,

and I will tell you what he has done for me.

¹⁷I cried to him for help;

I praised him with songs.

¹⁸If I had ignored my sins,

the Lord would not have listened to me.

¹⁹But God has indeed heard me;

he has listened to my prayer.

²⁰I praise God,

because he did not reject my prayer

or keep back his constant love from me.

This reading is from The Holy Bible, Today's English Version, Second Edition copyright © American Bible Society, 1992;
Old Testament copyright © American Bible Society, 1976, 1992; New Testament © American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.

These daily Bible readings from the Good News Translation (GNT), formerly the Today's English Version (TEV), are published by BibleNetUSA. The web site and BibleCard® designs are by iCreative. All BibleCard® images are copyrighted by iCreative. All rights reserved.