Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

1 The burden or oracle (the thing to be lifted up) which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

² O Lord, how long shall I cry for help and You will not hear? Or cry out to You of violence and You will not save?

³ Why do You show me iniquity and wrong, and Yourself look upon or cause me to see perverseness and trouble? For destruction and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention arises.

⁴ Therefore the law is slackened and justice and a righteous sentence never go forth, for the [hostility of the] wicked surrounds the [uncompromisingly] righteous; therefore justice goes forth perverted.

2 [Oh, I know, I have been rash to talk out plainly this way to God!] I will [in my thinking] stand upon my post of observation and station myself on the tower or fortress, and will watch to see what He will say within me and what answer I will make [as His mouthpiece] to the perplexities of my complaint against Him.

² And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may [be able to] read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by.

³ For the vision is yet for an appointed time and it hastens to the end [fulfillment]; it will not deceive or disappoint. Though it tarry, wait [earnestly] for it, because it will surely come; it will not be behindhand on its appointed day.^(A)

⁴ Look at the proud; his soul is not straight or right within him, but the [rigidly] just and the [uncompromisingly] righteous man shall ^[a]live by his faith and in his faithfulness.^(B)

¹³⁷ [Rigidly] righteous are You, O Lord, and upright are Your judgments and all expressions of Your will.

¹³⁸ You have commanded and appointed Your testimonies in righteousness and in great faithfulness.

¹³⁹ My zeal has consumed me and cut me off, because my adversaries have forgotten Your words.

¹⁴⁰ Your word is very pure (tried and well refined); therefore Your servant loves it.

¹⁴¹ I am small (insignificant) and despised, but I do not forget Your precepts.

¹⁴² Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is truth.^(A)

¹⁴³ Trouble and anguish have found and taken hold on me, yet Your commandments are my delight.

¹⁴⁴ Your righteous testimonies are everlasting and Your decrees are binding to eternity; give me understanding and I shall live [give me discernment and comprehension and I shall not die].

1 Paul, Silvanus (Silas), and Timothy, to the church (assembly) of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One):

² Grace (unmerited favor) be to you and [heart] peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

³ We ought and indeed are obligated [as those in debt] to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, as is fitting, because your faith is growing exceedingly and the love of every one of you each toward the others is increasing and abounds.

⁴ And this is a cause of our mentioning you with pride among the churches (assemblies) of God for your steadfastness (your unflinching endurance and patience) and your firm faith in the midst of all the persecutions and crushing distresses and afflictions under which you are holding up.

¹¹ With this in view we constantly pray for you, that our God may deem and count you worthy of [your] calling and [His] every gracious purpose of goodness, and with power may complete in [your] every particular work of faith (faith which is that ^[a]leaning of the whole human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness).

¹² Thus may the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be glorified and become more glorious through and in you, and may you [also be glorified] in Him according to the grace (favor and blessing) of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

19 And [Jesus] entered Jericho and was passing through it.

² And there was a man called Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, and [he was] rich.

³ And he was trying to see Jesus, which One He was, but he could not on account of the crowd, because he was small in stature.

⁴ So he ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass that way.

⁵ And when Jesus reached the place, He looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.

⁶ So he hurried and came down, and he received and welcomed Him joyfully.

⁷ And when the people saw it, they all ^[a]muttered among themselves and indignantly complained, He has gone in to be the guest of and lodge with a man who is devoted to sin and preeminently a sinner.

⁸ So then Zacchaeus stood up and solemnly declared to the Lord, See, Lord, the half of my goods I [now] give [by way of restoration] to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone out of anything, I [now] restore four times as much.^(A)

⁹ And Jesus said to him, Today is [^[b]Messianic and spiritual] salvation come to [all the members of] this household, since Zacchaeus too is a [real spiritual] son of Abraham;

¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.