Old/New Testament
David fights against the Amalekites
30 David and his men arrived at Ziklag three days after they left King Achish. They found that the Amalekites had attacked Ziklag and towns in the south of Judah. The Amalekites had destroyed Ziklag with fire. 2 They had caught the women and the other people who were in the town, both young people and old people. They did not kill any of them, but they took them away as prisoners.[a]
3 So when David and his men arrived at Ziklag, they saw that the Amalekites had destroyed the city. The Amalekites had taken away their wives, their sons and their daughters as prisoners. 4 David and his men wept loudly. They continued to weep until they had no strength to weep any more. 5 The Amalekites had taken both of David's wives: Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail from Carmel, who was Nabal's widow. 6 David was very upset because his men were complaining. They wanted to kill him with stones. His men were very upset because they had lost their sons and their daughters. But David trusted the Lord his God to make him strong.
7 Then David spoke to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son. David said to him, ‘Bring the priests' ephod to me.’ So Abiathar took the ephod to David. 8 David asked the Lord, ‘Should I chase after the men who attacked our town? Will I catch them?’
The Lord answered, ‘Yes, chase after them and you will certainly catch them. You will rescue your families.’[b]
9-10 So David and his 600 men left Ziklag. They arrived at Besor stream. Some of the men were too tired to go across the valley. So 200 men remained there.[c] David and the other 400 men continued to chase after the Amalekites.
11 David's men found an Egyptian man in a field. They took him to David. They gave the man some water to drink and food to eat. 12 They gave him some dried figs and some raisins. Then he became stronger, because he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days.
13 David asked the man, ‘Who is your master? Where do you come from?’
The young man answered, ‘I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite man. My master left me here three days ago because I was ill. 14 We had attacked the south part of Judah, where the Kerethites live.[d] We also attacked the land where the people of Caleb's clan live. We destroyed Ziklag with fire too.’
15 David said to him, ‘Can you take me to find these men?’
The man said, ‘Please promise me in God's name that you will not kill me. Promise me that you will not take me back to my master. If you do that, I will lead you to find them.’
16 So the Egyptian man took David to find the Amalekites. The men were sitting everywhere, all over the ground. They were having a party, eating and drinking. They were happy because they had taken so many things from the towns of the Philistines and from the people in Judah.
17 That evening, David attacked the Amalekites. The fight continued until the next evening. David and his men killed all the Amalekites except for 400 young men. Those 400 men rode away on their camels. 18 David got back everything that the Amalekites had taken. And he rescued his two wives. 19 The people had lost nothing. David brought everyone back, the young people and the old people, the sons and the daughters. He brought back all the valuable things and everything that the Amalekites had taken. 20 David took all the sheep, goats and cows from the Amalekites. His men led these animals in front of the other animals. They said, ‘These animals will belong to David!’
21 David returned to the 200 men who had stayed beside the Besor stream. These men had been too tired to go with David. They came to meet David and the men who were with him. When David met them, he happily said ‘hello’ to them. 22 But some of the men who had gone with David were wicked and stupid. They said, ‘These men did not come with us to attack the Amalekites. So we will not give them any of the things that we have brought back. Each man can have only his wife and his children. Then they must take them back home.’
23 David said, ‘No, my brothers. You cannot do that. The Lord has given all these things to us. He has kept us safe. He has helped us to win against the enemies who attacked us. 24 Nobody will agree with what you say. Each person will receive an equal part. The men who stayed here with our things and the men who went to fight will all receive the same amount.’
25 David made this a rule for the Israelites, and they still obey it.
26 David arrived back at Ziklag with all the things that they had taken from the Amalekites. He sent some of the things to the leaders of Judah who were his friends. David sent this message, ‘Here is a gift for you. We took these things from the Lord's enemies.’
27 David sent gifts to the leaders in these towns:
Bethel, Ramoth in the desert in the south, Jattir,
28 Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa, 29 Racal,
the towns where the clan of Jerahmeel live,
the towns where the Kenites live,
30 Hormah, Bor Ashan, Athach 31 and Hebron.
David also sent gifts to the people in the towns that he and his men had visited.
