David’s Conflict with the Amalekites

30 Now it happened, when David and his men came to ^(A)Ziklag, on the third day, that the ^(B)Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, ² and had taken captive the ^(C)women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. ³ So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. ⁴ Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep. ⁵ And David’s two ^(D)wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had been taken captive. ⁶ Now David was greatly distressed, for ^(E)the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was ^[a]grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. ^(F)But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

^7 (G)Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” And ^(H)Abiathar brought the ephod to David. ^8 (I)So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?”

And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.”

⁹ So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the Brook Besor, where those stayed who were left behind. ¹⁰ But David pursued, he and four hundred men; ^(J)for two hundred stayed behind, who were so weary that they could not cross the Brook Besor.

¹¹ Then they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David; and they gave him bread and he ate, and they let him drink water. ¹² And they gave him a piece of ^(K)a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. So ^(L)when he had eaten, his strength came back to him; for he had eaten no bread nor drunk water for three days and three nights. ¹³ Then David said to him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?”

And he said, “I am a young man from Egypt, servant of an Amalekite; and my master left me behind, because three days ago I fell sick. ¹⁴ We made an invasion of the southern area of ^(M)the Cherethites, in the territory which belongs to Judah, and of the southern area ^(N)of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.”

¹⁵ And David said to him, “Can you take me down to this troop?”

So he said, “Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my ^(O)master, and I will take you down to this troop.”

¹⁶ And when he had brought him down, there they were, spread out over all the land, ^(P)eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. ¹⁷ Then David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled. ¹⁸ So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. ¹⁹ And nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them; ^(Q)David recovered all.

The Lord’s Goodness to the Faithful

A Psalm of David.

Prayer for Spiritual Wisdom

¹⁵ Therefore I also, ^(A)after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, ^16 (B)do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: ¹⁷ that ^(C)the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, ^(D)may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, ^18 (E)the eyes of your ^[a]understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is ^(F)the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹ and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, ^(G)according to the working of His mighty power ²⁰ which He worked in Christ when ^(H)He raised Him from the dead and ^(I)seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, ^21 (J)far above all ^(K)principality^[b] and ^[c]power and ^[d]might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

²² And ^(L)He put all things under His feet, and gave Him ^(M)to be head over all things to the church, ^23 (N)which is His body, ^(O)the fullness of Him ^(P)who fills all in all.

By Grace Through Faith

2 And ^(Q)you He made alive, ^(R)who were dead in trespasses and sins, ^2 (S)in which you once walked according to the ^[e]course of this world, according to ^(T)the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in ^(U)the sons of disobedience, ^3 (V)among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in ^(W)the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and ^(X)were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

⁴ But God, ^(Y)who is rich in mercy, because of His ^(Z)great love with which He loved us, ^5 (AA)even when we were dead in trespasses, ^(AB)made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up together, and made us sit together ^(AC)in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in ^(AD)His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ^8 (AE)For by grace you have been saved ^(AF)through faith, and that not of yourselves; ^(AG)it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of ^(AH)works, lest anyone should ^(AI)boast. ¹⁰ For we are ^(AJ)His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Brought Near by His Blood

¹¹ Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called ^(AK)the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— ¹² that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins

25 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet ^(A)the bridegroom. ^2 (B)Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. ³ Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, ⁴ but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. ⁵ But while the bridegroom was delayed, ^(C)they all slumbered and slept.

⁶ “And at midnight ^(D)a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom ^[a]is coming; go out to meet him!’ ⁷ Then all those virgins arose and ^(E)trimmed their lamps. ⁸ And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ ¹⁰ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and ^(F)the door was shut.

¹¹ “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ^(G)‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ ¹² But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, ^(H)I do not know you.’

^13 (I)“Watch therefore, for you ^(J)know neither the day nor the hour ^[b]in which the Son of Man is coming.