Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David.

¹ ¶ Let the LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; let the name of the God of Jacob lift thee up

² and send thee help from the sanctuary and strengthen thee out of Zion

³ and remember all thy offerings and reduce thy burnt sacrifice to the ashes of burnt fat, Selah.

⁴ Grant thee according to thine heart and fulfil all thy counsel.

⁵ We will rejoice in thy saving health, and in the name of our God we will be standard-bearers: let the LORD fulfil all thy petitions.

⁶ ¶ Now know I that the LORD has kept his anointed; he will hear him from the heavens of his holiness with the saving valour of his right hand.

⁷ Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

⁸ They are brought down and fallen, but we are risen and stand upright.

⁹ The LORD saves the king; let him hear us on the day when we call.

13 ¶ Saul was as a son of one year when he began to reign, and when he had reigned two years over Israel,

² Saul chose three thousand men of Israel, of which two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in Mount Bethel and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin; and of the rest of the people he sent each one to his tent.

³ And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul caused the shofar to be blown throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.

⁴ And all Israel heard it said that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines and also that Israel had become a stench unto the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal.

⁵ Then the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude; and they came up and pitched camp in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven.

⁶ When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were distressed), then the people hid themselves in caves and in thickets and in rocks and in high places and in pits.

⁷ And some of the Hebrews went over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

⁸ ¶ And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were deserting from him.

⁹ Then Saul said, Bring me a burnt offering and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering.

¹⁰ And it came to pass that as soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him that he might bless him.

¹¹ Then Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were leaving me and that thou didst not come within the days appointed and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash,

¹² therefore, I said, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the LORD. I forced myself, therefore, and offered a burnt offering.

¹³ Then Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly; thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee, for now the LORD would have established thy kingdom over Israel for ever.

¹⁴ But now thy kingdom shall not stand; the LORD has sought a man after his own heart unto whom the LORD has commanded that he be captain over his people because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.

¹⁵ ¶ And Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal unto Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people that were present with him, about six hundred men.

4 ¶ And he began again to teach by the sea side, and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship and sat in the sea, and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.

² And he taught them many things by parables and said unto them in his doctrine,

³ Hearken; Behold, the sower went out to sow;

⁴ and it came to pass as he sowed some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.

⁵ And some fell on stony ground where it had not much earth, and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth;

⁶ but when the sun was up, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away.

⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

⁸ And other fell on good ground and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased and brought forth: some thirty and some sixty and some a hundred.

⁹ And he said unto them, He that has ears to hear, let him hear.

¹⁰ And when he was alone, those that were close to him with the twelve asked of him the parable.

¹¹ And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but unto those that are without, all these things are done in parables,

¹² that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.

¹³ And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? How then will ye understand all the parables?

¹⁴ The sower is he who sows the word.

¹⁵ And these are those by the way side, in whom the word is sown, but when they have heard, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.

¹⁶ And likewise these are those who are sown on stony ground, who when they have heard the word immediately receive it with gladness

¹⁷ but have no root in themselves and are temporal; afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.

¹⁸ And these are those who are sown among thorns, such as hear the word,

¹⁹ and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

²⁰ And these are those who are sown in good ground, such as hear the word and receive it and bring forth fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.