Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
108 A Song, a Psalm of David. Prepared is my heart, O God, I sing, yea, I sing praise, also my honour.
2 Awake, psaltery and harp, I awake the dawn.
3 I thank Thee among peoples, O Jehovah, And I praise Thee among the nations.
4 For great above the heavens [is] Thy kindness, And unto the clouds Thy truth.
5 Be Thou exalted above the heavens, O God, And above all the earth Thy honour.
6 That Thy beloved ones may be delivered, Save [with] Thy right hand, and answer us.
7 God hath spoken in His holiness: I exult, I apportion Shechem, And the valley of Succoth I measure,
8 Mine [is] Gilead, mine [is] Manasseh, And Ephraim [is] the strength of my head, Judah [is] my lawgiver,
9 Moab [is] a pot for my washing, Upon Edom I cast my shoe, Over Philistia I shout habitually.
10 Who doth bring me in to the fenced city? Who hath led me unto Edom?
11 Hast not Thou, O God, cast us off? And Thou goest not out, O God, with our hosts!
12 Give to us help from adversity, And vain is the salvation of man.
13 In God we do mightily, And He doth tread down our adversaries!
9 And there is a man of Benjamin, and his name [is] Kish, son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Bechorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, mighty of valour,
2 and he hath a son, and his name [is] Saul, a choice youth and goodly, and there is not a man among the sons of Israel goodlier than he -- from his shoulder and upward, higher than any of the people.
3 And the asses of Kish, father of Saul, are lost, and Kish saith unto Saul his son, `Take, I pray thee, with thee, one of the young men, and rise, go, seek the asses.'
4 And he passeth over through the hill-country of Ephraim, and passeth over through the land of Shalisha, and they have not found; and they pass over through the land of Shaalim, and they are not; and he passeth over through the land of Benjamin, and they have not found.
5 They have come in unto the land of Zuph, and Saul hath said to his young man who [is] with him, `Come, and we turn back, lest my father leave off from the asses, and hath been sorrowful for us.'
6 And he saith to him, `Lo, I pray thee, a man of God [is] in this city, and the man is honoured; all that he speaketh doth certainly come; now, we go there, it may be he doth declare to us our way on which we have gone.'
7 And Saul saith to his young man, `And lo, we go, and what do we bring in to the man? for the bread hath gone from our vessels, and a present there is not to bring in to the man of God -- what [is] with us?'
8 And the young man addeth to answer Saul, and saith, `Lo, there is found with me a fourth of a shekel of silver: and I have given to the man of God, and he hath declared to us our way.'
9 Formerly in Israel, thus said the man in his going to seek God, `Come and we go unto the seer,' for the `prophet' of to-day is called formerly `the seer.'
10 And Saul saith to his young man, `Thy word [is] good; come, we go;' and they go unto the city where the man of God [is].
11 They are going up in the ascent of the city, and have found young women going out to draw water, and say to them, `Is the seer in this [place]?'
12 And they answer them and say, `He is; lo, before thee! haste, now, for to-day he hath come in to the city, for the people hath a stated sacrifice in a high place.
13 At your going in to the city so ye do find him, before he doth go up in to the high place to eat; for the people do not eat till his coming, for he doth bless the sacrifice; afterwards they eat, who are called, and now, go up, for at this time ye find him.'
14 And they go up in to the city; they are coming in to the midst of the city, and lo, Samuel is coming out to meet them, to go up to the high place;
14 And he was casting forth a demon, and it was dumb, and it came to pass, the demon having gone forth, the dumb man spake, and the multitudes wondered,
15 and certain of them said, `By Beelzeboul, ruler of the demons, he doth cast forth the demons;'
16 and others, tempting, a sign out of heaven from him were asking.
17 And he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, `Every kingdom having been divided against itself is desolated; and house against house doth fall;
18 and if also the Adversary against himself was divided, how shall his kingdom be made to stand? for ye say, by Beelzeboul is my casting forth the demons.
19 `But if I by Beelzeboul cast forth the demons -- your sons, by whom do they cast forth? because of this your judges they shall be;
20 but if by the finger of God I cast forth the demons, then come unawares upon you did the reign of God.
21 `When the strong man armed may keep his hall, in peace are his goods;
22 but when the stronger than he, having come upon [him], may overcome him, his whole-armour he doth take away in which he had trusted, and his spoils he distributeth;
23 he who is not with me is against me, and he who is not gathering with me doth scatter.
24 `When the unclean spirit may go forth from the man it walketh through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding, it saith, I will turn back to my house whence I came forth;
25 and having come, it findeth [it] swept and adorned;
26 then doth it go, and take to it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and having entered, they dwell there, and the last of that man becometh worst than the first.'
27 And it came to pass, in his saying these things, a certain woman having lifted up the voice out of the multitude, said to him, `Happy the womb that carried thee, and the paps that thou didst suck!'
28 And he said, `Yea, rather, happy those hearing the word of God, and keeping [it]!'