Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

131 Lord, I am not proud and haughty. I don’t think myself better than others. I don’t pretend to “know it all.” ² I am quiet now before the Lord, just as a child who is weaned from the breast. Yes, my begging has been stilled.

³ O Israel, you too should quietly trust in the Lord—now, and always.

26 Listen to them singing! In that day the whole land of Judah will sing this song:

“Our city is strong! We are surrounded by the walls of his salvation!” ² Open the gates to everyone, for all may enter in who love the Lord. ³ He will keep in perfect peace all those who trust in him, whose thoughts turn often to the Lord! ⁴ Trust in the Lord God always, for in the Lord Jehovah is your everlasting strength. ⁵ He humbles the proud and brings the haughty city to the dust; its walls come crashing down. ⁶ He presents it to the poor and needy for their use.

²⁵ Meanwhile, I thought I ought to send Epaphroditus back to you. You sent him to help me in my need; well, he and I have been real brothers, working and battling side by side. ²⁶ Now I am sending him home again, for he has been homesick for all of you and upset because you heard that he was ill. ²⁷ And he surely was; in fact, he almost died. But God had mercy on him and on me, too, not allowing me to have this sorrow on top of everything else.

²⁸ So I am all the more anxious to get him back to you again, for I know how thankful you will be to see him, and that will make me happy and lighten all my cares. ²⁹ Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and show your appreciation, ³⁰ for he risked his life for the work of Christ and was at the point of death while trying to do for me the things you couldn’t do because you were far away.