Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Psalm of Fearless Trust in God.

A Psalm of David.

²⁷ As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us so that he may pass by but you stand still now so that I may proclaim the word of God to you.”

Saul among Prophets

10 Then Samuel took the flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head, kissed him, and said, “Has the Lord not anointed you as ruler over His inheritance (Israel)? ² When you leave me today, you will meet two men beside Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; they will say to you, ‘The donkeys you went to look for have been found. And your father has stopped caring about them and is worried about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?”’ ³ Then you will go on further from there, and you will come to the terebinth tree of Tabor, and three men going up to [sacrifice to] God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a jug of wine. ⁴ They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from their hand. ⁵ After that you will come to ^[a]the hill of God where the garrison of the Philistines is; and when you come there to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place [of worship] with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, and they will be prophesying. ⁶ Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be changed into another man. ⁷ When these signs come to you, do for yourself whatever ^[b]the situation requires, for God is with you. ⁸ You shall go down ahead of me to Gilgal; and behold, I will be coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. You shall wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you must do.”

The Council at Jerusalem

2 Then after a period of fourteen years I again went up to Jerusalem, [this time] with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. ² I went up [to Jerusalem] because of a [divine] revelation, and I put before them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so in private before those of ^[a]reputation, for fear that I might be running or had run [the course of my ministry] in vain. ³ But [all went well, for] not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled [as some had anticipated] to be circumcised, despite the fact that he was a Greek. ⁴ My concern was because of the ^[b]false brothers [those people masquerading as Christians] who had been secretly smuggled in [to the community of believers]. They had slipped in to spy on the freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us back into bondage [under the Law of Moses]. ⁵ But we did not yield to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would continue to remain with you [in its purity]. ⁶ But from those who were of high reputation (whatever they were—in terms of individual importance—makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality—He is not impressed with the positions that people hold nor does He recognize distinctions such as fame or power)—well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me [that is, they had nothing to add to my gospel message nor did they impose any new requirements on me].^{(A) 7} But on the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised (Gentiles), just as Peter had been [entrusted to proclaim the gospel] to the circumcised (Jews); ⁸ (for He who worked effectively for Peter and empowered him in his ministry to the Jews also worked effectively for me and empowered me in my ministry to the Gentiles). ⁹ And recognizing the grace [that God had] bestowed on me, James and Cephas (Peter) and John, who were reputed to be pillars [of the Jerusalem church], gave to me and Barnabas the ^[c]right hand of fellowship, so that we could go to the Gentiles [with their blessing] and they to the circumcised (Jews). ¹⁰ They asked only [one thing], that we remember the poor, the very thing I was also eager to do.