Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Lord Is Good to His People
99 The Lord rules! Let the people shake in fear! He sits on His throne above the angels. Let the earth shake! 2 The Lord is great in Zion. And He is honored above all people. 3 Let them praise Your great name. It is to be honored with fear. He is holy!
4 The strength of the King loves what is right. You have set up what is fair. You do what is right and fair in Jacob. 5 Honor the Lord our God. Worship at His feet. For He is holy!
6 Moses and Aaron were among His religious leaders. And Samuel was among those who called on His name. They called upon the Lord, and He answered them. 7 He spoke to them from the cloud. They kept His Word and the Law that He gave them. 8 O Lord our God, You answered them. You were a forgiving God to them. But You punished them for their wrong-doing. 9 Honor the Lord our God. And worship at His holy mountain. For the Lord our God is holy!
11 Elkanah went home to Ramah. But the boy served the Lord with Eli the religious leader.
Eli’s Sons
12 The sons of Eli were men of no worth. They did not know the Lord. 13 This is the way the religious leaders acted toward the people. When any man brought an animal to give to the Lord, the religious leader’s servant would come with a meat-hook in his hand, while the meat was hot. 14 Then he would put it in the pot. The religious leader would take for himself all that the meat-hook brought up. They did this to all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh. 15 And before they burned the fat, the religious leader’s servant would come and say to the man who brought the gift in worship, “Give meat for the religious leader to make ready. For he will not take boiled meat from you, but only meat that has just been killed.” 16 But if the man says to him, “Let them burn the fat first, then take as much as you want,” then the religious leader’s servant would say, “No, give it to me now; and if not, I will take it from you against your will.” 17 So the sin of the young men was very bad before the Lord. For the men hated the gift of the Lord.
19 But you will ask me, “Why does God blame men for what they do? Who can go against what God wants?” 20 Who are you to talk back to God? A pot being made from clay does not talk to the man making it and say, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 The man making the pots has the right to use the clay as he wants to. He can make two pots from the same piece of clay. One can have an important use. The other one can be of little use. 22 It may be that God wants to show His power and His anger against sin. He waits a long time on some men who are ready to be destroyed. 23 God also wanted to show His shining-greatness to those He has given His loving-kindness. He made them ready for His shining-greatness from the beginning. 24 We are the ones He chose. He did not only choose Jews. He also chose some from among the people who are not Jews. 25 In the Book of Hosea He says, “Those who are not My people, I will call, ‘My people.’ Those who are not loved, I will call, ‘My loved ones.’” (A) 26 “And where it said, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called sons of the living God.” (B) 27 Isaiah says this about the Jews, “Even if there are as many Jews as the sand by the sea, only a few of them will be saved from the punishment of sin. 28 For the Lord will do on earth what He says in His Word. He will work fast when He says what will happen here.” (C) 29 Isaiah said also, “If God had not left some of the Jews, we would have all been destroyed like the people who lived in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.” (D)
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