Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God chooses Samuel
3 The boy Samuel continued to serve the Lord. Eli the priest taught him what to do. In those days, the Lord did not often give his messages to people. He did not often show things to them in visions.
2 Eli's eyes had become weak. He could not see very well. One night, he was sleeping in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God was still burning.[a] Samuel was lying down to sleep near the Covenant Box in the Lord's house. 4 Then the Lord called out to Samuel. Samuel answered, ‘Here I am.’ 5 Samuel ran to Eli and he said, ‘You called my name. Here I am.’
But Eli said, ‘I did not call your name. Go back and lie down again.’ So Samuel went and he lay down again.
6 Again the Lord called out, ‘Samuel’. So Samuel went to Eli and he said, ‘You called my name. Here I am.’
Eli answered, ‘My son, I did not call your name. Go back and lie down again.’
7 Samuel did not know the Lord yet. The Lord had not spoken to him before. 8 Then the Lord called Samuel's name for the third time. Samuel got up again. He went to Eli and he said, ‘You called my name. Here I am.’
Then Eli realized that it was the Lord who was calling the boy's name. 9 So Eli said to Samuel, ‘Go back and lie down again. If he calls your name again, you must say, “Speak, Lord. I am your servant and I am listening.” ’ So Samuel went back and he lay down in his place.
10 The Lord came and he stood near to Samuel. He called Samuel's name again, as he had done before. He said, ‘Samuel, Samuel’. Samuel said, ‘Speak. I am your servant and I am listening.’[b]
11 Then the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Listen to me. I am ready to do something great among the Israelite people. When people hear about it, they will shake with fear. 12 When that day arrives, I will punish Eli and his family in all the ways that I have said. I will start at the beginning and I will continue to the end. 13 I have warned Eli that I would punish his family for all time. He knew that his sons were doing very bad things. They were insulting me, God, and Eli did not stop them. 14 So I made a strong promise and I said, “I will never forgive the sins of Eli's family. No sacrifices or offerings will ever take away those sins.” ’
15 Samuel lay down again until the morning. Then he opened the doors of the Lord's house. He was afraid to tell Eli about the vision that he had received from God. 16 But Eli called out to Samuel, ‘Samuel, my son.’ Samuel answered, ‘Here I am.’
17 Eli asked Samuel, ‘What message did the Lord speak to you? You must not hide it from me. God will certainly punish you if you do not tell me everything that he said to you.’
18 So Samuel told Eli everything. He did not hide any of God's message. Then Eli said, ‘The Lord. must do what he thinks is right.’
19 The Lord was with Samuel while he continued to grow up. So every message that Samuel spoke became true. 20 In all Israel, from the north to the south, everyone realized that Samuel was truly the Lord's prophet.[a]
This is a song that David wrote.
It is for the music leader.
God understands me[a]
139 Lord, you look deep inside me,
and you know all about me.
2 You know when I sit down,
and you know when I get up.
Even when you are far away,
you understand what I am thinking about.
3 You see me when I go out,
and you see me when I stay at home.
You know everything that I do!
4 Yes Lord, before I open my mouth to speak,
you know what I will say.
5 You are all around me, in front of me and behind me.
You put your hand on me to help me.
6 You know so much about me, it is wonderful.
I cannot understand it.
My thoughts cannot reach as high as that!
13 You made every part of me.
You made me grow inside my mother before I was born.
14 I thank you for the wonderful way that you have made me.
Everything that you do is wonderful!
I know it is true.
15 While you caused me to grow in a secret place,
none of my body was hidden from you.
You made me deep in the earth.[a]
16 Your eyes watched me before I was born.
Before I had seen the light of day,
you decided how many days I would live!
You wrote it down in your book.
17 You have so many thoughts about me, God,
that I cannot understand them all.
18 They are too many for me to count,
more than the sand on the shore of the sea.
Even if I finished counting them,
you would still be there!
Use your bodies in a good way
12 Some of you believers may say, ‘I am free to do anything that I want to do.’ That may be true, but not everything will help you. I could say, ‘I am free to do the things that I want to do.’ Yes, but I will not let anything rule over me.
13 Some of you may say, ‘God made food to feed our bodies. That is why people have stomachs. But one day God will destroy both stomachs and food.’ Yes, but the Lord gave our bodies to us. Our bodies belong to the Lord. So you should not use your bodies to have sex in a wrong way.[a] 14 God raised the Lord Jesus after he died. And God will use his power to make us alive again too.[b]
15 You know that your bodies are parts of Christ's own body. So you must never take your body and make it join with a prostitute's body. That is like you have done it with part of Christ's body. Never let that happen! 16 Anyone who makes his own body join to a prostitute becomes one body with that prostitute. You should know that. It says in the Bible:
‘The man and the woman become as one body.’[c]
17 But everyone who is united to the Lord has the same spirit as him. 18 So never have sex in a wrong way! You may say, ‘If a person does a bad thing, it is not his body that does it.’ But if you have sex in a wrong way, you are doing a bad thing to your own body. 19 Remember this: Your body is the home of God's Holy Spirit. God gave his Holy Spirit to you and he lives in you. You do not belong to yourselves any longer. 20 God bought you for himself. He paid the price for you. So use your body to show how great God is.[d]
43 The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He met Philip, and Jesus said to Philip, ‘Follow me.’ 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, came from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip went to find Nathanael. He told Nathanael, ‘We have found the man that Moses wrote about in the book of God's Law. The prophets also wrote about him. He is Jesus, who is Joseph's son, from Nazareth.’ 46 Nathanael said, ‘I did not think that anything good could come from Nazareth!’ Philip replied, ‘Come and see.’
47 Jesus saw Nathanael, who was coming towards him. Jesus said, ‘Here is a completely honest man. That is what a person from Israel should really be like.’ 48 Nathanael asked, ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you before Philip asked you to come. I saw you when you were under the fig tree.’ 49 Nathanael said, ‘Teacher, you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.’ 50 Jesus said to him, ‘I told you that I saw you under the fig tree. Now you believe me because I told you that. But you will see much greater things than that.’ 51 And Jesus said to him, ‘I tell you this: You will see heaven open. You will see God's angels. They will be going up and they will be coming down on the Son of Man.’[a]
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