Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Knows Everything
For the director of music. A song of David.
139 Lord, you have examined me.
You know all about me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You know my thoughts before I think them.
3 You know where I go and where I lie down.
You know well everything I do.
4 Lord, even before I say a word,
you already know what I am going to say.
5 You are all around me—in front and in back.
You have put your hand on me.
6 Your knowledge is amazing to me.
It is more than I can understand.
13 You made my whole being.
You formed me in my mother’s body.
14 I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way.
What you have done is wonderful.
I know this very well.
15 You saw my bones being formed
as I took shape in my mother’s body.
When I was put together there,
16 you saw my body as it was formed.
All the days planned for me
were written in your book
before I was one day old.
17 God, your thoughts are precious to me.
They are so many!
18 If I could count them,
they would be more than all the grains of sand.
When I wake up,
I am still with you.
Samuel’s Birth
1 There was a man named Elkanah son of Jeroham. He was from Ramathaim in the mountains of Ephraim. Elkanah was from the family of Zuph. (Jeroham was Elihu’s son. Elihu was Tohu’s son. And Tohu was the son of Zuph from the family group of Ephraim.) 2 Elkanah had two wives. One was named Hannah, and the other was named Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.
3 Every year Elkanah left his town Ramah and went up to Shiloh. There he worshiped the Lord of heaven’s armies and offered sacrifices to him. Shiloh was where Hophni and Phinehas served as priests of the Lord. They were the sons of Eli. 4 When Elkanah offered sacrifices, he always gave a share of the meat to his wife Peninnah. He also gave shares of the meat to her sons and daughters. 5 But Elkanah always gave a special share of the meat to Hannah. He did this because he loved Hannah and because the Lord had made Hannah unable to have children. 6 Peninnah would upset Hannah and make her feel bad. She did this because the Lord had made Hannah unable to have children. 7 This happened every year when they went up to the Tent of the Lord at Shiloh. Peninnah would upset Hannah until Hannah would cry and not eat anything. 8 Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you crying? Why won’t you eat? Why are you sad? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”
9 Once, after they had eaten their meal in Shiloh, Hannah got up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair near the entrance to the Lord’s Holy Tent. 10 Hannah was very sad. She cried much and prayed to the Lord. 11 She made a promise. She said, “Lord of heaven’s armies, see how bad I feel. Remember me! Don’t forget me. If you will give me a son, I will give him back to you all his life. And no one will ever use a razor to cut his hair.”[a]
12 While Hannah kept praying, Eli watched her mouth. 13 She was praying in her heart. Her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. 14 He said to her, “Stop getting drunk! Throw away your wine!”
15 Hannah answered, “No, master, I have not drunk any wine or beer. I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I was telling the Lord about all my problems. 16 Don’t think of me as an evil woman. I have been praying because of my many troubles and much sadness.”
17 Eli answered, “Go in peace. May the God of Israel give you what you asked of him.”
18 Hannah said, “I want to be pleasing to you always.” Then she left and ate something. She was not sad anymore.
Paul Asks to See Caesar
25 Three days after Festus became governor, he went from Caesarea to Jerusalem. 2 There the leading priests and the important Jewish leaders made charges against Paul before Festus. 3 They asked Festus to do something for them; they wanted him to send Paul back to Jerusalem. (They had a plan to kill Paul on the way.) 4 But Festus answered, “No! Paul will be kept in Caesarea. I will return there soon myself. 5 Some of your leaders should go with me. They can accuse the man there in Caesarea, if he has really done something wrong.”
6 Festus stayed in Jerusalem another eight or ten days. Then he went back to Caesarea. The next day he told the soldiers to bring Paul before him. Festus was seated on the judge’s seat 7 when Paul came into the room. The Jews who had come from Jerusalem stood around him. They started making serious charges against Paul. But they could not prove any of them. 8 This is what Paul said to defend himself: “I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law, against the Temple, or against Caesar!”
9 But Festus wanted to please the Jews. So he asked Paul, “Do you want to go to Jerusalem? Do you want me to judge you there on these charges?”
10 Paul said, “I am standing at Caesar’s judgment seat now. This is where I should be judged! I have done nothing wrong to the Jews; you know this is true. 11 If I have done something wrong and the law says I must die, I do not ask to be saved from death. But if these charges are not true, then no one can give me to them. No! I want Caesar to hear my case!”
12 Festus talked about this with the people who advised him. Then he said, “You have asked to see Caesar; so you will go to Caesar!”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.