Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 150[a]
150 Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in the sky, which testifies to his strength![b]
2 Praise him for his mighty acts;
praise him for his surpassing greatness!
3 Praise him with the blast of the horn;
praise him with the lyre and the harp!
4 Praise him with the tambourine and with dancing;
praise him with stringed instruments and the flute!
5 Praise him with loud cymbals;
praise him with clanging cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
David Kills Goliath
17 [a] The Philistines gathered their troops[b] for battle. They assembled at Socoh in Judah. They camped in Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah. 2 Saul and the Israelite army[c] assembled and camped in the valley of Elah, where they arranged their battle lines to fight against[d] the Philistines. 3 The Philistines were standing on one hill, and the Israelites[e] on another hill, with the valley between them.
4 Then a champion[f] came out from the camp of the Philistines. His name was Goliath; he was from Gath. He was close to seven feet tall.[g] 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and was wearing scale body armor. The weight of his bronze body armor was 5,000 shekels.[h] 6 He had bronze shin guards[i] on his legs, and a bronze javelin was slung over his shoulders. 7 The shaft[j] of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed 600 shekels.[k] His shield bearer was walking before him.
8 Goliath[l] stood and called to Israel’s troops,[m] “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose[n] for yourselves a man so he may come down[o] to me! 9 If he is able to fight with me and strike me down, we will become your servants. But if I prevail against him and strike him down, you will become our servants and will serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “I defy Israel’s troops this day! Give me a man so we can fight[p] each other!” 11 When Saul and all the Israelites[q] heard these words of the Philistine, they were upset and very afraid.
12 [r] Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse from Bethlehem in Judah. He had eight sons, and in Saul’s days he was old and well advanced in years.[s] 13 Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to war. The names of the[t] three sons who went to war were Eliab, his firstborn, Abinadab, the second oldest; and Shammah, the third oldest. 14 Now David was the youngest. While the three oldest sons followed Saul, 15 David was going back and forth[u] from Saul in order to care for his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.
16 Meanwhile for forty days the Philistine approached every morning and evening and took his position. 17 Jesse said to his son David, “Take your brothers this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread; go quickly[v] to the camp to your brothers. 18 Also take these ten portions of cheese to their commanding officer.[w] Find out how your brothers are doing[x] and bring back their pledge that they received the goods.[y] 19 They are with Saul and the whole Israelite army[z] in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.”
20 So David got up early in the morning and entrusted the flock to someone else who would watch over it.[aa] After loading up, he went just as Jesse had instructed him. He arrived at the camp[ab] as the army was going out to the battle lines shouting its battle cry. 21 Israel and the Philistines drew up their battle lines opposite one another. 22 After David had entrusted his cargo to the care of the supply officer,[ac] he ran to the battlefront. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were doing. 23 As he was speaking with them, the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, was coming up from the battle lines of the Philistines. He spoke the way he usually did,[ad] and David heard it.
The Apostles Perform Miraculous Signs and Wonders
12 Now many miraculous signs[a] and wonders came about among the people through the hands of the apostles. By[b] common consent[c] they were all meeting together in Solomon’s Portico.[d] 13 None of the rest dared to join them,[e] but the people held them in high honor.[f] 14 More and more believers in the Lord were added to their number,[g] crowds of both men and women. 15 Thus[h] they even carried the sick out into the streets, and put them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow would fall on some of them. 16 A crowd of people from the towns around Jerusalem also came together, bringing the sick and those troubled by unclean spirits.[i] They[j] were all[k] being healed.
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.