Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Safety in the Law of the Lord

Obedience to the Law of the Lord

Saul Becomes Jealous of David

⁶ As David was returning after killing Goliath and as the soldiers were coming back home, women from every town in Israel came out to meet King Saul. They were singing joyful songs, dancing, and playing tambourines and lyres. ^7 (A)In their celebration the women sang, “Saul has killed thousands, but David tens of thousands.” ⁸ Saul did not like this, and he became very angry. He said, “For David they claim tens of thousands, but only thousands for me. They will be making him king next!” ⁹ And so he was jealous and suspicious of David from that day on.

¹⁰ The next day an evil spirit from God suddenly took control of Saul, and he raved in his house like a madman. David was playing the harp, as he did every day, and Saul was holding a spear. ¹¹ “I'll pin him to the wall,” Saul said to himself, and he threw the spear at him twice; but David dodged each time.

¹² Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with David but had abandoned him. ¹³ So Saul sent him away and put him in command of a thousand men. David led his men in battle ¹⁴ and was successful in all he did, because the Lord was with him. ¹⁵ Saul noticed David's success and became even more afraid of him. ¹⁶ But everyone in Israel and Judah loved David because he was such a successful leader.

David Marries Saul's Daughter

¹⁷ Then Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you as your wife on condition that you serve me as a brave and loyal soldier, and fight the Lord's battles.” (Saul was thinking that in this way the Philistines would kill David, and he would not have to do it himself.)

¹⁸ David answered, “Who am I and what is my family that I should become the king's son-in-law?” ¹⁹ But when the time came for Merab to be given to David, she was given instead to a man named Adriel from Meholah.

²⁰ Saul's daughter Michal, however, fell in love with David, and when Saul heard of this, he was pleased. ²¹ He said to himself, “I'll give Michal to David; I will use her to trap him, and he will be killed by the Philistines.” So for the second time Saul said to David, “You will be my son-in-law.” ²² He ordered his officials to speak privately with David and tell him, “The king is pleased with you and all his officials like you; now is a good time for you to marry his daughter.”

²³ So they told this to David, and he answered, “It's a great honor to become the king's son-in-law, too great for someone poor and insignificant like me.”

²⁴ The officials told Saul what David had said, ²⁵ and Saul ordered them to tell David: “All the king wants from you as payment for the bride are the foreskins of a hundred dead Philistines, as revenge on his enemies.” (This was how Saul planned to have David killed by the Philistines.) ²⁶ Saul's officials reported to David what Saul had said, and David was delighted with the thought of becoming the king's son-in-law. Before the day set for the wedding, ²⁷ David and his men went and killed two hundred Philistines. He took their foreskins to the king and counted them all out to him, so that he might become his son-in-law. So Saul had to give his daughter Michal in marriage to David.

²⁸ Saul realized clearly that the Lord was with David and also that his daughter Michal loved him. ²⁹ So he became even more afraid of David and was his enemy as long as he lived.

³⁰ The Philistine armies would come and fight, but in every battle David was more successful than any of Saul's other officers. As a result David became very famous.

The Storm at Sea

¹³ A soft wind from the south began to blow, and the men thought that they could carry out their plan, so they pulled up the anchor and sailed as close as possible along the coast of Crete. ¹⁴ But soon a very strong wind—the one called “Northeaster”—blew down from the island. ¹⁵ It hit the ship, and since it was impossible to keep the ship headed into the wind, we gave up trying and let it be carried along by the wind. ¹⁶ We got some shelter when we passed to the south of the little island of Cauda. There, with some difficulty we managed to make the ship's boat secure. ¹⁷ They pulled it aboard and then fastened some ropes tight around the ship. They were afraid that they might run into the sandbanks off the coast of Libya, so they lowered the sail and let the ship be carried by the wind. ¹⁸ The violent storm continued, so on the next day they began to throw some of the ship's cargo overboard, ¹⁹ and on the following day they threw part of the ship's equipment overboard. ²⁰ For many days we could not see the sun or the stars, and the wind kept on blowing very hard. We finally gave up all hope of being saved.

²¹ After everyone had gone a long time without food, Paul stood before them and said, “You should have listened to me and not have sailed from Crete; then we would have avoided all this damage and loss. ²² But now I beg you, take courage! Not one of you will lose your life; only the ship will be lost. ²³ For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship came to me ²⁴ and said, ‘Don't be afraid, Paul! You must stand before the Emperor. And God in his goodness to you has spared the lives of all those who are sailing with you.’ ²⁵ So take courage, men! For I trust in God that it will be just as I was told. ²⁶ But we will be driven ashore on some island.”

²⁷ It was the fourteenth night, and we were being driven in the Mediterranean by the storm. About midnight the sailors suspected that we were getting close to land. ²⁸ So they dropped a line with a weight tied to it and found that the water was one hundred and twenty feet deep; a little later they did the same and found that it was ninety feet deep. ²⁹ They were afraid that the ship would go on the rocks, so they lowered four anchors from the back of the ship and prayed for daylight. ³⁰ Then the sailors tried to escape from the ship; they lowered the boat into the water and pretended that they were going to put out some anchors from the front of the ship. ³¹ But Paul said to the army officer and soldiers, “If the sailors don't stay on board, you have no hope of being saved.” ³² So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the boat and let it go.

³³ Just before dawn, Paul begged them all to eat some food: “You have been waiting for fourteen days now, and all this time you have not eaten a thing. ³⁴ I beg you, then, eat some food; you need it in order to survive. Not even a hair of your heads will be lost.” ³⁵ After saying this, Paul took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, broke it, and began to eat. ³⁶ They took courage, and every one of them also ate some food. ³⁷ There was a total of 276^[a] of us on board. ³⁸ After everyone had eaten enough, they lightened the ship by throwing all the wheat into the sea.