Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Folly and Wickedness of Men.
For the choir director; according to [a]Mahalath. A [b]Maskil of David.
53 (A)The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God,”
They are corrupt, and have committed abominable injustice;
(B)There is no one who does good.
2 God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men
To see if there is (C)anyone who [c]understands,
Who (D)seeks after God.
3 (E)Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
There is no one who does good, not even one.
4 Have the workers of wickedness (F)no knowledge,
Who eat up My people as though they ate bread
And have not called upon God?
5 There they were in great [d]fear (G)where no [e]fear had been;
For God (H)scattered the bones of [f]him who encamped against you;
You (I)put them to shame, because (J)God had rejected them.
6 Oh, that (K)the salvation of Israel [g]would come out of Zion!
When God [h]restores His captive people,
[i]Let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “(A)I have sinned; (B)I have indeed transgressed the [a]command of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice. 25 Now therefore, (C)please pardon my sin and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.” 26 But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you; for (D)you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” 27 As Samuel turned to go, (E)Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. 28 So Samuel said to him, “(F)The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor, who is better than you. 29 Also the [b](G)Glory of Israel (H)will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.” 30 Then he said, “I have sinned; (I)but please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and go back with me, (J)that I may worship the Lord your God.” 31 So Samuel went back following Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.
43 (A)For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, [a]on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. 44 (B)For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. 45 (C)The good man out of the good [b]treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; (D)for his mouth speaks from [c]that which fills his heart.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.