Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Creation Rejoices in His Salvation
Psalm 98
1 A psalm.
Sing to Adonai a new song,
for He has done marvelous things.
His right hand and His holy arm
have won victory for Him.
2 Adonai has made His salvation known.
He has revealed His righteousness before the eyes of the nations.
3 He has remembered His lovingkindness,
His faithfulness to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Shout joyfully to Adonai, all the earth.
Break forth, sing for joy, and sing praises.
5 Sing praises to Adonai with the harp,
with the harp and a voice of melody.
6 With trumpets and sound of the shofar
blast a sound before the King, Adonai.
7 Let the sea roar and all within it,
the world and those who dwell in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
let the mountains sing for joy together—
9 before Adonai, for He is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness
and the peoples with fairness.
3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented him and buried him in Ramah, his hometown. Saul had removed from the land those who were mediums and spiritists.
4 So the Philistines mustered and came and camped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together and they camped at Gilboa. 5 Now when Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. 6 When Saul inquired of Adonai, Adonai did not answer, neither by dreams nor by Urim or prophets.
7 Then Saul said to his courtiers, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go to her and inquire through her.” So his courtiers said to him, “Behold, there is a woman that is a medium at En-dor.” 8 So Saul disguised himself, put on other clothes, and went with two other men, and they reached the woman by night. Then he said, “Please conjure up for me a ghost—bring up for me the one I will name to you.”
9 “Look, you know what Saul has done,” she said, “how he has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. So why then are you setting a trap for my life to get me killed?”
10 Saul vowed to her by Adonai saying, “As Adonai lives, no punishment will come on you for this thing.”
11 “Whom will I bring up for you?” the woman asked.
“Bring me up Samuel,” he said.
12 But when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud shriek. Then the woman spoke to Saul saying, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”
13 “Don’t be afraid!” the king said to her. “What do you see?”
The woman said to Saul, “I see a godlike being coming up from the earth.”
14 “What does he look like?” he asked her.
“An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped with a robe,” she said.
Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, so he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. 15 Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”
“I’m in great distress,” Saul answered. “The Philistines are waging war against me, and God has turned away from me—He doesn’t answer me anymore, whether by prophets or by dreams. So I called you up to tell me what I should do.”
16 Samuel said, “So why ask me, since Adonai has turned away from you and become your adversary? 17 Now Adonai has done for Himself just as He foretold through me—Adonai has torn the kingship out of your hand and has given it to another fellow, to David. 18 Since you did not obey the voice of Adonai and did not execute His fierce wrath on Amalek, so Adonai has done this to you today. 19 Moreover, Adonai will also give the Israelites who are with you into the hand of the Philistines. Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me! Yes, Adonai will give the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”
Yet All Are Guilty
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. In unrighteousness they suppress the truth, 19 because what can be known about God is plain to them—for God has shown it to them. 20 His invisible attributes—His eternal power and His divine nature—have been clearly seen ever since the creation of the world, being understood through the things that have been made.[a] So people are without excuse— 21 for even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. Instead, their thinking became futile, and their senseless hearts were made dark. [b] 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools. 23 They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image in the form of mortal man and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things.[c]
24 Therefore God gave them over in the evil desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies with one another. 25 They traded the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.