Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A psalm of David.

³ So Samuel spoke to all the Israelites. He said, “Do you really want to return to the Lord with all your hearts? If you do, get rid of your false gods. Get rid of your statues of female gods that are named Ashtoreth. Commit yourselves to the Lord. Serve him only. Then he will save you from the power of the Philistines.” ⁴ So the Israelites put away their statues of gods that were named Baal. They put away their statues of female gods that were named Ashtoreth. They served the Lord only.

⁵ Then Samuel said, “Gather all the Israelites together at Mizpah. I will pray to the Lord for you.” ⁶ When the people had come together at Mizpah, they went to the well and got water. They poured it out in front of the Lord. On that day they didn’t eat any food. They admitted they had sinned. They said, “We’ve sinned against the Lord.” Samuel was serving as the leader of Israel at Mizpah.

⁷ The Philistines heard that Israel had gathered together at Mizpah. So the Philistine rulers came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard about it, they were afraid. ⁸ They said to Samuel, “Don’t stop crying out to the Lord our God to help us. Keep praying that he’ll save us from the power of the Philistines.” ⁹ Then Samuel got a very young lamb. He sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord to help Israel. And the Lord answered his prayer.

¹⁰ The Philistines came near to attack Israel. At that time Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering. But that day the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines. He threw them into such a panic that the Israelites were able to chase them away. ¹¹ The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah. They chased the Philistines all the way to a point below Beth Kar. They killed them all along the way.

¹² Then Samuel got a big stone. He set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer. He said, “The Lord has helped us every step of the way.”

¹³ So the Philistines were brought under Israel’s control. The Philistines didn’t attack their territory again. The Lord used his power against the Philistines as long as Samuel lived. ¹⁴ The Philistines had captured many towns between Ekron and Gath. But they had to give all of them back. Israel took back the territories near those towns from the control of the Philistines. During that time Israel and the Amorites were friendly toward each other.

¹⁵ Samuel continued to lead Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶ From year to year he traveled from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah. He served Israel as judge in all those places. ¹⁷ But he always went back to Ramah. That’s where his home was. He served Israel as judge there too. And he built an altar there to honor the Lord.

¹⁹ After eating some food, he got his strength back.

Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem

Saul spent several days with the believers in Damascus. ²⁰ Right away he began to preach in the synagogues. He taught that Jesus is the Son of God. ²¹ All who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Isn’t he the man who caused great trouble in Jerusalem? Didn’t he make trouble for those who worship Jesus? Hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” ²² But Saul grew more and more powerful. The Jews living in Damascus couldn’t believe what was happening. Saul proved to them that Jesus is the Messiah.

²³ After many days, the Jews had a meeting. They planned to kill Saul. ²⁴ But he learned about their plan. Day and night they watched the city gates closely in order to kill him. ²⁵ But his followers helped him escape by night. They lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.

²⁶ When Saul came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the believers. But they were all afraid of him. They didn’t believe he was really one of Jesus’ followers. ²⁷ But Barnabas took him to the apostles. He told them about Saul’s journey. He said that Saul had seen the Lord. He told how the Lord had spoken to Saul. Barnabas also said that Saul had preached without fear in Jesus’ name in Damascus. ²⁸ So Saul stayed with the believers. He moved about freely in Jerusalem. He spoke boldly in the Lord’s name. ²⁹ He talked and argued with the Greek Jews. But they tried to kill him. ³⁰ The other believers heard about this. They took Saul down to Caesarea. From there they sent him off to Tarsus.

³¹ Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. The church was strengthened and grew larger. That’s because they worshiped the Lord and the Holy Spirit helped them.