Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at ^(A)Ramah ⁵ and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. ^(B)Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” ⁶ But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. ⁷ And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, ^(C)for they have not rejected you, ^(D)but they have rejected me from being king over them. ⁸ According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. ⁹ Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them ^(E)and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

Samuel's Warning Against Kings

¹⁰ So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. ¹¹ He said, ^(F)“These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: ^(G)he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots.

¹² And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some ^(A)to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. ¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ^14 (B)He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants.

¹⁶ He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men^[a] and your donkeys, and put them to his work. ¹⁷ He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. ¹⁸ And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, ^(A)but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

The Lord Grants Israel's Request

¹⁹ But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, ^20 (B)that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

¹⁴ Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingdom.” ¹⁵ So all the people went to ^(A)Gilgal, and there they made Saul king ^(B)before the Lord in Gilgal. There ^(C)they sacrificed peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

Give Thanks to the Lord

Of David.

¹³ Since we have ^(A)the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, ^(B)“I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, ¹⁴ knowing that ^(C)he who raised the Lord Jesus ^(D)will raise us also with Jesus and ^(E)bring us with you into his presence. ¹⁵ For ^(F)it is all for your sake, so that as ^(G)grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, ^(H)to the glory of God.

¹⁶ So we do not lose heart. ^(I)Though our outer self^[a] is wasting away, ^(J)our inner self ^(K)is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For ^(L)this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ^18 (M)as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Our Heavenly Dwelling

5 For we know that if ^(N)the tent that is ^(O)our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, ^(P)a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

²⁰ Then he went ^(A)home, and the crowd gathered again, ^(B)so that they could not even eat. ^21 (C)And when ^(D)his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He ^(E)is out of his mind.”

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

²² And ^(F)the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, ^(G)“He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” ^23 (H)And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶ And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. ²⁷ But ^(I)no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. ^(J)Then indeed he may plunder his house.

^28 (K)“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, ²⁹ but whoever ^(L)blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰ for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Jesus' Mother and Brothers

^31 (M)And his mother and his ^(N)brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. ³² And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers^[a] are outside, seeking you.” ³³ And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” ³⁴ And ^(O)looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ^35 (P)For whoever ^(Q)does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”