¹And David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand.” ²Then David arose and went over with the six hundred men who were with him to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. ³So David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, each man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s widow. ⁴And it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath; so he sought him no more. ⁵Then David said to Achish, “If I have now found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?” ⁶So Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. ⁷Now the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was one full year and four months. ⁸And David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. For those nations were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as you go to Shur, even as far as the land of Egypt. ⁹Whenever David attacked the land, he left neither man nor woman alive, but took away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the apparel, and returned and came to Achish. ¹⁰Then Achish would say, “Where have you made a raid today?” And David would say, “Against the southern area of Judah, or against the southern area of the Jerahmeelites, or against the southern area of the Kenites.” ¹¹David would save neither man nor woman alive, to bring news to Gath, saying, “Lest they should inform on us, saying, ‘Thus David did.’ ” And thus was his behavior all the time he dwelt in the country of the Philistines. ¹²So Achish believed David, saying, “He has made his people Israel utterly abhor him; therefore he will be my servant forever.”

¹Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. ²And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. ³But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him. ⁴Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. ⁵For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), ⁶yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. ⁷However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. ⁸But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse. ⁹But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. ¹⁰For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? ¹¹And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? ¹²But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. ¹³Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

¹Now the word of the Lᴏʀᴅ came to me, saying: ²“Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, ³and say, ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lᴏʀᴅ God!’ Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ God to the mountains, to the hills, to the ravines, and to the valleys: “Indeed I, even I, will bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. ⁴Then your altars shall be desolate, your incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. ⁵And I will lay the corpses of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones all around your altars. ⁶In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, so that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, your idols may be broken and made to cease, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. ⁷The slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lᴏʀᴅ. ⁸“Yet I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries. ⁹Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations where they are carried captive, because I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols; they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations. ¹⁰And they shall know that I am the Lᴏʀᴅ; I have not said in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them.” ¹¹‘Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ God: “Pound your fists and stamp your feet, and say, ‘Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! For they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. ¹²He who is far off shall die by the pestilence, he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who remains and is besieged shall die by the famine. Thus will I spend My fury upon them. ¹³Then you shall know that I am the Lᴏʀᴅ, when their slain are among their idols all around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every thick oak, wherever they offered sweet incense to all their idols. ¹⁴So I will stretch out My hand against them and make the land desolate, yes, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblah, in all their dwelling places. Then they shall know that I am the Lᴏʀᴅ.’ “ ‘ ”

¹To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of the sons of Korah. We have heard with our ears, O God, Our fathers have told us, The deeds You did in their days, In days of old: ²You drove out the nations with Your hand, But them You planted; You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out. ³For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, Nor did their own arm save them; But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, Because You favored them. ⁴You are my King, O God; Command victories for Jacob. ⁵Through You we will push down our enemies; Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us. ⁶For I will not trust in my bow, Nor shall my sword save me. ⁷But You have saved us from our enemies, And have put to shame those who hated us. ⁸In God we boast all day long, And praise Your name forever. Selah ⁹But You have cast us off and put us to shame, And You do not go out with our armies. ¹⁰You make us turn back from the enemy, And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves. ¹¹You have given us up like sheep intended for food, And have scattered us among the nations. ¹²You sell Your people for next to nothing, And are not enriched by selling them. ¹³You make us a reproach to our neighbors, A scorn and a derision to those all around us. ¹⁴You make us a byword among the nations, A shaking of the head among the peoples. ¹⁵My dishonor is continually before me, And the shame of my face has covered me, ¹⁶Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles, Because of the enemy and the avenger. ¹⁷All this has come upon us; But we have not forgotten You, Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant. ¹⁸Our heart has not turned back, Nor have our steps departed from Your way; ¹⁹But You have severely broken us in the place of jackals, And covered us with the shadow of death. ²⁰If we had forgotten the name of our God, Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god, ²¹Would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart. ²²Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. ²³Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lᴏʀᴅ? Arise! Do not cast us off forever. ²⁴Why do You hide Your face, And forget our affliction and our oppression? ²⁵For our soul is bowed down to the dust; Our body clings to the ground. ²⁶Arise for our help, And redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.