Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 150^[a]

Harmonious Praise of God

¹ Alleluia.

Chapter 17

David and Goliath. ¹ The Philistines assembled their armies, and they were gathered at Socoh in Judah. They were camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim. ² Saul and the Israelites gathered together and camped in the Valley of Elah. They arranged themselves in order for battle against the Philistines. ³ The Philistines stood on one side of a mountain, and Israel stood on the mountainside facing them, with the valley in between them.

⁴ Then a champion named Goliath of Gath came forth out of the camp of the Philistines. He was six cubits and a span high.^{[a] 5} He wore a bronze helmet on his head, and he wore armor, a coat of mail weighing five thousand shekels of bronze. ⁶ On his legs he wore bronze leg armor, and he had a bronze javelin slung on his back. ⁷ His spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of the spear weighed six hundred iron shekels. His shield-bearer walked before him.

⁸ He stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, “Why do you not come out arrayed in battle line? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. ⁹ If he is able to fight me and kill me, then we will become your slaves. But if I defeat and kill him, then you will be our slaves and serve us.” ¹⁰ Then the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel today. Give me a man so that we can fight each other.”

¹¹ When Saul and all of Israel heard what the Philistine said, they were dismayed and terrified.

¹² David Arrives in the Camp.^[b] Now David was the son of Jesse from Bethlehem in Judah, an Ephrathite. He had eight sons, and in Saul’s days he was already old and well on in years. ¹³ Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul into battle. The names of the three sons who had gone into battle were: Eliab, the oldest, Abinadab, the second oldest, and Shammah, the next oldest. ¹⁴ David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul. ¹⁵ David went back and forth to Saul in order to tend to his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.

¹⁶ For forty days, each morning and each evening, the Philistine presented himself.

¹⁷ Jesse said to David, his son, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread to your brothers. Rush this out to your brothers’ camp. ¹⁸ Also take along these ten cheeses for the commander of their group of one thousand. See how your brothers are faring, and bring back news from them.”

¹⁹ They and Saul and all of the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah fighting against the Philistines. ²⁰ David rose early the next morning, left the sheep with someone to tend them, took the things and left as Jesse had instructed him. He came to the outskirts of the camp just as the army was going forth into battle, shouting their war cries. ²¹ Israel and the Philistines were lined up for battle, one army facing the other. ²² David left his things in the care of the keeper of supplies. He ran to the battle line and came to his brothers whom he greeted.

²³ As he was talking with them, Goliath of Gath, the champion of the Philistines, came forth from the Philistine lines, and he shouted the same taunt, and David heard it.

¹² Life of the First Community—III.^[a] Many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles. They all used to assemble in Solomon’s Portico. ¹³ No one else dared to join them, but the people esteemed them highly. ¹⁴ More believers, men and women, were constantly being added to their ranks. ¹⁵ People brought those who were sick into the streets and placed them on cots and mats so that when Peter passed by, his shadow might fall on some of them. ¹⁶ A large number of people also came from the neighboring towns around Jerusalem, bringing with them the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and all of them were cured.