Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Hannah’s Prayer of Exultation

Calling of Samuel

3 Now the boy Samuel was in the service of Adonai under Eli. In those days the word of Adonai was rare—there were no visions breaking through. ² One day, Eli was lying down in his place—now his eyes had grown dim so that he could not see, ³ and the lamp of God had not yet gone out. Samuel was lying down in Adonai’s Temple, where the ark of God was. ⁴ Then Adonai called, “Samuel!” So he answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ Then he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.”

But he replied, “I didn’t call—go back to sleep.” So he went back and lay down.

⁶ Then Adonai called Samuel yet again. So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.”

But he answered, “I didn’t call, my son—go back to sleep.” ⁷ Now Samuel had not experienced Adonai yet, since the word of Adonai had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸ Adonai called Samuel again for the third time. So he got up and went to Eli, and said “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that Adonai was calling the boy.

⁹ So Eli said to Samuel, “Go back to sleep, and if He calls you, say: ‘Speak, Adonai, for Your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back and lay down in his place. ¹⁰ Then Adonai came and stood and called as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.”

¹¹ Then Adonai said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone that hears it will tingle. ¹² In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. ¹³ For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity that he knew about, because his sons brought a curse on themselves yet he did not rebuke them. ¹⁴ Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.”

¹⁵ Then Samuel lay down until the morning, when he opened the doors of the House of Adonai. But Samuel was afraid to tell Eli about the vision. ¹⁶ Then Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.”

“Here I am,” he replied.

¹⁷ “What is the word that He has spoken to you?” he said. “Please don’t hide it from me. May God do so to you and even more if you hide anything at all from me that He spoke to you.” ¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing. Then Eli said, “He is Adonai. May He do what is good in His eyes.”

Taking the Kingdom by Force

12 Yeshua began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a tower. He leased it to some tenant farmers and went on a journey. ² And at the season, he sent a servant to collect from the tenants part of the vineyard’s fruit. ³ But grabbing him, they beat him up and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ And again the man sent another servant to them, and they wounded his head and treated him shamefully. ⁵ He sent another, and that one they killed; and so on with many others, beating some and killing some. ⁶ He had yet one, a well-loved son. He sent him to them last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

⁷ “But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir! Come on, let’s kill him and the inheritance will be ours!’ ⁸ So grabbing the son, they killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹ “What then will the master of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Haven’t you read this Scripture?

¹² They were trying to seize Yeshua, because they realized that He spoke the parable against them. But they feared the crowd, so they left Him and went away.