Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Song or Psalm of David.

¹ ¶ O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise; this is my glory.

² Awake, psaltery and harp; I will awake the dawn.

³ I will praise thee, O LORD, among the peoples, and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.

⁴ For thy mercy is great above the heavens, and thy truth reaches unto the heavens.

⁵ Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens and thy glory above all the earth;

⁶ ¶ that thy beloved may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me.

⁷ God has spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem and mete out the valley of Succoth.

⁸ Gilead shall be mine; Manasseh shall be mine; Ephraim also shall be the strength of my head; Judah shall be my lawgiver;

⁹ Moab shall be my washpot; over Edom I will cast my shoe; over Philistia I will triumph.

¹⁰ Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?

¹¹ Surely thou, O God, who had cast us off and did not, O God, go forth with our hosts.

¹² Give us help from trouble; for the salvation of man is deception.

¹³ Through God we shall do valiantly, for he shall tread down our enemies again.

³ ¶ And Samuel spoke unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you and prepare your hearts unto the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.

⁴ Then the sons of Israel did put away the Baalim and Ashtaroth and served the LORD only.

⁵ And Samuel said, Gather all Israel in Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the LORD.

⁶ And they gathered together in Mizpeh and drew water and poured it out before the LORD and fasted on that day and said there, We have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the sons of Israel in Mizpeh.

⁷ ¶ And when the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel were gathered together in Mizpeh, the cardinals of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the sons of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines.

⁸ And the sons of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.

⁹ And Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it for a burnt offering completely unto the LORD, and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel, and the LORD heard him.

¹⁰ And it came to pass as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering that the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines and crushed them, and they were smitten before Israel.

¹¹ And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh and pursued the Philistines and smote them until they were below Bethcar.

¹² Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Thus far the LORD has helped us.

¹³ ¶ So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the border of Israel, and the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

¹⁴ And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel from Ekron even unto Gath with their borders, and Israel delivered them out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorite.

¹⁵ And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.

20 ¶ And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

² And he laid hold on the dragon, the serpent of old, which is the Devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years

³ and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon it, that he should deceive the Gentiles no more, until the thousand years should be fulfilled; and after it is necessary that he be loosed a little while.

⁴ And I saw thrones, and those who sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of those that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God and who had not worshipped the beast neither its image neither had received its mark upon their foreheads or in their hands; and they shall live and reign with Christ the thousand years.

⁵ But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

⁶ Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection; on such the second death has no authority, but they shall be priests of God and of the Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years.