⁴ So all the elders of Israel gathered together and went to Samuel at Ramah.^{(A) 5} They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have.”^(B)

⁶ When they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” Samuel considered their demand wrong, so he prayed to the Lord. ⁷ But the Lord told him, “Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have not rejected you; they have rejected me as their king.^{(C) 8} They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to me,^[a] since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, abandoning me and worshiping other gods. ⁹ Listen to them, but solemnly warn them^(D) and tell them about the customary rights of the king who will reign over them.”

Psalm 24

The King of Glory

A psalm of David.

The Lord and His Sheep

23 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” ^(A) This is the Lord’s declaration. ² “Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend my people: You have scattered my flock,^(B) banished them, and have not attended to them.^(C) I am about to attend to you because of your evil acts”—this is the Lord’s declaration. ³ “I will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I have banished them,^(D) and I will return them to their grazing land. They will become fruitful and numerous.^{(E) 4} I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them.^(F) They will no longer be afraid or discouraged, nor will any be missing.”^(G) This is the Lord’s declaration.

The Righteous Branch of David

The Triumphal Entry

21 When they approached Jerusalem^(A) and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives,^(B) Jesus then sent two disciples, ² telling them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied there with her colt. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once.”

⁴ This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:

⁶ The disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt; then they laid their clothes on them, and he sat on them. ⁸ A very large crowd spread their clothes on the road; others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. ⁹ Then the crowds who went ahead of him and those who followed shouted:

¹² Fight the good fight^(A) of the faith. Take hold of eternal life^(B) to which you were called and about which you have made a good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ In the presence of God, who gives life to all,^(C) and of Christ Jesus, who gave a good confession before Pontius Pilate,^(D) I charge you ¹⁴ to keep this command without fault or failure until the appearing^(E) of our Lord^(F) Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ God will bring this about in his own time.^(G) He is the blessed and only^(H) Sovereign, the King of kings,^(I) and the Lord of lords,^{(J) 16} who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light,^(K) whom no one has seen or can see,^(L) to him be honor and eternal power.^(M) Amen.^(N)