Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

20 Jehovah answer thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob protect thee;

² May he send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;

³ Remember all thine oblations, and accept thy burnt-offering; Selah.

⁴ Grant thee according to thy heart, and fulfil all thy counsels.

⁵ We will triumph in thy salvation, and in the name of our God will we set up our banners. Jehovah fulfil all thy petitions!

⁶ Now know I that Jehovah saveth his anointed; he answereth him from the heavens of his holiness, with the saving strength of his right hand.

⁷ Some make mention of chariots, and some of horses, but we of the name of Jehovah our God.

⁸ They are bowed down and fallen; but we are risen and stand upright.

⁹ Save, Jehovah! Let the king answer us in the day we call.

13 Saul was … years old when he became king; and he reigned two years over Israel.

² And Saul chose him three thousand men out of Israel: there were with Saul two thousand in Michmash and in mount Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin; and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent.

³ And Jonathan smote the outpost of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard [of it]. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.

⁴ And all Israel heard say, Saul has smitten the garrison of the Philistines, and Israel also has become odious to the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal.

⁵ And the Philistines were assembled together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea-shore in multitude; and they came up, and encamped in Michmash, eastward from Beth-Aven.

⁶ And the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were distressed); and the people hid themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in cliffs, and in strongholds, and in pits.

⁷ And the Hebrews went over the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. And Saul was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

⁸ And he waited seven days, according to the set time that Samuel [had appointed]; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him.

⁹ And Saul said, Bring hither to me the burnt-offering and the peace-offerings. And he offered up the burnt-offering.

¹⁰ And it came to pass, as soon as he had ended offering up the burnt-offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him.

¹¹ And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou didst not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines were assembled at Michmash,

¹² I said, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to Jehovah; and I forced myself, and offered up the burnt-offering.

¹³ And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of Jehovah thy God which he commanded thee; for now would Jehovah have established thy kingdom over Israel for ever.

¹⁴ But now thy kingdom shall not continue: Jehovah has sought him a man after his own heart, and Jehovah has appointed him ruler over his people; for thou hast not kept what Jehovah commanded thee.

¹⁵ And Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people that were found with him, about six hundred men.

4 And again he began to teach by the sea. And a great crowd was gathered together to him, so that going on board ship he sat in the sea, and all the crowd were close to the sea on the land.

² And he taught them many things in parables. And he said to them in his doctrine,

³ Hearken: Behold, the sower went forth to sow.

⁴ And it came to pass as he sowed, one fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured it.

⁵ And another fell on the rocky ground, where it had not much earth, and immediately it sprung up out [of the ground] because it had no depth of earth;

⁶ and when the sun arose it was burnt up, and because of its not having any root, it withered.

⁷ And another fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

⁸ And another fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing; and bore, one thirty, and one sixty, and one a hundred.

⁹ And he said, He that has ears to hear, let him hear.

¹⁰ And when he was alone, those about him with the twelve asked him [as to] the parables.

¹¹ And he said to them, To you is given [to know] the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to them who are without, all things are done in parables,

¹² that beholding they may behold and not see, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest it may be, they should be converted and they should be forgiven.

¹³ And he says to them, Do ye not know this parable? and how will ye be acquainted with all the parables?

¹⁴ The sower sows the word:

¹⁵ and these are they by the wayside where the word is sown, and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

¹⁶ And these are they in like manner who are sown upon the rocky places, who when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy,

¹⁷ and they have no root in themselves, but are for a time: then, tribulation arising, or persecution on account of the word, immediately they are offended.

¹⁸ And others are they who are sown among the thorns: these are they who have heard the word,

¹⁹ and the cares of life, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things, entering in, choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

²⁰ And these are they who have been sown on the good ground, such as hear the word and receive it, and bear fruit; one thirty, and one sixty, and one a hundred [fold].