Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Calls Samuel
3 The boy Samuel was Eli’s helper and served the Lord with him. At that time the Lord did not speak directly to people very often. There were very few visions.
2 Eli’s eyes were getting so weak that he was almost blind. One night he went to his room to go to bed. 3 The special lamp in the Lord’s temple[a] was still burning, so Samuel lay down in the temple near where the Holy Box was. 4 The Lord called Samuel, and Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 Samuel thought Eli was calling him, so he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.”
But Eli said, “I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.”
So Samuel went back to bed. 6 Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” Again Samuel ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.”
Eli said, “I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.”
7 Samuel did not yet know the Lord because the Lord had not spoken directly to him before.[b]
8 The Lord called Samuel the third time. Again Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.”
Finally, Eli understood that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 Eli told Samuel, “Go to bed. If he calls you again, say, ‘Speak, Lord. I am your servant, and I am listening.’”
So Samuel went back to bed. 10 The Lord came and stood there. He called as he did before, saying, “Samuel, Samuel!”
Samuel said, “Speak. I am your servant, and I am listening.”
11 The Lord said to Samuel, “I will soon do things in Israel that will shock anyone who hears about them. 12 I will do everything I said I would do against Eli and his family, everything from the beginning to the end. 13 I told Eli I would punish his family forever. I will do this because Eli knew his sons were saying and doing bad things against God. But he failed to control them. 14 That is why I swore an oath that sacrifices and offerings will never take away the sins of the people in Eli’s family.[a]”
15 Samuel lay down in bed until the morning came. He got up early and opened the doors of the Lord’s house. Samuel was afraid to tell Eli about the vision.
16 But Eli said to Samuel, “Samuel, my son.”
Samuel answered, “Yes, sir.”
17 Eli asked, “What did God say to you? Don’t hide it from me. God will punish you if you hide anything from the message he spoke to you.”
18 So Samuel told Eli everything. He did not hide anything from him.
Eli said, “He is the Lord. Let him do whatever he thinks is right.”
19 The Lord was with Samuel while he grew up. He did not let any of Samuel’s messages prove false. 20 Then all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was a true prophet of the Lord.
To the director: A praise song of David.
139 Lord, you have tested me,
so you know all about me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You know my thoughts from far away.
3 You know where I go and where I lie down.
You know everything I do.
4 Lord, you know what I want to say,
even before the words leave my mouth.
5 You are all around me—in front of me and behind me.
I feel your hand on my shoulder.
6 I am amazed at what you know;
it is too much for me to understand.
13 You formed the way I think and feel.[a]
You put me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because you made me in such a wonderful way.
I know how amazing that was!
15 You could see my bones grow as my body took shape,
hidden in my mother’s womb.[b]
16 You could see my body grow each passing day.[c]
You listed all my parts, and not one of them was missing.
17 Your thoughts are beyond my understanding.[d]
They cannot be measured!
18 If I could count them, they would be more than all the grains of sand.
But when I finished, I would have just begun.[e]
5 We don’t tell people about ourselves. But we tell people that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we tell them that we are your servants for Jesus. 6 God once said, “Let light shine out of the darkness!”[a] And this is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts to let us know that his own divine greatness is seen in the face of Christ.
7 We have this treasure from God, but we are only like clay jars that hold the treasure. This is to show that the amazing power we have is from God, not from us. 8 We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We often don’t know what to do, but we don’t give up. 9 We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed. 10 So we constantly experience the death of Jesus in our own bodies, but this is so that the life of Jesus can also be seen in our bodies. 11 We are alive, but for Jesus we are always in danger of death, so that the life of Jesus can be seen in our bodies that die. 12 So death is working in us, but the result is that life is working in you.
Jesus Is Lord Over the Sabbath Day(A)
23 On the Sabbath day, Jesus and his followers were walking through some grain fields. The followers picked some grain to eat. 24 Some Pharisees said to Jesus, “Why are your followers doing this? It is against the law to pick grain on the Sabbath.”
25 Jesus answered, “You have read what David did when he and the people with him were hungry and needed food. 26 It was during the time of Abiathar the high priest. David went into God’s house and ate the bread that was offered to God. And the Law of Moses says that only priests can eat that bread. David also gave some of the bread to the people with him.”
27 Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, “The Sabbath day was made to help people. People were not made to be ruled by the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord of every day, even the Sabbath.”
Jesus Heals a Man on the Sabbath Day(B)
3 Another time Jesus went into the synagogue. In the synagogue there was a man with a crippled hand. 2 Some Jews there were watching Jesus closely. They were waiting to see if he would heal the man on a Sabbath day. They wanted to see Jesus do something wrong so that they could accuse him. 3 Jesus said to the man with the crippled hand, “Stand up here so that everyone can see you.”
4 Then Jesus asked the people, “Which is the right thing to do on the Sabbath day: to do good or to do evil? Is it right to save a life or to destroy one?” The people said nothing to answer him.
5 Jesus looked at the people. He was angry, but he felt very sad because they were so stubborn. He said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” The man held out his hand, and it was healed. 6 Then the Pharisees left and made plans with the Herodians about a way to kill Jesus.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International