Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 108(A)
A Song. A Psalm of David.
1 O God, my heart is determined;
I will sing and give praise with my whole heart.
2 Awake, O lyre and harp!
I will awake at dawn!
3 I will praise you, O Lord, among the peoples,
and I will sing praises unto You among the nations.
4 For Your mercy is great above the heavens;
Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
may Your glory be above all the earth.
6 That Your beloved ones may be delivered,
provide salvation with Your right hand and answer me.
7 God has spoken in His sanctuary:
“I will triumph and will divide up Shechem
and portion out the Valley of Sukkoth.
8 Gilead is Mine; Manasseh is Mine;
Ephraim is My helmet;
Judah is My royal scepter;
9 Moab is My washbasin;
on Edom I throw My shoe;
over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
10 Who will bring me into the fortified city?
Who will lead me into Edom?
11 Have You not rejected us, O God?
You surely do not go out, O God, with our armies.
12 Grant us help against the foe,
for the help of man is worthless.
13 Through God we shall be valiant,
for He shall tread down our enemies.
Israel Demands a King
8 And it came about when Samuel was old, that he installed his sons as judges for Israel. 2 Now the name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second son was Abijah. They were judging in Beersheba. 3 But his sons did not walk in his way, for they followed after unlawful gain, and they took bribes, and they perverted justice.
4 And all the elders of Israel gathered together and they came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “You are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now, install for us a king to govern us like all the nations.”
6 But the thing was evil in the eyes of Samuel, because they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 The Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in relation to all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but Me they have rejected from reigning over them. 8 Just as all the deeds which they have done to Me, from the day I brought them up from Egypt even to this day, in that they have forsaken Me and have served other gods, so they are doing also to you now. 9 Now then, obey their voice. Only you will testify against them and proclaim to them the judgment concerning the king who will reign over them.”
10 So Samuel said all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking from him a king. 11 And he said, “This will be the judgment concerning the king who will reign over you: Your sons he will take in order to place them for himself in his chariots and as his horsemen, and they will run before his chariot, 12 and in order to assign for himself captains of thousands and captains of fifties, and to plow his ground, and to gather in his harvest, and to make his weapons of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 And your daughters he will take for perfumers, and cooks, and bakers. 14 And your choicest fields, and vineyards, and olive groves he will take and give them to his servants. 15 And of your seed fields and your vineyards he will take a tenth of their harvest and will give it to his high officials and to his servants. 16 And your menservants and your maidservants, and the best of your young men and asses he will take and make do his work. 17 Your flocks he will take a tenth of, but you will be his for slaves. 18 And you will cry out in that day because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But surely a king will be over us! 20 So that we also will be like all the nations! And so that our king will govern us, and will go out before us, and will fight our battles.”
21 And after Samuel heard all the words of the people, he spoke them in the hearing of the Lord. 22 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey their voice, and make for them a king.”
So Samuel said to Israel’s fighting men, “Go every man to his city.”
The Defeat of Satan
7 When the thousand years are ended, Satan will be set free from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 They traveled the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. But fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. 10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet were. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
The Great White Throne Judgment
11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. From His face the earth and the heavens fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. Books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. The dead were judged according to their works as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one by his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.