Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

13 Sha’ul was — years old^[a] when he began his reign, and he had ruled Isra’el for two years, ² when he chose three thousand of Isra’el’s men. Two thousand of them were with Sha’ul in Mikhmas and in the hills of Beit-El, and a thousand were with Y’honatan in Giv‘at-Binyamin. The rest of the people he sent back to their respective tents.

³ Y’honatan assassinated the governor of the P’lishtim in Geva. The P’lishtim heard of it; so Sha’ul had the shofar sounded throughout the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!” ⁴ All Isra’el heard that Sha’ul had assassinated the governor of the P’lishtim and thus made Isra’el a stench in the nostrils of the P’lishtim. So the people rallied behind Sha’ul in Gilgal; ⁵ while the P’lishtim assembled themselves together to make war on Isra’el — 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen and an army as large as the number of sand grains on the seashore. They came up and pitched camp at Mikhmas, east of Beit-Aven. ⁶ The men of Isra’el saw that their options were limited and that the people felt so hard pressed that they were hiding themselves in caves, thickets, crevices, watchtowers and cisterns; ⁷ while some of the Hebrews crossed the Yarden to the territory of Gad and Gil‘ad. But Sha’ul was still in Gilgal, where all the people were eager to follow him. ⁸ He waited seven days, as Sh’mu’el had instructed; but Sh’mu’el didn’t come to Gilgal; so the army began to drift away from him. ⁹ Sha’ul said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings,” and he offered the burnt offering. ¹⁰ As soon as he had finished sacrificing the burnt offering, there was Sh’mu’el — he had come, and Sha’ul went out to meet and greet him.

¹¹ Sh’mu’el said, “What have you done?” Sha’ul answered, “I saw that the army was drifting away from me, that you hadn’t come during the time appointed and that the P’lishtim had assembled at Mikhmas. ¹² I said, ‘Now the P’lishtim will fall on me at Gilgal, and I haven’t asked the favor of Adonai,’ so I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.” ¹³ Sh’mu’el said to Sha’ul, “You did a foolish thing. You didn’t observe the mitzvah of Adonai, which he gave you. If you had, Adonai would have set up your kingship over Isra’el forever. ¹⁴ But as it is, your kingship will not be established. Adonai has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and Adonai has appointed him to be prince over his people, because you did not observe what Adonai ordered you to do.” ¹⁵ Then Sh’mu’el left Gilgal and went up to Giv‘at-Binyamin.

Sha’ul counted how many were still there with him, about 600 men.

4 Again Yeshua began to teach by the lake, but the crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there, while the crowd remained on shore at the water’s edge. ² He taught them many things in parables. In the course of his teaching, he said to them: ³ “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he sowed, some seed fell alongside the path; and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky patches where there was not much soil. It sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow; ⁶ but when the sun rose, the young plants were scorched; and since their roots were not deep, they dried up. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked it; so that it yielded no grain. ⁸ But other seed fell into rich soil and produced grain; it sprouted, and grew, and yielded a crop — thirty, sixty, even a hundred times what was sown.” ⁹ And he concluded, “Whoever has ears to hear with, let him hear!”

¹⁰ When Yeshua was alone, the people around him with the Twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ He answered them, “To you the secret of the Kingdom of God has been given; but to those outside, everything is in parables, ¹² so that

¹³ Then Yeshua said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How will you be able to understand any parable? ¹⁴ The sower sows the message. ¹⁵ Those alongside the path where the message is sown are people who no sooner hear it than the Adversary comes and takes away the message sown in them. ¹⁶ Likewise, those receiving seed on rocky patches are people who hear the message and joyfully accept it at once; ¹⁷ but they have no root in themselves. So they hold out for a while, but as soon as some trouble or persecution arises on account of the message, they immediately fall away. ¹⁸ Others are those sown among thorns — they hear the message; ¹⁹ but the worries of the world, the deceitful glamor of wealth and all the other kinds of desires push in and choke the message; so that it produces nothing. ²⁰ But those sown on rich soil hear the message, accept it and bear fruit — thirty, sixty or a hundredfold.”