Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 18[a]
For the choir director; by David, the servant of Yahweh. He sang this song to Yahweh when Yahweh rescued him from all his enemies, especially from Saul. He said,
1 I love you, O Yahweh, my strength.
2 Yahweh is my rock and my Metsuda and my Savior,
my El, my rock in whom I take refuge,
my Magen, and the strength of my salvation,
my stronghold.
3 Yahweh should be praised.
I called on him, and I was saved from my enemies.
4 The ropes of death had become tangled around me.
The torrents of destruction had overwhelmed me.
5 The ropes of the grave had surrounded me.
The clutches of death had confronted me.
6 I called on Yahweh in my distress.
I cried to my Elohim for help.
He heard my voice from his temple,
and my cry for help reached his ears.
43 You rescued me from my conflicts with the people.
You made me the leader of nations.
A people I did not know will serve me:
44 As soon as they hear of me, they will obey me.
Foreigners will cringe in front of me.
45 Foreigners will lose heart,
and they will tremble when they come out of their fortifications.
46 Yahweh lives!
Thanks be to my rock!
May Elohim my Savior be honored.
47 El gives me vengeance!
He brings people under my authority.
48 He saves me from my enemies.
You lift me up above my opponents.
You rescue me from violent people.
49 That is why I will give thanks to you, O Yahweh, among the nations
and make music to praise your name.
50 He gives great victories to his king.
He shows mercy to his anointed,
to David, and to his descendant[a] forever.
The Death of Saul(A)
31 When the Philistines were fighting against Israel, the men of Israel fled from the Philistines and were killed in battle on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines caught up to Saul and his sons. They killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons. 3 The heaviest fighting was against Saul. When the archers got him in their range, he was badly wounded by them.
4 Saul told his armorbearer, “Draw your sword! Stab me, or these godless men will come, stab me, and make fun of me.” But his armorbearer refused because he was terrified. So Saul took the sword and fell on it. 5 When the armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died with him. 6 So Saul, his three sons, his armorbearer, and all his men died together that day.
7 When the people of Israel on the other side of the valley and across the Jordan River saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities. So the Philistines came to live in these cities.
8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons lying on Mount Gilboa. 9 They cut off his head and stripped off his armor. Then they sent men throughout Philistine territory to tell the people this good news in their idols’ temples. 10 They put his armor in the temple of their goddesses—the Asherahs—and fastened his corpse to the wall of Beth Shan.
11 When the people living in Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all the fighting men marched all night and took the dead bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan. They came back to Jabesh and burned the bodies there. 13 They took the bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh. Then they fasted seven days.
The Reason to Give to the Christians in Jerusalem
9 I don’t need to write anything further to you about helping the Christians in Jerusalem. 2 I know how willing you are to help, and I brag about you to the believers in the province of Macedonia. I tell them, “The people of Greece have been ready to send their collection since last year,” and your enthusiasm has moved most of them to act. 3 I’ve sent my coworkers so that when we brag that you’re ready, we can back it up. 4 Otherwise, if any Macedonians come with me, they might find out that you’re not ready after all. This would embarrass us for feeling so confident as much as it would embarrass you. 5 So I thought that I should encourage our coworkers to visit you before I do and make arrangements for this gift that you had already promised to give. Then it will be the blessing it was intended to be, and it won’t be something you’re forced to do.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.