Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Lord Praised for Rescuing David.
For the music director. A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, [a]who spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day that the Lord rescued him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said,
18 “I love You, Lord, (A)my strength.”
2 The Lord is (B)my rock and (C)my fortress and my (D)savior,
My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
My (E)shield and the (F)horn of my salvation, my (G)stronghold.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is (H)worthy to be praised,
And I am (I)saved from my enemies.
4 The (J)ropes of death encompassed me,
And the (K)torrents of [b]destruction [c]terrified me.
5 The (L)ropes of [d]Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
6 In my (M)distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried to my God for help;
He heard my voice (N)from His temple,
And my (O)cry for help before Him came into His ears.
43 You have rescued me from the (A)contentions of the people;
You have placed me as (B)head of the nations;
A (C)people whom I have not known serve me.
44 As soon as they hear, they obey me;
Foreigners (D)pretend to obey me.
45 Foreigners (E)lose heart,
And (F)come trembling out of their [a]fortresses.
46 The Lord (G)lives, and blessed be (H)my rock;
And exalted be (I)the God of my salvation,
47 The God who (J)executes vengeance for me,
And (K)subdues peoples under me.
48 He (L)rescues me from my enemies;
You indeed (M)lift me above those who rise up against me;
You rescue me from a (N)violent man.
49 Therefore I will (O)give thanks to You among the nations, Lord,
And I will (P)sing praises to Your name.
50 He gives great [b](Q)salvation to His king,
And shows faithfulness to (R)His anointed,
To David and (S)his [c]descendants forever.
Defeat and Death of Saul and His Sons
10 (A)Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from the Philistines but fell fatally wounded on Mount Gilboa. 2 And the Philistines also overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines [a]killed Jonathan, [b](B)Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. 3 The battle became severe against Saul, and the archers found him; and he was wounded by the archers. 4 Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, otherwise these uncircumcised Philistines will come and abuse me.” But his armor bearer would not, for he was very afraid. (C)So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 5 When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword and died. 6 (D)So Saul died with his three sons, and all those of his house died together.
7 When all the people of Israel who were in the valley saw that they had fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them.
8 It came about the next day, when the Philistines came to strip those killed, that they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 (E)So they stripped him and took his head and his armor and sent messengers around the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to their idols and to the people. 10 They put his armor in the house of their gods and [c]impaled his head in the house of Dagon.
Jabesh-gilead’s Tribute to Saul
11 When all Jabesh-gilead heard everything that the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 (F)all the valiant men got up and took away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh; and they buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted for seven days.
13 (G)So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he committed against the Lord, because of the word of the Lord which he did not keep; and also (H)because he asked counsel of a medium, making inquiry of her, 14 and did not inquire of the Lord. Therefore He killed him and (I)turned the kingdom over to David, the son of Jesse.
All Things Possible
14 (A)And when they came back to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. 15 Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were (B)amazed and began running up to greet Him. 16 And He asked them, “What are you disputing with them?” 17 And one person from the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, because he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; 18 and [a]whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes stiff. And I told Your disciples so that they would cast it out, but they could not do it.” 19 And He answered them and *said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” 20 And they brought [b]the boy to Him. When he saw Him, the spirit immediately threw him into convulsions, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. 21 And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to kill him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” 23 But Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ (C)All things are possible for the one who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” 25 When Jesus saw that (D)a crowd was [c]rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I [d]command you, come out of him and do not enter him [e]again!” 26 And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him, and he got up. 28 When He came (E)into the house, His disciples began asking Him privately, “Why is it that we could not cast it out?” 29 And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything except prayer.”
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