Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer for Mercy

A song for going up to worship.

Jonathan Helps David

20 Then David ran away from Naioth in Ramah. He went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How did I sin against your father? Why is he trying to kill me?”

² Jonathan answered, “No! You won’t die! See, my father doesn’t do anything great or small without first telling me. Why would he keep this from me? It’s not true!”

³ But David took an oath, saying, “Your father knows very well that you like me. He says to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know about it, or he will tell David.’ As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I am only a step away from death!”

⁴ Jonathan said to David, “I’ll do anything you want me to do.”

⁵ So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon festival. I am supposed to eat with the king, but let me hide in the field until the third evening. ⁶ If your father notices I am gone, tell him, ‘David begged me to let him go to his hometown of Bethlehem. Every year at this time his family group offers a sacrifice.’ ⁷ If your father says, ‘Fine,’ I am safe. But if he becomes angry, you will know that he wants to hurt me. ⁸ Jonathan, be loyal to me, your servant. You have made an agreement with me before the Lord. If I am guilty, you may kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?”

⁹ Jonathan answered, “No, never! If I learn that my father plans to hurt you, I will warn you!”

¹⁰ David asked, “Who will let me know if your father answers you unkindly?”

¹¹ Then Jonathan said, “Come, let’s go out into the field.” So the two of them went out into the field.

¹² Jonathan said to David, “I promise this before the Lord, the God of Israel: At this same time the day after tomorrow, I will find out how my father feels. If he feels good toward you, I will send word to you and let you know. ¹³ But if my father plans to hurt you, I will let you know and send you away safely. May the Lord punish me terribly if I don’t do this. And may the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. ¹⁴ But show me the kindness of the Lord as long as I live so that I may not die. ¹⁵ You must never stop showing your kindness to my family, even when the Lord has destroyed all your enemies from the earth.”

¹⁶ So Jonathan made an agreement with David. He said, “May the Lord hold David’s enemies responsible.” ¹⁷ And Jonathan asked David to repeat his promise of love for him, because he loved David as much as he loved himself.

¹⁸ Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon festival. Your seat will be empty, so my father will miss you. ¹⁹ On the third day go to the place where you hid when this trouble began. Wait by the rock Ezel. ²⁰ On the third day I will shoot three arrows to the side of the rock as if I am shooting at a target. ²¹ Then I will send a boy to find the arrows. If I say to him, ‘The arrows are near you; bring them here,’ you may come out of hiding. You are safe. As the Lord lives, there is no danger. ²² But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ you must go, because the Lord is sending you away. ²³ Remember what we talked about. The Lord is a witness between you and me forever.”

²⁴ So David hid in the field. When the New Moon festival came, the king sat down to eat. ²⁵ He sat where he always sat, near the wall. Jonathan sat across from him, and Abner sat next to Saul, but David’s place was empty.

Christian Giving

8 And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace God gave the churches in Macedonia. ² They have been tested by great troubles, and they are very poor. But they gave much because of their great joy. ³ I can tell you that they gave as much as they were able and even more than they could afford. No one told them to do it. ⁴ But they begged and pleaded with us to let them share in this service for God’s people. ⁵ And they gave in a way we did not expect: They first gave themselves to the Lord and to us. This is what God wants. ⁶ So we asked Titus to help you finish this special work of grace since he is the one who started it. ⁷ You are rich in everything—in faith, in speaking, in knowledge, in truly wanting to help, and in the love you learned from us.^[a] In the same way, be strong also in the grace of giving.