Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Call to Yahweh in Distress
A psalm of David at his fleeing from the presence of Absalom, his son.[a]
3 Yahweh, how many are my enemies;
many are rising against me.
2 Many are saying about my soul,
“There is no deliverance for him from[b] God. Selah[c]
3 But[d] you, Yahweh, are a shield around me,
my glory and the one who lifts up my head.
4 With my voice I call to Yahweh
and he answers me from his holy hill.[e] Selah
5 I lay down and slept;
I woke up because Yahweh sustains me.
6 I am not afraid of the ten thousands of people
who all around have set themselves against me.
7 Rise up, O Yahweh; deliver me, O my God;
for you strike all my enemies on the cheek.
The teeth of the wicked you break.
8 To Yahweh belongs deliverance;
may your blessing be over your people. Selah
19 And Samuel grew up, and Yahweh was with him. He did not allow any of his prophecies to go unfulfilled.[a] 20 All Israel from Dan to Beersheba realized that Samuel was faithful[b] as a prophet to Yahweh. 21 And Yahweh appeared again in Shiloh, for Yahweh revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh through the word of Yahweh.
The Battle of Aphek
4 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to meet the Philistines for battle, and they encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek. 2 The Philistines lined up for the battle to meet Israel, and the battle was prolonged[c] until Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who[d] killed about four thousand men on the battlefield.[e]
A Serious Warning Against Continuing Deliberate Sin
26 For if[a] we keep on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that is about to consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment do you think the person will be considered worthy of who treats with disdain the Son of God and who considers ordinary the blood of the covenant by which he was made holy and who insults the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know the one who said,
“Vengeance is mine, I will repay,”[b]
and again,
“The Lord will judge his people.”[c]
31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
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