O LORD, thou hast searched me out, and known me. * Thou knowest my down-sitting, and mine uprising; thou understandest my thoughts long before.
 
Thou art about my path, and about my bed; * and art acquainted with all my ways.
 
For lo, there is not a word in my tongue, * but thou, O LORD, knowest it altogether.
 
Thou hast beset me behind and before, * and laid thine hand upon me.
 
Such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent for me; * I cannot attain unto it.
 
Whither shall I go then from thy Spirit? * or whither shall I go then from thy presence?
 
If I climb up into heaven, thou art there; * if I go down to hell, thou art there also.
 
If I take the wings of the morning, * and remain in the uttermost parts of the sea;
 
Even there also shall thy hand lead me, * and thy right hand shall hold me.
 
If I say, Peradventure the darkness shall cover me; * then shall my night be turned to day.
 
Yea, the darkness is no darkness with thee, but the night is as clear as the day; * the darkness and light to thee are both alike.
 
For my reins are thine; * thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
 
I will give thanks unto thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: * marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.
 
My bones are not hid from thee, * though I be made secretly, and fashioned beneath in the earth.
 
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; * and in thy book were all my members written;
 
Which day by day were fashioned, * when as yet there was none of them.
 
How dear are thy counsels unto me, O God; * O how great is the sum of them!
 
If I tell them, they are more in number than the sand: * when I wake up, I am present with thee.
 
Wilt thou not slay the wicked, O God? * Depart from me, ye blood-thirsty men.
 
For they speak unrighteously against thee; * and thine enemies take thy Name in vain.
 
Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? * and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
 
Yea, I hate them right sore; * even as though they were mine enemies.
 
Try me, O God, and seek the ground of my heart; * prove me, and examine my thoughts.
 
Look well if there be any way of wickedness in me; * and lead me in the way everlasting.

Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night. And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord? And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

O GOD, whose never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth; We humbly beseech thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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