June 12 – Laughter and Courage: Keys to a Bold Life

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Welcome to Bible Chat, where we
have devotional conversations

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rooted in scripture and relevant
for today.

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June 12th.
Laughter and courage.

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Keys to a bold life.
There’s a verse in Proverbs that

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might surprise you with how
relevant it is.

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Proverbs chapter 17 verse 22
says a joyful heart is good

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medicine, but a crushed spirit
dries up the bones.

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That’s not just a feel good
quote, that’s science meeting

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scripture.
Because there is something about

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genuine joy, not the fake
performative kind, but the deep

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grounded kind that comes from
trusting God that actually

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heals, strengthens and sustains
us in ways that anxiety and

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despair simply cannot.
We live under so much pressure.

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School performance, social
dynamics, family expectations,

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comparing yourself to everyone’s
highlight reel online.

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It’s exhausting.
And when you’re running on

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empty, even small challenges can
feel enormous.

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That’s why this verse matters so
much.

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Joy isn’t just a nice to have.
It’s medicine for the heavy

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moments of life.
And then there’s Jonathan in

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First Samuel chapter 14.
Here’s a guy who, by any human

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calculation, should have played
it safe.

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The enemy had the numbers, the
weapons, the high ground.

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But Jonathan looked at his armor
bearer and said in First Samuel

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chapter 14 verses one to six,
essentially, let’s go.

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Maybe the Lord will work for us.
Not a certainty, not a

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guarantee, just faith.
Just the quiet confidence of

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someone who knows that God can
do something with very little.

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Jonathan didn’t wait for
permission.

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He didn’t wait until conditions
were perfect.

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He stepped forward with what he
had, faith in, a willing

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partner, and God showed up.
Here’s the beautiful tension in

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these two passages.
Joy fuels courage, and courage

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is sustained by joy.
They are not opposites, they

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work together.
When your heart is rooted in

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God’s goodness, you stop making
decisions from fear and start

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making them from faith.
Jonathan’s boldness wasn’t

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recklessness, it was the
overflow of a heart that

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genuinely trusted God.
What’s your Goliath right now?

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What’s the situation in your
life that feels too big, too

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risky, too uncertain to step
into?

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Maybe it’s a conversation you
need to have, a dream you’ve

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been afraid to pursue, a moment
where God is asking you to step

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forward and trust Him.
Joy and courage together are the

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keys.
Let’s pray.

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Heavenly Father, thank you for
the gift of genuine joy, the

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kind that doesn’t depend on
circumstances but flows from

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knowing you.
Help us to carry that joy into

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the challenges we face and let
it fuel our courage rather than

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our fear.
Like Jonathan, give us the faith

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to step forward even when the
odds seem impossible, knowing

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that you can do something
extraordinary with our small

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faithful steps in Jesus name,
Amen.

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Now I invite you to spend time
with God in today’s three-year

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Bible reading plan.
Proverbs chapter 17 verses 21 to

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22 world English Bible he who
becomes the father of a.

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Fool grieves, the father of a.
Fool has no joy.

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A cheerful heart makes good
medicine, but a crushed.

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Spirit.
Dries up the bones first Samuel

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chapter 14 world English Bible
now it fell on a day that

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Jonathan, the son of Saul, said
to the young man who bore his

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armor, come.
Let’s go over to the.

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Philistines Garrison that is on
the other side, but he didn’t

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tell his.
Father Saul stayed.

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In the uttermost part of Jibah,
under the pomegranate tree which

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is in Migran, and the people who
were with him, were about 600

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men, including Ahijah, the son
of Ahitab.

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Ichabod’s brother.
The son of Feynhas the son of.

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Eli the Priest.
Of Yahweh in Shiloh wearing an

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ephod.
The people didn’t know that

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Jonathan was gone between the
passes by which Jonathan sought

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to go.
Over to the.

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Philistines, Garrison.
There was a.

