Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

(A psalm by David for the music leader.)

A Prayer for Victory

Saul Disobeys the Lord

13 Saul was a young man^[a] when he became king, and he ruled Israel for two years. ² Then^[b] he chose 3,000 men from Israel to be full-time soldiers and sent everyone else^[c] home. Two thousand of these troops stayed with him in the hills around Michmash and Bethel. The other 1,000 were stationed with Jonathan^[d] at Gibeah^[e] in the territory of Benjamin.

³ Jonathan led an attack on the Philistine army camp at Geba.^[f] The Philistine camp was destroyed, but^[g] the other Philistines heard what had happened. Then Saul told his messengers, “Go to every village in the country. Give a signal with the trumpet, and when the people come together, tell them what has happened.”

⁴ The messengers then said to the people of Israel, “Saul has destroyed the Philistine army camp at Geba.^[h] Now the Philistines really hate Israel, so every town and village must send men to join Saul's army at Gilgal.”

⁵ The Philistines called their army together to fight Israel. They had 3,000^[i] chariots, 6,000 cavalry, and as many foot soldiers as there are grains of sand on the beach. They went to Michmash and set up camp there east of Beth-Aven.^[j]

⁶ The Israelite army realized that they were outnumbered and were going to lose the battle. Some of the Israelite men hid in caves or in clumps of bushes,^[k] and some ran to places where they could hide among large rocks. Others hid in tombs^[l] or in deep dry pits. ⁷ Still others^[m] went to Gad and Gilead on the other side of the Jordan River.

Saul stayed at Gilgal. His soldiers were shaking with fear, ^8 (A) and they were starting to run off and leave him. Saul waited there seven days, just as Samuel had ordered him to do,^[n] but Samuel did not come. ⁹ Finally, Saul commanded, “Bring me some animals, so we can offer sacrifices to please the Lord and ask for his help.”

Saul killed one of the animals, ¹⁰ and just as he placed it on the altar, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to welcome him.

¹¹ “What have you done?” Samuel asked.

Saul answered, “My soldiers were leaving in all directions, and you didn't come when you were supposed to. The Philistines were gathering at Michmash, ¹² and I was worried that they would attack me here at Gilgal. I hadn't offered a sacrifice to ask for the Lord's help, so I forced myself to offer a sacrifice on the altar fire.”

¹³ “That was stupid!” Samuel said. “You didn't obey the Lord your God. If you had obeyed him, someone from your family would always have been king of Israel. ^14 (B) But no, you disobeyed, and so the Lord won't choose anyone else from your family to be king. In fact, he has already chosen the one he wants to be the next leader of his people.” ¹⁵ Then Samuel left Gilgal.

Part of Saul's army had not deserted him, and he led them to Gibeah in Benjamin to join his other troops. Then he counted them^[o] and found that he still had 600 men.

A Story about a Farmer

(Matthew 13.1-9; Luke 8.4-8)

4 ^(A) The next time Jesus taught beside Lake Galilee, a big crowd gathered. It was so large that he had to sit in a boat out on the lake, while the people stood on the shore. ² He used stories to teach them many things, and this is part of what he taught:

³ Now listen! A farmer went out to scatter seed in a field. ⁴ While the farmer was scattering the seed, some of it fell along the road and was eaten by birds. ⁵ Other seeds fell on thin, rocky ground and quickly started growing because the soil wasn't very deep. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and dried up, because they did not have deep roots. ⁷ Some other seeds fell where thornbushes grew up and choked out the plants. So they did not produce any grain. ⁸ But a few seeds did fall on good ground where the plants grew and produced 30 or 60 or even 100 times as much as was scattered.

⁹ Then Jesus said, “If you have ears, pay attention.”

Why Jesus Used Stories

(Matthew 13.10-17; Luke 8.9,10)

¹⁰ When Jesus was alone with the twelve apostles and some others, they asked him about these stories. ¹¹ He answered:

I have explained the secret about God's kingdom to you, but for others I can use only stories. ^12 (B) The reason is,

Jesus Explains the Story about the Farmer

(Matthew 13.18-23; Luke 8.11-15)

¹³ Jesus then told them:

If you don't understand this story, you won't understand any others. ¹⁴ What the farmer is spreading is really the message about the kingdom. ¹⁵ The seeds that fell along the road are the people who hear the message. But Satan soon comes and snatches it away from them. ¹⁶ The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it at once. ¹⁷ But they don't have roots, and they don't last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up.

¹⁸ The seeds that fell among the thornbushes are also people who hear the message. ¹⁹ But they start worrying about the needs of this life. They are fooled by the desire to get rich and to have all kinds of other things. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything. ²⁰ The seeds that fell on good ground are the people who hear and welcome the message. They produce 30 or 60 or even 100 times as much as was planted.