Come to Our Help
To the choirmaster. A Maskil1 of the Sons of Korah.
1 O God, we have heard with our ears,
hour fathers have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
in the idays of old:
2 you with your own hand drove out the nations,
but them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
but them you set free;
3 for jnot by their own sword did they win the land,
nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm,
and the klight of your face,
for you delighted in them.
4 You are my King, O God;
ordain salvation for Jacob!
5 Through you we push down our foes;
through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.
6 For lnot in my bow do I trust,
nor can my sword save me.
7 But you have saved us from our foes
and have put to shame those who hate us.
8 In God we have mboasted continually,
and nwe will give thanks to your name forever. Selah
9 But you have orejected us and disgraced us
and phave not gone out with our armies.
10 You have made us turn back from the foe,
and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
11 You have made us qlike sheep for slaughter
and have rscattered us among the nations.
12 You have ssold your people for a trifle,
demanding no high price for them.
13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,
the tderision and scorn of those around us.
14 You have made us a byword among the nations,
a laughingstock2 among the peoples.
15 All day long my disgrace is before me,
and shame has covered my face
16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.
17 All this has come upon us,
though we have not uforgotten you,
and we have not been false to your covenant.
18 Our heart has not turned back,
vnor have our steps departed from your way;
19 yet you have broken us in the place of jackals
and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 wIf we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a xforeign god,
21 would not God discover this?
For he yknows the secrets of the heart.
22 Yet zfor your sake we are killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
23 aAwake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!
24 Why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
25 For bour soul is bowed down to the dust;
our belly clings to the ground.
26 Rise up; come to our help!
Redeem us cfor the sake of your steadfast love!
The Birth of Samuel
1 There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite. 2 He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah ahad no children.
3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. 4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb.1 6 And her brival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had cclosed her womb. 7 So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. 8 And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”
9 After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. 10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 11 And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, dand no razor shall touch his head.”
12 As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. 14 And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.” 15 But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been epouring out my soul before the Lord. 16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.” 17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” 18 And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.
19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. 20 And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the Lord.”2
Samuel Given to the Lord
21 The man Elkanah and all his house fwent up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow. 22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, so that he may appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell there forever.” 23 Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him; only, may the Lord establish his word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. 24 And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull,3 gan ephah4 of flour, and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. And the child was young. 25 Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. 26 And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. 27 For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. 28 Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.”
And he worshiped the Lord there.
The Rich Young Man
17 mAnd as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, nwhat must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: o‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, psell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, qfollow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have rwealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, s“Children, how difficult it is1 to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a trich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were uexceedingly astonished, and said to him,2 “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For vall things are possible with God.” 28 Peter began to say to him, “See, wwe have xleft everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or ybrothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 zBut many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
