Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁸ When war broke out again, David went out to fight the Philistines. He defeated them, and they ran away from him.

⁹ But once again an evil spirit from the Lord entered Saul. He was sitting in his house, and he had his spear in his hand. David was playing the harp. ¹⁰ Saul tried to pin David to the wall with his spear. But David moved away from him. So Saul’s spear went into the wall. And David ran away that night.

¹¹ Saul sent men to David’s house. They watched it, wanting to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him. She said, “Tonight you must run away to save your own life. If you don’t, you will be killed tomorrow morning.” ¹² Then she let David down out of a window. So he ran away and escaped. ¹³ Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed. She covered it with clothes and put goats’ hair at its head.

¹⁴ Saul sent messengers to take David prisoner. But Michal said, “He is sick.”

¹⁵ The men went and told Saul, but he sent them back to see David. He told them, “Bring him to me on his bed so I can kill him.”

¹⁶ But when the messengers entered David’s house, they found it was just an idol on the bed. Its hair was goats’ hair.

¹⁷ Saul said to Michal, “Why did you trick me this way? You let my enemy go. He has run away!”

Michal answered Saul, “David told me if I did not help him escape, he would kill me.”

Jesus Walks on the Water

⁴⁵ Then Jesus told his followers to get into the boat and go to Bethsaida on the other side of the lake. Jesus said that he would come later. He stayed there to tell the people they could go home. ⁴⁶ After sending them away, he went into the hills to pray.

⁴⁷ That night, the boat was in the middle of the lake. Jesus was alone on the land. ⁴⁸ He saw the followers working hard to row the boat because the wind was blowing against them. At some time between three and six o’clock in the morning, Jesus came to them, walking on the water. He continued walking until he was almost past the boat. ⁴⁹ But when his followers saw him walking on the water, they thought he was a ghost and cried out. ⁵⁰ They all saw him and were terrified. But Jesus spoke to them and said, “Have courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.” ⁵¹ Then he got into the boat with them. And the wind became calm. The followers were greatly amazed. ⁵² They had seen Jesus make more bread from the five loaves. But they did not understand what it meant. Their minds were closed.