Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Hannah’s Prayer

2 Hannah prayed out loud,

The Lord Calls Samuel

3 The boy Samuel was serving the Lord under Eli. In those days a prophecy from the Lord was rare; visions were infrequent. ² One night Eli was lying down in his room. His eyesight had begun to fail so that he couldn’t see well. ³ The lamp in God’s temple ^[a] hadn’t gone out yet, and Samuel was asleep in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was kept.

⁴ Then the Lord called Samuel. “Here I am,” Samuel responded. ⁵ He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.”

“I didn’t call ⌞you⌟,” Eli replied. “Go back to bed.” So Samuel went back and lay down.

⁶ The Lord called Samuel again. Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am. You called me.”

“I didn’t call ⌞you⌟, son,” he responded. “Go back to bed.” ⁷ Samuel had no experience with the Lord, because the Lord’s word had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸ The Lord called Samuel a third time. Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am. You called me.”

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. ⁹ “Go, lie down,” Eli told Samuel. “When he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord. I’m listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his room.

¹⁰ The Lord came and stood there. He called as he had called the other times: “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak. I’m listening.”

¹¹ Then the Lord said to Samuel, “I am going to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears it ring. ¹² On that day I am going to do to Eli and his family everything I said from beginning to end. ¹³ I told him that I would hand down a permanent judgment against his household because he knew about his sons’ sin—that they were cursing God ^[b]—but he didn’t try to stop them. ¹⁴ That is why I have taken an oath concerning Eli’s family line: No offering or sacrifice will ever ⌞be able to⌟ make peace for the sins that Eli’s family committed.”

¹⁵ Samuel remained in bed until morning. Then he opened the doors of the Lord’s house. But Samuel was afraid to tell Eli about the vision.

¹⁶ Then Eli called Samuel. “Samuel, my son!” he said.

“Here I am,” he responded.

¹⁷ “What did the Lord tell you?” he asked. “Please don’t hide anything from me. May God strike you dead if you hide anything he told you from me.”

¹⁸ So Samuel told Eli everything.

Eli replied, “He is the Lord. May he do what he thinks is right.”

A Story about a Vineyard^(A)

12 Then, using this illustration, Jesus spoke to them. He said, “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, made a vat for the winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to vineyard workers and went on a trip.

² “At the right time he sent a servant to the workers to collect from them a share of the grapes from the vineyard. ³ The workers took the servant, beat him, and sent him back with nothing. ⁴ So the man sent another servant to them. They hit the servant on the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵ The man sent another, and they killed that servant. Then he sent many other servants. Some of these they beat, and others they killed.

⁶ “He had one more person to send. That person was his son, whom he loved. Finally, he sent his son to them. He thought, ‘They will respect my son.’

⁷ “But those workers said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ So they took him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹ “What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the workers and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Have you never read the Scripture passage:

¹² They wanted to arrest him but were afraid of the crowd. They knew that he had directed this illustration at them. So they left him alone and went away.