Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer for Mercy

A song for going up to worship.

David and Jonathan

20 Then David ran away from Naioth in Ramah. He went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I sinned against your father so that he’s trying to kill me?”

² Jonathan answered, “No! You won’t die! See, my father doesn’t do anything without first telling me. It doesn’t matter if it is very important or just a small thing. Why would he refuse to tell me he wants to kill you? No, it’s not true!”

³ But David took an oath. He said, “Your father knows very well that I’m your friend. He has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know about it. If he knows, he will tell David.’ But as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I am very close to death!”

⁴ Jonathan said to David, “I’ll do anything you want me to do.”

⁵ So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon festival. I am supposed to eat with the king. But let me hide in the field until the third evening. ⁶ Your father may notice I am gone. If he does, tell him, ‘David begged me to let him go to his hometown of Bethlehem. Every year at this time, his family group offers a sacrifice.’ ⁷ If your father says, ‘Fine,’ I am safe. But if he becomes angry, you can believe he wants to hurt me. ⁸ Jonathan, be kind to me, your servant. You have made an agreement with me before the Lord. If I am guilty, you may kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?”

⁹ Jonathan answered, “No, never! If I learn that my father plans to harm you, I will warn you!”

¹⁰ David asked, “Who will let me know if your father answers you unkindly?”

¹¹ Then Jonathan said, “Come, let’s go out into the field.” So Jonathan and David went together into the field.

¹² Jonathan said to David, “I promise this before the Lord, the God of Israel: At this same time day after tomorrow, I will find out how my father feels. If he feels good toward you, I’ll send word to you. I’ll let you know. ¹³ But my father may mean to hurt you. If so, I will let you know and send you away safely. May the Lord punish me terribly if I don’t do this. And may the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. ¹⁴ But show me the kindness of the Lord as long as I live. Do this so that I may not die. ¹⁵ You must not stop showing your kindness to my family. Don’t do this, even when the Lord has destroyed all your enemies from the earth.”

¹⁶ So Jonathan made an agreement with David. He said, “May the Lord punish David’s enemies.” ¹⁷ And Jonathan asked David to repeat his promise of love for him. He did this because he loved David as much as he loved himself.

¹⁸ Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon festival. Your seat will be empty. So my father will notice you’re gone. ¹⁹ On the third day go to the place where you hid when this trouble began. Wait by the rock Ezel. ²⁰ On the third day I will shoot three arrows to the side of the rock. I will shoot as if I am shooting at a target. ²¹ Then I will send a boy and tell him to go find the arrows. I may say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you. Bring them here.’ If so, you may come out of hiding. You may do this as surely as the Lord lives because you are safe. There is no danger. ²² But I may say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you.’ If I do, you must go, because the Lord has sent you away. ²³ Remember what we talked about. The Lord is a witness between you and me forever.”

²⁴ So David hid in the field. And when the New Moon festival came, the king sat down to eat. ²⁵ He sat where he always sat, near the wall. Jonathan sat across from him, and Abner sat next to him. But David’s place was empty.

Christian Giving

8 And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God gave the churches in Macedonia. ² They have been tested by great troubles. And they are very poor. But they gave much because of their great joy. ³ I can tell you that they gave as much as they were able. They gave even more than they could afford. No one told them to do it. ⁴ But they asked us again and again—they begged us to let them share in this service for God’s people. ⁵ And they gave in a way that we did not expect: They first gave themselves to the Lord and to us. This is what God wants. ⁶ So we asked Titus to help you finish this special work of grace. He is the one who started this work. ⁷ You are rich in everything—in faith, in speaking, in knowledge, in truly wanting to help, and in the love you learned from us.^[a] And so we want you to be rich also in this gift of giving.