Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

2 This was Hannah’s prayer:

3 Meanwhile little Samuel was helping the Lord by assisting Eli. Messages from the Lord were very rare in those days, ^2-3 but one night after Eli had gone to bed (he was almost blind with age by now), and Samuel was sleeping in the Temple near the Ark, ^4-5 the Lord called out, “Samuel! Samuel!”

“Yes?” Samuel replied. “What is it?” He jumped up and ran to Eli. “Here I am. What do you want?” he asked.

“I didn’t call you,” Eli said. “Go on back to bed.” So he did. ⁶ Then the Lord called again, “Samuel!” And again Samuel jumped up and ran to Eli.

“Yes?” he asked. “What do you need?”

“No, I didn’t call you, my son,” Eli said. “Go on back to bed.”

⁷ (Samuel had never had a message from Jehovah before.^[a]) ⁸ So now the Lord called the third time, and once more Samuel jumped up and ran to Eli.

“Yes?” he asked. “What do you need?”

Then Eli realized it was the Lord who had spoken to the child. ⁹ So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if he calls again, say, ‘Yes, Lord, I’m listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed.

¹⁰ And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!”

And Samuel replied, “Yes, I’m listening.”

¹¹ Then the Lord said to Samuel, “I am going to do a shocking thing in Israel. ¹² I am going to do all of the dreadful things I warned Eli about. ¹³ I have continually threatened him and his entire family with punishment because his sons are blaspheming God, and he doesn’t stop them. ¹⁴ So I have vowed that the sins of Eli and of his sons shall never be forgiven by sacrifices and offerings.”

¹⁵ Samuel stayed in bed until morning, then opened the doors of the Temple as usual, for he was afraid to tell Eli what the Lord had said to him. ^16-17 But Eli called him.

“My son,” he said, “what did the Lord say to you? Tell me everything. And may God punish you if you hide anything from me!”

¹⁸ So Samuel told him what the Lord had said.

“It is the Lord’s will,” Eli replied; “let him do what he thinks best.”

12 Here are some of the story-illustrations Jesus gave to the people at that time:

“A man planted a vineyard and built a wall around it and dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a watchman’s tower. Then he leased the farm to tenant farmers and moved to another country. ² At grape-picking time he sent one of his men to collect his share of the crop. ³ But the farmers beat up the man and sent him back empty-handed.

⁴ “The owner then sent another of his men, who received the same treatment, only worse, for his head was seriously injured. ⁵ The next man he sent was killed; and later, others were either beaten or killed, until ⁶ there was only one left—his only son. He finally sent him, thinking they would surely give him their full respect.

⁷ “But when the farmers saw him coming they said, ‘He will own the farm when his father dies. Come on, let’s kill him—and then the farm will be ours!’ ⁸ So they caught him and murdered him and threw his body out of the vineyard.

⁹ “What do you suppose the owner will do when he hears what happened? He will come and kill them all, and lease the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Don’t you remember reading this verse in the Scriptures? ‘The Rock the builders threw away became the cornerstone, the most honored stone in the building! ¹¹ This is the Lord’s doing and it is an amazing thing to see.’”

¹² The Jewish leaders wanted to arrest him then and there for using this illustration, for they knew he was pointing at them—they were the wicked farmers in his story. But they were afraid to touch him for fear of a mob. So they left him and went away.