1 Samuel 17, Romans 15, Lamentations 2, Psalm 33

1 Samuel 17,

1 Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Socoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah.
 
2 Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines.
 
3 The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.
 
4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall.
 
5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels ;
 
6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back.
 
7 His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.
 
8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me.
 
9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us."
 
10 Then the Philistine said, "This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other."
 
11 On hearing the Philistine's words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
 
12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul's time he was old and well advanced in years.
 
13 Jesse's three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah.
 
14 David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul,
 
15 but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father's sheep at Bethlehem.
 
16 For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.
 
17 Now Jesse said to his son David, "Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp.
 
18 Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them.
 
19 They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines."
 
20 Early in the morning David left the flock with a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry.
 
21 Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other.
 
22 David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and greeted his brothers.
 
23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it.
 
24 When the Israelites saw the man, they all ran from him in great fear.
 
25 Now the Israelites had been saying, "Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his father's family from taxes in Israel."
 
26 David asked the men standing near him, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?"
 
27 They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, "This is what will be done for the man who kills him."
 
28 When Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle."
 
29 "Now what have I done?" said David. "Can't I even speak?"
 
30 He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before.
 
31 What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.
 
32 David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him."
 
33 Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth."
 
34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock,
 
35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.
 
36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.
 
37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you."
 
38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head.
 
39 David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off.
 
40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
 
41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David.
 
42 He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him.
 
43 He said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
 
44 "Come here," he said, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!"
 
45 David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
 
46 This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.
 
47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands."
 
48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.
 
49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
 
50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
 
51 David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine's sword and drew it from the scabbard. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.
 
52 Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.
 
53 When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp.
 
54 David took the Philistine's head and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put the Philistine's weapons in his own tent.
 
55 As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, "Abner, whose son is that young man?" Abner replied, "As surely as you live, O king, I don't know."
 
56 The king said, "Find out whose son this young man is."
 
57 As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine's head.
 
58 "Whose son are you, young man?" Saul asked him. David said, "I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem."
 

Romans 15,

1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
 
2 Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
 
3 For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: "The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me."
 
4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
 
5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus,
 
6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 
7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
 
8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs
 
9 so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name."
 
10 Again, it says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people."
 
11 And again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples."
 
12 And again, Isaiah says, "The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him."
 
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
 
14 I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.
 
15 I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me
 
16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
 
17 Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God.
 
18 I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done-
 
19 by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
 
20 It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation.
 
21 Rather, as it is written: "Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand."
 
22 This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.
 
23 But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to see you,
 
24 I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while.
 
25 Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the saints there.
 
26 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.
 
27 They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews' spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings.
 
28 So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this fruit, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way.
 
29 I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.
 
30 I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.
 
31 Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there,
 
32 so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed.
 
33 The God of peace be with you all. Amen.
 

Lamentations 2,

1 How the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with the cloud of his anger! He has hurled down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.
 
2 Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob; in his wrath he has torn down the strongholds of the Daughter of Judah. He has brought her kingdom and its princes down to the ground in dishonor.
 
3 In fierce anger he has cut off every horn of Israel. He has withdrawn his right hand at the approach of the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it.
 
4 Like an enemy he has strung his bow; his right hand is ready. Like a foe he has slain all who were pleasing to the eye; he has poured out his wrath like fire on the tent of the Daughter of Zion.
 
5 The Lord is like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for the Daughter of Judah.
 
6 He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden; he has destroyed his place of meeting. The LORD has made Zion forget her appointed feasts and her Sabbaths; in his fierce anger he has spurned both king and priest.
 
7 The Lord has rejected his altar and abandoned his sanctuary. He has handed over to the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of an appointed feast.
 
8 The LORD determined to tear down the wall around the Daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withhold his hand from destroying. He made ramparts and walls lament; together they wasted away.
 
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground; their bars he has broken and destroyed. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and her prophets no longer find visions from the LORD.
 
10 The elders of the Daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have sprinkled dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
 
11 My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within, my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.
 
12 They say to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine?" as they faint like wounded men in the streets of the city, as their lives ebb away in their mothers' arms.
 
13 What can I say for you? With what can I compare you, O Daughter of Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, O Virgin Daughter of Zion? Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you?
 
14 The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The oracles they gave you were false and misleading.
 
15 All who pass your way clap their hands at you; they scoff and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: "Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?"
 
16 All your enemies open their mouths wide against you; they scoff and gnash their teeth and say, "We have swallowed her up. This is the day we have waited for; we have lived to see it."
 
17 The LORD has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago. He has overthrown you without pity, he has let the enemy gloat over you, he has exalted the horn of your foes.
 
18 The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. O wall of the Daughter of Zion, let your tears flow like a river day and night; give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest.
 
19 Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at the head of every street.
 
20 "Look, O LORD, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
 
21 "Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; my young men and maidens have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered them without pity.
 
22 "As you summon to a feast day, so you summoned against me terrors on every side. In the day of the LORD's anger no one escaped or survived; those I cared for and reared, my enemy has destroyed."
 

Psalm 33

1 Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
 
2 Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
 
3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.
 
4 For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.
 
5 The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.
 
6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
 
7 He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses.
 
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him.
 
9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
 
10 The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.
 
11 But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.
 
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.
 
13 From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind;
 
14 from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth-
 
15 he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.
 
16 No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength.
 
17 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save.
 
18 But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
 
19 to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.
 
20 We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
 
21 In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.
 
22 May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.