Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
David's prayer.
A prayer for help
86 Lord, please listen to me,
and answer me!
I am weak and I need help.
2 I am your faithful servant,
so keep my life safe!
Please save me, my God,
for I trust in you.
3 My Lord, be kind to me.
All through the day,
I am calling to you for help.
4 Please make me happy deep inside,
for you are the one that I pray to, my Lord.
5 Yes, my Lord, you are very kind,
and you are ready to forgive people.
When anyone calls to you for help,
you love them with your faithful love.
6 Lord, hear my prayer!
Please listen when I call to you for help.
7 Whenever trouble comes to me,
I will pray to you.
I know that you will answer me.
8 There is no one like you, my Lord,
among all the gods.
Nobody can do the great things that you do.
9 You have made all the nations of the world,
and they will all come to worship you, my Lord.
They will agree that your name is great.
10 For you are great and you do great things.
You alone are God.
11 Lord, teach me how I should live.
Then I will obey your truth.
Teach me to serve you with all that I am,
so that I respect you with fear.
12 My Lord and my God,
I will thank you with all my strength.
I will praise your name for ever!
13 I know that you love me very much
with your faithful love.
You will continue to keep my life safe,
so that I do not go down into the deep hole of death.
14 God, proud people are attacking me.
Cruel men have joined together to kill me.
They do not respect you at all.
15 But you, my Lord, are a kind God
who forgives people.
You do not quickly become angry,
and your faithful love is very great.
We can always trust you
to do what you have promised.
16 Turn to me and be kind to me.
I am your servant, so make me strong.
Please rescue your slave!
17 Help me, so that I know you are pleased with me.
Then my enemies will see it,
and they will be ashamed.
They will know that you, Lord,
have helped me and comforted me.
Samuel tells Saul God's message
10 Then the Lord gave this message to Samuel: 11 ‘I am sorry that I chose Saul to be king. He has turned away from me. He has not obeyed my commands.’
When Samuel heard that, he was very upset. He prayed aloud to the Lord all that night.
12 Samuel got up early the next morning. He went to meet Saul. Someone told Samuel, ‘Saul went to Carmel. He has put up a tall stone to give himself honour. Now he has left there and he has gone to Gilgal.’
13 Samuel went and he found Saul. Saul said to Samuel, ‘I pray that the Lord will bless you. I have obeyed the Lord's command.’ 14 But Samuel said, ‘If that is true, why can I hear the noise of sheep and cows?’
15 Saul answered, ‘My soldiers took them from the Amalekites. They saved the best sheep and cows. They will offer them to the Lord your God as sacrifices. We killed all the other animals.’
16 Samuel said to Saul, ‘Listen to me! I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.’ Saul said, ‘Tell me.’
17 Samuel said, ‘At one time, you thought that you were not an important person. Now you have become the leader of all the tribes of Israel. The Lord chose you to be king of Israel. 18 He gave you a job to do. He told you, “Go and kill all those wicked Amalekites. Fight against them until you have destroyed them all.” 19 Why did you not obey the Lord? Instead you have been greedy. You have hurried to take things for yourself. You have done something evil that does not please the Lord.’
20 Saul said to Samuel, ‘I did obey the Lord! I did the job that the Lord told me to do. I killed all the Amalekites and I brought back Agag, their king. 21 But the army did not kill all the sheep and cows that they took from the Amalekites. They brought the best animals to offer as a sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.’
22 But Samuel said, ‘What makes the Lord happy? Which is better? Is he more pleased when people offer burnt offerings and sacrifices to him? Or is he more pleased when people obey him? Listen! It is better to obey the Lord than to offer sacrifices to him. That is true even if you offer to him the best animals that you have.
23 You have turned against God. That is worse than using magic. You think that you know what is right better than God does. That is as bad as worshipping idols. You decided not to obey the Lord's command. Now the Lord has decided that you will not be king any longer.’
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, ‘It is true, I have done a bad thing. I did not obey the Lord's command. I did not do what you told me to do. I was afraid of the army. I agreed to do what they wanted. 25 Please forgive my sin. Return with me so that I can worship the Lord.’
26 But Samuel said to Saul, ‘I will not return with you. You refused to obey the Lord's command. So now the Lord has decided that you will no longer be king of Israel.’
27 Samuel turned away to leave Saul. But Saul pulled the edge of Samuel's coat and it tore. 28 Samuel said to him, ‘The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you today. He has given it to a man who is better than you. 29 The great God who rules over Israel always does what he says he will do. He does not change his mind. People may change their minds, but he does not!’
30 Saul said again, ‘I have done a bad thing. But please show Israel's leaders and people that you respect me. Please return with me so that I can worship the Lord your God.’
31 So Samuel went back with Saul. Saul worshipped the Lord.
Ananias and Sapphira
5 But there was a man called Ananias among the group of believers. His wife was called Sapphira. Together they sold one of their fields. 2 Ananias gave part of the money that he received to the apostles. But he kept part of the money for himself. Sapphira knew all about what Ananias had done.[a]
3 Peter said to Ananias, ‘Ananias, Satan wanted you to tell a lie and you have obeyed him. You have told a lie to the Holy Spirit. That is a bad thing to do! You sold your field, but you did not give us all the money. You kept part of it for yourselves.[b] 4 Before you sold the field, it belonged to you. And after you sold the field, the money was yours. You could choose what to do with it. But you chose to do a very bad thing. You did not only tell a lie to us men. You have told a lie to God.’
5 As soon as he heard Peter say this, Ananias fell down and he died. When people heard what had happened, they were all very afraid. 6 Some young men came into the room. They put cloths around Ananias's dead body and they carried it outside. Then they buried it.
7 About three hours later, Ananias's wife, Sapphira, came into the room. She did not know what had happened to her husband. 8 Peter asked Sapphira, ‘Was this all the money that you and your husband received for your field?’ ‘Yes,’ Sapphira answered. ‘That was all the money that we received.’
9 Peter said to her, ‘It was wrong for you and your husband to do this bad thing. You agreed together to tell a lie to the Holy Spirit of the Lord God. Listen! The men who have just buried your husband are at the door again now. They will carry your body out too.’
10 Immediately, Sapphira fell down in front of Peter and she died. Then the young men came into the room. They saw that Sapphira was dead. So they carried her outside and they buried her body next to her husband. 11 The whole group of believers, and many other people, heard about what had happened to Ananias and Sapphira. They were all very afraid.
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