Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Psalm of David: dedication-song of the house.

30 I will extol thee, Jehovah; for thou hast delivered me, and hast not made mine enemies to rejoice over me.

² Jehovah my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.

³ Jehovah, thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol, thou hast quickened me from among those that go down to the pit.

⁴ Sing psalms unto Jehovah, ye saints of his, and give thanks in remembrance of his holiness.

⁵ For a moment [is passed] in his anger, a life in his favour; at even weeping cometh for the night, and at morn there is rejoicing.

⁶ As for me, I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved.

⁷ Jehovah, by thy favour thou hadst made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face; I was troubled.

⁸ I called to thee, Jehovah, and unto the Lord did I make supplication:

⁹ What profit is there in my blood, in my going down to the pit? shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?

¹⁰ Hear, O Jehovah, and be gracious unto me; Jehovah, be my helper.

¹¹ Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; thou hast loosed my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;

¹² That [my] glory may sing psalms of thee, and not be silent. Jehovah my God, I will praise thee for ever.

14 And Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was toward Absalom.

² And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman, and said to her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on mourning garments, I pray, and anoint not thyself with oil, but be as a woman that hath a long time mourned for the dead;

³ and come to the king, and speak after this manner to him. And Joab put the words into her mouth.

⁴ And the woman of Tekoah spoke to the king, and she fell on her face to the ground and did obeisance, and said, Save, O king!

⁵ And the king said to her, What aileth thee? And she said, I am indeed a widow woman, and my husband is dead.

⁶ And thy bondmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and there was none to part them, but the one smote the other and slew him.

⁷ And behold, the whole family is risen against thy bondmaid, and they say, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may put him to death, for the life of his brother whom he killed; and we will destroy the heir also: so they will quench my coal which is left, and will not leave to my husband a name or remnant on the earth.

⁸ And the king said to the woman, Go to thy house, and I will give charge concerning thee.

⁹ And the woman of Tekoah said to the king, Upon me, my lord, O king, be the iniquity, and upon my father's house; and the king and his throne be guiltless.

¹⁰ And the king said, Whoever speaks to thee, bring him to me, and he shall not touch thee any more.

¹¹ Then she said, I pray thee, let the king remember Jehovah thy God, that thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they cut off my son. And he said, [As] Jehovah liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth.

⁶ And it came to pass, as I was journeying and drawing near to Damascus, that, about mid-day, there suddenly shone out of heaven a great light round about me.

⁷ And I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

⁸ And *I* answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said to me, *I* am Jesus the Nazaraean, whom *thou* persecutest.

⁹ But they that were with me beheld the light, [and were filled with fear], but heard not the voice of him that was speaking to me.

¹⁰ And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Rise up, and go to Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which it is appointed thee to do.

¹¹ And as I could not see, through the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came to Damascus.

¹² And a certain Ananias, a pious man according to the law, borne witness to by all the Jews who dwelt [there],

¹³ coming to me and standing by me, said to me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And *I*, in the same hour, received my sight and saw him.

¹⁴ And he said, The God of our fathers has chosen thee beforehand to know his will, and to see the just one, and to hear a voice out of his mouth;

¹⁵ for thou shalt be a witness for him to all men of what thou hast seen and heard.

¹⁶ And now why lingerest thou? Arise and get baptised, and have thy sins washed away, calling on his name.

¹⁷ And it came to pass when I had returned to Jerusalem, and as I was praying in the temple, that I became in ecstasy,

¹⁸ and saw him saying to me, Make haste and go quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.

¹⁹ And *I* said, Lord, they themselves know that *I* was imprisoning and beating in every synagogue those that believe on thee;

²⁰ and when the blood of thy witness Stephen was shed, I also myself was standing by and consenting, and kept the clothes of them who killed him.

²¹ And he said to me, Go, for *I* will send thee to the nations afar off.