1 Samuel 2
1 Hannah prayed,
“My heart has rejoiced in the Lord;
my horn has been raised high because of the Lord.
I have loudly denounced my enemies.
Indeed I rejoice in your deliverance.
2 No one is holy like the Lord!
There is no one other than you!
There is no rock like our God!
3 Don’t keep speaking so arrogantly.
Proud talk should not come out of your mouth,
for the Lord is a God who knows;
he evaluates what people do.
4 The bows of warriors are shattered,
but those who stumbled have taken on strength.
5 The well fed hire themselves out to earn food,
but the hungry no longer lack.
Even the barren woman has given birth to seven,
but the one with many children has declined.
6 The Lord both kills and gives life;
he brings down to the grave and raises up.
7 The Lord impoverishes and makes wealthy;
he humbles and he exalts.
8 He lifts the weak from the dust;
he raises the poor from the ash heap
to seat them with princes—
he bestows on them an honored position.
The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord—
he placed the world on them.
9 He watches over his holy ones,
but the wicked are made speechless in the darkness,
for it is not by one’s own strength that one prevails.
10 The Lord shatters his adversaries;
he thunders against them from the heavens.
The Lord executes judgment to the ends of the earth.
He will strengthen his king
and exalt the power of his anointed one.”
11 Then Elkanah went back home to Ramah.
The boy Samuel was serving the Lord with the favor of Eli the priest. 12 But the sons of Eli were wicked men. They did not acknowledge the Lord’s authority. 13 This was the priests’ routine with the people. Whenever anyone was making a sacrifice, the priest’s attendant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand, just as the meat was boiling. 14 He would jab it into the basin, kettle, cauldron, or pot. Everything that the fork would bring up the priest would take for himself. This is how they used to treat all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh.
15 Also, before they burned the fat the priest’s attendant would come and say to the person who was making the sacrifice, “Give some meat for the priest to roast! He won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.” 16 If the individual said to him, “They should certainly burn the fat away first, then take for yourself whatever you wish,” then he would say, “No! Give it now! If not, I’ll take it by force!” 17 The sin of these young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they treated the Lord’s offering with contempt.
18 Now Samuel was ministering with the favor of the Lord. The boy was dressed in a linen ephod. 19 His mother used to make him a small robe and bring it to him from time to time when she would go up with her husband to make the annual sacrifice. 20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife saying, “May the Lord establish descendants for you from this woman in place of the one that she dedicated to the Lord.” Then they would go to their home. 21 And indeed the Lord attended to Hannah. She got pregnant and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. But the boy Samuel grew up before the Lord.
22 Eli was very old. And he would hear about everything that his sons used to do to all the people of Israel and how they used to go to bed with the women who were stationed at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 23 So he said to them, “Why do you do these things, these evil things that I hear about from all these people? 24 No, my sons! For the report that I hear circulating among the Lord’s people is not good. 25 If a man sins against a man, one may appeal to God on his behalf. But if a man sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But Eli’s sons would not listen to their father. Indeed the Lord had decided to kill them. 26 However, the boy Samuel was growing up and finding favor both with the Lord and with people.
27 Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘I plainly revealed myself to your ancestor’s house when they were slaves to the house of Pharaoh in Egypt. 28 I chose your ancestor from all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer sacrifice on my altar, to burn incense, and to bear the ephod before me. I gave to your ancestor’s house all the fire offerings made by the Israelites. 29 Why are you scorning my sacrifice and my offering that I commanded for my dwelling place? You have honored your sons more than you have me by having made yourselves fat from the best parts of all the offerings of my people Israel.’
30 “Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘I really did say that your house and your ancestor’s house would serve me forever.’ But now the Lord says, ‘May it never be! For I will honor those who honor me, but those who despise me will be cursed! 31 In fact, days are coming when I will remove your strength and the strength of your father’s house. There will not be an old man in your house! 32 You will see trouble in my dwelling place! Israel will experience blessings, but there will not be an old man in your house for all time. 33 Any man of yours that I do not cut off from my altar, I will cause his eyes to fail and will cause him grief. All those born to your family will die by the sword of man. 34 This will be a confirming sign for you that will be fulfilled through your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: in a single day they both will die! 35 Then I will raise up for myself a faithful priest. He will do what is in my heart and soul. I will build for him a lasting dynasty, and he will serve my chosen one for all time. 36 Everyone who remains in your house will come to bow before him for a little money and for a scrap of bread. Each will say, “Assign me to a priestly task so I can eat a scrap of bread.”’”
