Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

3 Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. The word of the Lord was rare and precious in those days; there was no frequent or widely spread vision.

² At that time Eli, whose eyesight had dimmed so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place.

³ The lamp of God had not yet gone out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was lying down

⁴ When the Lord called, Samuel! And he answered, Here I am.

⁵ He ran to Eli and said, Here I am, for you called me. Eli said, I did not call you; lie down again. So he went and lay down.

⁶ And the Lord called again, Samuel! And Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, Here am I; you did call me. Eli answered, I did not call, my son; lie down again.

⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord was not yet revealed to him.

⁸ And the Lord called Samuel the third time. And he went to Eli and said, Here I am, for you did call me. Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy.

⁹ So Eli said to Samuel, Go, lie down. And if He calls you, you shall say, Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰ And the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, Samuel! Samuel! Then Samuel answered, Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.

¹¹ The Lord told Samuel, Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of all who hear it shall tingle.

¹² On that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.

¹³ And I [now] announce to him that I will judge and punish his house forever for the iniquity of which he knew, for his sons were bringing a curse upon themselves [blaspheming God], and he did not restrain them.

¹⁴ Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for or purged with sacrifice or offering forever.

¹⁵ Samuel lay until morning; then he opened the doors of the Lord’s house. And [he] was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.

¹⁶ But Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here I am.

¹⁷ Eli said, What is it He told you? Pray do not hide it from me. May God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that He said to you.

¹⁸ And Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing. And Eli said, It is the Lord; let Him do what seems good to Him.

¹⁹ Samuel grew; the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.^(A)

²⁰ And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord.

Psalm 139

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

¹ O Lord, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me.

² You know my downsitting and my uprising; You understand my thought afar off.^(A)

³ You sift and search out my path and my lying down, and You are acquainted with all my ways.

⁴ For there is not a word in my tongue [still unuttered], but, behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.^(B)

⁵ You have beset me and shut me in—behind and before, and You have laid Your hand upon me.

⁶ Your [infinite] knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high above me, I cannot reach it.

¹³ For You did form my inward parts; You did knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴ I will confess and praise You for You are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well.

¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret [and] intricately and curiously wrought [as if embroidered with various colors] in the depths of the earth [a region of darkness and mystery].

¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them.

¹⁷ How precious and weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!^(A)

¹⁸ If I could count them, they would be more in number than the sand. When I awoke, [could I count to the end] I would still be with You.

⁵ For what we preach is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves [merely] as your servants (slaves) for Jesus’ sake.

⁶ For God Who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts so as [to beam forth] the Light for the illumination of the knowledge of the majesty and glory of God [as it is manifest in the Person and is revealed] in the face of Jesus Christ (the Messiah).^(A)

⁷ However, we possess this precious treasure [the divine Light of the Gospel] in [frail, human] vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves.

⁸ We are hedged in (pressed) on every side [troubled and oppressed in every way], but not cramped or crushed; we suffer embarrassments and are perplexed and unable to find a way out, but not driven to despair;

⁹ We are pursued (persecuted and hard driven), but not deserted [to stand alone]; we are struck down to the ground, but never struck out and destroyed;

¹⁰ Always carrying about in the body the liability and exposure to the same putting to death that the Lord Jesus suffered, so that the [^[a]resurrection] life of Jesus also may be shown forth by and in our bodies.

¹¹ For we who live are constantly [experiencing] being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the [^[b]resurrection] life of Jesus also may be evidenced through our flesh which is liable to death.

¹² Thus death is actively at work in us, but [it is in order that ^[c]our] life [may be actively at work] in you.

²³ One Sabbath He was going along beside the fields of standing grain, and as they made their way, His disciples began to ^[a]pick off the grains.^(A)

²⁴ And the Pharisees said to Him, Look! Why are they doing what is not permitted or lawful on the Sabbath?

²⁵ And He said to them, Have you never [even] read what David did when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were accompanying him?—

²⁶ How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was the high priest, and ate the sacred loaves set forth [before God], which it is not permitted or lawful for any but the priests to eat, and [how he] also gave [them] to those who were with him?^(B)

²⁷ And Jesus said to them, The Sabbath was made on account and for the sake of man, not man for the Sabbath;^(C)

²⁸ So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

3 Again Jesus went into a synagogue, and a man was there who had one withered hand [^[b]as the result of accident or disease].

² And [the Pharisees] kept watching Jesus [closely] to see whether He would cure him on the Sabbath, so that they might get a charge to bring against Him [^[c]formally].

³ And He said to the man who had the withered hand, Get up [and stand here] in the midst.

⁴ And He said to them, Is it lawful and right on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to take it? But they kept silence.

⁵ And He glanced around at them with vexation and anger, grieved at the hardening of their hearts, and said to the man, Hold out your hand. He held it out, and his hand was [completely] restored.

⁶ Then the Pharisees went out and immediately held a consultation with the Herodians against Him, how they might [devise some means to] put Him to death.