Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
95 Come, let’s sing to Adonai!
Let’s shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation!
2 Let’s come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let’s shout for joy to him with songs of praise.
3 For Adonai is a great God,
a great king greater than all gods.
4 He holds the depths of the earth in his hands;
the mountain peaks too belong to him.
5 The sea is his — he made it —
and his hands shaped the dry land.
6 Come, let’s bow down and worship;
let’s kneel before Adonai who made us.
7 For he is our God, and we are the people
in his pasture, the sheep in his care.
If only today you would listen to his voice:
8 “Don’t harden your hearts, as you did at M’rivah,
as you did on that day at Massah in the desert,
9 when your fathers put me to the test;
they challenged me, even though they saw my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation;
I said, ‘This is a people whose hearts go astray,
they don’t understand how I do things.’
11 Therefore I swore in my anger
that they would not enter my rest.”
16 Adonai said to Sh’mu’el, “How much longer are you going to go on grieving for Sha’ul, now that I have rejected him as king over Isra’el? Fill your horn with oil, and set out; I will send you to Yishai the Beit-Lachmi, because I have chosen myself a king from among his sons.” 2 Sh’mu’el said, “How can I go? If Sha’ul hears of it, he will have me killed.” Adonai said, “Take a female cow with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to Adonai.’ 3 Summon Yishai to the sacrifice. I will tell you what to do, and you are to anoint for me the person I point out to you.”
4 Sh’mu’el did what Adonai said and arrived at Beit-Lechem. The leaders of the city came trembling to meet him and asked, “Are you coming in peace?” 5 He answered, “In peace. I have come to sacrifice to Adonai. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” He consecrated Yishai and his sons and summoned them to the sacrifice. 6 When they had come, he looked at Eli’av and said, “This has to be Adonai’s anointed one, here before him.” 7 But Adonai said to Sh’mu’el, “Don’t pay attention to how he looks or how tall he is, because I have rejected him. Adonai doesn’t see the way humans see — humans look at the outward appearance, but Adonai looks at the heart.” 8 Then Yishai called Avinadav and presented him to Sh’mu’el; but he said, “Adonai hasn’t chosen this one either.” 9 Yishai presented Shammah; again Sh’mu’el said, “Adonai hasn’t chosen this one either.” 10 Yishai presented seven of his sons to Sh’mu’el; but Sh’mu’el told Yishai, “Adonai has not chosen these. 11 Are all your sons here?” Sh’mu’el asked Yishai. He replied, “There is still the youngest; he’s out there tending the sheep.” Sh’mu’el said to Yishai, “Send and bring him back, because we won’t sit down to eat until he gets here.” 12 He sent and brought him in. With ruddy cheeks, red hair and bright eyes, he was a good-looking fellow. Adonai said, “Stand up and anoint him; he’s the one.” 13 Sh’mu’el took the horn of oil and anointed him there in his brothers’ presence. From that day on, the Spirit of Adonai would fall upon David with power. So Sh’mu’el set out and went to Ramah.
5 Therefore, I urge the congregation leaders among you, as a fellow-leader and witness to the Messiah’s sufferings, as well as a sharer in the glory to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is in your care, exercising oversight not out of constraint, but willingly, as God wants; and not out of a desire for dishonest gain, but with enthusiasm; 3 also not as machers domineering over those in your care, but as people who become examples to the flock. 4 Then, when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive glory as your unfading crown.
5 Likewise, you who are less experienced, submit to leaders. Further, all of you should clothe yourselves in humility toward one another, because
God opposes the arrogant,
but to the humble he gives grace.[a]
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.