Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Samuel Becomes a Prophet
3 The boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days. Prophetic vision was not common.
2 Now it happened that Eli’s eyes had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see. Once when Eli was lying down in his place 3 and God’s lamp had not yet gone out, Samuel was lying down in the Lord’s temple, where God’s ark was. 4 The Lord called Samuel, and Samuel said, “I am here.” 5 He ran to Eli and said, “I am here, since you called me.”
Eli said, “I did not call. Lie down again.” So he went and lay down.
6 Then the Lord called once more, “Samuel!”
So Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “I am here, since you called me.”
He answered, “I did not call, my son. Lie down again.”
7 Now Samuel had not yet experienced the Lord’s presence,[a] that is, the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
8 The Lord called Samuel for the third time. So he got up and went to Eli and said, “I am here, since you called me.”
Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the young man. 9 So Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’”
So Samuel went and once again lay down in his place. 10 The Lord came and stood there and called as he had the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
11 The Lord said to Samuel, “Look, I am going to do something in Israel that will make both ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. 12 On that day I am going to carry out against Eli everything that I have spoken against his house, from beginning to end. 13 I have told him that I am going to judge his house forever because of their guilty behavior, which he knew about. This will happen because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he did not restrain them. 14 I have sworn to the house of Eli that the guilt of Eli’s house shall never be atoned for with sacrifice or offering.”
15 So Samuel lay there until morning.[a] Then he opened the doors to the Lord’s house. Samuel was afraid to tell Eli about the vision. 16 But Eli called to Samuel, “Samuel, my son!”
He said, “I am here.”
17 Eli said, “What is the message that he has spoken to you? Please do not hide it from me. May God punish you severely and double it,[b] if you hide from me one word of all of the things that he spoke to you.”
18 So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him.
Eli said, “He is the Lord. Let him do whatever is good in his eyes.”
19 Samuel continued to grow, and the Lord was with him. The Lord let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 So all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord.
Psalm 139
God’s Attributes—Too Wonderful for Me!
Heading
For the choir director. By David. A psalm.
God Is All-Knowing
1 Lord, you have investigated me,
and you know.
2 You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You understand my thoughts from far off.
3 You keep track of when I travel and when I stay,[a]
and you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before there is a word on my tongue,
you, Lord, already know it completely.
5 You put a fence behind me and in front of me,
and you have placed your hand on me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
It is too high—I cannot grasp it.
God Is Powerful and Good
13 For you created my inner organs.[a]
You wove me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful,
and my soul knows that very well.
15 My bones were not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unfinished body.
In your book all of them were written.
Days were determined, before any of them existed.
17 Your thoughts to me are so precious, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
5 Indeed, we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For the God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,”[a] is the same one who made light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the person[b] of Jesus Christ.
7 We hold this treasure in clay jars to show that its extraordinary power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not despairing; 9 persecuted, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of the Lord Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 To be sure, while we are living we are continually being handed over to death because of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal flesh. 12 So then, death is working in us, but life is working in you.
Lord of the Sabbath
23 Once on a Sabbath day, Jesus was passing through the grain fields, and his disciples began to pick heads of grain as they walked along. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath day?”
25 He replied to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry (he and his companions)? 26 He entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the Bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for anyone to eat, except for the priests. He also gave some to his companions.”
27 Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is the Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Jesus Heals a Man With a Withered Hand
3 Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there with a withered[a] hand. 2 They were watching Jesus closely to see if he would heal the man on the Sabbath day, so that they could accuse him. 3 He said to the man with the withered hand, “Step forward!”[b] 4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5 Then he looked around at them with anger, deeply grieved at the hardness of their hearts. He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” The man stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees left and immediately began to conspire against Jesus with the Herodians, plotting how they might kill him.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.