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Psalm 95

1  O come, let us sing to the Lord; ♦︎
   let us heartily rejoice in the rock of our salvation.
2  Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving ♦︎
   and be glad in him with psalms.
3  For the Lord is a great God ♦︎
   and a great king above all gods.
4  In his hand are the depths of the earth ♦︎
   and the heights of the mountains are his also.
5  The sea is his, for he made it, ♦︎
   and his hands have moulded the dry land.
6  Come, let us worship and bow down ♦︎
   and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7  For he is our God; ♦︎
   we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
8  O that today you would listen to his voice: ♦︎
   ‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
      on that day at Massah in the wilderness,
9  ‘When your forebears tested me, and put me to the proof, ♦︎
   though they had seen my works.
10  ‘Forty years long I detested that generation and said, ♦︎
   “This people are wayward in their hearts;
      they do not know my ways.”
11  ‘So I swore in my wrath, ♦︎
   “They shall not enter into my rest.” ’

Samuel Anoints David

16The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.’ ²Samuel said, ‘How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.’ And the Lord said, ‘Take a heifer with you, and say, “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.” ³Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.’ ⁴Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, ‘Do you come peaceably?’ ⁵He said, ‘Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.’ And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.’^{* 7}But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’ ⁸Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, ‘Neither has the Lord chosen this one.’ ⁹Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, ‘Neither has the Lord chosen this one.’ ¹⁰Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, ‘The Lord has not chosen any of these.’ ¹¹Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.’ ¹²He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, ‘Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.’ ¹³Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.

Tending the Flock of God

5Now as an elder myself and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you ²to tend the flock of God that is in your charge, exercising the oversight,^* not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do it^*—not for sordid gain but eagerly. ³Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock. ⁴And when the chief shepherd appears, you will win the crown of glory that never fades away. ⁵In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders.^* And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for
‘God opposes the proud,
   but gives grace to the humble.’