Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

45 ¶ Thus saith the LORD to his Messiah, to Cyrus, whom I have taken by his right hand to subdue Gentiles before him and to loose the loins of kings. To open before him the two-leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut:

² I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut in sunder the bars of iron:

³ And I will give thee the hidden treasures and the well-guarded secrets that thou may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who gives thee thy name.

⁴ For Jacob my slave’s sake and Israel my elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

⁵ ¶ I am the LORD, and there is no one else; there is no God beside me; I shall gird thee, though thou hast not known me

⁶ that it may be known from the rising of the sun and from where it goes down that there is no one beside me. I am the LORD, and there is no one else.

⁷ I form the light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil: I am the LORD that does all this.

¹ ¶ O sing unto the LORD a new song; sing unto the LORD, all the earth.

² Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; show forth his saving health from day to day.

³ Declare his glory among the Gentiles, his wonders among all peoples.

⁴ For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.

⁵ For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.

⁶ Honour and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

⁷ Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the peoples, give unto the LORD the glory and the strength.

⁸ Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; bring offerings, and come into his courts.

⁹ O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness; fear before him, all the earth.

¹⁰ ¶ Say among the Gentiles that the LORD reigns; he also has established the world, it shall not be moved; he shall judge the peoples righteously.

¹¹ Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar and the fullness thereof.

¹² Let the field be joyful and all that is therein; then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice

¹³ before the LORD; for he has come, for he has come to judge the earth; he shall judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with his truth.

1 ¶ Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} of the Thessalonians congregated in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

² ¶ We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers,

³ remembering without ceasing the work of your faith and labour and charity and of waiting with the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father,

⁴ being certain, beloved brethren, that you are chosen of God.

⁵ For our gospel did not come unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in full assurance as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.

⁶ ¶ And ye were made imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word with much tribulation, with joy of the Holy Spirit:

⁷ So that ye have become examples to all that have believed in Macedonia and Achaia.

⁸ For through you the word of the Lord has been divulged not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith, which is in God, has become extended, so that we have no need to say anything.

⁹ For they themselves tell of us what an entrance we had unto you and in what manner ye were converted to God from idols to serve the living and true God

¹⁰ and to wait for his Son from the heavens, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come.

¹⁵ ¶ Then the Pharisees left and took counsel how they might entangle him in his word.

¹⁶ And they sent out unto him their disciples with those of Herod, saying, Master, we know that thou art a lover of truth and teachest the way of God with truth and that thou takest care for no man, for thou art no respecter of persons of men.

¹⁷ Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not?

¹⁸ But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?

¹⁹ Show me the coin of the tribute. And they presented unto him a denarius.

²⁰ And he said unto them, Whose is this image and supion?

²¹ They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then said he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.

²² When they had heard these words, they marvelled and left him and went away.