Wednesday, 07 August

1.   There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power. 2.   And he had a choice and handsome son whose name was Saul. There was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people. 3.   Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. And Kish said to his son Saul, "Please, take one of the servants with you, and arise, go and look for the donkeys." 4.   So he passed through the mountains of Ephraim and through the land of Shalisha, but they did not find them . Then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and they were not there . Then he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they did not find them . 5.   When they had come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, "Come, let us return, lest my father cease caring about the donkeys and become worried about us." 6.   And he said to him, "Look now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honorable man; all that he says surely comes to pass. So let us go there; perhaps he can show us the way that we should go." 7.   Then Saul said to his servant, "But look, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread in our vessels is all gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?" 8.   And the servant answered Saul again and said, "Look, I have here at hand one fourth of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way." 9.   (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he spoke thus: "Come, let us go to the seer"; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.) 10.   Then Saul said to his servant, "Well said; come, let us go." So they went to the city where the man of God was . 11.   As they went up the hill to the city, they met some young women going out to draw water, and said to them, "Is the seer here?" 12.   And they answered them and said, "Yes, there he is, just ahead of you. Hurry now; for today he came to this city, because there is a sacrifice of the people today on the high place. 13.   "As soon as you come into the city, you will surely find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people will not eat until he comes, because he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those who are invited will eat. Now therefore, go up, for about this time you will find him." 14.   So they went up to the city. As they were coming into the city, there was Samuel, coming out toward them on his way up to the high place. 15.   Now the LORD had told Samuel in his ear the day before Saul came, saying, 16.   "Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him commander over My people Israel, that he may save My people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon My people, because their cry has come to me." 17.   And when Samuel saw Saul, the LORD said to him, "There he is, the man of whom I spoke to you. This one shall reign over My people." 18.   Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, "Please tell me, where is the seer’s house?" 19.   And Samuel answered Saul and said, "I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for you shall eat with me today; and tomorrow I will let you go and will tell you all that is in your heart. 20.   "But as for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not be anxious about them, for they have been found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on you and on all your father’s house?" 21.   And Saul answered and said, " Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then do you speak like this to me?" 22.   Now Samuel took Saul and his servant and brought them into the hall, and had them sit in the place of honor among those who were invited; there were about thirty persons. 23.   And Samuel said to the cook, "Bring the portion which I gave you, of which I said to you, ‘Set it apart.’" 24.   So the cook took up the thigh with its upper part and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, "Here it is, what was kept back. It was set apart for you. Eat; for until this time it has been kept for you, since I said I invited the people." So Saul ate with Samuel that day. 25.   When they had come down from the high place into the city, Samuel spoke with Saul on the top of the house. 26.   They arose early; and it was about the dawning of the day that Samuel called to Saul on the top of the house, saying, "Get up, that I may send you on your way." And Saul arose, and both of them went outside, he and Samuel. 27.   As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, "Tell the servant to go on ahead of us." And he went on. "But you stand here awhile, that I may announce to you the word of God."

1.   Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him and said: " Is it not because the LORD has anointed you commander over His inheritance? 2.   "When you have departed from me today, you will find two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys which you went to look for have been found. And now your father has ceased caring about the donkeys and is worrying about you, saying, "What shall I do about my son?"’ 3.   "Then you shall go on forward from there and come to the terebinth tree of Tabor. There three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. 4.   "And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall receive from their hands. 5.   "After that you shall come to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is . And it will happen, when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with a stringed instrument, a tambourine, a flute, and a harp before them; and they will be prophesying. 6.   "Then the Spirit of the LORD will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. 7.   "And let it be, when these signs come to you, that you do as the occasion demands; for God is with you. 8.   "You shall go down before me to Gilgal; and surely I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, till I come to you and show you what you should do." 9.   So it was, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day. 10.   When they came there to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. 11.   And it happened, when all who knew him formerly saw that he indeed prophesied among the prophets, that the people said to one another, "What is this that has come upon the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?" 12.   Then a man from there answered and said, "But who is their father?" Therefore it became a proverb: " Is Saul also among the prophets?" 13.   And when he had finished prophesying, he went to the high place. 14.   Then Saul’s uncle said to him and his servant, "Where did you go?" So he said, "To look for the donkeys. When we saw that they were nowhere to be found , we went to Samuel." 15.   And Saul’s uncle said, "Tell me, please, what Samuel said to you." 16.   So Saul said to his uncle, "He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found." But about the matter of the kingdom, he did not tell him what Samuel had said. 17.   Then Samuel called the people together to the LORD at Mizpah, 18.   and said to the children of Israel, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all kingdoms and from those who oppressed you.’ 19.   "But you have today rejected your God, who Himself saved you from all your adversities and your tribulations; and you have said to Him, ‘No, set a king over us!’ Now therefore, present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and by your clans." 20.   And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was chosen. 21.   When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was chosen. And Saul the son of Kish was chosen. But when they sought him, he could not be found. 22.   Therefore they inquired of the LORD further, "Has the man come here yet?" And the LORD answered, "There he is, hidden among the equipment." 23.   So they ran and brought him from there; and when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. 24.   And Samuel said to all the people, "Do you see him whom the LORD has chosen, that there is no one like him among all the people?" So all the people shouted and said, "Long live the king!" 25.   Then Samuel explained to the people the behavior of royalty, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. 26.   And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and valiant men went with him, whose hearts God had touched. 27.   But some rebels said, "How can this man save us?" So they despised him, and brought him no presents. But he held his peace.

1.   The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2.   "Stand in the gate of the LORD’S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD!’" 3.   Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4.   "Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these.’ 5.   "For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, 6.   " if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, 7.   "then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. 8.   "Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. 9.   "Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, 10.   "and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? 11.   "Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it ," says the LORD. 12.   "But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 13.   "And now, because you have done all these works," says the LORD, "and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer, 14.   "therefore I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. 15.   "And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren––the whole posterity of Ephraim. 16.   "Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you. 17.   "Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18.   "The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. 19.   "Do they provoke Me to anger?" says the LORD. " Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?" 20.   Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place––on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched." 21.   Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. 22.   "For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 23.   "But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ 24.   "Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. 25.   "Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them . 26.   "Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. 27.   "Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you. 28.   "So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth. 29.   ‘Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’ 30.   "For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight," says the LORD. "They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it. 31.   "And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart. 32.   "Therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room. 33.   "The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And no one will frighten them away . 34.   "Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For the land shall be desolate.

1.   "At that time," says the LORD, "they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. 2.   "They shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served and after which they have walked, which they have sought and which they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered nor buried; they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. 3.   "Then death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them," says the LORD of hosts.

26.   Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27.   to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28.   And having come in, the angel said to her, "Rejoice, highly favored one , the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!" 29.   But when she saw him , she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30.   Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31.   "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. 32.   "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33.   "And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end." 34.   Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" 35.   And the angel answered and said to her, " The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36.   "Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37.   "For with God nothing will be impossible." 38.   Then Mary said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.