Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

ס Samekh

ע Ayin

⁶ After David had killed Goliath, the men of Israel returned home. The women came out of all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul. They danced and sang joyful songs. They played harps and tambourines. ⁷ As they danced, they sang,

⁸ That song made Saul very angry. It really upset him. He said to himself, “They are saying David has killed tens of thousands of men. But they are saying I’ve killed only thousands. The only thing left for him to get is the kingdom itself.” ⁹ From that time on, Saul watched David closely.

¹⁰ The next day an evil spirit sent by God came powerfully on Saul. Saul began to prophesy in his house. At that same time David began to play the harp, just as he usually did. Saul was holding a spear. ¹¹ He threw it at David. As he did, he said to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David got away from him twice.

¹² The Lord had left Saul and was with David. So Saul was afraid of David. ¹³ He sent David away. He put him in command of 1,000 men. David led the troops in battle. ¹⁴ In everything he did, he was very successful. That’s because the Lord was with him. ¹⁵ When Saul saw how successful David was, he became afraid of him. ¹⁶ But all the troops of Israel and Judah loved David. That’s because he led them in battle.

¹⁷ Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I’ll give her to you to be your wife. Just serve me bravely and fight the Lord’s battles.” Saul said to himself, “I won’t have to lift my hand to strike him down. The Philistines will do that!”

¹⁸ But David said to Saul, “Who am I? Is anyone in my whole family that important in Israel? Am I worthy to become the king’s son-in-law?” ¹⁹ The time came for Saul to give his daughter Merab to David. Instead, Saul gave her to Adriel from Meholah to be his wife.

²⁰ Saul’s daughter Michal was in love with David. When they told Saul about it, he was pleased. ²¹ “I’ll give her to David to be his wife,” Saul said to himself. “Then maybe she’ll trap him. And maybe the Philistines will strike him down.” So Saul said to David, “Now you have a second chance to become my son-in-law.”

²² Then Saul gave an order to his attendants. He said, “Speak to David in private. Tell him, ‘The king likes you. All his attendants love you. So become his son-in-law.’ ”

²³ Saul’s attendants spoke those very words to David. But David said, “Do you think it’s a small thing to become the king’s son-in-law? I’m only a poor man. I’m not very well known.”

²⁴ Saul’s attendants told him what David had said. ²⁵ Saul said, “Tell David, ‘Here’s the price the king wants for the bride. He wants you to kill 100 Philistines. Then bring back the skins you cut off when you circumcise them. That’s how Saul will get even with his enemies.’ ” Saul hoped that the Philistines would strike David down.

²⁶ Saul’s attendants also told David those things. Then David was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. So before the wedding day, ²⁷ David and his men went out and killed 200 Philistines. They circumcised the Philistines. Then David brought back all the skins. They counted out the full number and gave them to the king. By doing that, David could become the king’s son-in-law. So Saul gave David his daughter Michal to be his wife.

²⁸ Saul realized that the Lord was with David. He also realized that his daughter Michal loved David. ²⁹ So Saul became even more afraid of him. As long as Saul lived, he remained David’s enemy.

³⁰ The Philistine commanders kept on going out to battle. Every time they did, David had more success against them than the rest of Saul’s officers. So his name became well known.

The Storm

¹³ A gentle south wind began to blow. The ship’s crew thought they saw their chance to leave safely. So they pulled up the anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. ¹⁴ Before very long, a wind blew down from the island. It had the force of a hurricane. It was called the Northeaster. ¹⁵ The ship was caught by the storm. We could not keep it sailing into the wind. So we gave up and were driven along by the wind. ¹⁶ We passed the calmer side of a small island called Cauda. We almost lost the lifeboat that was tied to the side of the ship. ¹⁷ So the men lifted the lifeboat on board. Then they tied ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. They were afraid it would get stuck on the sandbars of Syrtis. So they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along. ¹⁸ We took a very bad beating from the storm. The next day the crew began to throw the ship’s contents overboard. ¹⁹ On the third day, they even threw the ship’s tools and supplies overboard with their own hands. ²⁰ The sun and stars didn’t appear for many days. The storm was terrible. So we gave up all hope of being saved.

²¹ The men had not eaten for a long time. Paul stood up in front of them. “Men,” he said, “you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete. Then you would have avoided this harm and loss. ²² Now I beg you to be brave. Not one of you will die. Only the ship will be destroyed. ²³ I belong to God and serve him. Last night his angel stood beside me. ²⁴ The angel said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must go on trial in front of Caesar. God has shown his grace by sparing the lives of all those sailing with you.’ ²⁵ Men, continue to be brave. I have faith in God. It will happen just as he told me. ²⁶ But we must run the ship onto the beach of some island.”

The Ship Is Destroyed

²⁷ On the 14th night the wind was still pushing us across the Adriatic Sea. About midnight the sailors had a feeling that they were approaching land. ²⁸ They measured how deep the water was. They found that it was 120 feet deep. A short time later they measured the water again. This time it was 90 feet deep. ²⁹ They were afraid we would crash against the rocks. So they dropped four anchors from the back of the ship. They prayed that daylight would come. ³⁰ The sailors wanted to escape from the ship. So they let the lifeboat down into the sea. They pretended they were going to lower some anchors from the front of the ship. ³¹ But Paul spoke to the commander and the soldiers. “These men must stay with the ship,” he said. “If they don’t, you can’t be saved.” ³² So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat. They let it drift away.

³³ Just before dawn Paul tried to get them all to eat. “For the last 14 days,” he said, “you have wondered what would happen. You have gone without food. You haven’t eaten anything. ³⁴ Now I am asking you to eat some food. You need it to live. Not one of you will lose a single hair from your head.” ³⁵ After Paul said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God. He did this where they all could see him. Then he broke it and began to eat. ³⁶ All of them were filled with hope. So they ate some food. ³⁷ There were 276 of us on board. ³⁸ They ate as much as they wanted. They needed to make the ship lighter. So they threw the rest of the grain into the sea.