Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

David wrote this song when he made the Philistine king think that he was crazy. He wanted the king to send him away.^[a]

God is great!^[b]

²⁰ Saul immediately fell down on the ground and he lay there. He was very afraid because of what Samuel had said. Saul was also very weak because he had eaten nothing all that day and night.

²¹ Then the woman came to Saul. She saw that he was very afraid. She said, ‘I have obeyed you, sir. I did what you asked me to do. I might have died because I did that. ²² Please listen to me now. I will give you some food to eat. Then you will be strong enough to travel back.’

²³ Saul refused and he said, ‘I will not eat.’ But the woman and Saul's servants continued to say that he must eat some food. So Saul agreed. He got up from the ground and he sat down on a bed.

²⁴ The woman had a fat calf at her home. She went quickly and she killed it. Then she took some flour and she cooked some flat bread without yeast. ²⁵ She gave the food to Saul and to his men and they ate it. Then they left her house that night.

15 Some of us trust God with strong faith. We must help those believers whose faith is weaker. We must be patient with them. We should not just do things that will make us happy ourselves. ² Instead, each of us should do things that will make other believers happy. We should help them to trust God more strongly. ³ Even Christ did not just do things that would make himself happy. It is written in the Bible that he said this: ‘People have insulted you, God. In that way they have also insulted me.’^[a]

⁴ Everything that people wrote in the Bible in past times is there to teach us something. Those words help us to be patient and strong. As a result, we can trust God to do what he has promised.

⁵ It is God himself who helps us to be patient and strong. So I pray that he will help you to agree with each other and to be friends. That is how Christ Jesus wants you to live. ⁶ As a result, all of you will praise God together with the same thoughts. You will all agree that God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is very great.