Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

David and Goliath

17 The Philistines gathered their armies for war. They met at Socoh in Judah. Their camp was at Ephes Dammim between Socoh and Azekah.

⁴ The Philistines had a champion fighter named Goliath. He was from Gath. He was about nine feet four inches tall. He came out of the Philistine camp. ⁵ He had a bronze helmet on his head. And he wore a coat of scale armor. It was made of bronze and weighed about 125 pounds. ⁶ He wore bronze protectors on his legs. And he had a small spear of bronze tied on his back. ⁷ The wooden part of his larger spear was like a weaver’s rod. And its blade weighed about 15 pounds. The officer who carried his shield walked in front of him.

⁸ Goliath stood and shouted to the Israelite soldiers, “Why have you taken positions for battle? I am a Philistine, and you are Saul’s servants! Choose a man and send him to fight me. ⁹ If he can fight and kill me, we will become your servants. But if I defeat and kill him, you will become our servants.” ¹⁰ Then he said, “Today I stand and dare the army of Israel! Send one of your men to fight me!” ¹¹ When Saul and the Israelites heard the Philistine’s words, they were very afraid.

¹⁹ Your brothers are with Saul and the army in the Valley of Elah. They are fighting against the Philistines.”

²⁰ Early in the morning David left the sheep with another shepherd. He took the food and left as Jesse had told him. When David arrived at the camp, the army was leaving. They were going out to their battle positions. The soldiers were shouting their war cry. ²¹ The Israelites and Philistines were lining up their men to face each other in battle.

²² David left the food with the man who kept the supplies. Then he ran to the battle line and talked to his brothers. ²³ While he was talking with them, Goliath came out. He was the Philistine champion from Gath. He shouted things against Israel as usual, and David heard it.

³² David said to Saul, “Don’t let anyone be discouraged. I, your servant, will go and fight this Philistine!”

³³ Saul answered, “You can’t go out against this Philistine and fight him. You’re only a boy. Goliath has been a warrior since he was a young man.”

³⁴ But David said to Saul, “I, your servant, have been keeping my father’s sheep. When a lion or bear came and took a sheep from the flock, ³⁵ I would chase it. I would attack it and save the sheep from its mouth. When it attacked me, I caught it by its fur. I would hit it and kill it. ³⁶ I, your servant, have killed both a lion and a bear! Goliath, the Philistine who is not circumcised, will be like the lion or bear I killed. He will die because he has stood against the armies of the living God. ³⁷ The Lord saved me from a lion and a bear. He will also save me from this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.” ³⁸ Saul put his own clothes on David. He put a bronze helmet on David’s head and armor on his body. ³⁹ David put on Saul’s sword and tried to walk around. But he was not used to all the armor Saul had put on him.

He said to Saul, “I can’t go in this. I’m not used to it.” Then David took it all off. ⁴⁰ He took his stick in his hand. And he chose five smooth stones from a stream. He put them in his pouch and held his sling in his hand. Then he went to meet Goliath.

⁴¹ At the same time, the Philistine was coming closer to David. The man who held his shield walked in front of him. ⁴² Goliath looked at David. He saw that David was only a boy, tanned and handsome. He looked down at David with disgust. ⁴³ He said, “Do you think I am a dog, that you come at me with a stick?” He used his gods’ names to curse David. ⁴⁴ He said to David, “Come here. I’ll feed your body to the birds of the air and the wild animals!”

⁴⁵ But David said to him, “You come to me using a sword, a large spear and a small spear. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of heaven’s armies. He’s the God of the armies of Israel! You have spoken out against him. ⁴⁶ Today the Lord will give you to me. I’ll kill you, and I’ll cut off your head. Today I’ll feed the bodies of the Philistine soldiers to the birds of the air and the wild animals. Then all the world will know there is a God in Israel! ⁴⁷ Everyone gathered here will know the Lord does not need swords or spears to save people. The battle belongs to him! And he will help us defeat all of you.”

⁴⁸ As Goliath came near to attack him, David ran quickly to meet him. ⁴⁹ He took a stone from his pouch. He put it into his sling and slung it. The stone hit the Philistine on his forehead and sank into it. Goliath fell facedown on the ground.

⁵⁷ When David came back from killing Goliath, Abner brought him to Saul. David still held Goliath’s head.

⁵⁸ Saul asked him, “Young man, who is your father?”

David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”

Saul Fears David

18 When David finished talking with Saul, Jonathan felt very close to David. He loved David as much as he loved himself. ² Saul kept David with him from that day on. He did not let David go home to his father’s house. ³ Jonathan made an agreement with David. He did this because he loved David as much as himself. ⁴ He took off his coat and gave it to David. He also gave David his uniform, including his sword, bow and belt.

⁵ Saul sent David to fight in different battles. And David was very successful. Then Saul put David over the soldiers. When he did this, Saul’s officers and all the other people were pleased.

¹⁰ The next day an evil spirit from God entered Saul with power. And he prophesied in his house. David was playing the harp as he usually did. But Saul had a spear in his hand. ¹¹ He raised the spear and thought, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David got away from him two times.

¹² The Lord was with David but had left Saul. So Saul was afraid of David. ¹³ He sent David away from him. He made David commander of 1,000 soldiers. So David led them in battle. ¹⁴ He had great success in everything he did because the Lord was with him. ¹⁵ Saul saw that David was very successful. And he became even more afraid of David. ¹⁶ But all the people of Israel and Judah loved David. This was because he led them well in battle.

The Love of God’s People

A song for going up to worship. Of David.

6 We are workers together with God. So we beg you: Do not let the grace that you received from God be for nothing. ² God says,

I tell you that the “right time” is now. The “day of salvation” is now.

³ We do not want anyone to find anything wrong with our work. So we do nothing that will be a problem for anyone. ⁴ But in every way we show that we are servants of God: in accepting many hard things, in troubles, in difficulties, and in great problems. ⁵ We are beaten and thrown into prison. Men become upset and fight us. We work hard, and sometimes we get no sleep or food. ⁶ We show that we are servants of God by living a pure life, by our understanding, by our patience, and by our kindness. We show this by the Holy Spirit, by true love, ⁷ by speaking the truth, and by God’s power. We use our right living to defend ourselves against everything. ⁸ Some people honor us, but other people shame us. Some people say good things about us, but other people say bad things. Some people say we are liars, but we speak the truth. ⁹ We are not known, but we are well-known. We seem to be dying, but look—we continue to live. We are punished, but we are not killed. ¹⁰ We have much sadness, but we are always rejoicing. We are poor, but we are making many people rich in faith. We have nothing, but really we have everything.

¹¹ We have spoken freely to you in Corinth. We have opened our hearts to you. ¹² Our feelings of love for you have not stopped. It is you that have stopped your feelings of love for us. ¹³ I speak to you as if you were my children. Do to us as we have done—open your hearts to us.

Jesus Stops a Storm

³⁵ That evening, Jesus said to his followers, “Come with me across the lake.” ³⁶ He and the followers left the people there. They went in the boat that Jesus was already sitting in. There were also other boats with them. ³⁷ A very strong wind came up on the lake. The waves began coming over the sides and into the boat. It was almost full of water. ³⁸ Jesus was at the back of the boat, sleeping with his head on a pillow. The followers went to him and woke him. They said, “Teacher, do you care about us? We will drown!”

³⁹ Jesus stood up and commanded the wind and the waves to stop. He said, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind stopped, and the lake became calm.

⁴⁰ Jesus said to his followers, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

⁴¹ The followers were very afraid and asked each other, “What kind of man is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”