Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God's Complete Knowledge and Care[a]
139 Lord, you have examined me and you know me.
2 You know everything I do;
from far away you understand all my thoughts.
3 You see me, whether I am working or resting;
you know all my actions.
4 Even before I speak,
you already know what I will say.
5 You are all around me on every side;
you protect me with your power.
6 Your knowledge of me is too deep;
it is beyond my understanding.
13 You created every part of me;
you put me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because you are to be feared;
all you do is strange and wonderful.
I know it with all my heart.
15 When my bones were being formed,
carefully put together in my mother's womb,
when I was growing there in secret,
you knew that I was there—
16 you saw me before I was born.
The days allotted to me
had all been recorded in your book,
before any of them ever began.
17 (A)O God, how difficult I find your thoughts;[a]
how many of them there are!
18 If I counted them, they would be more than the grains of sand.
When I awake, I am still with you.
21 The Lord did bless Hannah, and she had three more sons and two daughters. The boy Samuel grew up in the service of the Lord.
Eli and His Sons
22 Eli was now very old. He kept hearing about everything his sons were doing to the Israelites and that they were even sleeping with the women who worked at the entrance to the Tent of the Lord's presence. 23 So he said to them, “Why are you doing these things? Everybody tells me about the evil you are doing. 24 Stop it, my sons! This is an awful thing the people of the Lord are talking about! 25 If anyone sins against someone else, God can defend the one who is wrong; but who can defend someone who sins against the Lord?”
But they would not listen to their father, for the Lord had decided to kill them.
The Parable of the Ten Young Women
25 (A)“At that time the Kingdom of heaven will be like this. Once there were ten young women who took their oil lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and the other five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any extra oil with them, 4 while the wise ones took containers full of oil for their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was late in coming, so they began to nod and fall asleep.
6 “It was already midnight when the cry rang out, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come and meet him!’ 7 The ten young women woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 Then the foolish ones said to the wise ones, ‘Let us have some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’ 9 ‘No, indeed,’ the wise ones answered, ‘there is not enough for you and for us. Go to the store and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 So the foolish ones went off to buy some oil; and while they were gone, the bridegroom arrived. The five who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was closed.
11 (B)“Later the others arrived. ‘Sir, sir! Let us in!’ they cried out. 12 ‘Certainly not! I don't know you,’ the bridegroom answered.”
13 And Jesus concluded, “Watch out, then, because you do not know the day or the hour.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.