Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
23 (A)The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
And He (B)delights in his way.
24 When (C)he falls, he will not be hurled down,
Because (D)the Lord is the One [a]who holds his hand.
25 I have been young and now I am old,
Yet (E)I have not seen the righteous forsaken
Or (F)his [b]descendants begging for bread.
26 All day long (G)he is gracious and lends,
And (H)his [c]descendants are a blessing.
27 (I)Turn from evil and do good,
So that you will dwell (J)forever.
28 For the Lord (K)loves [d]justice
And (L)does not abandon His godly ones;
They are (M)protected forever,
But the [e](N)descendants of the wicked will be eliminated.
29 The righteous will (O)inherit the land
And (P)dwell in it forever.
30 The mouth of the righteous (Q)utters wisdom,
And his tongue (R)speaks justice.
31 The (S)Law of his God is in his heart;
His (T)steps do not slip.
32 The (U)wicked spies upon the righteous
And (V)seeks to kill him.
33 The Lord will (W)not leave him in his hand
Or (X)let him be condemned when he is judged.
34 (Y)Wait for the Lord and keep His way,
And He will exalt you to inherit the land;
When the (Z)wicked are eliminated, you will see it.
35 I have (AA)seen a wicked, violent person
Spreading himself like a (AB)luxuriant [f]tree in its native soil.
36 Then he passed away, and behold, he (AC)was no more;
I searched for him, but he could not be found.
37 Observe the [g](AD)blameless person, and look at the (AE)upright;
For the person of peace will have (AF)a future.
38 But wrongdoers will altogether be (AG)destroyed;
The future of the wicked will be (AH)eliminated.
39 But the (AI)salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
He is their strength (AJ)in time of trouble.
40 (AK)The Lord helps them and rescues them;
He (AL)rescues them from the wicked and saves them,
Because they (AM)take refuge in Him.
Saul Publicly Chosen King
17 Now Samuel called the (A)people together to the Lord at Mizpah; 18 and he said to the sons of Israel, “(B)This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the [a]power of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ 19 But today you (C)have rejected your God, who saves you from all your catastrophes and your distresses; yet you have [b]said, ‘No, but put a king over us!’ Now then, (D)present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your [c]groups of thousands.”
20 So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel forward; and the tribe of Benjamin was selected by lot. 21 Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin forward by its families, and the Matrite family was selected by lot. And Saul the son of Kish was selected by lot; but when they looked for him, he could not be found. 22 Therefore (E)they inquired further of the Lord: “Has the man come here yet?” And the Lord said, “Behold, he is hiding himself among the baggage.” 23 So they ran and took him from there, and when he stood among the people, (F)he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. 24 Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him (G)whom the Lord has chosen? Surely there is no one like him among all the people.” So all the people shouted and said, “[d](H)Long live the king!”
25 Then Samuel told the people (I)the ordinances of the kingdom, and wrote them in the book, and (J)placed it before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his house.
13 For (A)when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear an oath by no one greater, He (B)swore by Himself, 14 saying, “(C)indeed I will greatly bless you and I will greatly multiply you.” 15 And so, (D)having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. 16 (E)For people swear an oath by [a]one greater than themselves, and with them (F)an oath serving as confirmation is an end of every dispute. 17 [b]In the same way God, desiring even more to demonstrate to (G)the heirs of the promise [c](H)the fact that His purpose is unchangeable, [d]confirmed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things in which (I)it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to hold firmly to (J)the hope set before us. 19 [e]This (K)hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and reliable and one which (L)enters [f]within the veil, 20 (M)where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a (N)high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
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