Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
4 ¶ Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel in Ramah
5 and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons do not walk in thy ways; therefore make us a king to judge us like all the Gentiles.
6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.
7 And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them.
8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, with which they have forsaken me and served other gods, so they also do unto thee.
9 Now, therefore, hearken unto their voice; however first protest solemnly against them by declaring unto them the rights of the king that shall reign over them.
10 And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked him for a king.
11 And he said, This will be the right of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his chariot.
12 And he will appoint captains over thousands and captains over fifties and will set them to plough his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and the munitions of his chariots.
13 And he will take your daughters to be confectioneries and to be cooks and to be bakers.
14 And he will take your fields and your vineyards and your good oliveyards and give them to his slaves.
15 And he will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards to give to his officers and to his slaves.
16 And he will take your menslaves and your maidslaves and your good young men and your asses and do his work with them.
17 He will also take the tenth of your sheep, and finally ye shall be his slaves.
18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you, and the LORD will not hear you in that day.
19 Nevertheless, the people refused to hear the voice of Samuel, and they said, No, but we will have a king over us
20 that we also may be like all the Gentiles and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.
14 Then Samuel said to the people, Come, and let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there.
15 And all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal, and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace offerings before the LORD, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods I will sing praises unto thee.
2 I will worship the temple of thy holiness and praise thy name above thy mercy and thy truth; for thou hast made thy name to be magnificent and raised up thy spoken word above all things.
3 In the day when I called, thou didst answer me and strengthen me with strength in my soul.
4 All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O LORD, when they hearken unto the spoken words from thy mouth.
5 Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the LORD: for great is the glory of the LORD.
6 ¶ For the LORD, who is high and lifted up, looks upon the humble, but the proud he does not know.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me; thou shalt stretch forth thy hand against the wrath of my enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.
8 The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; thy mercy, O LORD, endures for ever; forsake not the works of thine own hands.
13 We having the same Spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed and, therefore, I have spoken; we also believe and, therefore, speak;
14 knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus and shall present us with you.
15 For we suffer all these things for your sakes that the grace abounding through many may in the thanksgiving redound to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we fault not; but though our outward man is wearing out, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
17 For our tribulation, which is momentary and light, prepares an exceeding and eternal weight of glory unto us;
18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
5 ¶ For we know that if the earthly house of this our habitation were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
20 And the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.
21 And when his friends and family heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him; for they said, He is beside himself.
22 ¶ But the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said that he had Beelzebub and that by the prince of the devils he cast out devils.
23 And he called them unto him and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?
24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot remain.
25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot remain.
26 And if Satan rises up against himself and is divided, he cannot remain, but has an end.
27 No man can enter into a strong man’s house and spoil his goods except he will first bind the strong man, and then he will spoil his house.
28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men and whatever blasphemies with which they shall blaspheme,
29 but whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit shall never have forgiveness but is obligated to eternal judgment,
30 because they said, He has an unclean spirit.
31 ¶ There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him.
32 The multitude was sitting all around him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brothers and sisters seek thee without.
33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother or my brethren?
34 And looking round about on those who sat about him, he said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
35 For whosoever doeth the will of God, the same is my brother and my sister and my mother.
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