EPIPHANY 2 YEAR B
The Church of England provides a different Second Reading from the Revised Common Lectionary.


FIRST READING (Short or long reading)

1 Samuel 3.1-10, (11-20)

A reading from the first book of Samuel.
1 The boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli. The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.
2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room;
3 the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was.
4 Then the LORD called, 'Samuel! Samuel!' and he said, 'Here I am!'
5 and ran to Eli, and said, 'Here I am, for you called me.' But he said, 'I did not call; lie down again.' So he went and lay down.
6 The LORD called again, 'Samuel!' Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, 'Here I am, for you called me.' But he said, 'I did not call, my son; lie down again.'
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.
8 The LORD called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, 'Here I am, for you called me.' Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy.
9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, 'Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, "Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening."' So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, 'Samuel! Samuel!' And Samuel said, 'Speak, for your servant is listening.'
[11 Then the LORD said to Samuel, 'See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle.
12 On that day I will fulfil against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.
13 For I have told him that I am about to punish his house for ever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them.
14 Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering for ever.'
15 Samuel lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.
16 But Eli called Samuel and said, 'Samuel, my son.' He said, 'Here I am.'
17 Eli said, 'What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.'
18 So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, 'It is the LORD; let him do what seems good to him.'
19 As Samuel grew up, the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.
20 And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the LORD.]


PSALM Psalm 139.1-5, 12-17

R R I will thank you because I am marvellously made.

1 Lord, you have searched me out and known me; you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
2 You trace my journeys and my resting-places and are acquainted with all my ways. R R
3 Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, but you, O Lord, know it altogether.
4 You press upon me behind and before and lay your hand upon me.
5 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain to it. R R
12 For you yourself created my inmost parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
13 I will thank you because I am marvellously made; your works are wonderful and I know it well. R R
14 My body was not hidden from you, while I was being made in secret and woven in the depths of the earth.
15 Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb; all of them were written in your book; they were fashioned day by day, when as yet there was none of them. R R
16 How deep I find your thoughts, O God! how great is the sum of them!
17 If I were to count them, they would be more in number than the sand; to count them all, my life span would need to be like yours. R R


SECOND READING
Either (Revised Common Lectionary) 1 Corinthians 6.12-20

A reading from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians.
Brothers and sisters,
12 'All things are lawful for me,' but not all things are beneficial. 'All things are lawful for me,' but I will not be dominated by anything.
13 'Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food,' and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power.
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!
16 Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, 'The two shall be one flesh.'
17 But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
18 Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself.
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?
20 For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

Or Revelation 5.1-10

1 I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals;
2 and I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?'
3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it.
4 And I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.
5 Then one of the elders said to me, 'Do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.'
6 Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne.
8 When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
9 They sing a new song: 'You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation;
10 you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on earth.'


GOSPEL John 1.43-51

Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, 'Follow me.'
44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, 'We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.'
46 Nathanael said to him, 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?' Philip said to him, 'Come and see.'
47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, 'Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!'
48 Nathanael asked him, 'Where did you come to know me?' Jesus answered, 'I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.'
49 Nathanael replied, 'Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!'
50 Jesus answered, 'Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.'
51 And he said to him, 'Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.'