Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song to sing as we climb.

David wrote this song.

Jonathan helps David

20 Then David ran away from Naioth at Ramah. He went to Jonathan and he asked him, ‘What bad things have I done? What have I done to hurt your father? Why is he trying to kill me?’

² Jonathan replied, ‘No. You will not die. My father tells me everything that he does, even the little things. So it is not true that he is trying to kill you. He would not hide this from me.’

³ But David answered, ‘Your father knows that you like me very much. He has decided that he will not tell you. He does not want to make you upset. I promise that my words are true, as truly as the Lord lives and you live. I know that I am very near to death.’

⁴ Jonathan said to David, ‘I will do anything that you want me to do for you.’

⁵ David said to Jonathan, ‘Tomorrow we have a special meal because of the new moon.^[a] I should go and eat this meal with the king. Instead, let me go and hide in the field. I will stay there until the third evening. ⁶ Your father may see that I am not at the meal. If he does, say to him, “David asked me to let him go to his home in Bethlehem. His family offer a sacrifice there at this time every year.” ⁷ Your father may say, “That is good.” If he says that, I will know that I am safe. But if he becomes very angry, we will know that he has decided to hurt me. ⁸ Jonathan, please show that you love me. The Lord knows about the promise that you made, to be my friend. If I am guilty of a sin, please kill me yourself. Do not let your father kill me.’

⁹ Jonathan said, ‘No, that will never happen! If I ever find out that my father wants to kill you, I will surely tell you.’

¹⁰ David asked Jonathan, ‘If your father answers you in an angry way, who will tell me?’ ¹¹ Jonathan said, ‘Come with me into the field.’ So they went there together.

¹² Then Jonathan said to David, ‘I make this promise to you, and the Lord, Israel's God, knows that it is true. Tomorrow or the next day I will find out what my father is thinking about you. If he is feeling friendly to you, I will send someone to tell you. ¹³ But if my father wants to hurt you, I will tell you clearly. I ask the Lord to punish me, if I do not tell you. I will help you to escape and be safe. I pray that the Lord will bless you, as he blessed my father. ¹⁴ While I am still alive, please be kind to me. Continue to love me, as the Lord loves his people. And if I die, ¹⁵ continue to be kind to my family. Even when the Lord removes every one of your enemies from the earth, do not forget about my family.’

¹⁶ So Jonathan made an agreement with David's family. He said, ‘I am asking the Lord to destroy all David's enemies.’ ¹⁷ Jonathan asked David to promise again that they would be friends. That was because Jonathan loved David as much as he loved his own life.

¹⁸ Then Jonathan said to David, ‘Tomorrow we will have the special meal because of the new moon. Nobody will be sitting in your seat, so people will know that you are not there. ¹⁹ The day after tomorrow, go back to the place where you hid the other time. Wait beside the rock called Ezel. ²⁰ I will shoot three arrows towards the rock to see where they go. ²¹ Then I will send a boy to find the arrows. If you are not in danger I will say to the boy, “The arrows are on this side of you. Come and bring them here.” That will mean that you are safe. You can then come out from the place where you are hiding. As surely as the Lord lives, I promise that you will not be in trouble. ²² But if I say to the boy, “Look, the arrows are beyond you,” you must run away. It will mean that the Lord has sent you away. ²³ But never forget the promise that we have made to each other. The Lord will make sure that we are faithful to each other.’

³⁵ The next morning, Jonathan went out to the field to meet David. He took a young boy with him. ³⁶ He said to the boy, ‘I will shoot some arrows. You must run and find them.’ While the boy was running, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him. ³⁷ The boy ran to the place where the arrow had reached. Jonathan shouted to him, ‘I think that the arrow is beyond you.’ ³⁸ Then he shouted, ‘Hurry now! Go quickly. Do not wait.’ The boy picked up the arrow and he brought it back to Jonathan. ³⁹ (The boy did not understand what this meant. Only Jonathan and David knew.) ⁴⁰ Then Jonathan gave his bow and arrows back to the boy. He said to the boy, ‘Go now and take these things back to the town.’

⁴¹ When the boy had left, David came out from beside the rock. He went down on his knees in front of Jonathan. He bent down on the ground three times. Then David and Jonathan kissed each other and they wept. David wept even more than Jonathan did.

⁴² Jonathan said to David, ‘Go now and God will keep you safe. We have promised each other in the Lord's name that we will always be friends. The Lord will watch us to make sure that we always keep this promise. He will watch our descendants too, for ever.’

Then David left. Jonathan returned to the town.

The believers go to Antioch

¹⁹ After the Jewish leaders had killed Stephen, the believers had a lot of trouble. The believers left Jerusalem and they went to many different places. Some of them went away as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. They told God's message to people in these places. But they only told the message to Jews.

²⁰ Some of the believers were people who came from Cyprus and Cyrene. These men went to Antioch. There they told God's message to Gentiles, as well as to Jews. They told everyone the good news about the Lord Jesus. ²¹ The Lord God helped these men with his power. Very many people believed their message and they trusted in the Lord Jesus.

²² The believers in Jerusalem heard about what had happened in Antioch. So they decided to send Barnabas there. ²³ Barnabas arrived in Antioch. He saw how God had been kind to the people there and helped them. Barnabas was happy about this. So he said to the new believers, ‘Continue to trust the Lord Jesus completely.’

²⁴ Barnabas was a good man. The power of God's Holy Spirit was with him. He trusted God completely. Many people in Antioch believed in Jesus and joined the group of believers.

²⁵ Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. ²⁶ When Barnabas found him, he brought him back to Antioch. For one whole year, Barnabas and Saul met together with the group of believers there. They taught very many of them about Jesus. Antioch was the first place where the believers were called Christians.