Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

To the chief Musician. On Mahalath: an instruction. Of David.

53 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God! They have corrupted themselves, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.

² God looked down from the heavens upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.

³ Every one of them is gone back, they are together become corrupt: there is none that doeth good, not even one.

⁴ Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, eating up my people [as] they eat bread? they call not upon God.

⁵ There were they in great fear, where no fear was; for God scattereth the bones of him that encampeth against thee. Thou hast put [them] to shame, for God hath despised them.

⁶ Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God turneth again the captivity of his people, Jacob shall be glad, Israel shall rejoice.

¹⁰ And the word of Jehovah came to Samuel, saying,

¹¹ It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he is turned away from following me, and hath not fulfilled my words. And Samuel was much grieved; and he cried to Jehovah all night.

¹² And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set him up a monument, and has turned about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.

¹³ And Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, Blessed art thou of Jehovah: I have fulfilled the word of Jehovah.

¹⁴ And Samuel said, What [means] then this bleating of sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of oxen which I hear?

¹⁵ And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites, because the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice to Jehovah thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.

¹⁶ And Samuel said to Saul, Stay, that I may tell thee what Jehovah has said to me this night. And he said to him, Say on.

¹⁷ And Samuel said, Was it not when thou wast little in thine eyes that thou [becamest] the head of the tribes of Israel, and Jehovah anointed thee king over Israel?

¹⁸ And Jehovah sent thee on a way and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.

¹⁹ Why then didst thou not hearken to the voice of Jehovah, but didst fall upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of Jehovah?

²⁰ And Saul said to Samuel, I have indeed hearkened to the voice of Jehovah, and have gone the way which Jehovah sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

²¹ But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the devoted things, to sacrifice to Jehovah thy God in Gilgal.

²² And Samuel said, Has Jehovah delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, As in hearkening to the voice of Jehovah? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, Attention than the fat of rams.

²³ For rebellion is [as] the sin of divination, And selfwill is [as] iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of Jehovah, He hath also rejected thee from being king.

²² And I saw no temple in it; for the Lord God Almighty is its temple, and the Lamb.

²³ And the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon, that they should shine for it; for the glory of God has enlightened it, and the lamp thereof [is] the Lamb.

²⁴ And the nations shall walk by its light; and the kings of the earth bring their glory to it.

²⁵ And its gates shall not be shut at all by day, for night shall not be there.

²⁶ And they shall bring the glory and the honour of the nations to it.

²⁷ And nothing common, nor that maketh an abomination and a lie, shall at all enter into it; but those only who [are] written in the book of life of the Lamb.

22 And he shewed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, going out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

² In the midst of its street, and of the river, on this side and on that side, [the] tree of life, producing twelve fruits, in each month yielding its fruit; and the leaves of the tree for healing of the nations.

³ And no curse shall be any more; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him,

⁴ and they shall see his face; and his name [is] on their foreheads.

⁵ And night shall not be any more, and no need of a lamp, and light of [the] sun; for [the] Lord God shall shine upon them, and they shall reign to the ages of ages.