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Psalm 86

1  Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, ♦︎
   for I am poor and in misery.
2  Preserve my soul, for I am faithful; ♦︎
   save your servant, for I put my trust in you.
3  Be merciful to me, O Lord, for you are my God; ♦︎
   I call upon you all the day long.
4  Gladden the soul of your servant, ♦︎
   for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
5  For you, Lord, are good and forgiving, ♦︎
   abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
6  Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer ♦︎
   and listen to the voice of my supplication.
7  In the day of my distress I will call upon you, ♦︎
   for you will answer me.
8  Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord, ♦︎
   nor any works like yours.
9  All nations you have made shall come and worship you, O Lord, ♦︎
   and shall glorify your name.
10  For you are great and do wonderful things; ♦︎
   you alone are God.
11  Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; ♦︎
   knit my heart to you, that I may fear your name.
12  I will thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart, ♦︎
   and glorify your name for evermore;
13  For great is your steadfast love towards me, ♦︎
   for you have delivered my soul from the depths of the grave.
14  O God, the proud rise up against me
      and a ruthless horde seek after my life; ♦︎
   they have not set you before their eyes.
15  But you, Lord, are gracious and full of compassion, ♦︎
   slow to anger and full of kindness and truth.
16  Turn to me and have mercy upon me; ♦︎
   give your strength to your servant
      and save the child of your handmaid.
17  Show me a token of your favour,
      that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed; ♦︎
   because you, O Lord, have helped and comforted me.

Saul Rejected as King

10 The word of the Lord came to Samuel: ¹¹‘I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me, and has not carried out my commands.’ Samuel was angry; and he cried out to the Lord all night. ¹²Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, and Samuel was told, ‘Saul went to Carmel, where he set up a monument for himself, and on returning he passed on down to Gilgal.’ ¹³When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, ‘May you be blessed by the Lord; I have carried out the command of the Lord.’ ¹⁴But Samuel said, ‘What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of cattle that I hear?’ ¹⁵Saul said, ‘They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the cattle, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed.’ ¹⁶Then Samuel said to Saul, ‘Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.’ He replied, ‘Speak.’

17 Samuel said, ‘Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. ¹⁸And the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, “Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.” ¹⁹Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?’ ²⁰Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. ²¹But from the spoil the people took sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.’ ²²And Samuel said,
‘Has the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices,
   as in obedience to the voice of the Lord?
Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice,
   and to heed than the fat of rams.
²³ For rebellion is no less a sin than divination,
   and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
   he has also rejected you from being king.’

24 Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. ²⁵Now therefore, I pray, pardon my sin, and return with me, so that I may worship the Lord.’ ²⁶Samuel said to Saul, ‘I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.’ ²⁷As Samuel turned to go away, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. ²⁸And Samuel said to him, ‘The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this very day, and has given it to a neighbour of yours, who is better than you. ²⁹Moreover, the Glory of Israel will not recant^* or change his mind; for he is not a mortal, that he should change his mind.’ ³⁰Then Saul^* said, ‘I have sinned; yet honour me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.’ ³¹So Samuel turned back after Saul; and Saul worshipped the Lord.

Ananias and Sapphira

5But a man named Ananias, with the consent of his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property; ²with his wife’s knowledge, he kept back some of the proceeds, and brought only a part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. ³‘Ananias,’ Peter asked, ‘why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land? ⁴While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, were not the proceeds at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You did not lie to us^* but to God!’ ⁵Now when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard of it. ⁶The young men came and wrapped up his body,^* then carried him out and buried him.

7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸Peter said to her, ‘Tell me whether you and your husband sold the land for such and such a price.’ And she said, ‘Yes, that was the price.’ ⁹Then Peter said to her, ‘How is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.’ ¹⁰Immediately she fell down at his feet and died. When the young men came in they found her dead, so they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹And great fear seized the whole church and all who heard of these things.