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Rocky crag on the one side and a
rocky crag on the other side,

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and the name of the one was
Boces and the name of the other

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Sene.
The one crag rose up on the

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north in front of Mitch Mesh and
the other on the South in front

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of Jeba.
Jonathan said to the young man

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who bore his armor.
Come, let’s go.

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Over to the.
Garrison of these uncircumcised,

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it may be that Yahweh.
Will work for us for.

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There is no restraint on Yahweh
to save by many or by few, his

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armor bearer said to him.
Do all that is in your heart.

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Turn and behold, I am with you
according to your heart, then,

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Jonathan said.
Behold, we.

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Will pass over to the men, and
we will reveal ourselves to

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them.
If they say this to us.

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Wait until we come to you, then
we will stand still in our place

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and will not go up to them.
But if they say this, come up to

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us.
Then we will go up.

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For Yahweh has.
Delivered them into our hand.

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This.
Shall be the sign to us, both of

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them revealed.
Themselves to the.

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Garrison of the Philistines and
the Philistines.

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Said behold the.
Hebrews are coming out of the

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holes where they had hidden
themselves, the men of the

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Garrison answered Jonathan and
his armor bearer and said.

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Come up to.
Us, and we will show you

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something, Jonathan said to his
armor bearer.

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Come up after me.
For Yahweh.

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Has delivered them into the hand
of Israel.

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Jonathan climbed up on his hands
and on his feet and his armor

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bearer after him, and they fell
before Jonathan and his armor

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bearer killed them after him.
That first slaughter which

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Jonathan and his armor bearer
made was about 20 men within, as

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it were, half a furrows length
in an acre of land.

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There was a trembling in the
camp, in the field, and among

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all the people.
The Garrison and the Raiders

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also trembled.
And the earth.

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Quaked, so there.
Was an exceedingly great

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trembling the watchman of Saul
in jiber of Benjamin looked, and

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behold, the multitude melted
away and scattered.

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Then Saul said to the people who
were.

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With him, count now and see who
is missing from us.

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When they had counted, behold,
Jonathan and his armor bearer

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were not there.
Saul said to Ahuja.

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Bring God.
‘S ark here for God’s ark.

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Was with the children of Israel
at that time while Saul talked.

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To the priest.
The tumult that was in the camp

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of the Philistines went on and
increased.

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And Saul?
Said to the priest.

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Withdraw your hand.
Saul.

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And all the people who were with
him were.

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Gathered together.
And came to the battle and

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behold.
They were all.

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Striking each other with their
swords in very great confusion.

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Now the Hebrews, who were with
the Philistines before, and who

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went up with them into the camp
from all around, even they also

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turned to be with the.
Israelites who?

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Were with Saul and Jonathan
likewise all the men of Israel

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who had hidden themselves in the
Hill Country of Ephraim.

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When they heard that the.
Philistines fled even they also

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followed hard after them in the
battle.

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So Yahweh saved Israel that day.
And the battle passed over by

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Bait Aven, the men of.
Israel were distressed that day,

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for Saul had adjured the.
People saying cursed is the man

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who eats any food until it is
evening and I am avenged of my

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enemies so none of the.
People tasted food.

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All the people came into the
forest and there was honey on

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the ground when the people had
come to the forest.

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Behold.
Honey was dripping, but no one

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put his hand to his mouth.
For the people feared the oath.

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But Jonathan didn’t hear when
his father commanded the people.

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With the oath, therefore, he.
Put out the end of the rod that

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was in his hand and dipped it in
the honeycomb and put his hand

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to his mouth, and his eyes
brightened.

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Then one of the people answered
and said, Your father directly

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commanded the people with an
oath saying, curse it is the man

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who eats food today.
So the people.

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Were faint then, Jonathan said.
My father has troubled the land

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please look how my eyes have
brightened, because I.

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Tasted a little.
Of this honey, how much more if

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perhaps the people had eaten
freely today of the plunder of

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their enemies which they found.
For now, there has been no great

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slaughter among the Philistines.
They struck the.

