Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

David wrote this song. Tell the music leader to use stringed instruments.

God will keep me safe^[a]

David wins more fights^[a]

8 Some time later, David attacked the Philistines, and he won the fight against them. He now had power over them and over their towns.

² David also won a battle against the Moabites. He made the Moabite prisoners lie down on the ground. Then he used a piece of rope to measure them into groups. When he had measured two groups, he would tell his men to kill all those prisoners. When he measured the next group, he would let those prisoners stay alive. So the Moabites were now under David's authority and they began to pay taxes to him.

³ David also won a battle against Rehob's son, Hadadezer, king of Zobah. This happened when Hadadezer took his army to the Euphrates river to show that he had authority there. ⁴ David took from Hadadezer 1,700 men who drove chariots. He also caught 20,000 of Hadadezer's other soldiers. David kept 100 of the horses that pulled chariots. But he cut the legs of the other horses so that they could not run.

⁵ The Syrians from Damascus sent an army to help King Hadadezer of Zobah. But David killed 22,000 soldiers of the Syrian army. ⁶ David put groups of his soldiers in Damascus to be guards over the Syrian people. So the Syrians were now under David's authority and they paid taxes to him. The Lord helped David to win all the battles that he fought.

⁷ David took the gold shields that Hadadezer's officers had carried. He brought the shields to Jerusalem. ⁸ David also took a lot of bronze things from Tebah and Berothai, towns that had belonged to Hadadezer.

⁹ Toi, the king of Hamath, heard news that David had won the battle against the whole army of Hadadezer. ¹⁰ There had been a war between King Hadadezer and King Toi. So now Toi sent his son, Joram to say ‘hello’ to David. He wanted to thank David because he had won the battle against King Hadadezer. Joram brought gifts to David that were made of gold, silver and bronze.

¹¹ David took these gifts and he offered them to the Lord. He also offered to the Lord all the silver and gold things that he had taken from other nations. Those were all the nations that David had won against in battle. ¹² They included Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines and the Amalekites. He also offered to the Lord things that he had taken from Rehob's son, King Hadadezer of Zobah.

¹³ After that, David's army won a battle in the Valley of Salt against 18,000 Edomites. David became very famous because of that. ¹⁴ He put groups of his soldiers in every part of Edom's land, so that David had authority over all the Edomites. The Lord helped David to win all the battles that he fought.

David's officers

¹⁵ David ruled over all Israel. He did everything that was right and fair for all his people. ¹⁶ Zeruiah's son, Joab, was the leader of Israel's army. Ahilud's son, Jehoshaphat, wrote down the important things that happened. ¹⁷ Ahitub's son Zadok and Abiathar's son Ahimelech were priests. Seraiah was David's secretary. ¹⁸ Jehoiada's son Benaiah was the leader of David's personal guards.^[b] David's sons served as priests.^[c]

Paul meets with the leaders of the believers

¹⁷ When we were in Miletus, Paul sent someone to Ephesus with a message. This message was for the leaders of the believers in Ephesus. Paul asked them to come to Miletus to meet him there. ¹⁸ When they arrived, Paul said to them, ‘You yourselves know about everything that I did here in Asia. You saw how I lived from the first day that I arrived in this region. I was with you for the whole time. ¹⁹ I did not say that I was an important man. Instead, I worked as a servant of the Lord Jesus. I often was sad because of trouble that came to me. Some Jewish people spoke against my message. They wanted to hurt me. ²⁰ But I have not been afraid to teach God's message. I have taught you everything that would help you. I have done this outside for everyone to hear. I have also taught you in your own homes. ²¹ I have taught the same things both to Jewish people and to Gentiles. I have said clearly to them all, “You must stop doing wrong things. Change the way that you live and turn to God. Believe in our Lord Jesus.”

²² Now I am going to Jerusalem. God's Holy Spirit has shown me that I must go there. I do not know what will happen to me there. ²³ But I do know that much trouble will come to me. The Holy Spirit has told me about that. He said to me, “People will put you in prison and they will hurt you.” ²⁴ But even if people kill me, this is not important to me. The Lord Jesus gave me some work to do. It is important that I finish his work. I must tell people the good news about how kind and good God is.

²⁵ I have lived among you and I have taught you all about the kingdom of God. But now I know that none of you will see me again. ²⁶ So I want to say this clearly to you today. If any of you have not believed in Jesus, it is not because of me. ²⁷ I have told you everything that God wants you to know. ²⁸ You who are leaders should be careful about how you live. Also take care of the group of people that the Holy Spirit has chosen you to lead. Keep them safe like shepherds who take care of their sheep. All the believers belong to God because his Son, Jesus, died for them. He bought them with his blood which poured out on the cross.

²⁹ I know that trouble will come to you after I leave. Bad people will come to teach you. They will cause trouble for the believers, like dangerous wild animals that attack sheep. ³⁰ Even men from your own group of believers will teach things that are not true. They want to deceive other believers, so that they leave you and join with them. ³¹ So be very careful! For three years I taught you, in the day and in the night. I warned you to be careful, so that I even cried about it.

³² Now I ask God to keep you safe. I brought God's message to you, which tells us how kind he is. That message will cause you to be strong. As a result, God will give to you all the good things that he has for his own special people. ³³ When I stayed among you, I did not ask you to give me money or clothes. ³⁴ You yourselves know that I worked with my hands. I did that to get money. Then my friends and I could have the things that we needed. ³⁵ In this way I have shown you how you should live. You should work well so that you may help sick or weak people. You should remember what Jesus himself said: “It may make you happy when you receive things. But it makes you more happy when you give things to someone.” ’

³⁶ Then Paul finished speaking. He went down on his knees together with the leaders of the believers. He prayed with them all. ³⁷ They all cried a lot, because Paul wanted to leave them. They hugged him and they kissed him to say ‘goodbye’. ³⁸ They were very sad because Paul had said, ‘I will never see you again.’

After that, they walked with Paul to the ship.