Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
20 I have found my servant David;
I have anointed him with my sacred oil,
21 with whom my power[a] will be firmly established;
for my arm will strengthen him.
22 No enemy will deceive him;
no wicked person[b] will afflict him.
23 I will crush his enemies before him
and strike those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and gracious love will be with him,
and in my name his power[c] will be exalted.
25 I will place his hand[d] over the sea,
and his right hand[e] over the rivers.
26 He will announce to me
‘You are my father,
my God, and the rock of my salvation.’
27 “Indeed, I myself made him the firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 I will show[f] my gracious love toward him forever,
since my covenant is securely established with him.
29 I will establish his dynasty[g] forever,
and his throne as long as heaven endures.[h]
30 “But if his sons abandon my laws and
do not follow my ordinances,
31 if they profane my statutes;
and do not keep my commands,
32 then I will punish their disobedience with a rod
and their iniquity with lashes.
33 But I will not cut off[i] my gracious love from him,
and I will not stop being faithful.
34 I will not dishonor my covenant,
because I will not change what I have spoken.[j]
35 I have sworn by my holiness once for all:
I will not lie to David.
36 His dynasty[k] will last forever
and his throne will be like the sun before me.
37 It will be established forever like the moon,
a faithful witness in the sky.”
15 Later, the Three Warriors went down to David’s hideout[a] at the cave of Adullam when the Philistine army was camping in the valley of giants.[b] 16 David was living in that stronghold at the time, while a Philistine garrison was then at Bethlehem. 17 David expressed a longing, “Oh, how I wish someone would get me a drink of water from the Bethlehem well that’s by the city gate!” 18 So the Three Warriors broke through the Philistine ranks, drew some water from the Bethlehem well that was next to the city gate, and brought it back to David. But David refused to drink it, poured it out in the Lord’s presence, and 19 said in response, “May God forbid me to do this! I won’t drink the blood of these men, will I? After all, they risked their lives to bring it to me.”[c] That’s why he wouldn’t drink it. The Three Warriors did these things.
The Centrality of Jesus
15 The Son[a] is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
16 For by him all things in heaven and on earth were created,
things visible and invisible,
whether they are kings,[b] lords, rulers, or powers.
All things have been created through him and for him.
17 He himself existed before anything else did,
and he holds all things together.
18 He is also the head of the body,
which is the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
so that he himself might have first place in everything.
19 For God[c] was pleased to have
all of his divine essence[d] inhabit him.
20 Through the Son,[e] God[f] also reconciled all things to himself,
whether things on earth or things in heaven,
thereby making peace
through the blood of his cross.
21 You who were once alienated with a hostile attitude, doing evil,[g] 22 he has now reconciled by the death of his physical body, so that he may present you holy, blameless, and without fault before him. 23 However, you must remain firmly established and steadfast in the faith, without being moved from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.[h]
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.