Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song for those who go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord.

²⁷ But the next day, David’s place was empty again. It was the second day of the month. Finally, Saul spoke to his son Jonathan. He said, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal? He hasn’t been here yesterday or today.”

²⁸ Jonathan replied, “David begged me to let him go to Bethlehem. ²⁹ He said, ‘Let me go. Our family is offering a sacrifice in the town. My brother has ordered me to be there. Are you pleased with me? If you are, let me go and see my brothers.’ That’s why he hasn’t come to eat at your table.”

³⁰ Saul became very angry with Jonathan. He said to him, “You are an evil son. You have refused to obey me. I know that you are on the side of Jesse’s son. You should be ashamed of that. And your mother should be ashamed of having a son like you. ³¹ You will never be king as long as Jesse’s son lives on this earth. And you will never have a kingdom either. So send someone to bring the son of Jesse to me. He must die!”

³² “Why do you want to put him to death?” Jonathan asked his father. “What has he done?” ³³ But Saul threw his spear at Jonathan to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father wanted to kill David.

³⁴ So Jonathan got up from the table. He was very angry. On that second day of the feast, he refused to eat. He was very sad that his father was treating David so badly.

³⁵ The next morning Jonathan went out to the field to meet David. He took a young boy with him. ³⁶ He said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” As the boy ran, Jonathan shot an arrow far beyond him. ³⁷ The boy came to the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen. Then Jonathan shouted to him, “The arrow went far beyond you, didn’t it?” ³⁸ He continued, “Hurry up! Run fast! Don’t stop!” The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master. ³⁹ The boy didn’t know what was going on. Only Jonathan and David knew. ⁴⁰ Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy. He told him, “Go back to town. Take the weapons with you.”

⁴¹ After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone. He bowed down in front of Jonathan with his face to the ground. He did it three times. Then they kissed each other and cried. But David cried more than Jonathan did.

⁴² Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace. In the name of the Lord we’ve promised to be friends. We have said, ‘The Lord is a witness between you and me. He’s a witness between your children and my children forever.’ ” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.

Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit

³¹ Then Jesus went to Capernaum, a town in Galilee. On the Sabbath day he taught the people. ³² They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.

³³ In the synagogue there was a man controlled by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice. ³⁴ “Go away!” he said. “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are the Holy One of God!”

³⁵ “Be quiet!” Jesus said firmly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down in front of everybody. And it came out without hurting him.

³⁶ All the people were amazed. They said to each other, “What he says is amazing! With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits. And they come out!” ³⁷ The news about Jesus spread throughout the whole area.