⁴ So all the Israelite elders got together and went to Samuel at Ramah. ⁵ They said to him, “Listen. You are old now, and your sons don’t follow in your footsteps. So appoint us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.” ⁶ It seemed very bad to Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” so he prayed to the Lord.

⁷ The Lord answered Samuel, “Comply with the people’s request—everything they ask of you—because they haven’t rejected you. No, they’ve rejected me as king over them. ⁸ They are doing to you only what they’ve been doing to me^[a] from the day I brought them out of Egypt to this very minute, abandoning me and worshipping other gods. ⁹ So comply with their request, but give them a clear warning, telling them how the king will rule over them.”^[b]

¹⁰ Then Samuel explained everything the Lord had said to the people who were asking for a king. ¹¹ “This is how the king will rule over you,” Samuel said:

“He will take your sons, and will use them for his chariots and his cavalry and as runners for his chariot.

¹² He will use them as his commanders of troops of one thousand and troops of fifty, or to do his plowing and his harvesting, or to make his weapons or parts for his chariots. ¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, or bakers. ¹⁴ He will take your best fields, vineyards, and olive groves and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ He will give one-tenth of your grain and your vineyards to his officials and servants.

¹⁶ He will take your male and female servants, along with the best of your cattle^[a] and donkeys, and make them do his work. ¹⁷ He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and then you yourselves will become his slaves! ¹⁸ When that day comes, you will cry out because of the king you chose for yourselves, but on that day the Lord won’t answer you.”

¹⁹ But the people refused to listen to Samuel and said, “No! There must be a king over us ²⁰ so we can be like all the other nations. Our king will judge us and lead us and fight our battles.”

¹⁴ “Let’s go to Gilgal,” Samuel told the people, “and renew the monarchy there.” ¹⁵ So everyone went to Gilgal, and there at Gilgal they made Saul king in the Lord’s presence. They offered well-being sacrifices in the Lord’s presence, and Saul and all the Israelites held a great celebration there.

Psalm 138

Of David.

⁸ During that day’s cool evening breeze, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden; and the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God in the middle of the garden’s trees. ⁹ The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ The man^[a] replied, “I heard your sound in the garden; I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

¹¹ He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree, which I commanded you not to eat?”

¹² The man said, “The woman you gave me, she gave me some fruit^[b] from the tree, and I ate.”

¹³ The Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?!”

And the woman said, “The snake tricked me, and I ate.”

¹⁴ The Lord God said to the snake,

¹⁵ I will put contempt

Psalm 130

A pilgrimage song.

¹³ We have the same faithful spirit as what is written in scripture: I had faith, and so I spoke.^[a] We also have faith, and so we also speak. ¹⁴ We do this because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus, and he will bring us into his presence along with you. ¹⁵ All these things are for your benefit. As grace increases to benefit more and more people, it will cause gratitude to increase, which results in God’s glory.

¹⁶ So we aren’t depressed. But even if our bodies are breaking down on the outside, the person that we are on the inside is being renewed every day. ¹⁷ Our temporary minor problems are producing an eternal stockpile of glory for us that is beyond all comparison. ¹⁸ We don’t focus on the things that can be seen but on the things that can’t be seen. The things that can be seen don’t last, but the things that can’t be seen are eternal.

5 We know that if the tent that we live in on earth is torn down, we have a building from God. It’s a house that isn’t handmade, which is eternal and located in heaven.

Misunderstandings about Jesus

²⁰ Jesus entered a house. A crowd gathered again so that it was impossible for him and his followers even to eat. ²¹ When his family heard what was happening, they came to take control of him. They were saying, “He’s out of his mind!”

²² The legal experts came down from Jerusalem. Over and over they charged, “He’s possessed by Beelzebul. He throws out demons with the authority of the ruler of demons.”

²³ When Jesus called them together he spoke to them in a parable: “How can Satan throw Satan out? ²⁴ A kingdom involved in civil war will collapse. ²⁵ And a house torn apart by divisions will collapse. ²⁶ If Satan rebels against himself and is divided, then he can’t endure. He’s done for. ²⁷ No one gets into the house of a strong person and steals anything without first tying up the strong person. Only then can the house be burglarized. ²⁸ I assure you that human beings will be forgiven for everything, for all sins and insults of every kind. ²⁹ But whoever insults the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. That person is guilty of a sin with consequences that last forever.” ³⁰ He said this because the legal experts were saying, “He’s possessed by an evil spirit.”

³¹ His mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside and sent word to him, calling for him. ³² A crowd was seated around him, and those sent to him said, “Look, your mother, brothers, and sisters are outside looking for you.”

³³ He replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” ³⁴ Looking around at those seated around him in a circle, he said, “Look, here are my mother and my brothers. ³⁵ Whoever does God’s will is my brother, sister, and mother.”