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Philistines that day from Mitch
Mash to age Allen.

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The people.
Were very faint, and the people

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pounced on the plunder and took
sheep, cattle and calves and

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killed them on the ground, and
the people ate them with the

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blood.
Then they told Saul saying,

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Behold, the people are sinning
against Yahweh in that they eat

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meat with the blood.
He said.

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You have dealt treacherously.
Roll a large stone to me.

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Today, Saul said.
Disperse yourselves among the

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people and tell them, Every man
bring me here his ox, and every

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man his sheep, and kill them
here, and eat, and don’t sin

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against Yahweh in eating meat
with the blood.

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All the people brought every man
his ox with him that night, and

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killed them there.
Saul built an altar to Yahweh.

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This.
Was the first altar that he.

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Built to Yahweh.
Saul said let’s.

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Go down after the Philistines by
night and take plunder among

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them until the morning light,
and let’s not leave a man of

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them.
They said.

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Do whatever seems good to you.
Then the priest.

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Said.
Let’s draw near here to God,

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Saul asked.
Counsel of.

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God shall I.
Go down after the Philistines,

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will you deliver them into the
hand of Israel?

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But he didn’t answer him that
day.

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Saul said.
Draw near here.

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All you chiefs of the.
People and know and see in which

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this sin has been today.
For as Yahweh lives, who saves

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Israel?
Though it is in Jonathan, my

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son.
He shall surely die but there.

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Was not a man among all the
people who answered him.

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Then he said to all Israel, you
be on one side, and I and

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Jonathan, my son, will be on the
other side.

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The people said to Saul.
Do what seems good to you.

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Therefore, Saul said to Yahweh,
the God of Israel, show the

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right.
Jonathan and Saul were chosen,

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but the people?
Escaped, Saul said.

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Cast.
Lots between me and Jonathan.

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My son Jonathan was selected.
Then Saul said to Jonathan, tell

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me what you have done.
Jonathan told him and said I

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certainly did taste a little
honey with the end of the rod

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that was in my hand, and behold
I must die.

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Saul said.
God do so and more also.

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For you shall.
Surely die Jonathan.

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The people said to Saul.
Shall Jonathan die?

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Who has worked this great
salvation in Israel?

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Far from it.
As Yahweh lives.

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There shall not one hair of his
head fall to the ground, for he

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has.
Worked with God today, so the

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people.
Rescued Jonathan, that he didn’t

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die.
Then Saul went up from following

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the Philistines, and the
Philistines went to their own

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place.
Now when Saul had taken the

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Kingdom over Israel, he fought
against all his enemies on every

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side, against Moab, and against
the children of Ammon, and

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against Edom, and against the
kings of Zoba, and against the

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Philistines.
Wherever he turned himself, he

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defeated them.
He did valiantly, and struck the

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Amalekites, and delivered Israel
out of the hands of those who

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plundered them.
Now the sons of Saul were

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Jonathan, Ishvi and Malkishua
and the names of his two

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daughters.
Were these?

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The name of the first born Merab
and the name of the younger

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Mikkel.
The name of.

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Saul’s wife.
Was Ahinom the daughter of

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Ahimas, the name of the captain
of his army?

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Was Abner the son of Nur, Saul’s
uncle?

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Kish was the father of Saul.
And Nur, the father of Abner,

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was the son of Abeal.
There was severe.

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War against the Philistines all
the days.

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Of Saul.
And when Saul saw any mighty

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man, or any valiant man, he took
him into his service.

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Thanks for joining us on Bible
Chat, where Scripture meets

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00:13:13,560 –> 00:13:16,760
everyday life.
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00:13:16,760 –> 00:13:20,400
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00:13:22,560 –> 00:13:26,040
Until next time, stay rooted in
truth, anchored in hope, and

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00:13:26,040 –> 00:13:27,520
walking daily with Jesus.