Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Knows Everything
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
139 Lord, you have examined me
and 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 everything I do.
4 Lord, even before I say a word,
you already know it.
5 You are all around me—in front and in back—
and 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 heavens, you are there.
If I lie down in the grave, 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.
Let the light around me 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 anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any bad thing in me.
Lead me on the road to everlasting life.
21 “I will show my glory among the nations. All the nations will see my power when I punish them. 22 From that time onward the people of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. 23 The nations will know Israel was taken away captive because they turned against me. So I turned away from them and handed them over to their enemies until all of them died in war. 24 Because of their uncleanness and their sins, I punished them and turned away from them.
25 “So this is what the Lord God says: Now I will bring the people of Jacob back from captivity, and 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 how they rejected me when they live again in safety on their own land with no one to make them afraid. 27 I will bring the people back from other lands and gather them from the lands of their enemies. So I will use my people to show many nations that I am holy. 28 Then my people will know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into captivity among the nations, but then I brought them back to their own land, leaving no one behind. 29 I will not turn away from them anymore, because 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 saying, “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. 17 God wanted to prove that his promise was true to those who would get what he promised. And he wanted them to understand clearly that his purposes never change, so he made 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 where Jesus has gone ahead of us and for us. He has become the high priest forever, a priest like Melchizedek.[b]
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.