Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹ ¶ Halelu-JAH. Praise the LORD, O my soul.

² In my life I will praise the LORD; I will sing praises unto my God while I live.

³ Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man in whom there is no salvation.

⁴ His spirit shall go forth, he shall return to his earth; in that very day all his thoughts shall perish.

⁵ ¶ Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God;

⁶ who made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is therein; who keeps truth for ever:

⁷ He who does justice unto the oppressed; who gives bread to the hungry. The LORD looses the prisoners:

⁸ The LORD opens the eyes of the blind; the LORD raises those that are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous:

⁹ The LORD preserves the strangers; he raises up the fatherless and widow; but the way of the wicked he turns upside down.

¹⁰ The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, from generation to generation. Halelu-JAH.

⁹ ¶ Therefore judgment has withdrawn from us, and righteousness has never overtaken us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.

¹⁰ We grope for the wall like the blind, and as if we had no eyes we walk by touch; we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in graves as dead men.

¹¹ We all roar like bears and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for saving health, but it has withdrawn from us.

¹² For our rebellions are multiplied before thee, and our sins have testified against us; for our iniquities are with us; and we know our sins:

¹³ To rebel and to lie against the LORD, and to depart away from our God; the speaking of libel and rebellion, to conceive, and to speak from the heart words of falsehood,

¹⁴ and that which is right has departed, and righteousness withdrew afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity could not enter.

¹⁵ And the truth was taken captive; and he that departed from evil was imprisoned: and the LORD saw it, and it was displeasing in his eyes because that which is right was lost.

¹⁶ ¶ And he saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore his arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness, it sustained him.

¹⁷ For he put on righteousness as a coat of mail, and a helmet of saving health upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak,

¹⁸ so as to give payment, so as to repay the vengeance of his enemies, and repay his adversaries; to the islands he will give recompense.

¹⁹ So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he shall come like a violent river impelled by the breath {Spirit} of the LORD.

9 ¶ And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, came unto the prince of the priests

² and asked him for letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

³ And as he proceeded, he came near Damascus; and suddenly there shone round about him a light from heaven;

⁴ and falling to the earth, he heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?

⁵ And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I AM Jesus whom thou dost persecute; it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

⁶ And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what it behooves thee to do.

⁷ And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing indeed the voice, but seeing no one.

⁸ Then Saul arose from the earth; and opening his eyes, he saw no one; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus

⁹ where he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰ ¶ And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; to whom the Lord said in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

¹¹ And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the street which is called Straight and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus; for, behold, he prays

¹² and has seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.

¹³ Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, of how much evil he has done to thy saints in Jerusalem,

¹⁴ and even here he has authority from the princes of the priests to bind all that call on thy name.

¹⁵ But the Lord said unto him, Go; for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;

¹⁶ for I will show him how much it behooves him to suffer for my name.

¹⁷ Then Ananias went and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared unto thee in the way as thou didst come, has sent me, that thou might receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸ And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales; and he received sight immediately and arose and was baptized.

¹⁹ And when he had received food, he was comforted. Then Saul was certain days with the disciples who were at Damascus.

²⁰ And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.