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Take a breath, find your place, and read deeply. Discover the joy of reading God’s word with the Immerse New Living Translation (NLT) Bible.
This daily Bible podcast will take you through the Bible in a year following the Immerse Bible Reading Experience. So grab your family and small group and go through the Bible in a year together with Immerse. Each of the 6 volumes is available online or at your favorite Christian bookstore.
Ethan: Welcome to Immerse: the
daily bible reading experience.
Day 100 and 95
now some men from Ziph came to
Saul at Gibeah, to tell him,
David is hiding on the hill of
Hekilah, which overlooks Jeshimon.
So Saul took three thousand of Israel's
elite troops, and went to hunt him
down in the wilderness of Ziph.
Saul camped along the road beside
the hill of Hekilah, near Jeshimon.
When David learned that Saul had
come after him into the wilderness,
he sent out spies to verify
the report of Saul's arrival.
David slipped over to Saul's
camp one night to look around.
Saul and Abner, son of Nur, the commander
of his army, were sleeping inside a
ring formed by the slumbering warriors.
Who will 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.
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 soldiers were
lying asleep around him.
God has surely handed your
enemy over to you this time.
Abishai whispered to David,
Let me pin him to the ground
with one thrust of the spear.
I won't need to strike twice.
No, David said, don't kill him.
For who can remain innocent after
attacking the Lord's anointed one?
Surely the Lord will
strike Saul down someday.
Or he will die of old age or in battle.
The Lord forbid that I should
kill the one he has anointed.
But take his spear and that
jug of water beside his head,
and then let's get out of here.
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.
David climbed the hill opposite the
camp until he was at a safe distance.
Then he shouted down to the soldiers and
to Abner, son of Ner, Wake up, Abner!
Who is it?
Abner demanded.
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?
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?
Saul recognized David's voice and
called out, Is that you, my son David?
And David replied, Yes, my lord the king.
Why are you chasing me?
What have I done?
What is my crime?
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 they have driven me from
my home, so I can no longer
live among the Lord's people.
And they have said,
Go, worship pagan gods.
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?
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.
Here is your spear, O king, David replied.
Let one of your young
men come over and get it.
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.
Now may the Lord value my life,
even as I have valued yours today.
May he rescue me from all my troubles.
And Saul said to David,
Blessings on you, my son David.
You will do many heroic deeds,
and you will surely succeed.
Then David went away,
and Saul returned home.
But David kept thinking to himself,
Someday, Saul is going to get me.
The best thing I can do is
escape to the Philistines.
Then Saul will stop hunting
for me in Israelite territory,
and I will finally be safe.
So David took his six hundred men
and went over and joined Achish,
son of Maok, the king of Gath.
David and his men and their families
settled there with Achish at Gath.
David brought his two wives with
him, Ahinoam from Jezreel, and
Abigail, Nabal's widow from Carmel.
Word soon reached Saul that
David had fled to Gath.
So he stopped hunting for him.
One day David said to Achish, If it
is alright with you, we would rather
live in one of the country towns
instead of here in the royal city.
So Achish gave him the town of
Ziklag, which still belongs to
the kings of Judah to this day.
And they lived there among the
Philistines for a year and four months.
David and his men spent their
time raiding the Gesherites, the
Gerzites, and the Amalekites, people
who had lived near shore toward the
land of Egypt since ancient times.
David did not leave one person
alive in the villages he attacked.
He took the sheep, goats, cattle,
donkeys, camels, and clothing before
returning home to see King Achish.
Where did you make your raid today,
Akish would ask, and David would
reply, against the south of Judah,
the Jerameelites and the Kenites.
No one was left alive to come to Gath
and tell where he had really been.
This happened again and again while
he was living among the Philistines.
Akish believed David and thought
to himself, by now the people of
Israel must hate him bitterly.
Now he will have to stay
here and serve me forever.
About that time, the Philistines mustered
their armies for another war with Israel.
King Achish told David, You and your men
will be expected to join me in battle.
Very well, David agreed.
Now you will see for
yourself what we can do.
Then Achish told David, I will make
you my personal bodyguard for life.
Meanwhile, Samuel had died, and
all Israel had mourned for him.
He was buried in Ramah, his hometown.
And Saul had banned from the land
of Israel all mediums and those who
consult the spirits of the dead.
The Philistines set up their camp
at Shunem, and Saul gathered all the
army of Israel and camped at Gilboa.
When Saul saw the vast Philistine
army, he became frantic with fear.
He asked the Lord what he should do,
but the Lord refused to answer him.
Either by dreams, or by sacred
lots, or by the prophets.
Saul then said to his advisers,
Find a woman who is a medium, so
I can go and ask her what to do.
His advisers replied,
There is a medium at Endor.
So Saul disguised himself
by wearing ordinary clothing
instead of his royal robes.
Then he went to the woman's home at
night, accompanied by two of his men.
I have to talk to a man
who has died, he said.
Will you call up his spirit for me?
Are you trying to get me killed?
The woman demanded, You know that Saul
has outlawed all the mediums and all
who consult the spirits of the dead.
Why are you setting a trap for me?
But Saul took an oath in the name
of the Lord and promised, As surely
as the Lord lives, nothing bad
will happen to you for doing this.
Finally, the woman said, Well, whose
spirit do you want me to call up?
Call up Samuel.
Saul replied.
When the woman saw Samuel, she
screamed, You've deceived me!
You are Saul!
Don't be afraid!
The king told her, What do you see?
I see a god coming up out
of the earth, she said.
What does he look like?
Saul asked.
He is an old man wrapped
in a robe, she replied.
Saul realized it was Samuel, and
he fell to the ground before him.
Why have you disturbed
me by calling me back?
Samuel asked Saul, Because I am
in deep trouble, Saul replied.
The Philistines are at war with me,
and God has left me and won't reply
by prophets or dreams, so I have
called for you to tell me what to do.
But Samuel replied, Why ask
me, since the Lord has left
you and has become your enemy?
The Lord has done just
as he said he would.
He has torn the kingdom from you
and given it to your rival, David.
The Lord has done this to you today
because you refuse to carry out his
fierce anger against the Amalekites.
What's more, the Lord will hand
you and the army of Israel over to
the Philistines tomorrow, and you
and your sons will be here with me.
The Lord will bring down the
entire army of Israel in defeat.
Saul fell full length on the
ground, paralyzed with fright
because of Samuel's words.
He was also faint with hunger, for he
had eaten nothing all day and all night.
When the woman saw how distraught he was,
she said, Sir, I obeyed your command at
the Now do what I say, and let me give
you a little something to eat so you can
regain your strength for the trip back.
But Saul refused to eat anything.
Then his advisors joined the
woman in urging him to eat.
So he finally yielded and got up
from the ground and sat on the couch.
The woman had been fattening a calf,
so she hurried out and killed it.
She took some flour, kneaded it into
dough, and baked unleavened bread.
She brought the meal to Saul and
his advisors, and they ate it.
Then they went out into the night.
This concludes today's
Immerse Reading Experience.
Thank you for joining us.