Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 150

Praise the Lord!

Where?

Why?

How?

Who?

David and Goliath

17 Now the Philistines gathered their troops for battle. They gathered at Sokoh,^[a] which belongs to Judah, and they camped between Sokoh and Azekah at Ephes Dammim. ² Saul and the men of Israel also gathered together and camped in the Valley of Elah. They lined up in battle formation opposite the Philistines. ³ The Philistines took up a position in front of the mountain on one side of the valley, and the Israelites stationed themselves in front of the mountain on the other side of the valley.

⁴ A challenger who represented the Philistines came out from the camp of the Philistines. He was named Goliath of Gath. He was nine feet, six inches tall.^{[b] 5} He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he wore scaled body armor, which was made of more than one hundred pounds^[c] of bronze. ⁶ He had bronze greaves on his shins and a bronze spear slung between his shoulders. ⁷ The shaft^[d] of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spearhead was made of fifteen pounds^[e] of iron. His shield bearer went out ahead of him.

⁸ He would stand up and shout to the armies of Israel, “Why have you come out to line up in battle formation? I am a Philistine, and you are servants of Saul, aren’t you? Choose a man to represent you, and let him come down to me. ⁹ If he is able to fight with me and kill me, we will be your servants. But if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our servants, and you will serve us.” ¹⁰ The Philistine would say, “I defy the ranks of Israel today! Give me a man, and we will fight each other!” ¹¹ When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified.

^{[f] 12} Now David was the son of an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse. Jesse had eight sons. In the days of Saul, Jesse was a very old man. ¹³ The three oldest sons of Jesse had accompanied Saul to the battleground. The names of his three sons who went to the battle were his firstborn Eliab, next Abinadab, and third Shammah. ¹⁴ David was the youngest son. The three oldest accompanied Saul. ¹⁵ During this time David went back and forth from Saul to take care of his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

¹⁶ The Philistine came out each morning and evening for forty days and presented his challenge.

¹⁷ Jesse said to his son David, “Take twenty-five pounds^[g] of this roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers. Deliver them quickly to the camp for your brothers. ¹⁸ Also take these ten blocks of cheese to the commander of their unit.^[h] See how your brothers are doing and bring back some assurance they are okay.”

¹⁹ Now Saul, David’s brothers, and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah to fight with the Philistines.

²⁰ David got up early in the morning and left the sheep with someone who would watch them. He took the supplies and set out as Jesse had commanded him. He arrived at the outer defense line of the camp just as the army was marching out to line up in battle formation, shouting war cries as they went. ²¹ Israel and the Philistines were lining up for battle, one formation against the other. ²² After David had handed over his provisions to the supply officer, he ran to the battlefront, where he met and greeted his brothers.

²³ As he was talking with them there, he saw the Philistine challenger named Goliath of Gath coming up out of the ranks of the Philistines. He repeated his usual words, and David heard them.

Many Miracles

¹² Many signs and wonders were done among the people through the hands of the apostles. With one mind, they all continued meeting in Solomon’s Colonnade. ¹³ No one else dared to join them, but the people held them in high regard. ¹⁴ More and more believers in the Lord were added to their group, large numbers of both men and women. ¹⁵ As a result, people were even carrying the sick into the streets and laying them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them. ¹⁶ Crowds also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem,^[a] bringing the sick and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and all of them were healed.