Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer for Mercy

A song for going up to worship.

²⁷ But the next day was the second day of the month. And David’s place was empty again. So Saul said to Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the festival yesterday or today?”

²⁸ Jonathan answered, “David begged me to let him go to Bethlehem. ²⁹ He said, ‘Let me go, because our family has a sacrifice in the town. And my brother has ordered me to be there. Now if I am your friend, please let me go and see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”

³⁰ Then Saul became very angry with Jonathan. He said, “You son of an evil and disobedient woman! I know you are on the side of David son of Jesse! You bring shame on yourself and on your mother who gave birth to you. ³¹ As long as Jesse’s son lives, you’ll never be king or have a kingdom. Now send for David and bring him to me. He must die!”

³² Jonathan asked his father, “Why should David be killed? What wrong has he done?” ³³ Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan, trying to kill him. So Jonathan knew that his father really wanted to kill David. ³⁴ Jonathan was very angry and left the table. That second day of the month he refused to eat. He was upset about what his father wanted to do to David.

³⁵ The next morning Jonathan went out to the field. He went to meet David as they had agreed. He had a young boy with him. ³⁶ Jonathan said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” When he ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him. ³⁷ The boy ran to the place where Jonathan’s arrow fell. But Jonathan called, “The arrow is beyond you!” ³⁸ Then he shouted, “Hurry! Go quickly! Don’t stop!” The boy picked up the arrow and brought it back to his master. ³⁹ (The boy knew nothing about what this meant. Only Jonathan and David knew.) ⁴⁰ Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy. He told him, “Go back to town.”

⁴¹ When the boy left, David came out from the south side of the rock. He bowed facedown on the ground before Jonathan. He did this three times. Then David and Jonathan kissed each other. They cried together, but David cried the most.

⁴² Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace. We have promised by the Lord that we will be friends. We said, ‘The Lord will be a witness between you and me, and between our descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to town.

Jesus Removes an Evil Spirit

³¹ Jesus went to Capernaum, a city in Galilee. On the Sabbath day, Jesus taught the people. ³² They were amazed at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. ³³ In the synagogue there was a man who had an evil spirit from the devil inside him. The man shouted in a loud voice, ³⁴ “Jesus of Nazareth! What do you want with us? Did you come here to destroy us? I know who you are—God’s Holy One!”

³⁵ But Jesus warned the evil spirit to stop. He said, “Be quiet! Come out of the man!” The evil spirit threw the man down to the ground before all the people. Then the evil spirit left the man and did not hurt him.

³⁶ The people were amazed. They said to each other, “What does this mean? With authority and power he commands evil spirits, and they come out.” ³⁷ And so the news about Jesus spread to every place in the whole area.