Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
18 This song of David was written at a time when the Lord had delivered him from his many enemies, including Saul.
Lord, how I love you! For you have done such tremendous things for me.
2 The Lord is my fort where I can enter and be safe; no one can follow me in and slay me. He is a rugged mountain where I hide; he is my Savior, a rock where none can reach me, and a tower of safety. He is my shield. He is like the strong horn of a mighty fighting bull. 3 All I need to do is cry to him—oh, praise the Lord—and I am saved from all my enemies!
4 Death bound me with chains, and the floods of ungodliness mounted a massive attack against me. 5 Trapped and helpless, I struggled against the ropes that drew me on to death.
6 In my distress I screamed to the Lord for his help. And he heard me from heaven;[a] my cry reached his ears.
43-45 You gave me victory in every battle. The nations came and served me. Even those I didn’t know before come now and bow before me. Foreigners who have never seen me submit instantly. They come trembling from their strongholds.
46 God is alive! Praise him who is the great rock of protection. 47 He is the God who pays back those who harm me and subdues the nations before me.
48 He rescues me from my enemies; he holds me safely out of their reach and saves me from these powerful opponents. 49 For this, O Lord, I will praise you among the nations. 50 Many times you have miraculously rescued me, the king you appointed. You have been loving and kind to me and will be to my descendants.
10 The Philistines attacked and defeated the Israeli troops, who turned and fled and were slaughtered on the slopes of Mount Gilboa.[a] 2 They caught up with Saul and his three sons, Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, and killed them all. 3 Saul had been hard pressed with heavy fighting all around him, when the Philistine archers shot and wounded him.
4 He cried out to his bodyguard, “Quick, kill me with your sword before these uncircumcised heathen capture and torture me.”
But the man was afraid to do it, so Saul took his own sword and fell against its point; and it pierced his body. 5 Then his bodyguard, seeing that Saul was dead, killed himself in the same way. 6 So Saul and his three sons died together; the entire family was wiped out in one day.
7 When the Israelis in the valley below the mountain heard that their troops had been routed and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and lived in them. 8 When the Philistines went back the next day to strip the bodies of the men killed in action and to gather the booty from the battlefield, they found the bodies of Saul and his sons. 9 So they stripped off Saul’s armor and cut off his head; then they displayed them throughout the nation and celebrated the wonderful news before their idols. 10 They fastened his armor to the walls of the Temple of the Gods and nailed his head to the wall of Dagon’s temple.
11 But when the people of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 their heroic warriors went out to the battlefield[b] and brought back his body and the bodies of his three sons. Then they buried them beneath the oak tree at Jabesh and mourned and fasted for seven days.
13 Saul died for his disobedience to the Lord and because he had consulted a medium,[c] 14 and did not ask the Lord for guidance. So the Lord killed him and gave the kingdom to David, the son of Jesse.
14 At the bottom of the mountain they found a great crowd surrounding the other nine disciples, as some Jewish leaders argued with them. 15 The crowd watched Jesus in awe as he came toward them, and then ran to greet him. 16 “What’s all the argument about?” he asked.
17 One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son for you to heal—he can’t talk because he is possessed by a demon. 18 And whenever the demon is in control of him it dashes him to the ground and makes him foam at the mouth and grind his teeth and become rigid.[a] So I begged your disciples to cast out the demon, but they couldn’t do it.”
19 Jesus said to his disciples,[b] “Oh, what tiny faith you have; how much longer must I be with you until you believe? How much longer must I be patient with you? Bring the boy to me.”
20 So they brought the boy, but when he saw Jesus, the demon convulsed the child horribly, and he fell to the ground writhing and foaming at the mouth.
21 “How long has he been this way?” Jesus asked the father.
And he replied, “Since he was very small, 22 and the demon often makes him fall into the fire or into water to kill him. Oh, have mercy on us and do something if you can.”
23 “If I can?” Jesus asked.
24 The father instantly replied, “I do have faith; oh, help me to have more!”
25 When Jesus saw the crowd was growing, he rebuked the demon.
“O demon of deafness and dumbness,” he said, “I command you to come out of this child and enter him no more!”
26 Then the demon screamed terribly and convulsed the boy again and left him; and the boy lay there limp and motionless, to all appearance dead. A murmur ran through the crowd—“He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet and he stood up and was all right! 28 Afterwards, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast that demon out?”
29 Jesus replied, “Cases like this require prayer.”[c]
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.