¹And Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the Lᴏʀᴅ; My horn is exalted in the Lᴏʀᴅ. I smile at my enemies, Because I rejoice in Your salvation. ²“No one is holy like the Lᴏʀᴅ, For there is none besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God. ³“Talk no more so very proudly; Let no arrogance come from your mouth, For the Lᴏʀᴅ is the God of knowledge; And by Him actions are weighed. ⁴“The bows of the mighty men are broken, And those who stumbled are girded with strength. ⁵Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, And the hungry have ceased to hunger. Even the barren has borne seven, And she who has many children has become feeble. ⁶“The Lᴏʀᴅ kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up. ⁷The Lᴏʀᴅ makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up. ⁸He raises the poor from the dust And lifts the beggar from the ash heap, To set them among princes And make them inherit the throne of glory. “For the pillars of the earth are the Lᴏʀᴅ’s, And He has set the world upon them. ⁹He will guard the feet of His saints, But the wicked shall be silent in darkness. “For by strength no man shall prevail. ¹⁰The adversaries of the Lᴏʀᴅ shall be broken in pieces; From heaven He will thunder against them. The Lᴏʀᴅ will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to His king, And exalt the horn of His anointed.” ¹¹Then Elkanah went to his house at Ramah. But the child ministered to the Lᴏʀᴅ before Eli the priest. ¹²Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the Lᴏʀᴅ. ¹³And the priests’ custom with the people was that when any man offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fleshhook in his hand while the meat was boiling. ¹⁴Then he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; and the priest would take for himself all that the fleshhook brought up. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. ¹⁵Also, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who sacrificed, “Give meat for roasting to the priest, for he will not take boiled meat from you, but raw.” ¹⁶And if the man said to him, “They should really burn the fat first; then you may take as much as your heart desires,” he would then answer him, “No, but you must give it now; and if not, I will take it by force.” ¹⁷Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lᴏʀᴅ, for men abhorred the offering of the Lᴏʀᴅ. ¹⁸But Samuel ministered before the Lᴏʀᴅ, even as a child, wearing a linen ephod. ¹⁹Moreover his mother used to make him a little robe, and bring it to him year by year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. ²⁰And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “The Lᴏʀᴅ give you descendants from this woman for the loan that was given to the Lᴏʀᴅ.” Then they would go to their own home. ²¹And the Lᴏʀᴅ visited Hannah, so that she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile the child Samuel grew before the Lᴏʀᴅ. ²²Now Eli was very old; and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ²³So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people. ²⁴No, my sons! For it is not a good report that I hear. You make the Lᴏʀᴅ’s people transgress. ²⁵If one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against the Lᴏʀᴅ, who will intercede for him?” Nevertheless they did not heed the voice of their father, because the Lᴏʀᴅ desired to kill them. ²⁶And the child Samuel grew in stature, and in favor both with the Lᴏʀᴅ and men. ²⁷Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: ‘Did I not clearly reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh’s house? ²⁸Did I not choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to offer upon My altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod before Me? And did I not give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? ²⁹Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?’ ³⁰Therefore the Lᴏʀᴅ God of Israel says: ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now the Lᴏʀᴅ says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. ³¹Behold, the days are coming that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. ³²And you will see an enemy in My dwelling place, despite all the good which God does for Israel. And there shall not be an old man in your house forever. ³³But any of your men whom I do not cut off from My altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart. And all the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age. ³⁴Now this shall be a sign to you that will come upon your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall die, both of them. ³⁵Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever. ³⁶And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and say, “Please, put me in one of the priestly positions, that I may eat a piece of bread.” ‘ ”

¹Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. ²But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. ³And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? ⁵But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ⁶who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: ⁷eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; ⁸but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, ⁹tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; ¹⁰but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹¹For there is no partiality with God. ¹²For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law ¹³(for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; ¹⁴for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, ¹⁵who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) ¹⁶in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel. ¹⁷Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God, ¹⁸and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, ¹⁹and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. ²¹You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? ²²You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? ²⁴For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written. ²⁵For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. ²⁶Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? ²⁷And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? ²⁸For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; ²⁹but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lᴏʀᴅ after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him bound in chains among all who were carried away captive from Jerusalem and Judah, who were carried away captive to Babylon. ²And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him: “The Lᴏʀᴅ your God has pronounced this doom on this place. ³Now the Lᴏʀᴅ has brought it, and has done just as He said. Because you people have sinned against the Lᴏʀᴅ, and not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing has come upon you. ⁴And now look, I free you this day from the chains that were on your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you. But if it seems wrong for you to come with me to Babylon, remain here. See, all the land is before you; wherever it seems good and convenient for you to go, go there.” ⁵Now while Jeremiah had not yet gone back, Nebuzaradan said, “Go back to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever it seems convenient for you to go.” So the captain of the guard gave him rations and a gift and let him go. ⁶Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, to Mizpah, and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land. ⁷And when all the captains of the armies who were in the fields, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, women, children, and the poorest of the land who had not been carried away captive to Babylon, ⁸then they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. ⁹And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, took an oath before them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. ¹⁰As for me, I will indeed dwell at Mizpah and serve the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.” ¹¹Likewise, when all the Jews who were in Moab, among the Ammonites, in Edom, and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ¹²then all the Jews returned out of all places where they had been driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruit in abundance. ¹³Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, ¹⁴and said to him, “Do you certainly know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to murder you?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them. ¹⁵Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, “Let me go, please, and I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he murder you, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?” ¹⁶But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “You shall not do this thing, for you speak falsely concerning Ishmael.”

¹A Psalm of David. Lᴏʀᴅ, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? ²He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart; ³He who does not backbite with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend; ⁴In whose eyes a vile person is despised, But he honors those who fear the Lᴏʀᴅ; He who swears to his own hurt and does not change; ⁵He who does not put out his money at usury, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.

¹A Michtam of David. Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust. ²O my soul, you have said to the Lᴏʀᴅ, “You are my Lord, My goodness is nothing apart from You.” ³As for the saints who are on the earth, “They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.” ⁴Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god; Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, Nor take up their names on my lips. ⁵O Lᴏʀᴅ, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. ⁶The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance. ⁷I will bless the Lᴏʀᴅ who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. ⁸I have set the Lᴏʀᴅ always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. ⁹Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. ¹⁰For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. ¹¹You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.