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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.

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: ²When you depart from me today you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; they will say to you, “The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has stopped worrying about them and is worrying about you, saying: What shall I do about my son?” ³Then you shall go on from there further and come to the oak of Tabor; three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three kids, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. ⁴They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from them. ⁵After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim,^* at the place where the Philistine garrison is; there, as you come to the town, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the shrine with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre playing in front of them; they will be in a prophetic frenzy. ⁶Then the spirit of the Lord will possess you, and you will be in a prophetic frenzy along with them and be turned into a different person. ⁷Now when these signs meet you, do whatever you see fit to do, for God is with you. ⁸And you shall go down to Gilgal ahead of me; then I will come down to you to present burnt-offerings and offer sacrifices of well-being. For seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.’

The Temple of the Living God

14 Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship is there between light and darkness? ¹⁵What agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share with an unbeliever? ¹⁶What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we^* are the temple of the living God; as God said,
‘I will live in them and walk among them,
   and I will be their God,
   and they shall be my people.
¹⁷ Therefore come out from them,
   and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch nothing unclean;
   then I will welcome you,
¹⁸ and I will be your father,
   and you shall be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.’

7Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God.