Book of Common Prayer

Praise to God for His Everlasting Mercy

A Song of God’s Majesty and Love

^(A)A Praise of David.

Samuel Anoints Saul

10 Then ^(A)Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head, ^(B)and kissed him and said: “Is it not because ^(C)the Lord has anointed you commander over ^(D)His ^[a]inheritance? ² When you have departed from me today, you will find two men by ^(E)Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin ^(F)at Zelzah; and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys which you went to look for have been found. And now your father has ceased caring about the donkeys and is worrying about ^(G)you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?” ’ ³ Then you shall go on forward from there and come to the terebinth tree of Tabor. There three men going up ^(H)to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. ⁴ And they will ^[b]greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall receive from their hands. ⁵ After that you shall come to the hill of God ^(I)where the Philistine garrison is. And it will happen, when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a group of prophets coming down ^(J)from the high place with a stringed instrument, a tambourine, a flute, and a harp before them; ^(K)and they will be prophesying. ⁶ Then ^(L)the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and ^(M)you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. ⁷ And let it be, when these ^(N)signs come to you, that you do as the occasion demands; for ^(O)God is with you. ⁸ You shall go down before me ^(P)to Gilgal; and surely I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices of peace offerings. ^(Q)Seven days you shall wait, till I come to you and show you what you should do.”

⁹ So it was, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, that God ^[c]gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day. ^10 (R)When they came there to the hill, there was ^(S)a group of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. ¹¹ And it happened, when all who knew him formerly saw that he indeed prophesied among the prophets, that the people said to one another, “What is this that has come upon the son of Kish? ^(T)Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹² Then a man from there answered and said, “But ^(U)who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³ And when he had finished prophesying, he went to the high place.

¹⁴ Then Saul’s ^(V)uncle said to him and his servant, “Where did you go?”

So he said, “To look for the donkeys. When we saw that they were nowhere to be found, we went to Samuel.”

¹⁵ And Saul’s uncle said, “Tell me, please, what Samuel said to you.”

¹⁶ So Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys had been ^(W)found.” But about the matter of the kingdom, he did not tell him what Samuel had said.

The Promise Granted Through Faith

¹³ For the promise that he would be the ^(A)heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴ For ^(B)if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, ¹⁵ because ^(C)the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶ Therefore it is of faith that it might be ^(D)according to grace, ^(E)so that the promise might be ^[a]sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, ^(F)who is the father of us all ¹⁷ (as it is written, ^(G)“I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, ^(H)who gives life to the dead and calls those ^(I)things which do not exist as though they did; ¹⁸ who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, ^(J)“So shall your descendants be.” ¹⁹ And not being weak in faith, ^(K)he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), ^(L)and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰ He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, ²¹ and being fully convinced that what He had promised ^(M)He was also able to perform. ²² And therefore ^(N)“it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

²³ Now ^(O)it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, ²⁴ but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe ^(P)in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, ^25 (Q)who was delivered up because of our offenses, and ^(R)was raised because of our justification.

Jesus’ Authority Questioned^(A)

^23 (B)Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and ^(C)said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?”

²⁴ But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: ²⁵ The ^(D)baptism of ^(E)John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?”

And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we ^(F)fear the multitude, ^(G)for all count John as a prophet.” ²⁷ So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.”

And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

The Parable of the Two Sons

²⁸ “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my ^(H)vineyard.’ ²⁹ He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. ³⁰ Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?”

They said to Him, “The first.”

Jesus said to them, ^(I)“Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. ³² For ^(J)John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; ^(K)but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward ^[a]relent and believe him.