Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Calls Samuel
3 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days. There was no vision coming forth.
2 At that time, Eli was lying down in his place (now his eyes had begun to grow weak that he could not see), 3 and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord where the ark of God was.
4 Then the Lord called to Samuel, and he answered, “Here I am.” 5 He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called to me.”
And he said, “I did not call. Return, lie down again.” And he went and lay down.
6 The Lord called Samuel again. So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.”
And he answered, “I did not call, my son. Return, lie down again.”
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord been revealed to him.
8 The Lord again called Samuel a third time. So he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.”
Then Eli understood that the Lord was calling to the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down. And it will be, if He calls you, that you will say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant listens.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 The Lord came and stood, and He called as at other times, “Samuel, Samuel.”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for Your servant listens.”
11 The Lord said to Samuel, “See, I am doing something in Israel which will make both ears ring of every one that hears it. 12 In that day I will bring about against Eli everything which I have spoken with regard to his house, from beginning to end. 13 For I told him that I will judge his house forever, for the guilt which he knew, because his sons are cursed, and he did not rebuke them. 14 Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for with sacrifice nor offering forever.”
15 Samuel lay until the morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. Now Samuel feared to report the vision to Eli. 16 Then Eli called Samuel, and said, “Samuel, my son.”
And he answered, “Here I am.”
17 He said, “What is the thing that the Lord has spoken to you? Do not hide it from me. Thus may God do so to you, and more also, if you hide from me a word out of all the things that He spoke to you.” 18 Samuel told him everything, and did not hide from him a thing. And he said, “It is the Lord; let Him do what is good in His eyes.”
19 And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and did not let any of his words fall to the ground. 20 All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was proven to be a prophet of the Lord.
Psalm 139
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, You have searched me
and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I get up;
You understand my thought from far off.
3 You search my path and my lying down
and are aware of all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
but behold, O Lord, You know it fully.
5 You put Yourself behind and before me,
and keep Your hand on me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is lofty, and I cannot fathom it.
13 You brought my inner parts into being;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise you, for You made me with fear and wonder;
marvelous are Your works,
and You know me completely.
15 My frame was not hidden from You
when I was made in secret,
and intricately put together in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw me unformed,
yet in Your book
all my days were written,
before any of them came into being.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them,
they are more in number than the sand;
when I awake,
I am still with You.
Glorify God in Your Body
12 “All things are lawful to me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything. 13 “Food is for the belly, and the belly is for food,” but God will destroy both of them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. 14 God has raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His own power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are the parts of Christ? Shall I then take the parts of Christ and make them the parts of a harlot? God forbid! 16 What? Do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.”[a] 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him.
18 Escape from sexual immorality. Every sin that a man commits is outside the body. But he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 What? Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God, and that you are not your own? 20 You were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
The Calling of Philip and Nathanael
43 The next day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip, and said to him, “Follow Me.”
44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, as well as the prophets, wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46 Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”
Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him and said concerning him, “Here is an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.”
48 Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?”
Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
49 Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And He said to him, “Truly, truly I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.