Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
20 I have found David, My servant;
with My holy oil I have anointed him:
21 By whom My hand shall be established;
My arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not take tribute from him,
nor the wicked humiliate him.
23 I will beat down his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him,
and in My name his horn shall be exalted.
25 I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
26 He shall cry unto Me, ‘You are my Father, my God,
and the Rock of my salvation.’
27 Also I will make him my firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 In My mercy I will keep him forever,
and My covenant shall stand firm with him.
29 His offspring also I will establish forever
and his throne as the days of heaven.
30 “If his children forsake My law
and do not walk in My judgments,
31 if they break My statutes
and do not keep My commandments,
32 then I will punish their transgression with the rod
and their iniquity with lashes.
33 Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not remove from him
nor be false in My faithfulness.
34 My covenant I will not violate
nor alter the word that has gone out from My lips.
35 Once and for all I have sworn by My holiness
that I will not lie to David:
36 His offspring shall endure forever,
and his throne as the sun before Me;
37 it shall be established forever as the moon
and as a faithful witness in the heavens.” Selah
15 Now three of the thirty captains climbed down the rock to David at the cave of Adullam while the camp of the Philistines was set up in the Valley of Rephaim. 16 (At that time, David was in the stronghold, but a garrison of the Philistines was in Bethlehem.) 17 Now David was overcome with longing and said, “Who will get me a drink of water from the well of Bethlehem by the gate?” 18 These three broke through the Philistine camp, drew water from the well of Bethlehem by the gate, and carried it back to David. However, he was not willing to drink it but poured out the water to the Lord. 19 For he said, “Far be it from me before my God to do this. Should I drink the life blood of these men who put their lives in jeopardy? For at the risk of their lives they brought it.” Therefore he would not drink it.
The three mighty men did these things.
15 He is the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of every creature. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they are thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers. All things were created by Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that in all things He may have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all fullness should dwell, 20 and to reconcile all things to Himself by Him, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him, I say—whether they are things in earth, or things in heaven.
21 And you, who were formerly alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in His sight, 23 if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and are not removed from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.