Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 95[a]
A Call to Praise and Obedience
I
1 Come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord;
cry out to the rock of our salvation.(A)
2 Let us come before him with a song of praise,
joyfully sing out our psalms.
3 For the Lord is the great God,
the great king over all gods,(B)
4 Whose hand holds the depths of the earth;
who owns the tops of the mountains.
5 The sea and dry land belong to God,
who made them, formed them by hand.(C)
II
6 Enter, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the Lord who made us.
7 For he is our God,
we are the people he shepherds,
the sheep in his hands.(D)
III
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:(E)
8 Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,
as on the day of Massah in the desert.[b]
9 There your ancestors tested me;
they tried me though they had seen my works.(F)
10 Forty years I loathed that generation;
I said: “This people’s heart goes astray;
they do not know my ways.”(G)
11 Therefore I swore in my anger:
“They shall never enter my rest.”[c]
Chapter 16
Samuel Is Sent to Bethlehem. 1 (A)The Lord said to Samuel: How long will you grieve for Saul, whom I have rejected as king of Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for from among his sons I have decided on a king.[a] 2 But Samuel replied: “How can I go? Saul will hear of it and kill me.” To this the Lord answered: Take a heifer along and say, “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.” 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I myself will tell you what to do; you are to anoint for me the one I point out to you.(B)
Samuel Anoints David. 4 Samuel did as the Lord had commanded him. When he entered Bethlehem, the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and asked, “Is your visit peaceful, O seer?” 5 He replied: “Yes! I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. So purify yourselves and celebrate with me today.” He also had Jesse and his sons purify themselves and invited them to the sacrifice.(C) 6 As they came, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the anointed is here before the Lord.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel: Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. God does not see as a mortal, who sees the appearance. The Lord looks into the heart.(D) 8 (E)Then Jesse called Abinadab and presented him before Samuel, who said, “The Lord has not chosen him.” 9 Next Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” 10 In the same way Jesse presented seven sons before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any one of these.” 11 Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” Jesse replied, “There is still the youngest, but he is tending the sheep.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send for him; we will not sit down to eat until he arrives here.”(F) 12 Jesse had the young man brought to them. He was ruddy, a youth with beautiful eyes, and good looking. The Lord said: There—anoint him, for this is the one!(G) 13 Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand, anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and from that day on, the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David. Then Samuel set out for Ramah.(H)
Chapter 5
Advice to Presbyters.[a] 1 So I exhort the presbyters[b] among you, as a fellow presbyter and witness to the sufferings of Christ and one who has a share in the glory to be revealed. 2 Tend the flock of God in your midst, [overseeing] not by constraint but willingly, as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly.(A) 3 Do not lord it over those assigned to you, but be examples to the flock. 4 (B)And when the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.[c]
Advice to the Community.[d] 5 Likewise, you younger members,[e] be subject to the presbyters. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for:
“God opposes the proud
but bestows favor on the humble.”(C)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.