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Psalm 18

1  I love you, O Lord my strength. ♦︎
   The Lord is my crag, my fortress and my deliverer,
2  My God, my rock in whom I take refuge, ♦︎
   my shield, the horn of my salvation and my stronghold.
3  I cried to the Lord in my anguish ♦︎
   and I was saved from my enemies.
4  The cords of death entwined me ♦︎
   and the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
5  The cords of the Pit fastened about me ♦︎
   and the snares of death entangled me.
6  In my distress I called upon the Lord ♦︎
   and cried out to my God for help.
44  You will deliver me from the strife of the peoples; ♦︎
   you will make me the head of the nations.
45  A people I have not known shall serve me;
      as soon as they hear me, they shall obey me; ♦︎
   strangers will humble themselves before me.
46  The foreign peoples will lose heart ♦︎
   and come trembling out of their strongholds.
47  The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock! ♦︎
   Praised be the God of my salvation,
48  Even the God who vindicates me ♦︎
   and subdues the peoples under me!
49  You that deliver me from my enemies,
      you will set me up above my foes; ♦︎
   from the violent you will deliver me;
50  Therefore will I give you thanks, O Lord, among the nations ♦︎
   and sing praises to your name,
51  To the one who gives great victory to his king ♦︎
   and shows faithful love to his anointed,
      to David and his seed for ever.

Death of Saul and His Sons

10Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines, and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. ²The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchishua, sons of Saul. ³The battle pressed hard on Saul; and the archers found him, and he was wounded by the archers. ⁴Then Saul said to his armour-bearer, ‘Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, so that these uncircumcised may not come and make sport of me.’ But his armour-bearer was unwilling, for he was terrified. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. ⁵When his armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died. ⁶Thus Saul died; he and his three sons and all his house died together. ⁷When all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that the army^* had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their towns and fled; and the Philistines came and occupied them.

8 The next day when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹They stripped him and took his head and his armour, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to their idols and to the people. ¹⁰They put his armour in the temple of their gods, and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon. ¹¹But when all Jabesh-gilead heard everything that the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹²all the valiant warriors got up and took away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh. Then they buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted for seven days.

13 So Saul died for his unfaithfulness; he was unfaithful to the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord; moreover, he had consulted a medium, seeking guidance, ¹⁴and did not seek guidance from the Lord. Therefore the Lord ^* put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.

The Healing of a Boy with a Spirit

14 When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵When the whole crowd saw him, they were immediately overcome with awe, and they ran forward to greet him. ¹⁶He asked them, ‘What are you arguing about with them?’ ¹⁷Someone from the crowd answered him, ‘Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; ¹⁸and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.’ ¹⁹He answered them, ‘You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.’ ²⁰And they brought the boy^* to him. When the spirit saw him, immediately it threw the boy^* into convulsions, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. ²¹Jesus^* asked the father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ And he said, ‘From childhood. ²²It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.’ ²³Jesus said to him, ‘If you are able!—All things can be done for the one who believes.’ ²⁴Immediately the father of the child cried out,^* ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’ ²⁵When Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ‘You spirit that keep this boy from speaking and hearing, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!’ ²⁶After crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’ ²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he was able to stand. ²⁸When he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ ²⁹He said to them, ‘This kind can come out only through prayer.’^*