Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Knows Everything
For the director of music. A song of David.
139 Lord, you have examined me.
You know all about me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You know my thoughts before I think them.
3 You know where I go and where I lie down.
You know well everything I do.
4 Lord, even before I say a word,
you already know what I am going to say.
5 You are all around me—in front and in back.
You have put your hand on me.
6 Your knowledge is amazing to me.
It is more than I can understand.
7 Where can I go to get away from your Spirit?
Where can I run from you?
8 If I go up to the skies, you are there.
If I lie down where the dead are, you are there.
9 If I rise with the sun in the east,
and settle in the west beyond the sea,
10 even there you would guide me.
With your right hand you would hold me.
11 I could say, “The darkness will hide me.
The light around me will turn into night.”
12 But even the darkness is not dark to you.
The night is as light as the day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
23 God, examine me and know my heart.
Test me and know my thoughts.
24 See if there is any bad thing in me.
Lead me in the way you set long ago.
21 “And I will show my greatness among the nations. All the nations will feel my power when I punish them. 22 From that day on the people of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. 23 And the nations will know Israel was taken away captive because they turned against me. So I turned away from them. And I let their enemies defeat them. All of them died in war. 24 I punished them for their uncleanness and their sins. I turned away from them.
25 “So this is what the Lord God says: Now I will bring the people of Jacob back from captivity. I will have mercy on the whole nation of Israel. I will not let them dishonor me. 26 The people will forget their shame. And they will forget how they rejected me. They will live in safety on their own land. No one will make them afraid. 27 I will bring the people back from other lands. I will gather them from the lands of their enemies. That is how I will show that I am holy through my people. And many nations will see that I am holy. 28 Then my people will know that I am the Lord their God. This is because I sent them into captivity among the nations. But then I brought them back to their own land. And I didn’t leave any behind. 29 I will not turn away from them anymore. I will put my Spirit into the people of Israel, says the Lord God.”
13 God made a promise to Abraham. And as there is no one greater than God, he used himself when he swore to Abraham. 14 He said, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”[a] 15 Abraham waited patiently for this to happen. And he received what God promised.
16 People always use the name of someone greater than themselves when they swear. The oath proves that what they say is true. And this ends all arguing about what they say. 17 God wanted to prove that his promise was true. He wanted to prove this to those who would get what he promised. He wanted them to understand clearly that his purposes never change. So God proved his promise by also making an oath. 18 These two things cannot change. God cannot lie when he makes a promise, and he cannot lie when he makes an oath. These things encourage us who came to God for safety. They give us strength to hold on to the hope we have been given. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, sure and strong. It enters behind the curtain in the Most Holy Place in heaven. 20 Jesus has gone in there ahead of us and for us. He has become the high priest forever, a priest like Melchizedek.[b]
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.