Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
23 The steps of good men are directed by the Lord. He delights in each step they take. 24 If they fall, it isn’t fatal, for the Lord holds them with his hand.
25 I have been young and now I am old. And in all my years I have never seen the Lord forsake a man who loves him; nor have I seen the children of the godly go hungry. 26 Instead, the godly are able to be generous with their gifts and loans to others, and their children are a blessing.
27 So if you want an eternal home, leave your evil, low-down ways and live good lives. 28 For the Lord loves justice and fairness; he will never abandon his people. They will be kept safe forever; but all who love wickedness shall perish.
29 The godly shall be firmly planted in the land and live there forever. 30-31 The godly man is a good counselor because he is just and fair and knows right from wrong.
32 Evil men spy on the godly, waiting for an excuse to accuse them and then demanding their death. 33 But the Lord will not let these evil men succeed, nor let the godly be condemned when they are brought before the judge.
34 Don’t be impatient for the Lord to act! Keep traveling steadily along his pathway and in due season he will honor you with every blessing,[a] and you will see the wicked destroyed. 35-36 I myself have seen it happen: a proud and evil man, towering like a cedar of Lebanon, but when I looked again, he was gone! I searched but could not find him! 37 But the good man—what a different story! For the good man—the blameless, the upright, the man of peace—he has a wonderful future ahead of him. For him there is a happy ending. 38 But evil men shall be destroyed, and their posterity shall be cut off.
39 The Lord saves the godly! He is their salvation and their refuge when trouble comes. 40 Because they trust in him, he helps them and delivers them from the plots of evil men.
12 Then Samuel addressed the people again:
“Look,” he said, “I have done as you asked. I have given you a king. 2 I have selected him ahead of my own sons and now I stand here, an old, gray-haired man who has been in public service from the time he was a lad. 3 Now tell me as I stand before the Lord and before his anointed king—whose ox or donkey have I stolen? Have I ever defrauded you? Have I ever oppressed you? Have I ever taken a bribe? Tell me and I will make right whatever I have done wrong.”
4 “No,” they replied, “you have never defrauded or oppressed us in any way and you have never taken even one single bribe.”
5 “The Lord and his anointed king are my witnesses,” Samuel declared, “that you can never accuse me of robbing you.”
“Yes, it is true,” they replied.
6 “It was the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron,” Samuel continued. “He brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt.
7 “Now stand here quietly before the Lord as I remind you of all the good things he has done for you and for your ancestors:
8 “When the Israelites were in Egypt and cried out to the Lord, he sent Moses and Aaron to bring them into this land. 9 But they soon forgot about the Lord their God, so he let them be conquered by Sisera, the general of King Hazor’s army, and by the Philistines and the king of Moab.
10 “Then they cried to the Lord again and confessed that they had sinned by turning away from him and worshiping the Baal and Ashtaroth idols. And they pleaded, ‘We will worship you and you alone if you will only rescue us from our enemies.’ 11 Then the Lord sent Gideon, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel to save you, and you lived in safety.
12 “But when you were afraid of Nahash, the king of Ammon, you came to me and said that you wanted a king to reign over you. But the Lord your God was already your King, for he has always been your King. 13 All right, here is the king you have chosen. Look him over. You have asked for him, and the Lord has answered your request.
14 “Now if you will fear and worship the Lord, and listen to his commandments and not rebel against the Lord, and if both you and your king follow the Lord your God, then all will be well. 15 But if you rebel against the Lord’s commandments and refuse to listen to him, then his hand will be as heavy upon you as it was upon your ancestors.
16 “Now watch as the Lord does great miracles. 17 You know that it does not rain at this time of the year, during the wheat harvest; I will pray for the Lord to send thunder and rain today, so that you will realize the extent of your wickedness in asking for a king!”
18 So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain; and all the people were very much afraid of the Lord and of Samuel.
19 “Pray for us lest we die!” they cried out to Samuel. “For now we have added to all our other sins by asking for a king.”
20 “Don’t be frightened,” Samuel reassured them. “You have certainly done wrong, but make sure now that you worship the Lord with true enthusiasm, and that you don’t turn your back on him in any way. 21 Other gods can’t help you. 22 The Lord will not abandon his chosen people, for that would dishonor his great name. He made you a special nation for himself—just because he wanted to!
23 “As for me, I will certainly not sin against the Lord by ending my prayers for you; and I will continue to teach you those things which are good and right.
24 “Trust the Lord and sincerely worship him; think of all the tremendous things he has done for you. 25 But if you continue to sin, you and your king will be destroyed.”
13 1-3 Jesus knew on the evening of Passover Day that it would be his last night on earth before returning to his Father. During supper the devil had already suggested to Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that this was the night to carry out his plan to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given him everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. And how he loved his disciples! 4 So he got up from the supper table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his loins,[a] 5 poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he had around him.
6 When he came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Master, you shouldn’t be washing our feet like this!”
7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now why I am doing it; some day you will.”
8 “No,” Peter protested, “you shall never wash my feet!”
“But if I don’t, you can’t be my partner,” Jesus replied.
9 Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well—not just my feet!”
10 Jesus replied, “One who has bathed all over needs only to have his feet washed to be entirely clean. Now you are clean—but that isn’t true of everyone here.” 11 For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 After washing their feet he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? 13 You call me ‘Master’ and ‘Lord,’ and you do well to say it, for it is true. 14 And since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow: do as I have done to you. 16 How true it is that a servant is not greater than his master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends him. 17 You know these things—now do them! That is the path of blessing.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.