Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at ^(A)Ramah; ⁵ and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now ^(B)appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.” ⁶ But the thing was ^[a](C)displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And ^(D)Samuel prayed to the Lord. ⁷ The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for ^(E)they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. ⁸ Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day—in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also. ⁹ Now then, listen to their voice; ^(F)however, you shall solemnly ^[b]warn them and tell them of ^(G)the ^[c]procedure of the king who will reign over them.”

Warning concerning a King

¹⁰ So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to ^(H)the people who had asked of him a king. ¹¹ He said, “^(I)This will be the ^[d]procedure of the king who will reign over you: ^(J)he will take your sons and place them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen and ^(K)they will run before his chariots.

^12 (A)He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to ^[a]do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. ¹³ He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers. ^14 (B)He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants.

¹⁶ He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and ^[a]use them for his work. ¹⁷ He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants. ¹⁸ Then ^(A)you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but ^(B)the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

¹⁹ Nevertheless, the people ^(C)refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, “No, but there shall be a king over us, ^20 (D)that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

¹⁴ Then Samuel said to the people, “Come and let us go to ^(A)Gilgal and ^(B)renew the kingdom there.” ¹⁵ So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king ^(C)before the Lord in Gilgal. There they also ^(D)offered sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

Thanksgiving for the Lord’s Favor.

A Psalm of David.

¹³ But having the same ^(A)spirit of faith, according to what is written, “^(B)I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak, ¹⁴ knowing that He who ^(C)raised the Lord Jesus ^(D)will raise us also with Jesus and will ^(E)present us with you. ¹⁵ For all things are ^(F)for your sakes, so that the grace which is ^[a](G)spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.

¹⁶ Therefore we ^(H)do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our ^(I)inner man is ^(J)being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For momentary, ^(K)light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ while we ^(L)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.

The Temporal and Eternal

5 For we know that if ^[b]the ^(M)earthly ^(N)tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house ^(O)not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

²⁰ And He *came ^[a](A)home, and the ^(B)crowd *gathered again, ^(C)to such an extent that they could not even eat ^[b]a meal. ²¹ When ^(D)His own ^[c]people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “^(E)He has lost His senses.” ²² The scribes who came down ^(F)from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by ^[d](G)Beelzebul,” and “^(H)He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” ^23 (I)And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in ^(J)parables, “How can ^(K)Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶ If ^(L)Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but ^[e]he is finished! ^27 (M)But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

²⁸ “^(N)Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; ²⁹ but ^(O)whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰ because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

^31 (P)Then His mother and His brothers *arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him. ³² A crowd was sitting around Him, and they *said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” ³³ Answering them, He *said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” ³⁴ Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He *said, “^(Q)Behold My mother and My brothers! ³⁵ For whoever ^(R)does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”