Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer of David.

¹ ¶ Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me, for I am poor and needy.

² Preserve my soul; for I am merciful, O thou my God, save thy slave that trusts in thee.

³ Be merciful unto me, O Lord, for I cry unto thee daily.

⁴ Rejoice the soul of thy slave, for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

⁵ For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all those that call upon thee.

⁶ Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer and attend to the voice of my supplications.

⁷ In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me.

⁸ ¶ Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord, neither is there any other who does thy works.

⁹ All the Gentiles whom thou hast made shall come and humble themselves before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name.

¹⁰ For thou art great and doest wondrous things; thou alone art God.

¹¹ Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth; firm up my heart that I might fear thy name.

¹² I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify thy name for evermore.

¹³ For great is thy mercy upon me, and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest part of Sheol.

¹⁴ O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul and have not set thee before them.

¹⁵ But thou, O Lord, art a merciful and gracious God, longsuffering and plenteous in mercy and truth.

¹⁶ O look into me and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy slave and keep the son of thine handmaid.

¹⁷ Show me a token for good that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed because thou, O LORD, hast helped me and comforted me.

¹⁰ ¶ Then the word of the LORD came unto Samuel, saying,

¹¹ It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. And it incensed Samuel, and he cried unto the LORD all night.

¹² And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set himself up a monument and is gone about and passed on and gone down to Gilgal.

¹³ And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD; I have performed the commandment of the LORD.

¹⁴ Then Samuel said, What means then this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?

¹⁵ And Saul said, They have brought them from Amalek, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed.

¹⁶ Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.

¹⁷ And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?

¹⁸ And the LORD sent thee on a journey and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners of Amalek and fight against them until they are consumed.

¹⁹ Why then didst thou not hear the voice of the LORD but didst fly upon the spoil and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?

²⁰ And Saul said unto Samuel, But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD and have gone the way which the LORD sent me and have brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

²¹ But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the firstfruits of the anathema, to sacrifice them unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.

²² And Samuel said, Does the LORD have as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in hearing the voice of the LORD? Behold, to hear is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams.

²³ For rebellion is the sin of witchcraft, and to break the word of the Lord is iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected thee from being king.

²⁴ ¶ Then Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and thy words because I feared the people and consented unto their voice.

²⁵ Now, therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin and turn again with me that I may worship the LORD.

²⁶ And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee, for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected thee from being king over Israel.

²⁷ And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.

²⁸ And Samuel said unto him, The LORD has rent the kingdom of Israel from thee today and has given it to a neighbour of thine that is better than thou.

²⁹ And also the Overcomer of Israel will not lie nor repent concerning this, for he is not a man, that he should repent.

³⁰ Then he said, I have sinned; yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people and before Israel and turn again with me that I may worship the LORD thy God.

³¹ So Samuel turned again after Saul, and Saul worshipped the LORD.

5 ¶ But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession

² and defrauded of the price, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

³ But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to defraud of the price of the land?

⁴ Retaining it, was it not thy own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

⁵ Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and gave up the spirit; and great fear came on all those that heard these things.

⁶ And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out and buried him.

⁷ And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.

⁸ Then Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yes, for so much.

⁹ Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried thy husband are at the door and shall carry thee out.

¹⁰ Then she fell down straightway at his feet and yielded up the spirit; and the young men came in and found her dead and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.

¹¹ And great fear came upon all the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} and upon as many as heard these things.