The Plague of Locusts

10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart^(A) and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs^(B) of mine among them ² that you may tell your children^(C) and grandchildren how I dealt harshly^(D) with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.”^(E)

³ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble^(F) yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. ⁴ If you refuse^(G) to let them go, I will bring locusts^(H) into your country tomorrow. ⁵ They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left^(I) after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields.^{(J) 6} They will fill your houses^(K) and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your parents nor your ancestors have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.’”^(L) Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh.

⁷ Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will this man be a snare^(M) to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the Lord their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?”^(N)

⁸ Then Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship^(O) the Lord your God,” he said. “But tell me who will be going.”

⁹ Moses answered, “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our flocks and herds, because we are to celebrate a festival^(P) to the Lord.”

¹⁰ Pharaoh said, “The Lord be with you—if I let you go, along with your women and children! Clearly you are bent on evil.^{[a] 11} No! Have only the men go and worship the Lord, since that’s what you have been asking for.” Then Moses and Aaron were driven out of Pharaoh’s presence.

¹² And the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand^(Q) over Egypt so that locusts swarm over the land and devour everything growing in the fields, everything left by the hail.”

¹³ So Moses stretched out his staff^(R) over Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts;^{(S) 14} they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts,^(T) nor will there ever be again. ¹⁵ They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured^(U) all that was left after the hail—everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ Pharaoh quickly summoned^(V) Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned^(W) against the Lord your God and against you. ¹⁷ Now forgive^(X) my sin once more and pray^(Y) to the Lord your God to take this deadly plague away from me.”

¹⁸ Moses then left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord.^{(Z) 19} And the Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea.^[b] Not a locust was left anywhere in Egypt. ²⁰ But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart,^(AA) and he would not let the Israelites go.

David Destroys the Amalekites

30 David and his men reached Ziklag^(A) on the third day. Now the Amalekites^(B) had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned^(C) it, ² and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way.

³ When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.^{(D) 4} So David and his men wept^(E) aloud until they had no strength left to weep. ⁵ David’s two wives^(F) had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. ⁶ David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning^(G) him; each one was bitter^(H) in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength^(I) in the Lord his God.

⁷ Then David said to Abiathar^(J) the priest, the son of Ahimelek, “Bring me the ephod.^(K)” Abiathar brought it to him, ⁸ and David inquired^(L) of the Lord, “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?”

“Pursue them,” he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeed^(M) in the rescue.^(N)”

⁹ David and the six hundred men^(O) with him came to the Besor Valley, where some stayed behind. ¹⁰ Two hundred of them were too exhausted^(P) to cross the valley, but David and the other four hundred continued the pursuit.

¹¹ They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat— ¹² part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived,^(Q) for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights.

¹³ David asked him, “Who do you belong to? Where do you come from?”

He said, “I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite.^(R) My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago. ¹⁴ We raided the Negev of the Kerethites,^(S) some territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb.^(T) And we burned^(U) Ziklag.”

¹⁵ David asked him, “Can you lead me down to this raiding party?”

He answered, “Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master,^(V) and I will take you down to them.”

¹⁶ He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling^(W) because of the great amount of plunder^(X) they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah. ¹⁷ David fought^(Y) them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled.^{(Z) 18} David recovered^(AA) everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. ¹⁹ Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back. ²⁰ He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, “This is David’s plunder.”

²¹ Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted^(AB) to follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Valley. They came out to meet David and the men with him. As David and his men approached, he asked them how they were. ²² But all the evil men and troublemakers among David’s followers said, “Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go.”

²³ David replied, “No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us. ²⁴ Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.^(AC)” ²⁵ David made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this.

²⁶ When David reached Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, who were his friends, saying, “Here is a gift^(AD) for you from the plunder of the Lord’s enemies.”

²⁷ David sent it to those who were in Bethel,^(AE) Ramoth^(AF) Negev and Jattir;^{(AG) 28} to those in Aroer,^(AH) Siphmoth,^(AI) Eshtemoa^{(AJ) 29} and Rakal; to those in the towns of the Jerahmeelites^(AK) and the Kenites;^{(AL) 30} to those in Hormah,^(AM) Bor Ashan,^(AN) Athak ³¹ and Hebron;^(AO) and to those in all the other places where he and his men had roamed.

15 Then the Lord said to me: “Even if Moses^(A) and Samuel^(B) were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people.^(C) Send them away from my presence!^(D) Let them go! ² And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

³ “I will send four kinds of destroyers^(H) against them,” declares the Lord, “the sword^(I) to kill and the dogs^(J) to drag away and the birds^(K) and the wild animals to devour and destroy.^{(L) 4} I will make them abhorrent^(M) to all the kingdoms of the earth^(N) because of what Manasseh^(O) son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.

¹¹ The Lord said,

¹⁹ Therefore this is what the Lord says:

Psalm 30^[a]

A psalm. A song. For the dedication of the temple.^[b] Of David.

Jesus Appoints the Twelve^(A)

¹³ Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.^{(B) 14} He appointed twelve^[a](C) that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach ¹⁵ and to have authority to drive out demons.^{(D) 16} These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter),^{(E) 17} James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), ¹⁸ Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Jesus Accused by His Family and by Teachers of the Law^(F)(G)

²⁰ Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered,^(H) so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.^(I)

The Incarnation of the Word of Life

1 That which was from the beginning,^(A) which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,^(B) which we have looked at and our hands have touched^(C)—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. ² The life appeared;^(D) we have seen it and testify to it,^(E) and we proclaim to you the eternal life,^(F) which was with the Father and has appeared to us. ³ We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard,^(G) so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.^{(H) 4} We write this^(I) to make our^[a] joy complete.^(J)

Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness

⁵ This is the message we have heard^(K) from him and declare to you: God is light;^(L) in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness,^(M) we lie and do not live out the truth.^{(N) 7} But if we walk in the light,^(O) as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all^[b] sin.^(P)

⁸ If we claim to be without sin,^(Q) we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.^{(R) 9} If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins^(S) and purify us from all unrighteousness.^{(T) 10} If we claim we have not sinned,^(U) we make him out to be a liar^(V) and his word is not in us.^(W)