Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Prayer for Help
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil of David when the Ziphites went to Saul and said, “We think David is hiding among our people.”
54 God, save me because of who you are.
By your strength show that I am innocent.
2 Hear my prayer, God.
Listen to what I say.
3 Strangers turn against me.
Cruel men want to kill me.
They do not care about God. Selah
4 See, God will help me.
The Lord will spare my life.
5 Let my enemies be punished with their own evil.
Destroy them because you are loyal to me.
6 I will offer a sacrifice as a special gift to you.
I will thank you, Lord, because you are good.
7 You have saved me from all my troubles.
I have seen my enemies defeated.
The Midianites Attack Israel
6 Again the people of Israel did what the Lord said was wrong. So for seven years the Lord let the people of Midian rule Israel. 2 The Midianites were very powerful and were cruel to the Israelites. So the Israelites made hiding places in the mountains. They also hid in caves and safe places. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other peoples from the east would come and attack them. 4 These people camped in the land. And they destroyed the crops that the Israelites had planted. They did this as far as the land near Gaza. The people left nothing for Israel to eat. They left them no sheep, cattle or donkeys. 5 The Midianites came up and camped in the land. They brought their tents and their animals with them. They were like swarms of locusts! There were so many people and camels they could not be counted. These people came into the land to ruin it. 6 Israel became very poor because of the Midianites. So the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.
7 The Israelites cried out to the Lord for help against the Midianites. 8 So the Lord sent a prophet to them. The prophet said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you out of Egypt, the land of slavery. 9 I saved you from the people of Egypt. And I saved you from all the people of Canaan. I forced them out of their land. And I gave it to you. 10 Then I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God. You will live in the land of the Amorites, but you must not worship their gods.’ But you did not obey me.”
The Message of Christ’s Death
2 Dear brothers, when I came to you, I did not come as a proud man. I preached God’s truth, but not with fancy words or a show of great learning. 2 I decided that while I was with you I would forget about everything except Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. 3 When I came to you, I was weak and shook with fear. 4 My teaching and my speaking were not with wise words that persuade people. But the proof of my teaching was the power that the Spirit gives. 5 I did this so that your faith would be in God’s power, not in the wisdom of a man.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.