Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

18 This song of David was written at a time when the Lord had delivered him from his many enemies, including Saul.

Lord, how I love you! For you have done such tremendous things for me.

² The Lord is my fort where I can enter and be safe; no one can follow me in and slay me. He is a rugged mountain where I hide; he is my Savior, a rock where none can reach me, and a tower of safety. He is my shield. He is like the strong horn of a mighty fighting bull. ³ All I need to do is cry to him—oh, praise the Lord—and I am saved from all my enemies!

⁴ Death bound me with chains, and the floods of ungodliness mounted a massive attack against me. ⁵ Trapped and helpless, I struggled against the ropes that drew me on to death.

⁶ In my distress I screamed to the Lord for his help. And he heard me from heaven;^[a] my cry reached his ears.

^43-45 You gave me victory in every battle. The nations came and served me. Even those I didn’t know before come now and bow before me. Foreigners who have never seen me submit instantly. They come trembling from their strongholds.

⁴⁶ God is alive! Praise him who is the great rock of protection. ⁴⁷ He is the God who pays back those who harm me and subdues the nations before me.

⁴⁸ He rescues me from my enemies; he holds me safely out of their reach and saves me from these powerful opponents. ⁴⁹ For this, O Lord, I will praise you among the nations. ⁵⁰ Many times you have miraculously rescued me, the king you appointed. You have been loving and kind to me and will be to my descendants.

31 Meanwhile the Philistines had begun the battle against Israel, and the Israelis fled from them and were slaughtered wholesale on Mount Gilboa. ² The Philistines closed in on Saul and killed his sons Jonathan, Abinidab, and Malchishua.

^3-4 Then the archers overtook Saul and wounded him badly. He groaned to his armor bearer, “Kill me with your sword before these heathen Philistines capture me and torture me.” But his armor bearer was afraid to, so Saul took his own sword and fell upon the point of the blade, and it pierced him through. ⁵ When his armor bearer saw that he was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. ⁶ So Saul, his armor bearer, his three sons, and his troops died together that same day.

⁷ When the Israelis on the other side of the valley and beyond the Jordan heard that their comrades had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities; and the Philistines lived in them.

⁸ The next day when the Philistines went out to strip the dead, they found the bodies of Saul and his three sons on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ They cut off Saul’s head and stripped off his armor and sent the wonderful news of Saul’s death to their idols and to the people throughout their land.

¹⁰ His armor was placed in the temple of Ashtaroth, and his body was fastened to the wall of Beth-shan.

¹¹ But when the people of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done, ¹² warriors from that town traveled all night to Beth-shan and took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall and brought them to Jabesh, where they cremated them. ¹³ Then they buried their remains beneath the oak tree at Jabesh and fasted for seven days.

9 I realize that I really don’t even need to mention this to you, about helping God’s people. ² For I know how eager you are to do it, and I have boasted to the friends in Macedonia that you were ready to send an offering a year ago. In fact, it was this enthusiasm of yours that stirred up many of them to begin helping. ³ But I am sending these men just to be sure that you really are ready, as I told them you would be, with your money all collected; I don’t want it to turn out that this time I was wrong in my boasting about you. ⁴ I would be very much ashamed—and so would you—if some of these Macedonian people come with me, only to find that you still aren’t ready after all I have told them!

⁵ So I have asked these other brothers to arrive ahead of me to see that the gift you promised is on hand and waiting. I want it to be a real gift and not look as if it were being given under pressure.