Romans 2
1 Therefore you are without excuse, whoever you are, when you judge someone else. For on whatever grounds you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment is in accordance with truth against those who practice such things. 3 And do you think, whoever you are, when you judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? 5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed! 6 He will reward each one according to his works: 7 eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality, 8 but wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition and do not obey the truth but follow unrighteousness. 9 There will be affliction and distress on everyone who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God. 12 For all who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous. 14 For whenever the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things required by the law, these who do not have the law are a law to themselves. 15 They show that the work of the law is written in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend them, 16 on the day when God will judge the secrets of human hearts, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.
17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relationship to God 18 and know his will and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, 19 and if you are convinced that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth— 21 therefore you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! 24 For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
25 For circumcision has its value if you practice the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 And the physically uncircumcised man, by keeping the law, will judge you to be the transgressor of the law, even though you have the letter and circumcision! 28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, 29 but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart by the Spirit and not by the letter. This person’s praise is not from people but from God.
Jeremiah 40
1 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah after Nebuzaradan the captain of the royal guard had set him free at Ramah. He had taken him there in chains along with all the people from Jerusalem and Judah who were being carried off to exile to Babylon. 2 The captain of the royal guard took Jeremiah aside and said to him, “The Lord your God threatened this place with this disaster. 3 Now he has brought it about. The Lord has done just as he threatened to do. This disaster has happened because you people sinned against the Lord and did not obey him. 4 But now, Jeremiah, today I will set you free from the chains on your wrists. If you would like to come to Babylon with me, come along and I will take care of you. But if you prefer not to come to Babylon with me, you are not required to do so. You are free to go anywhere in the land you want to go. Go wherever you choose.” 5 Before Jeremiah could turn to leave, the captain of the guard added, “Go back to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon appointed to govern the towns of Judah. Go back and live with him among the people. Or go wherever else you choose.” Then the captain of the guard gave Jeremiah some food and a present and let him go. 6 So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and lived there with him. He stayed there to live among the people who had been left in the land of Judah.
7 Now some of the officers of the Judean army and their troops had been hiding in the countryside. They heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam to govern the country. They also heard that he had been put in charge over the men, women, and children from the poorer classes of the land who had not been carried off into exile in Babylon. 8 So all these officers and their troops came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. The officers who came were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah son of the Maacathite. 9 Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, took an oath so as to give them and their troops some assurance of safety. “Do not be afraid to submit to the Babylonians. Settle down in the land and submit to the king of Babylon. Then things will go well for you. 10 I for my part will stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Babylonians whenever they come to us. You for your part go ahead and harvest the wine, the dates, the figs, and the olive oil, and store them in jars. Go ahead and settle down in the towns that you have taken over.” 11 Moreover, all the Judeans who were in Moab, Ammon, Edom, and all the other countries heard what had happened. They heard that the king of Babylon had allowed some people to stay in Judah and that he had appointed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, to govern them. 12 So all these Judeans returned to the land of Judah from the places where they had been scattered. They came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. Thus they harvested a large amount of wine and dates and figs.
13 Johanan, son of Kareah, and all the officers of the troops that had been hiding in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. 14 They said to him, “Are you at all aware that King Baalis of Ammon has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to kill you?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam would not believe them. 15 Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke privately to Gedaliah there at Mizpah, “Let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah before anyone knows about it. Otherwise he will kill you and all the Judeans who have rallied around you will be scattered. Then what remains of Judah will disappear.” 16 But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not do that because what you are saying about Ishmael is not true.”
Psalms 15-16
1 Lord, who may be a guest in your home?
Who may live on your holy hill?
2 Whoever lives a blameless life,
does what is right,
and speaks honestly.
3 He does not slander,
or do harm to others,
or insult his neighbor.
4 He despises a reprobate,
but honors the Lord’s loyal followers.
He makes firm commitments and does not renege on his promise.
5 He does not charge interest when he lends his money.
He does not take bribes to testify against the innocent.
The one who lives like this will never be shaken.
1 Protect me, O God, for I have taken shelter in you.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are the Lord,
my only source of well-being.”
3 As for God’s chosen people who are in the land,
and the leading officials I admired so much—
4 their troubles multiply;
they desire other gods.
I will not pour out drink offerings of blood to their gods,
nor will I make vows in the name of their gods.
5 Lord, you give me stability and prosperity;
you make my future secure.
6 It is as if I have been given fertile fields
or received a beautiful tract of land.
7 I will praise the Lord who guides me;
yes, during the night I reflect and learn.
8 I constantly trust in the Lord;
because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 So my heart rejoices
and I am happy;
my life is safe.
10 You will not abandon me to Sheol;
you will not allow your faithful follower to see the Pit.
11 You lead me in the path of life.
I experience absolute joy in your presence;
you always give me sheer delight.
