Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Song of degrees.

¹ ¶ When the LORD shall turn again the captivity of Zion, we shall be like those that dream.

² Then our mouth shall be filled with laughter and our tongue with singing; then they shall say among the Gentiles, The LORD has done great things with them.

³ The LORD has done great things with us, of which we shall be glad.

⁴ ¶ Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south.

⁵ Those that sow with tears shall reap with joy.

⁶ He that goes forth and weeps, bearing the precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

¹³ Thou didst go forth to save thy people, to save with thine anointed; thou didst shatter the head of the house of the wicked by uncovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.

¹⁴ Thou didst strike through with his staffs the heads of his villages, who as a whirlwind attempted to scatter me; their pride was as to devour the poor secretly.

¹⁵ Thou didst make a way through the sea for thine horses through the heap of great waters.

¹⁶ ¶ When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in my seat, that I might rest in the day of trouble when he comes up unto the people to destroy them.

¹⁷ Because the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be on the vines; the labour of the olive shall lie, and the cultivated fields shall yield no food; the sheep shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will joy in the God of my saving health.

¹⁹ The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and upon my high places he will cause me to walk victorious in my instruments of music.

²⁸ ¶ But what do you think? A certain man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard.

²⁹ He answered and said, I will not, but afterward he repented and went.

³⁰ And he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, I will go, Lord, and went not.

³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go ahead of you into the kingdom of God.

³² For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not, but the publicans and the harlots believed him, and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward that ye might believe him.