Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Song of Praise

108 My heart will not be moved, O God. I will sing. Yes, I will sing praises with my soul. ² Wake up, different kinds of harps. I will wake up the new day. ³ I will give thanks to You among the people, O Lord. I will sing praises to You among the nations. ⁴ For Your loving-kindness is great above the heavens. And Your truth can touch the sky. ⁵ Be lifted up high above the heavens, O God. Let Your shining-greatness be over all the earth. ⁶ Save us with Your right hand and answer me. Let Your loved ones be set free.

⁷ God has said in His holy place: “I will be full of joy. I will divide Shechem and the valley of Succoth. ⁸ Gilead is Mine. Manasseh is Mine. Ephraim is the covering for My head. Judah is My law giver. ⁹ Moab is where I wash My hands. I will throw My shoe over Edom. I will call out over Philistia that I have won.”

¹⁰ Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me into Edom? ¹¹ Have You not turned away from us, O God? And will You not go out with our armies, O God? ¹² O give us help against those who hate us. For the help of man is worth nothing. ¹³ With God’s help we will do great things. And He will break under His feet those who fight against us.

Israel Asks for a King

8 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges in Israel. ² The name of his first-born son was Joel. And the name of his second son was Abijah. They were men who judged in Beersheba. ³ But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside to get money. They took pay to do things that were not right and fair. ⁴ Then all the leaders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. ⁵ They said to him, “See, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Choose a king to rule over us like all the nations.” ⁶ But Samuel was not pleased when they said, “Give us a king to rule over us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. ⁷ The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all they say to you. For they have not turned away from you. They have turned away from Me, that I should not be king over them. ⁸ They are doing to you what they have done since the day I brought them out of Egypt until now. They have turned away from Me and worshiped other gods. ⁹ So listen to their voice. But tell them of the danger and show them the ways of the king who will rule over them.”

¹⁰ So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who had asked him for a king. ¹¹ He said, “This will be the way the king will rule over you. He will take your sons and make them drive his war-wagons, be his horsemen, and run in front of his war-wagons. ¹² He will choose leaders of thousands and of fifties. He will choose men to plow his ground, gather his grain, and make objects for war and for his war-wagons. ¹³ He will take your daughters to make perfume, work with the food, and make bread. ¹⁴ He will take the best of your fields and vines and olives, and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ He will take a tenth part of your grain and your vines to give to his leaders and his servants. ¹⁶ He will take your men servants and your women servants and the best of your cattle and your donkeys, and use them for his work. ¹⁷ He will take a tenth part of your flocks, and you yourselves will be made to work for him. ¹⁸ You will cry out in that day because of your king you have chosen for yourselves. But the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

¹⁹ But the people would not listen to Samuel. They said, “No! We will have a king rule over us, ²⁰ so we may be like other nations. Our king may rule over us and go out before us and fight our battles.” ²¹ After Samuel heard all the people’s words, he told the Lord what they had said. ²² The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice, and choose a king for them.” So Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Every one of you go home to his city.”

Satan Is Destroyed Forever

⁷ When the 1,000 years are finished, Satan will be free to leave his prison. ⁸ He will go out and fool the nations who are over all the world. They are Gog and Magog. He will gather them all together for war. There will be as many as the sand along the sea-shore. ⁹ They will spread out over the earth and all around the place where God’s people are and around the city that is loved. Fire will come down from God out of heaven and destroy them. ¹⁰ Then the devil who fooled them will be thrown into the lake of fire burning with sulphur. The wild animal and the false preacher are already there. They will all be punished day and night forever.

The Guilty Will Be Punished

¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne. I saw the One Who sat on it. The earth and the heaven left Him in a hurry and they could be found no more. ¹² I saw all the dead people standing before God. There were great people and small people. The books were opened. Then another book was opened. It was the book of life. The dead people were judged by what they had done as it was written in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up the dead people who were in it. Death and hell gave up the dead people who were in them. Each one was judged by what he had done. ¹⁴ Then death and hell were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵ If anyone’s name was not written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.