¹⁴ May ^(A)God Almighty^{[a] (B)}grant you mercy before the man, and may he send back your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, ^(C)if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”

¹⁵ So the men took this present, and they took double the money with them, and Benjamin. They arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ^(D)steward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and make ready, for the men are to dine with me at noon.” ¹⁷ The man did as Joseph told him and brought the men to Joseph's house. ¹⁸ And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph's house, and they said, “It is because of the money, which was replaced in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may assault us and fall upon us to make us servants and seize our donkeys.” ¹⁹ So they went up to the steward of Joseph's house and spoke with him at the door of the house, ²⁰ and said, ^(E)“Oh, my lord, ^(F)we came down the first time to buy food. ²¹ And ^(G)when we came to the lodging place we opened our sacks, and there was each man's money in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it again with us, ²² and we have brought other money down with us to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.” ²³ He replied, “Peace to you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you. I received your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴ And when the man had brought the men into Joseph's house and ^(H)given them water, and they had washed their feet, and when he had given their donkeys fodder, ²⁵ they prepared ^(I)the present for Joseph's coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.

²⁶ When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them and ^(J)bowed down to him to the ground. ²⁷ And he inquired about their welfare and said, “Is your father well, the old man ^(K)of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” ²⁸ They said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they ^(L)bowed their heads and prostrated themselves. ²⁹ And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, ^(M)his mother's son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, ^(N)of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son!” ³⁰ Then Joseph hurried out, for ^(O)his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and ^(P)wept there. ³¹ Then he washed his face and came out. And ^(Q)controlling himself he said, “Serve the food.” ³² They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews, for that is ^(R)an abomination to the Egyptians. ³³ And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth. And the men looked at one another in amazement. ^34 (S)Portions were taken to them from Joseph's table, but Benjamin's portion was ^(T)five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry^[b] with him.

⁹ When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day. ¹⁰ When they came to ^(A)Gibeah,^[a] behold, a group of prophets met him, ^(B)and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them. ¹¹ And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has come over the son of Kish? ^(C)Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹² And a man of the place answered, ^(D)“And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, ^(E)“Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³ When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

^14 (F)Saul's uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, ^(G)“To seek the donkeys. And when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.” ¹⁵ And Saul's uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.” ¹⁶ And Saul said to his uncle, ^(H)“He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything.

Saul Proclaimed King

¹⁷ Now Samuel called the people together ^(I)to the Lord ^(J)at Mizpah. ¹⁸ And he said to the people of Israel, ^(K)“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ ^19 (L)But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore ^(M)present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.”

²⁰ Then Samuel ^(N)brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. ²¹ He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot;^[b] and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. ^22 (O)So they inquired again of the Lord, “Is there a man still to come?” and the Lord said, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” ²³ Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, ^(P)he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. ²⁴ And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him ^(Q)whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, ^(R)“Long live the king!”

²⁵ Then Samuel told the people ^(S)the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home. ²⁶ Saul also went to his home ^(T)at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. ²⁷ But some ^(U)worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.

Judgment and Salvation

Lead Me in Your Righteousness

To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

³² “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. ³³ So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, ^(A)at the very gates. ^34 (B)Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ^35 (C)Heaven and earth will pass away, but ^(D)my words will not pass away.

No One Knows That Day and Hour

³⁶ “But concerning that day and hour ^(E)no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, ^(F)nor the Son,^{[a] (G)}but the Father only. ^37 (H)For as were the days of Noah, ^(I)so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ^38 (J)For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, ^(K)marrying and giving in marriage, until ^(L)the day when Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, ^(M)so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰ Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. ^41 (N)Two women will be grinding ^(O)at the mill; one will be taken and one left. ⁴² Therefore, ^(P)stay awake, for you do not know on what day ^(Q)your Lord is coming. ^43 (R)But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night ^(S)the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ Therefore you also must be ^(T)ready, for ^(U)the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Paul Sails for Rome

27 And when it was decided ^(A)that ^(B)we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan ^(C)Cohort named Julius. ² And embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by ^(D)Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. ³ The next day we put in at Sidon. And ^(E)Julius ^(F)treated Paul kindly and ^(G)gave him leave to go to his friends and be cared for. ⁴ And putting out to sea from there we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. ⁵ And when we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia. ⁶ There the centurion found ^(H)a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board. ⁷ We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind did not allow us to go farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone. ⁸ Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.

⁹ Since much time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous because even ^(I)the Fast^[a] was already over, Paul advised them, ¹⁰ saying, “Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with ^(J)injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” ¹¹ But the centurion paid more attention to ^(K)the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. ¹² And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there, on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing both southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.