Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

30 I will magnify You, O LORD. You have exalted me and have not made my foes to rejoice over me.

² O LORD, my God, I cried to You; and You have restored me.

³ O LORD, You have brought up my soul out of the grave. You have revived me from those who go down into the pit.

⁴ Sing praises to the LORD, His Saints, and give thanks before the remembrance of His Holiness.

⁵ For His anger endures but a while. In His favor is life. Weeping may abide at evening, but joy comes in the morning.

⁶ And in my prosperity, I said, “I shall never be moved.”

⁷ For You, LORD, from Your goodness, had made my mountain to stand strong. You hid Your face, and I was troubled.

⁸ Then I cried to You, O LORD, and prayed to my LORD.

⁹ What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit! Shall the dust give thanks to You? Or shall it declare Your Truth?

¹⁰ Hear, O LORD; and have mercy upon me. LORD, be my Helper.

¹¹ You have turned my mourning into joy. You have loosened my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.

¹² Therefore, my tongue shall praise You, and not cease. O LORD, my God, I will give thanks to You forever. To him who excels: A Psalm of David.

14 Then Joab, the son of Zeruiah, perceived that the king’s heart was toward Absalom.

² And Joab sent to Tekoa and brought a cunning woman there, and said to her, “Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning apparel. Do not anoint yourself with oil but be as a woman who has now mourned for the dead a long time.

³ “Go to the king and speak to him in this manner.” For Joab told her what she should say.

⁴ Then the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, and fell down on her face to the ground, and prostrated herself, and said, “Help, O king!”

⁵ Then the king said to her, “What is wrong?” And she answered, “I am indeed a widow, and my husband is dead.

⁶ “And your handmaid had two sons. And the two struggled together in the field. And there was no one to part them. So, one struck the other and killed him.

⁷ “And behold, the whole family arose against your handmaid. And they said, ‘Deliver him who struck his brother, so that we may kill him for the soul of his brother whom he killed, so that we may also destroy the heir.’ So shall they quench my ember which is left and shall not leave to my husband either name or posterity upon the Earth.”

⁸ And the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give you a charge.”

⁹ Then the woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord, O king! This trespass is on me and on my father’s House. And the king and his throne are guiltless.”

¹⁰ And the king said, “Bring him to me, who speaks against you. And he shall no longer touch you.”

¹¹ Then she said, “Please, let the king remember the LORD your God, so that you would not allow revengers of blood to destroy anymore, lest they kill my son.” And he answered, “As the LORD lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the earth.”

⁶ “And so it was as I journeyed and had come near to Damascus (about noon) that suddenly a great light from Heaven shone all around me.

⁷ “So I fell to the Earth and heard a voice saying to me, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?

⁸ “Then I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, Whom you persecute.’

⁹ “Moreover, those who were with me indeed saw a light and were afraid. But they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me.

¹⁰ “Then I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord’? And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, and go into Damascus. And there you shall be told all things which are appointed for you to do.’

¹¹ “So, after I could not see because of the Glory of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus.

¹² “And one Ananias (a godly man as pertaining to the Law, having good report of all the Jews who dwelt there)

¹³ “came to me and stood and said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And that same hour I looked at him.

¹⁴ “And he said, ‘The God of our Fathers has appointed you, that you should know His will, and should see the Just One, and should hear the voice of His mouth.

¹⁵ ‘For you shall be His witness to all mankind of the things which you have seen and heard.

¹⁶ ‘Now therefore why do you wait? Arise, and be baptized. And wash away your sins by calling on the Name of the Lord.’

¹⁷ “And it so happened that when I had again come to Jerusalem, and prayed in the Temple, I was in a trance.

¹⁸ “And I saw Him, saying to me, ‘Hurry. And get out of Jerusalem quickly. For they will not receive your witness concerning Me.’

¹⁹ “Then I said, ‘Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat those who believed in You in every Synagogue.

²⁰ ‘And when the blood of Your martyr, Stephen, was shed, I also stood by and consented to his death, and guarded the clothes of those who killed him.’

²¹ “Then He said to me, “Go. For I will send you far from here, to the Gentiles.’”