Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
10 I thought that in the prime of my life
I would go down to the gates of Sheol
and be robbed of the rest of my life.
11 I thought that I wouldn’t see the Lord in this world.
Even with all the people in the world,
I thought I would never see another person.
12 My life was over.
You rolled it up like a shepherd’s tent.
You rolled up my life like a weaver.
You cut me off from the loom.
You ended my life in one day.
13 I cried out until morning
as if a lion had crushed all my bones.
You ended my life in one day.
14 I chirped like swallows and cranes.
I cooed like doves.
My eyes were tired from looking up to heaven.
I’ve suffered miserably, O Lord!
Please help me!
15 What can I say now that he has spoken to me?
He has done this.
I will be careful the rest of my life because of my bitter experience.
16 Lord, people live in spite of such things,
and I have the will to live in spite of them.
You give me health and keep me alive.
17 Now my bitter experience turns into peace.
You have saved me and kept me from the rotting pit.
You have thrown all my sins behind you.
18 Sheol doesn’t thank you!
Death doesn’t praise you!
Those who go down to the pit cannot expect you to be faithful.
19 Those who are living praise you as I do today.
Fathers make your faithfulness known to their children.
20 The Lord is going to rescue me,
so let us play stringed instruments.
We live our lives in the Lord’s temple.
9 The Philistines came, camped in Judah, and overran Lehi. 10 The men of Judah asked, “Why did you come to fight us?”
The Philistines answered, “We’ve come to tie up Samson and do to him what he did to us.”
11 So 3,000 men from Judah went to the cave in the cliff at Etam. They said to Samson, “Don’t you know that the Philistines rule us? Why have you done this to us?”
Samson replied, “I did to them what they did to me.”
12 So the men from Judah told him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.”
Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you won’t harm me yourselves.”
13 They told him, “We promise we’ll only tie you up and hand you over to them. We certainly won’t kill you.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him back from the cliff.
14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines met him with shouts ⌞of triumph⌟. But the Lord’s Spirit came over him. The ropes on his arms became like strings burned in a fire, and those on his hands snapped.
15 Samson found the jawbone from a donkey that had just died. He picked it up and killed 1,000 men with it. 16 Then Samson said,
“With a jawbone from a donkey,
I’ve made two piles of them.
With a jawbone from a donkey,
I’ve killed a thousand men.”
17 When he finished saying this, he threw the jawbone away. He called that place Ramath Lehi [Jawbone Hill].
18 Samson was very thirsty. So he called out to the Lord and said, “You have given me this great victory. But now I’ll die from thirst and fall into the power of godless men.”
19 So God split open the hollow place at Lehi, and water gushed out. Samson drank some water. Then he was refreshed and revived. So he called the place En Hakkore [Spring of the One Who Calls Out]. It is still there at Lehi today.
20 Samson judged Israel for 20 years during the time of the Philistines.
Jesus Cures a Demon-Possessed Boy(A)
14 When they came to a crowd, a man came up to Jesus, knelt in front of him, 15 and said, “Sir, have mercy on my son. He suffers from seizures. Often he falls into fire or water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t cure him.”
17 Jesus replied, “You unbelieving and corrupt generation! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me!”
18 Jesus ordered the demon to come out of the boy. At that moment the boy was cured.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and asked, “Why couldn’t we force the demon out of the boy?”
20 He told them, “Because you have so little faith. I can guarantee this truth: If your faith is the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” [a]
Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.