Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 108

A song. A Psalm of David.

¹ O God, my heart is fixed (steadfast, in the confidence of faith); I will sing, yes, I will sing praises, even with my glory [all the faculties and powers of one created in Your image]!

² Awake, harp and lyre; I myself will wake very early—I will waken the dawn!

³ I will praise and give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; and I will sing praises unto You among the nations.

⁴ For Your mercy and loving-kindness are great and high as the heavens! Your truth and faithfulness reach to the skies!^(A)

⁵ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let Your glory be over all the earth.

⁶ That Your beloved [followers] may be delivered, save with Your right hand and answer us! [or me]!

⁷ God has promised in His holiness [regarding the establishment of David’s dynasty]: I will rejoice, I will distribute [Canaan among My people], dividing Shechem and [the western region and allotting the eastern region which contains] the Valley of Succoth.

⁸ Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is My stronghold and the defense of My head; Judah is My scepter and lawgiver.^(B)

⁹ Moab is My washbasin; upon Edom [My slave] My shoe I cast [to be cleaned]; over Philistia I shout [in triumph].

¹⁰ Who will bring me [David] into the strong, fortified city [of Petra]? Who will lead me into Edom?

¹¹ Have You not cast us off, O God? And will You not go forth, O God, with our armies?

¹² Give us help against the adversary, for vain is the help of man.

¹³ Through and with God we shall do valiantly, for He it is Who shall tread down our adversaries.^(C)

³ Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth [female deities] from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve Him only, and He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.

⁴ So the Israelites put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only.

⁵ Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray to the Lord for you.

⁶ So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there, We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the Israelites at Mizpah.

⁷ Now when the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines.

⁸ And the Israelites said to Samuel, Do not cease to cry to the Lord our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.

⁹ So Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord; and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him.

¹⁰ As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered with a great voice that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel.

¹¹ And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and smote them as far as below Beth-car.

¹² Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and he called the name of it Ebenezer [stone of help], saying, Heretofore the Lord has helped us.

¹³ So the Philistines were subdued and came no more into Israelite territory. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

¹⁴ The cities the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and Israel rescued [the cities’] territory from the Philistines. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites.

¹⁵ And Samuel judged Israel all his days.

20 Then I saw an angel descending from heaven; he was holding the key of the Abyss (the bottomless pit) and a great chain was in his hand.

² And he gripped and overpowered the dragon, that old serpent [of primeval times], who is the devil and Satan, and [securely] bound him for a thousand years.

³ Then he hurled him into the Abyss (the bottomless pit) and closed it and sealed it above him, so that he should no longer lead astray and deceive and seduce the nations until the thousand years were at an end. After that he must be liberated for a short time.

⁴ Then I saw thrones, and sitting on them were those to whom authority to act as judges and to pass sentence was entrusted. Also I saw the souls of those who had been slain with axes [beheaded] for their witnessing to Jesus and [for preaching and testifying] for the Word of God, and who had refused to pay homage to the beast or his statue and had not accepted his mark or permitted it to be stamped on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived again and ruled with Christ (the Messiah) a thousand years.^(A)

⁵ The remainder of the dead were not restored to life again until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.

⁶ Blessed (happy, ^[a]to be envied) and holy (spiritually whole, of unimpaired innocence and proved virtue) is the person who takes part (shares) in the first resurrection! Over them the second death exerts no power or authority, but they shall be ministers of God and of Christ (the Messiah), and they shall rule along with Him a thousand years.