Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Ayin

Pe

Saul’s Jealousy. ⁶ When David returned after having struck down the Philistine, the women came out from the cities of Israel to greet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs, tambourines, and lutes. ^7 [a]As the women danced, they sang, “Saul has killed his thousands, and David has killed his ten thousands.” ⁸ Saul was very angry at this for the saying displeased him. He said, “They give David tens of thousands, and me they only give thousands. What else is he lacking but the kingdom?” ⁹ From that time on, Saul kept an eye on David.

¹⁰ The next morning an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he prophesied right inside of the house. David played on the harp, as he did every day. In the meantime, Saul had a javelin in his hand.^{[b] 11} Saul cast the javelin, saying to himself, “I will pin David to the wall,” but David eluded him twice. ¹² Saul feared David, for the Lord was with him, but he had departed from Saul.

¹³ Saul sent him away, giving him command over a thousand men. He would go out and come back publicly. ¹⁴ David prospered in everything he did, for the Lord was with him. ¹⁵ When Saul saw that he was very successful, he grew to dread him. ¹⁶ But Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came back publicly.

¹⁷ David’s Marriage. Saul said to David, “Here is my oldest daughter, Merab, I will give her to you in marriage, only be a brave warrior and fight the Lord’s battles.” Saul thought, “It will not be by my hand, but let it be by the hands of the Philistines.” ¹⁸ David said to Saul, “Who am I? What is my life or my father’s family worth in Israel that I should become the king’s son-in-law?”^{[c] 19} When Saul’s daughter Merab should have been given to David, she was given instead to Adriel, the Meholathite, as his wife.

²⁰ Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. When Saul was informed about this, he was pleased. ²¹ Saul thought, “I will give her to him so that she might be a trap for him and so that the hands of the Philistines will be against him.” Saul said to David, “You have a second chance to be my son-in-law.” ²² Saul ordered his servants, “Speak in confidence to David saying, ‘The king is pleased with you, and all his servants love you. You should become the king’s son-in-law.’ ” ²³ Saul’s servants said these things to David, and David answered, “Do you think it is a light matter to become the king’s son-in-law? I am only a poor man and not highly esteemed.”

²⁴ Saul’s servants told him, “David was speaking about this thing.” ²⁵ Saul said, “This is what you are to say to David, ‘The king does not want a dowry, he only wants one hundred Philistine foreskins, so he might be avenged on the king’s enemies.’ ” Saul planned to have David fall at the hands of the Philistines.^{[d] 26} When his servants told David these things, David was well-pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the allotted time had expired, ²⁷ David went out with his men and killed two hundred Philistines. David brought their foreskins and presented the full number to the king so that he might become the king’s son-in-law. So Saul gave him Michal, his daughter, in marriage.

²⁸ When Saul saw and realized that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, his daughter, loved him, ²⁹ Saul dreaded him all the more, and Saul was David’s enemy for the rest of his life. ³⁰ The Philistine leaders continued to go out to battle, and whenever they went out, David would encounter them with more success than all of Saul’s other servants, so that his name became well known.

¹³ When a gentle southerly breeze began to blow, they thought that they would be able to achieve their objective. They weighed anchor and began to sail past Crete, hugging the shore. ¹⁴ But before long a violent wind, called a northeaster, swept down on them. ¹⁵ Since the ship was caught up in it, we had to give way to the wind and let ourselves be driven along.

¹⁶ As we passed along the sheltered side of a small island called Cauda,^[a] we managed with some difficulty to secure the ship’s lifeboat. ¹⁷ After hoisting it up, they used cables to undergird the ship. Then, afraid of running aground on the shallows of Syrtis,^[b] they lowered the sea anchor and so let themselves drift.

¹⁸ We were being pounded so violently by the storm that on the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. ¹⁹ Then on the third day, they threw the ship’s gear overboard with their own hands. ²⁰ For many days, neither the sun nor the stars could be seen, and the storm continued to rage until we finally abandoned all hope of being saved.

²¹ When they all had gone without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete. Then you would have avoided all this damage and loss. ²² I urge you now to keep up your courage. There will be no loss of life among you. Only the ship will be lost.

²³ “Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve appeared to me, ²⁴ and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You shall appear before Caesar. Furthermore, for your sake God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.’ ²⁵ Therefore, men, keep up your courage. I have complete trust in God that what he told me will be fulfilled. ²⁶ But we will run aground on some island.”

²⁷ On the fourteenth night, we were still drifting across the Adriatic Sea.^[c] About midnight, the sailors began to suspect that they were nearing land, ²⁸ so they took soundings and found that the water was twenty feet deep. A little farther on they again took soundings and found fifteen feet.

²⁹ Fearing that we might run aground on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight to come. ³⁰ The sailors then tried to abandon ship. They had already lowered the lifeboat into the sea, on the pretext that they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. ³¹ But Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay^[d] with the ship, you cannot be saved.” ³² Then the soldiers cut the ropes of the lifeboat and set it adrift.

³³ Just before daybreak, Paul urged all of them to take some food, saying, “This is the fourteenth day that you have been in suspense, going hungry and eating nothing. ³⁴ Therefore, I beg you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose even a hair of his head.”

³⁵ After he had said this, he took bread, gave thanks to God in front of them all, broke it, and began to eat. ³⁶ Then they were all encouraged and began to eat. ³⁷ Altogether, there were two hundred and seventy-six persons on board. ³⁸ After they had eaten as much as they wanted they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.