Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

86 Bend down and hear my prayer, O Lord, and answer me, for I am deep in trouble.

² Protect me from death, for I try to follow all your laws. Save me, for I am serving you and trusting you. ³ Be merciful, O Lord, for I am looking up to you in constant hope. ⁴ Give me happiness, O Lord, for I worship only you. ⁵ O Lord, you are so good and kind, so ready to forgive, so full of mercy for all who ask your aid.

⁶ Listen closely to my prayer, O God. Hear my urgent cry. ⁷ I will call to you whenever trouble strikes, and you will help me.

⁸ Where among the heathen gods is there a god like you? Where are their miracles? ⁹ All the nations—and you made each one—will come and bow before you, Lord, and praise your great and holy name. ¹⁰ For you are great and do great miracles. You alone are God.

¹¹ Tell me where you want me to go and I will go there. May every fiber of my being unite in reverence to your name. ¹² With all my heart I will praise you. I will give glory to your name forever, ¹³ for you love me so much! You are constantly so kind! You have rescued me from deepest hell.

¹⁴ O God, proud and insolent men defy me; violent, godless men are trying to kill me. ¹⁵ But you are merciful and gentle, Lord, slow in getting angry, full of constant loving-kindness and of truth; ¹⁶ so look down in pity and grant strength to your servant and save me. ¹⁷ Send me a sign of your favor. When those who hate me see it, they will lose face because you help and comfort me.

^26-27 At daybreak the next morning, Samuel called up to him, “Get up; it’s time you were on your way!”

So Saul got up, and Samuel accompanied him to the edge of the city. When they reached the city walls, Samuel told Saul to send the servant on ahead. Then he told him, “I have received a special message for you from the Lord.”

10 Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it over Saul’s head, and kissed him on the cheek and said,

“I am doing this because the Lord has appointed you to be the king of his people, Israel! ² When you leave me, you will see two men beside Rachel’s tomb at Zelzah, in the land of Benjamin; they will tell you that the donkeys have been found and that your father is worried about you and is asking, ‘How am I to find my son?’ ³ And when you get to the oak of Tabor, you will see three men coming toward you who are on their way to worship God at the altar at Bethel; one will be bringing three young goats, another will have three loaves of bread, and the third will have a bottle of wine. ⁴ They will greet you and offer you two of the loaves, which you are to accept. ⁵ After that you will come to Gibeath-elohim, also known as “God’s Hill,” where the garrison of the Philistines is. As you arrive there you will meet a band of prophets coming down the hill playing a psaltery, a timbrel, a flute, and a harp, and prophesying as they come.

⁶ “At that time the Spirit of the Lord will come mightily upon you and you will prophesy with them, and you will feel and act like a different person. ⁷ From that time on your decisions should be based on whatever seems best under the circumstances, for the Lord will guide you. ⁸ Go to Gilgal and wait there seven days for me, for I will be coming to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. I will give you further instructions when I arrive.”

¹⁴ Don’t be teamed with those who do not love the Lord, for what do the people of God have in common with the people of sin? How can light live with darkness? ¹⁵ And what harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a Christian be a partner with one who doesn’t believe? ¹⁶ And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For you are God’s temple, the home of the living God, and God has said of you, “I will live in them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.” ¹⁷ That is why the Lord has said, “Leave them; separate yourselves from them; don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you ¹⁸ and be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters.”

7 Having such great promises as these, dear friends, let us turn away from everything wrong, whether of body or spirit, and purify ourselves, living in the wholesome fear of God, giving ourselves to him alone.