Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Hannah’s Prayer

2 Then Hannah prayed. She said,

The Lord Calls Out to Samuel

3 The boy Samuel served the Lord under the direction of Eli. In those days the Lord didn’t give many messages to his people. He didn’t give them many visions.

² One night Eli was lying down in his usual place. His eyes were becoming so weak he couldn’t see very well. ³ Samuel was lying down in the Lord’s house. That’s where the ark of God was kept. The lamp of God was still burning. ⁴ The Lord called out to Samuel.

Samuel answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ He ran over to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called out to me.”

But Eli said, “I didn’t call you. Go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

⁶ Again the Lord called out, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli. He said, “Here I am. You called out to me.”

“My son,” Eli said, “I didn’t call you. Go back and lie down.”

⁷ Samuel didn’t know the Lord yet. That’s because the Lord still hadn’t given him a message.

⁸ The Lord called out for the third time. He said, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli. He said, “Here I am. You called out to me.”

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. ⁹ So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down. If someone calls out to you again, say, ‘Speak, Lord. I’m listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰ The Lord came and stood there. He called out, just as he had done the other times. He said, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel replied, “Speak. I’m listening.”

¹¹ The Lord said to Samuel, “Pay attention! I am about to do something terrible in Israel. It will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. ¹² At that time I will do everything to Eli and his family that I said I would. I will finish what I have started. ¹³ I told Eli I would punish his family forever. He knew his sons were sinning. He knew they were saying bad things about me. In spite of that, he did not stop them. ¹⁴ So I made a promise to the family of Eli. I said, ‘The sins of Eli’s family will never be paid for by bringing sacrifices or offerings.’ ”

¹⁵ Samuel lay down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the Lord’s house. He was afraid to tell Eli about the vision he had received. ¹⁶ But Eli called out to him. He said, “Samuel, my son.”

Samuel answered, “Here I am.”

¹⁷ “What did the Lord say to you?” Eli asked. “Don’t hide from me anything he told you. If you do, may God punish you greatly.” ¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything. He didn’t hide anything from him. Then Eli said, “He is the Lord. Let him do what he thinks is best.”

The Story of the Renters

12 Jesus began to speak to the people using stories. He said, “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it. He dug a pit for a winepress. He also built a lookout tower. He rented the vineyard out to some farmers. Then he went to another place. ² At harvest time he sent a servant to the renters. He told the servant to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ³ But they grabbed the servant and beat him up. Then they sent him away with nothing. ⁴ So the man sent another servant to the renters. They hit this one on the head and treated him badly. ⁵ The man sent still another servant. The renters killed him. The man sent many others. The renters beat up some of them. They killed the others.

⁶ “The man had one person left to send. It was his son, and he loved him. He sent him last of all. He said, ‘They will respect my son.’

⁷ “But the renters said to each other, ‘This is the one who will receive all the owner’s property someday. Come, let’s kill him. Then everything will be ours.’ ⁸ So they took him and killed him. They threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹ “What will the owner of the vineyard do then? He will come and kill those renters. He will give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Haven’t you read what this part of Scripture says,

¹² Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest Jesus. They knew he had told the story against them. But they were afraid of the crowd. So they left him and went away.