The Lord Is My Shepherd
A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my dshepherd; I shall not ewant.
2 He makes me lie down in green fpastures.
He leads me beside still waters.1
3 He grestores my soul.
He hleads me in ipaths of righteousness2
for his jname’s sake.
4 Even though I kwalk through the valley of lthe shadow of death,3
I will mfear no evil,
for nyou are with me;
your orod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You pprepare a table before me
in qthe presence of my enemies;
you ranoint my head with oil;
my scup overflows.
6 Surely4 goodness and mercy5 shall follow me
all the days of my life,
Samuel’s Farewell Address
1 And Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have obeyed nyour voice in all that you have said to me oand have made a king over you. 2 And now, behold, the king pwalks before you, qand I am old and gray; and behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day. 3 Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before rhis anointed. sWhose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me1 and I will restore it to you.” 4 They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.” 5 And he said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and rhis anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything tin my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.”
6 And Samuel said to the people, u“The Lord is witness,2 who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. 7 Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous deeds of the Lord that he performed for you and for your fathers. 8 vWhen Jacob went into Egypt, and the Egyptians oppressed them,3 wthen your fathers cried out to the Lord and xthe Lord sent Moses and Aaron, ywho brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place. 9 But zthey forgot the Lord their God. aAnd he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor,4 band into the hand of the Philistines, cand into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them. 10 dAnd they cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord eand have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now fdeliver us out of the hand of our enemies, that we may serve you.’ 11 And the Lord sent gJerubbaal hand Barak5 iand Jephthah and jSamuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety. 12 And when you saw that kNahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, lyou said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ mwhen the Lord your God was your king. 13 And now nbehold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, othe Lord has set a king over you. 14 If you will pfear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well. 15 But qif you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then rthe hand of the Lord will be against you and syour king.6 16 Now therefore tstand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. 17 uIs it not wheat harvest today? vI will call upon the Lord, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that wyour wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking for yourselves a king.” 18 So Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, xand all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.
19 And all the people said to Samuel, y“Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” 20 And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet zdo not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21 And zdo not turn aside after aempty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. 22 bFor the Lord will not forsake his people, cfor his great name’s sake, because dit has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. 23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing eto pray for you, fand I will instruct you in the good and the right way. 24 gOnly fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider hwhat great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, iyou shall be swept away, jboth you and your king.”
Great Is Your Faithfulness
1 kI am the man who has seen affliction
under the lrod of his wrath;
2 he has driven and brought me
minto darkness without any light;
3 surely against me he turns his hand
again and again the whole day long.
4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;
nhe has broken my bones;
5 ohe has besieged and enveloped me
with pbitterness and tribulation;
6 qhe has made me dwell in darkness
like the dead of long ago.
7 rHe has walled me about so that sI cannot escape;
he has made my chains heavy;
8 though tI call and cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;
9 rhe has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;
he has made my paths crooked.
10 uHe is a bear lying in wait for me,
a lion in hiding;
11 vhe turned aside my steps and utore me to pieces;
whe has made me desolate;
12 xhe bent his bow yand set me
as a target for his arrow.
13 He drove into my kidneys
zthe arrows of his quiver;
14 aI have become the laughingstock of all peoples,
bthe object of their taunts all day long.
15 cHe has filled me with bitterness;
he has sated me with dwormwood.
16 eHe has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and fmade me cower in ashes;
17 my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness1 is;
18 gso I say, “My endurance has perished;
so has my hope from the Lord.”
19 hRemember my affliction and my wanderings,
20 My soul continually remembers it
jand is bowed down within me.
21 But this I call to mind,
and ktherefore I have hope:
22 lThe steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;2
lhis mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new mevery morning;
ngreat is your faithfulness.
24 o“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
k“therefore I will hope in him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who pwait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26 qIt is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 rIt is good for a man that he bear
the yoke sin his youth.
28 Let him tsit alone in silence
when it is laid on him;
29 ulet him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope;
30 vlet him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.
31 wFor the Lord will not
cast off forever,
32 but, though he xcause grief, yhe will have compassion
zaccording to the abundance of his steadfast love;
33 afor he does not afflict from his heart
or bgrieve the children of men.
34 To crush underfoot
all cthe prisoners of the earth,
35 dto deny a man justice
in the presence of the Most High,
36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit,
dthe Lord does not approve.
37 eWho has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has commanded it?
38 fIs it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come?
39 gWhy should a living man complain,
a man, about the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us test and examine our ways,
hand return to the Lord!
41 iLet us lift up our hearts and hands
to God in heaven:
42 j“We have transgressed and krebelled,
and you have not forgiven.
43 “You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,
lkilling without pity;
44 myou have wrapped yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can pass through.
45 nYou have made us scum and garbage
among the peoples.
46 o“All our enemies
open their mouths against us;
47 ppanic and pitfall have come upon us,
devastation and qdestruction;
48 rmy eyes flow with rivers of tears
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 r“My eyes will flow without ceasing,
without respite,
50 suntil the Lord from heaven
looks down and sees;
51 my eyes cause me grief
at the fate of all the daughters of my city.
52 t“I have been hunted ulike a bird
by those who were my enemies vwithout cause;
53 wthey flung me alive into the pit
xand cast stones on me;
54 ywater closed over my head;
I said, z‘I am lost.’
55 a“I called on your name, O Lord,
from the depths of the pit;
56 byou heard my plea, ‘Do not close
your ear to my cry for help!’
57 cYou came near when I called on you;
you said, d‘Do not fear!’
58 “You have etaken up my cause, fO Lord;
you have eredeemed my life.
59 You have seen the wrong done to me, gO Lord;
judge my cause.
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
all htheir plots against me.
61 i“You have heard their taunts, O Lord,
all htheir plots against me.
62 The lips and thoughts jof my assailants
are against me all the day long.
63 kBehold their sitting and their rising;
lI am the object of their taunts.
64 m“You will repay them,3 O Lord,
naccording to the work of their hands.
65 You will give them4 dullness of heart;
your curse will be5 on them.
Shepherd the Flock of God
1 So I exhort the elders among you, mas a fellow elder and na witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 oshepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight,1 pnot under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you;2 qnot for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not rdomineering over those in your charge, but sbeing examples to the flock. 4 And when tthe chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the uunfading vcrown of glory. 5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. wClothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for x“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
6 xHumble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 ycasting all your anxieties on him, because zhe cares for you. 8 aBe sober-minded; bbe watchful. Your cadversary the devil dprowls around elike a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 fResist him, gfirm in your faith, knowing that hthe same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And iafter you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, jwho has called you to his keternal glory in Christ, will himself lrestore, mconfirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 nTo him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Final Greetings
12 By oSilvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, pI have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is qthe true grace of God. rStand firm in it. 13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does sMark, my son. 14 tGreet one another with the kiss of love.
uPeace to all of you who are in Christ.
