Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The 5th Hallelujah Psalm^[a]

¹⁹ They are in Elah Valley with Saul and the Israelite army, where they are fighting against the Philistines.’

²⁰ So David got up early the next morning. He left his father's sheep with another shepherd to take care of them. He did what his father had told him to do. He took the food to give to his brothers. When David arrived at the camp of the Israelite army, the soldiers were going out to fight. They were shouting their war songs while they went. ²¹ The Israelite army and the Philistine army stood in their places ready for the fight. They looked towards each other across the valley. ²² David gave his gifts to the officer who took care of the army's food. Then he ran to the place where the Israelite soldiers were standing. He said ‘hello’ to his brothers to see if they were well. ²³ While David was talking to his brothers, Goliath marched out from the Philistine army. He was the great Philistine soldier from Gath. As he came, Goliath was insulting the Israelites as he did every day. David heard what he said. ²⁴ When all the Israelite soldiers saw Goliath, they were very afraid. They ran away from him.

²⁵ The Israelites said to each other, ‘Look at this man! He is so strong! He comes every day to insult us. King Saul will give great riches to any man who can kill Goliath. The king will give his daughter to that man, for him to marry her. His family will never again have to pay taxes to the king.’

²⁶ David asked the men who were standing near him, ‘If someone kills this Philistine soldier and takes away the shame from Israel, what gift will he get? He is an unclean Philistine! He must stop insulting the army of our God, who lives for ever.’

²⁷ The men then told David what the king had promised to do. They said, ‘This is what the king will do to help the man who kills that Philistine soldier.’

²⁸ When David was speaking with the soldiers, his oldest brother, Eliab, heard him. He became angry with David. He asked David, ‘Why have you come here? You should be taking care of a few sheep in the wilderness. Who is taking care of them now? I know how proud you are! I know about your wicked ideas! You came here only to watch the battle.’

²⁹ David said, ‘Have I done anything wrong? I only asked a question.’

³⁰ So David went away and he asked other people the same question. All the men gave him the same answer. ³¹ Some of the soldiers went to King Saul and they told him what David had said. Saul told David to come to him.

³² David said to King Saul, ‘We should not be afraid of this Philistine! I am your servant. I am ready to go and fight against him.’

The most important priest puts the apostles in prison

¹⁷ People liked the apostles very much. So the most important priest and his friends who belonged to the Sadducees' group were very jealous. ¹⁸ These important men took hold of the apostles and they put them in the city's prison. ¹⁹ But during the night, one of the Lord God's angels came and he opened the prison gates. He led the apostles out of the prison. ²⁰ The angel said to them, ‘Go and stand in the yard of the temple. Tell the people everything about this new life that God gives.’

²¹ The apostles did what the angel told them to do. At dawn they went into the yard of the temple. They began to teach the people there.

Then the most important priest and his friends arrived. They told the group of Jewish leaders to meet with them. All the most important people in Israel were in that group. Then they sent their police to the prison to bring the apostles to the meeting place. ²² But when the police arrived at the prison, they did not find the apostles there. So the police returned to the Jewish leaders and they told them the news. ²³ They said, ‘We arrived at the prison. We saw that the soldiers had locked the gates. They were standing at the gates and they were watching carefully. But when we opened the gates of the prison, we did not find anyone there!’^[a]

²⁴ The leader of the police of the temple and the leaders of the priests heard the news. They could not understand what had happened. They were afraid of what might happen next.

²⁵ Then a man came to the leaders. He said to them, ‘Listen! Those men that you put in the prison are now standing in the yard of the temple. They are teaching the people there.’ ²⁶ So the leader of the police took his men with him to find the apostles. They took hold of the apostles to take them back to the Jewish leaders. But they did not hurt them because they were afraid of the people. They thought that the people might be angry. They might throw stones at them to kill them.