Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God's Complete Knowledge and Care[a]
139 Lord, you have examined me and you know me.
2 You know everything I do;
from far away you understand all my thoughts.
3 You see me, whether I am working or resting;
you know all my actions.
4 Even before I speak,
you already know what I will say.
5 You are all around me on every side;
you protect me with your power.
6 Your knowledge of me is too deep;
it is beyond my understanding.
13 You created every part of me;
you put me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because you are to be feared;
all you do is strange and wonderful.
I know it with all my heart.
15 When my bones were being formed,
carefully put together in my mother's womb,
when I was growing there in secret,
you knew that I was there—
16 you saw me before I was born.
The days allotted to me
had all been recorded in your book,
before any of them ever began.
17 (A)O God, how difficult I find your thoughts;[a]
how many of them there are!
18 If I counted them, they would be more than the grains of sand.
When I awake, I am still with you.
Hannah's Prayer
2 (A)Hannah prayed:
“The Lord has filled my heart with joy;
how happy I am because of what he has done!
I laugh at my enemies;
how joyful I am because God has helped me!
2 “No one is holy like the Lord;
there is none like him,
no protector like our God.
3 Stop your loud boasting;
silence your proud words.
For the Lord is a God who knows,
and he judges all that people do.
4 The bows of strong soldiers are broken,
but the weak grow strong.
5 The people who once were well fed
now hire themselves out to get food,
but the hungry are hungry no more.
The childless wife has borne seven children,
but the mother of many is left with none.
6 (B)The Lord kills and restores to life;
he sends people to the world of the dead
and brings them back again.
7 He makes some people poor and others rich;
he humbles some and makes others great.
8 He lifts the poor from the dust
and raises the needy from their misery.
He makes them companions of princes
and puts them in places of honor.
The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord;
on them he has built the world.
9 “He protects the lives of his faithful people,
but the wicked disappear in darkness;
a man does not triumph by his own strength.
10 The Lord's enemies will be destroyed;
he will thunder against them from heaven.
The Lord will judge the whole world;
he will give power to his king,
he will make his chosen king victorious.”
19 Moses gave you the Law, didn't he? But not one of you obeys the Law. Why are you trying to kill me?”
20 “You have a demon in you!” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”
21 Jesus answered, “I performed one miracle, and you were all surprised. 22 (A)Moses ordered you to circumcise your sons (although it was not Moses but your ancestors who started it), and so you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. 23 (B)If a boy is circumcised on the Sabbath so that Moses' Law is not broken, why are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by external standards, and judge by true standards.”
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.