Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

86 For the sons of Core, a psalm of a canticle. The foundations thereof are in the holy mountains:

² The Lord loveth the gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of Jacob.

³ Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God.

⁴ I will be mindful of Rahab and of Babylon knowing me. Behold the foreigners, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians, these were there.

⁵ Shall not Sion say: This man and that man is born in her? and the Highest himself hath founded her.

⁶ The Lord shall tell in his writings of peoples and of princes, of them that have been in her.

⁷ The dwelling in thee is as it were of all rejoicing.

¹⁰ And the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying:

¹¹ It repenteth me that I have made Saul king: for he hath forsaken me, and hath not executed my commandments. And Samuel was grieved, and he cried unto the Lord all night.

¹² And when Samuel rose early, to go to Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, that Saul was come to Carmel, and had erected for himself a triumphant arch, and returning had passed on, and gone down to Galgal. And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul was offering a holocaust to the Lord out of the choicest of the spoils which he had brought from Amalec.

¹³ And when Samuel was come to Saul, Saul said to him: Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have fulfilled the word of the Lord.

¹⁴ And Samuel said: What meaneth then this bleating of the flocks, which soundeth in my ears, and the lowing of the herds, which I hear?

¹⁵ And Saul said: They have brought them from Amalec: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the herds that they might be sacrificed to the Lord thy God, but the rest we have slain.

¹⁶ And Samuel said to Saul: Suffer me, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said to him: Speak.

¹⁷ And Samuel said: When thou wast a little one in thy own eyes, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed thee to be king over Israel.

¹⁸ And the Lord sent thee on the way, and said: Go, and kill the sinners of Amalec, and thou shalt fight against them until thou hast utterly destroyed them.

¹⁹ Why then didst thou not hearken to the voice of the Lord: but hast turned to the prey, and hast done evil in the eyes of the Lord.

²⁰ And Saul said to Samuel: Yea I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord, and have walked in the way by which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalec, and Amalec I have slain.

²¹ But the people took of the spoils sheep and oxen, as the firstfruits of those things that were slain, to offer sacrifice to the Lord their God in Galgal.

²² And Samuel said: Doth the Lord desire holocausts and victims, and not rather that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifices: and to hearken rather than to offer the fat of rams.

²³ Because it is like the sin of witchcraft, to rebel: and like the crime of idolatry, to refuse to obey. Forasmuch therefore as thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord hath also rejected thee from being king.

²⁴ And Saul said to Samuel: I have sinned because I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words, fearing the people, and obeying their voice.

²⁵ But now bear, I beseech thee, my sin, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord.

²⁶ And Samuel said to Saul: I will not return with thee, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.

²⁷ And Samuel turned about to go away: but he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.

²⁸ And Samuel said to him: The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to thy neighbour who is better than thee.

²⁹ But the triumpher in Israel will riot spare, and will not be moved to repentance: for he is not a mail that he should repent.

³⁰ Then he said: I have sinned: yet honour me now before the ancients of my people, and before Israel, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord thy God.

³¹ So Samuel turned again after Saul: and Saul adored the Lord.

5 But a certain man named Ananias, with Saphira his wife, sold a piece of land,

² And by fraud kept back part of the price of the land, his wife being privy thereunto: and bringing a certain part of it, laid it at the feet of the apostles.

³ But Peter said: Ananias, why hath Satan tempted thy heart, that thou shouldst lie to the Holy Ghost, and by fraud keep part of the price of the land?

⁴ Whilst it remained, did it not remain to thee? and after it was sold, was it not in thy power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart? Thou hast not lied to men, but to God.

⁵ And Ananias hearing these words, fell down, and gave up the ghost. And there came great fear upon all that heard it.

⁶ And the young men rising up, removed him, and carrying him out, buried him.

⁷ And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what had happened, came in.

⁸ And Peter said to her: Tell me, woman, whether you sold the land for so much? And she said: Yea, for so much.

⁹ And Peter said unto her: Why have you agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold the feet of them who have buried thy husband are at the door, and they shall carry thee out.

¹⁰ Immediately she fell down before his feet, and gave up the ghost. And the young men coming in, found her dead: and carried her out, and buried her by her husband.

¹¹ And there came great fear upon the whole church, and upon all that heard these things.