Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 21

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

¹ The king [David] shall joy in Your strength, O Lord; and in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!

² You have given him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah [pause, and think of that]!

³ For You send blessings of good things to meet him; You set a crown of pure gold on his head.

⁴ He asked life of You, and You gave it to him—long life forever and evermore.

⁵ His glory is great because of Your aid; splendor and majesty You bestow upon him.

⁶ For You make him to be blessed and a blessing forever; You make him exceedingly glad with the joy of Your presence.^(A)

⁷ For the king trusts, relies on, and is confident in the Lord, and through the mercy and steadfast love of the Most High he will never be moved.

⁸ Your hand shall find all Your enemies; Your right hand shall find all those who hate You.

⁹ You will make them as if in a blazing oven in the time of Your anger; the Lord will swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire will utterly consume them.

¹⁰ Their offspring You will destroy from the earth, and their sons from among the children of men.

¹¹ For they planned evil against You; they conceived a mischievous plot which they are not able to perform.

¹² For You will make them turn their backs; You will aim Your bow [of divine justice] at their faces.

¹³ Be exalted, Lord, in Your strength; we will sing and praise Your power.

¹⁷ When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they all went up to find [him], but [he] heard of it and went down to the stronghold.

¹⁸ The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the Valley of Rephaim.

¹⁹ David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand? And the Lord said to David, Go up, for I will surely deliver [them] into your hand.

²⁰ And David came to Baal-perazim, and he smote them there, and said, The Lord has broken through my enemies before me, like the bursting out of great waters. So he called the name of that place Baal-perazim [Lord of breaking through].

²¹ There the Philistines left their ^[a]images, and David and his men took them away.

²² The Philistines came up again and spread themselves out in the Valley of Rephaim.

²³ When David inquired of the Lord, He said, You shall not go up, but go around behind them and come upon them over opposite the mulberry (or balsam) trees.

²⁴ And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then bestir yourselves, for then has the Lord gone out before you to smite the army of the Philistines.

²⁵ And David did as the Lord had commanded him, and smote the Philistines from Geba to Gezer.

7 After this, Jesus went from place to place in Galilee, for He would not travel in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him.

² Now the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was drawing near.

³ So His brothers said to Him, Leave here and go into Judea, so that ^[a]Your disciples [there] may also see the works that You do. [This is no place for You.]

⁴ For no one does anything in secret when he wishes to be conspicuous and secure publicity. If You [must] do these things [if You must act like this], show Yourself openly and make Yourself known to the world!

⁵ For [even] His brothers did not believe in or adhere to or trust in or rely on Him either.

⁶ Whereupon Jesus said to them, My time (opportunity) has not come yet; but any time is suitable for you and your opportunity is ready any time [is always here].

⁷ The world cannot [be expected to] hate you, but it does hate Me because I denounce it for its wicked works and reveal that its doings are evil.

⁸ Go to the Feast yourselves. I am not [yet] going up to the Festival, because My time is not ripe. [My term is not yet completed; it is not time for Me to go.]

⁹ Having said these things to them, He stayed behind in Galilee.