1 Samuel 9, Romans 7, Jeremiah 46, Psalm 22

1 Samuel 9,

1 There was a Benjamite, a man of standing, whose name was Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin.
 
2 He had a son named Saul, an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites-a head taller than any of the others.
 
3 Now the donkeys belonging to Saul's father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul, "Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys."
 
4 So he passed through the hill country of Ephraim and through the area around Shalisha, but they did not find them. They went on into the district of Shaalim, but the donkeys were not there. Then he passed through the territory of Benjamin, but they did not find them.
 
5 When they reached the district of Zuph, Saul said to the servant who was with him, "Come, let's go back, or my father will stop thinking about the donkeys and start worrying about us."
 
6 But the servant replied, "Look, in this town there is a man of God; he is highly respected, and everything he says comes true. Let's go there now. Perhaps he will tell us what way to take."
 
7 Saul said to his servant, "If we go, what can we give the man? The food in our sacks is gone. We have no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?"
 
8 The servant answered him again. "Look," he said, "I have a quarter of a shekel of silver. I will give it to the man of God so that he will tell us what way to take."
 
9 (Formerly in Israel, if a man went to inquire of God, he would say, "Come, let us go to the seer," because the prophet of today used to be called a seer.)
 
10 "Good," Saul said to his servant. "Come, let's go." So they set out for the town where the man of God was.
 
11 As they were going up the hill to the town, they met some girls coming out to draw water, and they asked them, "Is the seer here?"
 
12 "He is," they answered. "He's ahead of you. Hurry now; he has just come to our town today, for the people have a sacrifice at the high place.
 
13 As soon as you enter the town, you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people will not begin eating until he comes, because he must bless the sacrifice; afterward, those who are invited will eat. Go up now; you should find him about this time."
 
14 They went up to the town, and as they were entering it, there was Samuel, coming toward them on his way up to the high place.
 
15 Now the day before Saul came, the LORD had revealed this to Samuel:
 
16 "About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him leader over my people Israel; he will deliver my people from the hand of the Philistines. I have looked upon my people, for their cry has reached me."
 
17 When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the LORD said to him, "This is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern my people."
 
18 Saul approached Samuel in the gateway and asked, "Would you please tell me where the seer's house is?"
 
19 "I am the seer," Samuel replied. "Go up ahead of me to the high place, for today you are to eat with me, and in the morning I will let you go and will tell you all that is in your heart.
 
20 As for the donkeys you lost three days ago, do not worry about them; they have been found. And to whom is all the desire of Israel turned, if not to you and all your father's family?"
 
21 Saul answered, "But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?"
 
22 Then Samuel brought Saul and his servant into the hall and seated them at the head of those who were invited-about thirty in number.
 
23 Samuel said to the cook, "Bring the piece of meat I gave you, the one I told you to lay aside."
 
24 So the cook took up the leg with what was on it and set it in front of Saul. Samuel said, "Here is what has been kept for you. Eat, because it was set aside for you for this occasion, from the time I said, 'I have invited guests.' " And Saul dined with Samuel that day.
 
25 After they came down from the high place to the town, Samuel talked with Saul on the roof of his house.
 
26 They rose about daybreak and Samuel called to Saul on the roof, "Get ready, and I will send you on your way." When Saul got ready, he and Samuel went outside together.
 
27 As they were going down to the edge of the town, Samuel said to Saul, "Tell the servant to go on ahead of us"-and the servant did so-"but you stay here awhile, so that I may give you a message from God."
 

Romans 7,

1 Do you not know, brothers-for I am speaking to men who know the law-that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?
 
2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.
 
3 So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.
 
4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
 
5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.
 
6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
 
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet."
 
8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead.
 
9 Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
 
10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
 
11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
 
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
 
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
 
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
 
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
 
16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
 
17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
 
18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
 
19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing.
 
