Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
He Will Tread Down Our Adversaries
A Song. A Psalm of David.
108 (A)My heart is set, O God;
I will sing, I will sing praises, even with my glory.
2 Awake, harp and lyre;
I will awaken the dawn!
3 I will give thanks to You, O Yahweh, among the peoples,
And I will sing praises to You among the nations.
4 For Your (B)lovingkindness is great (C)above the heavens,
And Your truth reaches to the skies.
5 (D)Be exalted above the heavens, O God,
And Your glory above all the earth.
6 (E)That Your beloved may be rescued,
Save with Your right hand, and answer me!
7 God has spoken in His [a]holiness:
“I will exult, I will portion out Shechem
And measure out the valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine;
Ephraim also is the [b]helmet of My head;
(F)Judah is My [c]scepter.
9 Moab is My washbowl;
Over Edom I shall throw My shoe;
Over Philistia I will make a loud shout.”
10 (G)Who will bring me into the well-defended city?
Who [d]will lead me to Edom?
11 Have You, O God, not (H)rejected us?
And will You, O God, not go forth with our armies?
12 Oh give us help against the adversary,
For (I)salvation [e]by man is worthless.
13 [f]Through God we shall do valiantly,
And (J)it is He who will tread down our adversaries.
Saul to Be Anointed Over Israel
9 Now there was a man of Benjamin whose name was (A)Kish the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Benjamite, a mighty man of [a]valor. 2 Now he had a son whose name was Saul, a (B)choice and handsome man, and there was not a more handsome person than he among the sons of Israel; (C)from his shoulders and up he was taller than any of the people.
3 Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. So Kish said to his son Saul, “Take now with you one of the young men, and arise, go search for the donkeys.” 4 Thus he passed through (D)the hill country of Ephraim and passed through the land of (E)Shalishah, but they did not find them. Then they passed through the land of (F)Shaalim, but they were not there. Then he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they did not find them.
5 They came to the land of (G)Zuph. And Saul said to his young man who was with him, “Come, and let us return, (H)lest my father cease to be concerned about the donkeys and become anxious for us.” 6 But he said to him, “Behold now, there is (I)a man of God in this city, and the man is held in honor; (J)all that he says surely comes true. Now let us go there, (K)perhaps he can tell us about our journey on which we have gone.” 7 Then Saul said to his young man, “But behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread is gone from our sack, and there is (L)no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?” 8 And the young man answered Saul again and said, “Behold, I have in my hand a fourth of a [b]shekel of silver; I will give it to the man of God, and he will (M)tell us our way.” 9 (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he used to say, “Come, and let us go to the seer”; for he who is called a prophet now was formerly called (N)a seer.) 10 Then Saul said to his young man, “Your word is good; come, let us go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was.
11 As they were going up the slope to the city, (O)they found young women going out to draw water and said to them, “Is the seer here?” 12 And they answered them and said, “He is! Behold, he is ahead of you. Hurry now, for he has come into the city today, for (P)the people have a sacrifice on (Q)the high place today. 13 As soon as you enter the city you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat, for the people will not eat until he comes because (R)he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those who are invited will eat. So now, go up for you will find him at once.” 14 So they went up to the city. As they came into the city, behold, Samuel was coming out to meet them to go up to the high place.
A Kingdom Divided
14 (A)And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. Now it happened that when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the crowds marveled. 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons (B)by (C)Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” 16 And others, testing Him, (D)were seeking from Him [a]a sign from heaven. 17 (E)But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “[b]Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a house divided against [c]itself falls. 18 But if (F)Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by (G)Beelzebul. 19 And if I by (H)Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason, they will be your judges. 20 But if I cast out demons by the (I)finger of God, then (J)the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When [d]a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are [e]undisturbed. 22 But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder. 23 (K)He who is not with Me is against Me and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.
24 “(L)When the unclean spirit goes out of [f]a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”
27 Now it happened that while [g]Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “(M)Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.” 28 But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are (N)those who hear the word of God and keep it.”
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