Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

There is only one true God^[a]

¹⁵ The day before Saul arrived, the Lord had already spoken to Samuel. He had said, ¹⁶ ‘Tomorrow I will send a man to you who comes from the land of Benjamin. He will arrive at about this time of day. Anoint him to be the ruler over my people, Israel. He will save my people from the power of the Philistines. My people have called out to me for help. Now I have decided to help them.’

¹⁷ When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, ‘Here is the man that I told you about. He will rule over my people.’

¹⁸ Saul met Samuel at the gate of the town. Saul said to him, ‘Please tell me where the seer's house is.’

¹⁹ Samuel said to him, ‘I am the seer! Go in front of me now to the altar on the hill. You and your servant will eat a meal with me there. Tomorrow morning I will send you back to your home. Before that, I will tell you what you want to know. ²⁰ Someone has already found the donkeys that you lost three days ago. Do not think any more about them. The only thing that the Israelite people want now is you! They want you and all your father's family.’

²¹ Saul answered, ‘I belong to the tribe of Benjamin. It is the smallest tribe in the nation of Israel. And my family belongs to the smallest clan in that tribe. So why do you speak like this to me?’

²² Then Samuel took Saul and his servant into the room where they would eat the meal. He made them sit in the most important seats in front of all the other people. About 30 people had come to eat the meal. ²³ Samuel said to the cook, ‘Please bring me the special piece of meat that I gave to you. I told you to keep that piece separate.’

²⁴ So the cook brought the leg of meat and he put it down in front of Saul. Samuel said to Saul, ‘I kept this special piece of meat for you to eat. Eat it now. I kept it separate for this time when we would eat together. I chose it for you when I asked the people to come and eat this special meal.’

So Saul ate the meal with Samuel that day.

²⁵ They came down from the hill and they went into the town. Samuel took Saul onto the roof of his house and they talked together.^{[a] 26} They got up at dawn the next day. Saul had been sleeping on the roof. Samuel shouted up to him, ‘Get up and prepare to leave. I will send you on your journey.’

Saul got ready to leave to go home. Saul and Samuel went out into the street together. ²⁷ They walked to the edge of the town. Samuel said to Saul, ‘Tell your servant to go on in front of us.’ So he did that.

Then Samuel said, ‘Stay here for a moment. I need to tell you God's message.’

Samuel anoints Saul

10 Then Samuel took a jar of oil and he poured the oil on Saul's head. He kissed Saul. He said:

‘The Lord has anointed you as the leader of his people.^[b] You will rule over them and you will rescue them from the power of their enemies. This is how you will know that the Lord has chosen you to be the leader of the Israelite people:

Leaders of the church

3 These words are true: ‘If you want to become a leader of God's people, it is an important work that you want to do.’ ² For that reason, a leader of the church must live a life that everyone knows is good. He must be the husband of one wife. He must think seriously about how he lives and he must control himself well. He must be someone that people respect. He must be happy to have visitors in his home. He must be a good teacher. ³ He should not drink too much wine. He must not get angry quickly or quarrel with people. Instead he should be kind to people. He must not want lots of money. ⁴ He must take care of his own family. His children must obey him and respect him. ⁵ A man must know how to take care of his own family. If he cannot do that, he will not be able to take care of God's people in the church.

⁶ A leader of the church must not be someone who has believed in Christ for only a short time. Someone like that might boast that he is great and important. Then he would receive punishment, as the Devil did. ⁷ Also, people outside the church should agree that the leader is a good person. Then nobody can say anything bad against him. And so, he will not come under the Devil's power.^[a]

Helpers in the church

⁸ In the same way, deacons must live good lives, so that people respect them. They must not be hypocrites. They must not drink too much wine. They must not want to get a lot of money for themselves. ⁹ They must completely believe the true message that God has shown us about Christ. They must be sure in their minds about it.