Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

ס samek

ע ayin

Saul jealous of David

⁶ After David came back from killing the Philistine, and as the troops returned home, women from all of Israel’s towns came out to meet King Saul^[a] with singing and dancing, with tambourines, rejoicing, and musical instruments. ⁷ The women sang in celebration:

⁸ Saul burned with anger. This song annoyed him. “They’ve credited David with tens of thousands,” he said, “but only credit me with thousands. What’s next for him—the kingdom itself?” ⁹ So Saul kept a close eye on David from that point on.

¹⁰ The next day an evil spirit from God came over Saul,^[b] and he acted like he was in a prophetic frenzy in his house. So David played the lyre as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand, ¹¹ and he threw it, thinking, I’ll pin David to the wall. But David escaped from him two different times.

¹² Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with David but no longer with Saul. ¹³ So Saul removed David from his service, placing him in command of a unit of one thousand men. David led the men out to war and back. ¹⁴ David was successful in everything he did because the Lord was with him. ¹⁵ Saul saw that he was very successful, and he was afraid of him. ¹⁶ Everyone in Israel and Judah loved David because he led them out in war and back again.

¹⁷ Saul said to David, “Look, here is my oldest daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage on this condition: you must be my warrior and fight the Lord’s battles.” I won’t raise my hand against him, Saul thought; let the Philistines do that!

¹⁸ “I’m not worthy,” David replied to Saul, “and neither is my family or my father’s clan in Israel, to become the king’s son-in-law.” ¹⁹ And so when the time came for Saul’s daughter Merab to be married to David, she was given to Adriel from Meholah instead.

²⁰ Now Saul’s younger daughter Michal loved David. When this was reported to Saul, he was happy about it. ²¹ I’ll give her to him, Saul thought; she’ll cause him problems, and the Philistines will be against him.

So Saul said to David a second time, “Become my son-in-law now.”

²² Saul instructed his servants, “Tell David in private: ‘Look, the king likes you, and all his servants love you. You should become the king’s son-in-law.’”

²³ Saul’s servants whispered these things in David’s ear. But David said, “Do you think it’s a simple matter to become the king’s son-in-law? I don’t! I’m poor and insignificant.”

²⁴ Saul’s servants reported what David said, ²⁵ and Saul replied, “Tell David this: ‘The king doesn’t want any bridal gift, just a hundred Philistine foreskins as vengeance on the king’s enemies.’” (Saul was hoping that David would die at the hands of the Philistines.) ²⁶ When the servants reported this to David, he was happy to become the king’s son-in-law. Even before the allotted time had expired,^{[c] 27} David got up and went with his soldiers and killed one hundred Philistines.^[d] David brought their foreskins and counted them out for the king so he could become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to him in marriage.

²⁸ When Saul knew for certain that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved him, ²⁹ then Saul was even more afraid of David. Saul was David’s enemy for the rest of his life.^{[e] 30} And whenever the Philistine commanders came out for battle, David would have more success than the rest of Saul’s officers, so his fame spread widely.

¹³ When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they could carry out their plan. They pulled up anchor and sailed closely along the coast of Crete. ¹⁴ Before long, a hurricane-strength wind known as a northeaster swept down from Crete. ¹⁵ The ship was caught in the storm and couldn’t be turned into the wind. So we gave in to it, and it carried us along. ¹⁶ After sailing under the shelter of an island called Cauda, we were able to control the lifeboat only with difficulty. ¹⁷ They brought the lifeboat aboard, then began to wrap the ship with cables to hold it together. Fearing they might run aground on the sandbars of the Gulf of Syrtis, they lowered the anchor and let the ship be carried along. ¹⁸ We were so battered by the violent storm that the next day the men began throwing cargo overboard. ¹⁹ On the third day, they picked up the ship’s gear and hurled it into the sea. ²⁰ When neither the sun nor the moon appeared for many days and the raging storm continued to pound us, all hope of our being saved from this peril faded.

²¹ For a long time no one had eaten. Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have complied with my instructions not to sail from Crete. Then we would have avoided this damage and loss. ²² Now I urge you to be encouraged. Not one of your lives will be lost, though we will lose the ship. ²³ Last night an angel from the God to whom I belong and whom I worship stood beside me. ²⁴ The angel said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul! You must stand before Caesar! Indeed, God has also graciously given you everyone sailing with you.’ ²⁵ Be encouraged, men! I have faith in God that it will be exactly as he told me. ²⁶ However, we must run aground on some island.”

²⁷ On the fourteenth night, we were being carried across the Adriatic Sea. Around midnight the sailors began to suspect that land was near. ²⁸ They dropped a weighted line to take soundings and found the water to be about one hundred twenty feet deep. After proceeding a little farther, we took soundings again and found the water to be about ninety feet deep. ²⁹ Afraid that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they hurled out four anchors from the stern and began to pray for daylight. ³⁰ The sailors tried to abandon the ship by lowering the lifeboat into the sea, pretending they were going to lower anchors from the bow. ³¹ Paul said to the centurion and his soldiers, “Unless they stay in the ship, you can’t be saved from peril.” ³² The soldiers then cut the ropes to the lifeboat and let it drift away.

³³ Just before daybreak, Paul urged everyone to eat. He said, “This is the fourteenth day you’ve lived in suspense, and you’ve not had even a bite to eat. ³⁴ I urge you to take some food. Your health depends on it. None of you will lose a single hair from his head.” ³⁵ After he said these things, he took bread, gave thanks to God in front of them all, then broke it and began to eat. ³⁶ Everyone was encouraged and took some food. (³⁷ In all, there were two hundred seventy-six of us on the ship.) ³⁸ When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.