The Request of James and John

35 ^cAnd James and John, ^dthe sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us ^ewhatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, ^f“What do you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us ^gto sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, ^hin your glory.” 38 Jesus said to them, ⁱ“You do not know what you are asking. Are you able ^jto drink the cup that I drink, or ^kto be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, ^l“The cup that I drink ^myou will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, ⁿyou will be baptized, 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, ^obut it is for those for whom it has been ^pprepared.” 41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. 42 ^qAnd Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles ^rlord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But ^sit shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,¹ 44 and whoever would be first among you must be ^tslave² of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but ^uto serve, and ^vto give his life as a ransom for ^wmany.”

Jesus Heals Blind Bartimaeus

46 ^xAnd they came to Jericho. And ^yas he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, ^za blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. 47 And when he heard that it was ^aJesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 And many ^brebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, ^c“Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” 50 And throwing off his ^dcloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus said to him, ^e“What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, ^f“Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” 52 And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; ^gyour faith has ^hmade you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.

Ministers of the New Covenant

1 ^qAre we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, ^ras some do, ^sletters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 ^tYou yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our¹ hearts, to be known and read by all. 3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of ^uthe living God, not on ^vtablets of stone but on ^wtablets of ^xhuman hearts.²

4 ^ySuch is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 ^zNot that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but ^aour sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us sufficient to be ^bministers of ^ca new covenant, not of ^dthe letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but ^ethe Spirit gives life.

7 Now if ^fthe ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory ^gthat the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in ^hthe ministry of condemnation, ⁱthe ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

12 Since we have such a hope, ^jwe are very bold, 13 not like Moses, ^kwho would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 14 But ^ltheir minds were ^mhardened. For to this day, ⁿwhen they read ^othe old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when ^pone³ turns to the Lord, ^qthe veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord⁴ is the Spirit, and where ^rthe Spirit of the Lord is, there is ^sfreedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, ^tbeholding ^uthe glory of the Lord,^{5 v}are being transformed into the same image ^wfrom one degree of glory to another.⁶ For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord

A Psalm.

Saul Chosen to Be King

1 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was ^fKish, the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. 2 And he had a son whose name was Saul, ^ga handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. ^hFrom his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.

3 Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. So Kish said to Saul his son, “Take one of the young men with you, and arise, go and look for the donkeys.” 4 And he passed through ⁱthe hill country of Ephraim and passed through the land of ^jShalishah, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then they passed through the land of Benjamin, but did not find them.

5 When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant¹ who was with him, “Come, let us go back, ^klest my father cease to care about the donkeys and become anxious about us.” 6 But he said to him, “Behold, there is ^la man of God in this city, and he is a man who is held in honor; ^mall that he says comes true. So now let us go there. Perhaps he can tell us the way we should go.” 7 Then Saul said to his servant, “But if we go, ⁿwhat can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?” 8 The servant answered Saul again, “Here, I have with me a quarter of a shekel² of silver, and I will give it to the man of God to tell us our way.” 9 (Formerly in Israel, when a man ^owent to inquire of God, he said, “Come, let us go to the seer,” for today’s “prophet” was formerly called a seer.) 10 And Saul said to his servant, “Well said; come, let us go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was.

11 As they went up the hill to the city, ^pthey met young women coming out to draw water and said to them, “Is the seer here?” 12 They answered, “He is; behold, he is just ahead of you. Hurry. He has come just now to the city, because the people ^qhave a sacrifice today on ^rthe high place. 13 As soon as you enter the city you will find him, before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people will not eat till he comes, since he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those who are invited will eat. Now go up, for you will meet him immediately.” 14 So they went up to the city. As they were entering the city, they saw Samuel coming out toward them on his way up to the high place.

15 Now the day before Saul came, ^sthe Lord had ^trevealed to Samuel: 16 “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, ^uand you shall anoint him to be prince³ over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. ^vFor I have seen⁴ my people, because their cry has come to me.” 17 When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, ^w“Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain my people.” 18 Then Saul approached Samuel in the gate and said, “Tell me where is the house of the seer?” 19 Samuel answered Saul, “I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, 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. 20 ^xAs for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not set your mind on them, for they have been found. And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you and for all your father’s house?” 21 Saul answered, “Am I not a Benjaminite, ^yfrom the least of the tribes of Israel? ^zAnd is not my clan the humblest of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then have you spoken to me in this way?”

22 Then Samuel took Saul and his young man and brought them into the hall and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited, who were about thirty persons. 23 And Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion I gave you, of which I said to you, ‘Put it aside.’” 24 So the cook took up ^athe leg and what was on it and set them before Saul. And Samuel said, “See, what was kept is set before you. Eat, because it was kept for you until the hour appointed, that you might eat with the guests.”⁵

So Saul ate with Samuel that day. 25 And when they came down from the high place into the city, a bed was spread for Saul ^bon the roof, and he lay down to sleep.⁶ 26 Then at the break of dawn⁷ Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Up, that I may send you on your way.” So Saul arose, and both he and Samuel went out into the street.

27 As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to pass 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.”

Saul Anointed King

1 ^cThen Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head ^dand kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince⁸ over ^ehis people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince⁹ over his heritage. 2 When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by ^fRachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ^g‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now ^hyour father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?”’ 3 Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the ⁱoak of Tabor. Three men ^jgoing up ^kto God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. 4 And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand. 5 After that you shall come to ^lGibeath-elohim,^{10 m}where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down ⁿfrom the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. 6 ^oThen the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, ^pand you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. 7 Now when ^qthese signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, ^rfor God is with you. 8 Then go down before me ^sto Gilgal. And behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and ^tto sacrifice peace offerings. ^uSeven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”

9 When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day. 10 When they came to ^vGibeah,¹¹ behold, a group of prophets met him, ^oand the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them. 11 And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has come over the son of Kish? ^wIs Saul also among the prophets?” 12 And a man of the place answered, ^x“And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, ^w“Is Saul also among the prophets?” 13 When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

14 ^ySaul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, ^z“To seek the donkeys. And when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.” 15 And Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.” 16 And Saul said to his uncle, ^a“He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything.

Saul Proclaimed King

17 Now Samuel called the people together ^bto the Lord ^cat Mizpah. 18 And he said to the people of Israel, ^d“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ 19 ^eBut today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore ^fpresent yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.”

20 Then Samuel ^gbrought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. 21 He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot;¹² and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. 22 ^hSo they inquired again of the Lord, “Is there a man still to come?” and the Lord said, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” 23 Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, ⁱhe was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. 24 And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him ^jwhom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, ^k“Long live the king!”

25 Then Samuel told the people ^lthe rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home. 26 Saul also went to his home ^mat Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. 27 But some ⁿworthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.