Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

To the Overcomer: for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth.

¹ ¶ God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in tribulation.

² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea,

³ though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the violence thereof. Selah.

⁴ There is a river, the streams of which shall make glad the city of God, the sanctuary of the tents of the most High.

⁵ God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God shall help her, as the morning dawns.

⁶ ¶ The Gentiles raged, the kingdoms were moved; he uttered his voice, the earth melted.

⁷ The LORD of the hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

⁸ Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he has made in the earth.

⁹ He makes wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and cuts the spear in sunder; he burns the chariot in the fire.

¹⁰ Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted in the Gentiles, I will be exalted in the earth.

¹¹ The LORD of the hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

¹² And the messenger that went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one assent; let thy word therefore, I pray thee, be like one of theirs, and speak thou good.

¹³ And Micaiah said, As the LORD lives, that what my God says, that will I speak.

¹⁴ And when he was come to the king, the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramothgilead to battle or shall I forbear? And he said, Go up, and ye shall be prospered; they shall be delivered into your hands.

¹⁵ And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou say nothing but the truth to me in the name of the LORD?

¹⁶ Then he said, I did see all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd; and the LORD said, These have no master; let each one return to his house in peace.

¹⁷ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would not prophesy good unto me, but evil?

¹⁸ So he said, Therefore, hear the word of the LORD; I saw the LORD sitting upon his throne, and all the host of the heavens standing on his right hand and on his left.

¹⁹ And the LORD said, Who shall entice Ahab, king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one spoke saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner.

²⁰ Then a spirit came out and stood before the LORD and said, I will entice him. And the LORD said unto him, In what manner?

²¹ And he said, I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the LORD said, Thou shalt entice him, and thou shalt also prevail; go out and do even so.

²² Now, therefore, behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets, and the LORD has decreed evil concerning thee.

²³ ¶ So that it was necessary that the figures of the heavenly things should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

²⁴ For Christ is not entered into the sanctuary made with hands (which is a figure of the true), but into the heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us,

²⁵ nor yet that he should offer himself many times (as the high priest enters into the sanctuary each year with blood that is not his own);

²⁶ otherwise it would have been necessary for him to suffer many times since the foundation of the world; but now once in the consummation of the ages he has appeared to abolish sin by the sacrifice of himself.

²⁷ And as it is appointed unto men to die once, and after this the judgment;

²⁸ so also the Christ is offered once to take away the sins of many; and unto those that wait for him without sin he shall appear the second time unto saving health.