⁴¹ The Philistine came walking and drew near to David, and the man bearing the shield went before him. ⁴² When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him. For he was a youth and ruddy with a handsome appearance. ⁴³ The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the heavens and to the beasts of the field.”

⁴⁵ Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a shield, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have reviled. ⁴⁶ This day will the Lord deliver you into my hand. And I will strike you down and cut off your head. Then I will give the corpses of the Philistine camp this day to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. ⁴⁷ And then all this assembly will know that it is not by sword and spear that the Lord saves. For the battle belongs to the Lord, and He will give you into our hands.”

The Battle Against Evil

¹⁰ Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

⁷ Then Nathan told David, “You are this man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you as king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul. ⁸ I gave to you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms, and I gave to you the house of Israel and Judah. If this were too little, I would have continued to do for you much more. ⁹ Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and you took his wife as a wife for yourself. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰ Now the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

The Message to Laodicea

¹⁴ “To the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write:

“The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says these things: ¹⁵ I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. ¹⁶ So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of My mouth. ¹⁷ For you say, ‘I am rich, and have stored up goods, and have need of nothing,’ yet do not realize that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments, that you may be dressed, that the shame of your nakedness may not appear, and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.

¹⁹ “Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be zealous and repent. ²⁰ Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me.

¹⁰ Moreover, I will appoint a place for My people Israel. I will plant them, and they will dwell in that very place. They will be restless no longer, and the unjust will no longer oppress them, as in former times, ¹¹ ever since the day in which I appointed judges over My people Israel. I will give you rest from all of your enemies.

The Lord declares to you that He will instead bring about a house for you. ¹² When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up after you an offspring from your body, and I will establish his rule. ¹³ He will build a house for My name, and I will establish his royal throne forever. ¹⁴ I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to Me. When he goes astray, I will correct him with the rod of men and afflictions of the sons of men.

⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may declare the goodness of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. ¹⁰ In times past, you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.