Reflective Bible Study

¹ After the death of Saul, David returned from his victory over the Amalekites and spent two days in Ziklag. ² On the third day a man arrived from Saul’s army camp. He had torn his clothes and put dirt on his head to show that he was in mourning. He fell to the ground before David in deep respect.

³ “Where have you come from?” David asked.

“I escaped from the Israelite camp,” the man replied.

⁴ “What happened?” David demanded. “Tell me how the battle went.”

The man replied, “Our entire army fled from the battle. Many of the men are dead, and Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead.”

⁵ “How do you know Saul and Jonathan are dead?” David demanded of the young man.

⁶ The man answered, “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and there was Saul leaning on his spear with the enemy chariots and charioteers closing in on him. ⁷ When he turned and saw me, he cried out for me to come to him. ‘How can I help?’ I asked him.

⁸ “He responded, ‘Who are you?’

“‘I am an Amalekite,’ I told him.

⁹ “Then he begged me, ‘Come over here and put me out of my misery, for I am in terrible pain and want to die.’

¹⁰ “So I killed him,” the Amalekite told David, “for I knew he couldn’t live. Then I took his crown and his armband, and I have brought them here to you, my lord.”

¹¹ David and his men tore their clothes in sorrow when they heard the news. ¹² They mourned and wept and fasted all day for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the Lord’s army and the nation of Israel, because they had died by the sword that day.

¹³ Then David said to the young man who had brought the news, “Where are you from?”

And he replied, “I am a foreigner, an Amalekite, who lives in your land.”

¹⁴ “Why were you not afraid to kill the Lord’s anointed one?” David asked.

¹⁵ Then David said to one of his men, “Kill him!” So the man thrust his sword into the Amalekite and killed him. ¹⁶ “You have condemned yourself,” David said, “for you yourself confessed that you killed the Lord’s anointed one.”

Read 2 Samuel 1:1-16 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

⁸ This is what the Lord says:
“At just the right time, I will respond to you.
    On the day of salvation I will help you.
I will protect you and give you to the people
    as my covenant with them.
Through you I will reestablish the land of Israel
    and assign it to its own people again.
⁹ I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out in freedom,’
    and to those in darkness, ‘Come into the light.’
They will be my sheep, grazing in green pastures
    and on hills that were previously bare.
¹⁰ They will neither hunger nor thirst.
    The searing sun will not reach them anymore.
For the Lord in his mercy will lead them;
    he will lead them beside cool waters.
¹¹ And I will make my mountains into level paths for them.
    The highways will be raised above the valleys.
¹² See, my people will return from far away,
    from lands to the north and west,
    and from as far south as Egypt.”

¹³ Sing for joy, O heavens!
    Rejoice, O earth!
    Burst into song, O mountains!
For the Lord has comforted his people
    and will have compassion on them in their suffering.

¹⁴ Yet Jerusalem says, “The Lord has deserted us;
    the Lord has forgotten us.”

¹⁵ “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child?
    Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?
But even if that were possible,
    I would not forget you!
¹⁶ See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.
    Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.
¹⁷ Soon your descendants will come back,
    and all who are trying to destroy you will go away.
¹⁸ Look around you and see,
    for all your children will come back to you.
As surely as I live,” says the Lord,
    “they will be like jewels or bridal ornaments for you to display.

¹⁹ “Even the most desolate parts of your abandoned land
    will soon be crowded with your people.
Your enemies who enslaved you
    will be far away.
²⁰ The generations born in exile will return and say,
    ‘We need more room! It’s crowded here!’
²¹ Then you will think to yourself,
    ‘Who has given me all these descendants?
For most of my children were killed,
    and the rest were carried away into exile.
I was left here all alone.
    Where did all these people come from?
Who bore these children?
    Who raised them for me?’”

²² This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
    “See, I will give a signal to the godless nations.
They will carry your little sons back to you in their arms;
    they will bring your daughters on their shoulders.
²³ Kings and queens will serve you
    and care for all your needs.
They will bow to the earth before you
    and lick the dust from your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord.
    Those who trust in me will never be put to shame.”

²⁴ Who can snatch the plunder of war from the hands of a warrior?
    Who can demand that a tyrant let his captives go?
²⁵ But the Lord says,
“The captives of warriors will be released,
    and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved.
For I will fight those who fight you,
    and I will save your children.
²⁶ I will feed your enemies with their own flesh.
    They will be drunk with rivers of their own blood.
All the world will know that I, the Lord,
    am your Savior and your Redeemer,
    the Mighty One of Israel.”

Read Isaiah 49:8-26 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

²⁰ And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. ²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. ²² Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. ²³ Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets. ²⁴ But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. ²⁵ Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. ²⁶ Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.

Read Luke 6:20-26 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

⁷ As these men were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? ⁸ But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ palaces! ⁹ But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. ¹⁰ This is the one about whom it is written,
‘BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU,
WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.’
¹¹ Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ¹² From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force. ¹³ For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John. ¹⁴ And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come. ¹⁵ He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

¹⁶ “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children, ¹⁷ and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ ¹⁸ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ ¹⁹ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

Read Matthew 11:7-19 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!