Defeat and Death of Saul and His Sons

10 ^(A)Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from the Philistines but fell fatally wounded on Mount Gilboa. ² And the Philistines also overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines ^[a]killed Jonathan, ^[b](B)Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. ³ The battle became severe against Saul, and the archers found him; and he was wounded by the archers. ⁴ Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, otherwise these uncircumcised Philistines will come and abuse me.” But his armor bearer would not, for he was very afraid. ^(C)So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. ⁵ When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword and died. ^6 (D)So Saul died with his three sons, and all those of his house died together.

⁷ When all the people of Israel who were in the valley saw that they had fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them.

⁸ It came about the next day, when the Philistines came to strip those killed, that they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ^9 (E)So they stripped him and took his head and his armor and sent messengers around the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to their idols and to the people. ¹⁰ They put his armor in the house of their gods and ^[c]impaled his head in the house of Dagon.

Jabesh-gilead’s Tribute to Saul

¹¹ When all Jabesh-gilead heard everything that the Philistines had done to Saul, ^12 (F)all the valiant men got up and took away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh; and they buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted for seven days.

^13 (G)So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he committed against the Lord, because of the word of the Lord which he did not keep; and also ^(H)because he asked counsel of a medium, making inquiry of her, ¹⁴ and did not inquire of the Lord. Therefore He killed him and ^(I)turned the kingdom over to David, the son of Jesse.

The Futility of Life.

For the music director, for ^[a]Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

Followers of Tradition

7 ^(A)The Pharisees and some of the scribes *gathered to Him after they came ^(B)from Jerusalem, ² and saw that some of His disciples were eating their bread with ^[a](C)unholy hands, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the other Jews do not eat unless they ^[b]carefully wash their hands, thereby holding firmly to the ^(D)tradition of the elders; ⁴ and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they ^[c]completely cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received as traditions to firmly hold, such as the ^[d]washing of ^(E)cups, pitchers, and copper pots.) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk in accordance with the ^(F)tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with ^(G)[e]unholy hands?” ⁶ But He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:

⁸ Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the ^(J)tradition of men.”

⁹ He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your ^(K)tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘^(L)Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘^(M)The one who speaks evil of father or mother, is ^[f]certainly to be put to death’; ¹¹ but you say, ‘If a person says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is ^(N)Corban (that is, ^[g]given to God),’ ¹² you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother; ¹³ thereby invalidating the word of God by your ^(O)tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

The Heart of Man

¹⁴ After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ there is nothing outside the person which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which come out of the person are what defile the person^[h].”

¹⁷ And when He later entered a house, away from the crowd, ^(P)His disciples asked Him about the parable. ¹⁸ And He *said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding as well? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the person from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and ^[i]is eliminated?” (Thereby He declared ^(Q)all foods ^(R)clean.) ²⁰ And He was saying, “^(S)That which comes out of the person, that is what defiles the person. ²¹ For from within, out of the ^[j]hearts of people, come the evil thoughts, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, acts of adultery, ²² deeds of greed, wickedness, deceit, indecent behavior, ^[k](T)envy, slander, ^[l]pride, and foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within and defile the person.”

The Syrophoenician Woman

^24 (U)Now Jesus got up and went from there to the region of ^(V)Tyre^[m]. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know about it; and yet He could not escape notice. ²⁵ But after hearing about Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. ²⁶ Now the woman was a ^[n]Gentile, of Syrophoenician descent. And she repeatedly asked Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not ^[o]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the ^[p]dogs.” ²⁸ But she answered and *said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ And He said to her, “Because of this ^[q]answer, go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” ³⁰ And after going back to her home, she found the child ^[r]lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

^31 (W)Again He left the region of ^(X)Tyre and came through Sidon to ^(Y)the Sea of Galilee, within the region of ^(Z)Decapolis. ³² And they *brought to Him one who was deaf and had difficulty speaking, and they *begged Him to ^(AA)lay His hand on him. ³³ And Jesus ^(AB)took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers in his ears, and after ^(AC)spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; ³⁴ and looking up to heaven with a deep ^(AD)sigh, He *said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” ³⁵ And his ears were opened, and the ^[s]impediment of his tongue was ^[t]removed, and he began speaking plainly. ³⁶ And ^(AE)He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they ^(AF)continued to proclaim it. ³⁷ And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even those who are deaf hear, and those who are unable to talk, speak.”