Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 20

A Prayer for Victory for the King

Heading
For the choir director. A psalm by David.

The People’s Prayer

The King’s Response

The People’s Prayer

Saul’s Reign Gets Off to a Bad Start

13 Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years.^[a]

² Saul chose for himself three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul at Mikmash and in the hill country near Bethel, and one thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah^[b] of Benjamin. He sent the rest of the people to their own tents.

³ Jonathan struck the Philistine garrison^[c] that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. Saul blew the ram’s horn throughout the land and said, “Let the Hebrews hear!” ⁴ All Israel heard that Saul had struck the garrison of the Philistines and that Israel had become a stench to the Philistines. The people were summoned to meet Saul at Gilgal.

⁵ The Philistines assembled their forces to fight against Israel with three thousand^[d] chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They came up and camped at Mikmash, east of Beth Aven. ⁶ When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble because their army was under pressure, the people hid themselves in caves, in thickets,^[e] among the rocks, in dugouts,^[f] and in cisterns. ⁷ Some of the Hebrews had gone across the Jordan River to the territory of Gad and Gilead, but Saul remained in Gilgal, and all the people who remained with him were shaking with fear. ⁸ He waited there seven days, the time specified by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were starting to scatter from Saul. ⁹ So Saul said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offering.” He then presented the burnt offering.

¹⁰ No sooner had he finished presenting the burnt offering than Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet him and greet him with a blessing. ¹¹ But Samuel said, “What have you done?”

Saul said, “I saw that the people were scattering from me, that you did not come within the set number of days, and that the Philistines had assembled their forces at Mikmash. ¹² So I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself to offer the burnt offering.”

¹³ Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly. You have not kept the command which the Lord your God gave to you. The Lord would have established your kingship over Israel forever. ¹⁴ But now your kingship will not continue. The Lord has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and the Lord has appointed him to be ruler over his people, because you have not obeyed the command the Lord gave you.”

¹⁵ Then Samuel set out and went up from Gilgal. ⎣The rest of the people followed Saul to meet the army. They went up from Gilgal⎦^[g] to Gibeah of Benjamin. Saul counted the people who were present with him. There were about six hundred men.

The Parable of the Sower

4 Another time Jesus began to teach by the sea. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the sea. The whole crowd was on the seashore. ² Then he taught them many things in parables. As he taught them, he said, ³ “Listen! There was a sower who went out to sow. ⁴ As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up right away because it did not have deep soil. ⁶ When the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it did not have much root, it withered. ⁷ Some seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, so it did not produce fruit. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good ground and yielded fruit, sprouting and growing and producing a crop: some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred times as much as was sown.” ⁹ Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”

¹⁰ When Jesus was alone, those who were around him with the Twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ He said to them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but everything comes in parables to those who are outside, ¹² so that

¹³ Then he asked them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand any of the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ These are the ones along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and immediately takes away the word that was sown in them. ¹⁶ Some are like the ones sown on rocky ground: as soon as they hear the word, they immediately welcome it with joy. ¹⁷ Yet since they have no root in themselves, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away. ¹⁸ Still others are sown among the thorns. These are the ones who hear the word, ¹⁹ but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth and desires for other things enter in and choke the word, so it becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ But the ones sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, accept it, and produce fruit: some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred times as much as was sown.”