Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
There Is None Who Does Good
To the choirmaster: according to (A)Mahalath. A Maskil[a] of David.
53 (B)The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
there is none who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven
on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,[b]
who seek after God.
3 They have all fallen away;
together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
4 Have those who work evil no knowledge,
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call upon God?
5 There they are, in great terror,
(C)where there is no terror!
For God (D)scatters the bones of him who encamps against you;
you put them to shame, for God has rejected them.
6 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When God restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
10 The word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 (A)“I regret[a] that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and (B)has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. 12 And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to (C)Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” 13 And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, (D)“Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” 14 And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” 15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, (E)for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”
17 And Samuel said, (F)“Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18 And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? (G)Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” 20 And Saul said to Samuel, (H)“I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 (I)But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” 22 And Samuel said,
(J)“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, (K)to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
and presumption is as iniquity and (L)idolatry.
Because (M)you have rejected the word of the Lord,
(N)he has also rejected you from being king.”
22 And (A)I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city (B)has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for (C)the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light (D)will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth (E)will bring their glory into it, 25 and (F)its gates will never be shut by day—and (G)there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But (H)nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's (I)book of life.
The River of Life
22 Then the angel[a] showed me (J)the river of (K)the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of (L)the street of the city; (M)also, on either side of the river, (N)the tree of life[b] with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were (O)for the healing of the nations. 3 (P)No longer will there be anything accursed, but (Q)the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and (R)his servants will worship him. 4 (S)They will see his face, and (T)his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And (U)night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp (V)or sun, for (W)the Lord God will be their light, and (X)they will reign forever and ever.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.