January 24, 2022

The Second Book of Samuel   5: 1-7, 10

5:1 And all the tribes of Israel went to David in Hebron, saying: “Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.
5:2 Moreover, yesterday and the day before, when Saul was king over us, you were the one leading out and leading back Israel. Then the Lord said to you, ‘You shall pasture my people Israel, and you shall be the leader over Israel.’ ”
5:3 Also, the elders of Israel went to the king at Hebron, and king David struck a pact with them at Hebron in the sight of the Lord. And they anointed David as king over Israel.
5:4 David was a son of thirty years, when he had begun to reign, and he reigned for forty years.
5:5 In Hebron, he reigned over Judah for seven years and six months. Then in Jerusalem, he reigned for thirty-three years over all of Israel and Judah.
5:6 And the king, and all the men who were with him, went away to Jerusalem, to the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land. And it was said to David by them, “You shall not enter here, unless you will take away the blind and the lame, who say, ‘David shall not enter here.’ ”
5:7 But David seized the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David.
5:10 And he advanced, prospering and increasing, and the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.

The Holy Gospel According to Mark   3: 22-30

3:22 And the scribes who had descended from Jerusalem said, “Because he has Beelzebub, and because by the prince of demons does he cast out demons.”
3:23 And having called them together, he spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan?
3:24 For if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom is not able to stand.
3:25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house is not able to stand.
3:26 And if Satan has risen up against himself, he would be divided, and he would not be able to stand; instead he reaches the end.
3:27 No one is able to plunder the goods of a strong man, having entered into the house, unless he first binds the strong man, and then he shall plunder his house.
3:28 Amen I say to you, that all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and the blasphemies by which they will have blasphemed.
3:29 But he who will have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit shall not have forgiveness in eternity; instead he shall be guilty of an eternal offense.”
3:30 For they said: “He has an unclean spirit.”