Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Praise the Lord!

¹⁹ King Saul, your brothers, and all the other Israelites are in Elah Valley fighting the Philistines.”

²⁰ David got up early the next morning, left someone else in charge of the sheep, took the food, and went as Jesse had told him to. He arrived at the camp just as the Israelites were going out to their battle line, shouting the war cry. ²¹ The Philistine and the Israelite armies took positions for battle, facing each other. ²² David left the food with the officer in charge of the supplies, ran to the battle line, went to his brothers, and asked how they were getting along. ²³ As he was talking with them, Goliath came forward and challenged the Israelites as he had done before. And David heard him. ²⁴ When the Israelites saw Goliath, they ran away in terror. ²⁵ “Look at him!” they said to each other. “Listen to his challenge! King Saul has promised to give a big reward to the man who kills him; the king will also give him his daughter to marry and will not require his father's family to pay taxes.”^[a]

²⁶ David asked the men who were near him, “What will the man get who kills this Philistine and frees Israel from this disgrace? After all, who is this heathen Philistine to defy the army of the living God?” ²⁷ They told him what would be done for the man who killed Goliath.

²⁸ Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard David talking to the men. He became angry with David and said, “What are you doing here? Who is taking care of those sheep of yours out there in the wilderness? You smart aleck, you! You just came to watch the fighting!”

²⁹ “Now what have I done?” David asked. “Can't I even ask a question?” ³⁰ He turned to another man and asked him the same question, and every time he asked, he got the same answer.

³¹ Some men heard what David had said, and they told Saul, who sent for him. ³² David said to Saul, “Your Majesty, no one should be afraid of this Philistine! I will go and fight him.”

The Apostles Are Persecuted

¹⁷ Then the High Priest and all his companions, members of the local party of the Sadducees, became extremely jealous of the apostles; so they decided to take action. ¹⁸ They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. ¹⁹ But that night an angel of the Lord opened the prison gates, led the apostles out, and said to them, ²⁰ “Go and stand in the Temple, and tell the people all about this new life.” ²¹ The apostles obeyed, and at dawn they entered the Temple and started teaching.

The High Priest and his companions called together all the Jewish elders for a full meeting of the Council; then they sent orders to the prison to have the apostles brought before them. ²² But when the officials arrived, they did not find the apostles in prison, so they returned to the Council and reported, ²³ “When we arrived at the jail, we found it locked up tight and all the guards on watch at the gates; but when we opened the gates, we found no one inside!” ²⁴ When the chief priests and the officer in charge of the Temple guards heard this, they wondered what had happened to the apostles. ²⁵ Then a man came in and said to them, “Listen! The men you put in prison are in the Temple teaching the people!” ²⁶ So the officer went off with his men and brought the apostles back. They did not use force, however, because they were afraid that the people might stone them.