Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Saul Proclaimed King

¹⁷ Now Samuel called the people together ^(A)to the Lord ^(B)at Mizpah. ¹⁸ And he said to the people of Israel, ^(C)“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ ^19 (D)But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore ^(E)present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.”

²⁰ Then Samuel ^(F)brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. ²¹ He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot;^[a] and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. ^22 (G)So they enquired again of the Lord, “Is there a man still to come?” and the Lord said, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” ²³ Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, ^(H)he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upwards. ²⁴ And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him ^(I)whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, ^(J)“Long live the king!”

²⁵ Then Samuel told the people ^(K)the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home.

The Certainty of God's Promise

¹³ For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, ^(A)he swore by himself, ¹⁴ saying, ^(B)“Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” ¹⁵ And thus Abraham,^{[a] (C)}having patiently waited, obtained the promise. ¹⁶ For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes ^(D)an oath is final for confirmation. ¹⁷ So when God desired to show more convincingly to ^(E)the heirs of the promise ^(F)the unchangeable character of his purpose, ^(G)he guaranteed it with an oath, ¹⁸ so that by two unchangeable things, in which ^(H)it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope ^(I)set before us. ¹⁹ We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into ^(J)the inner place behind the curtain, ²⁰ where Jesus has gone ^(K)as a forerunner on our behalf, ^(L)having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.