Scripture Readings

The Season After Pentecost
Proper 7 (12) in Year B
For the Sunday during 19 through 25 June

Scripture readings are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® NIV® ©1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society, used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.

Alternate One:
Old Testament
Psalm

Alternate Two:
Old Testament
Psalm

Epistle Reading
Gospel Reading

Old Testament (Alternate One)

     [Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Socoh in Judah.
     A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.
     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. 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.” Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”
     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. Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and greeted his brothers. 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.]
     David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”
     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.”
     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, 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. 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. 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.”
     Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 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. 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.
     Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”
     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. 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. 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.”
     As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 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.
—1 Samuel 17:(1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49, NIV

—OR—

     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.
     “Whose son are you, young man?” Saul asked him.
     David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”
     After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father’s house. And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.
     Whatever Saul sent him to do, David did it so successfully that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. This pleased all the people, and Saul’s officers as well.
     The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the harp, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand and he hurled it, saying to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice.
     Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David but had left Saul. So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men, and David led the troops in their campaigns. In everything he did he had great success, because the LORD was with him. When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns.
—1 Samuel 17:57-18:5, 10-16, NIV

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Psalm (Alternate One)

The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
     a stronghold in times of trouble.
Those who know your name will trust in you,
     for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion;
     proclaim among the nations what he has done.
For he who avenges blood remembers;
     he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.
O LORD, see how my enemies persecute me!
     Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,
that I may declare your praises
     in the gates of the Daughter of Zion
     and there rejoice in your salvation.
The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
     their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
The LORD is known by his justice;
     the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. Higgaion. Selah
The wicked return to the grave,
     all the nations that forget God.
But the needy will not always be forgotten,
     nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.
Arise, O LORD, let not man triumph;
     let the nations be judged in your presence.
Strike them with terror, O LORD;
     let the nations know they are but men.
—Psalm 9:9-20, NIV

—OR—

How good and pleasant it is
     when brothers live together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on the head,
     running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
     down upon the collar of his robes.
It is as if the dew of Hermon
     were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
     even life forevermore.
—Psalm 133, NIV

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Old Testament (Alternate Two)

Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?
—Job 38:1-11, NIV

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Psalm (Alternate Two)

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
     his love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say this—
     those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
those he gathered from the lands,
     from east and west, from north and south.
Others went out on the sea in ships;
     they were merchants on the mighty waters.
They saw the works of the LORD,
     his wonderful deeds in the deep.
For he spoke and stirred up a tempest
     that lifted high the waves.
They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths;
     in their peril their courage melted away.
They reeled and staggered like drunken men;
     they were at their wits’ end.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
     and he brought them out of their distress.
He stilled the storm to a whisper;
     the waves of the sea were hushed.
They were glad when it grew calm,
     and he guided them to their desired haven.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
     and his wonderful deeds for men.
Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people
     and praise him in the council of the elders.
—Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32, NIV

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Epistle

     As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
     We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
     We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.
—2 Corinthians 6:1-13, NIV

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Gospel

     When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him.
     A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
     At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
     “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’”
     But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
     While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher any more?”
     Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
     He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him.
     After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
—Mark 4:35-41, NIV

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