Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Death.
A Psalm; a Song at the Dedication of the House. A Psalm of David.
30 I will (A)extol You, O Lord, for You have (B)lifted me up,
And have not let my (C)enemies rejoice over me.
2 O Lord my God,
I (D)cried to You for help, and You (E)healed me.
3 O Lord, You have (F)brought up my soul from [a]Sheol;
You have kept me alive, [b]that I would not (G)go down to the pit.
4 (H)Sing praise to the Lord, you (I)His godly ones,
And (J)give thanks to His holy [c](K)name.
5 For (L)His anger is but for a moment,
His (M)favor is for a lifetime;
Weeping may (N)last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning.
6 Now as for me, I said in my prosperity,
“I will (O)never be moved.”
7 O Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain to stand strong;
You (P)hid Your face, I was dismayed.
8 To You, O Lord, I called,
And to the Lord I made supplication:
9 “What profit is there in my blood, if I (Q)go down to the pit?
Will the (R)dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness?
10 “(S)Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me;
O Lord, be my (T)helper.”
11 You have turned for me (U)my mourning into dancing;
You have (V)loosed my sackcloth and girded me with (W)gladness,
12 That my [d](X)soul may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will (Y)give thanks to You forever.
12 Then the woman said, “Please let your maidservant speak a word to my lord the king.” And he said, “Speak.” 13 The woman said, “(A)Why then have you planned such a thing against the people of God? For in speaking this word the king is as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring back (B)his banished one. 14 For (C)we will surely die and are (D)like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life, but plans [a]ways so that (E)the banished one will not be cast out from him. 15 Now [b]the reason I have come to speak this word to my lord the king is that the people have made me afraid; so your maidservant said, ‘Let me now speak to the king, perhaps the king will perform the [c]request of his maidservant. 16 For the king will hear [d]and deliver his maidservant from the [e]hand of the man who would destroy [f]both me and my son from (F)the inheritance of God.’ 17 Then your maidservant said, ‘Please let the word of my lord the king be [g]comforting, for as (G)the angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and evil. And may the Lord your God be with you.’”
18 Then the king answered and said to the woman, “Please do not hide anything from me that I am about to ask you.” And the woman said, “Let my lord the king please speak.” 19 So the king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” And the woman replied, “As your soul lives, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken. Indeed, it was (H)your servant Joab who commanded me, and it was he who put all these words in the mouth of your maidservant; 20 in order to change the appearance of things your servant Joab has done this thing. But my lord is wise, (I)like the wisdom of the angel of God, to know all that is in the earth.”
Absalom Is Recalled
21 Then the king said to Joab, “Behold now, (J)I will surely do this thing; go therefore, bring back the young man Absalom.” 22 Joab fell on his face to the ground, prostrated himself and blessed the king; then Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, O my lord, the king, in that the king has performed the [h]request of his servant.” 23 So Joab arose and went to (K)Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 24 However the king said, “Let him turn to (L)his own house, and let him not see my face.” So Absalom turned to his own house and did not see the king’s face.
Paul’s Defense before Agrippa
26 (A)Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and proceeded to make his defense:
2 “In regard to all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about to make my defense before you today; 3 [a]especially because you are an expert in all (B)customs and [b]questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.
4 “So then, all Jews know (C)my manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem; 5 since they have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a (D)Pharisee (E)according to the strictest (F)sect of our religion. 6 And now I am [c]standing trial (G)for the hope of (H)the promise made by God to our fathers; 7 the promise (I)to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this (J)hope, O King, I am being (K)accused by Jews. 8 Why is it considered incredible among you people (L)if God does raise the dead?
9 “So then, (M)I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to (N)the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And this is [d]just what I (O)did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the [e]saints in prisons, having (P)received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I (Q)cast my vote against them. 11 And (R)as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being (S)furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them (T)even to [f]foreign cities.
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