Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

David Is Anointed

16 Then Yahweh said to Samuel, “How long^[a] will you mourn about Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel! Fill up your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have chosen a king for myself among his sons.” ² But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears, he will kill me.” Yahweh said, “You must take a heifer from the herd with you,^[b] and you must say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh.’ ³ You will invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I will make known to you what you must do. You will anoint for me the one whom I tell you.”

⁴ So Samuel did what Yahweh said. He came to Bethlehem, and the elders of the city came trembling to meet him. They said, “Have you come in peace?”^{[c] 5} He said, “I come in peace. I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” So he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

⁶ When they came,^[d] he^[e] saw Eliab and said, “Surely his anointed one is before Yahweh!” ⁷ But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For God does not see what man sees, for a man looks on the outward appearance,^[f] but Yahweh looks on the heart.”^{[g] 8} Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel, and he said, “This one also Yahweh has not chosen.” ⁹ So Jesse made Shammah pass before Samuel, but he said, “Yahweh also has not chosen this one.” ¹⁰ And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, “Yahweh has not chosen any of these.”

¹¹ Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all the young men here?”^[h] And he said, “The youngest still remains, but look, he is shepherding the flock.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him, for we cannot sit down^[i] until he comes here.” ¹² So he sent and brought him. Now he was ruddy with beautiful eyes and of handsome^[j] appearance. And Yahweh said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” ¹³ So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon David from that day on.^[k] Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah.

Yahweh the Shepherd

A psalm of David.^[a]

⁸ for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live like children of light ⁹ (for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth), ¹⁰ trying to learn what is well-pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹ And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even expose them. ¹² For it is shameful even to speak about the things being done by them in secret, ¹³ but all things exposed by the light are made visible, ¹⁴ for everything made visible is light. Therefore it says,

A Man Born Blind Is Given Sight

9 And as he^[a] went away, he saw a man blind from birth. ² And his disciples asked him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?” ³ Jesus replied, “Neither this man sinned nor his parents, but it happened^[b] so that the works of God could be revealed in him. ⁴ It is necessary for us to do the deeds of the one who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work! ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ⁶ When he^[c] had said these things, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes. ⁷ And he said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated “sent”). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

⁸ Then the neighbors and those who saw him previously (because he was a beggar) began to say,^[d] “Is this man not the one who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Others were saying, “It is this man”; others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” That one was saying, “I am he!” ¹⁰ So they began to say^[e] to him, “How^[f] were your eyes opened?” ¹¹ He replied, “The man who is called Jesus made clay and smeared it^[g] on my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash!’ So I went, and I washed, and^[h] I received sight.” ¹² And they said to him, “Where is that man?” He said, “I do not know.”

The Reaction of the Pharisees to the Healing

¹³ They brought him—the one formerly blind—to the Pharisees. ¹⁴ (Now the day on which Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes was the Sabbath.) ¹⁵ So the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received sight. And he said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” ¹⁶ So some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God, because he does not observe the Sabbath!” Others^[i] were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And there was a division among them. ¹⁷ So they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸ So the Jews did not believe concerning him that he had been blind and received sight, until they summoned the parents of the one^[j] who received sight. ¹⁹ And they asked them, saying, “Is this man your son, whom you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?” ²⁰ So his parents answered and said, “We know that this man is our son, and that he was born blind. ²¹ But how he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. Ask him! He is a mature adult;^[k] he will speak for himself!” ²² (His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already decided that if anyone should confess him to be Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue. ²³ Because of this his parents said, “He is a mature adult;^[l] ask him.”)

²⁴ So they summoned the man who had been blind for the second time and said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner!” ²⁵ Then that man replied, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I know—that although I^[m] was blind, now I see!” ²⁶ So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷ He replied to them, “I told you already and you did not listen! Why do you want to hear it^[n] again? You do not want to become his disciples also, do you?”^{[o] 28} They reviled^[p] him and said, “You are his disciple! But we are disciples of Moses! ²⁹ We know that God has spoken to Moses, but we do not know where this man is from.” ³⁰ The man answered and said to them, “For the remarkable thing is this, that you do not know where he is from, and he opened my eyes! ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if someone is devout and does his will, he listens to this one. ³² From time immemorial^[q] it has not been heard that someone opened the eyes of one born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything!” ³⁴ They answered and said to him, “You were born completely in sin, and are you attempting to teach^[r] us?” And they threw him out.

Jesus as the Son of Man

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” ³⁶ He answered and said, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “You have both seen him, and he is the one who is speaking with you.” [[³⁸ And he said, “I believe, Lord!” and he worshiped him. ³⁹ And Jesus said,]]^[s] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind!” ⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and said to him, “We are not also blind, are we?”^{[t] 41} Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.