Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

(A prayer by David.)

The Prayer of an Innocent Person

The Lord's People Will Come Home

14 The Lord will have mercy on Israel and will let them be his chosen people once again. He will bring them back to their own land, and foreigners will join them as part of Israel. ² Other nations will lead them home, and Israel will make slaves of them in the land that belongs to the Lord. Israel will rule over those who once governed and mistreated them.

Paul Gives Thanks for the Gifts He Was Given

¹⁰ The Lord has made me very grateful that at last you have thought about me once again. Actually, you were thinking about me all along, but you didn't have any chance to show it. ¹¹ I am not complaining about having too little. I have learned to be satisfied with^[a] whatever I have. ¹² I know what it is to be poor or to have plenty, and I have lived under all kinds of conditions. I know what it means to be full or to be hungry, to have too much or too little. ¹³ Christ gives me the strength to face anything.

¹⁴ It was good of you to help me when I was having such a hard time. ^15 (A) My friends at Philippi, you remember what it was like when I started preaching the good news in Macedonia.^[b] After I left there, you were the only church that became my partner by giving blessings and by receiving them in return.