1 Samuel 27, 1 Corinthians 8, Ezekiel 6, Psalm 44

1 Samuel 27,

1 But David thought to himself, "One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand."
 
2 So David and the six hundred men with him left and went over to Achish son of Maoch king of Gath.
 
3 David and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal.
 
4 When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.
 
5 Then David said to Achish, "If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be assigned to me in one of the country towns, that I may live there. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?"
 
6 So on that day Achish gave him Ziklag, and it has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since.
 
7 David lived in Philistine territory a year and four months.
 
8 Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these peoples had lived in the land extending to Shur and Egypt.)
 
9 Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes. Then he returned to Achish.
 
10 When Achish asked, "Where did you go raiding today?" David would say, "Against the Negev of Judah" or "Against the Negev of Jerahmeel" or "Against the Negev of the Kenites."
 
11 He did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he thought, "They might inform on us and say, 'This is what David did.' " And such was his practice as long as he lived in Philistine territory.
 
12 Achish trusted David and said to himself, "He has become so odious to his people, the Israelites, that he will be my servant forever."
 

1 Corinthians 8,

1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
 
2 The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.
 
3 But the man who loves God is known by God.
 
4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.
 
5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"),
 
6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
 
7 But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.
 
8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
 
9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
 
10 For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols?
 
11 So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.
 
12 When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
 
13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.
 

Ezekiel 6,

1 The word of the LORD came to me:
 
2 "Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel; prophesy against them
 
3 and say: 'O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign LORD. This is what the Sovereign LORD says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.
 
4 Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will slay your people in front of your idols.
 
5 I will lay the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars.
 
6 Wherever you live, the towns will be laid waste and the high places demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and devastated, your idols smashed and ruined, your incense altars broken down, and what you have made wiped out.
 
7 Your people will fall slain among you, and you will know that I am the LORD.
 
8 " 'But I will spare some, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the lands and nations.
 
9 Then in the nations where they have been carried captive, those who escape will remember me-how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices.
 
10 And they will know that I am the LORD; I did not threaten in vain to bring this calamity on them.
 
11 " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Strike your hands together and stamp your feet and cry out "Alas!" because of all the wicked and detestable practices of the house of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine and plague.
 
12 He that is far away will die of the plague, and he that is near will fall by the sword, and he that survives and is spared will die of famine. So will I spend my wrath upon them.
 
13 And they will know that I am the LORD, when their people lie slain among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every spreading tree and every leafy oak-places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols.
 
14 And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land a desolate waste from the desert to Diblah-wherever they live. Then they will know that I am the LORD.' "
 

Psalm 44

1 We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago.
 
2 With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our fathers; you crushed the peoples and made our fathers flourish.
 
3 It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them.
 
4 You are my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob.
 
5 Through you we push back our enemies; through your name we trample our foes.
 
6 I do not trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory;
 
7 but you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame.
 
8 In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever. Selah
 
9 But now you have rejected and humbled us; you no longer go out with our armies.
 
10 You made us retreat before the enemy, and our adversaries have plundered us.
 
11 You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the nations.
 
12 You sold your people for a pittance, gaining nothing from their sale.
 
13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us.
 
14 You have made us a byword among the nations; the peoples shake their heads at us.
 
15 My disgrace is before me all day long, and my face is covered with shame
 
16 at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me, because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.
 
17 All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant.
 
18 Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path.
 
19 But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals and covered us over with deep darkness.
 
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
 
21 would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart?
 
22 Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
 
23 Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.
 
24 Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression?
 
25 We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground.
 
26 Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailing love.