Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁶ As they were coming home, when David returned from slaying the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with timbrels, with songs of joy, and with instruments^[a] of music. ⁷ And the women sang to one another as they made merry,

⁸ And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him; he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands; and what more can he have but the kingdom?” ⁹ And Saul eyed David from that day on.

Saul Tries to Kill David

¹⁰ And on the morrow an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand; ¹¹ and Saul cast the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice.

¹² Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul. ¹³ So Saul removed him from his presence, and made him a commander of a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people. ¹⁴ And David had success in all his undertakings; for the Lord was with him. ¹⁵ And when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in awe of him. ¹⁶ But all Israel and Judah loved David; for he went out and came in before them.

David Marries Michal

¹⁷ Then Saul said to David, “Here is my elder daughter Merab; I will give her to you for a wife; only be valiant for me and fight the Lord’s battles.” For Saul thought, “Let not my hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.” ¹⁸ And David said to Saul, “Who am I, and who are my kinsfolk, my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?” ¹⁹ But at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to A′driel the Meho′lathite for a wife.

²⁰ Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David; and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. ²¹ Saul thought, “Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Therefore Saul said to David a second time,^[b] “You shall now be my son-in-law.” ²² And Saul commanded his servants, “Speak to David in private and say, ‘Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you; now then become the king’s son-in-law.’” ²³ And Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, “Does it seem to you a little thing to become the king’s son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man and of no repute?” ²⁴ And the servants of Saul told him, “Thus and so did David speak.” ²⁵ Then Saul said, “Thus shall you say to David, ‘The king desires no marriage present^[c] except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that he may be avenged of the king’s enemies.’” Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. ²⁶ And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son-in-law. Before the time had expired, ²⁷ David arose and went, along with his men, and killed two hundred of the Philistines; and David brought their foreskins, which were given in full number to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him his daughter Michal for a wife. ²⁸ But when Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that all Israel^[d] loved him, ²⁹ Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul was David’s enemy continually.

³⁰ Then the princes of the Philistines came out to battle, and as often as they came out David had more success than all the servants of Saul; so that his name was highly esteemed.

The Storm at Sea

¹³ And when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close inshore. ¹⁴ But soon a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster, struck down from the land; ¹⁵ and when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven. ¹⁶ And running under the lee of a small island called Cauda,^[a] we managed with difficulty to secure the boat; ¹⁷ after hoisting it up, they took measures^[b] to undergird the ship; then, fearing that they should run on the Syr′tis, they lowered the gear, and so were driven. ¹⁸ As we were violently storm-tossed, they began next day to throw the cargo overboard; ¹⁹ and the third day they cast out with their own hands the tackle of the ship. ²⁰ And when neither sun nor stars appeared for many a day, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

²¹ As they had been long without food, Paul then came forward among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me, and should not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. ²² I now bid you take heart; for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. ²³ For this very night there stood by me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, ²⁴ and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and lo, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ ²⁵ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. ²⁶ But we shall have to run on some island.”

²⁷ When the fourteenth night had come, as we were drifting across the sea of A′dria, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. ²⁸ So they sounded and found twenty fathoms; a little farther on they sounded again and found fifteen fathoms. ²⁹ And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let out four anchors from the stern, and prayed for day to come. ³⁰ And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the boat into the sea, under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, ³¹ Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” ³² Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat, and let it go.

³³ As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. ³⁴ Therefore I urge you to take some food; it will give you strength, since not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” ³⁵ And when he had said this, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat. ³⁶ Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves. ³⁷ (We were in all two hundred and seventy-six^[c] persons in the ship.) ³⁸ And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea.