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Psalm 52

1  Why do you glory in evil, you tyrant, ♦︎
   while the goodness of God endures continually?
2  You plot destruction, you deceiver; ♦︎
   your tongue is like a sharpened razor.
3  You love evil rather than good, ♦︎
   falsehood rather than the word of truth.
4  You love all words that hurt, ♦︎
   O you deceitful tongue.
5  Therefore God shall utterly bring you down; ♦︎
   he shall take you and pluck you out of your tent
      and root you out of the land of the living.
6  The righteous shall see this and tremble; ♦︎
   they shall laugh you to scorn, and say:
7  ‘This is the one who did not take God for a refuge, ♦︎
   but trusted in great riches and relied upon wickedness.’
8  But I am like a spreading olive tree in the house of God; ♦︎
   I trust in the goodness of God for ever and ever.
9  I will always give thanks to you for what you have done; ♦︎
   I will hope in your name,
      for your faithful ones delight in it.

Psalm 53

1  The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ ♦︎
   Corrupt are they, and abominable in their wickedness;
      there is no one that does good.
2  God has looked down from heaven upon the children of earth, ♦︎
   to see if there is anyone who is wise and seeks after God.
3  They are all gone out of the way;
      all alike have become corrupt; ♦︎
   there is no one that does good, no not one.
4  Have they no knowledge, those evildoers, ♦︎
   who eat up my people as if they ate bread,
      and do not call upon God?
5  There shall they be in great fear,
      such fear as never was; ♦︎
   for God will scatter the bones of the ungodly.
6  They will be put to shame, ♦︎
   because God has rejected them.
7  O that Israel’s salvation would come out of Zion! ♦︎
   When God restores the fortunes of his people
      then will Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.

15 Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel: ¹⁶‘Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be ruler over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have seen the suffering of^* my people, because their outcry has come to me.’ ¹⁷When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, ‘Here is the man of whom I spoke to you. He it is who shall rule over my people.’ ¹⁸Then Saul approached Samuel inside the gate, and said, ‘Tell me, please, where is the house of the seer?’ ¹⁹Samuel answered Saul, ‘I am the seer; go up before me to the shrine, for today you shall eat with me, and in the morning I will let you go and will tell you all that is on your mind. ²⁰As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, give no further thought to them, for they have been found. And on whom is all Israel’s desire fixed, if not on you and on all your ancestral house?’ ²¹Saul answered, ‘I am only a Benjaminite, from the least of the tribes of Israel, and my family is the humblest of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin. Why then have you spoken to me in this way?’

22 Then Samuel took Saul and his servant-boy and brought them into the hall, and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited, of whom there were about thirty. ²³And Samuel said to the cook, ‘Bring the portion I gave you, the one I asked you to put aside.’ ²⁴The cook took up the thigh and what went with it^* and set them before Saul. Samuel said, ‘See, what was kept is set before you. Eat; for it is set^* before you at the appointed time, so that you might eat with the guests.’^*

So Saul ate with Samuel that day. ²⁵When they came down from the shrine into the town, a bed was spread for Saul^* on the roof, and he lay down to sleep.^{* 26}Then at the break of dawn^* Samuel called to Saul upon the roof, ‘Get up, so that I may send you on your way.’ Saul got up, and both he and Samuel went out into the street.

Samuel Anoints Saul

27 As they were going down to the outskirts of the town, Samuel said to Saul, ‘Tell the boy to go on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.’ 10¹Samuel took a phial of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him; he said, ‘The Lord has anointed you ruler over his people Israel. You shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their enemies all around. Now this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you ruler^* over his heritage:

Jesus Prays on the Mount of Olives

39 He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. ⁴⁰When he reached the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.’^{* 41}Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, ⁴²‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.’ [[ ⁴³Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. ⁴⁴In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.]]^{* 45}When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, ⁴⁶and he said to them, ‘Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.’^*

The Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus

47 While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him; ⁴⁸but Jesus said to him, ‘Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man?’ ⁴⁹When those who were around him saw what was coming, they asked, ‘Lord, should we strike with the sword?’ ⁵⁰Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. ⁵¹But Jesus said, ‘No more of this!’ And he touched his ear and healed him.