Bible Reading Plan

Saul among the Prophets

¹ Then ^(C1)Samuel took the flask of oil, poured it on ^(F1)Saul's head, ^(C2)kissed him, and said, "Has ^(C3)the LORD not anointed you as ruler over ^(C4)His inheritance?² "When you leave me today, then you will find two men close to ^(C1)Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, '^(C2)The donkeys which you went to look for have been found. Now behold, your father has stopped talking about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, "What am I to do about my son?"'³ "Then you will go on farther from there, and you will come as far as the ^(F1)(C1)oak of Tabor, and there three men going up ^(C2)to God at Bethel will meet you: one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a jug of wine.⁴ And they will ^(F1)greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from their hand.⁵ "Afterward you will come to ^(F1)(C1)the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is; and it shall be as soon as you have come there to the city, that you will meet ^(C2)a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and a lyre in front of them, and ^(C3)they will be prophesying.⁶ "Then ^(C1)the Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and ^(C2)you will prophesy with them and be changed into a different man.⁷ "And it shall be when these signs come to you, ^(C1)do for yourself what ^(F1)the occasion requires, because ^(C2)God is with you.⁸ "And ^(C1)you shall go down ahead of me to Gilgal; and behold, I will be coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and ^(C2)sacrifice peace offerings. ^(C3)You shall wait seven days until I come to you and inform you of what you should do."

⁹ Then it happened, when he turned his back to leave Samuel, that God ^(C1)changed ^(F1)his heart; and all those signs came about on that day.^10 (C1)When they came there to ^(F1)the hill, behold, a group of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, so that he prophesied among them.¹¹ And it came about, when all who previously knew him saw that he was indeed prophesying with the prophets, that the people said to one another, "What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? ^(C1)Is Saul also among the prophets?"¹² And a man from there responded and said, "And who is their father?" Therefore it became a saying: "^(C1)Is Saul also among the prophets?"¹³ When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

¹⁴ Now ^(C1)Saul's uncle said to him and his servant, "Where did you go?" And he said, "^(C2)To look for the donkeys. When we saw that they were nowhere to be found, we went to Samuel."¹⁵ Saul's uncle said, "Please tell me what Samuel said to you."¹⁶ So Saul said to his uncle, "^(C1)He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found." But he did not tell him about the matter of the kingdom which Samuel had mentioned.

Saul Publicly Chosen King

¹⁷ Now Samuel called the ^(C1)people together to the LORD at Mizpah;¹⁸ and he said to the sons of Israel, "^(C1)This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: 'I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the ^(F1)power of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.'¹⁹ "But today you ^(C1)have rejected your God, who saves you from all your catastrophes and your distresses; yet you have ^(F1)said, 'No, but put a king over us!' Now then, ^(C2)present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and by your ^(F2)groups of thousands."

²⁰ So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel forward; and the tribe of Benjamin was selected by lot.²¹ Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin forward by its families, and the Matrite family was selected by lot. And Saul the son of Kish was selected by lot; but when they looked for him, he could not be found.²² Therefore ^(C1)they inquired further of the LORD: "Has the man come here yet?" And the LORD said, "Behold, he is hiding himself among the baggage."²³ So they ran and took him from there, and when he stood among the people, ^(C1)he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward.²⁴ Samuel said to all the people, "Do you see him ^(C1)whom the LORD has chosen? Surely there is no one like him among all the people." So all the people shouted and said, "^(F1)(C2)Long live the king!"

²⁵ Then Samuel told the people ^(C1)the ordinances of the kingdom, and wrote them in the book, and ^(C2)placed it before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his house.²⁶ Saul also went ^(C1)to his house in Gibeah; and the valiant men whose hearts God had touched went with him.²⁷ But certain ^(F1)(C1)useless men said, "How can this one save us?" And they despised him and ^(C2)did not bring him a gift. But ^(F2)he kept silent about it.

Chapter 19

Zaccheus Converted

¹ Jesus ^(C1)entered Jericho and was passing through.² And ^(F1)there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich.³ Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and he was unable due to the crowd, because he was short in stature.⁴ So he ran on ahead and climbed up a ^(F1)(C1)sycamore tree in order to see Him, because He was about to pass through that way.⁵ And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, "Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house."⁶ And he hurried and came down, and received Him ^(F1)joyfully.⁷ When the people saw this, they all began to complain, saying, "He has gone in ^(F1)to be the guest of a man who is a sinner!"⁸ But Zaccheus stopped and said to ^(C1)the Lord, "Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I am giving to the poor, and if I have ^(C2)extorted anything from anyone, I am giving back ^(C3)four times as much."⁹ And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is ^(C1)a son of Abraham.¹⁰ "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Parable of the Ten Minas

¹¹ Now while they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because ^(C1)He was near Jerusalem and they thought that ^(C2)the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.¹² So He said, "^(C1)A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then to return.¹³ "And he called ten of his own slaves and gave them ten ^(F1)minas, and said to them, 'Do business with this money ^(F2)until I come back.'¹⁴ "But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.'¹⁵ "When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be summoned to him so that he would learn how much they had made by the business they had done.¹⁶ "The first slave appeared, saying, '^(F1)Master, your ^(F2)mina has made ten minas more.'¹⁷ "And he said to him, 'Well done, good slave; since you have been ^(C1)faithful in a very little thing, you are to have authority over ten cities.'¹⁸ "The second one came, saying, 'Your ^(F1)mina, ^(F2)master, has made five minas.'¹⁹ "And he said to him also, 'And you are to be over five cities.'²⁰ "And then another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I kept tucked away in a handkerchief;²¹ for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding man; you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow.'²² "He ^(*)said to him, '^(F1)From your own lips I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am a demanding man, taking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow?²³ 'And so why did you not put my money in the bank, and when I came back, I would have collected it with interest?'²⁴ "And then he said to the other slaves who were present, 'Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.'²⁵ "And they said to him, 'Master, he already has ten minas.'²⁶ '^(C1)I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.²⁷ 'But as for ^(C1)these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and ^(C2)slaughter them in my presence.'"<