20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
 
21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
 
22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law;
 
23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
 
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
 
25 Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
 

Jeremiah 46,

1 This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations:
 
2 Concerning Egypt: This is the message against the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:
 
3 "Prepare your shields, both large and small, and march out for battle!
 
4 Harness the horses, mount the steeds! Take your positions with helmets on! Polish your spears, put on your armor!
 
5 What do I see? They are terrified, they are retreating, their warriors are defeated. They flee in haste without looking back, and there is terror on every side," declares the LORD.
 
6 "The swift cannot flee nor the strong escape. In the north by the River Euphrates they stumble and fall.
 
7 "Who is this that rises like the Nile, like rivers of surging waters?
 
8 Egypt rises like the Nile, like rivers of surging waters. She says, 'I will rise and cover the earth; I will destroy cities and their people.'
 
9 Charge, O horses! Drive furiously, O charioteers! March on, O warriors-men of Cush and Put who carry shields, men of Lydia who draw the bow.
 
10 But that day belongs to the LORD, the Lord Almighty-a day of vengeance, for vengeance on his foes. The sword will devour till it is satisfied, till it has quenched its thirst with blood. For the Lord, the LORD Almighty, will offer sacrifice in the land of the north by the River Euphrates.
 
11 "Go up to Gilead and get balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt. But you multiply remedies in vain; there is no healing for you.
 
12 "The nations will hear of your shame; your cries will fill the earth. One warrior will stumble over another; both will fall down together."
 
13 This is the message the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to attack Egypt:
 
14 "Announce this in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol; proclaim it also in Memphis and Tahpanhes: 'Take your positions and get ready, for the sword devours those around you.'
 
15 Why will your warriors be laid low? They cannot stand, for the LORD will push them down.
 
16 They will stumble repeatedly; they will fall over each other. They will say, 'Get up, let us go back to our own people and our native lands, away from the sword of the oppressor.'
 
17 There they will exclaim, 'Pharaoh king of Egypt is only a loud noise; he has missed his opportunity.'
 
18 "As surely as I live," declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty, "one will come who is like Tabor among the mountains, like Carmel by the sea.
 
19 Pack your belongings for exile, you who live in Egypt, for Memphis will be laid waste and lie in ruins without inhabitant.
 
20 "Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly is coming against her from the north.
 
21 The mercenaries in her ranks are like fattened calves. They too will turn and flee together, they will not stand their ground, for the day of disaster is coming upon them, the time for them to be punished.
 
22 Egypt will hiss like a fleeing serpent as the enemy advances in force; they will come against her with axes, like men who cut down trees.
 
23 They will chop down her forest," declares the LORD, "dense though it be. They are more numerous than locusts, they cannot be counted.
 
24 The Daughter of Egypt will be put to shame, handed over to the people of the north."
 
25 The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "I am about to bring punishment on Amon god of Thebes, on Pharaoh, on Egypt and her gods and her kings, and on those who rely on Pharaoh.
 
26 I will hand them over to those who seek their lives, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Later, however, Egypt will be inhabited as in times past," declares the LORD.
 
27 "Do not fear, O Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, O Israel. I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile. Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid.
 
28 Do not fear, O Jacob my servant, for I am with you," declares the LORD. "Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only with justice; I will not let you go entirely unpunished."
 

Psalm 22

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? so far from the words of my groaning?
 
2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.
 
3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel.
 
4 In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.
 
5 They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
 
6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.
 
7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
 
8 "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him."
 
9 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast.
 
10 From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God.
 
11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
 
12 Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
 
13 Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me.
 
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me.
 
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.
 
16 Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.
 
17 I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me.
 
18 They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.
 
19 But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
 
20 Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs.
 
21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
 
22 I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you.
 
23 You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
 
24 For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.
 
25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows.
 
26 The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the LORD will praise him-may your hearts live forever!
 
27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,
 
28 for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.
 
29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him-those who cannot keep themselves alive.
 
30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord.
 
31 They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn-for he has done it.