Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
10 “I thought,[a]
‘In the middle of my life[b] I must walk through the gates of Sheol,
I am deprived[c] of the rest of my years.’
11 “I thought,
‘I will no longer see the Lord[d] in the land of the living,
I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world.[e]
12 My dwelling place[f] is removed and taken away[g] from me
as a shepherd’s tent.
I rolled up my life like a weaver rolls cloth;[h]
from the loom he cuts me off.[i]
You turn day into night and end my life.[j]
13 I cry out[k] until morning;
like a lion he shatters all my bones;
you turn day into night and end my life.[l]
14 Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp,
I coo[m] like a dove;
my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky.[n]
O Lord,[o] I am oppressed;
help me![p]
15 What can I say?
He has decreed and acted.[q]
I will walk slowly all my years because I am overcome with grief.[r]
16 O Lord, your decrees can give men life;
may years of life be restored to me.[s]
Restore my health[t] and preserve my life.’
17 “Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit.[u]
You delivered me[v] from the Pit of oblivion.[w]
For you removed all my sins from your sight.[x]
18 Indeed[y] Sheol does not give you thanks;
death does not[z] praise you.
Those who descend into the Pit do not anticipate your faithfulness.
19 The living person, the living person, he gives you thanks,
as I do today.
A father tells his sons about your faithfulness.
20 The Lord is about to deliver me,[aa]
and we will celebrate with music[ab]
for the rest of our lives in the Lord’s temple.”[ac]
9 The Philistines went up and invaded[a] Judah. They arrayed themselves for battle[b] in Lehi. 10 The men of Judah said, “Why are you attacking[c] us?” The Philistines[d] said, “We have come up to take Samson prisoner so we can do to him what he has done to us.” 11 So 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cave in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us?” He said to them, “I have only done to them what they have done to me.” 12 They said to him, “We have come down to take you prisoner so we can hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Promise me[e] you will not kill[f] me.” 13 They said to him, “We promise![g] We will only take you prisoner and hand you over to them. We promise not to kill you.” They tied him up with two brand new ropes and led him up from the cliff. 14 When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the Lord’s Spirit empowered[h] him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in[i] fire, and they[j] melted away from his hands. 15 He happened to see[k] a solid[l] jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it[m] and struck down[n] 1,000 men. 16 Samson then said,
“With the jawbone of a donkey
I have left them in heaps;[o]
with the jawbone of a donkey
I have struck down a thousand men!”
17 When he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone down[p] and named that place Ramath Lehi.[q]
18 He was very thirsty, so he cried out to the Lord and said, “You have given your servant[r] this great victory. But now must I die of thirst and fall into the hands of these uncircumcised Philistines?”[s] 19 So God split open the basin[t] at Lehi and water flowed out from it. When he took a drink, his strength[u] was restored and he revived. For this reason he named the spring[v] En Hakkore.[w] It remains in Lehi to this very day. 20 Samson led[x] Israel for twenty years during the days of Philistine prominence.[y]
The Disciples’ Failure to Heal
14 When[a] they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, 15 and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, because he has seizures[b] and suffers terribly, for he often falls into the fire and into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but[c] they were not able to heal him.” 17 Jesus answered,[d] “You[e] unbelieving[f] and perverse generation! How much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I endure[g] you?[h] Bring him here to me.” 18 Then[i] Jesus rebuked[j] the demon and it came out of him, and the boy was healed from that moment. 19 Then the disciples came[k] to Jesus privately and said, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” 20 He told them, “It was because of your little faith. I tell you the truth,[l] if you have faith the size of[m] a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing[n] will be impossible for you.”[o]
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