Give Thanks to the Lord

Of David.

⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at ^(A)Ramah ⁵ and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. ^(B)Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” ⁶ But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. ⁷ And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, ^(C)for they have not rejected you, ^(D)but they have rejected me from being king over them. ⁸ According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. ⁹ Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them ^(E)and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

Samuel's Warning Against Kings

¹⁰ So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. ¹¹ He said, ^(F)“These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: ^(G)he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. ¹² And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some ^(H)to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. ¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ^14 (I)He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. ¹⁶ He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men^[a] and your donkeys, and put them to his work. ¹⁷ He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. ¹⁸ And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, ^(J)but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

The Lord Grants Israel's Request

¹⁹ But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, ^20 (K)that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

¹⁴ Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingdom.” ¹⁵ So all the people went to ^(A)Gilgal, and there they made Saul king ^(B)before the Lord in Gilgal. There ^(C)they sacrificed peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

¹³ Since we have ^(A)the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, ^(B)“I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, ¹⁴ knowing that ^(C)he who raised the Lord Jesus ^(D)will raise us also with Jesus and ^(E)bring us with you into his presence. ¹⁵ For ^(F)it is all for your sake, so that as ^(G)grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, ^(H)to the glory of God.

¹⁶ So we do not lose heart. ^(I)Though our outer self^[a] is wasting away, ^(J)our inner self ^(K)is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For ^(L)this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ^18 (M)as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Our Heavenly Dwelling

5 For we know that if ^(N)the tent that is ^(O)our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, ^(P)a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

My Soul Waits for the Lord

A Song of ^(A)Ascents.

^29 (A)To one who ^(B)strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic^[a] either. ^30 (C)Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. ³¹ And ^(D)as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.