Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
David wrote this song to ask God not to forget him.
Lord, please remember me[a]
38 Lord, when you are angry,
please do not punish me.
2 You have shot your arrows deep into me.
Your hand has pushed me down to the ground.[b]
3 Your punishment has made my whole body ill.
My health has gone, because of my sin.
4 My sin is too much for me!
It is like a heavy weight,
that I cannot carry.
5 My wounds make a bad smell,
and they get worse.
This is because I have done stupid things.
6 My body is bent down to the ground.
Every day I weep because I am so sad.
7 My body is hot with fever.[c]
I am very ill.
8 The pain has made me tired and weak.
I am so upset that I cry aloud.
9 My Lord, you already know what I want most.
You hear me when I cry with pain.
10 My heart beats very fast,
and my strength is leaving me.
Even my eyes can no longer see properly.
11 My family and my friends stay away from me,
because of my illness.
They do not come near to me.
12 My enemies prepare traps,
because they want to kill me.
They talk about ways to destroy me.
They want to hurt me,
so they talk about that all through the day.
13 But I am like a deaf man who hears nothing.
I am like a dumb man who says nothing.
14 So I live like a man who cannot hear what people say.
I refuse to argue against them.
15 Yes, Lord, I wait for you to help me!
I believe that you will answer me, my Lord and my God.
16 I have prayed that my enemies will not laugh at me.
If I slip and fall down,
they will be very happy!
17 I will soon fall down to the ground.
I have nothing but pain all the time.
18 But I agree that I have done wrong things.
I am sorry about my sins.
19 I have many enemies and they are strong.
They have no reason to hate me.
20 When I do good things,
they do evil things to me in return!
I try to do what is right,
but they turn against me.
21 Lord, please do not leave me alone.
Do not stay far away from me, my God!
22 My Lord, you are the one who can save me,
so come quickly to help me!
David refuses to kill Saul
24 When Saul had finished fighting against the Philistines, he returned to his home. Someone told him that David was in the desert at En Gedi. 2 So Saul chose 3,000 of the best soldiers in Israel. They went to look for David and his men near Wild Goat Rocks.
3 Saul came to the place near the road where the shepherds keep their sheep. There was a cave near to this place. Saul went in there to use it as a toilet.
David and his men were hiding at the back of the same cave. 4 David's men said to him, ‘This is the day that the Lord told you about! The Lord said to you, “I will give your enemy to you. Then you can decide what is the right thing to do to him.” ’ So David stood up very quietly. He went and he cut off a small piece of cloth from Saul's coat. Saul did not know what had happened.
5 After that, David thought that he had done something wrong. He felt sorry that he had cut a piece of cloth from Saul's coat. 6 David said to his men, ‘I ask the Lord to stop me doing anything wrong to my master. The Lord has chosen him to be Israel's king. I must never do anything to hurt him. He is the king that the Lord has chosen.’ 7 David spoke like this to stop his men from attacking Saul.
Then Saul left the cave and he started to travel along the road.
8 After that, David went out of the cave. He shouted to Saul, ‘My master and my king!’ Saul looked behind him. David went down on his knees with his face on the ground to respect the king. 9 David said to Saul, ‘You should not listen to the people who say, “David wants to hurt you.” 10 You can see that the Lord has kept you safe today when I had a chance to hurt you in the cave. Some of my men wanted me to kill you, but I did not agree. I said, “I will not hurt my master, because the Lord has chosen him to be king.” 11 My father, look at what I have in my hand! It is a small piece of your coat. I cut this off the corner of your coat, but I did not kill you. So you must know that I do not want to do anything bad against you. I have not turned against you. I am not guilty of anything, but you are chasing after me so that you can kill me. 12 The Lord is the judge who will decide which of us is guilty. I pray that he will punish you for what you are doing to me. But I myself will never do anything to hurt you. 13 You know the proverb, “Evil people do evil things.” But I will never try to hurt you. 14 You are Israel's king. So why are you chasing after someone like me? I am less important than a dead dog or a little fly! 15 The Lord will be the judge to decide who is right. I pray that he will see that I am not guilty. I pray that he will save me from your power.’
16 When David stopped speaking, Saul said, ‘Is that really you, David my son?’ Then Saul started to weep loudly. 17 He said to David, ‘You are a better man than I am. You have been kind to me even when I have tried to hurt you. 18 You have shown me today how kind you have been to me. The Lord gave you a chance to hurt me, but you did not kill me. 19 If someone catches his enemy, he does not let him escape. But you have not tried to hurt me today. So I ask that the Lord will bless you in return. 20 I know that you will be the king of Israel one day. The kingdom will be strong when you rule. 21 So promise me in the Lord's name that you will not kill any of my descendants. Please make sure that people do not forget my family's name.’
22 So David made a strong promise to Saul. Then Saul returned to his home. But David and his men went back to the place where they had been hiding.
The Lord's Supper
17 Now I must teach you about something else about your meetings. I will not praise you, because more bad things than good things happen when you meet together. 18 First, I hear that there are separate groups when you meet together as God's people.[a] I believe that some of what I have heard about you is true. 19 Perhaps there must be separate groups among you. Then everyone can see clearly which group God accepts as right!
20 When you meet together, the meal that you eat is not really the Lord's Supper. 21 When you are ready to eat, each of you eats your own meal. You do not wait for anyone else. As a result, one of you may be hungry, while another person becomes drunk. 22 If you want to eat like that, you have your own homes where you can eat and drink! Instead, you insult the people of God's church. You make people who have nothing feel ashamed. I cannot praise you for what you do. Whatever I might say to you about this, I certainly cannot praise you.
27 Since that is true, you must be careful. Eat the bread and drink from the cup in a way that is right. Anyone who does not do that will be guilty. They are showing that they do not respect the Lord's body and his blood that he offered as a sacrifice. 28 So everyone must think carefully about how they eat the bread and they drink from the cup. 29 They must understand how important the Lord's body is. If anyone does not recognize this, God will punish them. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick. Some of you have even died because of this. 31 But if we think carefully about ourselves, then God will not need to punish us.
32 But the Lord does need to punish us sometimes. When he does that, he is teaching us not to do wrong things. Then we will not be guilty, like other people who do not know God.
33 So, my Christian friends, be patient when you meet together to eat the Lord's Supper. Do not start to eat before everyone is ready.
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