Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
48 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised in the City of our God, upon His Holy Mountain.
2 Mount Zion (lying northward) is beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole Earth, the City of the Great King.
3 In the palaces thereof, God is known for a refuge.
4 For lo, the kings were gathered and went together.
5 When they saw it, they marveled. They were astonished and suddenly driven back.
6 Fear came upon them there, and sorrow, as upon a woman in childbirth,
7 as when You break the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.
8 As we have heard, so have we seen in the City of the LORD of Hosts, in the city of our God. God will establish it forever. Selah.
9 In the midst of Your Temple we wait for Your lovingkindness, O God.
10 O God, according to Your Name, so is Your praise to the world’s end. Your right hand is full of righteousness.
11 Let Mount Zion rejoice, and the daughters of Judah be glad, because of Your judgments!
12 March around Zion and encircle it. Count the towers thereof.
13 Mark well the wall thereof. Behold her towers, so that you may tell your posterity.
14 For this God is our God, forever and ever. He shall be our guide to the death. To him who excels: A Psalm committed to the sons of Korah.
24 When Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, then he did not go, as certain times before, to set divinations. But set his face toward the wilderness.
2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes and looked upon Israel, which dwelt according to their tribe s. And the Spirit of God came upon him.
3 And he uttered his parable, and said, “Balaam, the son of Beor, has said, and the man whose eyes were shut up has said,
4 He who heard the words of God and who saw the vision of the Almighty and who fell and had his eyes opened, has said,
5 “How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, and your habitations, O Israel!
6 “As the valleys are they stretched forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the aloe trees which the LORD has planted, as the cedars beside the waters.
7 “The water drops out of His bucket, and His seed in many waters. And His King shall be higher than Agag. And His Kingdom shall be exalted.
8 “God brought him out of Egypt, his strength as a unicorn. He shall eat the nations, his enemies, and bruise their bones and shoot them through with his arrows.
9 “He crouches, lies down, as a young Lion, and as a Lion. Who shall stir him up? Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you.”
10 Then Balak was very angry with Balaam and clapped his hands. So Balak said to Balaam, “I sent for you to curse my enemies. And behold, you have blessed them now three times.
11 “Therefore, now, flee to your place! I thought surely to promote you to honor. But lo, the LORD has kept you back from honor.”
12 Then Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, saying,
13 ‘If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not surpass the Commandment of the LORD, to do good or bad of my own mind’? What the LORD shall Command, that same will I speak.
14 “And now, behold, I go to my people. Come, I will advise you what this people shall do to your folk in the latter days.”
26 And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the House of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And the angel went in to her, and said, “Hail, you who are freely beloved. The Lord is with you. You are blessed among women.”
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and thought what kind of greeting that should be.
30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not fear, Mary. For you have found favor with God.
31 “For lo, you shall conceive in your womb, and bear a Son, and shall call His Name, Jesus.
32 “He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God shall give to Him the throne of his father David.
33 “And He shall reign over the House of Jacob forever. And of His Kingdom shall be no end.”
34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How shall this be, seeing I do not know man?”
35 And the angel answered, and said to her, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you. Therefore, also, that Holy Thing which shall be born by you, shall be called the Son of God.
36 “And behold, your cousin, Elizabeth. She has also conceived a son in her old age. And this is her sixth month, who was called barren.
37 “For with God shall nothing be impossible.”
38 Then Mary said, “Behold the servant of the Lord. May it be to me according to your word.” So, the angel departed from her.
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