Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Psalm.

98 Sing ye unto Jehovah a new song: for he hath done wondrous things; his right hand and his holy arm hath wrought salvation for him.

² Jehovah hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the nations.

³ He hath remembered his loving-kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

⁴ Shout aloud unto Jehovah, all the earth; break forth and shout for joy, and sing psalms.

⁵ Sing psalms unto Jehovah with the harp: with the harp, and the voice of a song;

⁶ With trumpets and sound of cornet, make a joyful noise before the King, Jehovah.

⁷ Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein;

⁸ Let the floods clap [their] hands; let the mountains sing for joy together,

⁹ Before Jehovah, for he cometh to judge the earth: he will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.

³ (Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and they had buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away the necromancers and the soothsayers out of the land.)

⁴ And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa.

⁵ And when Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled.

⁶ And Saul inquired of Jehovah; but Jehovah did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets.

⁷ Then said Saul to his servants, Seek me a woman that has a spirit of Python, that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman who has a spirit of Python at En-dor.

⁸ And Saul disguised himself, and put on other garments, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night; and he said, I pray thee, divine to me by the spirit of Python, and bring me [him] up whom I shall name to thee.

⁹ And the woman said to him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul has done, how he has cut off the necromancers and the soothsayers out of the land; and why layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?

¹⁰ And Saul swore unto her by Jehovah, saying, [As] Jehovah liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.

¹¹ Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up to thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.

¹² And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? Even thou art Saul.

¹³ And the king said to her, Be not afraid; but what didst thou see? And the woman said to Saul, I saw a god ascending out of the earth.

¹⁴ And he said to her, What is his form? And she said, An old man comes up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.

¹⁵ And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul said, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answers me no more, neither by prophets nor by dreams; therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known to me what I shall do.

¹⁶ And Samuel said, Why then dost thou inquire of me, seeing Jehovah is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy?

¹⁷ And Jehovah has done for himself as he spoke by me; and Jehovah has rent the kingdom out of thy hand, and given it to thy neighbour, to David.

¹⁸ Because thou didst not hearken to the voice of Jehovah, and didst not execute his fierce anger upon Amalek, therefore has Jehovah done this thing to thee this day.

¹⁹ And Jehovah will also give Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines; and to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me; the army of Israel also will Jehovah give into the hand of the Philistines.

¹⁸ For there is revealed wrath of God from heaven upon all impiety, and unrighteousness of men holding the truth in unrighteousness.

¹⁹ Because what is known of God is manifest among them, for God has manifested [it] to them,

²⁰ —for from [the] world's creation the invisible things of him are perceived, being apprehended by the mind through the things that are made, both his eternal power and divinity,—so as to render them inexcusable.

²¹ Because, knowing God, they glorified [him] not as God, neither were thankful; but fell into folly in their thoughts, and their heart without understanding was darkened:

²² professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

²³ and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into [the] likeness of an image of corruptible man and of birds and quadrupeds and reptiles.

²⁴ Wherefore God gave them up [also] in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, to dishonour their bodies between themselves:

²⁵ who changed the truth of God into falsehood, and honoured and served the creature more than him who had created [it], who is blessed for ever. Amen.