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 headlong,
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 bread.
26 All day long (G)he is gracious and lends,
And (H)his [c]descendants are a blessing.
27 (I)Depart from evil and do good,
[d]So you will abide (J)forever.
28 For the Lord (K)loves [e]justice
And (L)does not forsake His godly ones;
They are (M)preserved forever,
But the [f](N)descendants of the wicked will be cut off.
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 cut off, you will see it.
35 I have (AA)seen a wicked, violent man
Spreading himself like a (AB)luxuriant [g]tree in its native soil.
36 Then [h]he passed away, and lo, he (AC)was no more;
I sought for him, but he could not be found.
37 Mark the [i](AD)blameless man, and behold the (AE)upright;
For the man of peace will have a [j](AF)posterity.
38 But transgressors will be altogether (AG)destroyed;
The [k]posterity of the wicked will be (AH)cut off.
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 delivers them;
He (AL)delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
Because they (AM)take refuge in Him.
Saul Publicly Chosen King
17 Thereafter Samuel called the (A)people together to the Lord at Mizpah; 18 and he said to the sons of Israel, “(B)Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the [a]power of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ 19 But you (C)have today rejected your God, who delivers you from all your calamities and your distresses; yet you have [b]said, ‘No, but set a king over us!’ Now therefore, (D)present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.”
20 Thus Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. 21 Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the Matrite family was taken. And Saul the son of Kish was taken; 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?” So the Lord said, “Behold, he is hiding himself by 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, “[c](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 by no one greater, He (B)swore by Himself, 14 saying, “(C)I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.” 15 And so, (D)having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. 16 (E)For men swear by [a]one greater than themselves, and with them (F)an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. 17 [b]In the same way God, desiring even more to show to (G)the heirs of the promise (H)the unchangeableness of His purpose, [c]interposed with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things in which (I)it is impossible for God to lie, we who have [d]taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of (J)the hope set before us. 19 [e]This (K)hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast 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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