Second Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B

¹ The child Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. The LORD’s word was rare in those days. There were not many visions, then. ² At that time, when Eli was laid down in his place (now his eyes had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see), ³ and God’s lamp hadn’t yet gone out, and Samuel had laid down in the LORD’s temple where God’s ark was, ⁴ The LORD called Samuel. He said, “Here I am.” ⁵ He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; for you called me.” He said, “I didn’t call. Lie down again.” He went and lay down. ⁶ The LORD called yet again, “Samuel!” Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; for you called me.” He answered, “I didn’t call, my son. Lie down again.” ⁷ Now Samuel didn’t yet know the LORD, neither was the LORD’s word yet revealed to him. ⁸ The LORD called Samuel again the third time. He arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; for you called me.” Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child. ⁹ Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down. It shall be, if he calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, the LORD; for your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. ¹⁰ The LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak; for your servant hears.” ¹¹ The LORD said to Samuel, “Behold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. ¹² In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from the beginning even to the end. ¹³ For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he didn’t restrain them. ¹⁴ Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be removed with sacrifice or offering forever.” ¹⁵ Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the LORD’s house. Samuel was afraid to show Eli the vision. ¹⁶ Then Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son!” He said, “Here I am.” ¹⁷ He said, “What is the thing that he has spoken to you? Please don’t hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that he spoke to you.” ¹⁸ Samuel told him every bit, and hid nothing from him. He said, “It is the LORD. Let him do what seems good to him.” ¹⁹ Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. ²⁰ All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD.

¹ O LORD, you have searched me, and you know me. ² You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar. ³ You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. ⁴ For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. ⁵ You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me. ⁶ This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it.

¹³ For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴ I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well. ¹⁵ My frame wasn’t hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth. ¹⁶ Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them. ¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is their sum! ¹⁸ If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.

¹² “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything. ¹³ “Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,” but God will bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ Now God raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his power. ¹⁵ Don’t you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! ¹⁶ Or don’t you know that he who is joined to a prostitute is one body? For, “The two”, he says, “will become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. ¹⁸ Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.