Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
There Is No One Who Does Good
For the choir director. According to [a]Mahalath. A [b]Maskil of David.
53 (A)The wicked fool says in his heart, “There is no God,”
They act corruptly, and commit abominable injustice;
(B)There is no one who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven upon the sons of men
To see if there is (C)anyone who has insight,
Anyone who (D)seeks after God.
3 (E)Every one of them has turned back; together they have become [c]worthless;
There is no one who does good, not even one.
4 Do the workers of iniquity (F)not know,
Who eat up my people as they eat bread
And do not call upon God?
5 There they were in great dread (G)where no dread had been;
For God (H)scattered the bones of [d]him who encamped against you;
You (I)put them to shame, because (J)God had rejected them.
6 Oh, that (K)the salvation of Israel [e]would come out of Zion!
When God [f]restores His captive people,
[g]May Jacob rejoice, may Israel be glad.
Yahweh Regrets He Made Saul King
10 Then the word of Yahweh came to Samuel, saying, 11 “(A)I regret that I have made Saul king, for (B)he has turned back from [a]following Me and has not established My words.” And Samuel became angry and (C)cried out to Yahweh all night. 12 Then Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul; and it was told to Samuel, saying, “Saul came to (D)Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, then turned and proceeded on [b]down to (E)Gilgal.” 13 And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “(F)Blessed are you of Yahweh! I have established the word of Yahweh.” 14 But Samuel said, “(G)What then is this sound of the sheep in my ears and the sound of the oxen which I am hearing?” 15 And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for (H)the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God; but the rest we have devoted to destruction.” 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Wait, and let me tell you what Yahweh spoke to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak!”
17 And Samuel said, “Is it not true, (I)though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And Yahweh anointed you king over Israel, 18 and Yahweh sent you on a [c]mission and said, ‘(J)Go and devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not [d]obey the voice of Yahweh, (K)but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh?”
20 Then Saul said to Samuel, “(L)I did [e]obey the voice of Yahweh and went on the way on which Yahweh sent me and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek and have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 But (M)the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God at Gilgal.” 22 And Samuel said,
“(N)Has Yahweh as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
As in obeying the voice of Yahweh?
Behold, (O)to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of (P)divination,
And insubordination is as (Q)wickedness and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh,
(R)He has also rejected you from being king.”
22 And I saw (A)no sanctuary in it, for the (B)Lord God the Almighty and the (C)Lamb are its sanctuary. 23 And the city (D)has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for (E)the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the (F)Lamb. 24 (G)And the nations will walk by its light, and the (H)kings of the earth [a]will bring their glory into it. 25 (I)And its gates (J)will never be closed by day, for (K)there will be no night there; 26 and (L)they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. 27 And (M)nothing defiled, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those [b]whose names are (N)written in the Lamb’s book of life.
The River and the Tree of Life
22 Then (O)he showed me a (P)river of the (Q)water of life, bright (R)as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of [c]the Lamb, 2 in the middle of (S)its street. (T)On either side of the river was (U)the tree of life, bearing twelve [d]kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 (V)And there will no longer be any curse; and (W)the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His slaves will (X)serve Him; 4 and they will (Y)see His face, and His (Z)name will be on their (AA)foreheads. 5 And (AB)there will no longer be any night, and they [e]will not have need (AC)of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them, and they will (AD)reign forever and ever.
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