Book of Common Prayer

Thanksgiving for Jehovah’s saving goodness.

Jehovah extolled for his goodness and power.

A Psalm of praise; of David.

10 Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not that Jehovah hath anointed thee to be prince over his inheritance? ² When thou art departed from me to-day, then thou shalt find two men by Rachel’s sepulchre, in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say unto thee, The asses which thou wentest to seek are found; and, lo, thy father hath left off caring for the asses, and is anxious for you, saying, What shall I do for my son? ³ Then shalt thou go on forward from thence, and thou shalt come to the ^[a]oak of Tabor; and there shall meet thee there three men going up to God to Beth-el, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a ^[b]bottle of wine: ⁴ and they will salute thee, and give thee two loaves of bread, which thou shalt receive of their hand. ⁵ After that thou shalt come to ^[c]the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a timbrel, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they will be prophesying: ⁶ and the Spirit of Jehovah will come mightily upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. ⁷ And ^[d]let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, ^[e]that thou do as occasion shall serve thee; for God is with thee. ⁸ And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and, behold, I will come down unto thee, to offer burnt-offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace-offerings: seven days shalt thou tarry, till I come unto thee, and show thee what thou shalt do.

⁹ And it was so, that, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God ^[f]gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day. ¹⁰ And when they came thither to ^[g]the hill, behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily upon him, and he prophesied among them. ¹¹ And it came to pass, when all that knew him beforetime saw that, behold, he prophesied with the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? ¹² And one of the same place answered and said, And who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets? ¹³ And when he had made an end of prophesying, he came to the high place.

¹⁴ And Saul’s uncle said unto him and to his servant, Whither went ye? And he said, To seek the asses; and when we saw that they were not found, we came to Samuel. ¹⁵ And Saul’s uncle said, Tell me, I pray thee, what Samuel said unto you. ¹⁶ And Saul said unto his uncle, He told us plainly that the asses were found. But concerning the matter of the kingdom, whereof Samuel spake, he told him not.

¹³ For not ^[a]through the law was the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he should be heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴ For if they that are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of none effect: ¹⁵ for the law worketh wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there transgression. ¹⁶ For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace; to the end that the promise may be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all ¹⁷ (as it is written, ^[b]A father of many nations have I made thee) before him whom he believed, even God, who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were. ¹⁸ Who in hope believed against hope, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, ^[c]So shall thy seed be. ¹⁹ And without being weakened in faith he considered his own body ^[d]now as good as dead (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s ^[e]womb; ²⁰ yet, looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, ²¹ and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. ²² Wherefore also it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. ²³ Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was reckoned unto him; ²⁴ but for our sake also, unto whom it shall be reckoned, who believe on him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵ who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.

²³ And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? ²⁴ And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one ^[a]question, which if ye tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. ²⁵ The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven or from men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why then did ye not believe him? ²⁶ But if we shall say, From men; we fear the multitude; for all hold John as a prophet. ²⁷ And they answered Jesus, and said, We know not. He also said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. ²⁸ But what think ye? A man had two ^[b]sons; and he came to the first, and said, ^[c]Son, go work to-day in the vineyard. ²⁹ And he answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented himself, and went. ³⁰ And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father? They say, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the ^[d]publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. ³² For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the ^[e]publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye saw it, did not even repent yourselves afterward, that ye might believe him.