Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
4 So all of Israel's leaders went together to meet Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, ‘You are old. Your sons do not live in the way that you have done. All the other nations have kings to lead them. So choose a king to rule over us, like they have.’
6 When Israel's leaders said, ‘Choose a king who will lead us,’ Samuel was not happy. So he prayed to the Lord. 7 The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Listen to everything that the people are saying to you. I myself should be their king. So it is not you that they refuse to accept. It is me that they do not accept to be their king. 8 They are doing what they have always done. Since I brought them out of Egypt they have continued to turn away from me. They have chosen to serve other gods. Now they are turning against you in the same way. 9 So do what they are asking you to do. But warn them about what will happen. Tell them how their kings will rule over them.’
10 Samuel spoke to the people who had asked him to give them a king. He told them everything that the Lord had said to him. 11 Samuel said to them, ‘This is how the king will rule over you: He will take your sons to be his soldiers. They will ride his horses and they will drive his chariots. They will have to run in front of his own chariot.
12 The king will choose some of your sons to be officers in his army. Some will be leaders of 1,000 soldiers. Others will be leaders of 50 soldiers. Some of your sons will have to plough the king's fields. They will have to cut his crops at harvest time. They will have to make weapons for the king to fight wars. They will have to fix his chariots. 13 The king will take your daughters to serve him. They will have to make perfume for him. They will also have to cook and bake bread for him. 14 The king will take your best fields, vines and olive trees away from you. He will give all these to his own officers. 15 He will take a tenth part of all your seeds and grapes. He will give them to his officers and servants.
16 He will take your male and female servants for himself. He will take your best cows and your donkeys. He will use them for his own work. 17 He will take a tenth of all your sheep and your goats. You yourselves will become his servants too. 18 Then you will complain loudly to the Lord about your king that you have chosen to lead you. But the Lord will not answer you when you do that.’
19 But the people would not listen to Samuel. They said, ‘No! We want a king to rule us. 20 We want to be like all the other nations! We want a king to rule us. He will be our leader when we go to fight our enemies.’
14 Samuel said to the people, ‘Now we will all go to Gilgal. We must all agree that Saul will continue to be our king.’ 15 So everyone went to Gilgal. They went to the place where they worshipped the Lord. They all agreed that Saul would be their king. They offered peace offerings to the Lord. Saul and all the Israelites were very happy.
David wrote this song.
Thank God for who he is
138 I will thank you, Lord, with my whole being.
I will sing and praise you in front of the gods.[a]
2 I look towards your holy temple,
and I bend down to worship you.
I thank you for who you are.
You love your people and they can always trust you.
You are more famous than anyone,
because you always do what you promise.
3 When I prayed to you, you answered me.
You made me brave and strong.
4 All the kings in the world will thank you, Lord,
when they hear the promises that you have made.
5 They will sing about the things that you have done,
because they see that you are great, Lord.
6 Yes, the Lord is high above the earth.
But he takes care of humble people.
He also knows what proud people are doing,
even if they try to hide.[b]
7 When there is danger all round me,
you help me to be strong.
When my enemy is angry, you fight against him.
You save me with your strong right hand.[c]
8 The Lord stands with me to do what he has promised.
Yes, Lord, your faithful love will always continue.
You have made us who we are,
so do not leave us now!
13 This is written in the Bible: ‘I believed in God, and so I spoke.’[a] We also have the same kind of faith in God. So we also speak God's message, because we believe in him. 14 God raised up the Lord Jesus, to become alive again after his death. Because we belong to Jesus, we know that God will also raise us up after we die. Together with you, God will take us to be where he is. 15 In everything that we do, we want to help you. As a result, more and more people are seeing how kind God is. So people are thanking God more and more. And that shows how great God is.
16 That is why we are not afraid to continue our work. Yes, our bodies are getting older and weaker. But our spirits are becoming stronger every day! 17 We have these little troubles that continue for a short time. But as a result, we will receive the great things that God has prepared for us. Those great things are much more important than our little troubles. And God's great things will continue for ever! 18 So we do not look at the things that we can see in this world. Instead, we look at the things that people cannot see. The things that we can see are only here for a short time. But the things that we cannot see will continue for ever.
God has prepared a new body for us
5 Our bodies are like a tent that we live in here on earth. One day, that home will come to an end. But we know that God will give us a new home. It is not a house that a human builder has built. God has built it for us in heaven and we will live there for ever.
Jesus talks about Satan
20 Then Jesus went into a house. A crowd of people came together there again. There were so many people that Jesus and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 People told his family what was happening. So they went to take him away with them. They thought that Jesus was crazy.[a]
22 Some teachers of God's Law came from Jerusalem. They said, ‘Jesus has a bad spirit called Beelzebul in him. That is Satan, the one who rules all the bad spirits. This man can send bad spirits out of people because Satan gives him authority.’[b]
23 So Jesus spoke to the teachers of God's Law. He said, ‘Come here and listen to me.’ He used stories to explain to them, ‘Satan would not fight against himself! 24 If armies in the same country start to fight each other, then they will destroy their own country. 25 And if the people in one family start to fight against each other, they will destroy their own family. 26 So Satan would not attack himself. If he did that, he would destroy his own power. That would be the end of him. 27 Nobody can easily go into the house of a strong man to rob him. To do that, he must first tie up the strong man. Then he can take away all that man's valuable things. 28 I tell you this: God can forgive all the wrong things that people do. He can also forgive people who say bad things against him. 29 But God will never forgive people who say bad things against the Holy Spirit. Those people will always be guilty of a terrible sin.’
30 Jesus said that to the teachers of God's Law, because they had said, ‘Jesus has a bad spirit in him.’
Jesus' mother and his brothers come to look for him
31 Then, Jesus' mother and his brothers arrived and they stood outside the house. They sent someone into the house with a message. They wanted Jesus to come out to speak to them. 32 A crowd of people was sitting around Jesus. Somebody said to him, ‘Look! Your mother and brothers are outside. They are looking for you.’
33 Jesus replied, ‘I will tell you who my mother and brothers really are.’
34 Then he looked at the people who were sitting around him. He said, ‘Look! Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 My brothers and sisters and my mother are the people who do what God wants.’[c]
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