1 Samuel 4, Romans 4, Jeremiah 43, Psalm 18

1 Samuel 4,

1 And Samuel's word came to all Israel. Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek.
 
2 The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield.
 
3 When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, "Why did the LORD bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the LORD's covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies."
 
4 So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
 
5 When the ark of the LORD's covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook.
 
6 Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, "What's all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?" When they learned that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp,
 
7 the Philistines were afraid. "A god has come into the camp," they said. "We're in trouble! Nothing like this has happened before.
 
8 Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert.
 
9 Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!"
 
10 So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers.
 
11 The ark of God was captured, and Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
 
12 That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh, his clothes torn and dust on his head.
 
13 When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry.
 
14 Eli heard the outcry and asked, "What is the meaning of this uproar?" The man hurried over to Eli,
 
15 who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes were set so that he could not see.
 
16 He told Eli, "I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day." Eli asked, "What happened, my son?"
 
17 The man who brought the news replied, "Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured."
 
18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. He had led Israel forty years.
 
19 His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains.
 
20 As she was dying, the women attending her said, "Don't despair; you have given birth to a son." But she did not respond or pay any attention.
 
21 She named the boy Ichabod, saying, "The glory has departed from Israel"-because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband.
 
22 She said, "The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured."
 

Romans 4,

1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter?
 
2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about-but not before God.
 
3 What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
 
4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.
 
5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
 
6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
 
7 "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
 
8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."
 
9 Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness.
 
10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before!
 
11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.
 
12 And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
 
13 It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
 
14 For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless,
 
15 because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.
 
16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring-not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
 
17 As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed-the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
 
18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
 
19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead-since he was about a hundred years old-and that Sarah's womb was also dead.
 
20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
 
21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
 
22 This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness."
 
23 The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone,
 
24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness-for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
 
25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
 

Jeremiah 43,

1 When Jeremiah finished telling the people all the words of the LORD their God-everything the LORD had sent him to tell them-
 
2 Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, "You are lying! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, 'You must not go to Egypt to settle there.'
 
3 But Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Babylonians, so they may kill us or carry us into exile to Babylon."
 
4 So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers and all the people disobeyed the LORD's command to stay in the land of Judah.
 
5 Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers led away all the remnant of Judah who had come back to live in the land of Judah from all the nations where they had been scattered.
 
6 They also led away all the men, women and children and the king's daughters whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah.
 
7 So they entered Egypt in disobedience to the LORD and went as far as Tahpanhes.
 
8 In Tahpanhes the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
 
9 "While the Jews are watching, take some large stones with you and bury them in clay in the brick pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes.
 
10 Then say to them, 'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will set his throne over these stones I have buried here; he will spread his royal canopy above them.
 
11 He will come and attack Egypt, bringing death to those destined for death, captivity to those destined for captivity, and the sword to those destined for the sword.
 
12 He will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt; he will burn their temples and take their gods captive. As a shepherd wraps his garment around him, so will he wrap Egypt around himself and depart from there unscathed.
 
13 There in the temple of the sun in Egypt he will demolish the sacred pillars and will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.' "
 

Psalm 18

1 I love you, O LORD, my strength.
 
2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
 
3 I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.
 
4 The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
 
5 The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.
 
6 In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.
 
7 The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry.
 
8 Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.
 
9 He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.
 
10 He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.
 
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him-the dark rain clouds of the sky.
 
12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
 
13 The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.
 
14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies, great bolts of lightning and routed them.
 
15 The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of breath from your nostrils.
 
16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.
 
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.
 
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support.
 
19 He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
 
20 The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
 
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I have not done evil by turning from my God.
 
22 All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees.
 
23 I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin.
 
24 The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
 
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
 
26 to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
 
27 You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
 
28 You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.
 
29 With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.
 
30 As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.
 
31 For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?
 
32 It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.
 
33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.
 
34 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
 
35 You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.
 
36 You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.
 
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed.
 
38 I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet.
 
39 You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet.
 
40 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes.
 
41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them-to the LORD, but he did not answer.
 
42 I beat them as fine as dust borne on the wind; I poured them out like mud in the streets.
 
43 You have delivered me from the attacks of the people; you have made me the head of nations; people I did not know are subject to me.
 
44 As soon as they hear me, they obey me; foreigners cringe before me.
 
45 They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds.
 
46 The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!
 
47 He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me,
 
48 who saves me from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from violent men you rescued me.
 
49 Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O LORD; I will sing praises to your name.
 
50 He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.