Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at ^(A)Ramah; ⁵ and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now ^(B)appoint us a king to judge us like all the nations.” ⁶ But the matter was ^[a](C)displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And ^(D)Samuel prayed to the Lord. ⁷ And the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people regarding all that they say to you, because ^(E)they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being King over them. ⁸ Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day—in that they have abandoned Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you as well. ⁹ Now then, listen to their voice; ^(F)however, you shall warn them strongly and tell them of ^(G)the ^[b]practice of the king who will reign over them.”

Warning concerning a King

¹⁰ So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to ^(H)the people who had asked him for a king. ¹¹ And he said, “^(I)This will be the ^[c]practice of the king who will reign over you: ^(J)he will take your sons and put them in his chariots for himself and among his horsemen, and ^(K)they will run before his chariots.

^12 (A)He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to ^[a]do his plowing and to gather in his harvest, and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. ¹³ He will also take your daughters and use them as perfumers, cooks, and bakers. ^14 (B)He will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ And he will take a tenth of your seed and your vineyards and give it to his high officials and his servants.

¹⁶ He will also take your male servants and your female servants, and your best young men, and your donkeys, and ^[a]use them for his work. ¹⁷ He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants. ¹⁸ Then ^(A)you will cry out on that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but ^(B)the Lord will not answer you on that day.”

¹⁹ Yet the people ^(C)refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, “No, but there shall be a king over us, ^20 (D)so that we also may be like all the nations, and our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

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

Thanksgiving for the Lord’s Favor.

A Psalm of David.

¹³ But having the same ^(A)spirit of faith, according to what is written: “^(B)I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak, ¹⁴ knowing that He who ^(C)raised the Lord Jesus ^(D)will also raise us with Jesus, and will ^(E)present us with you. ¹⁵ For all things are ^(F)for your sakes, so that grace, having ^[a](G)spread to more and more people, will cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

¹⁶ Therefore we ^(H)do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our ^(I)inner person is ^(J)being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our momentary, ^(K)light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ while we ^(L)look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The Temporal and Eternal

5 For we know that if our ^[b](M)earthly ^(N)tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house ^(O)not made by hands, eternal in the heavens.

²⁰ And He *came ^[a](A)home, and the ^(B)crowd *gathered again, ^(C)to such an extent that they could not even eat ^[b]a meal. ²¹ And when ^(D)His own ^[c]people heard about this, they came out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “^(E)He has lost His senses.” ²² The scribes who came down ^(F)from Jerusalem were saying, “He ^[d]is possessed by ^[e](G)Beelzebul,” and “^(H)He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” ^23 (I)And so He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in ^(J)parables: “How can ^(K)Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶ And if ^(L)Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but ^[f]he is finished! ^27 (M)But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

²⁸ “^(N)Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons and daughters of men, and whatever blasphemies they commit; ²⁹ but ^(O)whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰ because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

^31 (P)Then His mother and His brothers *came, and while standing outside they sent word to Him, calling for Him. ³² And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they *said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” ³³ Answering them, He *said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” ³⁴ And looking around at those who were sitting around Him, He *said, “^(Q)Here are My mother and My brothers! ³⁵ For whoever ^(R)does the will of God, this is My brother, and sister, and mother.”