Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Mem

²³ The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and he delights in his way.

²⁴ Though he falls, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the LORD upholds him with his hand.

Nun

²⁵ I have been young and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

²⁶ He is ever merciful and lends, and his seed is a blessing.

Samech

²⁷ Depart from evil, and do good, and thou shalt live for evermore.

²⁸ For the LORD loves uprightness and does not forsake his merciful ones; they are preserved for ever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.

Ain

²⁹ The righteous shall inherit the earth and live upon it for ever.

Pe

³⁰ The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue brings forth judgment.

³¹ The law of his God is in his heart; therefore none of his steps shall slide.

Tzaddi

³² The wicked watches the righteous and seeks to slay him.

³³ The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.

Koph

³⁴ ¶ Wait on the LORD and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the earth; when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.

Resh

³⁵ I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green bay tree.

³⁶ Yet he passed away, and, behold, he was not: I sought him, but he could not be found.

Schin

³⁷ Mark the perfect, and behold the upright, for the end of each one of them is peace.

³⁸ But the rebels were destroyed all together; the wicked were cut off in the end.

Tau

³⁹ But the salvation of the righteous is the LORD; he is their strength in the time of trouble.

⁴⁰ And the LORD helped them and delivers them; he shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they wait in him.

¹⁷ ¶ And Samuel called the people together unto the LORD to Mizpeh

¹⁸ and said unto the sons of Israel, Thus hath the LORD God of Israel said, I brought up Israel out of Egypt and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all kingdoms and of those that oppressed you.

¹⁹ But ye have this day rejected your God, who saves you out of all your afflictions and your troubles, and ye have said unto him, No, but set a king over us. Now, therefore, present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and by your thousands.

²⁰ And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken.

²¹ When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their lineages, the family of Matri was taken, and from it Saul the son of Kish was taken, and when they sought him, he could not be found.

²² Therefore, they enquired of the LORD further, if the man should yet come there. And the LORD answered, Behold, he has hid himself among the stuff.

²³ And they ran and took him from there, and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.

²⁴ And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the LORD has chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted and said, Long live the king.

²⁵ Then Samuel recited unto the people the rights of the kingdom and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his house.

¹³ For when God promised unto Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself,

¹⁴ saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee and multiplying I will multiply thee.

¹⁵ And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

¹⁶ For men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all controversy.

¹⁷ In which God, desiring to show more abundantly unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath,

¹⁸ that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us,

¹⁹ which we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters even into that which is within the veil,

²⁰ where our precursor, Jesus, has entered for us and is made high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.