Saul and his sons die in the battle
31 The Philistines fought against the Israelites. The Israelites ran away, and the Philistines killed many of them on Gilboa mountain. 2 The Philistines chased after Saul and his sons to catch them. They killed Saul's sons, Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua.
3 The Philistines were fighting the battle all around Saul. Some of their soldiers saw Saul and they shot their arrows at him. The arrows hurt Saul very much and he was nearly dead. 4 He said to the young man who carried his armour, ‘Kill me now with your sword. I do not want these foreign men to be cruel to me as they kill me.’ But the young man would not agree to kill Saul because he was too afraid. So Saul took his own sword and he threw himself onto it so that he died. 5 The young man saw that Saul was dead. So he threw himself onto his own sword and he also died.
6 So Saul died there, with his three sons. The young man who carried Saul's armour and all Saul's men died too.
7 The Israelites who lived in the Jezreel valley and on the other side of the Jordan River saw what happened. They saw that the Israelite army had run away from the Philistines. They saw that Saul and his sons were dead. So they left their towns and they ran away. Then the Philistines came to live in those towns.
8 The day after the battle, the Philistines came to take all the valuable things from the dead soldiers. They found the dead bodies of Saul and his three sons on Gilboa mountain. 9 They cut off Saul's head and they removed his armour. Then they sent men through all the country of the Philistines with the news of Saul's death. These men told the news everywhere that the Philistine people lived and in the temples of their idols. 10 They put Saul's armour in the temple of their god Ashtoreth. Then they hung Saul's dead body on the wall of Beth Shan town.[e]
11 The Israelites who lived in Jabesh Gilead heard about what the Philistines had done to Saul's body.[f] 12 So all their brave soldiers left Jabesh Gilead and they marched all night to Beth Shan. They removed the dead bodies of Saul and his sons from the town's wall. Then they took them to Jabesh Gilead. They burned the dead bodies there. 13 Then they took the bones and they buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh Gilead. The men did not eat any food for seven days because they were so sad.
23 One day, somebody asked him, ‘Sir, will God only save a small number of people?’
24 Jesus said to the people there, ‘Do your best to go in through the narrow door. I tell you that many people will want to get in there. But they will not be able to go through it. 25 Soon the master of the house will get up and he will shut the door. And then you may still be standing outside the door. You will knock and you will say, “Master, please open the door for us to come in.”
But the master will reply, “I do not know you. I do not know where you come from.” 26 Then you will begin to say, “But Master, we had meals with you. You taught us in the streets of our villages.”
27 But he will tell you, “No! I really do not know you. I do not know where you come from. You have done very bad things, so go away from me, all of you!”
28 Then you will weep very much because you are standing outside. You will bite your teeth together.[a] You will see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the place where God rules. You will also see all God's prophets there. But God will shut you outside. 29 At that time, people will come from everywhere in the world, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. They will all come to take their place in the kingdom of God. There they will sit down together to eat a great meal. 30 Listen! At that time, some people that are not important now will become the most important. And some people that are now the most important will not be important then.’
31 At that moment, some Pharisees came to Jesus. ‘Go away from here,’ they said to him. ‘Go somewhere else, because Herod wants to kill you.’
32 ‘Herod is a bad man,’ Jesus replied. ‘Tell him this: “I am still causing bad spirits to come out of people. I am still making sick people well again. I will continue to do all these things for some more days. On the third day I will have finished my work.” 33 Anyway, I need to continue my journey for some more days. If they want to kill a prophet from God, it has to happen in Jerusalem.
34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Your people have killed God's prophets. And they have thrown stones to kill other people that God has sent to you. Many times, I have wanted to bring all of your people near to me. A female bird covers her babies with her body to make them safe. But you would not let me keep you from danger like that. 35 So listen! Your place will now become like a wilderness where nobody lives.[b] I tell you this. You will not see me again until the day when you say, “May the Lord God bless the man who comes with his authority!” ’
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.