Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

149 Sing to the LORD a new song! Let His praise be heard in the congregation of saints.

² Let Israel rejoice in Him Who made him; and let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.

³ Let them praise His Name with the flute. Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.

⁴ For the LORD has pleasure in His people. He will make the meek glorious by deliverance.

⁵ Let the saints be joyful with glory! Let them sing loud upon their beds.

⁶ Let the high acts of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hands —

⁷ to execute vengeance upon the heathen and corrections among the people,

⁸ to bind their kings in chains and their nobles with fetters of iron —

⁹ so that they may execute upon them the judgment that is written. This honor shall be to all His saints. Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD.

9 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: ‘Let My people go, so that they may serve Me.

² ‘But if you refuse to let them go, and will continue to hold them,

³ ‘behold, the hand of the LORD is upon your flock which is in the field. Upon the horses, upon the donkeys, upon the camels, upon the cattle, and upon the sheep there shall be a mighty plague.’

⁴ “And the LORD shall distinguish between the beasts of Israel and the beasts of Egypt, so that nothing at all shall die which pertains to the children of Israel.”

⁵ And the LORD appointed a time, saying, “Tomorrow, the LORD shall finish this thing in this land.”

⁶ So the next day, the LORD did this thing; and all the cattle of Egypt died. But of the cattle of the children of Israel, not one died.

⁷ Then Pharaoh sent, and behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was obstinate; and he did not let the people go.

¹¹ I have become a fool in boasting. You have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you. For in nothing was I inferior to the very chief Apostles, though I am nothing.

¹² Indeed, the signs of an Apostle were worked out among you with all patience; with signs and wonders and great works.

¹³ For in what have you been inferior to other churches, except that I myself have not been burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong.

¹⁴ Behold, I am ready to come to you this third time. And yet I will not be burdensome to you. For I seek not what is yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up for the fathers, but the fathers for the children.

¹⁵ And I will most gladly spend, and will be spent, for your souls; though, the more I love you, the less I am loved.

¹⁶ But let it be that I do not burden you. Yet for as much as I was crafty, I took you with guile.

¹⁷ Did I defraud you by any of those whom I sent to you?

¹⁸ I have urged Titus to go. And with him I have sent a brother. Did Titus defraud you of anything? Have we not walked in the selfsame spirit, in the same steps?

¹⁹ Again, do you think that we defend ourselves to you? We speak before God, in Christ. But we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.

²⁰ For I fear that when I come, I shall not find you as I would like - and that I shall not be found by you as you would like - and that there is strife, envying, wrath, rivalry, slander, gossip, pride, and discord;

²¹ that when I come again, my God humbles me among you. And I shall lament many of those who have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lewdness which they have committed.