Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
23 Am I a God of the near only, said the LORD, and not a God of the far?
24 Can any hide himself in hiding places that I shall not see him? said the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? said the LORD.
25 I have heard what those prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies and that prophesy the deceit of their own heart?
27 Do they not think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which each one tells his neighbour, so much that their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal?
28 The prophet with whom the dream came, let him tell the dream; and he with whom my word came, let him speak my true word. What is the chaff to the wheat? said the LORD.
29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 ¶ God stands in the congregation of the mighty; he judges among the gods.
2 How long will ye judge unjustly and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
3 Do right concerning the poor and fatherless; do justice to the poor and destitute.
4 Deliver the poor and destitute; deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.
5 They do not know, neither do they understand; they walk in darkness; they move all the foundations of the earth.
6 ¶ I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are sons of the most High.
7 But ye shall die like men and fall like one of the tyrants.
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth, for thou shalt inherit all the Gentiles.
29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians attempted to do and were drowned.
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days.
31 By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish together with the disobedient, having received the spies with peace.
32 ¶ And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon and of Barak and of Samson and of Jephthae, of David also and Samuel and of the prophets,
33 who by faith won kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, recovered from infirmities, were made valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of foreign enemies;
35 women received their dead raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection;
36 and others experienced cruel mockings and scourgings, and added to this, bonds and imprisonment;
37 they were stoned; they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; poor, afflicted, mistreated,
38 (of whom the world was not worthy); they wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.
39 And these all, approved by testimony of faith, received not the promise,
40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
12 ¶ Therefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, leaving behind all the weight of the sin which surrounds us, let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 with our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who having been offered joy, endured the cross,{Gr. stauros-stake} despising the shame and was seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
49 I am come to cast fire into the earth; and what do I desire, except that it be kindled?
50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am anguished until it is accomplished!
51 Think ye that I am come to the earth to give peace? No, I tell you, but rather division;
52 for from now on there shall be five in one house divided: three against two and two against three.
53 The father shall be divided against the son and the son against the father, the mother against the daughter and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter- in-law and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
54 ¶ And he said also to the people, When ye see the cloud rising out of the west, straightway ye say, A shower comes, and so it is.
55 And when the south wind blows, ye say, There will be heat, and it comes to pass.
56 Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?
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