Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Lord Praised for Giving Deliverance.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord, [a]who spoke to the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said,
18 “I love You, O Lord, (A)my strength.”
2 The Lord is (B)my [b]rock and (C)my fortress and my (D)deliverer,
My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
My (E)shield and the (F)horn of my salvation, my (G)stronghold.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is (H)worthy to be praised,
And I am (I)saved from my enemies.
4 The (J)cords of death encompassed me,
And the (K)torrents of [c]ungodliness [d]terrified me.
5 The (L)cords of [e]Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
6 In my (M)distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried to my God for help;
He heard my voice (N)out of His temple,
And my (O)cry for help before Him came into His ears.
43 You have delivered me from the (A)contentions of the people;
You have placed me as (B)head of the nations;
A (C)people whom I have not known serve me.
44 As soon as they hear, they obey me;
Foreigners [a](D)submit to me.
45 Foreigners (E)fade away,
And (F)come trembling out of their [b]fortresses.
46 The Lord (G)lives, and blessed be (H)my rock;
And exalted be (I)the God of my salvation,
47 The God who (J)executes vengeance for me,
And (K)subdues peoples under me.
48 He (L)delivers me from my enemies;
Surely You (M)lift me above those who rise up against me;
You rescue me from the (N)violent man.
49 Therefore I will (O)give thanks to You among the nations, O Lord,
And I will (P)sing praises to Your name.
50 He gives great [c](Q)deliverance to His king,
And shows lovingkindness to (R)His anointed,
To David and (S)his [d]descendants forever.
Saul and His Sons Slain
31 (A)Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines and fell slain (B)on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons; and the Philistines [a]killed (C)Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua the sons of Saul. 3 (D)The battle went heavily against Saul, and the archers [b]hit him; and he was badly wounded by the archers. 4 (E)Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and pierce me through with it, otherwise (F)these uncircumcised will come and pierce me through and make sport of me.” But his armor bearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. (G)So Saul took his sword and fell on it. 5 When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died with him. 6 Thus Saul died with his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men on that day together.
7 When the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, with those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled; then the Philistines came and lived in them.
8 It came about on the [c]next day when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 They cut off his head and stripped off his weapons, and sent them [d]throughout the land of the Philistines, (H)to carry the good news (I)to the house of their idols and to the people. 10 They put his weapons in the [e]temple of (J)Ashtaroth, and (K)they fastened his body to the wall of (L)Beth-shan. 11 Now when (M)the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard [f]what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 (N)all the valiant men rose and walked all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and (O)burned them there. 13 They took their bones and (P)buried them under (Q)the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and (R)fasted seven days.
God Gives Most
9 For (A)it is superfluous for me to write to you about this (B)ministry to the [a]saints; 2 for I know your readiness, of which I (C)boast about you to the (D)Macedonians, namely, that (E)Achaia has been prepared since (F)last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them. 3 But I have sent the brethren, in order that our (G)boasting about you may not be made empty in this case, so that, (H)as I was saying, you may be prepared; 4 otherwise if any (I)Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to speak of you—will be put to shame by this confidence. 5 So I thought it necessary to urge the (J)brethren that they would go on ahead to you and arrange beforehand your previously promised [b](K)bountiful gift, so that the same would be ready as a [c](L)bountiful gift and not [d](M)affected by covetousness.
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